“Don’t worry, mom, her name is Miao Xing.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Stars and the moon are all in the sky; the moon is even bigger than the stars.”
Seeing her daughter-in-law agree so obediently, Li Chunhua breathed a sigh of relief, casually waved her hand, and happily led her to wait for the bus.
Just as they got on the bus, Li Chunhua inadvertently glanced outside and saw that girl named something Miao standing at the gate looking this way.
She was startled and felt a shiver run down her spine; this girl looked like a ghost.
She was quite pretty, but what was she wearing? So thin! When she was young, it wouldn’t matter, but when she gets old, she’ll surely suffer from bad circulation.
Since they lived in the same courtyard, they would see each other often. She needed to remind Xue Zhu to stay away from this girl named Miao so as not to catch her coldness by wearing so little in the winter.
Miao Xing gritted her teeth, watching the bus leave; she had never been looked down upon like this. Although the women in the courtyard knew a little about her and Lin Shiheng, they would never show it to her face. When she tried to be friendly, they would awkwardly reject her.
It was just that she had been too lazy to make friends with them; they were all housewives, after all, what could they do other than sew clothes and cook?
Women like Lin Shiheng’s mother, from the countryside, should be the easiest to win over. Why had it turned out this way?
She refused to admit that it was her problem and pondered for a long time before suddenly having an epiphany.
Could it be that He Xuezhu had said something to the old lady?
Since she came to this courtyard, she had never interacted with He Xuezhu, but Miao Xing had always assumed that He Xuezhu knew about her and Lin Shiheng’s situation since the rumors were so rampant. As Lin Shiheng’s wife, how could she not know?
She never expected He Xuezhu had such a hand.
The only point of contact she had now was unwilling to be close to her. Earlier that morning, when she saw Lin Shiheng coming back with something, she greeted him, but he wouldn’t say a word. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
Did they really think she only had them as choices?
Zhang Yanming had a big personality, but at least he was a squad leader, and she was the squad leader’s wife. Why did they need to avoid her like this?
Just as she was thinking about this, a young soldier suddenly ran up the small path outside. Spotting Miao Xing, he hurried over: “Sister-in-law, Zhang squad leader was injured; he has already been sent to the hospital. He wants to see you.”
***
When Miao Xing arrived at the hospital, Zhang Yanming was lying on the bed, pale, eyes tightly closed, looking as if he were on the brink of death.
Her face turned white too; she leaned against the wall just to stay upright and trembled as she asked, “How is he?”
The doctor, having heard about Miao Xing being a nurse who was dismissed, noted how they had previously thought both of them were crazy. Now, seeing the man seriously injured and the woman so worried, he felt a little shame for gossiping about them before.
“He has an injury to his right leg, but for some reason, he has been in a coma. For now, we recommend that he stay in the hospital for treatment.”
Miao Xing leaned against the wall and slowly approached her husband’s side, looking at the small scar on his right cheek, “Didn’t he want to see me?”
“Yes,” the doctor replied. “Zhang squad leader was still conscious when he arrived at the hospital and requested that his wife come to care for him.”
Miao Xing’s face turned even paler.
Seeing her like this, the doctor sighed and walked out of the ward.
Indeed, adversity reveals true feelings; looking at Miao Xing’s distressed expression, he guessed that the couple must have deep feelings for each other.
The ward was left with just Miao Xing and Zhang Yanming.
Miao Xing reached out to lift the blanket to see how serious Zhang Yanming’s leg injury was, but before she could touch it, she pulled her hand back.
Being in a coma was likely not due to his leg injury; it was more probably from a head trauma.
She went to check her husband’s head; his clothes had been changed, but his head had not been, and when Miao Xing reached out, her hand came back muddy, immediately repulsing her.
She hadn’t expected Zhang Yanming to get into trouble at this time. If he were healthy and out on a mission, it would be easier for Miao Xing. If he died, she could become a free woman and inherit the military compensation for Zhang Yanming.
But he had returned half-dead.
Miao Xing had seen many injured individuals; as a family member, the worst fear is to end up like Zhang Yanming, in a coma.
You must understand that lying there for a few days is called a coma; if the days extend too long, it’s called being a vegetable.
Vegetables need family members to take care of them, and since Zhang Yanming is a soldier and protected under military marital law, if he were to be a vegetable, Miao Xing wouldn’t even be able to get divorced.
Otherwise, Miao Xing wouldn’t have gone from pushing Zhang Yanming away to half-heartedly accepting him when Lin Shiheng was in a coma.
But unexpectedly, Lin Shiheng woke up and seemed as strong as ever, while Zhang Yanming had turned into this ghostly figure.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got, remembering how Zhang Yanming had squandered all his newly issued salary before departing. She slapped her hand on her husband’s head in frustration and stormed out of the ward.
Miao Xing felt she needed to calm down and think carefully about how to get through this difficult time.
She was still so young; how could she be tied to a useless person for the rest of her life, serving him?
The moment the ward door closed, Zhang Yanming opened his eyes, his gaze filled with bloodshot suspicion and confusion directed at the tightly shut door.
Indeed, Zhang Yanming had not been in a coma at all.
His only serious injury was to his leg; to be precise, even his leg wasn’t that severely injured. It was just that the soldier closest to him had been injured, and blood splattered all over Zhang Yanming. Shocked, he had frozen and fallen down, leading the rescuers to mistakenly think he was also severely injured and send him to the hospital.
While lying on the stretcher, the doctors had performed quick checks. Zhang Yanming anxiously asked about his condition, and they comforted him: