Broken bones heal so slowly. Every day Wei Dong hoped he’d be able to get out of bed.

If it was just a simple leg injury, he could use crutches to slowly get out of bed and move around, or if it was just a spinal injury, he could use a back brace to get out of bed. But in his current situation, his spinal injury can’t support his leg, and his leg injury can’t support his midsection, so he could only lie in bed and endure it.

He knows how important the exercise is to recovery. The pain was also real, but sometimes he allowed himself to sneak in some extra pampering from Qin Youyou. There were exercises he could do lying down, and he never was lazy in doing the exercises the doctors had prescribed him.

No one wants Wei Dong wants to recover faster more than himself. And every time he takes a step closer to recovery, it makes Qin Youyou even happier. He wants to see Qin Youyou happy.

Qin Youyou had rented a small folding bed from the inpatient department and slept on that at night.

It actually couldn’t even be called sleep. At most, it was just a place to lie down. He got up every two hours to check up on Wei Dong—it’s hard for him to roll over, so he would roll him over, prop him up on his side to change the position, change to the other side, then check the IV drip, the urine bag, then his leg. If his body had sweated, he’d yawn as grabbed a towel to wipe Wei Dong down.

Every time Wei Dong would hold his hand and say, “You go to sleep.”

Qin Youyou would whisper, “Don’t worry about me, Ge. You should go sleep.”

Despite other people saying how exhausting and tiring it is to be a patient carer, Qin Youyou didn’t feel like it was. Every day his heart and eyes were filled with Wei Dong, taking great care of him. Every day Wei Dong was cleaned from head to toe and kept refreshed—even in the summer weather he didn’t even have a heat rash, nor a single bed sore on his back. Even the nurses praised him; these two guys must have a good relationship. They joked that they’d seen someone who served upon a bedridden patient so well before, even shaving his beard clean every day!

Qin Youyou heard this and laughed. He really didn’t think of anything else. He just knew that Wei Dong was in pain and was going through a lot, so he just wanted to make Wei Dong as comfortable as he could possibly be.

Liu Jingwen visited Wei Dong a few times after he’d been transferred to a normal ward. On this day when he came to visit, he looked at Qin Youyou and frowned.

“I’m free this afternoon, so I’ll look after Wei Dong. You go home and get some sleep.”

Qin Youyou said, “I can’t, I have to be here.”

“Don’t be stubborn,” Liu Jingwen pointed at him. “If you get sick from being too tired, how will Dong-ge take it? Who will care for him?”

“I will take care of him,” Qin Youyou chuckled. “I’m not tired.”

Liu Jingwen looked at him, but didn’t want to say anything more in front of Wei Dong. Seeing as how Qin Youyou wouldn’t listen, he changed the topic and they chatted about something else for a bit.

Wei Dong was sitting up hallway on the bed, quietly listening to them chatting. After a long time he sighed softly.

When Liu Jingwen left, Qin Youyou walked him to the elevator door.

Liu Jingwen reached out to hold the elevator door. He turned his head and asked, “Can I get a caretaker to help you?”

“Huh?” Qin Youyou shook his head at once. “There’s no need, I can take care of it by myself. My Ge makes it easy to do, I’m not tired.”

Liu Jingwen said, “It’s not a matter of being tired. You’re doing too much, day and night. How can you continue enduring this?”

“There’s no need,” Qin Youyou smiled. “It’s an unnecessary expense.”

“Is it because you don’t have money?” Liu Jingwen seemed to grasp the issue. “If you didn’t have money then why didn’t you say anything?”

“There’s still money, you don’t need to worry about that, Jingwen-ge. It’s not at that point yet.”

“Which point?”

Qin Youyou sighed. “We haven’t reached the point where we will need to delay treatment because there is no money. If it gets to that point, then I will shamelessly come and talk to you…”

“You coming to talk to me doesn’t make you shameless,” Liu Jingwen looked at him. “I said you are like my little brother. You and Dong-ge don’t have other friends or family, and there’s nothing else to be done. I’m not pretending to be a good person with you. If you need to borrow money, I’m not even worried about you paying it back.”

“I know what you mean. Thank you, Jingwen-ge.” Qin Youyou now felt more at ease. Liu Jingwen’s words were always thoughtful, and he was sincere.

It was impossible that Qin Youyou didn’t feel pressure, and he never showed any apprehension or exhaustion in front of Wei Dong. But when Liu Jingwen spoke so and he felt the sincerity in his heart, he couldn’t bear it any longer. His nose winged.

“You don’t have to worry. When Dong-ge is discharged from hospital, I’ll give you some work to do that you can do from home, and I’ll pay your salary as before.”

Qin Youyou gasped, his eyes widening. “Really?!”

“Heyo!” Liu Jingwen almost jumped out of his skin from his reaction. “Why would I lie about this? It’s all done on the computer, which can be done anywhere.”

“Jingwen-ge!” Qin Youyou grabbed his arm, the delight clearly shining brightly in his eyes. “Thank you!”

Liu Jingwen was amused. “Okay, now you should pay more attention to your health. You’ve already lost weight. There are still many days ahead, so listen to me—don’t use up all your strength right now, you understand?”

“Yes!” Qin Youyou nodded. “I understand.”

Finally getting into the elevator, Liu Jingwen spoke. “You go back. I’m off.”

Qin Youyou practically pranced back to the ward. Wei Dong was staring at his legs, lost in thought.

“What’s wrong, Ge? Is your leg uncomfortable?”

Wei Dong looked up at him. “No.”

“What do you want to eat for dinner?” Qin Youyou sat down on the stool. “It’s almost time to get food, so think about it now.”

Wei Dong looked at him for a bit then asked him, “Why haven’t you eaten with me the entire time I’ve been here?”

“I eat in the canteen area,” Qin Youyou said with a smile.

“Is that so?” Wei Dong looked at him. “Not because every time you buy two steamed buns and some pickled vegetables, or maybe you only eat two stuffed buns to cushion your hunger, and you don’t want me to see?”

Qin Youyou froze for a second before continuing to smile. “…How could that be? I eat well.”

“We’re running out of money, aren’t we? Even though you’ve saved everywhere you could. And it’s all been spent on me.”

“It’s not that critical, Ge. You don’t need to think about that, and you shouldn’t be worrying about it. You just concentrate on getting better…”

“What should I worry about then?”

Since regaining consciousness, even though Wei Dong didn’t speak much, he never expressed negative emotions in front of Qin Youyou. However, at this moment, his eyes were filled with a pain Qin Youyou hadn’t seen in a very long time.

“I said, I told you that I would never allow you to go hungry again. Youyou, I said that now you’re with me, I want you to be well, but look at how it’s turned out…”

Qin Youyou’s brain blanked. Wei Dong’s eyes were red, and his emotions were pouring out a thousand miles a minute. When he was tortured by excruciating pain, he would fall into a daze and grit his teeth without making a sound. But right now he looked at Qin Youyou with bloodshot eyes and his chest heaving from his emotions.

“I’m not starving… I’m really not hungry. How could you think that…” Qin Youyou held his hand. “If you’re doing well, then I’m also well. Why do you always think eating fancy food is what I need? You need to stop thinking like that, I don’t want it.”

“What else can I give you? Right now you can’t even sleep, you can’t even eat a decent meal. Right now, I’m a disabled person, and in the future…”

Qin Youyou immediately dropped his hand and stood up straight.

Wei Dong looked at him.

Qin Youyou heard those words and couldn’t stifle the tears.

He tried with all his might to hold it in, but he couldn’t.

“You will not become disabled! And even if you do, I’ll still care for you!”

“Youyou,” Wei Dong’s Adam’s apple trembled.

“Stop talking!” Qin Youyou wiped his face with his sleeve, clearly enraged. “I don’t want to hear you say those words. If you really want to treat me well then don’t make me angry.”

“Youyou,” Wei Dong tried to hold his hand but Qin Youyou was still angry. As he watched Wei Dong struggle to shift his body to reach him his anger collapsed. He moved towards him and took his hand.

Wei Dong grabbed his hand, lowered his head and said nothing further.