Su Li suddenly jumped out. “I don’t want to go to school either!”
Su Lang ruffled his son’s hair. “Fine. I’ll make an exception this time.”
Lin Zhilan didn’t finish up until nearly midnight.
Grandpa Yan had made it through the most dangerous acute phase, but…
She left the ward and went to the office.
Worried that the two children wouldn’t be able to hold out, Su Lang brought them to Lin Zhilan’s office.
Su Li lay directly across his mother’s desk. On the other side, two benches had been pushed together to make a bed, with Su Lang’s coat spread beneath them for his daughter to rest on.
Liang Ping simply sat down on the floor, and the three of them soon fell asleep.
Su Lang was dozing against the desk. The moment Lin Zhilan opened the door, he woke up.
“Zhilan, how is he?”
“Not very good. Call Xiao Yuan first thing tomorrow morning.”
Lin Zhilan was only human, not a god. There were always illnesses she couldn’t cure.
Besides, Grandpa Yan was already very old. After suffering so much over the years, he could no longer withstand any more setbacks.
He probably didn’t have much time left.
She had worked all day, and the emergency resuscitation had drained the last of her strength. As soon as she finished speaking, her whole body sagged as if her bones had been pulled out.
Su Lang hurried over, wrapped an arm around her waist, and half-carried, half-supported her to a chair. His voice was full of concern. “I’ll take you home. You need to rest too.”
Lin Zhilan didn’t force herself to keep going. She nodded toward the children. “What about them? Are they going to sleep here tonight?”
The traditional Chinese medicine ward was already smaller than the other departments, and there were no empty rooms left.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Zhilan went to coordinate with the internal medicine department next door and managed to find two vacant rooms.
Su Lang woke Liang Ping and carried Su Li in his arms as they headed next door.
Lin Zhilan shook her daughter awake. “Linlin, sweetheart, it’s uncomfortable here. Mommy will take you somewhere else to sleep.”
Linlin’s eyes were sore. She pressed her lips together. “Mommy, how is Grandpa Yan?”
“He’s stable for now. Don’t worry.”
Lin Zhilan put an arm around her daughter and praised her for handling things so well that day.
Linlin’s eyes were still red, and she shook her head slightly.
If only she were as capable as Mommy, then Grandpa Yan would definitely be all right by now.
Seeing that her daughter’s eyes were swollen, Lin Zhilan wrung out a damp towel and placed it over them.
Linlin took it from her, then suddenly slapped herself on the forehead. “Oh! Mommy, I need to go check on Su Li. He used his body to break open the door today. He must be hurt.”
She had been so frightened by what happened to Grandpa Yan that the thought had only just occurred to her. She felt terribly guilty.
Lin Zhilan held her down. “It’s too late. You stay here and rest. Mommy will go take a look.”
“But…”
Lin Zhilan sighed. “Be good. I’ll be right back.”
Seeing the weariness on her mother’s face, Linlin obediently nodded and sat back down on the hospital bed.
In the other room, Liang Ping was already sleeping soundly.
On the other hospital bed, Su Lang had carried Su Li back and forth several times, yet the boy still slept like a little pig.
Su Lang sat at the bedside without closing his eyes.
When he heard the door open, he quietly got to his feet and walked over. “What’s wrong?”
Lin Zhilan pressed her lips together. “Linlin said Su Li used his body to break down the door. I came to check on him.”
Su Lang froze for a moment.
It had been half the night, and Su Li hadn’t shown the slightest sign that anything was wrong.
The couple pulled back the covers and worked together to remove Su Li’s shirt.
Under the lamplight, the outside of Su Li’s shoulder blade was covered by a large red patch, with a frightening bluish-purple bruise in the middle.
“This child…” Lin Zhilan’s eyes filled with pain. “It looks so painful, and he didn’t even say a word.”
She pulled a small jar of ointment from her pocket. “Rub this on him. Use some force to work it in, or he won’t be able to lift his arm tomorrow.”
Su Lang recognized the ointment.
It was meant to promote blood circulation and disperse bruising. The pharmaceutical factory produced it too, but the version Lin Zhilan made by hand was much more effective.
Su Lang used it often, and Jiang Chengzhou had brought quite a bit back to the capital as well.
Now even the youngest man in the family was using it.
Su Lang rubbed a generous dollop between his palms to warm it, then placed his hand over the bruise and began massaging with some force.
No matter how deeply he had been sleeping, Su Li was eventually dragged awake by the ache in his arm.
He opened his eyes blearily and saw Lin Zhilan crouching beside the bed.
“Mommy, why are you in my room?” Su Li’s voice was hoarse, and he was still not fully awake.
Lin Zhilan reached out and pinched his cheek. “If your arm hurt, why didn’t you tell Mommy?”
Only then did Su Li turn his head and notice his father. He glanced at his arm. “It’s nothing. It doesn’t hurt at all.”
Seeing him put on a brave face, Su Lang increased the pressure of his massage.
Su Li grimaced. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow…”
Lin Zhilan slapped Su Lang’s arm. “What are you doing? You’re hurting my son!”
Su Lang eased up and continued rubbing the ointment in.
Su Li gave his father a smug little grin. He had discovered that as soon as he cried out in pain, his mother would fuss over him, so he began putting on an exaggerated performance—claiming one moment that this hurt and the next that something else was sore.
Lin Zhilan was beside herself with worry, circling around him.
Su Lang let his son enjoy himself for a while, but in the end, he couldn’t bear to see his wife exhausted. He said sternly, “That’s enough. Your mother has been working all day and all night. Stop making her worry.”
Su Li gave her a mischievous smile. “Mommy, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
He really didn’t feel much pain. His pain nerves seemed to be naturally less sensitive, and he also healed quickly.
Su Li was energetic and active by nature, so bumps and scrapes were unavoidable.
Whenever he got hurt outside, he would initially think about going home and telling his mother and sister so they could fuss over him. But once he started playing again, he would forget all about it.
By the time he got home, the wound usually no longer hurt, and he had forgotten about it completely.
After her son had grown up, Lin Zhilan rarely kissed or hugged him anymore. Today, however, she planted a firm kiss on his forehead. “Son, you were especially brave today. Your father and I should reward you. What would you like?”
“I want a week off. I don’t want to go to school.”
Lin Zhilan’s expression darkened. “Forget it. No illiterates are allowed in this family.”
Su Li threw his head back and let out a long, despairing sigh before collapsing onto the bed.
Lin Zhilan turned to leave, but Su Lang caught her. “Ahem. You only kissed our son?”
Lin Zhilan glanced toward the bed.
Su Li immediately covered his eyes. “I’m asleep. I don’t know anything.”
Lin Zhilan snorted, then held Su Lang’s head and kissed him on the forehead. “Take good care of our son. Apply the ointment again tomorrow morning when he wakes up.”
“Got it. Go get some rest.”
Su Lang escorted her to the ward next door before turning back.
Like his older brother, Su Li ate a lot and grew quickly, taking up most of the bed.
Su Lang patted him on the butt. “Move over and make room for your dad.”
Su Li grunted and scooted over, mumbling something under his breath.
Su Lang couldn’t make it out. “What did you say?”
“Old man. Have you no shame, making my mom kiss you?”
Su Lang was so furious that he laughed.
He was five or six years older than Lin Zhilan to begin with, and because she took such good care of herself, people who saw them outside often mistook Lin Zhilan and Linlin for sisters. Being called “old” had nearly become Su Lang’s personal obsession.
