"Trash, pointless invention. I don't want it."
She knew he was troublesome. Fortunately, she had bought the fabric herself.
Jiang Nan Fang snatched the item from his hand with annoyance and glared at him.
"A person who's half-paralyzed is still picking and choosing. If you don't wear it, fine."
"Since you like it this way, you can be naked from now on!"
Zhan Bei Jue was infuriated.
"Jiang Nan Fang, can't you just say something nice so I'll remember your good deeds? Must you always annoy me even after doing something for me?"
"No."
Jiang Nan Fang pulled out one item and threw it in front of him. She then took two more pieces of fabric from the bag and tossed them into the basin.
"These need to be washed before wearing. You can either make do with this for now or go without. Choose yourself."
So that's how it was.
He'd better make do for now.
Zhan Bei Jue fell silent.
Jiang Nan Fang went into the bathroom and hand-washed his underwear, then tossed them into the dryer. She then brought a basin of warm water and sat by the bed to help him with his hospital gown.
Although she didn't speak, and her movements weren't particularly gentle,
The way her eyebrows were slightly lowered, with stray wisps of hair falling near her temples, she still looked quite virtuous.
The moment she touched him, Zhan Bei Jue felt like electricity coursed through his entire body, every cell in his bloodstream surging.
He couldn't suppress the urge to do something.
Especially her lips, so red and moist, he longed to taste them.
He had been wrong about the Tang Xue Ying incident before, and Zhan Bei Jue owed her an apology.
Moreover, even though her relationship with Ke Teng was close, nothing had happened between them yet. Perhaps there was still room for reconciliation between them.
He suppressed his impulse again and again, Zhan Bei Jue couldn't help but test her.
"Jiang Nan Fang, if I were to give you another chance to be Mrs. Zhan, would you still be willing?"
She hadn't expected him to be thinking about such things at a time like this.
Just because she was a caregiver who knew how to take care of people, and he happened to need one, did he think she deserved to have her past forgotten, to be summoned and dismissed at will?
Any slight guilt she felt towards him vanished completely.
Jiang Nan Fang let out a cold laugh.
"Don't think that just because I'm here taking care of you now means I want to reconcile. It's impossible."
"Not to mention that your mother and I are like fire and water. Even without her, you're such trash, I wouldn't give you a second glance."
"I just don't want you to die too ugly, to leave myself a worthy opponent."
"You know the hatred between us, and I know it too. I won't let you off easily."
"Zhan Bei Jue, one day I will make you wholeheartedly admit defeat through my own efforts, and kneel to apologize to me."
"This is precisely why I'm staying in Nan Cheng now."
She knew she had been thinking too much.
Jiang Nan Fang was not an ordinary woman.
If she could be moved, she would have been moved long ago, why wait until today?
Because of the incident with the child and her mother, she hated him to the bone, and it would probably never change.
His impulse suddenly dissipated.
Zhan Bei Jue closed his eyes. "I was just joking. You took it seriously."
That scoundrel. Joking about something like this, she shouldn't have bothered with him!
The buttons were all undone. Jiang Nan Fang roughly pulled his hospital gown, revealing his sturdy chest.
Then, regardless of whether it hurt him, with the same motion, she "whooshed" and pulled off his hospital pants.
The elastic waistband pressed against his wound, and Zhan Bei Jue immediately cried out in pain: "Hiss!"
Jiang Nan Fang paid no attention, grabbed a towel, wrung it out casually, and began wiping his sweat with a "patter."
Her movements were too rough, not like wiping sweat for oneself, but more like seeking revenge.
Zhan Bei Jue was in extreme pain and couldn't help but yell at her, "Be gentler, Jiang Nan Fang, do you even know how to take care of someone? Be gentler!"
"Shut up! Say one more word and I'll stuff this towel in your mouth!"
Jiang Nan Fang raised her hand and slapped his mouth.
"Are you even a man? Making such a fuss over such a small thing."
They wiped his sweat while bickering like this.
Finished, Jiang Nan Fang took the basin and towel back to the bathroom, threw them on the floor, and turned back.
"Alright. You've eaten, you've drunk, you've used the toilet, your sweat is wiped. Change your clothes yourself. If there's nothing else, I'm leaving."
Zhan Bei Jue was bare and the pain had just started to subside.
He had been expecting her to help him get dressed, and now she was leaving?
He looked at her with a frown, somewhat dejected.
"Leave? Where are you going?"
"Of course, I'm going home. Am I supposed to stay here and be your nursemaid?"
"If it weren't for the fact that you saved me, I wouldn't even bother looking at you. Doing this much is already going above and beyond. You still want me to stay overnight?"
If she were truly staying overnight, that would be great.
Away from her, Zhan Bei Jue didn't know if he would ever touch another woman in this life.
"I'm no different from a cripple now. What's the point of you staying?"
"It's not like I'm actually sleeping with you. What's the harm in staying one night?"
She wouldn't die.
But Jiang Nan Fang couldn't stand his arrogant attitude.
"Are you that afraid of dying of a sudden illness with no one to care for you at night?"
"Fine. If you want me to stay, you can. Beg me."
"As long as you say the right words, staying overnight isn't impossible."
"..."
She actually wanted him to beg her?
Zhan Bei Jue couldn't bring himself to say it.
But seeing her so angry, looking like she could leave at any moment, Zhan Bei Jue was terrified she would leave for good.
Their eyes met, and after a moment of standoff, he finally yielded in his pride.
"I'll give you money. Consider it me hiring you as a caregiver. Stay."
Having money was so great.
Always bringing money up.
Jiang Nan Fang sneered, "Okay. Rich people speak so freely. How much are you planning to give me?"
Zhan Bei Jue retorted, "How much do you want?"
"Didn't you tell those people you'd give 5 million if they could let me go?"
"I know 5 million is just a drop in the bucket for you. 5 million it is."
Just for staying to take care of him for a few hours, asking for 5 million was like demanding the sky.
To her surprise, Zhan Bei Jue readily agreed.
"I'll give you ten million to stay until I'm discharged."
As the saying goes, it takes 100 days for bones to heal.
Seeing how severe his injuries were, who knew when he would be discharged.
A mere ten million, asking her to stay until the monkeys grew old?
Was she, Jiang Nan Fang, that desperate for money?
Jiang Nan Fang sneered again, "You think too highly of yourself."
"Ten million to buy my few months of time? Am I that worthless?"
"I've already told the doctor that I'll be discharged in a week. Earning ten million in a week and still thinking it's little, Sister Jiang, how valuable do you think you are?"
So it was for a week.
Jiang Nan Fang thought about it.
Since she would be bored at home alone anyway, earning ten million in a week and also being able to annoy him, to mock him, to give him some mental torture.
It wasn't a loss.
"Let's be clear beforehand. This week, I'm the boss. Whatever I tell you to do, you do. No talking back. Otherwise, I'll leave at any time."
Being able to agree was already good enough, how could he dare to talk back to her?
"Who told me I can't beat you now? You call the shots."
That sounded more like it.
Jiang Nan Fang: "Then call someone to transfer the money."