Ming Can bit her lip and stayed in place, her peripheral vision secretly scanning the surrounding environment to ensure that if anything were thrown her way, she could dodge it with maximum speed.
On the hospital bed, seeing that the other person was not moving, Su Zhi’s gaze grew even colder, her pale fingers unconsciously clenching the bedsheet.
“I said, get out.” She said each word distinctly, her voice hoarse yet carrying an unquestionable oppressiveness.
Ming Can took a deep breath, suppressing the instinctive fear in her heart, and forced out a gentle, even slightly carefree smile. “I’m sorry, Ms. Su, but Dr. Gong already deposited the advance nursing fee into my card last night, and I’ve already spent it. So I cannot leave right now; I have to stay and take care of you.”
Instead of approaching the bed again, she fetched the cleaning tools from the corner, bent down, and swept the glass shards on the floor into the dustpan little by little, muttering as she worked.
“Pero do not worry, I do not have many other virtues, but when it comes to taking care of people, I am quite talented. Plus, I am young, pretty, strong, and have a good personality. Many patients who have worked with me praise me for being meticulous and considerate, and they want to continue working with me next time.”
“Continue working” sounded a bit exaggerated. No decent person would want to end up in the hospital just to be waited on. But that was not the point. The point was that after she rattled off a list of her virtues, when she looked back, Su Zhi’s remaining patience seemed almost worn to a thread. Her jawline was taut, and her gaze, deep as a pool, looked as though it wanted to suck Ming Can right in.
Ming Can’s hand holding the broom shook slightly. She swept the last piece of glass into the dustpan, straightened up, and forced out a cheeky smile. “Hehe.”
Her skin was fair and her features were sweet. When she smiled, her sharp canine teeth showed, and two dimples bloomed at the corners of her cheeks, making her look a bit goofy. Normally, with a face like that, even if she made a mistake, people would not be able to stay angry at her. However, right now, the tightly pressed thin lips of the woman on the hospital bed and the rising and falling rhythm of her chest betrayed her true emotions.
“Get out.” She spoke, her hoarse throat filled with exhaustion and impatience.
Yet Ming Can grew more resilient with every setback, setting the dustpan aside.
“I know you probably do not want to see anyone right now, and I completely understand. But there is no help for it, is there? You cannot possibly think otherwise.” With that, her gaze dropped unblushingly to Su Zhi’s lower limbs, which were covered by the quilt.
The fingertips Su Zhi had clenched into the bedsheet tightened instantly, the anger and humiliation flashing deep within her eyes almost swallowing her whole.
Acting as if she had not seen it, Ming Can turned around and went to the bathroom to fetch a basin of warm water, a clean towel, and a brand-new set of hospital clothes.
She placed the water basin on the bedside cabinet, tested the water temperature, and then stood still at the end of the bed with a smile. “So Ms. Su, as a professional and responsible caregiver, I still need to clean you up.”
With that, before the other person could react, she stepped a little closer.
“Do not come over.”
The woman who had been cold and imposing just a second ago now had clear tension in her voice. Ming Can saw it, but remained unmoved, taking another step forward.
“I told you not to come over!”
A broken roar burst from her throat. The finger bones Su Zhi used to clutch the bedsheet turned white, and the veins on the back of her hand bulged.
Ming Can hesitated for a moment, braving the pressure to step forward, and flicked open a corner of the quilt. The unexpected exposure drained the last of Su Zhi’s strength. Her hand instinctively moved to her trouser waistband, clutching it tightly as her frail body trembled like dice.
“Do not be nervous,” Ming Can softened her tone, dropping her deliberate ease in favor of a genuine, earnest sincerity. “Cleaning you up and changing you into clean clothes will make you feel much better. I will be very fast; it will only take a few minutes.”
The woman’s whole body went limp. That pitiful shred of dignity vanished completely the moment her clothes were pulled back.
Ming Can’s movements were indeed fast and professional. Wiping down, changing clothes, and swapping out the bedsheets were all done in one smooth motion. Throughout the process, Su Zhi’s body trembled, and a flush of humiliation crept across her pale cheeks. Finally, she closed her eyes in despair, her long eyelashes casting shadows under the light.
“It is all done,” Ming Can comforted her, gently pulling the quilt back up over her. Without lingering, she took the clothes and bedsheets into the bathroom.
She fussed around inside for a long time. When she came out, Su Zhi was fast asleep, the pulse at the side of her neck gently beating. The aggressive aura and arrogance she had upon entering were completely gone, replaced by a fragile beauty, or perhaps a resignation born of despair. Though conscious, she exuded an overwhelming coldness.
The room was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard. Ming Can stood in place for a few seconds, then turned to the window, opening a crack to let fresh air flow in and replace the stuffy atmosphere inside. She poured half a cup of warm water from the water dispenser, walked to the hospital bed, and asked in a low voice, “Would you like some water?”
Su Zhi kept her eyes closed, her thin lips pressed tightly together, saying nothing.
Ming Can clearly did not expect any reply from her either. She picked up a cotton swab from the bedside table on her own accord, moistened it, and dabbed it against Su Zhi’s lips.
Feeling the movement, Su Zhi turned her head away to avoid her touch.
“Your lips are too dry. I am just helping you wipe them. If they crack, they will bleed and it will hurt a lot.”
Ming Can held up the wet cotton swab, pausing in mid-air.
The turned-away side of Su Zhi’s face was set in a hard, cold line, like a door bolted from the inside. Ming Can put down the water cup, stopped pushing, and sat down on a nearby chair. The light from outside cut diagonally across the floor tiles, cold, white, and slender. Ming Can looked at that beam of light for quite a while until a gentle knock sounded on the hospital door.
Just as she was about to get up, the door pushed open a crack, and a disheveled woman poked her face in.
“Hello, who are you looking for?” Ming Can walked over quickly, turning sideways to block the bed.
The woman’s gaze stretched past Ming Can’s shoulder, peering inside. “I am Wu Bin’s wife.” Then, she pushed a little girl of about five or six forward. “I brought my child here to apologize to Director Su.”
Ming Can was stunned, instinctively looking back toward the bed. On the bed, Su Zhi maintained her previous posture, completely turning a blind eye and deaf ear to the outside world.
Ming Can thought for a moment and took charge. “I am sorry, the patient has already fallen asleep and it is not convenient to disturb her.”
At the rejection, tears of despair fell immediately, and a crying tone crept into the woman’s voice. “Please, let me go in! My husband was just acting on impulse and made a mistake. As a woman, I really have no other way.”
While she was crying and pleading, the woman on the bed turned her head.
Before Ming Can could react, the woman squeezed through the crack in the door with a sudden lunge and fell heavily to her knees on the floor. “Director Su, I am kowtowing to you! Please, for the sake of our poor mother and child, let my husband go! The child is only in the first grade; she cannot live without a father. There are still huge car and mortgage loans at home, and as a weak woman, I cannot hold this family together!”
“Hey, please do not do this, get up!” Ming Can hurried over as well, instinctively trying to pull her up.
In the commotion, the doorway had already filled with people. Some paparazzi even squeezed to the front, raising their cameras to snap rapid photos. Realizing something was wrong, Ming Can stepped forward to close the door, but the crowd had already surged in.
The woman’s crying grew louder as she crawled a few steps toward the head of the bed on her knees. “Director Su, my husband was just momentarily confused! Cannot you, for the child’s sake, settle this privately and forgive him?”
On the hospital bed, Su Zhi seemed annoyed by the noise. Her cold eyes drooped slightly, an icy glaze sweeping over the woman and child. After quite a long while, she spoke indifferently, dropping three words:
“I will not forgive him.”
“Director Su!” In the next second, the woman’s emotions completely collapsed, and she slammed her head against the floor. “We are willing to pay compensation! Even if it bankrupts us, we are willing. Please give him a way out.” As she spoke, she banged her forehead repeatedly.
Her head hit the cold ceramic tile floor, accompanied by sobs, thump after thump. Frightened, the little girl beside her burst into loud tears as well.
Amidst the chaotic scene, Su Zhi reached out with effort, grabbed her phone from the bedside table, and tapped lightly on the screen a few times.
Right then, a camera flash opportunistically targeted her face, going click, click, click for several shots. Coming to her senses, Ming Can stepped forward to shield the hospital bed. “Everyone, stop taking pictures! This is a hospital ward; the patient needs rest!”
She tried her best to stop them, but the paparazzi showed no intention of stopping. Feeling somewhat at a loss, Ming Can tried once more to help up the kneeling woman. But the woman clung to her like a drowning straw, kneeling firmly on the ground, crying a river of snot and tears. “I am begging you, Director Su.”
“Get up first!” Ming Can’s voice carried some weight. No one sincerely begging for forgiveness would bring the media along to throw a tantrum right in front of a patient’s bed; this was coercion. Even though she was only a college student yet to graduate, she could see that clearly.
Clearly not expecting this kind of reaction, the woman paused her kowtowing, her face streaked with a maze of tears.
Taking her chance, Ming Can hauled the woman up from the floor. “Ma’am, Ms. Su’s physical condition is currently extremely unstable. Such a disturbance does her recovery no good. If you truly wish to apologize, waiting until the patient improves and making an appointment through proper legal channels is the correct approach.”
As she spoke, she skillfully blocked the space between the woman and the bed, forming a protective barrier.
“As a caregiver, I have an obligation to maintain peace and quiet in the patient’s room so she can recover better. Please understand and cooperate.”
The woman still wanted to say something, but Ming Can glanced aside, her tone softening yet carrying an undeniable strength. “The child is still young. Do not scare her.”
The paparazzi taking pictures paused a beat too late. The next second, a gruff male voice echoed from behind: “Make way, everyone. This is a restricted hospital area. Gathering a mob to cause a scene, are you trying to bring the police here?”
Whoever had called the security personnel, they began dispersing the crowd, using a mix of soft and firm tactics to pull the woman and child out of the ward. Ming Can shut the door immediately and threw the deadbolt from the inside.
The camera flashes and crying were shut outside, and the ward instantly fell quiet.
Ming Can leaned against the door panel for two seconds, her temples throbbing. Those onlookers were clearly not hospital staff or patients. When she was ushering that pair of mother and child out just now, she had inadvertently caught sight of several men in business suits, who knew which news station or public relations firm they belonged to, frantically typing away on their phones with their heads bowed.
Still, that was not her concern. Ming Can let out a long sigh of relief, raised her eyes, and looked over. The woman was lying flat with her eyes closed, her frail figure swallowed by the bedsheet, showing no hint of joy or sorrow.
“I am sorry, Ms. Su. Because of my negligence, you were frightened.”
She walked over and sincerely apologized to the other woman.
Su Zhi did not even lift her eyelids. Ming Can stood nearby with her hands lowered, feeling rather awkward. After standing for several seconds without receiving a response, she looked down, straightened the chair that had been knocked crooked earlier, shifted the water cup on the bedside cabinet by half an inch, and wiped away a ring of splashed water.
While working, she could not help but think that this was not a good gig. Not only was Director Su difficult to get along with, but the muddy waters surrounding her ran deep, too. Fortunately, she had only taken the job for a single week; once she earned that triple salary, she needed to run fast to avoid ending up dragged online before even making any money. She was only a senior in college, and she still had to find a job afterward.