After drinking that can of preserved fruit together, the relationship between the two people seemed to have drawn a bit closer again.
Just like how between good friends, they don’t mind each other, and also clearly tell each other so.
When exchanging for the first time, Song Qing was still a little hesitant. He could drink what she left behind, but seemed a bit unwilling to let her drink what he left behind. The second time they exchanged, his hand was slightly faster. By the third time, it already felt like a habit, not much strangeness anymore.
Nan Zhi was very satisfied. After looking around his room, she thought, in the future she would still use his leftover soap, and use his other leftover things.
She used his leftovers, took the initiative to pull closer the relationship, then he would also feel okay to use her leftovers. At least it wouldn’t be so awkward, so polite — she didn’t like that.
Having done what should be done, Nan Zhi went upstairs. Lying on the bed, she just remembered — after putting away the medicine box, she had planned to tell Song Qing not to make soup for her tomorrow, getting up too early.
Today she was rushing to meet a deadline, then suddenly had a hypoglycemia attack, tossed and turned until too late. Whether she could get up at this hour tomorrow was still a question. To her, it’s just herself, but to Song Qing, it might be a challenge.
Things she herself couldn’t do, she never forced others.
Nan Zhi had brushed her teeth and washed her face before lying down. She wasn’t sure whether Song Qing downstairs was asleep yet, worried that he had just fallen asleep and would be woken up by her, so she sent a message on WeChat.
After sending it, she didn’t wait for his reply — she had already fallen asleep from being too sleepy.
Probably because she earned money today, and also overachieved on the Jinjin Papa’s order, three thousand yuan in hand — Nan Zhi rarely slept so soundly. In the middle of the night there were no dreams, no disturbances — slept straight until morning.
Even surprisingly, when the alarm hadn’t yet rung, her eyes already opened. Looking at the time — 7:30 — she could get up.
Nan Zhi didn’t dawdle, especially when she heard some sounds from downstairs, she climbed up — surprisingly it wasn’t that difficult.
Usually in the mornings her brain was hazy, like it was stuffed with fog. Today it was completely clear.
Nan Zhi knew — it was because of having more effective sleep.
Normally, even if she lay in bed early, she couldn’t fall asleep. Her mind would be like a drama playing in her head — all the grievances of past days would surge up layer by layer, until midnight she would think herself into crying, probably tossing until after 3 AM before she could sleep deeply.
Today she fell asleep around one o’clock, had over six hours of effective sleep — not bad.
After Nan Zhi finished brushing her teeth and washing her face, while tying up her hair, she found the hair tie wasn’t there. Then she remembered — it was with Song Qing. Song Qing said he would tie her hair today.
—
Downstairs, the message Nan Zhi sent last night was already seen by Song Qing. He originally wanted to reply, but after thinking about it, still didn’t. He waited until he got up this morning and finished cooking the millet porridge, then replied: “Just saw it, but the porridge is already in the pot.”
He only had one injured hand — using the other one he could still cook easily. Also, her kitchen had a kind of thick disposable glove, wrap it well and no fear of touching water.
Song Qing finished cooking the millet porridge early, also had brushed teeth, washed face. With nothing else to do, he wheeled himself to the entrance door, wanting to — like usual — see if anything was left behind that needed washing.
Yesterday, the clothes she changed out of she had already washed herself, along with the new set she bought him. It was her who dried them — but he remembered that at the entryway, Nan Zhi had hung several canvas tote bags. One of them had a corner that probably rubbed against something — it was a little dirty. He wanted to take it and wash it.
Just as he went over and picked up the tote bag, he found the one she often carried was stuffed full — a bit unnaturally puffed — looked like something was inside.
Song Qing leaned over to take a look — found it was her nurse uniform. There were a few faint yellow stains on it, a strong smell of alcohol, and some unpleasant odor.
The alcohol smell seemed to have been sprayed to cover that odor.
After eating with Nan Zhi these few days, he often heard her say things like, “got puked all over,” “blood splashed on her,” “contaminated with disease, bacteria,” etc. The nurse uniform was either sent back to the department for group washing, or brought home to hand wash.
She didn’t really like mixing hers with others’, usually brought it home to soak with hot water, disinfect, etc. Yesterday she didn’t wash it with the other clothes, probably planning to hand wash it separately when she had time.
But she probably forgot from being too busy — and now Song Qing just happened to be free.
He pulled out the clothes, brought them into the washroom, grabbed the collapsible basin underneath, poured in some disinfectant that was already inside, added some hot water, soaked it for a while, then put on gloves and washed it clean and thoroughly.
By the time Nan Zhi had changed clothes and come down from upstairs, he had already wrung the water out, propped open a drying rack, and had just hung them up.
Just came down and looked everywhere for him but didn’t find him — saw someone hanging clothes in the laundry room.
Nan Zhi: “……”
How could there be someone this unable to sit still, just like her grandma.
Her grandma at that age had little sleep, couldn’t fall asleep, and felt uncomfortable lying down — couldn’t help but get up and do something. The floor at home would often get wiped one or two times.
Song Qing is this young, wouldn’t it be good to rest well and sleep soundly?
Yesterday it was exactly because she was afraid he’d wash it that she stuffed it in tightly, didn’t take it out. She had wanted to wait until she was giving him an IV drip, when he wouldn’t be able to move to wash — but in the end, she got happily chatting with Jinjin Papa, sketched a draft on the spot, and while drawing, forgot.
It looks like the Chinese OCR language pack (`chi_sim`) isn’t currently installed in this environment, so OCR using simplified Chinese failed.
This morning, it was still washed by him.
He even cooked porridge.
Song Qing finished hanging the clothes, didn’t look at Nan Zhi’s expression, pushed the wheelchair sliding off the balcony, and by the time Nan Zhi caught up, he had already gone from the big living room into the kitchen, took a round and prepared the millet porridge, same as yesterday — put into a double-layered glass cup, handed it to Nan Zhi who followed behind.
With that expression of knowingly doing wrong and still being a bit guilty, Nan Zhi wanted to scold him, but really couldn’t say it, stood at the kitchen door, didn’t say even half a word for a long while. After a while she picked up the millet porridge, stuffed it into her cloth bag, and herself carried a small bench from under the stairs to sit at the entrance.
When she walked out of the kitchen, Song Qing’s wheelchair had already quietly followed behind. Once she sat down, Song Qing quickly wheeled a few times, arrived behind her, and used his hands as a comb to help tie her hair.
Nan Zhi sat upright and properly, but couldn’t help smiling when she looked at him — the corners of her mouth lifted high.
How could there be such a cute boy.
Nan Zhi forcefully pressed down the corners of her mouth and asked him, “Is there anything you want? I’ll bring it back for you tonight.”
When she was still at her parents’ house, her parents had this habit — they’d ask their kids if there was anything they wanted to bring back. Like deliveries, food, drinks, etc.
Just buy it on the way, saves another trip.
If she was there, they’d ask her too. She felt it was quite nice, so she wanted to continue that tradition.
Song Qing said with certainty, “Nothing.”
“If you don’t say anything, then I’ll bring milk tea for you.” Nan Zhi added, “Also buy some duck stuff — duck neck, duck gizzard, duck intestines, duck liver, duck heart, all a little of each.”
Song Qing could only say, “Is there a library nearby? I want to read books.”
Nan Zhi was a bit surprised. “There is.”
While she was saying this, Song Qing had already tied her hair well.
Nan Zhi turned her head to look at him, replying as she did, “When I come back, I’ll stop by and get a borrowing card, so you can use it whenever you want.”
Speaking of this, she remembered — stood up, and took out 500 yuan from the cash she withdrew last night, placing it into the drawer at the entryway.
“If there’s anywhere you need money, just use this first to tide it over.”
She also had a supermarket shopping card in her bag from a nearby supermarket.
“For the supermarket, use this one — it has over 600 yuan inside.”
She mentioned the amount in case he didn’t know the limit and ended up awkwardly stuck at the cashier with not enough money. Actually, she didn’t think that would happen, but it was still good to say it in advance.
Nan Zhi also picked up his phone and logged into his Meituan using her own account.
She had two phone numbers, which meant she had two Meituan accounts. One was her commonly used one — she logged that one into his phone. The other one, the less-used one, she logged into herself.
Because the less-used one wasn’t linked to a bank card, every time it was just paid through Alipay directly. The commonly used one was bound to a fixed card, which still had a few hundred yuan in it — enough for him to use.
“No password needed, there are coupons, even cheaper than buying in real life. Later on, whether it’s buying groceries or takeout, you can use this — and they deliver to your door.”
Nan Zhi finished instructing all that in one breath. Shoes already changed, bag slung on her back, keys in hand, she adjusted the small millet porridge cup that had tipped over, and then went out to work.
Song Qing saw her off at the entryway, staring at her back for a very, very long time.
Is it that her personality is just one that easily trusts people? Or… does she trust him?
They’d already been spending time together for a while. He felt Nan Zhi wasn’t the type to act rashly — quite the opposite — her mind was very, very meticulous. Every time he did something, she would always catch him.
So… most likely, it was the latter.
It’s because she trusts him, that’s why she gave him control of the money.