Mr. Zhou was startled when she asked to wipe his face. Before he could deny Yan’s offer, she had already turned around and headed to the bathroom to get some water. After that, she came out of the bathroom with a little tub. The tub was half-filled with water and a white towel sat in it. She brought these items from home so that they could be used after her father woke up.
Yan placed the tub on the cabinet next to the bed and wrung out the towel, getting ready to bend over and wipe Mr. Zhou’s face.
It was probably because they had never been so close ever since Yan grew up, for just as Yan moved to help wipe Mr. Zhou’s face, he felt somewhat awkward.
After a while, Mr. Zhou commented, “Yan, let me do it myself.” As Mr. Zhou finished, he lifted his hand to take the towel from her. As a result of this slight movement, his injuries were affected and caused him much pain. He was in agony.
“Dad, are you okay?” Yan panicked. “Are you hurting? Shall I go get you the doctor?”
Mr. Zhou gathered himself gradually and shook his head. “It’s all good. I think I might have irritated my wounds when I lifted my hand.”
Yan let out a sigh of relief. “I told you to let me help wipe your face. Why do you insist on doing it yourself? You should just lie there quietly. Plus, I’m your daughter, and not just anyone else; why would you deny my offer?” Yan’s tone became serious as she said these. Then, she turned around and rinsed the towel again just so that she could continue to help him wipe his face. She commented, “You’re not worried that I won’t be able to do a good job, are you? Don’t worry. I’ll do it a couple of times so that when Mom arrives later, she’ll be satisfied.”
Mr. Zhou looked at his daughter, who was right in front of him. It had been five years. He had not seen his daughter for five years. But right now, she was right next to him, wiping his face, and even talking to him with a serious tone. Mr. Zhou had on numerous occasions pictured how it would look like when the two met again. He reckoned Yan would still refuse to listen to him, and he would still be stubborn. Yet, the two had reconciled with each other just like that.
At this juncture, a comforting look was seen on Mr. Zhou’s hoary face. “My daughter has finally grown up and knows how to give instructions to her father.”
Yan paused as she heard what he said. Her gaze fell on Mr. Zhou’s loving eyes, and she began to feel bad again when she recalled that she had not seen him even once throughout all these years. She bit her lower lip and her voice choked. “Dad, I’m sorry…”
Mr. Zhou was taken aback.
“I shouldn’t have treated you that way five years ago. All these years… It’s my fault. Will you forgive me? In the future, I’ll stay by your side and never leave anymore.”
Mr. Zhou did not expect her to become so understanding. As she said these words, his eyes turned teary. “Yan, I don’t blame you, so stop blaming yourself.”
“Really? But these five years…”
“Would you like to know what went through my head when the car accident happened?” Mr. Zhou looked at his daughter’s face and let out a smile before resting his gaze on the white ceiling.
“When the accident happened, I was full of regrets that throughout these years… I’ve never given you a call. If… I had called you, we wouldn’t have to wait five years to see each other again. Fortunately, God was gracious enough to let me survive this.” And see you again.
Yan had just composed herself before she heard these moving words, so she tried to hold in her tears. “Dad, stop it. I feel the same way, so let’s not fight again in the future, okay?”
Mr. Zhou nodded with a gentle smile on his face.
“I won’t be stubborn anymore and I won’t be going abroad again. I’ll stay by your side and take care of you.”
This struck Mr. Zhou as Yan had become a completely different person this time around. And as for Yan, she did not have a choice. She was emotionally hurt by Han Qing, and before she could get over that, her father got into a car accident, which was truly a blow to Yan. At that point, she realized that nothing was more important than her parents’ lives. Not her career; not her love life. Nothing weighed more than her parents. So, she decided to pull herself together.
At noon, when Luo Huimei came over to deliver lunch, Yan personally fed Mr. Zhou the porridge the former made. As he had just regained consciousness, his digestive system was not fully functional yet, so he could only take in a small amount of light and bland fluids.
Yan fed him slowly and cautiously. Standing next to them, Luo Huimei saw that and asked, “Are you two good now? Did you talk it out?”
“Of course we did, Mom. Otherwise, why would I be feeding Dad?” Yan threw a glance at Luo Huimei; she looked annoyed, wondering why her mother had to bring that up. She shouldn’t be bringing up this sensitive subject.
When Luo Huimei was about to continue, Yan interrupted her right away. “Mom, did you eat already?”
“Not really. I’ve been busy cooking and forgot about eating. But I brought some food with me for both of us to eat.”
“You can go ahead first.”
“Oh, alright.”
Luo Huimei was not too fussed and began eating. As she was eating, she thought of something and turned to look at Yan, commenting, “Oh, right. When I was on my way to the hospital, I bumped into Mrs. Zhang again.”
This name annoyed Zhou Xiaoyan.
“Mrs. Zhang shared with me about someone’s daughter marrying a rich businessman, and how she started going to all these high-end social places and buying many extravagant things for her parents at home.”
Right now, Yan became even more annoyed. What was Mrs. Zhang trying to get at in telling my mother all these things?
“Mom, don’t tell me you’re also hoping that I could marry a rich businessman and buy expensive things for you and Dad?”
“Come on!” Luo Huimei added, “What kind of person do you think I am? It’s a marriage, not a sale. What’s so good if he’s merely wealthy and nothing more? I heard that even though they’re wealthy, they fight with each other a lot, and sometimes, the daughter would even return to her parents’ home crying. Not that we’re gossiping, but rumor has it that her husband has an affair, which explains why they fight so much. So, what’s so good about being able to afford extravagant stuff? After all, they’re not happy.”
Her words rendered Yan speechless.
“Mom, what are you trying to get at?”
Embarrassed, Luo Huimei put down the bowl in her hand and rubbed her hands. “I just wanted to know how you and your boyfriend broke up.”
Yan responded, “Mom! Didn’t I tell you we weren’t a couple? Please stop asking me about this.” At this point, she lowered her voice. “Plus, Dad’s around.”
Mr. Zhou let out a happy smile as he was called out. He did not seem surprised to hear that but willingly listened to the mother and daughter duo argue with each other. Scenes like these that warmed his heart had not happened in a long time.
“Your dad is no stranger, so why are you reluctant to let him hear this? You’re all grown up now, and not to mention, turning into an old woman soon.”
