I went to the ward to talk to the doctor about hospitalization. While waiting for the elevator, I saw a young couple coming out of the corridor of the ward. The woman was sitting in a wheelchair and the man was pushing the wheelchair. The wind was blowing under his feet, pushing the wheelchair almost up, like a urchin pushing the shopping cart of the supermarket, without the feeling of being stuck in the hospital.
With a blink of an eye, they arrived in front of me, the man in his early thirties, the appearance of a “idle” in society, his hair was combed with cream, and a gold chain with thick baby’s little fingers was wrapped around his neck. I only saw the woman’s legs in a wheelchair wearing pink cotton pajamas, and her headband and body were covered by a thick men’s coat. Obviously, the coat belonged to a man.
The elevator we were waiting for did not come. The two large glass windows next to the elevator opened, and the cold wind of early winter broke in through the open window involuntarily. I wrapped my slightly thin clothes, and the woman whose coat wrapped her head and body might feel a bit of chill. She kept muttering: “Aren’t you cold? Are you not cold?” The man smiled and said, “You can’t take the wind now, I’m not cold, not cold at all.” I used to face my neck. Men who wear gold chains and walk frivolously have no good feelings, but today I saw their other side of tenderness, and I secretly blamed my bias.
The doctor divided the beds and walked into the ward. There were two beds in one room. Mine was the inner one. On the outside bed, there was a woman lying on it. Her appearance seemed to be slightly older than mine. some. When I went to see her, she slowly got up from the bed and enthusiastically guided me and my mother-in-law: “Luggage can be put in the cupboard opposite the bed, and bedside tables are also available. When we leave our room, the northwest corner is this floor. In the pantry, there is hot water from morning to night…”
I said gratefully: “Sister, don’t care about us, lie down quickly, are you here alone?” She said and lay down: “It’s okay, I have my husband with me, he will go out now. I bought something to eat.”
After a while, a middle-aged man came to the ward with a few lunch boxes. He is of medium height, wearing a black woolen coat, a thin black face, a pair of glasses on his face, and a pair of smiling eyes behind the glasses. Arranged the food, he helped her sit up with the elder sister’s back in one hand, and warmly told us on which floor we can buy the food and the price of the various types of food.
After the two of them finished their meal, they heard the eldest sister next to the bed say: “I haven’t been to work for many days, and I haven’t earned a penny these days.” Only the middle-aged man asked her loudly: “You are important Is work important? After you leave the hospital, you are not allowed to go to work right away…” The eldest sister said in a seemingly grotesque but sweet voice: “I just said that.” While the middle-aged man was going to wash the dishes, I praised: “Eldest sister, brother-in-law is kind to you.” She smiled cheerfully.
At night, I really can’t sleep. Without disturbing my mother-in-law and my mother, I quietly walked out of the ward alone, pacing silently in the corridor of the ward, thinking about his thoughts.
The night was dark, and the entire inpatient department was silent, as if sleeping.
I walked step by step, feeling extremely lonely. At this time, a man interrupted my lonely pacing, and I saw an egg-sized, hairless space above his head. Holding a plastic box in his hand, he only glanced at me and hurriedly went to the microwave room to heat up food. When I saw him, I remembered what my mother said in the day.
My mother said, “There is a couple living in a room separated from us by four wards. The woman seems to have returned after being rejected from a large hospital in another city. She vomited and vomited blood while eating! The man has been taking care of her. She, the woman’s mother came today, tidyed up the man and complained that the man didn’t take care of her daughter. The man didn’t answer a word! After the mother-in-law gave a grievance, she picked up the packet and grumbled. Go away.”
When my mother asked him, the man said, “Auntie, there is nothing I can do. I take care of my wife so hard, and my mother-in-law will still blame me every other way. I want to quarrel with her. What’s uncomfortable is My wife, I can’t help it!” My mother started to praise this man when she arrived in our ward, saying that he was a rare good man in the world. My mother was afraid that we would not recognize him. She emphasized that there was no place on the head. Man with hair.
In the silent night, in the empty corridor, I recognized him instantly. I stopped and watched him carefully. He looked calm and not a bit impatient.
I watched him walk over with the lunch box. After more than ten minutes, he walked over again and continued to warm up the meal. I stayed in the corridor for nearly an hour and saw him back and forth six times. I thought about the news my mother inquired about during the day: “The woman can’t eat, she vomits a bite, and vomits blood!” Maybe the woman can finally eat something, but in this early winter, the food is too cold. So he ran to the microwave over and over again.
On weekdays, men and women are like copper peas, steel versus steel, and iron versus iron, each with their own stubbornness and power. Only after living in a hospital do you know the meaning of marriage.
