After returning to the ward, He Chunli found that the young nurse's attitude towards her had taken a 180-degree turn.
When she was first sent to the ward, the young nurse affectionately called her sister-in-law. But after just a short while, she suddenly changed her attitude and ignored me. Even when I took the initiative to talk to her, she was very cold.
At first, He Chunli thought it was her illusion. But when the young nurse took more attentively care of Lin Laoshi and rushed to do many things that she, as his wife, should have done, she realized that she was not overthinking it. This young nurse just has a problem with her!
What's the problem? He Chunli recalled carefully and found the time when the young nurse's attitude changed. It seemed that everything changed after she went to the toilet and came back.
Could it be that Lin Laoshi said something to her? No, Lin Laoshi is not a gossip, and they are husband and wife, he will not embarrass his wife.
So why is that? He Chunli never thought that it was because she thought the urinal was dirty. Because she noticed that there was no one in the toilet at that time, and in her subconscious mind, it was normal to dislike the dirty urinal.
But she forgot that this was the simple early 1980s, an era when many cities still had public dry toilets and the glorious profession of night soil collector. At that time, the feces from the dry toilets in the city were very popular, and people had to pay for giving it to the vegetable team. Moreover, at that time, many residents did not have toilets at home, and there were only one or two toilets shared on each floor. Everyone used spittoons to urinate at night and then dealt with them when they got up the next day. It can be said that cleaning urinals was almost a normal part of life for most people in the city at this time.
So her behavior became particularly unusual.
After thinking about it, she felt that something might have happened in the ward when she went to the bathroom that she didn't know about. So she decided to test Lin Laoshi's attitude: "Ashi, does Nurse Xiao Jiang dislike me very much?"
Xiao Jiang's actions were so obvious, and Lin Laoshi was not blind, so how could he not see it. But he pretended not to know, raised his eyebrows in surprise, and uttered the classic line of a steely straight man: "Really? You're overthinking it!"
He Chunli was speechless after hearing this. If she argued with him word by word, it would seem that she was being unreasonable. Never mind. She just arrived and her relationship with her husband is still ordinary. Her most urgent task is to take good care of her husband and win his favor. There is no need to argue with others.
Thinking of this, He Chunli curled up a smile, found a way to save face, and played the victim: "You are right, maybe I'm overthinking it. I sat on the train for a whole day and a night, and hardly slept. My mind is confused."
Most people who heard this would probably care about their wife and say a few words of gratitude. But Lin Laoshi didn't follow the beaten path. He said seriously: "You're not bad here. At least you have a place to stay and you can sit for a while. If it's New Year's Day or National Day, let alone a ticket, there's no place to put your feet. The toilets, doors, and aisles are crowded with people. At night, there's no place to sleep. Some people crawl under the seats to take a nap, otherwise they can't stand it for several days. Once when I went back on a home visit, there were too many people. I couldn't squeeze in even after buying a ticket. Two comrades who were seeing me off lifted me up and squeezed in..."
He Chunli was very disappointed to see that Lin Laoshi was just talking about his experience of taking the train without a word of concern. In her previous life, although she was unlucky in love and did not meet someone to entrust her life to, any one of those men was better at talking than Lin Laoshi.
He Chunli was extremely depressed and even began to doubt whether it was the right decision for her to be reborn and come back to find Lin Laoshi.
Her husband is really not considerate at all and has a negative emotional intelligence.
But as soon as this thought came out, she suppressed it. No, no matter how nice other men said, they still abandoned her, right? Only Lin Laoshi came to her aid when she was diagnosed with cancer. Before she died, she vaguely heard the nurse say that Lin Laoshi had made a fortune in business, far beyond what any other man could compare to.
So she pretended to be interested, raised her pair of bright almond eyes, slightly opened her mouth, supported her chin, raised her little face, and looked at Lin Laoshi with admiration.
Lin Laoshi noticed her change of mood, lowered his eyes quietly, and raised his lips in sarcasm. It hasn't been long, but He Chunli seems unable to tolerate this "vulgar", "inconsiderate" and "low EQ" husband. The rest of her life is so long, can she endure it?
In fact, Lin Laoshi himself did not resent He Chunli for eloping with someone. The two got married through a blind date, and were rarely together, so they didn't have much affection for each other. Once he fell into trouble and could no longer provide He Chunli with a better life, it was understandable that she wanted to leave.
Because their marriage can be summed up by a very popular saying in later generations: "You and I have no destiny, it's all thanks to my spending", so it is normal that they cannot share the hardships. But if she was going to leave, she should leave with dignity and only take the property that belonged to her, instead of taking away all the money the original owner had earned from his retirement and recuperation.
What's even more disgusting is that after wandering around outside and realizing that she had entrusted her trust to the wrong person, she shamelessly came back to find the original owner. Trying to impress the original owner and find a long-term meal ticket.
What does she think the original owner is? Recycling bins?
Her behavior is not repentance, but repaying kindness with enmity. A person who truly knows shame, has true dignity, and is truly aware of her mistakes will not have the nerve to look for the husband who was abandoned by her in her previous life.
If she were reborn, able to be self-reliant and strong, and take the initiative to leave the original owner, Lin Laoshi would look at her with a higher regard.
"Ashi, Ashi, what are you thinking about? There's a living person in front of you, and you're distracted." He Chunli waved her hand in front of his eyes and said coquettishly.
Lin Laoshi yawned and said, "I'm a little sleepy and tired. I'm going to take a nap for a while."
After saying that, he closed his eyes.
He Chunli bit her lower lip and stared at his sleeping face, feeling extremely dissatisfied. She said she hadn't slept for almost a whole day and night on the train, and he hadn't said a word to ask her to sleep. But after chatting for a few sentences, he said he was sleepy and fell asleep, completely ignoring her, his wife who had come from thousands of miles away to visit and take care of him.
After sulking for a few minutes, He Chunli saw that Lin Laoshi had fallen asleep, so she had no choice but to find a place to sleep by herself. She turned her head and looked around the ward. It was a single room, but it was very small, only seven or eight square meters. Apart from a single bed and a set of tables and chairs, there was nothing else, not to mention a place to sleep.
It was getting dark and she was really sleepy. He Chunli went back to the bedside, reached out and grabbed Lin Laoshi's arm. Just as she was about to shake it, the door opened.
"What are you doing?" The young nurse ran over protectively, pulled He Chunli's hand away, and scolded in a low voice, "Captain Lin is so seriously injured. The doctor told him to have a good rest. He finally fell asleep. Why are you shaking him?"
He Chunli knew she was in the wrong, so she didn't argue with the young nurse. She asked, "Where should I sleep tonight?"
The young nurse raised her head and looked at her with a strange look. Captain Lin is such a good man, what kind of wife did he marry? She doesn't look like she's here to take care of the patient. It's more like she's here to cause trouble.
All the family members who stay in the hospital room find a place to rest by themselves. Those with better conditions can rent a folding bed, while those with less favorable conditions can sleep on the table for a night or move a few chairs together and lie down for a while.
Looking at her, it seems that she has not considered these two things at all. So what does she want to do?
The sound of their talking woke Lin Laoshi up.
Lin Laoshi rubbed his eyes and said to the nurse tiredly, "Xiao Jiang, please use my military ID to go to the guesthouse opposite the hospital and get a room."
"But you need someone to keep watch at night..." the nurse said disapprovingly.
Lin Laoshi was covered in wounds and couldn't move. What should he do if he felt uncomfortable at night, or wanted to drink water or go to the toilet?
Lin Laoshi waved his hands at her and said stubbornly: "It's okay, I will call you if there is anything. Chunli is not a nurse, she can't help much here."
The last sentence successfully convinced the young nurse. Yes, she said she was here to take care of the patients, but He Chunli couldn't even hold a plastic basin steadily, and she needed someone to find a place for her to sleep. Didn't this just mess up their work? Not only can she not help here, but she will probably have to make Captain Lin worry about her.
Thinking of this, the young nurse stopped persuading her, took out Lin Laoshi's military and official ID from the drawer, and took He Chunli to the guesthouse.
On the way, a few acquaintances saw the young nurse taking He Chunli downstairs and asked her where she was going so late.
The young nurse smiled and said, "Captain Lin's wife came to visit on the first day and had no place to sleep, so Captain Lin asked me to take her to the guesthouse."
He Chunli didn't notice anything wrong with this sentence and smiled shyly at the person asking the question.
As soon as she left, these people started talking about it.
"Captain Lin's wife is quite pretty, but she's too delicate, isn't she? I heard that Captain Lin just escaped danger today and woke up, and she can sleep in the guesthouse peacefully?"
"That's right. If my man was injured so badly, I wouldn't feel at ease if I didn't keep an eye on him."
"That's right. Captain Lin is also pitiful. His wife doesn't love people. What's the use of being pretty? A country woman is more delicate than a city woman. Last time Battalion Commander Wang was injured, his wife was a cadre. She took a leave of absence and took care of him in the hospital day and night. His wife stayed in the hospital for as many days as Battalion Commander Wang. Compared to this, Captain Lin is really pitiful!"
...
He Chunli had no idea that she left a very bad impression on everyone just because she stayed in the guesthouse on the first day she came to visit the patient.
When Lin Laoshi took the initiative to let He Chunli stay in the guesthouse, he had anticipated the reactions of others. But this was not enough, he wanted to add fuel to the fire and completely ruin He Chunli's reputation in the military hospital.
In this way, people in the army would see that she was unreliable and would hand over his retirement allowance to him when he was discharged from the hospital. In that era, there was no resettlement money for veterans. This money was a convalescent allowance allocated to him by the army.
But according to the context of the original book, because he was injured and had difficulty moving, many procedures were handled by He Chunli and her comrades. Naturally, the money fell into He Chunli's hands, and in the end almost all of it was spent on her dressing up.