Yu Jinbu, who had been looking at the newspaper in his hand, suddenly looked up: "Oh, it's you, young man. Thank you."

Yu Jinbu extended her hand, and He Lin wasn't entirely oblivious to social niceties. However, Yu Jinbu hadn't expected this young man, an academic who seemed quiet and clean-cut, to be so strong, easily matching her own. He seemed to be no ordinary person.

Yu Jinbu made a preliminary judgment about He Lin, but his impression was not good. He disliked people who were calculating and scheming, and He Lin in front of him was clearly that kind of person—if he didn't have a calculating mind, why would he bother to pretend?

Yu Jinbu expressed his gratitude verbally, but his grip on her hand didn't lessen at all. Finally, after everyone present noticed something amiss, Yu Lian spoke up: "Dad, that's enough."

Wang Meixia patted her husband's hand: "I'm sorry, young man, your uncle went too far. I'll take you to apply some medicine."

He Lin held up his palms: "Auntie, I'm fine. If Uncle wants to arm wrestle, let's find a suitable place to compete next time."

These words made Wang Meixia, who had been worried, laugh: "Okay, okay, after Yu Lian is discharged from the hospital, come over for dinner. Thank you so much this time."

Yu Lian added, "We'll bring Xinglan along too. I think she's bored at home all by herself. We're really grateful to her this time."

He Lin's instinctive refusal was interrupted by the teacher who entered. The woman, in her sixties or seventies, was crying so uncontrollably that passersby couldn't help but peek into the ward; those who didn't know better might have thought someone had died there.

"Oh my, girl, you didn't even tell me about something so important. I don't know how to thank you enough."

Then he looked at the person next door: "Why didn't you say a word?"

Cheng Mei felt wronged: "Did you even give me a chance to speak? You didn't say anything before you dragged He Lin out the door."

Teacher Xian was so excited that she almost knelt down before Yu Lian, but was stopped in time by the people next to her.

"Teacher Xian, you don't need to feel guilty. It's not me staying here today; even someone else would help. You should focus on taking good care of the patient, making sure they eat well, and getting them discharged as soon as possible. That's what you should be thinking about right now."

Seeing that her daughter didn't want to be swayed by the old woman's emotions, Wang Meixia stepped forward: "Oh dear, you're already in your forties. My daughter says it's really nothing to worry about, so it's nothing to worry about. If you really feel bad about it, just give her a bag of apples; she loves apples."

"Okay! I'll buy it tomorrow."

Apples were the cheapest fruit Wang Meixia could think of, and thankfully, they successfully calmed the old man's agitated emotions.

At this moment, He Lin sincerely thanked Yu Lian: "Thank you."

This was quite a shock to Yu Lian. She had thought that He Lin really didn't care about anyone else, just like his sister He Xinglan had said, but now it seemed that He Lin cared a lot about his teacher.

"You've got it backwards. I should be thanking you."

He Lin didn't respond and went to the other side. Yu Lian looked at her parents; the way they were looking at her was too obvious, but now was definitely not the time to talk about this.

After a while, seeing that it was getting late, Yu Lian sent her parents back and told them to come early the next morning.

It was almost time, so Yu Lian closed her eyes to sleep. Half-asleep, the door was gently pushed open. Medical staff came in to check on the patient, and left quickly after confirming everything was alright. But then someone else came in. A tall figure blocked the light coming in from the corridor, making Yu Lian, who subconsciously felt unsafe, open her eyes—before her stood a tall man in the aisle at the foot of the bed.

"Who?"

"It's me, go to sleep."

Yu Lian couldn't sleep for a while. Although her eyes were closed, she kept listening to the sounds coming from the other side. However, He Lin didn't make a sound after sitting down, and Yu Lian, who was initially wary because there was another person in the ward, fell asleep after a short while.

Before six in the morning, Yu Lian opened her eyes and just saw He Lin leaving the house. She got up and made a noise, which was heard by the neighbors next door.

"Xiao Yu, do you need to go to the restroom?"

"No. If you want to go, I'll have someone help you there."

"If anyone is passing by, could you please call out to me? Xiao He is a gay man and it's inconvenient for him to do so."

Yu Lian guessed this possibility and immediately threw off the blanket and sat in the wheelchair: "Wait here, I'll go find one for you right away."

Seeing Yu Lian leave in her wheelchair, Cheng Mei regretted her actions—she hadn't expected the little girl in the next bed to push her wheelchair to find someone. A short while later, someone arrived and took the old lady to the restroom.

Yu Lian went outside for a while to get some fresh air and bumped into her mother, Wang Meixia, who had come to the hospital. The mother and daughter walked and talked as they slowly returned to the ward.

Cheng Mei had just come out of the restroom and was able to stand up slowly with the help of a nurse. However, because her legs were already weak before she got sick, and with her recent illness, even getting out of bed was difficult.

Wang Meixia walked over and said, "I'm so sorry, young comrade, I'm really sorry to trouble you. Let me do it."

Yu Lian slowly followed behind, returning to the ward with the slowly advancing group in front.

"I'm so sorry to have troubled you two. I felt really bad that He Lin, a grown man, took such good care of me. My husband has a very important meeting today and really can't get away."

The Yu family are all warm-hearted, and given their special professions, this small favor is nothing to them.

"Auntie, please don't be so polite. It makes no difference to me whether I take care of one or two."

With the help of the mother and daughter taking turns, Cheng Mei grew to like this warm-hearted and generous girl even more.

"Oh dear, is your leg injury serious? I'm so grateful that you helped me find someone."

Wang Meixia didn't give her daughter a chance to speak: "It wasn't serious at first, she was still recovering, but she insisted on catching a thief. Now she's injured! She'll have to stay in the hospital for another ten days to half a month."

Cheng Mei exclaimed in surprise, "You're catching a thief? How dare a young girl like you be so bold, especially going alone?"

These words opened up a floodgate of conversation for Wang Meixia: "My daughter used to serve in the Northwest border defense, and she's in excellent physical condition. She just injured her foot while rescuing someone, and I shamelessly begged her dad to bring her back. I was so heartbroken."

Cheng Mei was even more surprised—she hadn't expected such a fair-skinned girl to be a soldier.

"Oh my, I really couldn't tell. I thought it was someone's precious, fair-skinned pet."

"She used to be very dark-skinned. The sun is strong in the Northwest, and her face was chapped when she first arrived. Later, she was injured and spent more than three months in the hospital. In addition, the child inherited her grandmother's skin tone, so she recovered."

He Lin, who had just returned with his food, overheard their conversation. However, after entering, he simply greeted them briefly and then took his lunchbox to the other side.

"He Lin, go back to work after you finish eating. I remember your teacher said today's meeting was quite important, but I can manage on my own here."

"I'll go after you've had lunch."

Cheng Mei firmly said, "No, you have to go with your teacher to give the report now. You've already worked hard enough running around these past few days, so listen to your teacher now."

"He Lin, since it's so important, just go. My mom's here."

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