Lin Yuchan didn’t dare touch him, stopping two steps away and carefully examining Su Minguan from head to toe.

Actually, there weren’t any major changes. Except for his somewhat dim complexion, under the harsh white daylight streaming through the window, his features appeared cold and hard, his skin lacking color.

But being haggard after a long journey was normal. He wore a neat long robe and jacket, not looking like someone with serious injuries…

Su Minguan smiled gently.

The little girl was anxious for him.

“See, I told you. Treatment by ‘Bone-setter Cai’ would be enough.” He said softly, “A’Mei, let’s go.”

His voice was gentle, as if he were just inviting her for morning tea.

Dr. Owen, behind them, was frantic: “Absolutely not! The shrapnel is too deep—Chinese doctors could never get it out! If it enters the abdominal organs, even God couldn’t…”

Western doctors at this time didn’t wear white coats like later physicians, but were dressed in suits and leather shoes, looking at first glance like businessmen from foreign trading houses.

After the doctor’s commotion, he finally noticed Lin Yuchan, looked her up and down carefully, and asked suspiciously:

“You are—family?”

Lin Yuchan glanced at the pale ghost beside her, hesitated for a moment, and said: “Friend.”

Then this “friend” quite presumptuously blocked Su Minguan’s path and said sternly: “Don’t leave. You’re not leaving this door today without surgery.”

If the foreign doctor hadn’t mentioned it, she wouldn’t have known that this rebel, who looked so dignified, had shrapnel embedded in his body!

Su Minguan gave her a light glare and said sullenly, “Why are you ganging up with others to bully me?”

Lin Yuchan turned to Dr. Owen and said: “Ether is diethyl ether—you have anesthetics?”

“Ah, yes, anesthesia. Ether, anesthetics.” Dr. Owen finally remembered the word, struggling with the knots on his tongue, beaming with joy, “Thanks to science, it controls pain.”

Lin Yuchan was overjoyed. This era already had anesthesia—so much less suffering!

But Dr. Owen then said: “Unfortunately, our stock of ‘ether’ is depleted, and the next shipment won’t arrive until next week. I’ve been trying to convince this patient that opium can substitute… almost everyone in China smokes opium, it’s nothing shameful…”

Su Minguan smiled coldly, his breathing rapid and shallow.

“…though the effect might be somewhat inferior,” Dr. Owen coughed, “I warn you, if you insist on waiting a week, the wound will deteriorate beyond your imagination.”

“I won’t wait a week either.” Su Minguan picked up a thin woolen cloak from the chair back, frowning slightly as he slowly put it on. “Who knows if your ‘ether’ might also be addictive?”

When foreigners first imported opium to China, they also claimed it was “medicinal”; patients who used it did indeed feel completely comfortable.

Then they discovered that after “stopping the medicine,” they could never feel comfortable again.

As a victim from the front lines of the Opium War, Guangdong boy Su Minguan was strictly vigilant about this.

Remembering what methods he had used to help those addicts in old Yixing quit smoking still gave him chills. Su Minguan had double standards—he didn’t want to experience that himself.

But Lin Yuchan still stubbornly blocked his path.

“Anesthetics aren’t addictive.”

She paused and explained, “The foreigners at the customs all say it’s been widely used in their countries.”

She searched her memory for knowledge, carefully lowering her voice, and asked Dr. Owen: “Other types of anesthetics—um, nitrous oxide, chloroform…”

Dr. Owen shook his head blankly. These inventions had just emerged, the related terms hadn’t yet reached China, and no Western doctors in Shanghai were accustomed to using them.

For the ancients of the Qing Dynasty, they had never even heard of such things.

The “ancient” stubbornly declared: “Anyway, I won’t use anesthetics. Can you operate directly?”

Dr. Owen’s face soured, obviously considering him unreasonable: “I only have one assistant—we can’t hold you down.”

“You don’t need to hold me down. I can endure it.”

Dr. Owen didn’t even look up: “Those patients who didn’t want to pay anesthetic fees and jumped off the operating table to escape mid-surgery all bragged like this before the operation.”

Su Minguan sneered and turned to Lin Yuchan, saying softly, “In the end, they just want me to use opium. Let’s go.”

Seeing Lin Yuchan still resolutely blocking his path, his expression turned slightly cold.

“Don’t tell me you also…”

Lin Yuchan shook her head, made up her mind, and ran to Dr. Owen, saying: “I can guarantee him. If he runs away, I’ll still pay the fees. If this affects the surgical outcome, he bears the responsibility himself—it won’t count as your accident.”

The foreign doctor looked up in surprise.

Lin Yuchan smiled: “It’s just a liability waiver. If you’re worried, write it on paper and sign it.”

She turned to Su Minguan and asked: “Is this acceptable?”

Persuading him to smoke opium was impossible. She didn’t know how effective opium was for pain relief in this era, but since Su Minguan had made up his mind, she still respected his choice.

According to the Western doctor, waiting a week was too risky—gambling with his life.

She recalled the past—when she had cleaned his wounds with saline, she hadn’t spared a hand to hold him down.

She knew then that this person’s willpower was superhuman.

Su Minguan’s smile froze on his face as he gritted his teeth: “A’Mei, how do you know I wasn’t just bragging earlier?”

She stuck out her tongue tip slightly and smiled provocatively: “Afraid of pain?”

She just had this meddling fate. Even if today became his lifelong nightmare, even if he later cursed her ancestors for eighteen generations, she had to make him have the surgery.

Su Minguan looked up at the row of menacing medical instruments hanging on the wall and said softly: “Yes.”

He took the initiative to find an ink pad from the doctor’s desk and pressed his fingerprint on the “liability waiver.”

“So you have to stay with me.”

“Miss, don’t worry. It’s just minor surgery. If done well, even the scar won’t last long.” Dr. Owen casually prepared while giving her a vague smile. “Your… friend was injured by artillery shrapnel. If it’s not removed, infection is likely.”

Lin Yuchan nodded, surveying this operating room that by her standards was quite crude, when she suddenly remembered something and commanded: “Wash hands.”

In this era, the scientific understanding of bacteria and microorganisms was still nearly zero, and the concept of “disinfection” was just emerging. Some progressive doctors found that pre-surgical cleanliness seemed to help reduce infection and mortality rates, and began advocating handwashing and disinfection. Another faction, the “traditional Western medicine” school, believed that dirty hands were a badge of honor for surgeons. They moved between different sickbeds, proudly wearing blood and grime, and using their seniority, suppressed the “disinfection faction” so thoroughly they couldn’t find work anywhere in Europe.

Dr. Owen was one of those “disinfection faction” members who couldn’t find work and had to travel across oceans. Hearing this, he was extremely excited, scrubbing his hands vigorously while muttering cynically: “Even Chinese people understand this principle, hmph.”

Su Minguan, provoked by Lin Yuchan into boasting about scraping bone to treat poison, entered the operating room and began losing face, saying quietly: “A’Mei, turn around.”

Lin Yuchan laughed out loud. What was there to fear? It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen it before.

But considering the patient’s feelings, she pulled over a chair and obediently turned halfway around.

“How did you get injured?” she questioned. “Is the ship still there?”

“The outbound journey went smoothly. Your tea was delivered ahead of schedule with no damaged boxes.” Su Minguan’s voice came from behind and to her side, calm and peaceful. “There was some trouble on the return trip.”

Rustling sounds. He removed his woolen jacket and hung it on the chair back behind her, followed by his foreign-style long robe.

The robe had a hidden pocket that released a faint fragrance. Lin Yuchan reached back and felt the small sandalwood soap she had given him.

She tried to lighten the mood, laughing: “You still haven’t used it up?”

She heard him laugh, then continue: “Do you know? Steam ships look so impressive on the river, and Chinese steamships are even rarer—many people came out to watch… wait.”

His voice suddenly cut off. Nurse Miss pushed the door open, bringing clean water and a cloth.

Su Minguan was a bit embarrassed and said to the doctor, “Why is your assistant female?”

Dr. Owen looked at him disdainfully and said, “What’s wrong with women? Miss Evans is a student of Miss Nightingale, professionally trained in nursing, much better than Chinese male doctors.”

While speaking, he thought that Chinese men oppressing their women was one thing, but daring to look down on European girls, they deserved to be shot by cannons.

Lin Yuchan was stunned for ten seconds by the name “Nightingale,” momentarily wanting to ask this nurse for her teacher’s autograph.

When Dr. Owen passed by her, she came to her senses and quietly clarified for Su Minguan: “He’s just shy.”

Su Minguan had sharp ears and heard this, immediately saying, “I’m not.”

Lin Yuchan laughed: “Okay, okay, you’re not. Just obediently listen to the big sister’s instructions. She comes from a distinguished background.”

While speaking, she slowly turned back, wanting to see his expression now.

If even the nurse sister could look, it was unreasonable for him to cover up and not let her see.

But Su Minguan still wouldn’t relent, declaring firmly: “Turn back!”

She sheepishly turned around.

The doctor smiled at her: “It’s better not to watch. You know, ladies have delicate nerves and can’t handle too much stimulation. Girls without medical training faint at the sight of blood.”

The angel in white had many problematic views, but Lin Yuchan didn’t plan to argue, even cooperatively smiling to give him a good mood.

Su Minguan removed his innermost undergarment. Dr. Owen drew a light breath.

“Are you… a soldier?”

Faint open wounds—the young body metabolized quickly, having healed over the years until they were almost invisible. Only in the doctor’s professional eyes could the original brutality be discerned.

“This is from a defective lead bullet, God bless, right at the heart position… this knife wound is at least five years old… May I ask about your profession, sir…”

“Merchant.” Su Minguan replied coldly. “Can you hurry up?”

The doctor said nothing, put down the towel with a clang, and picked up a surgical knife.

Lin Yuchan, hearing just these few sentences, felt her heart tighten and couldn’t help switching to Cantonese, asking softly: “You were so young—did the Guangdong secret societies let you join their rebellions?”

“I was very afraid of death, always hiding in the back.” Su Minguan laughed lightly. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have survived until now…”

His voice suddenly stopped. Dr. Owen made the first cut.

Lin Yuchan slowly reached back with one hand. He grabbed it tightly. His palm instantly broke out in sweat.

The doctor and nurse conversed in low voices.

Lin Yuchan didn’t dare speak. She could only silently grip his hand. Following the doctor’s movements, the force in his hand alternated between loose and tight, veins visible on his wrist. He gripped her palm forcefully, his fingertips turning white. He breathed lightly.

Amid the slight clinking sounds, Su Minguan suddenly spoke.

“I didn’t finish earlier. There was some trouble on the return trip.” His voice trembled as he struggled to form words slowly from his tongue tip. “The Chinese steamship was too conspicuous. Several major foreign trading houses were watching me, still not giving up. Jin Nengheng from Russell & Co. had been eyeing me like a tiger… I suspect it was he who, during the return from Hankou, colluded with local bandits to rob my fleet, intending to make me lose everything… Fortunately, there was a local Yixing trading house—dealing in silk, fighting alone, on the verge of bankruptcy, but they let me contact them—they reported in time, letting me prepare and fight the bandits…”

Lin Yuchan’s heart pounded. His voice was intermittent, sometimes so weak it was inaudible. Sometimes he suddenly exhaled, accompanied by Dr. Owen’s gentle warning: “Don’t move—”

She restrained herself from turning around.

“That’s when you were injured?” she asked.

The doctor saw the shrapnel and turned to change the forceps. Su Minguan breathed rapidly, gasping for breath during the brief respite.

“I experienced what they call superior ships and guns, haha…” He laughed softly, seeming numb to the pain, his voice three parts lighter. “Sank two ‘Wuxi Express’ boats, though they were already very old and should have been scrapped… Luna was unharmed, just lost some paint. Their earthen guns… didn’t hurt many people either. I organized a counterattack, captured them all, had someone deliver them to authorities under false names, and even got three hundred taels of reward money.”

Lin Yuchan couldn’t help but grip his hand back, interlacing their ten fingers, gently stroking the back of his hand.

“You can sue Russell & Co. for orchestrating this.” She laughed with forced lightness. “Massive compensation.”

The blade entered flesh, making a slight, indescribable sound.

Su Minguan didn’t answer. After a long while, he gathered enough strength to laugh breathlessly: “You think the mastermind would leave evidence?—I won’t waste that effort. If I retaliate, tomorrow it won’t be earthen cannons attacking me, but warships. But don’t worry, foreign merchants also seek profit. I’m a hard bone to gnaw—they won’t keep targeting me indefinitely. It affects their money-making.”

Dr. Owen: “I’m going to remove the shrapnel now. Hold still. One, two—”

Su Minguan made an “mm” sound and said politely, “Embarrassing myself.”

Lin Yuchan suddenly groaned in pain. His hand clenched violently, making her bones ache. His palm was cold as iron.

She raised her gaze. The well-trained nurse turned her head away, crossing herself, her face full of compassion.

Clinking, the bloody shrapnel rolled to the floor. Thumb-length, with sharp edges.

Bloody towels were piled in the wooden basin. The doctor began suturing.

Lin Yuchan asked tremblingly: “Are you alright?”

Su Minguan breathed heavily.

“However,” he gritted his teeth, his voice somewhat distorted, word by word, using conversation to distract himself, “your goods were damaged… cotton samples, got wet, ruined, really sorry…”

Lin Yuchan said quietly: “It’s fine.”

Su Minguan’s voice carried laughter through the pain: “Of course it’s fine… the order form before departure, additional insurance agreement, you checked full compensation… including, including losses due to war…”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

Was there such a thing?

Who told him to only give her three minutes to fill out the form?

He didn’t check either, just blew the whistle and departed.

Later, when settling accounts at Yixing, she had wondered why the shipping fee was more expensive than usual.

But at that time, she was busy getting people to fish out Rong Hong—who cared about such small money?

She smiled bitterly: “Then you owe me forty taels.”

She suddenly thought of something, her smile freezing.

“What about your other goods? Did they all have insurance?”

Su Minguan gritted his teeth and sighed softly.

“Insurance service, compensation according to contract, is one of Yixing’s specialties. Thanks to you… Ordinary Chinese shipping has high risks, often resulting in total loss of life and property. Entrusting it to me, at least there won’t be losses. Therefore… very popular.” He smiled bitterly. “Roughly calculated, this time I have to compensate three to four thousand taels worth of goods. Adding battle damage, this trip had no profit, and I’ll have to pay out of pocket.”

When he had playfully established the first insurance contract for Chinese shipping with Lin Yuchan, he had sworn confidently that with his protection, Yixing wouldn’t lose a single tael of goods.

His crow’s mouth came true again. At that time, he couldn’t have predicted that someone would ambush firearms and earthen cannons along his route, specifically to bankrupt him, aiming at his head.

Lin Yuchan felt as if someone had dropped a weight in her heart, slowly sinking.

She immediately remembered: “Did the insurance clauses use the version we discussed? I remember it said that if due to war… war, not bandits and thieves…”

“Picking apart clauses, I could renege. But… but doing that would be seeking my death—who would come to me in the future?”

Lin Yuchan fell silent.

But if these goods required full compensation…

“Is there enough money?” she asked.

For a steamship, he was already heavily in debt, with repayment deadlines approaching day by day.

Dr. Owen pulled hard. Su Minguan bit his lips, gasped for a while, then said: “It’s fine. I won’t default on your account.”

Lin Yuchan hurriedly said: “We can extend the deadline, it’s negotiable…”

He gently squeezed her hand and hoarsely interrupted: “A’Mei, it’s your turn to tell me how much you earned this month to cheer up this unlucky guy.”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

Su Minguan didn’t hear her answer, thought about it, then deliberately sighed: “Are there more investors? This time I could consider…”

Lin Yuchan: “We’ll talk about it later, later.”

She wouldn’t compete in misery with him at this moment.

Compared to him, what did her recent sleepless nights, panic, and running around matter?

Dr. Owen finally stood up, putting on his glasses. His hairline was covered with sweat, his tense expression slowly relaxed, and his thin lips, which had been pressed white, opened into a smile.

“It’s finished.” The doctor turned to wash the blood from his hands, looking deeply at Su Minguan with admiration, smiling: “You can run away now, soldier sir.”

The nurse wiped around Su Minguan’s wound area and covered him with a thin blanket.

Lin Yuchan immediately turned around.

Su Minguan’s face was deathly pale, his lips also bloodless, his clear features having lost three parts of their color. Tears from pain stimulation leaked from the corners of his eyes, his short hair tips dripping with sweat, covering his entire person in a layer of mist. His earlobes and chin tip were also covered with sweat drops, spreading everywhere, as if someone had just doused him with a bucket of water.

He didn’t open his eyes. Hearing her turn around, his long eyelashes fluttered twice, and he smiled weakly, turning his face to wipe away tears on the pillowcase.

The pillowcase was also completely soaked with sweat, the originally light blue color dyed deep blue. One corner had been bitten by his teeth, the fabric torn, exposing loose threads.

Lin Yuchan turned his long robe inside out, folded it properly, supported his neck, and pulled out the soaked pillowcase, placing the robe underneath.

She leaned close to his ear and whispered: “You’re amazing.”

Su Minguan’s cheeks flushed slightly with blood. He lifted his eyelids, glanced at her, and said modestly: “That foreign doctor was being alarmist.”

The nurse walked over briskly and asked Lin Yuchan, “Are you taking care of him?”

Lin Yuchan was startled, her first reaction being panic: “I… I don’t know how…”

Su Minguan suddenly spoke, asking softly: “A’Mei, are you busy today?”

Perhaps due to post-injury weakness, his voice wasn’t as clear as usual, but soft and murmuring, with a slight pleading tone.

Lin Yuchan hesitated for half a second, then decisively decided to put other matters aside.

“Not busy. I’ll stay with you.”

The hospital treated many poor people and was always overloaded. Hearing this, the nurse was delighted: “That’s wonderful! Please help move the patient to the adjacent restroom. After a nap, he can go home. Call me if anything happens.”

Lin Yuchan was shocked: “Go, go home?”

In her opinion, shouldn’t this kind of surgery require a week’s hospitalization?

But looking at Renji Hospital’s environment, the sanitary conditions were really mediocre, with various infectious disease patients on the first floor. Weighing the options, going home the same day was indeed the better choice.

She therefore listened carefully to the nurse’s medical instructions. The two of them helped Su Minguan to the adjacent room—actually just a bare-walled little room with a window and a reclining chair. They had him lie down, covered with a blanket, and she went to fetch a bowl of hot water.

Su Minguan was half-conscious. Lin Yuchan sat on the ground, hugging her knees, resting with her eyes closed.

Occasionally opening her eyes to look, his neck and shoulders were exposed, the solid, flowing lines extending lightly downward, narrowing at the waist, disappearing under the sheet, with layers of white bandages faintly visible.

She said: “If there’s anything you need me to notify your clerks about, just say so.”

Su Minguan shook his head, indicating it wasn’t necessary.

The two looked at each other, then both looked away, neither speaking.

Lin Yuchan felt her face warming and laughed: “Sleep. The nurse told you to sleep.”

Su Minguan closed his eyes, then opened them again, the corners crinkling as he looked at her with a smile, clearly not being obedient.

“A’Mei,” he suddenly said softly, “The floor is cold.”

She looked up alertly. The reclining chair was two feet wider than him—he gestured with his eyes to the space beside him.

She deliberately said: “I won’t go. Afraid of bumping into you.”

“I want water.”

She couldn’t ignore this. Taking the small ceramic bowl, she sat beside him and forcefully helped him sit up halfway.

Their skin inevitably touched, warmth meeting cold. Su Minguan endured the dull ache below his ribs, carefully watching the clear water ripple in the bowl, which reflected half of her small face.

Like a cluster of gardenia flowers growing at the corner of Renji Hospital—clean and lovely.

When he returned to Shanghai with serious injuries, he first visited the bone-setter doctor. The old physician stroked his beard and prescribed a pile of qi-tonifying and blood-nourishing medicines, obviously helpless and just going through motions. Then he thought he was going to die.

Following the routine of dying people, he reviewed his brief but rich life experiences and found a pile of regrets, really reluctant to let go.

For example…

The soft little girl beside him. They had agreed he would monopolize her time for a year. It had only been a month, and he had already run off and disappeared. Where in the world was there such a losing deal?

He drank all the water in the bowl, his gaze lingering for a moment on those delicate white hands. Then, enduring the sharp pain from his wound, he leaned close to the hand holding the bowl and gently touched it with his lips.