Chapter 13: It’s Not Too Late to Step Out of the Grave
Everyone in the entire Emergency Department heard the head nurse’s scream. Jiang Tingxu eardrums were shaken by the harsh sound before she reached out and covered the head nurse’s mouth.
“Do you have to be so surprised? Calm down, will you!” her tone sounded slightly dumbfounded.
Although the head nurse could no longer make a sound, she rolled her eyes in the most obvious way possible.
‘Calm down, my foot!
‘Of course you wouldn’t think much of it! You’re the mother!
‘GASP, when did a child suddenly appear? Hasn’t it only been less than a year since Dr. Jiang graduated?
‘The kid in the afternoon was more than three years old!’
When the head nurse finally spoke, she gulped and asked, “Dr. Jiang, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how old are you this year?”
“Twenty-five.”
“And the boy?”
“Three going on four.”
‘Oh God...’
“Dr. Jiang, that means you got married and had a child as soon as you reached the legal age of twenty?”
Jiang Tingxu pursed her lips.
“Mm,” she replied.
The head nurse facepalmed immediately, as if she was unable to process the information.
Truth be told, she found the information hard to accept!
“Ahem, I got married at twenty-six and gave birth at twenty-nine. Even now I feel like it’s too early when I think about it. How hard were you on yourself that you entered marriage’s grave1 at such a young age?”
Jiang Tingxu actually acknowledged it for the very first time when she heard the head nurse’s snarky remark. ‘Grave’ was undoubtedly an appropriate word to describe marriage.
Now that she thought about it, she must have been out of her mind back then to conceive a child and get married while she was still in college. Indeed, she got married only after she got pregnant.
It reached a point where she gave up the opportunity to study medicine in Country M’s premier university, even after she managed to snag a place in the exchange student quota.
Although one of the reasons was because of her pregnancy, the main reason was none other than Mo Boyuan.
Her realization came right then and she felt a twinge of regret for her actions. After all, even though she never took much care of the kid over the years, regret was not something she could speak about after having carried the child for ten months1 until his birth.
“Tell me, Head Nurse, will it be too late if I step out of that grave right now?”
Huh?
As adults, it was impossible for the head nurse not to comprehend the meaning behind those words.
“Dr. Jiang, you...”
The head nurse widened her eyes all of a sudden and had a look of utter shock on her face.
“Yes, that’s what I meant.”
“No, I mean, Dr. Jiang...how could you just say that like it’s nothing serious? You have a child. You can’t just talk about this kind of thing!”
Jiang Tingxu shrugged it off, suggesting that she had already made up her mind and could care less about the consequences.
Neither of them noticed, but the department’s deputy chief who had returned from overseas was standing right behind them.
“Ahem.”
The two women turned their heads and looked over only after the man coughed.
“Pei... D-d-Deputy Chief P-Pei!” The head nurse was so flustered that words came out jumbled from her mouth.
Meanwhile, Jiang Tingxu remained calm throughout the entire incident.
Pei Rusi did not actually expect to hear their private conversation. As an unmarried young adult, it was unbearably uncomfortable for him. It was one of the rare occasions that he could not maintain his aloof and austere expression.
He wanted to explain and say, ‘I really didn’t overhear’, or better yet, he could say, ‘I didn’t overhear on purpose’. Neither seemed right though. The fact was, he did not expect to hear anything in the first place!
As a man of good health and good hearing, there was nothing Pei Rusi could do when he came out of the room and just so happened to chance on their conversation.