Up until Saturday, before the surgery, Qin Shui made two portions of lunch every day and two thermoses of nourishing soup for Qin Sheng and Yan Jiabao to eat together.
At Yan Jiabao’s strong insistence, Qin Sheng shared Qin Shui’s WeChat with her. It took several days before the friend request was approved.
On Friday night, Qin Sheng took Qin Shui out to eat hotpot at a restaurant. After the meal, they bought some fruit and went to the Beidaihe Car Repair Center to deliver it to Yan Jiabao.
Qin Shui helped her tidy up the room a little. Yan Jiabao threw out everything she didn’t need. Qin Sheng carried the boxes of miscellaneous items downstairs, and the room was left with only the two of them.
Yan Jiabao sat on the bed, with CCTV-10’s poverty alleviation news playing on the television in front of her. She suddenly asked Qin Shui, “Can you hear me when I speak?”
Qin Shui was sitting at the foot of the bed, holding a box of fruit and eating it. With her back to Yan Jiabao, she was watching the television intently and didn’t respond.
Yan Jiabao didn’t suspect that she was deliberately ignoring her, because she knew Qin Sheng had a clear head and was a genuinely good person. The girl he liked wouldn’t be bad.
Although she had long since given up on Qin Sheng, Yan Jiabao still felt both love and gratitude toward him. If Qin Sheng hadn’t rejected her time and again, she believed she would’ve devoted herself to him wholeheartedly.
It was only after seeing Qin Shui that Yan Jiabao, unwillingly, let go of the idea that Qin Sheng simply looked down on her.
She accepted it. She accepted that she simply wasn’t her male idol’s type. After all, he could even accept a deaf-mute woman, holding her in his hands for fear she might fall, cherishing her in his mouth for fear she might melt.
This was a very good younger sister, virtuous and beautiful, calm and polite. Yan Jiabao had mixed with society since middle school, always at the forefront of the delinquent-girl style. Pretending to be sharp-tongued had become a habit, and she looked down on most men and women around her.
But she respected Qin Shui.
In fact, from their school days, she should’ve noticed that from beginning to end, Qin Sheng had always liked this type of girl. Someone who could take care of others and was well-behaved, who could counterbalance his wildness and arrogance, someone who complemented him.
Yan Jiabao’s lips parted slightly. Her gaze clung to Qin Shui’s innocent back as she spoke in a voice so light that even she herself could barely hear it, I really envy you.
The door was swiped open. Qin Shui was half a beat late before she looked over, then stood up and walked closer, popping a strawberry into his mouth.
Qin Sheng was once again unusually compliant, and even toward Yan Jiabao he was especially gentle. He pointed at the television and the lamp, not forgetting to remind her, “Stop watching and go to bed early. We’ll come pick you up tomorrow.”
He spun the car keys around his index finger, picked up Qin Shui’s light pink backpack, and took her home.
Even though tomorrow was for Yan Jiabao’s surgery, Qin Shui seemed more nervous than the person involved. The entire drive, she searched for the procedure and possible aftereffects of abortion surgery, wanting to know how risky it was and whether the technology was mature.
Pregnancy scares from the internet weren’t reliable. Qin Sheng was afraid she’d spiral, so while driving, he reassured her that he’d arranged the best hospital for Yan Jiabao, one that was full year-round. For this matter, he’d even pulled strings through a client’s connections to jump the queue and secure an expert appointment.
Qin Shui pressed her lips together and nodded, but she still didn’t let it go. Even after washing up and lying down at night, she was still holding her phone and looking at it.
“Did you eat enough tonight?” he started a conversation.
Qin Shui didn’t hear him. Qin Sheng confiscated her phone and asked again. This time, she finally nodded, amusingly rubbing her stomach and giving a thumbs-up.
The two of them squeezed onto Qin Shui’s bed. Every night, Qin Sheng was like a restless seventeen- or eighteen-year-old high school student. Qin Shui was very tolerant of him as well, but neither of them dared cross the basic line of propriety. After Yan Jiabao’s matter, Qin Sheng had become even more vigilant.
In his eyes, Qin Shui was a white rose standing apart from the world. He had no reason to dictate her blooming season according to his own will.
Just before she reached out to turn off the light, Qin Sheng was possessed by a sudden impulse. He grabbed Qin Shui’s hand and performed the sign language he’d practiced dozens of times.
He said, I love you.
Qin Shui looked surprised. This was the first time Qin Sheng had confessed to her.
So the young woman climbed on top of him, nodded, and replied, I love you too.
Qin Sheng still didn’t seem fully satisfied. He asked, “Will your family look down on me?”
Qin Shui didn’t quite agree with his jumping line of thought. After thinking it over for a moment, she shook her head at him firmly.
“Is that because they wouldn’t, or because you don’t know?” he asked.
He rolled over and pressed Qin Shui beneath him, his right hand stroking through her hair. Qin Shui asked him, “What about you? Would your family object?”
Qin Sheng didn’t care in the least. He jutted his chin out and said, “They don’t have the right to interfere. I want you.”
Her ears were kissed until they turned red. For a moment, Qin Shui truly thought Qin Sheng meant to go all the way this time. Even though he was being rather excessive, she didn’t resist. In the end, it proved that Qin Sheng was far more cautious than she was. The two of them didn’t take that final step.
She typed for him to read: “My family really wants me to find a civil servant, someone from a state-owned enterprise, or a doctor. But there’s no suitable match, and they probably wouldn’t be satisfied with me anyway.”
Seeing that Qin Sheng didn’t react, she continued typing: “They’re very open-minded, and your job is good, plus you look so good. My mom has always felt that it’s already rare for someone to like me. If she saw you this handsome, she’d be over the moon.”
Fed a mouthful of sweet talk, Qin Sheng was indeed pleased. Qin Shui smiled and typed: “It’s still too early to talk about this.”
“How is it early?” he said. “I really want to meet your parents. If they agree, I’ll propose.”
Qin Shui’s expression was a little subtle. Qin Sheng pressed his left cheek against her, immersed in kissing behind her ear. Even without getting a response, he looked very happy, night after night.
Soft kisses fell on her without any pattern. Qin Shui half-closed her eyes. Qin Sheng loved holding her and fussing endlessly, and she had already grown used to it.
This week, having to cook three portions every day and run back and forth between two places had truly exhausted her. Qin Shui’s world was even quieter than healthy people imagined. Very soon, she no longer had the energy to pay attention to Qin Sheng’s wishes or actions and stubbornly fell asleep.
By the time Qin Sheng brushed her eye corner and lifted his head to look, Qin Shui had already been asleep for who knew how long.
“……”
He didn’t know whether to feel disappointed at her absent-mindedness or moved by how completely unguarded she was.
Qin Sheng awkwardly leaned forward to turn off the light, his movements careful. He pulled her into his arms and rested his head against the top of her head.
A dreamless night.
Cruel as it was, Saturday was a big day, a day that belonged to Yan Jiabao.
Qin Sheng got up early to make breakfast for Qin Shui. She’d slept well the night before, her eyes bright and full of spirit. Ever since Qin Shui had come to live with him, Qin Sheng’s overall state of life had improved qualitatively.
She knew Yan Jiabao definitely wouldn’t be in the mood to eat, but eating too much before surgery wasn’t recommended either. So she specifically asked Qin Sheng to stop by a breakfast stall and bought her millet porridge and red bean buns.
When the car stopped downstairs at the hotel, Yan Jiabao was already there with her bag, waiting for quite a while. Qin Sheng rolled down the window, said no nonsense, and told her to get in.
Qin Shui handed over the breakfast. Yan Jiabao took it without a word.
Inside the car, there was only the sound of chewing and plastic bags rubbing together. Qin Shui sat in the passenger seat, stealing glances at Qin Sheng’s profile. His eyes were fixed on the road, focused on driving. Only when stopping at red lights would he reach over to touch her face, then lift his eyes to the rearview mirror, checking on the silent Yan Jiabao.
This tension reminded Qin Shui of June 7, 2018, when her father drove their old Ford to take her to the college entrance examination site.
Only this time, the one heading into the examination hall was Yan Jiabao.
Qin Sheng had already gotten the doctor’s contact information from a client in advance. He went to register, while Qin Shui accompanied Yan Jiabao to wait outside the consultation room. The obstetrics and gynecology corridor was filled with all kinds of people standing around, and the walls were plastered with maternal health posters.
Yan Jiabao had kept her head lowered ever since earlier. Qin Shui knew she was holding back tears again, and also knew that many visibly pregnant expectant mothers were sitting in the waiting area, most of them there for prenatal checkups or to arrange hospitalization for delivery.
She took out her phone and typed for Yan Jiabao to see: “What kind of soup do you want to drink? Tomorrow I’ll have Qin Sheng make it for you.”
Yan Jiabao didn’t answer the question. Instead, she muttered to herself, “I can’t get past this hurdle in my heart.”
Qin Shui sighed helplessly. As she typed, she also made a strange gesture in front of her. Yan Jiabao finally lifted her head to look. On the phone screen was written: “It’s only this big! As small as a peanut! Just a piece of human tissue slightly larger than normal cells. Don’t let it hurt you!”
It was the first time Yan Jiabao had seen Qin Shui use such intense punctuation. She guessed she must really be anxious.
Qin Shui stubbornly continued typing: “It’s not a real baby! Even if it were, it still can’t have a father like a turtle hiding in its shell! You have to be responsible for yourself! Responsible for your child!”
“……”
Yan Jiabao knew she’d deliberately typed so many exclamation marks. Tears streamed down her face, and then she broke into a relieved smile through the tears. Qin Shui raised her hand and pointed to the medical publicity board on the wall, which showed a cartoon child holding hands with its mother, with a kind and upright man standing beside them.
Yan Jiabao raised her hand to wipe away her tears. Qin Sheng came back holding a stack of receipts, leaned against the wall in front of them, and said slightly out of breath, “The best doctor. We got an extra slot for you. I guarantee you’ll come out of the operating room in one piece.”
Qin Shui took out his water bottle from her bag and handed it to him, gave up her seat, took the number slip from his hand, and went to wait by the electronic screen at the end of the corridor, giving them some private space.
Yan Jiabao wasn’t crying anymore. She said to Qin Sheng as he tilted his head back to drink water, “Thank you. And thank you both.”
He returned to his usual nonchalant manner and said bluntly, “You’d better make this the last time you thank me. If there’s a next time, don’t even bother calling me.”
“There won’t be another time.” She sniffed. “Qin Shui is really good. With her around, I can finally understand why you didn’t like me back then, and I’ve completely given up.”
Qin Sheng’s expression grew more serious. He put Qin Shui’s cup back into her bag and answered properly, “I never looked down on you. We just weren’t suited for each other.”
“After I found out you had a girlfriend, I cried several times. I’m sincerely grateful to Qin Shui, but I’m also too jealous of her. These thoughts and feelings tortured me so much I couldn’t sleep.”
“What are you jealous of?” Qin Sheng asked.
He laughed in disbelief. “Qin Shui has it harder than you, doesn’t she? To be honest, you really aren’t as pretty as her, but you’re far more capable than she is, and you have many more paths you could take. It’s you who gave up on yourself and got yourself covered in mud. If you swapped places with her, with your usual way of doing things, forget about getting into a top university like Qin Shui, you’d probably have jumped off a building long ago.”
Yan Jiabao shot back, “Don’t look down on me too much, okay?”
Qin Sheng smiled at her disdainfully. “Fine. If you want me to respect you, then later walk into the operating room yourself. No matter how much it hurts or itches, endure it all. Once you recover, go back to work immediately and live like a proper person.”
“……”
Qin Shui jogged back from the end of the corridor and signed to Qin Sheng, “They’ve called the number. Let’s go.”
The two of them escorted Yan Jiabao through all the examinations, collected the reports, and safely sent her into the operating room.
Qin Shui’s shoulders sagged in exhaustion. She sat down on the cold chair outside the door, stretched her legs straight out, and stretched. Qin Sheng silently put an arm around her, took the car keys from his pocket, and planned to go grab that guy named Chen Zhihong.
“Do you really have to go?” she asked.
“I have to,” Qin Sheng said. “Even if it’s just to teach him a lesson.”
Qin Shui touched the tip of her nose and didn’t say anything for a long while. From a moral standpoint, she supported Qin Sheng, but from a personal standpoint, she couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.
Even though he’d been completely honest about his past with Yan Jiabao, even though Qin Shui knew Qin Sheng was a righteous, good man, no one would want to spend the early stages of a relationship accompanying their boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend through something like an abortion surgery.
She was used to hiding her own thoughts and instead sharing in others’ emotions and feelings. As a fellow woman, Qin Shui felt sorry for Yan Jiabao, who had no family to rely on and poor financial conditions, and so was willing to take care of her within her means. But she wasn’t sure whether Qin Sheng could understand how difficult this was for her.
The child who cries gets candy, but she didn’t even dare cry. She was afraid that being deaf, she’d cry too loudly and disturb others.
So Qin Shui only typed four words on her phone: Be careful.
She didn’t stop him. Qin Sheng was quite surprised, but deliberately didn’t show it. He bent down and kissed Qin Shui’s face seriously twice, telling her that if she waited too long, she should go downstairs for a walk. He’d settle it quickly.
Ten minutes later, Qin Sheng even came back once more, carrying porridge and pan-fried buns, telling Qin Shui to eat first.
Not long after, the operating room light went out. A nurse wheeled out Yan Jiabao, her face pale, but everything had gone smoothly. Qin Sheng arranged for two extra days of hospitalization so she could recover slowly. Qin Shui followed the nurses to the ward and placed the food on her bedside table.
Yan Jiabao usually liked heavy makeup. Today, with a bare face, she looked especially haggard. Before Qin Shui had even settled onto the companion chair by the bed, Qin Sheng came in with Chen Zhihong.
“……”
The scene was much calmer than expected, but anyone with eyes could tell that Chen Zhihong had been beaten.
Qin Shui stood up and looked Qin Sheng over. She didn’t see any injuries or anything unusual. He simply folded his arms calmly and walked behind Chen Zhihong.
The instigator kept his head lowered. He wasn’t as tall as Qin Shui had imagined, wearing a Korean-drama male lead hairstyle from a few years ago. His skin was on the darker side, and his looks were indeed passable. But at first glance, he didn’t seem reliable at all. Qin Shui couldn’t understand how Yan Jiabao had been willing to be deceived by him.
Qin Sheng shoved him from behind. Chen Zhihong immediately bowed to Yan Jiabao on the bed and apologized, “Jiabao, I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
“Stop spewing useless crap,” Qin Sheng said, pulling out the receipts from his pocket and flicking them against Chen Zhihong’s chest one by one. “Medical expenses, lost wages. Transfer it now.”
Qin Shui turned around to close the ward door, relieved that Yan Jiabao was currently the only patient. Otherwise, she was afraid it might draw a crowd and make people think Qin Sheng was some kind of hoodlum and call the police, blowing things up.
Under Qin Sheng’s stare, Chen Zhihong removed the block and transferred 5,000 yuan to Yan Jiabao’s WeChat.
Qin Shui sat on the empty hospital bed, observing Yan Jiabao. She didn’t pick up her phone. Her expression was blank, her gaze unfocused. From beginning to end, she didn’t make eye contact with Chen Zhihong even once.
“Brother… this is all I have for now,” he pleaded. “When my salary comes in this month, I’ll transfer more to Jiabao. Please don’t tell the people at the bar. If I lose my job, I’ll have even less money to compensate her.”
Qin Sheng didn’t dwell on that issue with him and only said, “Fine. As long as you take good care of her these next two days, go hire a caregiver right now. Five thousand a month, paid properly, and I won’t make things difficult for you.”
No matter what Qin Sheng said, Chen Zhihong agreed to everything obediently. Yan Jiabao, half-reclining on the hospital bed, still didn’t say anything, probably because she wasn’t feeling well physically either. Half an hour later, after Qin Sheng confirmed that the caregiver was in place, he briefly said goodbye to her, landed another solid punch on Chen Zhihong, and only then took Qin Shui and left.
Handling things up to this point was already benevolent and righteous enough. Qin Sheng had no intention of continuing to get entangled in their private affairs.
The two of them passed through the obstetrics ward’s nurse station and the nursery. Qin Shui seemed rather curious about the place, looking around, occasionally stopping to read the childcare knowledge posted on the walls.
Aside from the day he was born, this was only the second time in his life that Qin Sheng had set foot in an obstetrics department, so he simply stopped and looked together with Qin Shui. On the pink-and-white board were illustrated explanations teaching expectant mothers how to protect a pregnancy, how to eat properly, and how to use medication.
His gaze lingered on the six characters “Medications Prohibited for Infants,” lost in thought. After all, Qin Shui’s hearing impairment was caused by this very thing. Afraid of stirring up sad memories, he stole a glance at her.
However, Qin Shui was very calm. After reading it carefully, she followed Qin Sheng toward the elevator lobby.
While waiting for the elevator, they ran into a family of four who had come to take a new mother home. Qin Sheng put an arm around Qin Shui and made room for them. The new mother sat in a wheelchair, holding a swaddled baby in her arms, while her family members and husband stood around carrying large and small bags, discussing how to properly lift the wheelchair into the elevator later.
It wasn’t clear whether she was the new mother’s own mother or mother-in-law, but the elderly woman smiled kindly and nodded at them. Qin Sheng, ever good with words, smiled and said, “Congratulations, Auntie. Are you a grandmother or a maternal grandmother?”
The auntie beamed with joy. “A maternal grandmother! A little padded jacket!”
Qin Sheng praised, “Daughters are the most considerate. These days, so many people want to have a daughter.”
The whole family was delighted to hear this, all smiling. The woman in the wheelchair then greeted Qin Shui, “Are you two here for a prenatal checkup as well?”
Qin Shui was just about to wave her hand when Qin Sheng reacted faster than she did. He pressed down on her wrist and nodded repeatedly. “Yes, prenatal checkup. She’s not showing yet.”
The woman gently patted the baby in her arms and replied happily, “Congratulations to you too. I wish you a healthy baby.”
“Thank you,” Qin Sheng replied.
Qin Shui also smiled and nodded. She noticed that Qin Sheng especially liked hearing this. When they entered and exited the elevator, he even lent a hand, and that family praised him endlessly. After they said their goodbyes and the two walked toward the parking garage, Qin Shui suddenly hurried to add:
“My deafness is acquired. It isn’t hereditary.”
Qin Sheng froze.
He thought the family earlier might have said something that Qin Shui misunderstood or misheard, and immediately explained, “I know. I don’t care about that at all.”
Qin Shui signed, “You need to know. I have to tell you.”
“I know! I know!” He wrapped both arms around Qin Shui and couldn’t help laughing as he reproached her. “You really are silly.”
They kissed in front of the car.