Chapter 10: The Peach Blossom Fairy Maiden, Part 1

A sudden commotion arose as four people hurried into the neighboring bed, number 516.

Tao Fei could no longer sleep. She reached out to pull the curtain by her bed but before she could let go, it was abruptly swept aside with a rustle.

“Sorry, pulling the curtain shut feels so stuffy. I like to see the view outside,” said a round-faced woman with a radiant smile, holding a bag of roasted chestnuts as she sat cross-legged on the hospital bed. She called out to two men who had just come in to quickly return to the shop and told her mother, who was busy stuffing bags of belongings into a cabinet, to sit down and rest before tidying up.

The aroma of the roasted chestnuts made Tao Fei involuntarily swallow. Strangely, ever since she had taken over this body, she had felt no pain from injections, medication, or minor wounds. The three-flavored wontons Tang Songyuan brought in that morning smelled delicious, but tasted bland to her. It was as if this body was made of stone. Yet now, a craving had stirred in her stomach.

Turning her back, Tao Fei tried to resist the tempting scent of the chestnuts.

“Tao Fei, right? I’m Wu Xiuli,” the woman said, looking to be in her early thirties.

“Hello,” Tao Fei responded.

“Hello, hello,” Wu Xiuli smiled even more brightly as she glanced away from the small card at Tao Fei’s bedside.

“Tao Fei, are you here alone? Where’s your family?”

“The chubby one who just went out is my husband. Isn’t he handsome?” Wu Xiuli said.

Before she finished, Nurse Li Ya entered holding a patient tag. Seeing the pile of chestnut shells scattered across the table in bed 516, she frowned.

“Wu Xiuli, your surgery has been scheduled. Please don’t eat or drink anything after five this afternoon.”

“What? Surgery so soon? How can I have the strength to endure it without food? And no water either? I’ll be dying of thirst!” Wu Xiuli exclaimed.

“Mom, what are you saying? When will I be able to eat?” Wu Xiuli kept peeling chestnuts, seemingly indifferent to the upcoming surgery. Her mother, however, was nervously asking Li Ya questions, who responded briefly while hanging the patient tag and nameplate. Glancing at Wu Xiuli opening another pack of spiced melon seeds, Li Ya gently reminded her that snacks with shells are not allowed at the bedside.

“We pay so much to stay here, and now we can’t even eat snacks? What kind of lousy hospital is this!” Wu Xiuli’s mother immediately flared up, and Wu Xiuli pouted unhappily.

“I’m just kindly reminding you to keep the bed area clean, especially after surgery. You can eat if you want, but when you can eat again will be noted in the care instructions. If you’re unsure, you can ask your attending doctor.”

Although this was a high-end private hospital where most people couldn’t afford to stay, the guests came from all walks of life. If she spoke too harshly, it wouldn’t help; too gently, and she’d risk complaints from patients’ families. Li Ya didn’t want trouble.

“That nurse looks like a fox spirit—definitely not a good person!”

“Mom, you can’t say that about her.”

“I know people well. You can tell what kind of person they are just by looking—their character and temper, whether they’re good or not...”

“You’re the best judge, Mom!”

The mother and daughter bantered loudly, their lively exchange brightening the dull wait. Tao Fei secretly chuckled at their matching temperaments.

“Tao Fei, what illness do you have? I have an ectopic pregnancy. Don’t know how it happened, but this time it implanted outside the uterus,” Wu Xiuli said, offering the paper bag of chestnuts to Tao Fei.

“Probably uterine fibroids, almost healed. I’m not hungry, thanks.” Tao Fei declined.

Looking at Wu Xiuli’s bright red nails, Tao Fei instantly lost her appetite, and the chestnut aroma seemed to vanish.

“I’ve heard women who are unhappy tend to develop fibroids. Are you introverted and prone to sulking? Life’s too short to brood! Whether you laugh or cry, it’s still the same day. If there’s a problem, crying won’t solve it.”

Wu Xiuli patted her plump white hands. Seeing no response from Tao Fei, the expression on her round face only strengthened her conviction. She sought confirmation from her mother and, receiving it, burst out laughing.

Tao Fei didn’t consider herself introverted. She was both a top student and an active arts enthusiast—dancing, singing, playing piano, painting, with countless awards and trophies. Rational didn’t mean introverted.

Whether this version of Tao Fei was introverted or not was unknown, but probably not a sulky type. Love was the best nourishment and beauty treatment for a woman. This Tao Fei had a devoted husband and a comfortable financial situation; how could she be unhappy? If anything affected her mood, it would be the mother who came that morning. Such a mother was truly a shock.

At lunch, Wu Xiuli’s husband returned carrying two large bags of food. Finding the hospital’s meals bland, they had ordered six containers of fried and sautéed dishes from a nearby restaurant. The three of them gathered around the small table on the hospital bed, filling the room with delicious aromas.

“Tao Fei, aren’t you eating lunch? Want me to share some with you?”

Tao Fei smiled and shook her head, uneasy with the strangers’ excessive warmth.

“You’re a patient; you have to eat! I hate being hungry. I eat four or five meals a day. When I had my three babies, I could eat a whole chicken in one meal and had six or seven meals a day. It wore out my mom taking care of me during that time. Mom, have a drumstick,” Wu Xiuli said, taking the chicken leg her husband had just put in her bowl and offering it to her mother.

“There’s no one better than a mother. No matter how good a mother-in-law is, she’s not your own mother. I had three kids, and my mother-in-law never helped with confinement. I know she resented that I only had daughters. So what if they’re girls? Daughters are their parents’ little cotton jackets. I’m going to treat my mom well, and when my daughters grow up, they’ll treat their grandmothers well too. Sister, how old are your kids? What’s your mother-in-law like...” Wu Xiuli chatted and complained about her mother-in-law while eating. Her husband ate silently, not daring to say a word.

It seemed the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship was an age-old dilemma, always ripe for gossip.

Tao Fei licked her dry lips. She was actually a little hungry. She’d completely forgotten to drink water all morning, distracted by that nagging mother.

She planned to go get something to eat but found no money in her bedside drawer. Even if she could pay by phone, there was no phone in the drawer either!

Where was her doting older husband right now?

“Tao Fei, you must be hungry,” Tang Songyuan appeared right before Tao Fei as her resentment toward him was just beginning.

“Your husband!” Wu Xiuli clicked her tongue in admiration, looking at Tang Songyuan.