He Teng gently lifted his hand and placed it on He Zhilan’s head as she lay on the hospital bed, watching him. It didn’t take much effort for him to lay his big palm on her head, and softly play with her soft hair, "I’m glad you’re happy."
The hospital at night is undoubtedly a uniquely quiet place. Barring any emergencies, the nurses on duty don’t scurry around aimlessly, and there are hardly any footsteps echoing through the halls.
He Teng couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. If it weren’t for his injury, he would love nothing more than to hold his radiant, smiling wife in his arms.
Yes, seeing her smile made him happy. Gazing at her joyful face made him feel that it was the most beautiful thing in the world.
Indeed, it was the smile of his wife, Zhilan.
Unfortunately, he was just an injured man who, aside from moving his head a bit, struggled to even lift a hand. Even worse, he needed assistance for even the most basic physiological needs.
"Zhilan, could you grab something from beneath the bed and then step outside for a bit?" He Teng had already retracted his hand when he made this request, even avoiding to look at He Zhilan. His voice was so soft that she might not have heard him had she not been sitting so close.
He Zhilan responded with a sound of acknowledgement, albeit confused, then bent over to look under the bed. When she saw the item there, she burst into laughter — it was a bedpan!
She was familiar with this kind of item. Although He Zhilan’s father didn’t use one, it was still a common sight in many rural homes.
"Muhe told me that you need to rest and recover. You are just out from the operation room because of me, are you even able to move much? Let me know how I can help you." He Zhilan struggles to suppress her laughter and to look serious. She remembers Muhe’s exact words "He Teng is shy. You need to be thick-skinned, and take more responsibilities. In a marriage, someone has to be the less shameless for the harmony".
"No need, if I, a grown man, can’t handle even such a trivial matter myself, then I’d rather die!" He Teng immediately rejected her proposal. Imagine, his wife, with her fair hand touching him there, it was quite unsettling.
"Are you the same now as when you are not injured?" He Zhilan managed to say, blushing and feeling embarrassed. It’s one thing to agree to be thick-skinned but doing it was another thing altogether.
Even though she and He Teng were already married, and they had intimate relationships, He Zhilan still felt that this was different from her previous experiences of intimacy.
In bed, everything seemed to naturally fall into place in the heat of passion. But this time... they were both fully aware of what they were doing.
He Zhilan inspected the bedpan that she had retrieved from under the bed, stealthily glanced at He Teng, then whispered, "Should I... ahem... just position this, under... uh, you know?"
Don’t ask how He Zhilan guessed what she had to do. She had never watched anyone use it before. She just figured it out, based on the object’s design.
"Yes." He Teng’s voice was even softer than He Zhilan’s. He Teng has never felt this shy before.
Neither of them spoke afterwards, but He Teng’s hearing was extraordinarily acute. Even without turning around to look at He Zhilan, he could tell from the rustling sounds that she had stood up from the chair, lifted the thin blanket that covered him, and then...
the subsequent actions, he neither heard nor needed to. His senses told him everything.