Since I had to stay here for the time being, when night came, Yangyang and Shen Feng volunteered to stay and keep watch, while the others headed back first.
Before Xu Shu left, I specifically asked about Chen Pu.
Xu Shu just waved her hand helplessly. “Same as always—out and about all day, never seen. Won’t even say where he’s going. One of these days, I’m going to follow him and find out.”
After they left, Shen Feng and Yangyang told me about things that happened during their training—mostly embarrassing moments from others—which had me laughing so hard I was practically doubled over.
Later, around dinnertime, Bruno came and took Yangyang and Shen Feng to the dining hall.
When they returned, they brought me something simple.
I wasn’t really hungry, just drank a few sips of soup, and then we all lay down without talking.
The weather was just right—not too hot, not too cold.
With a thin blanket over me, it felt incredibly comfortable.
There were people here around the clock.
When the night shift arrived, Bruno got off work.
He came over to say goodbye, then hesitated before asking why Lili hadn’t come.
After hearing the reason, he seemed a bit concerned.
After thinking for a moment, he went back to grab some medicine, packed it into a small kit, and left—probably planning to check on Xuanxuan’s diarrhea.
And just like that, Shen Feng and Yangyang lay on the two beds beside me, and before long, it was the middle of the night.
I don’t know if it was because of the soup or the IV drip, but I—someone who almost never wakes up at night—was actually awakened by the urge to use the bathroom.
I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock by the bed in the moonlight.
It was only 2 a.m.
Just as I was about to get up, I suddenly noticed someone standing by the window.
I nearly jumped out of my skin before realizing it was Shen Feng.
But when nature calls, it can’t be ignored.
I rushed to the bathroom without a second thought.
When I came back out, Shen Feng had already returned to his bed, sitting there facing mine.
I had just walked over and hadn’t even asked what was wrong when he spoke first:
“I’m fine.”
“…?” I paused, then sat down across from him.
“Then why are you still awake in the middle of the night?”
“Can’t sleep.” He looked at me before continuing, “Didn’t train this afternoon, so I’m not tired. Funny—just a while ago, I wished there were twenty-five hours in a day just so I could sleep more.”
I nodded, shifted into a comfortable position, and said, “If you can’t sleep, let’s talk. About now, about the future… about your feelings.”
“Feelings?” Shen Feng froze for a moment, then let out a bitter laugh.
“Maybe let’s not talk about that.”
“Whether you talk about it or not, you’ll have to face it eventually. Pretending not to know won’t solve anything.” I sighed.
“You know how Xu Shu and Han Xue feel about you. If you like one of them—or think one might be more suitable—you should consider it.”
Shen Feng waved his hand quickly. “No, no—you’ve misunderstood. Han Xue doesn’t feel that way.”
“How is that possible? Not long ago she even had a falling-out with Xu Shu over it.”
“That was because of Xiao Shu. She misunderstood something and talked to Han Xue privately, asking her to do something. That angered Han Xue, which is why they ended up like that.”
“How do you know all this?”
Shen Feng looked at me. “Han Xue talked to me about it in private. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have noticed anything about Xiao Shu’s feelings toward me at all.”
I let out a sigh before continuing, “Then what do you think? Xiaoshu is a good girl. Honestly, she’s made it pretty obvious all along—probably even Suo Tian noticed it long ago. You’re the only blockhead who doesn’t understand a girl’s heart.”
Shen Feng gave me a helpless glance and spread his hands. “I’m not thinking anything. Let it be. The way I feel about Xiaoshu is the same as how I feel about everyone else—you’re all family, friends. Nothing more.”
“But…” I frowned, about to say more, but he waved me off.
“To be honest,” he continued, “I actually feel closer to you than to her. We’ve been together since the very beginning—we’re truly our own people. Xiaoshu is great, but if there’s no feeling, there’s no feeling. What can I do?”
That gave me a headache.
Shen Feng was the stubborn type—like a rock.
He usually seemed gentle and easygoing, but deep down his walls were stronger than anyone else’s.
Once he made up his mind, trying to change it was harder than getting Suo Tian to smile.
I waved my hand and sighed. “Fine, fine. In the end, it’s up to you. No matter what I say, it won’t matter.”
After that, we chatted idly for a while about random things.
Just as I was about to go to sleep, Shen Feng spoke again in a low voice:
“I… might know why Rongrong became like that back then.”
Hearing Rongrong’s name suddenly, I instinctively asked, “What about her?”
Only then did the memories slowly piece themselves together.
She had already been left behind in those deep mountains… that place where even a group of adults like us struggled to survive.
After a pause, Shen Feng continued, “Yangyang told me. He’d always wanted to tell you, but then so many things kept happening, he never got the chance. Later, when Rongrong’s condition suddenly improved, he couldn’t bring himself to say it, so he just kept it to himself.”
“What did he say?”
“That time… when we went back to the village to find Rongrong, she was hiding alone in a big chest. That part always confused me. Later, Yangyang told me what happened.”
He looked at me before continuing:
“When the walkers rushed into the village, he had just brought Rongrong back to the courtyard. But everyone had already evacuated. The walkers were coming fast, and they couldn’t catch up with us, so they had no choice but to hide in the house.”
I frowned tightly, glanced at Yangyang who was fast asleep, then looked back at Shen Feng.
“And then?”
“Then… for some reason, at a time when they absolutely needed to stay quiet, Rongrong suddenly started screaming and shouting, attracting the walkers. Yangyang couldn’t stop her, so in the end he locked her inside that big chest, hoping it would quiet her down. And strangely enough, the moment she was inside, she became completely silent.”
He paused, then added:
“What happened next is easy to guess. The next day, he didn’t want to risk taking her with him, so he left her in the chest with some food to pass the time, and went out to try to find us. But he ran into a group of walkers and had to flee. That’s when he ran into Zhou Wen, Taozi, Han Xue, and the others… and later, we were the ones who found Rongrong.”
As he finished speaking, Shen Feng’s expression dimmed—probably thinking of Xiaoxue being bitten.
Time really is a strange medicine.
It can smooth over wounds in the heart, but some scars never truly heal.
Even if a fragile layer forms on the surface, the moment it’s touched, it splits open again, raw and bleeding.
What Xiaoxue went through would probably haunt Shen Feng for many years to come.
The person involved was already gone.
I didn’t want to dig any deeper.
After glancing at Yangyang again, I nodded softly to Shen Feng.
“It’s late. What’s past is past. Even if we figure everything out, what does it change? We can’t go back. Let’s sleep.”
Shen Feng seemed to have sunk into his own sorrow, unable to pull himself out with just a few words from me.
He didn’t respond, and I didn’t say anything more.
Though it left a bitter feeling in my chest, I forced myself to close my eyes and started counting sheep.
Early the next morning, Yangyang was the first to get up.
He went to the cafeteria for breakfast and even brought a portion back for both Shen Feng and me.
Shen Feng had probably only fallen asleep near dawn, because when Yangyang returned, he was sleeping deeply, his brows slightly furrowed as if weighed down by something on his mind.
I told Yangyang to set the food aside for now.
Not long after, someone came in to hook me up to an IV drip again.
(During pregnancy support, there are indeed certain medications that can be used to help stabilize it—this is medically documented, and some mothers may already be familiar with it.)
Just as the doctor finished a brief check and left the room, a loud clattering suddenly came from outside, and a whole crowd barged in.
Good grief… every single one of them looked big and burly—at a glance, the scene alone was enough to startle me.
Yangyang immediately jumped up from the bed in alert, and even Shen Feng, who had been sleeping, jolted upright at the noise.
Though still groggy, his eyes were already sharp and assessing.
Leading the group was a plump middle-aged woman wearing a flashy floral dress.
She swept her gaze over the three of us before fixing it on me in the hospital bed.
After a brief hesitation, she asked loudly:
“Are you Captain Suo’s wife?”
“What do you want?” The woman probably reminded Yangyang of the two troublemakers from before, so he immediately responded in an unfriendly tone.
“Yangyang!” I scolded lightly, then nodded apologetically to the woman.
“Sorry about that. Yes, I am. May I ask what this is about?”
The woman didn’t mind Yangyang’s attitude.
Hearing my reply, she burst into laughter and slapped her thigh, turning to the people behind her:
“See! I told you Second Brother’s information was reliable—this is definitely her!”
Then she quickly turned back, stepped up to my bedside, and said excitedly:
“Oh my dear girl, we really have to thank you for saving our Wenwen! When Wenwen got home last night and told us what happened during the day, it scared us half to death. And when she mentioned you, her lifesaver, well—our whole family came here specially to thank you!”
As she spoke, she grabbed my hand in excitement.
I was completely overwhelmed by her string of gratitude.
After a moment of stunned silence, I asked in confusion:
“…Who is Wenwen?”
— The end of the Chapter–
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