Chapter 11: Zhou Wan'er

Ye Dali turned away with a guilty conscience, pulling off his shirt as he explained.

"How about we stop taking jobs that are too far away at night from now on?"

Ye Qinghe looked at the scrapes on Ye Dali's body, his voice tinged with concern.

"It's fine. Today was just a fluke. The main thing is I wasn't wearing my reflective vest. I'll put it on tomorrow — other vehicles will be able to spot me from far away, and this won't happen again."

Ye Dali took off his shirt and splashed some water from the outdoor tap, wiping down his wounds with a towel. Each touch made him hiss sharply through his teeth.

The scrapes were shallow, but while they didn't hurt when left alone, even the lightest touch sent a sharp sting through him.

After cleaning the wounds with water, Ye Dali dug out a bottle of iodine from the first-aid kit and gritted his teeth as he dabbed it over every spot he could reach.

"Come here — I'll help you apply it to the ones on your back."

Ye Qinghe had been watching from the side. Noticing that Ye Dali had missed a patch on his back, he spoke up.

"You're going to apply it? How?"

Ye Dali looked completely baffled. Ye Qinghe could only move his head — how on earth was he supposed to help?

"Dip a cotton swab in the iodine, then tape it to my right index finger. Lift my arm up to the level of your back, and I can move my finger back and forth to apply it!"

Ye Dali hadn't expected that suggestion at all from Ye Qinghe.

Still, he shook his head. "Forget it. It's just a few scrapes — nothing serious."

"Hurry up. Let's get this done and go to sleep!"

Ye Qinghe said, a little irritated.

He's a grown man and still such a handful!

Seeing Ye Qinghe's annoyance, Ye Dali said nothing more. He followed Ye Qinghe's instructions, prepared everything as directed, and then lifted Ye Qinghe's hand himself.

"A little higher!"

"A bit more!"

"Shift about two centimetres to the right!"

"A little more to the upper right — there, right there!"

And so it was that Ye Qinghe — completely paralyzed, currently able to move only a single finger — helped Ye Dali apply iodine to his back using just that one finger.

"Alright, get some sleep!"

The next morning, when Ye Qinghe woke up, he found someone in the room — not Ye Dali, but a young woman. He was startled.

"Qinghe, you're awake? You haven't had breakfast yet, right? I bought you your favourite — tofu pudding with garlic sauce, chive flower paste, and cilantro. It's still warm. Want to eat now?"

The girl had been sitting on the small sofa beside Ye Qinghe, scrolling through her phone, glancing over at him every now and then. She happened to look up just as he woke, and with a smile she stood up, picked up the food in front of her, and walked over.

"Um, you..."

Ye Qinghe hesitated, the words trailing off as a memory surfaced.

Zhou Wan'er — his Childhood Sweetheart from way back. They had been in the same class from kindergarten all the way through high school. When he fell ill in his second year of high school, he dropped out and came to Jingcheng. A year later, she sat her university entrance exams and also ended up in Jingcheng, coming by to look after him most weekends.

"I've already changed and cleaned you up. Though — I'm not sure if it was just my imagination — when I was cleaning you, I thought I saw your finger move."

Zhou Wan'er opened the container of tofu pudding and stirred the savoury broth through it with a spoon, being careful not to break it up too finely. Ye Qinghe liked it stirred, but not mashed.

She had...

Ye Qinghe felt deeply uncomfortable. She had cleaned him up — and changed his adult diaper?

But then he recalled that this wasn't the first time she had done this. Over the past two years, no matter where they moved, she always came by and helped take care of that for him.

As she put it herself: was there any part of him she didn't know inside and out?

She'd seen everything when they were little kids!

They'd even bathed together as children!

"I saw the hospital examination report on the table just now. Did you go to the hospital again? What were the results?"

Ye Qinghe was quiet for a long moment. Zhou Wan'er didn't mind — over the past few months, Ye Qinghe had become a man of few words. That was precisely why she now came by almost every weekend, hoping to lift his spirits.

"There's been some change. The day before yesterday, my right index finger started moving, so I went to the hospital yesterday for a check-up. The results were still more or less the same as before, though — no significant change overall."

Ye Qinghe replied with a flushed face. He still felt a little embarrassed.

The original Ye Qinghe and Zhou Wan'er had been Childhood Sweethearts since they were small — she'd seen everything there was to see. But he wasn't the original Ye Qinghe!

Speaking of which, Zhou Wan'er was genuinely quite beautiful. Ye Qinghe estimated her height at around 1.7 metres. She had curves in all the right places — front protrusion and rear lift — and her face was a classic Oval face with large, bright eyes and two dimples that appeared whenever she smiled.

"Really? Didn't I tell you that you'd get better? See — I was right!"

Hearing that Ye Qinghe's finger had truly started moving, Zhou Wan'er was overjoyed. Her smile in the morning light made Ye Qinghe blink.

"So you see — you have to believe in your heart that you'll recover. This finger starting to move is a sign. Slowly it'll be the whole hand, then the arm, then the rest of your body. Before long, you'll be completely healthy again!"

Zhou Wan'er was genuinely thrilled by Ye Qinghe's progress, her words tumbling out with excitement.

"Wan'er's here?"

Just then, Ye Dali came back carrying some food. He heard Zhou Wan'er's voice before he even stepped through the door.

"Mm, Uncle Dali! Something this wonderful happened and you didn't tell me? If I'd known Qinghe was getting better, I would've come yesterday!"

Zhou Wan'er turned to look at Ye Dali, a hint of reproach in her voice.

"I was so caught up in being happy that I completely forgot. Have you eaten?"

Ye Dali laughed sheepishly — he really had forgotten.

"Honestly. But I suppose it's understandable. We've finally waited for this day. I always said Qinghe would get better!"

Zhou Wan'er wasn't truly upset. After her brief complaint, she broke into a happy smile again.

"That's right — everything is going to be fine!"

Ye Dali's face was equally bright. This was without a doubt the happiest thing that had happened to him in three years.

"Uncle Dali, what happened to you? You've got so many scrapes!"

As Ye Dali came closer, Zhou Wan'er noticed the injuries on his body. They had already scabbed over, but the affected area was clearly quite large.

"It's nothing. Last night on my way back from a designated driving job, I accidentally rode into a ditch. Just a few scrapes, nothing serious."

Ye Dali said dismissively, though the memory of Ye Qinghe helping him apply the iodine the night before made him smile again.

"Qinghe helped me apply the iodine to my back!"

"Qinghe applied it? How did he manage that?"

"He taped a cotton swab to his finger, and then..."