The next day, Fang Yuzhe fully recovered. Unwilling to stay in the room, he asked Yuluo to take him to the yard. As they reached the stairs, she suddenly felt intense abdominal pain, followed by warm liquid flowing from her.
When Xia Yuluo looked down and saw the quickly seeping liquid was blood, she already knew what had happened.
The housekeeper behind her, seeing this horrifying scene, suddenly screamed – “Yuluo, you—”
“It’s nothing,” Xia Yuluo calmly interrupted, her face showing extreme nervousness.
“What’s wrong?” Fang Yuzhe asked beside her.
“Oh, I cut my arm.”
“Where?”
“Don’t touch it. Auntie, please help Xiao Zhe downstairs. I’ll apply some iodine.”
As soon as Fang Yuzhe’s arm left Yuluo, she held the stair railing and squatted down, her lips white and bloodless.
Under Xia Yuoluo’s request, the entire family kept her miscarriage strictly confidential. Fang Yuzhe had no concept of pregnancy, and when Yuoluo said her body would only show changes at six months, he believed her without doubt.
This life-and-death game that concerned his survival consumed Fang Yuzhe. He would often sit silently for half a day or even a whole day without saying much.
“What are you thinking about?” Yuoluo asked, slightly worried.
“Nothing, I’m just fighting without distractions,” he would always say casually, not seeming depressed.
Now, Yuoluo no longer needed to shake the medicine bottle every night to wake Fang Yuzhe. More often, he would kiss her before bed, saying he’d wake her in the morning.
Sometimes Yuoluo would feel afraid of this peaceful life, always worried that happiness would suddenly stop. She hoped they would still have a chance, and although the doctor said she shouldn’t get pregnant this year, she was prepared to take the risk.
As for his condition, apart from blindness and that one instance of fainting, Fang Yuzhe had no pain or excessive sleepiness. But at least it could be determined that his inner peace was profound, perhaps deeper than those who claimed to be enlightened.
Fang Yuzhe once told Yuoluo at dusk: “I’m beginning to understand respect for life.”
Yuoluo felt this wasn’t about clinging to life, but a deeper meaning perhaps only those who have fought with death would understand.
