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Chapter 142: Chapter 136: A Small Awkwardness
Shen Yunfang followed Old Mr. Li to the guesthouse, listening to his endless, stumbling words along the way. She summarized his advice: she shouldn’t take Qiu Shuping’s words too personally. Although Qiu Shuping might have been a bit crude in her speech, some things she said were indeed correct, and as someone junior in the family, she should listen to her advice. After all, they would all be one family in the future, living together, stirring the pot of life, so harmony should be prized above all.
Shen Yunfang didn’t say a word throughout the journey, and her opinion of her future father-in-law had significantly dropped. She felt it was unfair to her own frugal father.
Upon arriving at the guesthouse, Old Mr. Li felt awkward about entering the room with his daughter-in-law, so he pointed out which room they were staying in, said a word to a junior staff member, then returned to the hospital.
When she entered the room the old couple had been sleeping in, she had intended to rest properly, but she felt uncomfortable upon seeing hairs on the pillow.
After reflecting on the fact that the Li Elderly couple had slept there, she couldn’t bring herself to lie down. She didn’t want to put herself through that discomfort, so she took her luggage and went to the front desk to ask the staff to open another room for her.
This military guesthouse was high-class, not somewhere just anyone could stay, and the leaders had arranged for the Li couple to stay here mainly because of Li Hongjun’s status. So when the staff member heard she wanted to open another room, they were hesitant to agree, even though Shen Yunfang offered to pay.
Shen Yunfang pressed for quite a while, before they finally agreed to ask their leaders for permission.
With that, the junior staff member took Shen Yunfang’s letter of introduction and called their superiors.
Shen Yunfang waited for a short while, and the staff member returned with good news, saying the leader had agreed—Li Hongjun’s circumstances were special, so they allowed one more room to be opened for her.
The staff then processed her paperwork, and took her to a room next to the Li Elderly couple’s room, which was also a standard room with two beds, but without an en-suite bathroom, meaning she had to go to the communal bathrooms on each floor for washing up.
Shen Yunfang was quite satisfied with these conditions and thanked the staff profusely before she finally lay down on the bed to catch up on sleep. She slept straight through to noon, waking up hungry.
Pulling out rice and dishes from her space, she was about to eat when she thought of Li Hongjun, still lying in the hospital ward. Sighing, she hurriedly ate a few bites before packing everything away and heading back to the hospital. Instead of going to the ward directly, she first sought out Li Hongjun’s lead doctor to find out what he could eat and what would be best for his recovery. Then, she returned to the guesthouse to see that same junior staff member.
The guesthouse indeed had a small kitchen, used by the staff for cooking, not very big, but equipped with pots and pans. Shen Yunfang said a lot of nice things before she was finally allowed to use the kitchen.
Pretending to go out, Shen Yunfang returned shortly with a hen in hand, swiftly starting to make soup in the kitchen. She stewed it for three hours, filling the guesthouse from the first to third floor with a rich aroma of chicken soup.
The junior staff member kept wandering around the entrance, clearly tempted by the smell.
Shen Yunfang skimmed the oily top off the chicken soup, opened her newly purchased large thermos, and poured the clear broth into it, also packing quite a bit of chicken meat. She filled the entire thermos, leaving some behind, splitting it into two servings—one for the Li Elderly couple and the other as a gesture of goodwill for the junior staff member.
If she wanted to use the kitchen again, she needed to build a good relationship, didn’t she?
Afterwards, she cleaned the kitchen and checked the time in the guesthouse lobby; it was already past four in the afternoon, and dark outside. She instructed the junior staff member to keep the chicken soup for the Li Elderly couple, then carried the thermos to the hospital to take over the Li couple’s caregiving shifts.
Qiu Shuping was suspicious when she saw Shen Yunfang with the thermos. Shen Yunfang explained that it was newly bought, intending to frequently borrow the kitchen to stew nourishing soups for Li Hongjun, which would be convenient to carry back and forth in winter inside the thermos.
Qiu Shuping made two disapproving sounds but didn’t speak further. However, she felt this woman was too wasteful for buying this and that for just a short hospital stay; couldn’t she just endure for a few days and eat at home instead?
But when Shen Yunfang opened the thermos lid, Qiu Shuping couldn’t help but lean in closer.
Shen Yunfang told her directly that the guesthouse kitchen had set aside a small pot of chicken soup for her, which she could warm up and drink when she got back.
Pleased, Qiu Shuping dragged her husband away, even forgetting about their injured son.
"How are you feeling, hungry? What did you eat all day?" Shen Yunfang asked while pouring chicken soup into the lid of the thermos, then carefully carried the soup to the bedside.
"Not hungry, had some IV during the day, didn’t really feel like eating," Li Hongjun replied, looking at her tenderly.
"Hmm, probably because you’ve just had surgery, your body is still weak. I asked the doctor today, and he said at this time it’s best for you to drink soups and liquids. So I borrowed the kitchen at the guesthouse and made you chicken soup, which I’ve stewed all afternoon. It’s really aromatic," Shen Yunfang said, not letting him get up as his leg was still mending from the surgery, and any movement was likely to be terribly painful.
She asked Li Hongjun to tilt his face slightly and began spooning chicken soup into his mouth, one small spoonful after another.
"Is it tasty?" Shen Yunfang asked, feeling a bit embarrassed as he stared at her without blinking.
"Mhm, delicious," Li Hongjun’s heart was filled with tenderness.
"Let’s get this straight, I’m not serving you for nothing. If I ever fall ill and can’t move, you’ll have to take care of me just like today," Shen Yunfang said with a hint of coquetry.
"Alright, if you get sick, I’ll take care of you," Li Hongjun promised.
The two shared a tender moment as they finished a bowl of soup. Then, Shen Yunfang sealed the thermos. Drinking just this much wouldn’t last a big man like him long before he got hungry again; he could have more later.
Afterward, the two of them faced a serious problem.
Because Li Hongjun had porridge during the day and was on an IV drip, followed by the bowl of soup in the evening, his bladder could hold no more and desperately sought release.
While the older Li couple were around, he felt too embarrassed to say anything and just endured it. But now, he really couldn’t bear it any longer.
Shen Yunfang, with a composed expression, pulled a urine bottle from under the bed. The pungent odor hit her from afar, nearly knocking her over.
"Can you hold on? This is too dirty. I’ll go scrub it for you."
Seeing Li Hongjun nod, she quickly grabbed it and went to the restroom in the hallway. She rinsed it several times thoroughly, even scalded it with hot water before bringing it back.
Seeing Li Hongjun lying on the hospital bed waiting for her made her face uncontrollably flush.
Shen Yunfang fanned herself to cool down, thinking there was really nothing to it; caring for a patient had nothing to do with gender. After mentally preparing herself, she fearlessly stepped forward, flipped back the blanket covering Li Hongjun, and her face turned beet red once more.
"Why, why, why aren’t you wearing any pants?" Shen Yunfang was dumbfounded. Could someone tell her what that slowly rising thing was?
Li Hongjun also tried to stay calm, but the part of him that was out of control made his face flush a dark, burning red, "They don’t let you wear any in the operating room."
So it turned out he had been naked like this since leaving the operating room two days ago.
"Can you stop staring? I really can’t hold it any longer," said Li Hongjun, feeling exasperated.
"Oh? Oh!" Shen Yunfang hurriedly picked up the urine bottle, "You can’t pee into the bottle like this." She sized it up; it was going to be difficult.
"If you weren’t looking, could I be like this?" Li Hongjun argued forcefully.
"If I’m not looking, how am I supposed to help you pee?" Shen Yunfang countered with equal conviction.
Li Hongjun felt like he had lost all his dignity in one day, "Hurry up, or you’ll be washing the sheets."
Upon hearing this, Shen Yunfang threw aside her inhibitions, quickly reached out to grab it, and stuffed the thing into the urine bottle. Then, without her having to coax it, the bottle started to make a trickling sound; he really was desperate.
Shen Yunfang didn’t dare let go; if she did, that part of him would touch the urine bottle. Although she had scrubbed and disinfected it, it was still quite disgusting. Since she had already grabbed hold of it, she decided to keep holding it.
Only when the sound stopped did Shen Yunfang toss aside what was in her hand, then ran off with the urine bottle as fast as she could. Li Hongjun couldn’t even call her back, looking speechless at the door. At least cover me up with the blanket.
