"Are you going or not?"
Lin Zhilan asked him seriously.
She was currently focused on nursing Su Lang back to health and absolutely would not let him act recklessly and ruin the fruits of her labor.
Su Lang lay flat on his back on the pillow, looking at the ceiling. After a long while, he ground his teeth and spat out a single phrase, "I'm not going!"
Just as Lin Zhilan was about to get angry, she heard him say through gritted teeth, "If it really comes down to it, just prescribe me something to clear my internal heat."
"..."
In short, sleeping in separate beds was out of the question, and living apart was even more impossible!
Lin Zhilan held back her amusement and said with a straight face, "The medicine to clear your heat might be a little bitter."
"That's fine, I can take it."
No matter how bitter it was, it couldn't be as bitter as sleeping in separate beds.
Lin Zhilan indeed agreed. The next day, she added an extra handful of Coptis root to his prescription.
Su Lang drank the bitter medicine for a month, and his face finally seemed to have regained some color.
By this time, Zhou Chen had also been at the Yangcheng Hospital for a week.
While Su Lang was recovering from his injuries, the couple had a tacit understanding to avoid discussing this matter.
After dinner that day, as the two took their child out for a walk, it was Su Lang who took the initiative to mention Zhou Chen's name.
"Zhilan," Su Lang said after a moment of silence, "tomorrow I'll take you to Yangcheng for your classes, and after school, we'll go see Zhou Chen."
Before Su Lang could even finish his sentence, he felt the person next to him instantly tense up.
No matter how dense Su Lang was, he could tell that his wife's mood was off.
Actually, this wasn't the first time.
Su Lang respected his wife and had never asked about her past with Zhou Chen.
But every time he saw his wife react this way, his possessiveness over his beloved made him feel uneasy.
Lin Zhilan bit her lip and looked out at the distant sea. "Okay."
It had to be done sooner or later.
She had to face it eventually.
The couple uncharacteristically remained silent, and the atmosphere grew somewhat oppressive.
It wasn't until they boarded the boat the next day that Su Lang, while helping Lin Zhilan onto the deck, tightly grasped her hand and didn't let go.
Lin Zhilan gave him a deep look and didn't pull away.
Only then did Su Lang feel a bit more at ease.
In the afternoon, when Lin Zhilan finished school, Su Lang, who had taken a detour to Echeng, was waiting at the campus gate.
Lin Zhilan was considered quite a prominent figure at the school.
She was the youngest teacher, taught well, and was strikingly beautiful.
Coupled with the previous incident involving Zhao Guangtian and his son, there was simply too much to talk about regarding her.
As soon as she walked out of the school gate, the surrounding young students kept stealing glances at her.
Su Lang walked over briskly, took the bag from Lin Zhilan's hand, and smiled, "It seems Teacher Lin is quite popular at school."
"Hmm?"
Lin Zhilan turned her head following his gaze, and the students who made eye contact with her immediately turned their backs.
Lin Zhilan smiled softly, and the gloom that had risen in her heart at the prospect of seeing Zhou Chen dissipated quite a bit.
The two got into the car, and Su Lang drove himself.
He didn't say much; he just held the steering wheel with one hand, and in between shifting gears, reached over and placed his other hand over Lin Zhilan's hands, which were folded in her lap.
Lin Zhilan glanced at him and lowered her eyelids.
The car soon parked downstairs at the inpatient department of Yangcheng Hospital.
After greeting the attending doctor, the two went straight to Zhou Chen's ward.
Through the glass window, they could see a tall, thin man lying on the hospital bed.
Lin Zhilan was suddenly startled.
They looked too much alike.
Zhou Chen's eyes were exactly like Linlin's, as if cast from the same mold.
They both had rather round eyes.
Her daughter was young and had a small face, and her two big eyes were like peeled grapes.
However, on Zhou Chen, these round eyes gave him a touch of scholarly air.
When outsiders first saw Linlin, they would always say she looked like her mother.
But Lin Zhilan's eyes were somewhat like peach blossom eyes, with a large curve on the upper eyelid, a deep inner corner, and an upward sweep at the outer corner. When she smiled, they naturally exuded a charming and radiant appeal.
Just from this pair of eyes, Lin Zhilan became even more certain of his identity.
The attending doctor explained beside them, "After treatment, the blood clots in this comrade's brain have significantly reduced, but he still cannot recall many of his memories."
The information Su Lang had found indicated that the villagers considered Zhou Chen a fool.
In truth, Zhou Chen wasn't stupid; his amnesia combined with his injuries simply made his reactions very slow.
"Can we go in and talk to him?" Su Lang asked.
The attending doctor nodded and pushed the door open. "Comrade Dajiang, someone is here to see you."
Zhou Chen turned his head abruptly, his gaze alert.
Su Lang entered first, his tall figure blocking most of the light from the doorway.
Zhou Chen's gaze lingered on him briefly for a moment before looking past his shoulder to the back.
The moment he saw Lin Zhilan, it was as if Zhou Chen had been struck by something. He clutched his head and curled up, the veins on his forehead and hands bulging.
The attending doctor quickly stepped forward. "A headache again? Take a deep breath, don't be nervous!"
He turned back to explain to Su Lang and Lin Zhilan, "He gets like this occasionally. He gets a headache whenever he's stimulated, so don't worry."
Lin Zhilan clenched her fingers tight and nodded.
After a few minutes, Zhou Chen's breathing gradually steadied.
Lin Zhilan walked over slowly, avoiding stimulating him directly. "Hello, comrade. May I take your pulse? Oh, I forgot to mention, I am a traditional Chinese medicine doctor."
Zhou Chen frowned and didn't speak.
Lin Zhilan took his silence as consent and reached out directly.
His pulse was deep, choppy, and wiry, indicating internal blood stasis and blocked qi, which would indeed cause him to forget the past.
She released her hand. "If it's not convenient today, we can come see you another day."
"No," Zhou Chen stared at her. "Let's do it today. Do you know me? Who are you to me?"
Zhou Chen had been in an unfamiliar environment for a few years.
He remembered how to breathe and how to eat, but he just couldn't remember who he was or where he came from.
He wanted to go out and search for his origins, but because he couldn't get a letter of introduction, he couldn't even step out of the town.
Loneliness, confusion, helplessness...
These were all the feelings he experienced when he was alone.
Now that he had finally found an acquaintance, he was desperate to learn about his past.
And the woman before him...
Zhou Chen didn't know why, but when he saw her, his heart ached with a throbbing pain.
She had to be someone very important in his life.
Lin Zhilan turned to look at Su Lang.
Su Lang gave her a slight nod, his gaze firm, as if to say: I respect whatever decision you make.
"Doctor, could I trouble you to step out for a moment? I want to talk to him alone."
The attending doctor hesitated for a moment. "Alright, I'll be right at the door. Call me anytime if you need anything."
Su Lang patted Lin Zhilan's shoulder and followed him out, leaving the space to the two of them.
Lin Zhilan sat down in the chair by the bed and took a deep breath.
"Your name is Zhou Chen, from Zhoujia Village in H Province. You are a soldier. You were washed away by a flood while carrying out a flood relief mission."
Zhou Chen wasn't surprised.
He had suspected he was a soldier.
His living habits, his reflexes—everything reminded him of it, but it was only at this moment that it was confirmed.
"Then... who else is in my family?"
