The younger sister mistakenly identified her brother when visiting relatives and was kissed by the c

"Mom, I'm perfectly fine, not a single hair is missing." Qiao Xinxin quickly took her mother's arm, rested her head on her mother's shoulder, and sweetly whined.

"What's so good about it? Look at those two dark circles under your eyes, you look like a little panda. You must have been freezing last night, right? Didn't you sleep a wink all night?" Bai's mother touched her daughter's slightly cold face with heartache, and kept nagging.

Qiao Xinxin was afraid that her mother would continue to ask about the details of last night, so she quickly changed the subject:

"Mom, I'll go in first and tell Dad, then I'll go back to my room for a nap. I'll go to the hospital at noon. I'll go to work at the bathhouse tonight."

"Go on, go on, hurry up and tell your dad, so he won't overthink things later when he hears the commotion." Bai's mother sighed, waved her hand, and picked up the broom from the ground again.

Qiao Xinxin quickly walked into the store.

Mr. Bai was busy in the kitchen, his large spatula tumbling through the wok. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw his daughter. He was somewhat surprised: "Xin Xin? Why are you home so early today?"

Qiao Xinxin walked to the kitchen door and repeated the same story she had told Bai's mother to Bai's father, picking out the easier parts.

Mr. Bai was usually a man of few words, but when he heard that his son was injured, his hand holding the spatula suddenly paused, and the metal spatula made a crisp "clang" sound as it struck the edge of the iron pot.

However, being a father, he was much more composed than Bai's mother. He took a deep breath, ladled the food out of the pot, turned around, and nodded solemnly.

"Okay, I understand. It's common for soldiers to get bumps and bruises. Go over there this afternoon and take good care of him. Your mother and I will close the shop early tonight and go check on him."

"Okay, Dad."

Qiao Xinxin responded, walked to the thermos in the kitchen, poured herself a glass of warm water, and gulped it down several times, finally feeling much better about her dry throat. Then, she left the shop, went back to her room to tidy up a bit, and hurried off towards the hospital.

When Qiao Xinxin pushed open the wooden door of the hospital ward again, it was already close to noon.

Bai Zhengyuan, lying in his hospital bed, was noticeably better than he had been that morning. The paleness on his face had faded considerably, replaced by a healthy rosy glow, and his sharp black eyes had regained the spirit of a soldier, no longer as lifeless as they had been the night before.

When Qiao Xinxin pushed the door open and came in, Bai Zhengyuan, who had been staring blankly at the ceiling out of boredom, suddenly lit up.

He looked helplessly at his younger sister, who was carrying a basin of water and holding a towel, and who was busy wiping the table and sweeping the floor as soon as she came in. He couldn't help but laugh and tease her:

"Xin Xin, stop working so hard. I'm not bedridden and can't move. You've been working non-stop all morning, sit down and rest for a while. I feel tired just watching you."

Qiao Xinxin draped the wrung-out damp towel over the bedside table, turned around, glared at him fiercely with her big, bright eyes, put her hands on her hips, and said coquettishly:

"You stay in bed and stop your nonsense! The doctor specifically instructed that you absolutely cannot put weight on this leg for the next few days! If you dare to sneak out of bed and take a single step when I'm not looking, believe me, I'll break your good leg too, so you can stay in bed for good!"

Hearing his younger sister's cute yet fierce threat, Bai Zhengyuan was not angry at all; instead, he felt a warm glow in his heart.

He raised his hands, somewhat amused and exasperated, in a gesture of surrender, repeatedly begging for mercy:

"Fine, fine, my dear sister, I'll lie here and not move an inch, okay? I won't even step out of this ward. Sigh, you little rascal, you're even more stern than Mom when you're bossing people around. Fine, I'll do whatever you say, okay?"

"That's because you scared him!"

Qiao Xinxin rolled her eyes at him and pulled over a wooden chair to sit down.

But as she spoke, her once bright eyes suddenly dimmed, and she bit her lower lip with a hint of fear.

"Do you know how terrifying you were last night? When I rushed to the operating room, the trash cans in the corridor were full of bandages stained bright red with blood. You were lying on that cold operating table, your face as white as a sheet, barely breathing. The doctor was shaking his head, saying the bleeding wouldn't stop. I... I really thought you wouldn't make it, I thought you'd never open your eyes again..."

Although Qiao Xinxin tried her best to make her tone sound relaxed and playful, when she said the last few words, her soft voice couldn't help but tremble slightly.

That was the lingering fear of truly having walked through the gates of hell.

Bai Zhengyuan felt a sudden pang of pain in his heart as he watched the tears rapidly welling up in his sister's eyes. It felt as if a thousand ants were gnawing at him, a bitter and astringent sensation.

He dropped his carefree smile, his expression becoming incredibly serious and gentle. He extended his calloused right hand and gently placed it on Qiao Xinxin's tightly clasped, cold hands, whispering a promise:

"Xin Xin, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault for making you worry. I promise you from now on, no matter what mission I'm on, I will always put safety first and I will never let myself get injured so badly again, okay?"

Qiao Xinxin turned her face away and secretly wiped the corner of her eye with her sleeve so that he wouldn't see her tears.

After a long while, she took a deep breath, turned her head back, and her tone returned to its usual calm:

"Just focus on recovering from your injury and don't talk about these things. You're the pillar of our family. If something really happens to you, our family will collapse."

After a while, the wooden door to the ward was gently pushed open with a creak.

A nurse wearing a white mask and a white coat pushed in a stainless steel medical cart that made a soft clattering sound. She glanced at Bai Zhengyuan on the hospital bed and said gently:

"Comrade Bai Zhengyuan, it's time for your routine check-up. Blood test, blood pressure measurement, and then an electrocardiogram."

"Okay, thank you for your help, nurse." Bai Zhengyuan readily extended his left arm.

The nurse skillfully tied a rubber band around his upper arm, then dabbed iodine on his skin with a cotton swab; it felt cool. Next, she inserted the needle, and dark red blood flowed through the tube into a glass test tube.

After the blood was drawn, the nurse pushed a rather large portable electrocardiograph from the lower level of the equipment cart and clipped several cool metal electrode clips onto his chest and wrists.