Ai sat up with difficulty. She feebly leaned on Lu’s shoulder.
“Ahhh…” She put her hand on her stomach.
“What’s wrong? Are you alright?” Lu looked at her worriedly.
Ai blushed, and there was hesitation in her eyes. She mumbled, “Actually…I…actually…It’s nothing. Forget it.”
“What happened?” Lu stood up immediately. “I am going to call the doctor for you.”
Ai stopped him. “Wait. Don’t go.”
“I really need to. You don’t look good. I have to call the doctor to check.” Lu was determined.
“Nothing happened. I just…” Ai looked at him, embarrassed. “It seems that my aunt is coming now.” (Aunt is an idiom for ‘period’ in Chinese)
“Aunt?” Lu glanced at the door. “You didn’t tell me you have an aunt. When will she come?”
“…” Ai bit her lips in case she would burst into laughter.
“What’s wrong?” Lu was puzzled.
“…Nothing…Can you do me a favor and buy some stuff?” There might have been blood on her pants, so she couldn’t move at all.
“OK. What do you want? ”
“ABC. Three bags each for day and night.” Ai bit her lips. “If they run out of this brand, buy another one. But don’t buy the type with medicine ingredients. I don’t like the scent.” (ABC is a pads brand.)
“???” Lu was even more puzzled. He was an expert with guns, instruments, and missiles. He knew all their models, dates, execution, range of fire, and applications. He was not an omniscient person, but he was at least knowledgeable. But he didn’t understand what she said at all!
Looking at Lu’s puzzled face, Ai was amused. She laughed so wildly that her stomach ached.
Suddenly, she got an idea and purposely said, “Go and ask a staff member. Ask her where they put ABC. If she doesn’t know, ask a customer you meet. Don’t worry. They will tell you.”
Ai was snickering. Lu felt there was something wrong. He looked at Ai suspiciously. “Tell me. What’s this for?”
Ai thought for a while and replied, “To stop bleeding.”
So Lu went out at ease. Ai shouted at him before he left. “Be quick! I need it now.”
Then, she burst into laughter on the bed. She covered her mouth and shrieked, out of breath. But her wound cracked because she had opened her mouth too wide. As the saying goes, extreme joy leads to sorrow.
Lu went to the nearest store after leaving the hospital. Following Ai’s instructions, he asked the staff first. “I am looking for ABC.”
The assistant looked at him in shock. “What do you want?”
Lu thought she hadn’t understood, so he repeated, “ABC. For stopping bleeding.”
“You just said you want ABC?” The assistant raised her voice. All the customers looked at them.
Lu’s temples pulsed slightly when he saw their shocked and contemptl expressions. He felt that he had been fooled.
He kneaded his eyebrows and tried to keep calm. He didn’t want others to think he was a weird man.
He coughed gently and explained, “It’s for my wife…She said she had a stomach ache and asked me to buy ABC for stopping bleeding.”
“Alright. I got you.” The assistant understood what he meant, so the contempt in her eyes gradually changed into envy. “I’ll get you some ABC. I can help you pick out what you need.”
She was so zealous that Lu became relieved. But there was still someone snickering as they gesticulated. He didn’t know why.
Lu’s expression immediately turned terrible as soon as the assistant took him to the shelf stocked with pads.
“They’re pads. No wonder Ai was snickering when I left.”
He was so embarrassed that he wanted to escape from the store, but the assistant was enthusiastically introducing the different kinds of pads.
In a bad mood, Lu interrupted her. “Just give me something random. I need to run.”
“OK.” The assistant picked some out for him. At the counter, she asked him, “Do you need a plastic bag?”
”Yes.” ‘Otherwise, would I hold them in my hands?’
But Lu got a headache when he saw the transparent plastic bag. “Is there any other color?”
“Isn’t that the same as holding it in my hands?”
The assistant smiled at him, “Sorry. We don’t have other colors. It’s 98 yuan in total.”
Lu took out 100 yuan. “Keep the change.”
Then he immediately ran away with these items.
Ai made fun of him about this incident for a while. Lu got so pissed off that he pushed her down under him and kissed her wildly until she begged him to stop.
The next day, they went back to the barracks by car. Ai was worried because she felt that what she did this time was quite unreasonable. Everyone was so worried about her.
She apologized to Yang Anxin as soon as she got off the car.
Yang Anxin was worried when she saw Ai’s bruised face and her arm in a sling, but she pretended to be indifferent. “Back from the hospital?” Then she said nothing.
Ai gave an awkward smile. She took Yang’s arm and tried to coax her. “Anxin, don’t get angry at me. I apologize. I swear I will never do it again.”
Yang pulled her hand back coolly. “I have nothing to do with you. You don’t need to apologize. You can go or stay at your home if you want. I am not your sister. What you do has nothing to do with me.”
“She is obviously pissed off because I left without saying goodbye.”
Ai knew Yang was acting like this because Yang cared about her, so she came closer to Yang again, trying to flatter her. “Please don’t say that. You are the one who has taken care of me since I came here. In my heart, you are my sister. I was at fault. I apologize. Please forgive me.”
Ai’s apology was quite sincere. Yang stopped playing cool and poked her forehead hard. “You are such a reckless girl. You left without telling anyone and even almost got in trouble. Don’t you know everyone was worried about you?”
“Yeah. I know you are always a nice person.” Ai swayed her arm gently. “You know I love you. I really miss the sweet and sour ribs you made. I kept thinking about it all the way. Look, my mouth is watering now.”
Yang was amused. She poked Ai’s forehead with her finger. “You always think about food. What do you know except food?”
“Ouch. It hurts….” Ai screamed.
“Now you know it hurts? Serves you right!” She was a typical sharp-tongued but soft-hearted person. Although she talked coldly, Yang immediately started to check her wound.
Ai secretly made a victory gesture towards Lu. Lu could only shake his head. Her thick skin was her sharpest weapon.
Yang prepared all kinds of dishes for Ai. She also told Song and Du to come.
Watching all the people at the table, Ai felt as if she had gone back to the time when she just came. It was the same. But at that time, all she could see was Du Yucheng. Now, she just glanced and smiled. Then, she didn’t look at him anymore.
“This is your favorite…” Lu picked up a rib and put it in her bowl.
Ai cheered and used her left hand to pick up the chopsticks with difficulty. But she couldn’t pick it up after trying several times. She was pissed off.
The others were all amused by Ai.
Song Zhizhang, who had a loud voice, laughed at Ai because of her funny actions.
Ai looked at Lu with a martyred expression. “I want to eat.”
Lu was originally embarrassed, but when he saw her imploring look, he immediately became gentle. There was a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. He lifted the rib up next to her mouth. “Take it easy.”
“Wow.” Ai bit it at once, and then she looked at Lu with a satisfactory smile.
“Sh*t! ” Song slapped the table. “I can’t stand this anymore. You two better remember that we are still here!!”
Ai refuted him immediately. “Mind your own business. Why are you staring at us?”
“You two are showing off in front of us, and you ask me to pretend not to see? That’s impossible. I am not blind!” Song Shizhang bit the pig trotter enviously.
Lu added calmly, “If you can’t pretend to be blind, I can help make you blind.”
“…” Song Shizhang sulked. “Don’t show off too much in front of a bachelor.”
Du Yucheng was drinking next to him in silence. Song Shizhang came closer to him to seek approval. “What do you think, Du?”
Du suddenly stopped drinking. He narrowed his soulful eyes and said coldly, “Get a wife if you want to show off like them.”
“Pooh!” Song Shizhang was speechless. “Bachelors can’t live in this world anymore.”
“Alright. Alright. Stop arguing. Let’s raise the glasses.” Pei Mu said.
Men all drank liquor. Ai and Yang had beverages.
Ai whispered in Lu’s ear, “Don’t drink too much.”
Lu placed his arms around Ai and whispered in her ear, “I know.”
Ai hurriedly pushed him away, but she couldn’t help smiling.
Lu edged closer to Ai. “What do you want to eat? I can get it for you.”
Ai pointed to a dish. “That one. And that one.”
“OK.” Lu put the food in her bowl.
Yang was quite gratified. She had thought that Ai left home because she had argued with Lu. Now, they got along better than before. She felt that she didn’t have to worry about them anymore.
Du kept drinking in silence, as he did when he had first come there.