Marriage at Thirty - Chapter 9

In the last couple of days, Lin Ran noticed that Nurse Wang Ke seemed to have some issue with her.

During the first two days of the hospital stay, Nurse Wang always had a smile on her face, and she enjoyed chatting with Old Liu and Zhang Wu. When she ran into Lin Ran, she was always welcoming with a smile, and they’d greet each other.

However, these last two days, Nurse Wang often pretended not to see her, and she would act as if she hadn’t heard them when they tried to make conversation, leaving immediately after finishing her tasks.

Moreover, on several occasions, Lin Ran felt Wang Ke seemed to be secretly watching her, but when Lin Ran looked over, the nurse would hastily avert her gaze.

The strangest thing was that once, when Fu Linling came to visit Zhang Wu and ran into Wang Ke, the nurse didn’t greet her happily as she usually would.

“What’s wrong with Nurse Wang? Did we upset her somehow?” Lin Ran couldn’t help but ask.

“Our wedding is in two days. Do you have time to worry about others?” Fu Linling looked down at her.

Lin Ran was startled: “That soon?”

“Is it soon?” Fu Linling felt it was taking too long.

“Isn’t it? I feel like we haven’t prepared anything.”

Because of Zhang Wu’s hospitalization, Lin Ran had been staying at the hospital almost constantly, leaving many things unattended to.

“I probably won’t be able to move until my mother is discharged,” Lin Ran said.

“That’s not urgent. My house is right there; it’s not going anywhere,” Fu Linling assured her.

Lin Ran let out a little laugh and then asked, “Will you have many relatives coming from your side?”

“Probably just two or three families,” Fu Linling said.

“I’ll probably only have about five or six families. Old Liu originally invited his relatives to his wedding, but I had him notify them to cancel,” Lin Ran replied.

“Mm, fewer people is better,” Fu Linling admitted, as she wasn’t quite comfortable with large gatherings, though Lin Ran certainly had no problem with them. “I actually thought you’d want to have a grand wedding.”

“I don’t want that at all. I was Lian Fang’s bridesmaid before, and it exhausted me to death. The bride was even worse off. It made me lose all expectation for a big wedding,” Lin Ran shook her head repeatedly.

Fu Linling offered a soft smile.

Lin Ran then remembered another important matter: “Oh, right, are your parents arriving the day after tomorrow as well?”

“Yes, they’re bringing relatives with them.”

Lin Ran scratched her head: “I never thought the first time I’d meet your parents would be at our wedding banquet.”

“It’s fine. It’ll be the first time my parents meet their daughter-in-law, too, and it’s also at the wedding banquet. So you two are even.”

“You call that even?” Lin Ran was amused. She paused, then scoffed, “Why daughter-in-law? I’m clearly the son-in-law here. ‘The more a mother-in-law sees her son-in-law, the more she likes him.'”

“Mm, whatever you say,” Fu Linling conceded.

“You have no principles at all,” Lin Ran teased.

“My principle is to be completely controlled by my wife.”

Wang Ke went to the restroom and saw the two of them standing at the end of the hallway, whispering. Lin Ran laughed, bowing her head, while Dr. Fu kept looking at Lin Ran. Wang Ke couldn’t see the expression on Dr. Fu’s face clearly, but she could tell from the relaxed posture and the curve of her lips that Dr. Fu was very happy right now.

She returned glumly to the nurses’ station. Her colleague next to her winked: “I just saw Dr. Fu come by. Why didn’t you go talk to her?”

“Talk? Why bother? I’m not looking for her,” Wang Ke muttered, feeling depressed.

“What’s wrong? Got the cold shoulder again? Don’t dwell on it. Dr. Fu is just slow on the uptake. If you don’t tell her directly, she’ll probably never figure it out.”

“Slow on the uptake? She’s not slow at all,” Wang Ke snapped.

She was only “slow on the uptake” with people who didn’t matter to her. But when it came to someone she cared about, she was like a peacock constantly showing off its tail!

Zhang Wu was discharged from the hospital the day before the wedding banquet. Many people in the ward congratulated her. Old Liu took Zhang Wu and left first, while Lin Ran stayed behind to pack up their things.

Just then, a delivery person at the door called out, “Is Zhang Wu the one?”

“What is it?” Lin Ran walked up and asked.

The delivery person thought she was the recipient and handed her a bouquet of fresh flowers: “Please sign for this.”

Lin Ran signed the form in a fog, wondering if Zhang Wu had a secret admirer. She took the note and checked it.

It turned out the order was placed by Fu Linling.

She got into the car and handed the flowers to Zhang Wu.

“Oh, where did you get these flowers?” Zhang Wu asked, surprised.

“Dr. Fu sent them to you.”

“Oh, my goodness!” Zhang Wu immediately smiled, turning to Old Liu. “You see? You’re not as thoughtful as Little Fu. The more I look at this son-in-law, the more I like her.”

Lin Ran abruptly braked and corrected her: “Daughter-in-law.”

Zhang Wu gave her a quick look and dismissively curled her lip.

“Mom, you’re hurting my self-esteem.”

“Then have the capability to grow a few more centimeters.”

“This has nothing to do with height.”

“Then what does it have to do with?”

Lin Ran glanced at the embarrassed Old Liu in the rearview mirror, cleared her throat, and stopped arguing with her mother about this “bedroom problem,” driving home instead.

“Remember to thank Little Fu for me.”

“Don’t worry, I already messaged her on WeChat.”

“She must be at work right now, otherwise, I would have liked to go see her.”

“Given your ability to eat sweets, you’ll be going to see her eventually.”

“Get out of here!” Zhang Wu burst into laughter.

That night, however, Zhang Wu had trouble sleeping. She called Lin Ran in the middle of the night: “You’re getting married tomorrow. Are you nervous?”

“Not nervous.”

“How can you not be nervous? I’m almost dying of nerves!”

“Relax. I’m the one getting married, not you.”

“Oh, you girl! You’re making me so nervous. Make sure you do well tomorrow, and don’t mess anything up.” Zhang Wu was quiet for a moment, then couldn’t help but murmur, “Why did you two get married just like that? I haven’t quite processed it yet…”

“Weren’t you so energetic when you were rushing me before?”

“Oh, I can’t sleep. Should I come over to you now?”

“You go to sleep right now. You just got out of the hospital; don’t go causing trouble.”

“Fine, fine. Just remember not to be late tomorrow!”

“I know!”

Lin Ran hung up the phone. After thinking for a moment, she decided to bother Fu Linling: “Hello, Dr. Fu. We’re getting married tomorrow. Are you nervous?”

“…Not nervous.”

“I’m telling you, my mom is absolutely frantic with nerves,” Lin Ran rolled over on the bed, holding up her phone, and suddenly suggested, “Dr. Fu, shall we video chat?”

Fu Linling paused.

“No?”

“Yes.”

In the brief moment before the other party answered the call, Fu Linling quickly took off the dress she was planning to wear the next day, snatched her pajamas, and hastily got into bed, pulling on her sleepwear just as the video call began to ring.

The video connected.

Lin Ran looked at Fu Linling, who was leisurely reading a book, and asked curiously, “Do you read every night before bed?”

“Mm,” Fu Linling replied softly.

“That’s so impressive. I can’t do that. I just play on my phone before bed, and the more I play, the more awake I get.”

“That’s not good.”

“I know, but I can’t control myself.”

The two discussed the details for the next day and agreed on a time to meet. When Lin Ran saw her eyelids beginning to droop, she said, “If you’re sleepy, you should sleep.”

“What about you?”

“I can’t sleep.”

“But you have to wake up early tomorrow.”

“I want to sleep, too, but my biological clock won’t allow it. I just can’t fall asleep.” Lin Ran rolled around on the bed again, feeling distressed.

Fu Linling watched the person in the camera for a long time and then suddenly suggested: “I’ll read to you.”

“Go on, try it.”

“Wait a moment.”

Lin Ran watched her suddenly get out of bed. After a while, she lay back down, holding an Advanced Mathematics textbook.

Fu Linling began reading a math problem aloud.

Within a few minutes, Lin Ran started to feel drowsy, murmuring vaguely, “You really have a trick. Math always makes me sleepy…”

The phone fell to one side. Lin Ran’s face was no longer visible, and only faint, steady breathing could be heard through the phone.

Fu Linling could imagine her sleeping face—how she always used math class as a chance to catch up on sleep. Once, she slept with her mouth open. When she woke up, she quickly covered her face to wipe off the drool, then nonchalantly went out with her deskmate to buy ice cream.

Passing that desk, Fu Linling had seen a very obvious drool mark on the math textbook.

Thinking of this, Fu Linling smiled faintly and then settled in to sleep peacefully.