"You..." Qin i glared at Jie Jingchen. "How could you just swallow it?"
Jie Jingchen said nothing. He leaned against the headboard, riding out the wave of pain. After so ti, the agony subsided. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and noticed Qin i standing by the bed in her pajamas. He frowned. "Aren’t you cold? Get back in bed."
Qin i said nothing, ignoring him. She bent down, picked up the basin, and carried it to the bathroom.
"Qin i," Jie Jingchen called out.
"Don’t rush . I’ll be right out." Qin i rinsed out the foot basin and put it away before coming out of the bathroom.
Qin i opened the cabinet and rummaged through a pile of dicine. A mont later, she returned to the bedside. Her expression was grim, but her voice was soft. "Open up."
Jie Jingchen stared at her, stunned for a few seconds, then obediently opened his mouth.
Qin i looked at his injured tongue, a flicker of guilt in her eyes. She sprinkled the dicinal powder onto it. The bitter taste made Jie Jingchen flinch and furrow his brow.
"Does it hurt badly?" Qin i sprinkled more powder on his injured tongue. Seeing him about to swallow, she imdiately stopped him. "Don’t swallow it. Just hold it in your mouth for a bit."
"Bitter," Jie Jingchen said, his speech slurred.
"What?" Qin i couldn’t hear him clearly.
With his mouth full of dicinal powder and saliva, Jie Jingchen kept his lips pressed tightly together, afraid to open them. His entire mouth was filled with the acrid taste. For over a month, he had taken Chinese dicine three tis a day and had long grown accustod to the bitterness. But having Qin i tell him to hold it in his mouth was completely different from just letting it pass through on its way down to his stomach.
Seeing this, Qin i smiled knowingly. She put the dicine back in the cabinet and got back into bed, lying down. Jie Jingchen remained sitting up, looking down at her with a thoughtful expression.
Jie Jingchen nudged Qin i’s shoulder. She looked up at him. He pointed to his mouth, and from his expression, Qin i understood. "Hold it in a little longer."
Jie Jingchen wanted to ask if he should spit it out or swallow it later. The finger pointing at his mouth moved downward, tracing a path past his throat until it rested on his stomach.
"Are you asking if you should swallow it or spit it out?" Qin i asked.
Jie Jingchen nodded, a brilliant, gratified smile rippling in the depths of his dark eyes. ’So we do have so chemistry after all.’
Qin i didn’t know what he was thinking. If she did, she would have undoubtedly roasted him. ’He made it so obvious. If I couldn’t figure that out, I’d have to be a complete moron.’
"Swallow," Qin i said firmly, uttering the single word.
To distract Jie Jingchen and get him to hold the dicine in his mouth a little longer, Qin i sat up. Seeing this, Jie Jingchen pulled the blankets up for her.
Qin i returned to their previous topic, tilting her head and giving Jie Jingchen a strange look. "Jie Jingchen, it’s not your third brother who has a problem. You’re the one with the problem."
Jie Jingchen’s brow twitched. He wanted to argue with her, but he couldn’t speak.
Qin i thought for a mont before continuing, "The man is your third brother’s ex, and the woman is your third sister-in-law’s ex. Given their relationships, it’s a miracle they’re able to mind their own business as it is. As for discussing moving the dividing wall? Forget about your brother going to them to talk it over. Even if he did, they’d never agree."
’No wonder Jie Jingchen had such a complicated expression when I brought it up,’ she thought. ’Thank goodness I only ntioned it to him and didn’t suggest it to Jie Jinghun or Shen Qing.’
Jie Jingchen agreed with what Qin i said. His reason for suggesting it to Jie Jinghun had been simple: he was annoyed and wanted to provoke him on purpose.
Qin i had no interest in the relationship history of Jie Jinghun and Shen Qing, so she changed the subject. She rambled on by herself until drowsiness washed over her. With a yawn, her head tilted to the side, and she fell asleep on Jie Jingchen’s shoulder.
Jie Jingchen looked down at Qin i sleeping against him, his amber eyes filled with tenderness. He swallowed the contents of his mouth, cald his heart, and carefully helped her lie down. Watching her sleep, a faint, doting smile touched his lips. He placed a kiss on her forehead. The mont he lay down, Qin i reflexively snuggled into his arms.
Jie Jingchen’s body went rigid. He held her soft form and closed his eyes, but sleep was far from his mind.
The next day, late in the morning, Qin i was woken by urgent knocking on the door.
"Fourth Wife of Jing!" Second Aunt called out.
"Second Aunt, my fourth sister-in-law is still sleeping." Jie Jingshan opened the door. She was covered in sweat, her hair damp. To make it easier to wash her hair after her accident, her once waist-length hair had been cut short.
"It’s late in the morning, and your sister-in-law is still asleep... Jing Qi, what happened to you?" Second Aunt turned and was startled to see Jie Jingshan’s state. She rushed over to her. "Why are you sweating so much? Your hair is soaked! Are you sick, or just hot?"
Second Aunt reached out and felt Jing Qi’s forehead, then her own. Her temperature was normal; she wasn’t sick.
"Second Aunt, I’m fine." Jie Jingshan had been exercising and was covered in sweat. When she heard Second Aunt’s voice, she hadn’t wanted her to wake her sister-in-law, so she had rushed out to stop her without even changing her sweat-soaked clothes.
Second Aunt was still worried. She glanced outside. The sun was bright, but the temperature was pleasant—not hot enough to cause this much sweat. "Jing Qi, what were you doing in your room?"
"Exercising," Jie Jingshan admitted.
Second Aunt didn’t think much of it. Since Jing Qi’s legs were paralyzed, "exercising" just ant moving her upper body. She patted Jing Qi’s head, her gaze filled with pity. "Jing Qi, look at you. Your clothes are soaked. You need to change quickly, or you’ll catch a cold. Let help you."
"Second Aunt, it’s okay. I can change by myself," Jie Jingshan declined.
"Alright then. Go on and change. It’ll be a real problem if you catch a cold." Second Aunt didn’t insist. She had business with Qin i, so she pushed Jing Qi’s wheelchair a little further into the room, closed the door for her, and walked toward Qin i’s room again. "Fourth Wife of..."
"Second Aunt." Qin i forced her heavy eyelids open. The mont she opened the door, she was hit by the piercing sunlight and raised a hand to shield her eyes.
Seeing Qin i in her pajamas with her hair in a ss, Second Aunt was reminded of the first ti she’d seen her. Qin i had also been in her pajamas then, hair disheveled as she ran out chasing after Jie Jingchen. At the ti, she had looked down on Qin i for being so unkempt and slovenly, mistaking her for a temporary nanny the Jie Family had hired to look after Jing Qi for a few days. Who would have thought she was actually Jing Si’s wife.
Lost in her thoughts, Second Aunt couldn’t help but chuckle.
"Second Aunt, what are you laughing at?" Qin i asked. It wasn’t a mocking laugh, but a genuinely joyful one.
"Fourth Wife of Jing, hurry inside." Second Aunt pulled Qin i into the house and locked the door behind them. The windows were closed and the curtains were drawn. Then, Second Aunt pulled Qin i into the bathroom.
"Second Aunt, do you need to use the bathroom?" Qin i asked, completely baffled. ’If she needs to use the bathroom, she should just use it. What’s the deal with dragging in with her?’
"Zhang is outside. I’m worried she might be eavesdropping. It’s safer in the bathroom," Second Aunt said cautiously.
Qin i smiled in understanding. The bathroom was indeed secure. If Aunt Zhang wanted to eavesdrop, she’d have to go into the neighbor’s yard. There was the courtyard wall, and then the bathroom wall, which Jie Jingchen had soundproofed. The soundproofing was top-notch.
Second Aunt didn’t beat around the bush and got straight to the point. "Fourth Wife of Jing, can you make so more of that dicinal plaster?"
"I can," Qin i agreed readily. A flash of joy went through Second Aunt’s heart, but before it could show on her face, Qin i spoke again. "But not right now."
Second Aunt said, "Fourth Wife of Jing, the ti is right. All the neighbors in the hutong know I have so of the plaster. But I promise you, they won’t report us... no, not us, . Heh. Fourth Wife of Jing, I’ll be frank with you. For all these years, I’ve been secretly... well, you know."
Qin i understood, of course. In these special tis, fortune favored the bold while the timid starved. If you didn’t find so unorthodox way to make money, it was hard to even make ends et.
"Second Aunt, I’m not interested in a high-volu, low-margin business." Qin i raised a hand to rub her temples. From processing the raw herbs to making the final ointnt, she did it all herself. Mass production would kill her.
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