Chapter 16: Celebrating the Lunar New Year (Part 2)

A sudden commotion erupted as a group of four people swarmed into the neighboring bed, 516.

Tao Fei could no longer sleep. She reached out to pull the privacy curtain around her bed, but no sooner had she let go than it was yanked aside with a sharp rattle.

"Sorry about that! It feels so stuffy with the curtain drawn. I like to look at the view outside."

The woman with the round, plate-like face beamed a brilliant smile at Tao Fei. She sat cross-legged on the hospital bed, clutching a bag of roasted chestnuts. She shouted at the two men who had entered to hurry back to their shop, then told her mother, who was busy stuffing bags and bundles into the locker, to stop tidying up and sit down to rest for a moment.

The aroma of the roasted chestnuts made Tao Fei swallow involuntarily. It was strange; ever since she had taken over this body, she had felt nothing—no pain from injections, medication, or her minimally invasive surgical wound. The three-fresh wontons Tang Songyuan had brought that morning, which he insisted were fragrant, had tasted like wax to her. It was as if this body were made of stone, yet now, a craving had suddenly stirred in her stomach.

Tao Fei turned her back, trying to resist the enticing scent of the chestnuts.

"Sister Tao Fei, right? I’m Wu Xiuli."

This Wu Xiuli looked to be in her early thirties!

"Hello."

"Hello, hello!"

Wu Xiuli glanced at the small card at the head of Tao Fei’s bed, her smile widening even further.

"Sister Tao Fei, are you here all by yourself? Where is your family?"

"That chubby man who just left is my husband. Isn't he handsome?"

No sooner had the words left Wu Xiuli’s lips than the nurse, Li Ya, walked in with a patient chart. Seeing the bed table in 516 covered in chestnut shells, she couldn't help but frown.

"Wu Xiuli, your surgery has been scheduled. Please note that you must not consume anything, not even water, after five o'clock this evening."

"Huh? So soon?! If I don't eat, how will I have the strength to go under the knife? And if I can't even drink water, won't I die of thirst?"

"Mom, what are you saying! So, when will I be able to eat?"

Wu Xiuli continued to peel chestnuts as she spoke, as if the impending surgery were of no consequence. Her mother, however, was anxious, bombarding Li Ya with questions. Li Ya answered perfunctorily while hanging the medical chart and nameplate on the bed. She glanced at Wu Xiuli, who had just opened a bag of spiced melon seeds, and gently reminded her that shelled snacks were not permitted in the ward.

"We spent so much money to stay here, and we aren't even allowed to eat snacks? What kind of lousy hospital is this!"

Wu Xiuli’s mother flared up immediately, and Wu Xiuli pouted her chubby lips in displeasure.

"I am merely offering a kind reminder to maintain hygiene in the ward; post-operative care requires a clean and dry environment, especially. Eat if you must. As for when you can eat, I will note the requirements in your care plan. If you are worried, you can ask your attending physician."

Although this was a high-end private hospital that most people couldn't afford, money could buy entry for all sorts of people with varying levels of decorum. If she spoke too softly, it was ignored; if she spoke too firmly, she risked complaints from the patients' families. Li Ya wanted no trouble.

"That little nurse looks like a vixen. You can tell she’s no good just by looking at her!"

"Mom, you shouldn't say things like that about her."

"I have the best eye for people. I can tell a person’s character and temper the moment I see them—whether they’re a good person or not..."

"Mom is the best!"

The mother and daughter chirped back and forth in a lively display. Tao Fei found herself secretly amused by their matching temperaments; they were cut from the same cloth, making the tedious wait a little more entertaining.

"Sister Tao Fei, what are you in for? I have an ectopic pregnancy. I don't know how it happened, but this time it ended up outside the uterus."

Wu Xiuli offered the paper bag of chestnuts to Tao Fei.

"It’s a uterine fibroid, I believe. It’s almost better. I won’t have any, thank you."

Looking at Wu Xiuli’s bright red fingernails, Tao Fei suddenly lost her appetite, and the scent of the chestnuts seemed to vanish entirely.

"I’ve heard that if a woman is unhappy, she’s prone to uterine fibroids. Are you the introverted type who holds things in? Honestly, why dwell on things in this life! You have to live through the day whether you're laughing or crying. If there’s really a problem, crying doesn't solve it anyway."

Wu Xiuli clapped her plump, white hands. Seeing that Tao Fei did not respond, she felt even more convinced of her own judgment and sought confirmation from her mother. Upon receiving her mother’s affirmation, she burst into laughter.

Tao Fei didn't consider herself an introvert. She had been an honor student and an active participant in the arts—dancing, singing, playing instruments, and painting. She had won more awards and trophies than she could count.

Being rational did not mean being introverted.

However, she didn't know if *this* Tao Fei had been an introvert, though she likely wasn't the type to brood. Love is the best nourishment for a woman, and since Auntie Tao Fei had a devoted husband and a comfortable financial situation, why would she be unhappy? If anything could affect her mood, it would be the mother who had visited that morning. Having a mother like that was truly eye-opening.

At lunchtime, Wu Xiuli’s husband brought in two large bags of food. Finding the meals at Anhe Hospital too bland, they had ordered six boxes of stir-fried, deep-fried, and oily dishes from a restaurant outside. The three of them gathered around the small table on the bed, filling the room with the fragrance of their meal.

"Sister Tao Fei, aren't you eating lunch? Would you like some of ours?"

Tao Fei shook her head with a smile, still unaccustomed to such overwhelming warmth from a stranger.

"You’re a patient, you have to eat! I’m terrified of being hungry. I don't mind eating four or five meals a day. When I gave birth to my third child, I could eat a whole chicken in one sitting, six or seven times a day. It exhausted my mother to take care of my confinement. Mom, you have the chicken leg."

Wu Xiuli picked up the chicken leg her husband had just placed in her bowl and transferred it to her mother’s.

"There’s no one like a mother. No matter how good a mother-in-law is, she’s never as good as your own mom. I had three children, and my mother-in-law didn't help with a single confinement. I know it’s because she despised that I only gave birth to girls. So what if they’re girls? Daughters are their parents' little quilted jackets. Anyway, I’m going to be good to my mom for the rest of my life, and when my daughters grow up, they’ll be good to their grandmother too. Sister, how old are your kids? How is your mother-in-law..."

Wu Xiuli complained about her mother-in-law while she ate, her husband keeping his head down and not daring to utter a word of rebuttal.

It seemed the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship was the eternal puzzle; in every era, one could find the same old grievances.

Tao Fei licked her dry lips; she really was getting hungry. She had forgotten to drink water all morning—it was all that trouble with her "mother" asking for money.

Tao Fei prepared to go to the cafeteria to buy something to eat, but when she checked the bedside drawer, she couldn't find a single dime. Even if she could pay with her phone, the problem was that there was no phone in the drawer!

Where was her doting, middle-aged husband at a time like this?

"Tao Fei, you must be hungry, right?"

Just as Tao Fei’s resentment toward Tang Songyuan began to bubble up, he appeared before her.

"Is that your husband?"

Wu Xiuli stared at Tang Songyuan, clicking her tongue in amazement.