As Qin Yuan continued speaking, she eventually found herself unable to go on.
Every word she said made her heart ache with guilt.
If it weren’t for her, how could such a strong, healthy man have ended up in this condition?
She lifted his uninjured hand and gently massaged his cold fingertips. The guilt in her heart gradually transformed into hatred.
If it weren’t for the greed and cruelty of those three beasts from the Xia family, the man before her would never have ended up like this.
Tomorrow!
She had to go back tomorrow.
She would find a way to drag that bastard Xia Junsheng out of hiding, tear off his false mask, expose their true intentions to everyone, and have the Public Security Bureau arrest every last one of them!
With emotions surging through her heart, Qin Yuan sat silently for an entire hour, holding the man’s hand.
When she noticed that the IV bottle was nearly empty, she hurried outside and called over a nurse surnamed Su.
Nurse Su quickly replaced the IV bottle.
By then, Qin Yuan had calmed down considerably. She took the initiative to ask, “Nurse Su, I’d like to find the doctor and ask when my frie—my family member who fell into the river might wake up. Could I trouble you to watch him for just a little while?”
Nurse Su looked at her.
Qin Yuan immediately flashed her a big smile.
“I’ll be very quick. Definitely no more than five minutes.”
Nurse Su waved her hand. “Then hurry. The doctor’s still in his office right now, but he gets off work at five.”
Qin Yuan immediately ran out and found an office beside the nurses’ station.
The doctor really was preparing to leave. He had already taken off his white coat.
Qin Yuan quickly asked about the man’s condition.
Fortunately, the doctor was quite kind. He spoke gently and steadily, and his calm manner was reassuring.
“Oh, you’re the family member of the patient in Bed 103. Your husband has external injuries and fractures, and his lungs became infected after he inhaled a large amount of river water. But because you got him to the hospital in time, his vital signs are currently stable, and there are no signs of his condition worsening.
“However, he’s suffering from multiple injuries at once, and he also suffered an impact while drowning, resulting in a mild concussion. That’s why he’s still unconscious.
“This kind of situation… isn’t uncommon. Judging from his current condition, he’ll most likely wake up within three to five days.
“Take good care of him. Compared with the unconsciousness itself, you need to pay particular attention to his frostbite and abrasions over the next few days. Ask the nurses how to properly care for them, all right?”
Qin Yuan nodded repeatedly.
“Yes, yes. All right, Doctor. As long as he’s going to be okay, I can finally stop worrying.”
When Qin Yuan returned to the ward, Nurse Su was standing with her arms crossed, staring intently at the man on the bed.
When she finally noticed Qin Yuan standing nearby, Nurse Su awkwardly rubbed her nose.
“Ah… your man is really handsome, isn’t he?”
Qin Yuan: “…”
She had no way to explain herself.
She couldn’t exactly say that he wasn’t her man.
But she couldn’t deny that he was handsome either.
Sigh!
It was so troublesome when the man wasn’t actually hers.
But she couldn’t let the truth slip!
So Qin Yuan could only mumble a few awkward sounds and pretend to be embarrassed before quickly changing the subject to how she should care for him.
Perhaps because the man was so handsome, Nurse Su became exceptionally patient.
She carefully taught Qin Yuan how to disinfect his wounds, how to give him water, when the IV could be adjusted, how to massage his hands and feet, and everything else she needed to know.
Then, while Qin Yuan was still trying to absorb all those instructions, Nurse Su suddenly lifted the man’s blanket.
Pointing toward the lower half of his body, she instructed Qin Yuan,
“He’s unconscious right now, so he can’t control his urination. We’ve already inserted a urinary catheter. But leaving a catheter in for too long can cause an infection, so family members need to keep the area clean.
“And when you’re wiping his body down, be careful not to disturb the catheter.”
Just like that, Qin Yuan’s gaze was forcibly drawn to the man’s body.
Her face instantly turned bright red.
Her eyes reflexively snapped shut.
Nurse Su: “…”
Aren’t they husband and wife?
Have they never seen each other naked before?
Young people these days were far too bashful!
By the time Qin Yuan realized that closing her eyes had been the wrong reaction and opened them again, she found Nurse Su staring at her with obvious disapproval.
“What are you doing?! If you won’t take care of your own man, do you expect us to do it for you? He’s your husband! If you won’t help him urinate, are you expecting us to do that too?”
Qin Yuan’s mind buzzed.
This nurse was way too bold!
When facing people who wanted to bully her, Qin Yuan could slap them across the face without the slightest hesitation. After all, she had imagined doing exactly that countless times in her previous life.
When dealing with people who wanted to scheme against her, she could devise all sorts of ways to turn their schemes against them and squeeze every possible benefit out of them.
That was something she desperately wanted to do in this life.
But faced with a situation like this…
She genuinely had no idea what to do!
She had told herself countless times that her benefactor had saved her life, so naturally, she should take good care of him.
But…
Fine.
There were no buts.
She would convince herself.
She wouldn’t think about the difference between men and women.
She would think only about the debt she owed him for saving her life.
She could do this.
Qin Yuan cleared her throat.
When she spoke again, her voice was quieter, but she was still cooperative.
“Nurse Su, I’m sorry. I just don’t really know how to do this, and I’m… I’m a little nervous. Please don’t mind me. Could you explain it again? I promise I’ll remember everything.”
Now that was a good attitude.
Seeing Qin Yuan’s innocent, bashful appearance, Nurse Su instead pulled the blanket back over the man and smiled knowingly.
“Newlyweds, huh? Just look at you! Goodness, he’s your own man. What’s there to be embarrassed about?
“We nurses have seen every kind there is. Let me tell you, your man is… well… he’s got a strong build. He’ll recover quickly! Hahaha!
“Forget it. We’ll keep the catheter in for the first day. In another couple of days, once you’ve learned the rest of the nursing care, I’ll teach you more.
“Ah, youth really is wonderful! So full of energy. Look at you—just talking about helping him urinate is enough to make your face turn that red!”
Nurse Su was in her thirties, with short hair and a baby face. Her straightforward and cheerful personality was practically written all over her face.
She tidied the items on the small bedside cabinet, then walked away humming a tune.
Qin Yuan remained rooted to the spot, silently processing the double assault on both her eyes and ears.
Sigh!
She really had lived her entire previous life for nothing!
Qin Yuan stood there for more than ten minutes before she finally felt the heat in her face begin to fade.
Sounds of people walking came from the corridor.
It seemed many people were heading to the hospital cafeteria to get dinner.
Qin Yuan stepped outside and checked the clock at the end of the corridor.
It was already five-thirty.
What was Section Chief Wang doing?
She had told him to buy some supplies and bring them over, yet there wasn’t even a shadow of him!
In this small county town, most shops closed after four-thirty.
Even if Qin Yuan went out now to buy something, she probably wouldn’t find anywhere open.
Most things could wait.
But if she wanted to get food from the cafeteria, she didn’t even have a lunch box!
Fortunately, her benefactor was still unconscious and couldn’t eat anything for now.
But she still needed to keep water available for him.
Without even a thermos, everything was incredibly inconvenient.
Left with no choice, Qin Yuan went to the nurses’ station and asked for a used IV bottle. Then she begged some hot water from someone in another ward.
She took out the cold steamed buns she had brought from home and ate them with the hot water, making do with whatever she had.
As she ate, she cursed Section Chief Wang in her heart at least eight hundred times.
She knew officials like him couldn’t be relied on!
They had agreed on everything, yet he had changed his mind without warning!
Qin Yuan was chewing the cold steamed bun so hard that her jaw was starting to ache when the man on the hospital bed suddenly began coughing violently.
His breathing instantly became rapid.
His brows knitted tightly together, white phlegm seeped from the corner of his mouth, and his already pale face became even more deathly white.
Even the oxygen tube inserted into his nostrils trembled with every strained breath.
Qin Yuan was so frightened that she immediately jumped to her feet.
Within moments, his complexion changed again.
His deathly pale face gradually flushed bright red.
Before Qin Yuan could even react, the man’s chest began heaving violently against his will.
Even his hands and feet started trembling.
Qin Yuan immediately dropped the cold steamed bun in her hand and rushed out of the ward.
“Nurse! Nurse, hurry! He… he looks like something’s blocking his airway!”