Jie Jingchen fell silent. She had clearly misunderstood what he ant by "special." She had managed to offend every single army wife in the family compound. Forget about anyone offering a helping hand; she’d be lucky if they didn’t make things worse for her.
"Jie Jingchen, what’s with the silence?" Qin i demanded, clearly displeased.
Jie Jingchen shot Qin i a complicated look, then buried his face in the pillow and mumbled, "My back hurts."
Qin i gritted her teeth. Looking at the silver needles sticking out of his lower back, she had the overwhelming urge to slam them all the way into his body. ’Serves him right if he dies from the pain,’ she thought.
Qin i sat on the edge of the bed and roughly grabbed his hand. Jie Jingchen didn’t resist.
As her smooth fingertips rested on his pulse, Qin i’s gaze darkened. Her expression stiffened, growing more and more grave.
"Is it that bad?" Jie Jingchen asked calmly.
Qin i snapped out of her thoughts and glared at Jie Jingchen. "Yes! It’s very bad," she said irritably. "The illness is still on the surface. If we don’t treat it now, I’m afraid it will only get worse."
"Then let’s treat it," Jie Jingchen readily agreed.
Qin i sneered. "And here I thought you’d be one to deny you’re sick and avoid treatnt," she said sarcastically.
"Why would I do that? If I’m sick, I’ll get it treated. Even if I’m not, I’ll accept so preventative care." Jie Jingchen started to get up, but Qin i pushed him back down.
"Don’t move. The silver needles are still in," Qin i said, pressing down on his shoulders. Jie Jingchen’s body went rigid, his muscles tightening all over.
"Take them out. Now," Jie Jingchen urged, his deep voice a little hoarse, as if he were forcefully suppressing sothing.
"What’s the rush? It’s not ti yet." Qin i released him. After waiting a mont longer, she began to remove the silver needles. "Alright, done."
Jie Jingchen let out a sigh of relief. His body was a little stiff from lying prone for so long. With so difficulty, he pushed himself up and started to get dressed.
Qin i had been about to pull the covers over him, but seeing him get up to dress, she frowned and asked with so annoyance, "What are you doing?"
Jie Jingchen didn’t answer, simply putting on his jacket.
Seeing him put on his jacket, Qin i grew even more annoyed. ’The acupuncture session is over, isn’t he supposed to be sleeping?’
Jie Jingchen got out of bed and put on his shoes. When she saw he was about to leave, Qin i grabbed his sleeve. "Jie Jingchen."
Jie Jingchen looked down, his gaze fixed on the small hand clutching his sleeve. His thin lips parted, and he uttered two words. "The bathroom."
Qin i froze. This was the first ti Jie Jingchen had ever needed the bathroom after an acupuncture session. Usually, he’d just go to sleep or lie in bed and rest with his eyes closed.
Seeing that she hadn’t let go, the corner of Jie Jingchen’s lip curled up slightly. "Is there a rule against using the bathroom after acupuncture?" he asked.
Qin i snapped back to reality and coughed to hide her embarrassnt. "COUGH, COUGH... No, that’s not it."
"Still not letting go?" An uncomfortable look appeared on Jie Jingchen’s devilishly handso face.
"Oh." Qin i released his sleeve and forced an awkward laugh.
Jie Jingchen was gone for a long ti. Qin i waited in the room, and when he still hadn’t returned after a while, she started to wonder if he’d fallen into the toilet.
Qin i used to have a habit of hogging the bathroom herself. She would squat on the toilet and play on her phone, not leaving until her legs went numb. But she’d broken that habit at the Sun Family’s ho. There was no phone, and it was a pit toilet. In the sumr, it was swarming with mosquitoes, and there were maggots in the pit. The maggots would even crawl up. One had even crawled onto her foot, disgusting her so much she almost wanted to chop her own foot off.
"BLECH." Qin i couldn’t stop herself from gagging.
Everything about the Sun Family had been fine, except for the toilet, which was unbearable. At first, she would rather hold it in than use their outhouse. When she absolutely couldn’t hold it any longer, she’d finally go. The result was that she’d be trying to relieve herself while simultaneously throwing up. It was absolutely disgusting.
All the toilets in the village were pit toilets. There were no other options, and she couldn’t just not go. So she could only hold it in to reduce her trips. When she couldn’t take it anymore, she would dash into the outhouse to get it over with as quickly as possible.
"BLECH." Qin i covered her mouth. The bathroom was too far, so she ran to the sink in the yard, leaned over it, and vomited violently.
’Why did I have to think about the Sun Family’s pit toilet? I’m just torturing myself.’
The spicy potatoes she had eaten all ca up. Qin i kept heaving until her stomach was completely empty. Tears stread from her eyes as she finally stopped. She turned on the faucet and used her cupped hands to rinse her mouth.
Jie Jingchen stood behind her and handed her a towel. "Are you okay?"
"I’m fine." Qin i took the towel and wiped her face, then her hands.
But then she saw Jie Jingchen, who had just co from the bathroom. That made her think of the Sun Family’s pit toilet again—the wriggling maggots in the pit, how they would start crawling up, and then...
"BLECH..." Qin i turned her head and was hit by another wave of violent retching.
’She’s vomiting just from the sight of .’ Jie Jingchen’s fists clenched instantly. His face darkened, and his eyes turned as cold as ice.
"What’s going on?" Mrs. Xie ca out to see what the noise was. Seeing Qin i so horribly sick, she rushed over and asked with concern, "Did you eat sothing bad?"
Qin i’s eyes were red. She pressed a hand to her chest and forced a weak smile. "No, Mom, I’m fine. Don’t worry."
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