Chapter 48 — A Moment of Ambiguity

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When Guan Xin came in to work that morning, she heard doctors and nurses all over the surgery department discussing a man named Wei Zhao. At first she paid it no mind, assuming it was just some piece of gossip, but when she listened more closely she was startled to discover that what they were discussing was yesterday's bank robbery.

As a person who had been there, Guan Xin naturally had the most authority to speak. When she told them how the young man in front of her had stood up on his own and volunteered to be a hostage, there was an uproar — so it was all true, that young man really had been a hero yesterday.

Sun Weimin had told them as much before, but since the police had not disclosed the details of the incident, many people had assumed Wei Zhao was just boasting to Sun Weimin. Now, with Guan Xin's eyewitness account, it turned out Wei Zhao really was a bit of a hero.

"What? He came to our hospital for treatment yesterday? Then that means he got away from the robbers!" Hearing Sun Weimin's words, Guan Xin was overjoyed at once, and the heavy stone that had been weighing on her heart lifted with it.

All day yesterday she had been worried about Wei Zhao and that girl, and had not slept well all night. Now at last she could set her mind at ease.

"Isn't that so," Sun Weimin said with a laugh. "Wei Zhao is really something. But Xinxin, you are truly blessed. Yesterday Wei Zhao said that when the thug fired, he could clearly have dodged, but he saw there was a girl behind him, and if he had dodged, the bullet would surely have hit her — so he pulled himself back and took the shot head-on. And that lucky girl, it seems, was you."

"Ah — so that's how it was…" Guan Xin's mouth fell open in astonishment. No wonder he had turned sideways and then straightened himself again… it was because he was afraid of hurting her.

"Heh heh, Xinxin, Wei Zhao is coming back to the hospital later to have his dressing changed. I'll tell him to look for you," Sun Weimin said with a smile.

Sun Weimin did not actually know Guan Xin's true identity; the hospital director had merely mentioned to him that Guan Xin had been brought in by someone important, and that he was to give her whatever care was necessary.

Sun Weimin was by nature a very modest man. Even without the director's word, he was good to everyone in the department, especially the young people — he would guide them as much as he could and never held anything back.

Guan Xin's face flushed red at once. A scene like a hero saving a beauty was bound to make people imagine things — especially one so dramatic: after Wei Zhao was wounded, he had come to the very hospital where she worked for treatment.

Wei Zhao looked at the nurse in front of him, whose uniform was quite alluring, and found her somewhat familiar, though he had no idea where he had seen her before. But her words, "You don't remember me?" gave him a chill.

Why did he feel as though he were some heartless scoundrel who had toyed with a girl's feelings?

"You… you are?" Wei Zhao looked at the girl before him warily, trying to read some clue in her bright, wide eyes. Unfortunately, he still could not recall who she was.

Small wonder — she was no more than a fleeting passerby he had met yesterday, whose name he did not even know. There was no way Wei Zhao could have formed any impression of her.

"Thank you for taking a bullet for me yesterday," Guan Xin said. Seeing that Wei Zhao did not recognize her, she could not help feeling a little disappointed, and so she took the initiative to explain how the two of them had met.

"Ah, so it was you!" Wei Zhao finally remembered who the girl before him was. She was actually the girl who had been behind him in the bank yesterday.

"You remember me?" Guan Xin was a little pleased to see that Wei Zhao had recalled her.

"Actually, the robber's gun was aimed at me in the first place yesterday. I couldn't let someone else get hurt just because I dodged the bullet, so you don't need to thank me at all," Wei Zhao explained. "And you don't need to feel any burden about it either."

"Oh…" Hearing Wei Zhao say this, Guan Xin did not know what to say. She nodded, and the atmosphere turned a little awkward.

"All right, help me change my dressing," Wei Zhao said with a smile. "Nice to meet you, pretty nurse."

"My name is Guan Xin." Guan Xin was amused by Wei Zhao, and took the medical orders from his hand and began preparing the medicine.

After Guan Xin had prepared the ointment, she saw that Wei Zhao was still standing there, and could not help finding it funny. "What are you still doing? Hurry up and take off your pants!" After she said this, however, her face turned red despite herself.

In truth, treating a man's wound in that particular place was a first for Guan Xin. In the past, when cases like this came up, Sun Weimin would hand them to the married nurses in the department, while the young nurses like her were assigned to deal with minor cuts and scrapes on hands and feet.

But today was different. Wei Zhao was Guan Xin's benefactor, and Sun Weimin had said that Wei Zhao was to be "handled" by Guan Xin, and Guan Xin had not objected, so the matter was settled.

"Uh... this doesn't seem quite right..." Wei Zhao was the one feeling embarrassed now. Yesterday he had not even taken off his pants before rumors of a romance with Qiu Lingshan started flying; if he took them off today, would that not spell even more trouble?

Seeing a grown man like Wei Zhao turn bashful only made Guan Xin stop being shy herself; in fact, she found it rather amusing. "I'm a nurse, aren't I? What could you possibly have to hide from me? You should know that patients have no privacy before a doctor. There's a good boy, now hurry up and take off your pants..."

Having said all that, Guan Xin herself felt her cheeks grow warm. Why did she sound like a lecherous older sister luring some young boy astray?

Wei Zhao broke out in a sweat, but then he reasoned it through: Guan Xin was a nurse, so taking off his pants in front of her should not be a problem. He unfastened his belt without further fuss, pulled off his trousers, and sat down on the chair beside him.

"That's... my chair, but go ahead and sit..." Guan Xin saw him sitting on the chair she used for her work, wearing only his underwear, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed. But on second thought, it was nothing, so she let him be.

Wei Zhao, for his part, felt apologetic. "I didn't know this was your chair... shall I move to another one?"

"Never mind, your leg is injured, so don't go shuffling around." As she spoke, Guan Xin had already crouched down and begun carefully examining the dressing on Wei Zhao's leg.

He looked thin from the outside, but his legs were unexpectedly muscular. No wonder, after taking a bullet, he had still been able to walk alongside the thugs. Guan Xin was secretly amazed.

Guan Xin slowly and carefully unwound the old dressing, but the more careful she was, the more nervous she became, especially with Wei Zhao's underwear bulging slightly right before her eyes, which made her feel her breathing quicken.

Her hand trembled faintly and brushed against the bulge in Wei Zhao's underwear. Guan Xin gave a start, and her face was already as red as the evening sunset.

Guan Xin was nervous, and Wei Zhao was not much better off. A pretty girl in a nurse's uniform, crouching right at his crotch, could hardly fail to set a man's imagination racing.

Fortunately Wei Zhao had fairly good self-control; otherwise a certain part of his body would have made a most untimely response. But that self-control was shattered by Guan Xin's touch...