During the lunch break, there weren’t many people around the hospital.
After Jiang Xinmei and Qiu Chengyue went somewhere secluded, tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.
She looked at him, her eyes filled with unwillingness and reluctance.
“Back then, you liked me too, didn’t you?”
“Everyone knew we liked each other. We just never took that final step and said it out loud.”
“When you left to join the army, I went to see you off. Do you remember what you said to me?”
“You said we’d be friends for life, that I was your family.”
“You also said you’d miss me while you were at the military base and that you’d write to me. Have you forgotten?”
“I kept waiting for you to confess your feelings in one of your letters, to finally break through that unspoken barrier between us.”
“Then why was the news I eventually received the news that you had gotten married?”
“You clearly liked me. So why did you marry someone else?”
By the end, Jiang Xinmei was practically screaming.
Her family was poor. It was only because of her uncle that she had been able to come to the city to attend school.
On her very first day of school, she noticed the quiet and handsome Qiu Chengyue sitting in her class.
His clothes were always neat and clean, and he was extremely polite.
Despite what other people might think, she took the initiative to approach him, play with him, and walk to and from school with him.
It had taken so much effort to build a relationship with him, so much effort to make Qiu Chengyue see her as a friend.
Elementary school, middle school, high school, university…
After all those years of effort, in the end, someone else had reaped the rewards.
Qiu Chengyue watched Jiang Xinmei break down hysterically, but his expression barely changed.
“I can’t say I liked you, but I can’t say I disliked you either.”
“On the day I left for the army, what I said wasn’t meant for you alone. I said it to everyone who came to see me off.”
“And what I actually said wasn’t that I would miss you or that I would consider you my family. I said I would miss everyone who came to see me off, that I would write letters to everyone, and that I would regard everyone who came to see me off as family and friends.”
“I think you’ve misunderstood.”
Jiang Xinmei’s tears suddenly stopped.
Qiu Chengyue continued, “We did have a very good relationship in the past.”
“But I wasn’t only close to you. I had good relationships with other people too.”
“All those things people said at school were just rumors. Since they were only rumors, why did you take them to heart?”
“You know better than anyone what our relationship actually was.”
Jiang Xinmei was speechless.
No.
It wasn’t like that.
So many people had said that she and Qiu Chengyue were a perfect match.
When she and her classmates had gone to see him off back then, the things Qiu Chengyue had said had clearly been directed at her.
She had always thought that Qiu Chengyue was simply too embarrassed to openly say that he missed her in front of so many people, which was why he had said he would miss everyone instead.
“That’s not true.”
“You’re lying to me, aren’t you?”
“I don’t believe you really like Shen Shuyue.”
“Other than being pretty and coming from a wealthy family, what else does she have?”
“You’re always so impatient with her. Even when she was sick, you wouldn’t give her a kind word. Is that really how someone acts when they love another person?”
“I can see it clearly. You don’t love her.”
“Chengyue, I like you. I really, really like you. I can wait for you. I don’t care how long it takes.”
What she meant was for Qiu Chengyue to divorce Shen Shuyue and then be with her.
She hadn’t said it outright, but she believed Qiu Chengyue understood perfectly well what she meant.
Qiu Chengyue’s expression remained unchanged.
Even after hearing her confession, his eyes didn’t flicker.
“My affairs have nothing to do with you.”
“And you don’t need to wait for me. I don’t need you to wait for me.”
With that, he turned around and walked away without the slightest hesitation.
Watching Qiu Chengyue leave, Jiang Xinmei burst into tears once again.
Why had things turned out like this?
Qiu Chengyue had clearly spoken up for her before. That was how she had managed to keep her job at the clinic.
He had clearly treated her so well and cared about her so much. So why, after she confessed her feelings, had he remained completely unmoved?
Qiu Chengyue had originally planned to return to the family compound.
He hadn’t eaten, and there was still no one to take care of things at home. He needed to go back at some point.
But when he reached the gate, he suddenly thought of something and turned around, heading back to Shen Shuyue’s hospital room.
Shen Shuyue was already asleep, but her IV was still running.
Qiu Chengyue found a nurse and instructed her, “Please keep a close eye on Shen Shuyue.”
“When the IV is empty, change it promptly. She probably won’t have the energy to keep an eye on the IV herself.”
The nurse nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep watch.”
Qiu Chengyue left.
After taking care of a few things and eating something, it was already time for him to get back to work.
Just as he was preparing to return to the military base, Qiu Chengyue turned around and went back to the clinic once more.
Shen Shuyue still hadn’t woken up.
The nurse was removing her IV.
When she saw Qiu Chengyue arrive, she greeted him before leaving the room.
Qiu Chengyue stood beside the bed and looked at Shen Shuyue for a while.
Seeing that she was sleeping soundly, he quietly walked out.
After arriving at the military base, Qiu Chengyue went to the mess hall.
He told the cook that Shen Shuyue had injured her legs and needed soup to help her recover.
The cook already knew that Shen Shuyue had donated eight truckloads of supplies to the troops, and he admired her greatly.
When Qiu Chengyue asked him to prepare some bone broth for Shen Shuyue, the cook didn’t hesitate.
“That’s easy.”
“I’ll stew a separate pot of soup and make two dishes for Comrade Shen Shuyue.”
“Come and pick them up around five.”
Qiu Chengyue nodded. “Thank you.”
The cook waved his hand with a smile.
“Thank me for what? We’re the ones who should be thanking Comrade Shen Shuyue.”
“If she hadn’t donated so many supplies to us, our meals wouldn’t be nearly this good.”
“We’ve got chicken, duck, fish, meat, even seafood. Which other military unit has food as good as ours?”
A rare smile appeared on Qiu Chengyue’s face.
That was certainly true.
The eight truckloads of supplies Shen Shuyue had donated had genuinely improved the food at the base.
Many people had nothing but praise for Shen Shuyue.
All afternoon, Qiu Chengyue found it difficult to concentrate on his work.
Political Commissar Zhou and Platoon Leader Zhang had heard that Shen Shuyue had injured her legs, and both said they wanted to visit her at the clinic.
Political Commissar Zhou said, “Comrade Shen Shuyue really is generous. She donated that many supplies without a second thought.”
“By the way, Battalion Commander Qiu, some people from the family compound asked me today whether some of the supplies donated by Comrade Shen Shuyue could be distributed to the families there.”
“There are quite a lot of supplies, and many people in the family compound want a share.”
“They want to improve their meals.”
Since Qiu Chengyue was Shen Shuyue’s husband, they still needed to ask him about distributing the supplies.
Qiu Chengyue thought for a moment before saying, “No.”
“She holds grudges. Those people haven’t treated her very well.”
Platoon Leader Zhang, standing nearby, couldn’t help laughing.
Political Commissar Zhou was both exasperated and amused.
This Shen Shuyue really was something else—she could make people love her and hate her at the same time.
“Fine, then we won’t distribute them.”
“I’ll tell them later.”
“A bunch of people who aren’t exactly lacking food or drink spend all day eyeing what other people have.”