Lin Qingping and Gu Juncheng

Chapter 55 Sweater

A sentence suddenly echoed in my ears: Neither Aunt Gu nor Sister Gu knows how to knit sweaters...

Lin Qingping suppressed her doubts and began to wash the inside and outside of the toilet. However, when she turned the toilet inside out, she discovered a detail that was very easy to overlook.

On the lower left side of the sweater, there was a very small piece of black fabric sewn on, with a tiny, barely visible character written on it.

She carefully examined the character; it was the character "陈".

She suddenly realized why the knitting pattern on the sweater looked familiar.

Because she had seen it not long ago.

Chen Xia presented the sweater to her, asking her to give it to Gu Juncheng; it was knitted in the same way.

Lin Qingping felt as if she had been struck hard by a sledgehammer, and she stared blankly at the sweater for a long time.

"Oh? You're doing laundry too? You must be from Commander Gu's family, right?" A family member who looked to be about the same age as her came over, with a sweet and lovely face, and spoke to her with a smile, carrying a basin of clothes in her hands.

Lin Qingping smiled and said, "Mm."

"I'm Mei Li, a family member of Wu Tianping from the next ward. What's yours?"

"My name is Lin Qingping." Lin Qingping had almost finished washing up and was smiling as she packed her things.

Meili nodded, frowning as she pondered over the basin of clothes, poking around in it with her fingers, looking like she didn't know much about washing clothes.

Seeing that Lin Qingping had finished washing, he quickly smiled and said, "Okay, I'll invite you to do laundry together again next time."

Then he continued to study the basin of clothes.

Lin Qingping had something on her mind, so she didn't talk to her anymore and left with a basin of clean clothes.

Because it was very cold, the hospital had a boiler to heat the radiators, so Lin Qingping put her clothes on the radiators to dry.

Xiao Tian came to call her, "Sister-in-law, why don't you go get something to eat?"

Lin Qingping felt a tightness in her chest. She glanced back at Gu Juncheng and remembered how excited and overjoyed she had been when he first woke up. Now, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her, leaving her feeling utterly chilled.

But Gu Juncheng was glaring at her, as if he knew she hadn't eaten all day.

Was it Oda who said that?

In fact, she hadn't eaten for more than a day. Ever since she learned of his injury in Gujia Village, she had lost her appetite and couldn't eat.

Okay, she'll go eat, so he won't get angry again.

It was late at night, and there was no food left in the cafeteria. As she walked out of the hospital building, she felt the cold wind seeping into her bones.

"Sister-in-law!" Xiao Tian chased after her.

Lin Qingping turned around.

"The commander wants me to take you to eat," Xiao Tian said, then added, "It'll be fine in a bit, there are nurses here."

Lin Qingping nodded, feeling no point in insisting on anything with Xiao Tian.

Xiao Tian led her to a small restaurant next to the hospital and ordered her a bowl of hot noodles.

Lin Qingping ordered two bowls.

Young people like Xiaotian eat a lot and get hungry quickly.

Xiao Tian scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly.

Lin Qingping sat down in the small shop.

When the owner served them steaming hot noodles, he also gave each of them an egg, saying, "Today is the last day. We're closing tomorrow for the New Year!"

Yes, tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve, no wonder all the shops outside are closed.

"Xiao Tian," Lin Qingping asked him while they ate noodles, "How long has your regimental commander been wearing that sweater? It looks pretty old to me, why is he still wearing it? Doesn't he have any other clothes?"

Xiao Tian thought for a moment, "It's been a long time, hasn't it? I saw it when I came to the commander's side. The commander always wears this when he goes out in civilian clothes when it's cold. He cherishes it and probably wouldn't want to throw it away."

When Lin Qingping put the food in her mouth, it tasted like chewing wax.

She remembered that she had also knitted him a sweater, and even rushed to finish it before his birthday so she could travel a long distance to visit him and celebrate his birthday. But he didn't care at all.

In that instant, she remembered many things and connected many small things together.

No wonder, when she said she wanted to visit relatives, he told her not to go; the last time he came home, when she was overjoyed and wanted to be with him, he brought up divorce.

At that time, she wondered, "She never mentioned divorce in her previous life, so why is he bringing it up again after I was reborn?"

Could it be because Chen Xia didn't return to the village after going to the city in her previous life? And her rebirth changed Chen Xia's trajectory as well?

She suddenly felt a little ridiculous.

When he brought up divorce, she stubbornly refused, threatening him with all sorts of words. She came with the intention of making amends and wanted to love him properly one last time. Little did she know, she had ruined his plans.

Later, he never mentioned divorce again. Was he frightened by her unreasonable arguments? Was he afraid of the negative impact on her? Did he decide to take full responsibility for her after marrying her?

He really is such a responsible person...

Otherwise, even though he didn't love her in his past life, he still left her so much money and instructed his family to take care of her, just because he felt guilty towards her.

Then she remembered that he had never consummated his marriage with her, neither in his past life nor in this one. Was it because he was truly impotent? Or because he simply didn't want to?

For a moment, her mind was racing, her body moving mechanically, eating noodles one bite after another, swallowing each mouthful without even realizing when she had finished. She was still stuffing chopsticks into her mouth.

Xiao Tian looked at her with surprise and asked, "Sister-in-law, are you still hungry? How about another bowl?"

She suddenly realized what was happening.

"No... I'm full, let's go," Lin Qingping said hurriedly.

When Gu Juncheng returned to the ward, he was awake.

Looking at his appearance, Lin Qingping felt a pang of sadness in her heart.

He was always so serious and upright, always very stern in front of her, sometimes even fierce. She suddenly wondered what he would be like in front of Chen Xia. Was the young Chengzi also so unsmiling?

She said she came to take care of him, but in his current state, there wasn't much for her to do. She just watched over the IV drip, turned him over every now and then, and emptied the urine from the urine bag.

When people have free time, they are especially prone to being swept up by their emotions.

Lin Qingping didn't want to get stuck in sadness.

A cot had been set up in the ward for a patient, so she sat down on it, took out a notebook and pen from her bag, and began to draw a design for next year's spring collection, which she had promised to Director Hu.

She kept drawing and drawing until the nurse came to turn off the lights, at which point she put away her pen and notebook.

She didn't forget to ask Gu Juncheng if he needed anything.

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

Lin Qingping didn't say anything, only reminding herself to be more alert at night, not to sleep too soundly, and to wake up several times.

Then, she lay down in her companion bed.

As it turned out, she realized she was overthinking things; how could she possibly sleep soundly? She simply couldn't fall asleep.

She could only come up with her new design in her mind. Only by devoting herself wholeheartedly to her work could she stop feeling sad.

However, before I knew it, my pillow was already wet.

She was clearly conceiving and designing something!