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Chapter 567: Chapter 557: Don’t want to know how it came, just want to know how it’s gone
"What did you say?" Shen Yunfang felt like she must have misheard and asked again uncertainly.
"Yunfang, calm down a bit. Hongjun needs you now, you need to be strong," Ma Liguo said with a solemn expression.
"Li Hongjun is really injured, severely injured?" It was as if Shen Yunfang hadn’t heard the previous words at all; she just needed to confirm again that what she had heard was true.
Just now, she had heard a knock on the door, and upon opening it, she saw Ma Liguo with a soldier standing outside. She found it rather odd, but then they told her, with utter seriousness, that Li Hongjun had been gravely wounded and was in a coma on the battlefield.
Ma Liguo sighed. He knew how cruel this news could be to a woman, to a wife, but as a military spouse, one must always be prepared for such possibilities in their heart.
"Yes, Captain Li is seriously injured and in a coma. Right now, we’re heading to the field hospital. The commander has asked me to pick up sister-in-law to go take care of Captain Li," the soldier who had followed to deliver the news said with a pained look.
Actually, everyone knew that when they said "to take care of sister-in-law," it really meant giving the couple a chance to see each other for possibly the last time.
Once Shen Yunfang confirmed again that she hadn’t misheard, she felt as if the sky was spinning. From the moment Li Hongjun had gone to the battlefield, she had braced herself for the worst, but upon actually hearing such devastating news, she still couldn’t control the sorrow in her heart.
Seeing her distress, Ma Liguo quickly supported her. "Yunfang, you have to hold on. Hongjun is still lying in bed, waiting for you to take care of him, and think of Pangpang and Manman," he said.
Shen Yunfang closed her eyes. Yes, this outcome was already fortunate. The fact that the soldier hadn’t said directly that Li Hongjun was dead was good news. Even if he was severely injured and in a coma, there was still a chance he could regain consciousness and heal. Even if he were to end up disabled or anything of the sort, it wasn’t the end of the world – better than being gone. Besides, she had two children. No matter the outcome, she had to endure for her two children.
When she opened her eyes again, Shen Yunfang’s gaze was resolute, yet tears uncontrollably streamed down her face. "I’m fine. It’s just too sudden, and I got a bit emotional. Are you going to the hospital now? Wait for me then. I’ll pack up my things and come with you." Then she turned to Ma Liguo and said, "Brother Ma, I’ll have to trouble you and sister-in-law to take care of Pangpang and Manman for a while."
"Don’t worry about that; we’ll take good care of the kids. You go with a peace of mind. I’ll also help you apply for leave at school," Ma Liguo nodded and agreed. If not for the military’s rules, he would have liked to go and see Hongjun, too.
After hearing this, Shen Yunfang nodded. She was reassured to entrust the children to Ma Liguo and his wife. She turned and went inside to pack, thinking that she might not be able to come back anytime soon. She grabbed a large backpack and began to prepare as if going on a long journey. Considering Li Hongjun’s situation wouldn’t improve quickly, she packed several sets of clothes for changing and brought some for Li Hongjun as well, including underwear, along with toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bed sheets... Anything that wouldn’t fit, she put into a space.
After ten minutes, she appeared in the living room with an oversized black bag.
"Brother Ma, here’s a hundred yuan..." Shen Yunfang pulled out a hundred yuan from her pocket and handed it to Ma Liguo.
"What are you doing?" Ma Liguo looked somewhat displeased, thinking Shen Yunfang was giving him money for taking care of the children. Their families were so close; it would be inappropriate to take money for that.
"This isn’t for you," Shen Yunfang said. "I don’t know when Li Hongjun will get better, so I’d like you to also look after the Shen family’s courtyard for me. Don’t worry too much about it. We have at least three months’ worth of rice and flour stocked up over there. You just need to give my father-in-law twenty yuan each month, so he can buy some vegetables and such. If they manage to sort out their affairs here, just buy them a couple of train tickets back to their hometown." Shen Yunfang had calculated that Li Hongqi’s matter wouldn’t drag on for too long, one or two months at most, so a hundred yuan should be enough. And if it wasn’t, Ma Liguo could cover for her initially. When she returned, they could settle any difference.
Ma Liguo took the hundred yuan from her hand as she spoke, "Alright, don’t worry about things here; if something comes up when you’re over there, just give me a call, and it’ll be the same."
"Mhm, okay, it’s really troubling Brother Ma to worry about the household," Shen Yunfang finished speaking and turned to the soldier beside her. "Comrade, let’s get going then." Her heart had already flown off, wishing she could be at Li Hongjun’s side this very moment.
The group descended from the building, and a jeep was waiting for them downstairs.
A few old ladies chatting leisurely downstairs saw Shen Yunfang get into the jeep and started chattering and gossiping again.
Shen Yunfang, who had no time to bother about them at the moment, quickly went over a few things with Ma Liguo and then followed the jeep as it disappeared into the depths of Hongsheng Community.
Only after the military vehicle was out of sight did an old lady approach Ma Liguo to inquire, "What’s Xiaoshen off to do, and why’s she being picked up by a military vehicle?"
Ma Liguo glanced at her and said seriously, "Is that really something you can ask? This is a state secret." He left with large strides after speaking.
"Tch, who are you trying to fool? Just a woman and she’s suddenly a state secret? She probably got in trouble and was taken away for all you know," grumbled the old lady who felt her dignity slighted.
Thus, new rumors about the Shen family began to circulate in the community.
Shen Yunfang was unaware of all these; her mind was a chaotic blaze. Following the two young soldiers, taking a bus to catch a train and then another bus, it took three days of jolting travel before they finally arrived at the field hospital at the border.
On the journey, she learned from the two young soldiers about Li Hongjun’s general condition.
Li Hongjun had been injured by a bomb, with shrapnel embedded all over his body. Though surgery was performed to remove the fragments, his body was riddled with holes. Yet, this was not the worst of his injuries; the most severe damage was to his brain. Although there were no bomb fragments in his head, the massive force of the explosion had caused a blood vessel in his brain to burst, leading to continuous bleeding, and the leaked blood had formed clots, compressing his brain nerves, causing him to remain unconscious until now.
Though he had been saved by emergency treatment and was out of the intensive care unit, his half-month-long coma was sustained only by daily IV drips, and his vital signs were already extremely weak. The doctor hadn’t explicitly said it, but if he continued like this without waking up, Li Hongjun wasn’t far from closing his eyes forever.
This was the tragic order given—to have Li Hongjun’s loved one brought to take care of him, hoping she could awaken him. Even if there was no saving him in the end, it would at least allow the couple to see each other one last time.
As per regulations, Li Hongjun’s injury was confidential; notifying family members to visit or take care of him was not allowed. This situation was an exceptional authorization.
As for why Li Hongjun was injured by the bomb, what he was doing at the time, Shen Yunfang couldn’t find out; whenever this question arose, the young soldiers would present her with four words, "military secret."
Shen Yunfang took a deep breath and told herself not to be angry; she didn’t want to know how Li Hongjun had received these wounds but rather how they could be healed.
