What's Wrong With Being Fifteen Years Older Than Me?! - Chapter 14

“Who was that outside?” Ye Li asked, peeking her head up from the bed when Lu Zhiyun came in.

“A male classmate. He said his name was Zhao Zhijie and bought you some fruit. I told him not to, but he insisted,” the woman said, walking over and gently placing the fruit on the nightstand.

“I’m not that close with him,” Ye Li said with a frown, thinking he was probably good friends with Qin Shu, and not giving it another thought.

“Are you sure you don’t want to get up and move around a bit?” Lu Zhiyun asked, her voice gentle as she looked at the girl on the bed. Ye Li shook her head awkwardly, her refusal clear.

As darkness fell, another visitor came to the hospital room. Tang Qianxia rushed in with takeout containers, reporting to Lu Zhiyun, “I got everything you asked for. How does it look?”

“Thank you,” Lu Zhiyun said, not feeling the need to check it.

Tang Qianxia walked over to the bed and said playfully, “I heard your Auntie Lu was going to watch your sports meet today. How’d you end up here instead?”

Ye Li smiled. “You never know what to expect, Auntie Tang.”

“This girl is starting to sound more and more like an adult,” Tang Qianxia said to Lu Zhiyun.

Lu Zhiyun was setting up the bone broth and light meal she had bought for Ye Li on a nearby table. She was patient and meticulous; everything was neat and clean. The woman looked down and smiled slightly. “This child won’t get out of bed. Can you help me talk her into it?”

“Xiaoli, the doctor said you have to pass gas before you can eat,” Lu Zhiyun added, her voice still gentle.

“Passing gas isn’t as scary as you think. I remember after my C-section, I also had to get up and walk around to pass gas, and I had to deal with the pain from the incision,” Tang Qianxia said, giving a dramatic performance of what it was like.

Ye Li wasn’t really afraid of the pain. She had already endured worse. She just felt… weird… having to do it in front of Auntie Lu. It was a little embarrassing. The girl on the bed secretly glanced at Lu Zhiyun and then whispered to Tang Qianxia, “Auntie Tang, can you help me?” She felt that it would be easier with Auntie Tang.

Tang Qianxia paused for a moment and then quickly agreed.

Getting out of bed was not a smooth process. The leg in the cast felt like it wasn’t her own. With the help of both Auntie Lu and Auntie Tang, she finally got out of bed and was able to stand on one leg.

“How about I come, too? I’m still a little worried,” Lu Zhiyun said, looking at the girl’s dangling leg, her brows furrowed slightly.

“No, you don’t have to. Auntie Tang is enough,” Ye Li said, looking up in a hurry.

Tang Qianxia looked pleased and said, “See that, Lu Zhiyun? I’m telling you, your little one trusts her Auntie Tang more when it matters most!”

Lu Zhiyun had a slight smile on her face, but she didn’t seem to be bothered. Ye Li wanted to explain, but she didn’t know how to. When she saw that Lu Zhiyun didn’t seem to care about what Auntie Tang said, she felt a vague sense of disappointment.

“Hold on to this tightly,” Lu Zhiyun said, handing her a crutch. She carefully instructed her, “Walk slowly and don’t rush.”

“Okay, I will,” the girl said, looking down and nodding awkwardly.

With Tang Qianxia’s support, Ye Li slowly made her way to the hallway outside the room. The two of them walked slowly down the corridor.

“If it hurts or you feel uncomfortable, you have to tell me right away!” Tang Qianxia said.

“I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt,” Ye Li said with a soft smile.

Tang Qianxia said almost instinctively, “You’re just like Lu Zhiyun. You’re too stubborn. It’s not good to try to be a hero.”

“Auntie Lu… what do you mean?” Ye Li stopped and asked, curious.

A hint of panic flashed across Tang Qianxia’s face. She immediately changed her words. “I mean, she can be a little stubborn sometimes and likes to be strong.”

The two continued to walk for a while. Ye Li had something on her mind, so she couldn’t help but ask, “Is Auntie Lu going on a blind date?”

This time, Tang Qianxia didn’t try to hide it. “It’s one of the three men I told you about. The one who came back from overseas and is a rising star. Lu Zhiyun finally agreed to meet with him.”

The girl’s fingers, which were gripping the crutch, tightened.

“But now that you’ve gotten hurt, I’d say it’s likely she’ll have to postpone it,” Tang Qianxia added.

Ye Li’s tense fingers relaxed.

Since no one else was around, Tang Qianxia shared her concerns with the girl. “I don’t know what Lu Zhiyun is thinking. She hasn’t dated in so many years. You don’t have to get married, but if you don’t even date, won’t life be a little bland?”

“I guess so,” Ye Li nodded absentmindedly.

This made Tang Qianxia react with surprise. “See? It’s such a simple concept, even a high school student like you understands it, but Lu Zhiyun doesn’t. She lives like a nun.”

“But did Auntie Lu… ever have a boyfriend before?”

Tang Qianxia shook her head definitively. She didn’t want to say too much, so she just gave a vague answer. “She’s had plenty of people chase her over the years.”

After their successful mission, the two of them slowly returned to the room. Under Lu Zhiyun’s watchful eye, Ye Li ate something and drank a bowl of bone broth. Tang Qianxia sat there, her hand propping up her chin, and said with a sigh, “Lu Zhiyun, you’re going to be a great mom someday.”

“Isn’t it a little too early to be saying that?” Lu Zhiyun asked, looking up with a wry smile, but her clear eyes showed she wasn’t opposed to the idea.

“Like Ye Li said, you never know. If everything goes well, you might be a mom next year,” Tang Qianxia said.

“You think I’m like you? Someone who said they’d never get married and then got married and became a mom in two years.”

“That’s why I said you never know,” Tang Qianxia said with an innocent shrug.

Ye Li loved watching them talk and tease each other, as long as the topic wasn’t marriage or having kids.

Soon after, Tang Qianxia’s phone rang, and she had to leave. “I have to go. The baby is fussing, so I need to get back.”

“It’s okay, you can go,” Lu Zhiyun said, walking her to the door. When she came back, she asked Ye Li, “Do you want some more soup?”

Ye Li shook her head shyly. “I’m too full.”

After tidying up, Ye Li lay back down to rest. It was a private room, and there was a small cot for an overnight guest. At night, they would pull a curtain between them. Auntie Lu was going to sleep there. But Ye Li couldn’t fall asleep. She didn’t know if it was because of her leg or something else.

The girl on the bed next to her kept tossing and turning. Lu Zhiyun quietly turned toward the curtain and rested her arm under her head. “Xiaoli, are you still awake?”

The woman’s voice was clear in the quiet of the night, like a ray of warm sunshine breaking through a thick fog, gentle and warm against her ear.

“Yeah,” Ye Li said softly.

After a long while, the voice came again from behind the curtain. “Xiaoli, why didn’t you want me to help you walk just now? Why did you choose Auntie Tang?”

In that instant, the girl’s breathing stopped, and her heart skipped a beat. So Auntie Lu did care? She just didn’t show it. Ye Li could feel her heart beating faster and faster.

“Because…”

“I don’t know.” The girl closed her eyes in frustration. She really didn’t know why, but in that moment, she would have rather had anyone—even a random person—help her than Auntie Lu.

“It’s okay,” Lu Zhiyun’s words sounded like they were for Ye Li, but also for herself. “In two and a half years, you’ll be taking the college entrance exam. Have you thought about where you want to go to university? Or what is your dream school?”

“Dad said that universities in the capital are better, but I don’t really want to go to the North,” Ye Li said, pursing her lips. “Do you have any suggestions, Auntie Lu?”

“I… it really depends on what you want to do with your life. Then we can choose the best school and work toward it.”

The girl fiddled with the edge of the blanket, staring at the ceiling. “My grades are just so-so, so I probably won’t get into a good school. I’ll just go with the flow.”

“I think you have a talent for drawing. Have you ever considered becoming an art student?”

“Me? Can I do that?” Ye Li’s lips were pressed into a thin line. She was doubtful.

“I talked to your father about it on the phone, and he’s very supportive. You’ll have to make a decision next year when you become a junior, so you can think about it as an option.”

“Oh, okay, I see.” Ye Li was starting to feel a familiar discomfort in her bladder. She finally couldn’t take it anymore and got up. The noise from the other bed grew more pronounced. It sounded like the woman was also getting up. Lu Zhiyun immediately turned on the light and pulled back the curtain. “Xiaoli, are you going to the bathroom?”

“It’s okay. I can do it myself,” Ye Li said, her body stiff as she turned to her.

But she still came over. With Lu Zhiyun’s help, Ye Li was able to get off the bed and was slowly led to the bathroom. Because of her limited mobility, Lu Zhiyun even opened the toilet lid for her.

“Can you take off your pants yourself? Do you need help?”

“I can do it myself!” The girl bit her lip, holding on to her last bit of stubbornness. Lu Zhiyun sighed and left the bathroom, waiting patiently by the door.

Taking her pants off wasn’t too hard, but the hospital scrubs were oversized. When Ye Li was done and stood up, she reached for the crutches, and her pants fell to her ankles. She stood there in a daze for a few seconds. She quickly realized she was in a new predicament. She couldn’t bend down to pull up her pants with only one usable leg.

Lu Zhiyun had been waiting outside for a while. She couldn’t understand why it was taking so long. If Xiaoli had let her help, she would have been done by now. Just then, a small voice came from inside the bathroom. “Auntie Lu…”

Ye Li had given up. She had been defeated by reality. Her dignity… she had to let it go.