In less than twenty minutes, the X-ray was finished.
The doctor pointed to the hair-thin hairline fracture shadow in the middle of the humerus of the left arm on the film, softly describing the condition of the wound.
He looked up at Fu Hua and reported her quietly:
“Ever since she came to us, every time she got injured on a mission, she would endure it herself until she finished writing her report before coming to report it.”
“The time before last was a fractured rib, the time before that both of her hands were scratched by aether crystal at the same time, and the time before that her scapula was fractured after being knocked flying by an Ethereal…”
“The temporary immobilization you gave her was extremely crucial.
If you hadn’t stopped her immediately after she came out of the Hollow, she probably would have gone back to her office first to finish writing the mission report before coming over.”
With every word the doctor spoke, Zhu Yuan’s expression grew increasingly guilty and awkward.
Fu Hua looked down at Zhu Yuan.
At this moment, Zhu Yuan was pretending to look at the fluorescent light on the ceiling.
“This light is really so…
lighting…”
Fu Hua pulled the doctor to the doorway and whispered a few words to him, while Zhu Yuan, sitting in place, strained her ears hard, but unfortunately couldn’t hear a thing.
A few minutes later — — — —
Zhu Yuan was pushed into the operating room.
Fu Hua sat on the hallway bench, still clutching that pair of blood-stained sterile gloves in her hand.
The door of the operating room opened.
Zhu Yuan was pushed out.
Her right thigh was wrapped with an elastic bandage all the way from above the knee to her hip, and her left arm was immobilized with a medical polymer splint and hung in front of her chest.
Her ankle was replaced with a medical ice pack compress and pad, plus pressure bandaging with an elastic bandage.
She leaned against the wheelchair, her complexion somewhat pale but her mind clear.
When she saw Fu Hua stand up, her eyes brightened noticeably like two dazzling little light bulbs.
“I thought you left, I’m giving you a surprise.” She paused after saying this, then picked up a form from the operation console with her right hand and handed it to Fu Hua.
“While I’m still able to write things, sign this first.”
“I said, I’m staying with you…”
Fu Hua looked down: Private Detective License Application Form.
In the guarantor column, Zhu Yuan’s name was already signed, stamped next to it with her personal seal in red ink.
The edges of the form were very neat with no folding marks.
From the settlement’s emergency light to her desk lamp, this piece of paper had accompanied her completely down the entire hallway from the Hollow to the Public Security Bureau.
Fu Hua put the form away, folded it neatly, and solemnly placed it into the interlayer of her backpack.
After confirming it was properly stowed, Fu Hua pushed Zhu Yuan out of the hospital and walked toward the Public Security Bureau.
“Just now at the door, I agreed with the doctor that I will be responsible for taking care of you and helping you recover better and faster.”
“He sent me the schedule for your subsequent dressing changes, ice pack replacements, and splint elastic band adjustments.
I will come according to the schedule to help you change them.
If you secretly go back to your office to write reports by yourself again—” She paused.
“I will compile everything you said to me in the Hollow into written materials and put them into your Public Security Bureau promotional video.”
Zhu Yuan widened her eyes.
Her cheeks quickly turned from light red to dark red.
“You—those words were—”
“Which words?”
Fu Hua’s expression was serious, but her tone carried a hint of a smile.
“Is it you telling me that you’re super scared of kittens?
Or is it you saying Qingyi asked you to go to the vegetable market to bargain with vendors to practice interrogation skills?
Any of these work, I have the recording.”
“I don’t believe it!
You don’t have a recording!”
“Guess ~”
“Wanna make a bet ~”
Zhu Yuan covered her face with her right hand, the tips of her ears turning completely red.
She squeezed out a sentence through her fingers: ‘…When will the dressing change schedule be sent over?’
“Before dinner.”
‘…Mn’
Zhu Yuan took her hand away from her face and lowered her right hand.
She looked at the splint on her left arm hanging in front of her chest, then at the elastic bandage wrapped around her right thigh, and then looked at Fu Hua.
She leaned back in the wheelchair, closed her eyes, as if the words ‘resigned to fate’ were carved onto her face.
After returning to the Public Security Bureau, Fu Hua first pushed Zhu Yuan to the restroom, took out a wet towel, soaked it in warm water, wrung it out halfway, and pushed her in front of the sink.
Fu Hua stood behind Zhu Yuan, wiping slowly with the towel along her hairline in front of her forehead.
From behind her ears around to the back of her neck, and then down the back of her neck, her fingertips lingered for a while on the back of Zhu Yuan’s neck, gently massaging away the swelling around the edges of the superficial abrasion cut by the aether crystal.
Finally, the towel pressed gently against the center of Zhu Yuan’s brows.
“Your eyebrows are very heroic.
But your brows are always knitted—is work usually too stressful?
You need to relax more.
After applying the ice pack to your ankle, remember to change to a new one for your arm.
Starting on the third day of the left arm fracture, secondary swelling will occur.
Use a new ice pack then, and also…”
The nagging chirping of a bird started again…
Washing, wringing out, and hanging up the towel, Fu Hua pushed Zhu Yuan’s wheelchair, slowly turned around, and walked toward the lounge.
The sunlight at the end of the corridor filtered through the gaps in the leaves of the pothos plant on the windowsill, falling like golden fragments onto the two of them, pulling out two long, leaning-on-each-other shadows on the floor.
Returning to Zhu Yuan’s lounge, Fu Hua first carefully helped her sit stably on a chair, then poured a cup of warm water from the thermos, gently placing it on her right-hand side within easy reach.
After finishing these things, Fu Hua took out a palm-sized memo pad from her bosom, turned to a brand-new page, wrote ‘Dressing Change Schedule’ at the top, and neatly wrote today’s date on the first line with a black gel pen.
“I’ll go get a new cold pack for you.
Sit for a moment.”
She said softly and turned to leave.
When she returned to the desk carrying another bag of icy-cold new ice packs and a roll of new elastic bandage, she saw that Zhu Yuan had already fallen asleep leaning against the sofa.
Her left hand was still hanging in front of her chest, her red hair tips sliding down from her shoulder, her profile pillowed in the crook of her curled right arm, her breathing as light as a feather, so steady it was almost inaudible.
The brow tips that were usually slightly knitted were finally relaxed at this moment, without a shred of tense fierceness.
Beside her hand was still spread the signature pen that hadn’t been capped in time, and a half-written memo.
The afternoon sunlight outside the window fell on her sleeping profile, casting a row of fine, downy light shadows on the eyelashes of her eyelids.
Fu Hua did not speak to wake her up.
She walked over with lightened steps, squatted down, and secured the new ice pack to Zhu Yuan’s left ankle with extremely light and gentle movements, without even a trace of shaking.
After finishing all this, she tore off the written dressing change schedule from the memo pad, folded it into a neat small square, and gently pressed it under the desk calendar on Zhu Yuan’s right-hand side.
The pothos on the windowsill hung its branches and leaves, quietly accompanying the gentleness of the room.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”