Chapter 108: Restoration?

Xie Congzhou closed his eyes the moment he touched the bed, remaining unresponsive even when nudged. Dr. Wang and his wife conducted a thorough examination, only to conclude that he was suffering from extreme exhaustion and malnutrition.

Malnutrition?

Ever since Jiang Huan first met him, he had always appeared robust. Later, after they started living together, she had heard the Xie family mention that because they occupied land near the hot springs to grow vegetables, they had never been short of food or clothing. How could he possibly be malnourished?

Once the crowd dispersed, Jiang Huan sat beside him alone for a while. Gritting her teeth, she ran to her room, mixed some powdered milk, and brought it to him, even forcing a few vitamin tablets down his throat. Whether it actually helped, she didn't know, but Xie Congzhou began to swallow on his own, eating with a sense of urgency. It was clear that he had a massive need for these nutrients.

Jiang Huan went back to her room and rummaged through her supplies, bringing back blood tonics, calcium supplements, nutritional powder, vitamins, and fish oil, all of which she fed to him. She simply felt that since this man possessed abilities far beyond those of an ordinary person, he should be able to metabolize such a large quantity of supplements.

Just as Jiang Huan felt she had stuffed nearly half a pound of pills and powders into him—aside from the milk—Xie Congzhou finally reacted. He opened his eyes and spoke instinctively, causing Jiang Huan’s hand, which was prying at his lips, to nearly poke inside. Fortunately, she pulled back in time.

"You're awake. How do you feel? Are you dizzy? Do you feel nauseated? Does anything hurt? I’ll go get Dr. Wang."

Jiang Huan fired off a series of questions, though she felt that as a non-professional, asking wouldn't really help. As she rose to find the doctor, he caught her wrist.

"Whatever you fed me—if there's more, give me double the amount. I can finish the repairs."

Jiang Huan simply said "okay," without asking what he meant by "repairs." She made a trip back to her room and returned with an equivalent amount of supplements, even bringing an ginseng extract. Xie Congzhou swallowed it all without hesitation, regardless of the taste. Jiang Huan could only click her tongue in amazement.

She remembered that when her family was still around, she had been quite pampered. When she couldn't swallow medicine, it had to be crushed into powder and forced down her throat while she held her nose. As she grew older, she learned that the bitterness was even worse that way, lingering for much longer.

Xie Congzhou’s complexion gradually improved. He took the initiative to tell Jiang Huan that he had exhausted too much energy and hadn't had time to replenish it all at once. Jiang Huan nodded.

"You're not going to ask?"

"Ask what?" He knew her secrets and had never pried, as if it were merely a piece of information he possessed without any ulterior motives. She treated him the same way. Besides, she wasn't foolish enough to drive away a companion with such high moral standing and such incredible abilities just because he had his own mysterious encounters.

Xie Congzhou got out of bed; since his body had recovered, there was no point in lingering. Jiang Huan followed him out of the makeshift ward. When Dr. Wang and his team arrived with glucose, Xie Congzhou drank it as well—there was no sense in wasting it, after all.

Everyone was happy to see him recovered. The medicinal herbs Xie Congzhou had brought back effectively solved the shortage of heat-relief medicine in the air-raid shelter. As for their source, Xie Congzhou didn't say, and no one was tactless enough to ask, assuming he had some special connection to trade for them. After all, Jiang Huan had accompanied him.

The two had aligned their stories: they claimed it was someone from the black market near the hospital they used to know, whom Xie Congzhou had once saved. They said this had been a one-time trade and they wouldn't be in contact for a long time. Everyone accepted this explanation without issue, as the existence of the black market behind the hospital was common knowledge.

The two exchanged a knowing smile and never raised the topic again. The availability of the heat-relief medicine improved the atmosphere in the shelter. Perhaps out of gratitude for the large quantity of nutrients Jiang Huan had provided, Xie Congzhou would occasionally bring her some fruit. Sometimes it was a few strawberries, sometimes an apple, or a handful of blueberries. The quantities were small; he couldn't cause too much of a stir under the watchful eyes of others.

Jiang Huan ate them and found they tasted exactly like the strawberries she had hoarded from him before. It seemed these weren't some new variety, but rather the result of Xie Congzhou’s unique ability.

His actions drew the attention of Old Man Xie. One night, after regaining some of his strength, the old man found his grandson and asked, "Are you giving that girl fruit? Have you lost your mind? At a time like this, where would fruit come from? The plants everywhere are scorched to death. Aren't you just handing her evidence to use against you?"

Xie Congzhou was unconcerned. "She won't harm me."

Old Man Xie didn't realize that Xie Congzhou was referring to the fact that both of them harbored secrets and had helped each other, establishing a bond of deep trust. They were partners who could at least rely on one another, not people who would turn on each other over a bit of fruit. The old man mistakenly thought his grandson was suffering from a case of puppy love.

"That girl... she isn't someone you can control. She has a mind of her own, and she's leading all these people—her ambitions are too big. She’s not someone who will settle down to manage a household for you. It’s not a good fit, and she’s saddled with that brother of hers."

Xie Congzhou didn't wait for his grandfather to finish before expressing his surprise. "It's precisely because her ambitions are big that she can accommodate more possibilities and change our current environment. Why would she need to 'manage a household' for me? Grandfather, you’ve misunderstood; that’s not what I mean at all."

He could never marry a human from the surface.

"Also, Grandfather, I know what relationships were like in your time, but the world is changing. Even I know that anything that refuses to change becomes a stagnant pool. You shouldn't look at people and events through that old lens anymore. Even if we take a step back and assume Jiang Huan and I could build a family, why couldn't I be the one to manage the household? I enjoy farming and working; I like the feeling of life growing. As for her brother, he is exceptionally talented. That fan he tinkered together—aren't you enjoying it right now? It’s wrong to bite the hand that feeds you; that’s what you taught me. And Grandfather, do you really think so many people are accepted by Jiang Huan just because they're nice to her brother? If not for that, given Jiang Huan’s skills and methods, she and her brother could have survived on their own. It might have been lonely and communication might have been poor, but how much worse would their quality of life really be?"

Old Man Xie was left feeling sheepish. "I just saw you constantly doting on her and thought... well, never mind. Don't lecture me, you old goat. I’m just looking out for you, that’s all."

Xie Congzhou had only started delivering goods and doing business with his grandfather over the last two years, which had made him better at polite conversation. Otherwise, he would have been tempted to ask his grandfather what his own value was in the marriage market—with no known parents, only a grandfather, and a cousin who had been abandoned by her aunt. However, he kept quiet; if he had spoken up, the old man would have had endless retorts.

Under the extreme heat, places without the protection of buildings were practically a purgatory. A saying began to circulate: that the hell of the underworld had been moved to the surface.