Chapter 179: Time For Both Of Us
Shichen was still watching the empty road when Jingwei returned from the medical room.
His friend stopped beside the desk and rested both hands against its edge, looking down at the controls without touching them.
"Did you see her?" Shichen asked, turning his chair enough to see Jingwei’s face.
"She opened her eyes again," Jingwei replied. "Qinghe told me to leave before I gave her something else to concentrate on."
Shichen waited, sensing there was more. Jingwei rubbed his thumb along a scratch in the desktop before finally looking at him.
"She asked whether I’d eaten," Jingwei added.
The question made Shichen smile before he could stop himself.
He had spent the afternoon imagining everything they might never hear from her again, and apparently Zhiyi had returned to find them neglecting something she considered obvious.
"You did eat," Shichen reminded him.
"I told her that," Jingwei replied, pulling the other chair closer. "Then she closed her eyes. Apparently, I passed."
Shichen laughed quietly, surprised by how much it loosened in his chest. Jingwei’s mouth shifted without quite becoming a smile, but he sat down and reached for the camera controls.
"Go see her," Jingwei instructed. "I’ll stay here."
Shichen rose before his friend could change his mind. The tablet he had intended to use for his damage inspection remained beside the keyboard, and he left it there. Nothing on it required him to carry another problem into Zhiyi’s room.
The corridor lights had been lowered for the evening. Without windows, night arrived through decisions they made themselves, and Shichen had never been more grateful for that small measure of control.
At the medical room doorway, he paused beside Zeyu, who was watching Qinghe help Hanchuan adjust his chair.
"I’m not leaving her," Hanchuan informed the doctor.
"I asked you to move your chair," Qinghe replied patiently. "You’ve trapped the corner of the blanket beneath it."
Zeyu looked toward Shichen, and something close to their old amusement passed between them.
Hanchuan glanced down, corrected the chair, and returned his attention to Zhiyi without acknowledging either witness.
She lay with her eyes partly open, watching him. Shichen moved far enough into the room for her to see him without turning her head.
"Everyone has eaten," Shichen assured her. "Jingwei is watching the entrance, and we’re taking turns."
Zhiyi studied him for several seconds. He waited without filling the silence, although the slowness of her attention unsettled him.
He remembered her moving through plans faster than he could explain them, leaving him to catch up with conclusions she considered straightforward.
"Your room," Zhiyi whispered eventually. "Is it finished?"
Shichen glanced at the chair beside her bed before understanding that she meant his own bedroom. There were still boxes against one wall, unpacked since they arrived at Xiling.
"It’s usable," Shichen replied. "I haven’t put everything away."
Zhiyi’s brow tightened. He recognized the expression and almost smiled again, until she closed her eyes and the effort behind even that small response became apparent.
"It can wait," Qinghe assured her, approaching the bed. "Nobody needs to unpack tonight."
Shichen stepped back to give him room. On the counter, clean towels sat beside a basin, while a pen lay across the open page where Qinghe had been recording his observations. The room had become their entire world without acquiring anything that made it comfortable to live in.
Hanchuan’s jacket hung over his chair. A water cup stood within reach, and the indentation in the seat cushion suggested he had occupied it far longer than anyone should.
"Where are you planning to sleep?" Shichen asked him.
"Here," Hanchuan replied, keeping his voice low.
Shichen looked at Qinghe instead of arguing. The doctor followed his glance toward the chair, then indicated the clear section of wall opposite the counter.
"We could fit a narrow bed there," Qinghe suggested. "As long as I can still move around hers."
Hanchuan opened his mouth, but Shichen was already measuring the space by eye.
"You would still be in the room," Shichen pointed out. "We bought things for precisely this sort of problem. We might as well use them."
Zeyu left the doorway before anyone assigned him the task. Shichen followed him to storage, where they found the folded guest bed behind a stack of sealed bedding.
Moving it together required very little discussion.
Zeyu held the door while Shichen guided the frame into the corridor, then took the other end when they reached the turn. After hours of watching people damage what they had built, Shichen found something deeply satisfying in carrying an ordinary object somewhere it was needed.
They returned with the frame, a pillow, and fresh sheets. Qinghe directed them into the available space while Hanchuan watched as though they were introducing an unnecessary complication.
Zhiyi opened her eyes at the sound of the frame settling.
"What is that?" Zhiyi asked.
"A bed for Hanchuan," Shichen explained, spreading the sheet. "He can sleep beside you."
Her gaze moved toward her husband. Hanchuan leaned closer, apparently expecting her to object to the noise or the change in the room.
"You said you were tired," Zhiyi reminded him.
Shichen kept his attention on the sheet, giving Hanchuan the opportunity to surrender without an audience. Beside him, Zeyu pushed the pillow into its case with exaggerated concentration.
"I’ll lie down when Qinghe finishes," Hanchuan promised her.
They left before he could reconsider. Outside the room, Zeyu stopped with one hand against the wall, his shoulders lowering as he released a long breath.
"She remembered what he told her," Zeyu murmured.
Shichen nodded. He wanted to make more of it, to declare that everything would be all right, but Qinghe had been careful with his assurances. Shichen could give her a quieter room and somewhere for her husband to sleep. For tonight, that would have to be enough.
When they returned to the main room, Jingwei was checking the watch schedule. Zeyu stopped beside the rifle he had left on the table and rested his fingers against its sling.
"Tomorrow, I want to practice," Zeyu told Jingwei. "Properly. I spent today carrying that around and waiting for Hanchuan to know what to do."
Shichen pulled out a chair beside him before Jingwei answered.
"Make time for both of us," Shichen added. "He needs to be able to stay with her."