"Xiao Jian."
"Sister-in-law?"
Wang Jian put down his dical book and turned around to see his sister-in-law, Xu Qian, standing behind him. "What is it?"
He flipped the book face down, concealing the title on the cover: *Practical Internal dicine*...
"It’s ti to eat." Xu Qian smiled. "It’s just the two of us today. I only made two dishes, but it should be enough."
"Oh? What did you make?" Wang Jian imdiately stood and followed Xu Qian toward the living room. Before they had even arrived, he caught a familiar aroma. He quickly stopped her and guessed eagerly, "Wait, don’t tell . I can sll it! There’s shredded pork with green peppers... what’s the other dish?"
"You have a sharp nose," Xu Qian nodded, untying her apron as she walked. "Do all Chinese dicine practitioners need a sense of sll as good as yours?"
"Not necessarily," Wang Jian explained. "Plenty of doctors have rhinitis. But if you *can* sll, so illnesses can be diagnosed by scent alone."
"That’s really impressive." Xu Qian’s family had also practiced Chinese dicine, so hearing Wang Jian say this, she couldn’t help but sigh. "If I were a man, maybe I would have beco a doctor like you. Now I just stay ho every day. It feels like there’s nothing to do besides cook and clean."
The two sat down at the dining table. Hearing Xu Qian’s lant and seeing the worry on her face, Wang Jian couldn’t help but comfort her. "Do you know the most popular phrase online these days?"
"What?"
"Lying flat."
Wang Jian laughed. "Your life right now is one that countless netizens envy. They would love to just ’lie flat’—do nothing, cook a little, and have plenty to eat and drink."
Xu Qian rolled her eyes at him. "When I was working at the factory, I used to think doing nothing would be great. But when you really have nothing to do, you just feel aimless."
"Why overthink it?" Wang Jian had a simpler outlook. He glanced at the shredded pork with green peppers and scrambled eggs with tomato on the table and suddenly suggested, "What if you opened a restaurant?"
Before Xu Qian could answer, he shook his head, dismissing his own idea. "No, never mind. Cooking for other people all day would be exhausting. And it’s bad for your skin."
"Just eat your food," Xu Qian said, placing a helping of shredded pork into Wang Jian’s bowl with her chopsticks. When that failed to shut him up, she added, "If running a business were that simple, your brother wouldn’t have had to leave ho to find work."
Wang Jian forced a dry laugh.
"By the way," Xu Qian said suddenly, "Dad called. He said he might be coming ho for a bit soon."
A look of delight washed over Wang Jian’s face. "Did he say when, exactly?"
"Not yet." Xu Qian glanced at him, and seeing how happy he was, she swallowed the words she was about to say.
"I see..." Wang Jian hadn’t seen his father in years. He was determined to have a proper reunion this ti. "When Dad gets back, we should convince him to quit his job. Our family isn’t short on money now."
Only after his initial excitent faded did he notice the cold atmosphere at the dinner table. He looked up to see Xu Qian listlessly poking at the rice in her bowl. She hadn’t taken any other food and was staring blankly, lost in thought.
"What’s wrong?"
Hearing Wang Jian’s question, Xu Qian snapped back to reality and quickly shook her head. "It’s nothing. I just don’t have much of an appetite."
*Hm?*
Wang Jian imdiately sensed sothing was wrong. He knew Xu Qian; she wouldn’t be like this for no reason. Yet, he couldn’t detect any sign of illness in her qi. And with the stance-based exercises he had taught her, her health had greatly improved—even though she only practiced them every few days instead of daily.
Could it be so kind of subtle discomfort?
Forgetting about dinner, Wang Jian put down his chopsticks and reached straight for Xu Qian’s hand.
The sudden movent startled her. "What are you doing?"
When she saw him place his fingers on her pulse, she realized what he was doing. "Why are you taking my pulse out of the blue?"
Despite her words, Wang Jian ignored her and focused on reading her pulse. Seeing this, she didn’t pull her hand away. Watching his worried expression, the corners of her lips curved up into a subtle smile.
Her pulse was perfectly stable, with nothing out of the ordinary. Aside from so slight liver fire, there was nothing to worry about.
Wang Jian finally relaxed. He looked up and t Xu Qian’s smiling eyes. "Have you been feeling down lately?"
"Why? Is my liver fire a bit excessive?" Having read so dical texts herself, Xu Qian knew a few things about common pulse readings. "There’s nothing wrong with physically. I’ve just had so things on my mind."
"What is it? Tell ," Wang Jian urged. Xu Qian handled everything at ho while he was busy with his own affairs, and he realized he had neglected her feelings. Besides, with outsiders always in the house, their ti for intimacy had dwindled significantly.
Thinking about it now, Wang Jian realized he hadn’t truly paid attention to Xu Qian in a long ti, which was why he hadn’t noticed this change in her sooner.
Seeing Xu Qian’s hesitation, Wang Jian pushed his food aside, walked over to her, and pulled her into his embrace.
"Go on. Don’t be nervous or afraid, I’m here for you," Wang Jian said, his voice soft with guilt as he whispered in her ear. "I’ve paid too little attention to you lately."
Wang Jian’s sudden tenderness sent a deep blush across Xu Qian’s face. This kind of intimacy, so typical of a couple, brought her a flicker of joy but also made her extrely flustered. She fidgeted in his arms, her eyes darting nervously toward the door, worried soone might walk in.
"It’s... it’s not you." Xu Qian wasn’t lying; she had never harbored dreams of a romantic life with Wang Jian. "It’s just... I got that call from Dad, and it made think... what are we going to do when he cos back? How are we going to tell him about Wang Xiang...?"
Hearing this was her worry, Wang Jian pondered for a mont before replying, "I really don’t think you need to worry about that. After what happened with my brother, soone must have told Dad already. You know there are no secrets in our village, especially about sothing so major. The police ca, and a huge crowd gathered at our door. I refuse to believe Dad hasn’t heard about it. Since he’s only coming back now, after so much ti has passed, it can’t be because of my brother."
Wang Jian explained his reasoning to Xu Qian. After thinking it over, she felt he was probably right and began to relax. "So Dad’s just coming back for a break?"
But that didn’t quite add up either. Their father usually only ca ho for the New Year. It was only autumn now, so that couldn’t be the reason.
Xu Qian had a point. Wang Jian decided it was better to call his father directly than to sit around speculating.
"What’s wrong? Why are you calling out of the blue?" his father, Wang Tianhe, asked as soon as he picked up.
Xu Qian was still in Wang Jian’s lap. Hearing her father-in-law’s voice made her even more flustered. She’d die of embarrassnt if he heard anything. She kept squirming, trying to break free and get out of earshot of the phone. But Wang Jian held the phone in one hand and used his other to hold her firmly in place.
"I heard from Sister-in-law that you’re coming back soon," Wang Jian said. "I just wanted to ask for the specific date so we can get the house ready."
Wang Tianhe’s tone was even as he replied, "About two weeks from now. There was so trouble at the factory, so they gave us a holiday."
Hearing this, both Wang Jian and Xu Qian breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
After a bit more small talk, an awkward silence fell between the father and son, but neither of them hung up.
After a mont, Wang Tianhe was the first to speak again. "Your brother... is he doing all right?"
"His ntal state isn’t great," Wang Jian explained, "but he’s receiving constant care and treatnt from specialists. His attending physician is a friend of mine. You can see for yourself when you get back."
"All right." The relief in Wang Tianhe’s voice was palpable. He then continued, "Your sister-in-law has had it rough. Her own family is gone, so she has only us to rely on now. Your brother wronged her. You need to take good care of her at ho, and don’t you cause her any trouble, you hear?"
Wang Jian gave a wry smile. "Dad, I’m almost thirty. I’m not a kid anymore."
"Fine." With that, Wang Tianhe hung up.
Wang Jian turned back to et Xu Qian’s reproachful look. She chided, "Why can’t you behave? Dad just told you not to cause any trouble, and you still wouldn’t let go! What if Dad heard sothing?"
"What’s there to be afraid of?" Wang Jian laughed. "It wasn’t a video call. You can relax now. See? Dad’s just coming ho for a break. Not only does he not bla you for what happened with my brother, he feels we wronged you and told to take good care of you."
"Hmph!" Xu Qian shot him a look. "This is you taking care of ? I’m the one who takes care of you, cooking and doing your laundry every day."
"If Dad knew about this, he’d definitely give you an earful."
Knowing the real reason for Wang Tianhe’s visit, Xu Qian’s mood brightened instantly.
Wang Jian smirked. He knew Xu Qian was right; it was completely in character for his father to scold him. However, he also suspected that once his father saw how successful he had beco, pride would far outweigh the desire to lecture him.
So, Wang Jian wasn’t worried. Instead, his attention was drawn to Xu Qian’s constant squirming.
Sensing a change in him, Xu Qian sighed softly and murmured, "I haven’t finished eating yet... Don’t..."
"No rush. We can always eat later." Wang Jian’s manifested ’sword’ was pressed into the cleft between her soft cheeks. Her continuous squirming created a distinct pressure. If not for his profound Mana, he might have already been conquered and forced to surrender by this little temptress.
With no one else ho today, Wang Jian had no need to be stealthy.
With a gentle tug, the two white, snowy peaks that were revealed beca his new target of attack.
In no ti at all, the mistress of the peaks revealed her true form.
Xu Qian dutifully turned around and sat back down on him.
This freed up Wang Jian’s hands. He seized the opportunity to turn the TV’s volu to maximum, masking the sounds of their private concert.
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