Did My Ex-Wife Agree to Remarry Me Today? - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: The Sippy Cup

What caused a massive drop in Chi Yun’s expectations wasn’t just the location of the IV drip, but Dr. Wang’s technique.

After failing to find the vein on the first try, Dr. Wang flusteredly called her assistant over. “Xiao Luo, get a new syringe set. And bring more searchlights give me some better light here.”

She blinked her eyes hard several times, trying to sharpen her vision and focus. Dr. Wang was trying her best, she really was; Chi Yun could see the effort, but it just wasn’t yielding results. For the past two days, she’d been successful on the first try, but today felt cursed. Three attempts in, and Chi Yun’s left hand was already bruising, yet Dr. Wang still hadn’t found the mark.

Dr. Wang was on the verge of a breakdown herself. She wiped her glasses, then the sweat from her forehead, stepped outside to look into the distance for a moment, and borrowed Wang Fang’s bathroom to wash her face and hands before returning.

The assistant finished the disinfection, and a fresh syringe was placed in Dr. Wang’s hand. Her two apprentices were even less experienced than she was, so she had to be the one to do it.

Chi Yun actually managed a smile, offering gentle comfort: “Don’t worry, Dr. Wang. Let’s try the other hand.” Her personal record was nineteen pokes; this wasn’t even close to a fraction of that yet.

Dr. Wang held her breath, focusing once more. But the encouragement backfired the needle went even further off-course. This time, the pain made Chi Yun hiss through her teeth, her face scrunching up. “Sss—”

“I’m so sorry! Did that hurt?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Please, continue.”

Wang Fang had been keeping her distance, not daring to watch, but seeing that thirty minutes had passed and they were still at it, she couldn’t help but walk over. Everyone fears needles to some extent; despite her age, Wang Fang’s face turned pale and her legs trembled whenever she saw one.

Looking at Chi Yun biting her lip and enduring in silence, Wang Fang thought of A-Mei. The two were complete opposites. When A-Mei was scared, she’d wail and cling to Wang Fang’s waist. In Wang Fang’s eyes, both were still just children. Young children need company and comfort when scared, and surely “big children” didn’t want to face it alone either.

Wang Fang stepped up and stood beside Chi Yun. The younger woman had been looking down, but when she saw the older woman, she looked up and smiled. The meaning in her bright eyes was clear: I’m okay, you don’t need to worry.

Wang Fang sat down next to her in silence. Grown children are different after all, she thought. Much more steady than A-Mei.

On the fifth try, Dr. Wang finally succeeded. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Chi Yun immediately thanked them. “Thank you, Dr. Wang, and thank you, Dr. Luo and Dr. Qiao. I’m sorry for making you all come out so late.”

Dr. Wang was deeply embarrassed. “I’m so sorry for making you suffer through so many pokes for nothing…”

Chi Yun smiled warmly, taking the blame upon herself. “My veins are just hard to find.” If they were even slightly more visible, Dr. Wang wouldn’t have been so hesitant.

“Xiao Zhou isn’t here today, so one of us should stay and keep an eye on things,” Dr. Wang suggested to her assistants.

“No, no,” Chi Yun declined. “I feel much better today. I can take care of myself. I’ll contact you when it’s time to remove the needle.”

“It’s okay, I’m right here,” Wang Fang spoke up. “It’s only five bags, so just two or three hours. I’ll watch over her.”

Chi Yun wasn’t familiar with the doctors, so she naturally preferred Wang Fang. “Exactly, Grandma Wang is here. You doctors haven’t eaten yet, have you? You should head back to the clinic and get some dinner. I’ll call Dr. Wang when I’m done.”

“Well…” Dr. Wang hesitated but respected the patient’s wish. “Call us if anything happens. Auntie, help her call if her hand is awkward.”

Wang Fang shooed them away. “I know, I know. Get going and eat your dinner.” She hadn’t cooked enough rice noodles to keep them, anyway.

Once the medical team left, Wang Fang looked down at Chi Yun’s hand and asked softly, “Did all those pokes hurt?”

“It’s okay,” Chi Yun replied.

“If it were A-Mei, she’d have been screaming that she wasn’t doing it anymore. You’re much calmer than her.”

Chi Yun wasn’t actually calm; she was just pretending to be. She was still afraid, but compared to when she was a child, her tolerance was higher and she knew how to control her emotions.

“If A-Mei knew she was going for a shot, she’d be dragging my hand at the hospital entrance refusing to go in, crying piteously. The complete opposite of you.”

Listening to this, Chi Yun thought to herself: I wasn’t like this as a kid. I probably cried even harder than A-Mei. A-Mei only started making a scene at the hospital; Chi Yun, sensing her “impending doom” the moment a fever started, would start wailing at home.

As a child, Chi Yun caught a fever every time the seasons changed, which meant a trip to the community clinic for an IV. After discovering the nurses often took several tries to find the right spot, Chi Yun developed a bit of a trauma. Being sick was miserable enough red cheeks, dizzy head, stuck in bed and then she had to endure the needles. The first thing she said to Sheng Minghui was: “Mama, I don’t want to go for the drip…”

Long Xi was away in the mountains delivering medicine, so only Sheng Minghui was home. When she didn’t hear the sound of the “cub” running around the house after waking up, she knew something was wrong. She went to the bedroom and found her withered with fever.

Cradling her daughter, Sheng Minghui coaxed her gently. “Little cub, you have a fever. You won’t get better without the shot. If it gets too bad, your brain might scramble and you won’t recognize Mama or A-Li anymore.”

Three-year-old Chi Yun blinked her long lashes, fat tears rolling down. She buried her face in Sheng Minghui’s arms and sobbed, “But the ladies at the clinic hurt when they poke. Can’t Mommy do it for me?”

Sheng Minghui kissed her cheek and pressed her forehead against the girl’s burning one. “Mommy is in the mountains giving medicine to the brothers and sisters. She can’t make it back.”

“Waaaa…” Little Biscuit sobbed inconsolably. “I want Mommy to do it…”

Everyone said Chi Yun’s veins were impossible to find, but Long Xi could do it in one shot without causing her any pain or fear. Long Xi was her savior when sick, but today, Mommy wasn’t there.

Sheng Minghui felt a wave of helplessness. She didn’t have Long Xi’s medical skill; she couldn’t help with the needle at all. Frustrated with herself, she fumbled for her phone. “I’ll call Manager Hu and have him find someone to calculate your birth chart. Mama will go dance on the mountain, and you’ll get better—no shots, no medicine.”

Chi Yun had heard Long Xi talk about how her mother used to “save” people. She waved her hands frantically. “Don’t call Uncle Hu! After the dance, you have to jump off a cliff! If you jump, Mommy will kill me when she gets back! Then we’re both finished. It’s not a good deal. I’ll just go get the shot…”

Sheng Minghui felt both heartbroken and amused. She carried Chi Yun to her room to get the necessary IDs. Chi Yun, resting on her mother’s shoulder, noticed a familiar garment. “Is that Mommy’s coat?”

“Yes,” Sheng Minghui said. “The last time you fell asleep in the tree, Mommy used this to wrap you up.”

Missing her Mommy again, tears welled up. “Wrap me up now too…”

Sheng Minghui picked up the coat and draped it over Chi Yun’s head, cocooning the cub tightly. The person wasn’t there, but the scent was; maybe it would provide some of Mommy’s unique security. “Be brave, we’re brave,” she told the bundle.

Inside the coat, Chi Yun missed Long Xi even more. Sheng Minghui handed her the phone. “Call Mommy. Ask her when she’s coming back.”

Chi Yun started a video call. The moment it connected, her tears turned into a flood. “Mommy… I have to go get a shot, waaa…”

Long Xi comforted her: “Mommy will be back the day after tomorrow.”

“I want Mommy to do the shot…” Chi Yun clutched the coat. “Put your coat on the nurse lady. Can she become as good as you?” Long Xi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

While Long Xi distracted her, Sheng Minghui packed the essentials. Since Chi Yun had cried a literal ton of tears, she needed hydration. Pear juice was a must. Holding Chi Yun with one arm, Sheng Minghui took a large sippy cup from the cupboard and poured fresh pear juice into it. She added two actual pears to her pocket, too—just in case she missed A-Li.

Before leaving, they stopped in front of the pear tree. “Say goodbye to A-Li,” Sheng Minghui said. Chi Yun poked her head out from the coat and hugged the trunk tightly. “A-Li, I’m going to get a shot…”

The clinic was right at the neighborhood entrance. To keep her hydrated, Sheng Minghui opened the sippy cup and handed it to her daughter. Three-year-old Biscuit bit the straw and began to drink…

Wait!

Chi Yun, lost in the memory, suddenly snapped awake at that final image. She opened her eyes, trying to recall the exact look of her childhood sippy cup.

The color and shape… why was it so similar to the one A-Li used?

Wang Fang, assuming Chi Yun was resting, went back to her chores, occasionally peeking in from the kitchen. Chi Yun sat up straight and fumbled for her phone. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became, but the details were fuzzy. She needed to check childhood photos.

She didn’t have photos from that period on her phone. But her mother had bought it; she would remember. Chi Yun called Sheng Minghui again.

“A green sippy cup?” Sheng Minghui repeated. “Yes, the one you used for pear juice when you were three or four. Later, your aunt made you a pear-shaped one, so you switched to that.”

“Do you have a photo of that cup?” Chi Yun asked.

Though she wondered why her daughter wanted a photo of a cup after over a decade, Sheng Minghui looked through her albums. After a while, she found a set and sent them over. “You were getting a drip at the hospital. Your mommy was in the mountains and insisted on seeing you, so I took a few photos of you drinking pear juice.”

It was it!

“Do you remember if we threw it away or stored it?”

“We kept it. It’s in the storage room,” Sheng Minghui recalled clearly. “Top shelf of the first rack on the left. It should be at the bottom of a box there.”

“Do you remember any marks on it? Like a scratch or a chip?” To prove it was her cup and not just the same model, she needed a specific mark.

Was it important to prove they used the same cup? To Chi Yun, it was vital. When you love someone, you look for every tiny piece of evidence that they love you too. If she could prove it, she’d be smiling in her sleep tonight.

“I remember,” Sheng Minghui said. “I was holding you with one hand and the cup with the other. It slipped, and when I caught it, I jammed it against the edge of the storage cabinet. There’s a scratch near the bottom of the base.”

Chi Yun’s heart soared. “Got it. Thanks, Mom!”

Sheng Minghui’s detail was perfect. Hearing the joy in her daughter’s voice, the two mothers on the other end couldn’t help but gossip. “What kind of plot point does this cup advance? Tell us!”

“Whether I can sleep at A-Li’s house tonight depends entirely on this,” Chi Yun replied. Her mothers wished her luck.

Photo? Check. Scratch? Check. Now she just had to see if the cup at Li Zhou’s house matched. Yesterday, when she was drinking from it, she’d been focused on the straw and hadn’t noticed the base. How could she get another look at it?

Once the IV was finished, Dr. Wang came to remove the needle. Finally free, Chi Yun walked into Grandma Wang’s yard and peered toward Li Zhou’s house. It was still busy, but the crates were almost empty. Within ten minutes, they’d be finished.

Through the window, Chi Yun spotted the cup. To stay out of the way, it had been placed in a corner. Li Zhou was busy at her computer, oblivious.

The timing was perfect. As she was wondering how to sneak in, her “help” arrived. A-Mei came running toward her but zoomed past with a quick greeting.

“A-Mei, where are you going?”

“Hungry!” A-Mei called back. “Going inside for snacks.”

“Are you coming back out?” Chi Yun asked, catching up.

“Yeah.”

“Can you do me a favor?” Chi Yun whispered her goal.

A-Mei’s face scrunched up. “You want me to take Sister Zhou’s cup?” Her look was one of disbelief. If you say it’s yours, why don’t you just go get it?

Chi Yun didn’t want to be caught. She showed A-Mei the childhood photo of her drinking from the cup. With some emotional persuasion and logic, she successfully convinced the girl.

A-Mei walked toward Li Zhou’s house with heavy steps. Chi Yun waited in the yard. After what felt like an eternity, she didn’t see A-Mei coming back she saw Li Zhou.

Li Zhou walked toward her, holding the very sippy cup Chi Yun wanted to verify.

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