Chapter 52: What Do You Mean by the Sun?

Wang Wenyu immediately let go of Hao Meng and said, “Oh no, how could I forget the important thing? Do you have any money on you? That scoundrel is still lying in the hospital, waiting for money for a blood transfusion.”

Hearing that Jiang Fan was in the hospital, Hao Meng anxiously asked, “How did he end up in the hospital? What happened?”

Wang Wenyu briefly recounted the events.

Hao Meng quickly pulled Wang Wenyu along, saying, “Let’s go, I’ll go with you.”

After paying for the medication, they handed the medicine to Auntie Li.

The two of them walked to the hospital bed. Hao Meng looked at Jiang Fan, who still had his eyes closed, and said to Wang Wenyu, “He’s still not awake? We’ve been in Dongguan for about a week, and this is the fourth fight he’s gotten into, isn’t it?”

“Fifth, actually. He really doesn’t let anyone have peace of mind,” Wang Wenyu corrected.

“Our first day in Dongguan there was the confrontation with the robbers, then the Shangsha Security Team, Zhu Bing, the Zhangmutou casino—and one more I don’t remember,” Hao Meng counted, then asked.

Wang Wenyu replied with a laugh, “Dafeng’s security chief—Jiang Fan beat him so badly that now if he sees him, he scurries away like a mouse from a cat. He even calls the others demons and monsters, saying he’s here to subdue evil.”

Hao Meng teased, “He certainly is a handful. But it’s probably this unruliness that made you fall for him, isn’t it?”

Wang Wenyu helped tuck Jiang Fan’s blanket around him more snugly, gazing at him in disbelief as she replied, “Yes! A troublesome rascal like him, not even that good-looking—how did I fall for him so quickly?”

“We women are sentimental creatures. Love the house, love the crow upon it, as the saying goes.”

The two women made fun of Jiang Fan for a while. Wang Wenyu glanced at her watch, frowned, and said, “It’s already been two hours since he fainted. Why hasn’t he woken up? Sit here, I’ll go ask Auntie Li what’s going on.”

Wang Wenyu was starting to worry since Jiang Fan wouldn’t wake up.

A nurse, who had just come to the next bed to remove a patient’s IV, saw Wang Wenyu’s concern and interjected, “Don’t worry, he’s been awake for a while. Before the IV, he even went to the restroom on his own. Now he’s probably just—”

Hearing this, Wang Wenyu pinched Jiang Fan’s uninjured arm hard and said, “Liar, still pretending to be dead to trick us. Were you just trying to eavesdrop on my conversation with Mengmeng?”

Jiang Fan opened his eyes and grinned mischievously. “Ouch, ouch! Take it easy, mean woman!”

Hao Meng pursed her lips and chimed in, “Wenyu cares so much about you, and you still call her mean? Where’s your conscience?”

From Hao Meng’s words, Wang Wenyu realized she’d been tricked by Jiang Fan and pressed, “Mengmeng—what does ‘mean woman’ mean?”

Hao Meng explained, “In Sichuan dialect, ‘mean’ means silly or foolish, and ‘woman’ means wife. Now you know what it means, right?”

Wang Wenyu pouted and feigned anger. “Liar, always lying to me. Just wait until you’re better—I’ll get even with you.”

After an X-ray, it turned out Jiang Fan’s third rib was indeed fractured.

A fracture needed time to heal; staying in the hospital wouldn’t help much, and Jiang Fan, distressed about the cost, wanted to leave as soon as his transfusion was finished. Wang Wenyu, however, insisted on keeping him for observation for another day.

Seeing that Jiang Fan had woken up, Hao Meng was relieved. She knew what was done was done; if she showed too much concern now, Wang Wenyu might become jealous, so after chatting for a bit, she left.

Humen Hospital wasn’t large, and with the influx of outsiders, beds were scarce. For observation, Jiang Fan was assigned a makeshift bed in the corridor of the surgical ward.

Night had fallen. After Hao Meng left, the corridor was especially quiet. Wang Wenyu sat by Jiang Fan’s bed, gently touching his swollen face and asked with concern, “Does it still hurt?”

Jiang Fan grinned exaggeratedly, “It hurts a lot. Maybe if you give me a kiss, it’ll get better.”

Seeing that Jiang Fan could still joke, Wang Wenyu’s worry eased. She glanced around, saw no one nearby, and quickly brushed a kiss on Jiang Fan’s bruised, swollen lips, blushing, “Satisfied now?”

Jiang Fan took her hand and shook his head. “Not satisfied. On the way here, didn’t you say if I made it to the hospital, you’d let me take some liberties? Don’t go back on your word.”

“You’re so badly hurt and you still remember that? Unbelievable. Just focus on getting better—this will have to wait until you’ve recovered.”

“Does ‘satisfy’ mean everything is included?”

Hearing such a blunt question, Wang Wenyu blushed deeply and chided, “Rogue! Dream on. ‘Satisfy’ only means a little flirting—don’t even think about anything else.”

“Well, then let’s not put it off. Lying here is boring; let me find something to do.”

Jiang Fan spoke with a roguish grin, his hand already reaching for her.

Wang Wenyu glanced around again to make sure no one was there, then pulled part of Jiang Fan’s blanket up to cover her chest, shielding from any possible onlookers. In a gentle voice, she said, “Rogue.”

Grasping that softness again, Jiang Fan replied contentedly, “How can getting close to my own wife be called being a rogue?”

“You can call me ‘wife,’ but don’t add the word ‘mean,’ understand?”

“Lots of insults are terms of endearment between people who care about each other. ‘Mean’ may sound harsh, but when I call you that, it feels intimate—you don’t understand romance, do you?”

“Liar, always making excuses. How could an insult be an intimate nickname?”

Jiang Fan recalled his dream from a few days earlier, when he’d woken up with damp underwear, and continued his teasing, “For example, when we’re together, would you rather hear me say in a polite way, ‘I want to be close to you,’ or something more direct like, ‘I want to sun you?’”

Wang Wenyu innocently asked, “What does ‘sun you’ mean?”

With his mischievous hand still beneath the blanket, Jiang Fan covered his mouth with his newly bandaged left hand and stifled a laugh. “What’s another word for ‘sun’?”

Wang Wenyu blurted out, “Day,” but the moment she said it, she realized she’d fallen for his trick.

She pinched Jiang Fan’s arm hard under the blanket and retorted, “Liar, rogue!”

The next afternoon, after examining Jiang Fan in the ward, Auntie Li said to Wang Wenyu, “He’s out of danger. Bone injuries just need time to heal. Hospitalization is expensive—use that money to buy him some marrow bones for soup. He’ll recover faster and it’ll cost much less.”

Wang Wenyu was grateful that Auntie Li not only helped at work but also cared personally, so she left her contact information.

On Auntie Li’s advice, Jiang Fan was discharged that very day.

Wang Wenyu escorted Jiang Fan back to Dafeng. Before parting, Jiang Fan took her hand and said, “Silly wife, I can’t bear to see you go.”

Women always become coquettish with their beloveds, and Wang Wenyu joked, “You’re so popular with the women at the factory. Shen Tingting is quite pretty too. Isn’t my leaving just giving you a chance?”

Jiang Fan playfully pinched her cheek, “No matter how pretty, she’s not mine. I wouldn’t dare touch or even look at her. How could it compare to being with my own wife?”

Wang Wenyu pouted, “Wouldn’t dare? So if someone else were willing, you’d just go for it?”

Seeing her acting spoiled, Jiang Fan took the opportunity to grope her, pinching her bottom. “Jealousy queen, always overthinking things. With you by my side, I wouldn’t even glance at another woman. Satisfied?”

“That’s more like it. Go back to the factory and stay there tonight—tomorrow I’ll come over, rent a room nearby, buy some pots and pans, and make you bone broth every day to help you recover.”

Jiang Fan was overjoyed. “So that means we can spend the nights together?”

Wang Wenyu shot him a look. “All you do is daydream. Even if we’re under the same roof, don’t get any ideas.”