Baby's Breath

Chapter 1

Xue Youka cried loudly in the operating room, his tears falling like broken pearls.

The intense light from the surgical lamp was blinding.

The male doctor and female nurse performing his surgery were very gentle, "Little buddy, don't cry, it'll only hurt for a second. Once it's done, it'll be perfect. You look very good here, it'll be both good-looking and functional..."

As he was being bandaged, Xue Youka's face was covered with tear drops, resembling beans, and the phrase "good-looking and functional" lingered in his mind.

Would it really be both good-looking and functional?

But it hurt so much, too much.

The nurse covered him with a paper cup, advising, "It might hurt a bit to pee for the first few days, you need to apply medicine daily. Your mom knows all this, let her help you with the medicine, okay?"

Xue Youka awkwardly shook his head, looking down while covering the paper cup, "Sister, where are my clothes?"

"Do you want to wear pants or a skirt? Your mom brought a skirt for you…" Before she could finish, Xue Youka immediately interrupted, "Pants! Pants!"

He Xiao You, a nurse in the obstetrics and gynecology department of their county hospital, took her son to the men's department where she worked for a circumcision during the long summer vacation before junior high.

Xue Youka often came to the hospital to wait for his mom to get off work. He was familiar with everyone in the obstetrics and gynecology department but had never been to the men's and urology floor, nor did he know the doctors and nurses there.

Unable to wear his pants, he carried them with an elastic band to the obstetrics floor. Along the way, his pants rubbed against the wound several times, causing him to cry continuously. With tearful eyes, he asked the front desk sister where his mom had gone.

"Eh, is that Xiao Ka?" The young nurse, who had just graduated from nursing school, stood up and squinted her eyes with a smile, "Your mom had to suddenly take on a surgery, she's working overtime... Oh dear, did you just get that circumcision?"

Xue Youka's face flushed with embarrassment.

"Does it hurt a lot? Come sit down and rest, don't stand like that."

"...It doesn't hurt!" he stubbornly shook his head, turned, and ran away, taking too large a step that tugged at the paper cup, causing him almost to keel over in pain—

Ten minutes later, Xue Youka sullenly put on a skirt and sat on the bench outside the operating room, waiting for his mom to come out. He didn't dare to close his legs, keeping them apart, his head drooping lifelessly as he stared at his somewhat dirty canvas shoes, afraid of being seen by passersby.

Wearing a skirt was not as he had imagined; his legs felt cool and breezy, which was actually quite refreshing. The area below was exposed, making him feel uneasy, so he covered the hem of the skirt with his hands.

This skirt was one his cousin Fang Liqing no longer wore.

He Xiao You had arranged for her son to have the surgery as soon as the vacation started and specifically borrowed two outdated skirts from her niece, even telling him, "Your older male cousin, Zheng Siqi, and those others had this surgery wearing skirts, and it wasn't embarrassing at all. If you don't believe me, go ask them."

Xue Youka didn't believe it and was very resistant, nor did he want to undergo the surgery, but in the end, he was coaxed and deceived into going. Because his mom said it wouldn't hurt, and his dad said that having the surgery was what made one a man, he obediently went ahead.