Village Doctor's Women-Chapter 31: Sister-in-law, I’m back, where’s the food?

SLURP! SLURP!

Li Liping ate with such relish that every time Wang Jian lowered his head, he was met with her soul-snatching gaze. That captivating charm, combined with her youthful and adorable face, had a truly unique flavor.

Wang Jian had been preoccupied with getting home for dinner, so he was a bit distracted at first. However, the sight before him was becoming increasingly irresistible, and now he wanted nothing more than for this to end quickly.

Just as he was thinking this, his phone started vibrating. He picked it up and saw "Sister-in-law" on the screen. He immediately pressed down on Li Liping’s head, showing her the display.

He meant for her to stop, but to his surprise, she only grew more vigorous.

Five minutes have passed. Isn’t her mouth tired?

Wang Jian paused for a moment before answering the call. "Hello? Sister-in-law?"

"Why aren’t you back yet? Dinner’s ready."

"Ah... um..." His sister-in-law’s voice was right in his ear, but he could still hear the slurping sounds nearby. Fearing she would hear them, Wang Jian quickly coughed twice. "No, the neighbors were just being really friendly, so I got held up on the way. Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon."

As he spoke, Wang Jian thrust up a few times, a small punishment for her mischievousness.

Li Liping nearly gagged. She glared at him and mouthed, "Stop it."

Wang Jian was speechless. Who’s the one who needs to stop? Just as he considered punishing her again, Li Liping swiftly taught him the meaning of regret. Her movements became even more intense...

"Are you eating a popsicle?" Xu Qian asked, puzzled by the slurping sounds she heard.

"Mm... ah... I’m hanging up, Sister-in-law. I’ll be home in a minute."

But Wang Jian had no capacity to respond properly, just managing a hasty reply. Under such an intense assault, he hung up the phone, abandoning all thought. Completely overwhelmed, Wang Jian leaned his head back and held Li Liping down...

A short time later, Wang Jian left the Zhang residence. He glanced around guiltily as he stepped out the door. Seeing that it was getting dark and no one was around, he slipped away stealthily.

The whole experience still felt surreal. A man his age, he had never gone through anything like it. Now, he felt both physically relieved and mentally lost, unsure how to face what came next. In his Sage Time, Wang Jian calmly considered many things, but in the end, he could only let them be.

The Zhang and Wang family homes were close, so Wang Jian arrived home quickly. He could smell the aroma of cooking from a distance. Of the few houses nearby, only the Wangs’ had its lights on; the scent was definitely coming from his home.

"You’re back?" Xu Qian watched Wang Jian walk in and immediately glanced at his hands. Her gaze made him feel so guilty he almost thought he’d been exposed.

Fortunately, Xu Qian followed up with a question. "So you went out to eat popsicles with someone else and didn’t think to bring any back for me? It seems I’m not in your heart at all."

Xu Qian feigned a look of sadness. Wang Jian, on the other hand, let out a sigh of relief. He pretended to head back outside, smiling. "If you want some, I’ll go buy them now."

"Hey, no need. I was just joking with you." Xu Qian pulled him back and pointed to the kitchen fridge. "If you want a popsicle, you don’t have to buy one. We have some at home, and ours are just as good as the ones you get outside. Don’t always be thinking about what’s out there."

"..."

That sounds a little strange.

Wang Jian couldn’t help but steal a few more glances at Xu Qian’s lips. She’s right. What’s at home is definitely no worse than what’s outside.

The moment the thought appeared, Wang Jian involuntarily gulped.

"What? You want some more?" Xu Qian saw his famished expression and the way he was swallowing. She laughed. "If you want a popsicle, just get one from the fridge. But you should probably eat less. You’re a doctor, don’t you know eating too much will give you diarrhea?"

"Hahaha, not today. I’ll treat you next time, Sister-in-law."

Xu Qian shot him a look and told him to hurry to the table for dinner.

Wang Jian laughed as well. He did want to eat, but what he meant by "eat" was completely different from what she meant. He only dared to be bold with his words; if he were to actually ask his sister-in-law to "eat" that, he had the desire but not the nerve.

His sister-in-law’s cooking was truly impeccable. Ever since he returned, every meal featured one of his two favorite staple dishes: stir-fried pork with green peppers or scrambled eggs with tomato. Today, she had made the stir-fried pork, along with scrambled eggs with chives.

These were the dishes he loved most. He had eaten them for years in university and never got tired of them, whether over rice or as a side dish. Even when he went out to restaurants, he used these two dishes as a benchmark. Any restaurant that couldn’t make them well was immediately blacklisted.

"This is so delicious."

"If you like it, eat more." Xu Qian beamed at his praise. She placed more food in his bowl. "How long has it been since you ate? You must be exhausted after seeing so many patients today."

Wang Jian had truly proven his worth today, and his sister-in-law had witnessed his skill. But while she was impressed, she also felt her heart ache for him. While helping outside, she’d caught glimpses of Wang Jian hard at work. At that moment, he radiated a handsome charm that made her heart flutter. She had even heard from the patients that esteemed physicians like Doctor Niu and Doctor Deng highly approved of him.

After today, Wang Jian’s reputation was bound to start spreading through the neighboring villages.

Wang Jian was indeed tired, but he was young and could handle the strain of treating patients. It was the release from earlier that had left him ravenous, which was why he was eating so quickly.

"Don’t worry about me, Sister-in-law," Wang Jian explained. "Back in Beijing, I used to see two hundred patients a day, far more than this. I’m used to it."

"Mm." Xu Qian placed another serving in his bowl. "But you sit there all day and barely move when you stand up. That’s terrible for your back. You’re still young, so you don’t realize how important your back is."

Wang Jian froze. He had just realized the food she’d given him was organ meat—and it was kidney. If she hadn’t said anything, his mind wouldn’t have gone there. Spicy stir-fried kidney and scrambled eggs with chives...

Am I overthinking this?

He immediately took another large mouthful, stuffing the chives and kidney in together, hoping to replenish what he had lost that day.

"Sister-in-law, why aren’t you eating? You should eat too. You don’t have to keep serving me."

"Mm."

Xu Qian was especially gentle today, a fact Wang Jian was keenly aware of. But she couldn’t just not eat, so he began placing food in her bowl as well.

The two of them ate, serving each other food. Wang Jian shared amusing stories from his time in medical school, while his sister-in-law reminisced about her childhood, when her grandfather taught her remedies from his medical books.

"I had terrible grades as a kid, nothing like you," Xu Qian recalled. "I already disliked studying, and then my grandpa forced me to read medical texts. Of course, I hated it. I guess he wanted someone to inherit his legacy, but I always slacked off and never studied seriously, so he eventually stopped teaching me much."

"Learning even a little bit is still something," Wang Jian chuckled. "As long as you learned something, it can be useful."

"That’s true." Xu Qian blushed as she thought about the time she had saved him, nodding in agreement. "Now I really regret not studying harder and learning medicine from my grandpa. When he passed away, he even left me his personal medical notes."

Her reasoning was simple: she regretted it because she wanted to have more in common with Wang Jian. She even thought that if she had studied harder, perhaps they could have met in university, which would have been a wonderful thing. Her thoughts were beginning to stray.

"Xiao Jian," Xu Qian asked suddenly, "did you really never have a girlfriend in university? You’re so handsome and capable. Did you never spend time with any girls?"

"Ah..." Wang Jian laughed. "Not in university, no. Medical school was too busy, and whenever I had free time, I was studying with my master, so I was rarely on campus. I did have a girlfriend later, during my hospital internship, but we ended up being assigned to different hospitals and broke up."

Hearing about the girlfriend, Xu Qian said with a tone that was half-indignant and half-scornful, "That girl has no taste. How could she let someone as outstanding as you go? How stupid."

Stupid? Wang Jian shook his head inwardly. My ex-girlfriend wasn’t stupid. She was too smart, which was precisely why she left me. But he decided to just go along with his sister-in-law. Whatever my sister-in-law says, goes. A foolish woman, it is.

"You’re right, she was a foolish woman," Wang Jian agreed. "Breaking up with me... She had no idea of my true depths. She must have been blind to let me return to our hometown."

"Pah! All you do is spout nonsense!" Xu Qian quickly fed Wang Jian a mouthful of chives. After all, if he hadn’t come home, she never would have met him again. She wouldn’t have come to terms with so many things and might still be mired in depression, possibly even becoming sick from the stress.