Chapter 33: His Tenderness

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They had already changed into their pajamas and were preparing for bed, but after receiving his message, Gu Yao hurriedly grabbed a long coat and threw it on. She did not even have time to put on her shoes, going downstairs in her slippers instead.

The stairwell was extremely dim. It was an old dormitory compound, with barely a corridor light to be found. She turned on her phone to use as a flashlight and cautiously descended one step at a time, sweating nervously the entire way, terrified that she might misstep and tumble all the way down.

When she reached the bottom, a cool breeze swept toward her, and she quickly pulled her coat tighter around herself.

The cigarette in Su Yu’s hand had already been extinguished. Dressed in a long trench coat, he stood ramrod straight in the wind. In the darkness, his eyes were bright as he looked toward her.

They stood on the same side of the basketball court they had passed before. More than a day had gone by since they had last seen each other. Gu Yao slowed to a stop and silently looked at him for a moment before asking, “Why are you here?”

The man strode toward her and stopped only when he was directly in front of her. He lowered his head, frowning as he examined her. They were close enough to hear each other’s breathing clearly.

He seemed so composed and solemn now. Yet Gu Yao had seen another side of him. Compared with the man before her, that version seemed more real, more vivid: sweat trickling down his broad forehead, a flush spreading across his handsome cheeks, his expression caught somewhere between pain and pleasure, his body burning like fire as it pressed tightly over hers.

Laughter and playful bickering drifted over from somewhere in the distance, unnaturally loud in the silent night. This dormitory building had been prepared for doctors and nurses on temporary assignment, with six or seven people sharing a room, so there was considerable foot traffic. Even the stairwells were often busy.

Gu Yao frowned. She hated this kind of environment, but she had not made many preparations before coming. Besides, another trainee doctor had come with her, and the two of them had to live together so they could look after each other.

The man reached out with his large hand and quickly enclosed her slightly chilled one. He led her toward the car. “Let’s talk inside.”

The car door was already open. Gu Yao gripped the handle and climbed in, only to discover that the air conditioning was on. The interior was pleasantly warm, and the cold clinging to her body soon began to fade.

Su Yu entered from the driver’s side and promptly shut the door, cutting off the last trace of cold air. As soon as he came in, he leaned toward her. Gu Yao instinctively shrank back. “What are you doing?”

He said nothing. Instead, he lifted her foot onto his thigh and wrapped his large hand around it, pressing gently. “Why didn’t you put on shoes?”

“I didn’t have time.” Gu Yao wiggled her toes and tried to pull her foot back, but he held it firmly, so she gave up.

The dormitory conditions were poor. There was only one washroom on each floor. She had been preparing for bed before coming downstairs, so taking a shower was out of the question. She had simply washed up as best she could. Fortunately, there was a small basin in her luggage. After filling it with hot water, she had set it on the floor and stood in it to soak her feet while using a towel to wash her face.

The floor was made of concrete, and a chill seeped up through the bottom of the basin. Even the hot water could not do much against it. After soaking for a while, she had put her slippers back on and hurried downstairs without drying her feet properly. The wind had turned them cold at once.

She had not noticed the cold in her hurry to see him, but now that he had pointed it out, she suddenly felt chilled. Covering her mouth, she gave a small sneeze.

“You’ve caught a chill, haven’t you?” His brow furrowed even more deeply. He lifted his hand to his mouth, breathed warmly into it, then placed it over hers again.

In the light from inside the car, Gu Yao’s gaze fell involuntarily on his large hand. She had once seen those hands brutally beat someone, and she had seen them solemnly turn the pages of documents. Yet now they had become her very own portable heater.

She sniffed, pulled out a tissue, and pressed it to her nose. Turning her gaze away, she asked in a muffled voice, “Why are you here?”

“Why shouldn’t I be? You can come here, but I can’t?” He raised his eyes to look at her. His grip tightened slightly, the thin calluses on his palm brushing against her skin and making her itch.

Gu Yao bit her lip. “That’s not what I meant... This place is dangerous. You shouldn’t have come.”

“Then why did you come?” he asked, fixing his eyes on her.

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Gu Yao sighed. Since he was holding her foot, she had unconsciously ended up sitting sideways across the passenger seat, facing him. “I had to come. There was a patient in urgent need of surgery.”

Whenever she spoke about work, her entire demeanor became serious. That earnestness in her had never changed. Su Yu’s brows relaxed, and his voice softened without his realizing it. “I know. It’s your duty, so I never tried to stop you, did I?”

“But...” Gu Yao began.

He cut her off directly. “But coming here alone is dangerous. Protecting the woman I love is my responsibility too. Don’t you agree?”

“What about the company? Aren’t you supposed to be working?” Gu Yao knew there was no point trying to dissuade him, so she changed the question.

“They can send the documents over.” Su Yu looked unconcerned. “Remote meetings are very convenient.”

Only after he felt the little foot in his palm finally warm up did he seem satisfied. “Did you bring warm clothes? The weather will change in a few days. Once the roads are closed, getting in will be easy, but getting out will be difficult. We’ll probably be delayed here for a while.”

“I brought warm clothes. There should be enough. If not, I can always go outside and buy some.”

They chatted for a few more minutes. Gu Yao glanced at the time; it was already quite late. Su Yu understood at once. He pulled the hood of her coat over her head and tucked her long hair inside. “Go in. Get some sleep.”

“Mm.” She agreed and was about to get out when he stopped her again.

“I’ll drive the car to the dormitory entrance,” Su Yu said as he started the engine.

This time he drove all the way forward, stopping only when he was nearly at the entrance. After Gu Yao got out, she returned to the stairwell in just a couple of steps. Then, after thinking it over, she turned back, walked to the car, and tapped on the window.

“What is it?” He lowered the window.

Gu Yao took an unopened mask from her coat pocket and handed it to him. “Try not to go anywhere crowded. Wear a mask whenever you go out.”

His hands rested on the steering wheel, his expression half amused and half sardonic.

Gu Yao sighed and opened the mask’s packaging. “Lower your head.”

She carefully fitted it over his face, her slender fingers even lifting his chin slightly.

When Gu Yao returned upstairs, Zhang Qingya, the trainee doctor who had come with her, had just finished washing up outside. Beneath her short hair was a round face, bare of makeup, with water droplets still clinging to her cheeks.

“Dr. Gu, why did you go downstairs?” she asked with a woebegone expression when she saw Gu Yao.

Gu Yao could not be bothered to lie. “A friend came to see me.”

“You have a friend here? That’s wonderful...” Zhang Qingya sounded extremely envious. She shoved the basin in her hands beneath the bed and carefully sat down on the edge. After hesitating for a moment, she looked as though she wanted to speak but did not know how.

“What is it? Go ahead,” Gu Yao said. She removed her coat and closed the door.

Only then did Zhang Qingya say, “It’s nothing. I just think our luck is terrible... There were so many people, yet we were the ones chosen by vote. Dr. Gu, you weren’t there at the time, so you didn’t see it. While the votes were being cast, a lot of people were whispering. They were obviously plotting to manipulate the vote.”

“Mm.” Gu Yao responded indifferently. She had no interest in the subject. When she saw that the girl was still staring at her wide-eyed, she climbed into bed and offered a brief explanation. “It’s normal. A hospital is a small society in its own right. Of course there will be factions.”

“I’m new here, so I don’t understand these things. But Dr. Gu, why don’t you...” Zhang Qingya asked again.

“I can’t be bothered with that nonsense. Doing the surgery well is what matters.” Gu Yao lay down and glanced at her. “Go turn off the light.”

“Okay.” Zhang Qingya hurried over to switch it off, then lay down in the other bed. In the darkness, her voice trembled with fear. “What if we get infected while we’re here?”

Gu Yao closed her eyes and replied calmly, “Wear your masks properly and you’ll be fine. A vaccine will be developed soon.”

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The next morning, Gu Yao went on her rounds. The patient was the man scheduled for surgery that afternoon. He was sixty years old and had collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage while doing farm work at home. The county hospital’s medical facilities were limited, and they had been unable to operate on him.

When Gu Yao arrived, the patient’s family were all in the ward. Among them was a woman in her sixties, the patient’s wife. Her hair was entirely white, and she looked far older than her years, more like someone in her seventies.

The other three women, all in their thirties, were his daughters. They were dressed plainly, and it was obvious that the family was not well-off.

As soon as the patient’s wife learned that Gu Yao was a doctor from the city, concern surfaced on her face. “Is the surgery going to be very expensive?”

Her eldest daughter interrupted her. “Mom, at a time like this, saving his life is what matters. We have to treat him no matter how much it costs!”

The mother wiped away a tear, then turned to her daughters. Her tone became stern. “The three of you sisters will split the cost equally. You are not to ask your younger brother for money! He’s the son, the pillar of the family. He cannot be expected to pay.”

Hearing this, Gu Yao immediately recognized another mother who favored sons over daughters. She nearly asked, If he is the pillar of the family, then who is supposed to pay?

But she did not want to cause trouble, so she silently left. After that, however, she deliberately kept an eye on the family’s situation.

The three daughters were all deeply troubled. They stood separately in the corridor, making one phone call after another. Gu Yao did not need to hear what was being said on the other end to know that none of it was pleasant. Their husbands had likely objected to paying the expense, and it was only after much pleading that they finally agreed.

After great difficulty, the daughters managed to gather the money and hand it over to the cashier’s office.

By the time the surgery was about to begin that afternoon, Gu Yao returned to the ward to check on the patient. His condition was fairly stable, but his wife appeared furious. She sat there cursing incessantly while the daughters kept their heads lowered and said nothing.

She was speaking in a local dialect, and her speech was too rapid for Gu Yao to make out clearly. Before long, Zhang Qingya came to find her in secret.

“The mother is forcing the daughters to give up their inheritance rights to the family home,” Zhang Qingya whispered. “She says that if the old man doesn’t make it through the surgery and dies, the house will all go to the youngest son. Then she’ll take turns living with each of her daughters.”

When she finished, a look of disdain appeared on her face. “Can you believe there’s a mother like that in the world? How could her heart be so biased?”

Gu Yao shook her head. To be honest, this was the first mother of this kind she had ever encountered—fearlessly demanding everything from her daughters while handing every benefit to her son.

But she was only the surgeon. She had no right to interfere in family affairs, so she could only remain silent. With the surgery time approaching, she went to prepare.

Then something unexpected happened. The son, who until that moment had existed only in conversation, suddenly appeared.

He was in his twenties, clearly born many years after the family had already had more children than they were allowed. Before him, they had probably aborted several daughters. He was thin and dark-skinned, and he walked with a swaying, crablike gait. Striding in arrogantly, he shouted from the corridor, “Where’s the doctor? I’m looking for the doctor! Which one of you is going to operate on my father?”