"You are? My wife?" Xie Jingchen asked. Theirs was an arranged marriage. He had only met his wife twice: once for the matchmaking meeting and the second time for their wedding. Halfway through the banquet, his wife had been called away by her superior. They hadn't even consummated the marriage. She'd thrown herself into her work for a month and hadn't come home since. He wasn't familiar with his wife and couldn't recognize her by voice, but he was sure he would know her if he saw her.
He had injured his eyes. He couldn't see.
"Your eyes?" Qin Mei bit her lower lip, a pang of sorrow in her heart.
"Wife, if—I'm just saying, if—if my eyes go blind, would you despise me?" Xie Jingchen asked.
"I won't," Qin Mei blurted out. 'Despising a disabled husband? How immoral would that make me?'
"Wife, you're so wonderful," Xie Jingchen said, greatly relieved.
Adversity reveals true feelings, and disability tests the human heart.
Watching the two of them display their true feelings in a time of hardship, Jie Jingchen was filled with mixed emotions. His wife had mistaken the man for him. She had injured her head previously, and the doctor speculated there was a risk of amnesia. His older sister had also mentioned in a letter that Qin Mei had lost her memory.
Her eyes were clear; it didn't look like she was faking it.
Qin Mei tended to Xie Jingchen. With Jie Jingchen's wife yet to arrive, Xiao Liu stayed behind to continue caring for him.
"Um, Xie Jingchen, are you hungry?" Qin Mei asked.
"Not hungry." Xie Jingchen had just woken up; he really didn't feel hungry.
Qin Mei thought for a moment, then said, "How about I go to the cafeteria and buy some food?"
"Wife, there's no need. I'm really not hungry," Xie Jingchen said, his voice clear and bright.
Qin Mei took a deep breath and said with a wide smile, "I'm hungry."
She really was hungry. On the train, she hadn't even had a sip of water. It wasn't that she was overly worried, but she got motion sickness. Combined with the jumble of smells on the train, she couldn't even think about eating. It was an accomplishment that she'd managed not to throw up.
She had been pampered her whole life. The only hardship she'd ever known was studying; she had never experienced the struggles of daily life. Transmigrating to the 1970s was a true test for her.
"Ah!" Xie Jingchen exclaimed, then urged her, "Hurry up and go to the cafeteria to get some food."
Qin Mei bit her lip and said in a low voice, "I don't have any money."
Her older sister had seen her off at the train station, and someone was there to pick her up when she arrived. Her sister hadn't given her any money or ration tickets. She didn't know if her sister had forgotten or just assumed she already had money and tickets and didn't need any.
This was the first time she had ever had to ask for money. In the modern era, she never wanted for cash. Her parents and paternal grandparents gave her an allowance every month, and sometimes her maternal grandparents would give her money too. Her savings were enough to buy a house in a first-tier city, paid in full.
"Jing Si, do you know where my clothes are?" Xie Jingchen asked.
Jie Jingchen shot Qin Mei a cold glance, his voice emerging from his throat. "In the cabinet."
Qin Mei looked at Jie Jingchen, and her heart skipped a beat. The man was devastatingly handsome. His features were impeccable. Even though his face was pale from his injuries, it didn't detract from his appearance in the slightest. It was impossible to look away, especially from those soul-stealing, coolly charming eyes.
Even lying quietly on the hospital bed, he exuded an aura of proud dominance.
As someone who was a sucker for a handsome face, this man was exactly her type. She felt the sudden impulse to chase after him, whatever it took.
What a shame. A real shame.
Qin Mei glanced at the husband the original owner of this body had chosen. He wasn't her type, but she could only resign herself to her fate.
"Thanks." Qin Mei suppressed her regret and opened the cabinet in the hospital room, rummaging through it.
Seeing this, Xiao Liu spoke up, "Sister-in-law..."
"Xiao Liu," Jie Jingchen cut him off.
Xiao Liu didn't understand. The cabinet Xie Jingchen's wife had opened was clearly Technician Jie's cabinet.
Jie Jingchen shot Xiao Liu a look. Although Xiao Liu was confused, he shut his mouth.
Qin Mei pulled out a stack of ten-yuan notes. Under Xiao Liu's dumbfounded gaze, she counted them. Exactly ten bills, one hundred yuan.
In anyone else's eyes, this was a huge sum. In Qin Mei's eyes, it was small change.
For a moment, Qin Mei forgot this was the 1970s and blurted out, "Is that all?"
One hundred yuan couldn't buy much in the modern era, but in the seventies, it could buy a lot.
Jie Jingchen's gaze darkened, while Xiao Liu wore a look of utter astonishment. 'That's not much?'
Xie Jingchen couldn't see, so of course he didn't know Qin Mei was holding a stack of ten-yuan notes. He said, "I haven't gotten paid yet this month."
Qin Mei paused, looking at Xie Jingchen. 'He lives paycheck to paycheck.'
Qin Mei hadn't forgotten that besides money, she also needed tickets. She rummaged again and pulled out the ration tickets. She looked at them carefully; there were all sorts of kinds. She took a few grain ration tickets.
"You're Xiao Liu, right? Could you please keep an eye on things for me? I'm going to eat," Qin Mei said to Xiao Liu.
"Okay," Xiao Liu nodded.
"Thanks." Qin Mei took the money and tickets and walked out of the ward cheerfully.
"Technician Jie." Xiao Liu looked at Jie Jingchen with a conflicted expression. Xie Jingchen's wife had taken Technician Jie's money.
Jie Jingchen said nothing and closed his eyes. The Qin Mei with amnesia and the Qin Mei from before were like two completely different people.
Seeing that Technician Jie was willing to be the sucker, Xiao Liu didn't dare say anything more.
Night fell. Xie Jingchen slept restlessly, in pain. Suppressed moans escaped his lips.
Qin Mei sat up. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at the other patient bed and the companion bed. Seeing them sleeping soundly, completely undisturbed, she had to admire their ability to sleep through anything.
Qin Mei stood up, barefoot, and tiptoed to the cabinet. She gently opened the cabinet door and took out a small box from a little cloth bag.
Coming to the bedside, she opened the box, took out the silver needles, and inserted them into several acupoints on Xie Jingchen's head. She twirled the needles with a focused expression. By the fourth silver needle, the moans of pain were replaced by steady breathing, and Xie Jingchen gradually fell into a deep sleep.
Qin Mei pulled out the silver needles, put them back in their case, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
She looked up, and their eyes met. Jie Jingchen's gaze was filled with thoughtful suspicion. Qin Mei suddenly felt the guilt of being caught red-handed. She gave a light cough and averted her gaze.
"Give me a treatment too," Jie Jingchen said.
"I was just fooling around," Qin Mei refused.
"Is that so?" Jie Jingchen looked at her skeptically. Her technique was professional and skilled, not at all like an amateur's.
Qin Mei yawned and said perfunctorily, "He was being too noisy and disturbing your sleep. I just knocked him out with the needles. Now everyone's happy."
'Knocked him out?' He glanced at Xie Jingchen. He didn't look like he'd fainted; the steady breathing was proof enough he had entered a deep sleep. Jie Jingchen's cold eyes watched Qin Mei covertly as he asked in a deep voice, "Aren't you worried about side effects?"
"Side effects?" A hint of anger flashed in Qin Mei's eyes. 'My grandfather is a titan in the world of Chinese medicine, and I inherited his skills. How dare this guy question my acupuncture! It's infuriating!' Qin Mei took a deep breath, suppressing her rage, and said belligerently, "What does it matter? We're in a hospital. The doctors will figure out how to deal with it."
'Is she angry?' Jie Jingchen tactfully shut his mouth.
Qin Mei shot Jie Jingchen a cold look and said no more. 'To me, he's just a stranger.' She put the box back in the cloth bag, closed the cabinet door, returned to the companion bed, closed her eyes, and went back to sleep.
Jie Jingchen gazed at her, a probing look in his eyes. 'Is she really the same arrogant and malicious Qin Mei from six months ago?'
The one who had used despicable, shameless tactics to trap him, forcing him into this marriage.