Abstinence Pei, don't be too sweet when chasing your wife

As Gu Fanxing finished counting the petals of the thirty-seventh daisy in the morning light, Pei Luonan was slowly turning around, leaning on the corridor railing. His right leg slightly rotated outward, and although his steps were still a little clumsy, he no longer needed any support.

The electronic clock at the nurses' station struck nine o'clock. Gu Fanxing pinched the note in her pocket, sweat oozing from her fingertips. That was what she had asked the nurse to inquire about yesterday - the bus route and shuttle bus schedule from the city hospital to the long-distance bus station.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Pei Luonan's voice came from behind, with a slight breath after morning exercise.

Gu Fanxing hurriedly stuffed the note into his pocket. When he turned around, a natural smile appeared on his face. "Nothing. I'm just looking at today's medication list. Oh, and the doctor said you can try climbing two flights of stairs today. I'll ask the nurse if the anti-slip mats in the stairwell have been replaced."

The moment she turned around, she heard her heartbeat pounding against her chest, like hitting a broken drum.

He was really well, well enough to face the corner of the stairwell alone, well enough to no longer need her weak hand to support him - she had finally accumulated enough reasons to leave.

When she returned to the ward, Pei Luonan was sitting on the sofa flipping through an archaeology magazine. He tapped a page with his fingertips - it was a journal she had borrowed from the library last month, which contained a paper on a Song Dynasty kiln site.

"This is well written." He looked up at her, a smile in his eyes. "You always said that the flint red on the kiln is more reliable than any seal."

Gu Fanxing paused. He always had a way of accurately poking at her softest spot, using those memories she had deliberately sealed away to disrupt her hard-earned resolve.

"It's all the same old stuff." She went to tidy up the bedside table. "Did you send Kong Haoyu's flight information?"

"Not yet." He closed the book, his eyes fixed on her tense profile. "Why do you always ask him?"

"Nothing." She avoided his gaze and put the thermometer in his mouth. "Take your temperature. The nurse said they need to draw blood today."

He held the thermometer in his mouth and looked at the folding clothes hangers she had stuffed into the suitcase - the ones she had brought from the archaeological site.

Her movements were very quiet, but they could not be hidden from his eyes: she was already packing her things.

That afternoon, Gu Fanxing left the hospital, saying she wanted to buy pumpkin porridge. She didn't go to the old shop three blocks away, but headed straight for the subway station. Her backpack contained all her documents and a change of clothes.

The electronic screen at the subway station was broadcasting the weather, saying there would be thunderstorms tomorrow. Gu Fanxing stared at the rain cloud icon on the screen and suddenly remembered how Pei Luonan was awakened by thunder last night, his face as white as a sheet, and he said, "I dreamed that a flood swept you away."

Her steps suddenly stopped, and when she turned around and walked back, her canvas shoes stepped through puddles, and the splashes of mud stained her trouser legs, but she didn't care.

When she returned to the ward, Pei Luonan was standing by the window, talking on the phone. Hearing the door open, he glanced back at her and said into the receiver, "Have the legal department review the contract details. I'll be discharged tomorrow."

Gu Fanxing's heart sank. Discharged? He was going to be discharged?

"Are you going to be discharged from the hospital?" She put the pumpkin porridge on the table, her voice a little tense.

"Yeah." He hung up the phone, his tone relaxed. "The doctor said you're recovering well, so you can go home and recuperate." He walked up to her, his eyes falling on her muddy trouser legs. "Where have you been? Your trouser legs are all dirty."

"I accidentally stepped into a puddle on the way." She dodged his hand and turned to get the wipes. "If you want to go home and recuperate, have you found a caregiver? Do you need me to help you contact a housekeeping company?"

"No need." He looked at her with a smile in his eyes, "I have an aunt at home, and..." He paused and deliberately slowed down his speech, "Didn't you promise me that you would accompany me to recover from my injury?"

Gu Fanxing's hand suddenly clenched the wet wipes.

How could she forget that he still remembered the phrase "it's even".

At night, Pei Luonan was already fast asleep, his breathing as even as the wind blowing across the lake.

Gu Fanxing sat at the desk, spread out the letter paper, and held the pen tip over the paper for a long time before writing the first line:

"Pei Luonan, when you see this letter, I should be on my way back to the archaeological team."

The tip of her pen paused over the words "Archaeological Team," the ink spreading into tiny black dots. She hadn't actually contacted the team; the team leader had messaged a few days earlier saying there weren't any projects at the moment. She just needed a reasonable-sounding destination.

"Your injuries are almost healed. You can walk, eat, and handle your work on your own. You don't need me anymore."

As she wrote this, she remembered the thunderstorm forecast she had seen at the subway station that afternoon and couldn't help but glance at his bed.

"Thank you for saving me in Yunxi Town. I've taken care of you these days, just as a way of repaying your life-saving grace. Now that you've almost recovered, it's time for me to get back to work."

Her pen stopped, and she suddenly remembered how kind Mother Pei and Grandma Pei had been to her. Her eyes suddenly felt warm. She raised her hand to wipe her face and continued writing:

"Don't look for me, I will take good care of myself. I will check my ankle injury regularly, so you don't have to worry. The archaeological team's signal is not good, and they may not check their phones often, so... don't send me messages."

The last sentence, "Don't send me messages anymore," was written with such force that the tip of the pen almost scratched the paper.

Gu Fanxing folded the letter and put it in the envelope.

She wrote "Pei Luonan personally" on the envelope, but her handwriting was shaky.

Gu Fanxing looked at Pei Luonan's sleeping face and suddenly felt that the letter was ridiculous - she kept saying that she was leaving, but she didn't even dare to say "goodbye" to her face.

She stuffed the envelope into the bottom of her backpack, but her plan quietly changed: wait until he is discharged from the hospital tomorrow, walk him to his doorstep, put down his luggage, and then say "I'm going to buy something" before turning around and walking into the subway station. This way, at least she could say "goodbye" in person, without being too embarrassed.

The next morning, the nurse came to handle the discharge procedures, and Gu Fanxing helped Pei Luonan pack his things.

"Have you brought everything?" Pei Luonan stood at the door waiting for her.

"Almost." She zipped up the suitcase, her voice a little muffled.

As the elevator descended, Gu Fanxing stared at the jumping numbers and counted silently in his mind: underground first floor, parking lot, then his home, then the subway station...

"What are you thinking about?" he asked suddenly.

"Nothing." She looked up hurriedly and met his smiling eyes. "I was wondering if there was a pharmacy near your house. Your ointment is almost out."

"It's right at the entrance of the community." He looked at her, "You can buy it when you get there."

As the car drove out of the hospital gate, Gu Fanxing looked at the street scene receding outside the window and felt a sense of relief in her heart. Soon, she would be able to leave.

After driving for almost a day, we arrived at the entrance of the community in the evening.

Pei Luonan asked the driver to stop the car: "Don't you want to buy ointment? Let's go together."

Gu Fanxing was stunned for a moment before she remembered the excuse she had made up for leaving: she wanted to send Pei Luonan home, then leave on the pretext of buying something.

But now Pei Luonan wants to go with her, how can she escape?

She followed him into the pharmacy and watched him skillfully name the ointment. "Anything else?" he turned to her, holding a box of Band-Aids. "You cut your hand peeling an apple last time, and you might need it."

Gu Fanxing's throat suddenly choked and he couldn't speak.

When they finished their shopping and returned to the community gate, the driver had already unloaded all the luggage and parked in the garage.

Pei Luonan looked at Gu Fanxing in a daze and tapped her head lightly: "Hurry up and take the luggage upstairs. Do you want me, a patient, to carry it up?"

Gu Fanxing reluctantly walked into the elevator with her luggage while thinking about what excuse she should make to come out, and then completely disappear from his world.

What she didn't know was that once she went upstairs, she couldn't come out, and the letter at the bottom of her backpack couldn't be sent out.