Qin i was at a loss. She looked at Jie Jingchen beside her.
Jie Jingchen changed the subject. "Mom, Qin i can treat Jing Qi’s leg."
"What?" Mrs. Xie exclaid, staring at Qin i in utter shock. She had wracked her brain trying to find a cure for Jing Qi’s leg. She had sought help from senior dical colleagues in Xiangjiang and even reached out to connections overseas, but nothing had worked. Everyone told her to give up, but if she did, Jing Qi would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Mrs. Xie’s shock was exactly what Qin i had expected. "Mom, Western dicine hasn’t been able to help Jing Qi’s leg, but traditional Chinese dicine should work."
Qin i didn’t over-promise; it was always wise to leave a way out.
"You know traditional Chinese dicine?" Mrs. Xie grabbed both of Qin i’s hands, trembling with uncontrollable excitent. Her gaze was filled with a brilliant glimr of hope.
"I know a little," Qin i answered modestly.
Mrs. Xie’s expression fell, her eyes clouding over with disappointnt. Qin i could see she was disheartened. After a mont’s thought, she said, "Mom, I’m eighty percent certain I can heal Jing Qi’s leg."
Jie Jingchen raised an eyebrow. ’Wasn’t it seventy percent?’
Mrs. Xie drew in a sharp breath, her grip tightening. Her eyes lit up with rekindled hope. "Really?"
She knew full well what eighty percent ant. When her senior colleague had operated on Jing Qi, she had only given her a ten percent chance of success. After the surgery, Jing Qi still couldn’t stand.
They had tried traditional Chinese dicine as well, but the result was the sa.
The grip on her wrist was painful, but Qin i didn’t cry out. She gritted her teeth and endured it, nodding solemnly.
"Who was your master?" Mrs. Xie asked. She knew a few of the leading authorities in traditional Chinese dicine. If Qin i’s master was one of them, she wouldn’t let her treat Jing Qi. It was better to cut off any hope from the start than to give Jing Qi hope only for it to be crushed by disappointnt.
No hope ant no disappointnt, and certainly no despair.
"My sister," Qin i said, bringing up Jie Jingling again.
"Your sister?" Mrs. Xie asked. "Who is she?"
"Not my biological sister," Qin i corrected. "Jie Jingchen’s eldest sister. Your eldest daughter."
Mrs. Xie’s brow furrowed. She looked over at the silent Jie Jingchen and asked curiously, "Since when does Jing Ling have this kind of skill?"
Jie Jingchen remained silent.
’She doesn’t?’ The lie was about to be exposed. Qin i racked her brain, trying to salvage it. "It must be... she learned it from that person in the village."
Mrs. Xie understood. During these sensitive tis, it wasn’t unusual to encounter extraordinary people in the villages.
"Jing Ling has suffered," Mrs. Xie sighed. Her eyes, full of pity, then fell upon the scratches and bite marks on the back of Qin i’s hand.
And suffer she did. The Sun Family valued boys over girls, and Jie Jingling had only given birth to a daughter. Even as a village barefoot doctor, her life with the Sun Family couldn’t have been easy.
"Mom, if my sister cos back, would you accept her?" Qin i asked.
At her words, both Jie Jingchen and Mrs. Xie froze. The "return" Qin i spoke of wasn’t just a visit—it was about coming ho to stay.
"Your sister is an Educated Youth, and she’s married in the countryside. I’m afraid it would be very difficult for her to co back," Mrs. Xie said, her eyes filled with regret.
’In a few years, the policy will change and the Educated Youth will be allowed to return to the cities. As long as the Jie Family is willing to take her and her family in, she’ll have a chance to co ho.’
’Still,’ Qin i thought, ’just in case, I’d better not reveal future policy changes. If the walls have ears, I could be arrested.’
"It’s difficult, but that doesn’t an it’s hopeless," Qin i said cryptically.
Neither Jie Jingchen nor Mrs. Xie paid it much mind. Mrs. Xie was still hesitant about letting Qin i treat Jing Qi’s leg, but Jie Jingchen eventually persuaded her to agree.
When word got out that Qin i was going to treat Jie Jingshan’s leg, the reactions were mixed: so sneered, so were contemptuous, so were shocked, and so were pleased. In any case, few in the Jie Family truly cared, because none of them believed Qin i could actually heal Jie Jingshan’s leg.
It wasn’t as if they hadn’t treated Jie Jingshan’s leg for lack of money. On the contrary, the Jie Family was rich, and Mrs. Xie’s family was even richer. Even after spending a fortune, they hadn’t found anyone capable of healing her.
After washing up, Qin i returned to her room. She stood by the bed with her chin in her hands, lost in thought.
Hearing the door open, Qin i turned to see Jie Jingchen walk in. She reminded him, "Jie Jingchen, there’s only one bed in this room."
"And?" Jie Jingchen’s gaze was intense, his eyes glinting with a captivating light.
"Look, while it’s true we’re husband and wife, there’s no affection between us. It’ll inevitably be awkward for us to lie in the sa bed. To avoid that, I suggest we sleep in separate rooms. Your house has plenty of extra rooms—the ones next to your second and third brothers are empty. Why don’t you move into one of them?" Her unspoken aning was that Jie Jingchen should give the room to her.
’I don’t want to be the one to move. Shen Qing is as cold as ice and hard to get along with, and Xu Chunyan and I can’t stand the sight of each other. It wouldn’t be good to be near either of them.’
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