Chapter 12: The Peach Blossom Goddess 3

A sudden clamor erupted as four people swarmed into bed 516 next door.

Tao Fei could no longer sleep. She reached out to pull the curtain, but no sooner had she let go than it was yanked back with a harsh rattle.

"Sorry about that! It feels so stuffy with the curtain drawn. I like to look at the view outside."

The woman with the round face beamed a brilliant smile at Tao Fei. She sat cross-legged on the hospital bed, clutching a bag of roasted chestnuts. She called out to the two men who had just entered, telling them to hurry back to the shop, and then urged her mother, who was busy stuffing bags into the locker, to sit down and take a break.

The aroma of the roasted chestnuts made Tao Fei swallow hard. Curiously, ever since she had occupied this body, she had felt no pain from injections, medications, or her minimally invasive incision. The three-fresh wontons Tang Songyuan had brought that morning, which he insisted were delicious, had tasted like wax in her mouth. It was as if this body were made of stone, yet now, her appetite was suddenly piqued.

Tao Fei turned away, trying to resist the enticing scent of the chestnuts.

"You're Sister Tao Fei, right? I'm Wu Xiuli."

"..."

This Wu Xiuli looked to be in her early thirties!

"Hello."

"Hi there!"

Wu Xiuli glanced at the small card at the head of Tao Fei's bed, her smile widening. "Sister Tao Fei, are you here all by yourself? Where is your family?"

"..."

"That chubby one who just left is my husband. Isn't he handsome?"

Just as Wu Xiuli finished speaking, the nurse, Li Ya, walked in with a patient chart. Seeing the chestnut shells scattered all over the raised table on bed 516, she couldn't help but frown.

"Wu Xiuli, your surgery is scheduled. Please note that you cannot consume any food or water after five o'clock this evening."

"What? The surgery is that soon?! How can I have the strength to go under the knife without eating? And not even water? I’ll die of thirst!"

"Mom, what are you saying! So, when will I be able to eat?"

Wu Xiuli kept peeling chestnuts as she spoke, as if the impending surgery were of no concern. Her mother, however, was nervous, peppering Li Ya with questions. Li Ya responded distractedly while hanging up the case file and nameplate. She glanced at Wu Xiuli, who had just opened a bag of spiced melon seeds, and gently reminded her that shelled snacks were not permitted in the ward.

"We paid so much money to stay here, and we can't even eat snacks? What kind of lousy hospital is this!"

Wu Xiuli’s mother flared up immediately, and Wu Xiuli pouted her chubby lips in annoyance.

"I am only kindly reminding you to maintain the hygiene of the ward; post-operative care requires a clean and dry environment. Eat if you must. As for when you can eat, I will note it in the care requirements. If you're worried, feel free to ask your attending physician."

Although this was an upscale private hospital that most people couldn't afford, it attracted all sorts of people regardless of their background, provided they had the money. If she spoke too softly, no one listened; if she spoke too harshly, she risked being reported by the families. Li Ya didn't want any trouble.

"That little nurse looks like a vixen. You can tell just by looking at her she’s no good!"

"Mom, you shouldn't say things like that."

"I’m the best judge of character. I can tell a person's nature and temper just by looking at them—whether they're a good person or..."

"You’re the best, Mom!"

The mother and daughter went back and forth, creating a lively scene. Tao Fei chuckled to herself; the two were clearly cut from the same cloth, making the tedious waiting time much more entertaining.

"Sister Tao Fei, what are you in for? I have an ectopic pregnancy. I don't know what went wrong—how did it end up outside the uterus this time?" Wu Xiuli offered the paper bag of chestnuts to Tao Fei.

"It’s likely uterine fibroids. I’m almost recovered. No thank you, I’ll pass."

Looking at Wu Xiuli’s bright red fingernails, Tao Fei suddenly lost her appetite, and the aroma of the chestnuts seemed to vanish instantly.

"I’ve heard that if a woman is in a bad mood, she’s prone to uterine fibroids. Are you an introvert who likes to bottle things up? Life is too short to dwell on things! A day of laughing is a day, and a day of crying is a day. Even if there’s a problem, crying doesn't solve it."

Wu Xiuli clapped her plump white hands. Seeing that Tao Fei didn't answer, she felt even more confident in her assessment and sought confirmation from her mother. Upon receiving her mother’s affirmation, she burst into laughter.

Tao Fei didn't think of herself as an introvert. She had been both an academic high-achiever and an active participant in the arts—dancing, singing, playing instruments, and painting. She had won countless awards and trophies.

Rationality did not equate to introversion.

However, she didn't know if the original Tao Fei was introverted, though she likely wasn't the type to brood. Love is the best beauty tonic for a woman, and this "Auntie Tao Fei" had a loving husband and a comfortable financial situation, so why would she be in a bad mood? If there was anything that could affect her mood, it would be the mother who had come by that morning. Having a mother like that was truly shocking.

At lunchtime, Wu Xiuli’s husband brought in two large bags of food. Finding the hospital meals too bland, they had ordered six boxes of fried and oily dishes from a restaurant outside. The three of them gathered around the small table on the bed, filling the room with the heavy scent of food.

"Sister Tao Fei, aren't you eating lunch? Do you want some of this?"

Tao Fei shook her head with a smile, still unaccustomed to such excessive warmth from a stranger.

"You’re a patient, how can you not eat? I’m terrified of being hungry. I don't mind eating four or five meals a day. When I had my third child, I could eat a whole chicken in one sitting and ate six or seven times a day. It exhausted my mom; she worked so hard looking after me during my confinement. Mom, here, have a chicken leg."

Wu Xiuli picked up the chicken leg her husband had just put in her bowl and placed it into her mother’s.

"There’s no one like a mother in this world; no mother-in-law is as good as your own. I had three children, and my mother-in-law didn't help with a single confinement. I know she hates that I only had girls. What’s wrong with girls? A daughter is a parent's little quilted jacket. Anyway, I’m going to treat my mom well for the rest of my life, and when my daughters grow up, they’ll treat their grandmother well too. Sister, how old are your kids? What’s your mother-in-law like..."

"..."

Wu Xiuli complained about her mother-in-law while she ate, while her husband kept his head down, not daring to utter a word of rebuttal.

It seemed the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law dynamic was a century-old problem; no matter the era, one could always dig up grievances.

Tao Fei licked her dry lips; she really was hungry. She had forgotten to drink water all morning, all thanks to that money-grubbing mother of hers.

She prepared to head to the cafeteria to buy something to eat, but after rummaging through her bedside drawer, she couldn't find a single cent. Even if she could pay with her phone, the problem was there was no phone in the drawer!

Where was her doting husband, that middle-aged man, at a time like this?

"Tao Fei, you must be hungry, right?"

Just as the resentment toward Tang Songyuan began to rise, he appeared before her.

"Is that your husband?" Wu Xiuli looked at Tang Songyuan, clicking her tongue in surprise.