The heart transplant surgery usually takes between eight to ten hours. Halfway through the time, none of the family members went to the lounge; they were all waiting right outside the operating room entrance.
After enduring another half-hour, Xie Cangyue suddenly covered her mouth and ran to a corner. Aside from the sweet soup she had just drunk, she even vomited up bitter bile.
Xia Qiaoya was about to call a doctor, but Xie Cangyue stopped her.
She took the handkerchief handed over by Shen Junhuai to wipe her mouth and said, “I am fine.”
She knew her own physical condition best; there was nothing wrong with her, and a doctor coming would not change anything.
Tears welled up in Shen Zhaoran’s eyes. She helped Xie Cangyue up, letting the other woman lean on her as much as possible.
Xia Qiaoya straightened Xie Cangyue’s bangs and said softly, “Praying for peace at Hongyuan Temple is the most efficacious. Let Mom take you there, okay?”
Xie Cangyue did not answer; she only looked at the operating light that was still shining.
Xia Qiaoya continued, “There are still a few hours left. We will take a helicopter, come back before the surgery ends, and let Zhao Zhao stay behind to accompany her.”
Xie Cangyue looked at Shen Zhaoran again. Her voice was slightly hoarse: “You have to watch over her.”
Shen Zhaoran nodded. “I will stay right here. I am not leaving.”
There was a helipad on the roof of the hospital. Shen Chenshan made a few phone calls to arrange everything, and together with Xia Qiaoya, they took Xie Cangyue and set off for Hongyuan Temple.
Shen Junhuai stayed behind to accompany Shen Zhaoran and keep watch at the hospital.
Suddenly, everyone else had left. Shen Zhaoran leaned into Shen Junhuai’s arms and whispered, “Brother, I am a little scared.”
“Do not be scared.” Shen Junhuai held her cold hand and pulled her closer into an embrace. “Sleep for a while if you are tired.”
Shen Zhaoran indeed felt exhausted, but being tense made it impossible to sleep. She could only stare blankly at the white wall with hollow eyes.
By the time they returned from Hongyuan Temple, it was already two hours later. Xie Cangyue’s complexion was still not looking very good, but at least she was no longer vomiting from anxiety.
The surgery had lasted for ten hours, and the light above the operating room was still on. The doorway was terrifyingly quiet.
Worried that Xia Qiaoya was tired, Shen Chenshan wanted to let her go back and rest first, but Xia Qiaoya merely shook her head. Her heart was suspended here, so she would not rest well even if she went back.
In the eleventh hour of the surgery, the doctor finally came out. Xie Cangyue could no longer hear any sounds, and in the end, it was Shen Zhaoran’s warm embrace that conveyed the surgical result to her.
Although Xie Xiangxue’s condition was not good, she had after all made it down from the operating table. Next, she was sent into the ICU for observation.
Knowing that Xie Cangyue would surely want to guard her every step of the way, Shen Junhuai had Xiao Zhu pack up a complete set of daily necessities and brought Xie Cangyue to move straight into the VIP ward on the top floor.
It was not until Xie Xiangxue’s condition stabilized that Xie Cangyue finally came back to her senses. Seeing Shen Junhuai, who came three times a day morning and evening, she curiously asked why Shen Zhaoran had not come.
Shen Junhuai explained, “She has a fever and is resting at home.”
She thought to herself, she finally understood just how poor Shen Zhaoran’s health was.
Xie Cangyue hesitated for a moment before asking again, “Is everyone else doing well? Your mother, she…”
From the very beginning, she had figured things out very clearly. Calling Shen Chenshan and Xia Qiaoya Dad and Mom was not a difficult task; with a mere flap of her lips, Xie Xiangxue would be saved.
Yet ever since that day when Xia Qiaoya hugged her and kowtowed in worship at Hongyuan Temple, besides being afraid, she had also felt a trace of guilt.
She had long understood that a family like the Shen family might be difficult to get along with. From the very first meeting, she had spent ten parts of her effort observing them and adjusting her tone and demeanor when facing them.
In her youth, she even guessed whether the family would use Xie Xiangxue’s illness to manipulate her and make her do things she did not want to do.
She was always accustomed to thinking of the worst-case scenario, yet she never expected that from beginning to end, the Shen family members had never intended to get anything out of her.
That hypocritical form of address was something she suddenly could not bring herself to call out.
“She is doing great, and she even asked me to check if you want to come home for New Year’s Eve dinner. If not, she will send dumplings over to you later.”
“New Year’s Eve dinner is not necessary. I will be present at the family banquet tomorrow.”
Xia Qiaoya had previously told her about meeting Elder Shen and Madam Shen. Because of the surgery, it had been delayed until now.
The two chatted for a few more words. After Shen Junhuai left, Xiao Zhu complained, “The two of you talk like artificial intelligence.”
Xie Cangyue shrugged at this and asked again, “Are you not going home for the New Year?”
Xiao Zhu replied, “We assistants are on twenty-four-hour standby. Besides, the overtime red envelopes given by President Shen are so generous that I would have to come to work even if I ran a forty-degree fever!”
She thought to herself, when she used to work desperately for money, she had never been this desperate; a forty-degree fever would fry someone into an idiot.
Shen Junhuai returned home from the hospital and immediately asked the domestic helper about Shen Zhaoran’s condition upon entering the door.
“Young Miss’s fever has already broken. Right now, she is wrapping dumplings together with Madam.”
He wondered to himself, she knows how to wrap dumplings? He did not even know that Shen Zhaoran knew how to wrap dumplings.
He walked over to the kitchen to take a look. Indeed, the wrappers were wrappers, and the fillings were fillings, but what they looked like after being wrapped was anyone’s guess. It practically looked like the blueprint for a dough-skin soup disaster.
Seeing him return, Xia Qiaoya asked, “How is the situation over at the hospital?”
Shen Junhuai washed his hands and walked over. While wiping the flour off Shen Zhaoran’s face, he briefed them on Xie Cangyue’s matters.
Xia Qiaoya said, “Understood. I will explain it to the elders later.”
For the second half, the dumpling wrappers were rolled out by Shen Junhuai, and the dumplings were wrapped by Shen Junhuai. Shen Zhaoran only did one thing, which was to take a small pinch of dumpling filling and place it on top of a dumpling wrapper.
Considering that Xie Cangyue was still at the hospital, the Shen family’s New Year’s Eve dinner was advanced by half an hour.
Right after leaving the table, just as Shen Junhuai was about to head out with the dishes prepared by the kitchen, a small tail appeared behind him.
Shen Zhaoran had not even looked at the fireworks that evening. She had changed her clothes and followed closely behind Shen Junhuai, attempting to muddle her way through and tag along.
Shen Junhuai refused to give her a shred of hope. “Stay at home. If you catch a draft later, you will spike another fever.”
Shen Zhaoran pouted and did not retort, only plotting in her mind how to sneak out later.
Just as they were locked in a stalemate, Xia Qiaoya walked over holding a scarf. She wrapped Shen Zhaoran up tightly, pushed her toward Shen Junhuai, and said with a smile, “If you do not let her go, she will find a way to go anyway. It is better to keep her in your sight for peace of mind.”
Shen Junhuai could not help but pinch Shen Zhaoran’s little cheek. “If you have a relapse tonight, I will not let you leave the house for a week.”
“It is going to be the New Year anyway. When Grandfather asks me why I did not go to pay my New Year’s greetings, I will just say you are the one who did not let me go.” Shen Zhaoran hummed softly, looking completely unbothered.
In the early evening, Xie Xiangxue woke up. Xie Cangyue put on visitation scrubs and went in to talk with her for a while. One could not stay in the ICU for too long, so she came out after just a few words.
Being idle was still being idle, so she and Xiao Zhu went through and organized all the items related to Xie Xiangxue’s hospitalization. Various diagnostic reports alone could fill up an entire cardboard box.
She had only packed about halfway through when she saw Shen Zhaoran walking in carrying a delicate food box. Before she could even say anything, she saw Shen Junhuai following closely behind carrying a large food box, followed by bodyguards each holding two large food boxes in their hands.
She thought to herself, are they here to deliver an imperial Manchu-Han banquet?
What happened to the ordinary, simple meal of dumplings?