Chapter 19: 19

Chapter 19: Washing The Feet Of His Family’s Wife

Tian Yuan smiled. He leaned on Pan Lei’s arm to stand firm and then drew in a breath. When you are exhausted and someone stands by your side, you would feel moved more than anything else. On ordinary days, when he is feeling tired, he simply goes home, alone, on his own.

As he was a little unsteady, Tian Yuan surrendered himself and willingly allowed Pan Lei to support him. This is the most pragmatic and simplest type of care. It was not spectacular, and there was no hype, but it is the best way to move people.

When he is worn out, the simple act of giving support, a hug, or a cup of hot tea, makes him feel loved.

Surgery is the same as war. Every time, you race against the clock to snatch people from the gates of death. He was able to snatch one today and that gave him more reason to celebrate.

Although he was dog-tired, it was all worth it. As a doctor, nothing can make him prouder than seeing a patient recover and be discharged from the hospital.

“Dr. Tian, quick! The manpower in the second operating room is not enough and the patient is in critical condition!” The young nurse rushed out once again in a hurried manner.

Tian Yuan seemed to have been injected with chicken blood [1] as the tiredness that had just emerged from his bones was swept away in an instant. He pushed open Pan Lei’s hand and pulled off the surgical gown. He followed the nurse and walked away.

“Would this also not allow a human to live?! The patient was already saved. You are also tired and almost paralyzed!” Pan Lei’s anger had reached the heavens as he bellowed in rage. If other people do not feel distressed, he does! His family’s wife is not a borrowed donkey to make him work day and night!

The surgeon is always the busiest and the most laborious person in the hospital. In one breath, two surgeries were done. The patient was pushed out from the operating room.

Tian Yuan’s body cannot take it anymore. He had worked during the day and now, it was already three o’clock in the morning of the next day. Fortunately, he was able to make it to the last second even though he nearly fainted in the operating room.

The nurse held him out of the operating room. Tian Yuan slipped down the wall and could no longer stand up. The nurse untied his surgical gown and took off his hat. This revealed Tian Yuan’s face that was soaked in sweat.

Under the illumination of the shadowless light, his facial color that was as pale as white is noticeable. His hair was like wisps of mist and the clothes on his body were also wet. He looks like a fish that just came out of the water.

Pan Lei squatted next to him, took off his own coat, and draped it on Tian Yuan’s body. He placed his arm underneath Tian Yuan’s knees, and the other arm around his waist. He exerted a little bit of force to carry Tian Yuan horizontally in his arms.

Tian Yuan breathed in and upon seeing Pan Lei, he can not keep on smiling anymore as he relaxed and rested his head weakly on his shoulder. “Send me back to the office. The sky will brighten up soon. I will not go back home. You should go back on your own.”

Pan Lei held back his anger and bottled up his distressed feelings. Other people may not care about his family but he does care a lot. He was so distressed as he looked at him in this near-death appearance and he feels like his heart was being beaten up.

He carried Tian Yuan without changing his surgical gown and took him home directly. Tian Yuan lost a bit of his consciousness and felt like he got into a car. Nevertheless, he closed his eyes and took a nap for a while.

Exhausted, Tian Yuan thought that his body really is not good. When the two operations were done, he almost died. He really needed to exercise.

Realizing that the car had stopped, Tian Yuan opened his eyes and recognized that they arrived at the place where he lives.

Pan Lei paid for the taxi fare while Tian Yuan opened the door and was preparing to go down. He was thinking of hurrying home, sleep for a few hours, and then go back to work at daybreak.

“Don’t move!” Pan Lei roared. Tian Yuan kept his hands on the car door and his foot that was about to descend was held in place as well. He crooked his neck and looked at Pan Lei.

Why was he yelling at him so loudly? Want to play rogue to make him recover some of his lost consciousness, was that it?

Pan Lei frowned and quickly got off. He went around to Tian Yuan’s side, and opened the door. He leaned over and carried him tightly in his arms. Tian Yuan felt a bit funny. He did not let him move so he could hug him?

“I was just lacking a bit of my strength, and didn’t break my legs. Why are you so cautious? Put me down. I’m not a girl. Such a big man and you sure like to princess carry people.”

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Pan Lei just gave him a fierce look as a response.

He carried him into the house and then once inside, he threw him on the bed. “Quickly, take off your clothes. It smells of blood, of disinfectant, and it stinks so much! Take it off and hurry to sleep.”

The space between Pan Lei’s brows furrowed into a Sichuan ( 川 ) [2] character. No laughing expression could be seen on his face. Pan Lei is as serious as when he was training his recruits. His soldiers should be dressed up in five minutes which includes getting out of bed, putting on clothes, and assembling together. That kind of seriousness.

Tian Yuan looked at him and removed the surgical gown from his body but still, he can’t help but grumble. “What the hell are you angry about? Did I tell you to wait for me in the middle of the night? I told you to go back but you didn’t go and now, you are complaining about what I do?”

Pan Lei went to the bathroom to take out a basin of warm water. When he came out, he heard Tian Yuan grumbling.

“Don’t want to sleep yet? OK, dress up. We’ll go downstairs and take advantage of the fresh air to run 50 li [3] to go to work in the morning.”

Tian Yuan immediately closed his mouth. If he ran 50 li now, his life will be finished.

Pan Lei knelt down and pulled Tian Yuan’s feet over. He took off his shoes, pulled out his socks and put his feet into the basin. He slowly rubbed the arches of his feet. Tian Yuan did not know if he was for real or just deceiving him because Pan Lei was not only kneading it, but also putting pressure on it, really like a foot therapist.

Tian Yuan was surprised. This treatment is too good. Did Pan Lei just wash his feet?

God, from the time he was five years old, his mother had stopped helping him to wash his feet. He was close to thirty now.

Again, did Pan Lei just kneel down and wash his feet? This was more horrifying than letting him see a ghost come out of the morgue!

Every man has this dream of washing his wife’s feet, massaging his wife’s ankles, and gossiping with his wife before switching off the lights to sleep. Such is the picture of a warm family.

But this kind of thing happening to him is very strange. Yet, he is clearly the same arrogant Pan Lei, the same bandit, and the same Pan Lei with indomitable spirit.

It feels like Tian Yuan was the boss, and Pan Lei was the subordinate. Hence, it is just but right to kneel down and wash the boss’s feet? Was he too tired that he is dreaming now? But the touch on the soles of his feet is not fake. Pan Lei is truly, really washing his feet right now.

This realization allowed Tian Yuan to throw all his fatigue away into the cloud.

“Don’t do this. You let me go. I’ll do it myself. Go and wash your hands quickly.”

Pan Lei increased his strength to pinch the arch of his foot which made Tian Yuan jolt and tried to pull back. “The water sprinkled out. Stay still and be obedient. You stood too long, and your legs certainly will not be able to bear it any longer. Warming up your feet will help your blood circulation to flow better. It can also relieve your fatigue and help you to sleep well.”

Tian Yuan’s feet were now red. Pan Lei gently wiped them with a towel. Then he shook the quilt and stuffed Tian Yuan into the bed. He patted him, lowered his head and kissed Tian Yuan’s forehead. “Good boy. Baby, go to sleep now.”

Tian Yuan was very touched. Washing his feet and kissing his forehead after, he seemed to go back when he was a child. Tian Yuan’s face somewhat turned a little red, so he lowered his eyes. But then, he saw the towel and he knew that something’s wrong with it.

“Where did you get this towel?”

“Washbasin. There were two towels in there and I just took one in random.”

Tian Yuan grabbed the towel and threw it on Pan Lei’s face.

“Your uncle! That’s the towel that this ‘daddy’ used to wash his face!”

***

Notes:

[1] injected with chicken blood –  This is a Chinese colloquial expression which means jittery or agitated. I found an article about the origin of this expression and it was initially called Chicken Blood Therapy which was popular in the 1960’s. If you frequently read Chinese novels, you will encounter this expression a lot so I encourage you to read the article here. [2] Sichuan – Chuān (written as 川 in Chinese) is the abbreviation for Sichuan Province 四川 in Southwest China. I tried looking for an image but I can’t find any that’s distinct enough to see the Sichuan character between the brows. Nonetheless, you could google it using the search phrase ‘furrow between the brows’ and make sure that you are on the images tab. [3]  lǐ – The li (Chinese: 里, lǐ, or 市里, shìlǐ), also known as the Chinese mile, is a traditional Chinese unit of distance. The li has varied considerably over time but was usually about a third as long as the English mile and now has a standardized length of a half-kilometer (500 meters or 1,640 feet). This is then divided into 1,500 chi or “Chinese feet”. this daddy | this laozi | this father – These phrases were usually uttered out of anger or contempt. If you have been reading Chinese novels for quite sometime now, you will notice that Chinese people, since they have been living in a patriarchal society, highly regard seniority in general. Thus, when you say “call me father and I will teach you about politeness (refer to Chapter 9 to re-read this line)” it means that, you are using the authority of a senior to punish/educate/teach your ‘junior’ (like a father would to his child). This can also be associated with the phrase ‘I, your father…‘ but in this phrase, the pronoun “I” was added and is normally spoken with an arrogant tone to assert superiority over the other person.

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