Sweet Gardenia - Chapter 24.2

Lu Zhi returned home at 8 p.m. after completing her hospital discharge procedures.

She went straight to the third floor, so it wasn’t surprising that she didn’t see anyone. She turned to Fu Yanshang and asked, “When we were in the room earlier, were you talking to someone outside? Who was it? The doctor?”

She thought for a moment, feeling that the voice had been quite distinctive. “That boy who was doing his homework?”

They spoke almost simultaneously. After Lu Zhi finished, he abruptly stopped and looked at her. She only vaguely heard something about “uncle” and instinctively asked, “Uncle romance?”

“I look a lot like your…” He paused, derailed by her question. “What’s uncle romance?”

Lu Zhi lowered her head, focusing on changing her shoes. “Oh, it’s a type of novel from back in the day. The male lead is the female lead’s uncle, and they fall in love.”

The topic was beyond his scope. He paused for a moment, seemingly contemplating its feasibility. “Wouldn’t their relationship be quite awkward after getting together?”

“Exactly, that’s why it’s a forbidden romance from ten years ago,” she said. “They usually write it in a very thrilling way.”

“…”

“What were you going to say earlier?”

Fu Yanshang changed his phrasing: “He said I look a lot like your uncle.”

“…”

Lu Zhi felt his face had a certain magic.  No matter how suggestive the words, when he said them, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was overthinking it. At the same time, his voice also had a misplaced quality, making even the most serious remarks sound somewhat improper.

Men were truly hard to figure out.

She stood there for a moment, mulling it over, but ultimately didn’t say anything, afraid he might turn it back on her.

Sleeping first was the safest option.

Lu Zhi said, “Can you ask Aunt Chen to come up? I need to take a bath.”

He took off his shirt. “They’re on leave.”

“Who?” Lu Zhi caught the plural. “All of them? Everyone?”

“Yeah, I thought you’d be in the hospital for seven more days, so I gave them all time off.”

“What about this morning’s meal…”

“I just gave them leave this morning.”

Lu Zhi stood frozen for a long time, feeling as if she were about to turn to stone. “Then… who’s going to help me bathe?”

…

With the waterproof wrap secured around the cast on her arm, she felt like a figurine for a moment. The bathroom lights were off, illuminated only by a sliver of light from the bedroom, per her request.

Her clothes had been removed, as there was no other way to bathe. She was too embarrassed and initially had to turn her back to him.

Even so, she felt her entire back burning intensely under his gaze.

With only a faint light from outside, surely… he couldn’t see clearly, right?

She tried to convince herself.

He pressed the button for the temperature-controlled water. “Lift your arm a little to the side.”

She pursed her lips, her head feeling muddled. Was she unsteady because she couldn’t use her arm for balance? She wasn’t quite sure.

In the dim light, water droplets splattered against the marble floor like a soft, private fireworks display just for the ground. To keep the atmosphere from getting too awkward, she scrambled for something else to talk about.

“What about our breakfast tomorrow?”

“I’ll make it,” he said, squeezing two pumps of shower gel, his expression unchanged. “Don’t you like it when I do?”

Lu Zhi thought it over, swallowing with difficulty. “Could you add a ‘cook’ at the end?”

“…”

“Then, are you going to do this for seven days? What if we call them back tomorrow?” Mid-sentence, she suddenly bit her lower lip, not wanting to be too obvious, then released it, trying to distract herself. “Surely a few of them can come back. If not, we could hire some temporary help. Or if you don’t trust them enough, we could get a couple from my family who’ve been with me since I was young…” Her voice finally faltered, trailing off into a soft sound. “…Don’t just focus on those two spots…”

“I already put it on,” he said with a calm expression. “Shouldn’t we give it a proper wash?”

The showerhead still hung overhead, never having been removed. The area where it had been applied had indeed received his attention, extraordinary attention, more meticulous than when he had wiped it earlier. He moved in circles, as if afraid it wouldn’t be clean enough. Lu Zhi averted her eyes, pretending not to see what was standing up beneath his fingertips. “Are you even listening to me? At least when we’re home, there are nurses at the hospital. Relying on you for both our daily needs is too much pressure.”

Her eyelids naturally lowered, then lifted again the next second as if scalded. “Mm,” this syllable wasn’t part of her plan. The moment she realized it, she immediately fell silent. But to avoid seeming strange, instinct took over, and she continued speaking, trying to blend the words together so that the sound wouldn’t seem out of place. “What do you think? Calling someone back during their vacation seems a bit inhumane. Should we find someone new to handle it temporarily, or go to my place?”

“Either is fine. You decide.”

The foam on her back was rinsed away, and she was turned over to face him.

She wanted to cover herself but couldn’t.  Her arm was still in a cast, and it would get wet.

Lu Zhi arched her back, trembling slightly.

He supported her, then let go, washing dutifully as if without a single wandering thought, except for his slightly altered breathing; everything else remained normal. “First, tomorrow’s breakfast, we definitely won’t be able to call anyone.”

“I can make almost anything. What would you like to eat?”

“An-anything is fine. How about small wontons? The kind made with bone broth. I’ve seen the aunties simmer bone broth overnight and then cook the wontons directly in it the next morning.  It’s more fragrant.” She thought for a moment, not wanting to be selfish. “What about you? What do you want to eat?”

His gaze followed her eyes, swaying gently, descending along with the misty steam before coming to a halt.

Like spring buds suspended on a branch, a soft, hazy pink trembled delicately in the mist. Just as Lu Zhi was about to say, “Stop looking,” she heard his breath catch, then exhale warmly: “I’ll have this.”