Lin Qingqing looked at the small child with a flushed face and found him amusing.

She smiled and said, “Little Haici is really impressive! With your dad away, you can keep everything in order at home. You’re such a little man!”

“Mom, really?” Lu Haici suddenly looked up, his sparkling eyes clear as crystal, as if two beams of light were dancing within them.

Lin Qingqing couldn’t help but think how easily this child could be made happy. “Of course! Remember Aunt Qin? We can ask her later, and she’ll tell us who helped us.”

Lin Qingqing recalled the Aunt Qin he mentioned.

Lu Cheng had brought up Aunt Qin when talking about the reasons for taking his child to the army last year.

The primary reason was that his aunt’s health wasn’t very good, and he didn’t want her to worry about taking care of his child anymore.

The second reason was that the army had a kindergarten, and a four-year-old child was just the right age to start.

However, since Lu Cheng would be on missions and there was no one at home to take care of Lu Haici, he entrusted him to the wife of Commander Qin during his missions, who was the Aunt Qin Lu Haici mentioned.

Speaking of which, Lu Cheng went on a mission on the very day he arrived at the army.

Aunt Qin was concerned about the original owner (the former Lin Qingqing), who was new to the place.

She had come to check on her and even offered to take her out to get familiarized with the area.

She was a very warm-hearted woman.

However, the original owner had refused, saying she felt unwell and sounded rather cold.

Afterward, Aunt Qin came to visit the original owner again, but she was still turned away, citing that she hadn’t yet recovered.

After that, Aunt Qin never visited again.

Thinking of this, Lin Qingqing felt speechless.

The original owner had a personality that was quite arrogant; while she wasn’t a princess by birth, she acted as if she had all the traits of one.

Aunt Qin must have seen through her true nature, which is why she stopped visiting.

In reality, the original owner was quite proud.

As the only girl in the Lin family, she might have been a country girl, but she lived a much better life than many girls in the county.

Especially since she had only graduated from junior high; as for high school… with her poor grades, she naturally hadn’t been able to get in.

To be fair, the original owner’s grades were so bad that she wouldn’t have passed even junior high.

The only reason she attended junior high was that her grandfather was the only doctor in their brigade.

In their commune, every brigade leader had a recommendation quota for junior high, typically used for those who couldn’t pass the exam, since those who could pass would do so without needing a recommendation.

Thus, thanks to her grandfather’s connections, the brigade leader granted this quota to the original owner, allowing her to proudly become a junior high school graduate.

In this era, even having graduated from elementary school could earn one some respect, let alone graduating from junior high, which was certainly a source of pride.

Lu Cheng’s cousin’s wife was a good friend that the original owner met at the commune school.

“Yeah.” Lu Haici nodded heavily. “Aunt Qin is an adult; she must remember those people. Adults are really amazing; they know everything.”

Lin Qingqing looked at his serious expression and couldn’t help but smile. Children at this age are the most entertaining.

In just a few more years, they’ll reach that awkward age when even dogs wouldn’t want to deal with them, and they won’t be as fun anymore.

As for Lu Haici, not only was he at the most amusing age, but he was also quite cute.

Although he was thin, his features were quite good-looking, especially those big eyes that resembled a doll’s.

What made him even more enviable were his long, curly eyelashes.

“Room check!”

Just then, a female voice came from the doorway.

A man and a woman stood at the entrance.

The woman was wearing a nurse’s cap, while the man wasn’t, indicating that one was a nurse and the other a doctor.

“You’re awake?” The female nurse looked at Lin Qingqing in surprise. “You seem quite spirited. You should know that you had a fever of 41 degrees yesterday. It’s lucky you didn’t die; how can you be this lively today?”

Lin Qingqing smiled at them. “Thank you so much for your help yesterday. I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”

Upon hearing her gentle voice, the female nurse felt a jolt of warmth in her heart, and her impression of Lin Qingqing instantly improved. “No, no, it’s what we should do.”

The male doctor approached Lin Qingqing and touched her forehead.

He paused in surprise and then told the nurse, “Get her a thermometer to measure her temperature.”

When he touched the patient’s forehead, he noticed that she didn’t seem to have a fever anymore, which made him wonder if it was just his imagination.

Could her high fever of 41 degrees have subsided so quickly?

“Okay.” The female nurse hurriedly took out a thermometer and placed it under Lin Qingqing’s tongue.

Meanwhile, the male doctor proceeded to check on another patient in the same ward as per routine.

Measuring the temperature only took a minute.

After a minute passed, the female nurse took the thermometer out of Lin Qingqing’s mouth and exclaimed in surprise, “Dr. Tong, she’s cooled down; it’s 36.1 degrees. Her temperature is normal now.”

This was incredible; yesterday, she had a fever of 41 degrees, and the speed of her recovery made them question if she had really been running a fever.

Dr. Tong nodded. “Take her for a full check-up. If there are no issues, she can be discharged this afternoon.”

Given the severity of her fever yesterday, they had to act quickly and administer injections and glucose to bring down her temperature.

Although her temperature was normal today, they still needed to ensure there were no underlying problems.

After all, she had burned up to 41 degrees, so to be safe, they needed to run some tests.

The female nurse said, “Okay, understood.”

She turned to Lin Qingqing and added, “You haven’t eaten breakfast yet, right? If not, it’s a good chance to do the tests on an empty stomach.”

“I haven’t eaten yet; I can go for the test first,” Lin Qingqing hurriedly replied.

Since Lin Qingqing didn’t have much strength, the nurse brought over a wheelchair to help her into it, then pushed her for the tests.

Lu Haici furrowed his little brow, following behind in silence, his face serious like a small old man.

Early in the morning, there weren’t many people at the hospital, so Lin Qingqing’s tests were completed quickly.

In just about an hour, she was done, but the results hadn’t come out yet.

When the nurse pushed her back to the ward, she noticed another person in the room.

“Back already? How are you feeling?” Yu Xiuying had just arrived not long ago.

She had initially planned to check on the test results, but before she could chat with the woman in the same ward, Lin Qingqing returned.

“Aunt Qin.” Seeing Yu Xiuying, Lu Haici sweetly called out.

“Hey.” Yu Xiuying took out a lunchbox from her basket.

“Sister-in-law.” Lin Qingqing also chimed in, “I feel fine, I think. The fever has gone down; I just don’t have much strength. However, the specific test results will take three days to come out. If I don’t have another fever this afternoon, I can be discharged.”

Lin Qingqing put on a thick face to speak to Yu Xiuying, pretending she didn’t know about the original owner’s actions.

After all, having a thick skin is a way to navigate through life. “I heard from Little Haici that it was you who called someone to take me to the hospital yesterday. Thank you so much, Sister-in-law.”

Oh?

Yu Xiuying was extremely surprised.

A month ago, when she went to find Lu Cheng’s wife, that woman had completely ignored her, as if her warm greeting was met with a cold shoulder.

If it hadn’t been for Lu Cheng asking her to look after his wife before his mission, would she have gone back a second time?

The first time, she could understand because the other woman wasn’t feeling well, but the second time?

When she went, she even brought some vegetables she had grown herself, but Lu Cheng’s wife had said she wasn’t feeling well enough to host visitors, essentially telling her to leave.

So she had no desire to visit a third time.

Yesterday afternoon, hearing Lu Haici crying and calling for help, she made the trip.

It was fortunate she did; although she was annoyed with Lu Cheng’s wife for her high-handedness, she couldn’t just stand by and watch someone in need.

But today, listening to the gentle voice filled with gratitude, her eyes almost popped out.

Looking at Lin Qingqing’s sincere expression of appreciation, it was clear she wasn’t just saying polite words.

Could it be that Lu Cheng’s wife had turned over a new leaf after arriving at the army?

Was it because she really felt unwell that she didn’t show her manners?

Yu Xiuyou didn’t want to think about it anymore.

She was an enthusiastic person; if others treated her politely, she would naturally respond with generosity.

Besides, what had happened before wasn’t a big deal, not even a small one. “Don’t mention it! You just need to call me sister-in-law. Before Lu Cheng left on his mission, he entrusted me to take care of you both. How could I stand by and do nothing? We are all military wives; it’s only right to help and support each other.”

Lin Qingqing, at eighteen, had just started her freshman year in college and had become a social media influencer.

By twenty-one, she graduated from a vocational school and returned to her hometown, working as a food blogger for two years.

If you counted her time in college, she had been an influencer for five years.

While she had received some criticism, there was hardly any scandal against her.

This was thanks to her personality—she might not have been a top student, but she wasn’t foolish either.

She had a knack for saying pleasant things, always keeping it fresh.

Seeing that Yu Xiuyou’s attitude was sincere and not just surface politeness, Lin Qingqing began to flatter her. “On the way here, Lu Cheng said that if there was anything you didn’t understand, you could ask your sister-in-law. He said you’re a role model for us military wives.”

At thirty-eight, Yu Xiuyou was a full decade older than Lin Qingqing, but she wasn’t naïve.

The moment she heard Lin Qingqing’s words, she realized that Lin Qingqing was buttering her up.

Still, flattery felt good to hear.

There’s a saying that goes, “Compliments never go out of style,” and that was precisely the case here.

Consequently, her smile widened even more. “That’s just Lu Cheng exaggerating.”

Lin Qingqing chuckled lightly and replied, “Lu Cheng isn’t someone who would tell lies. He must genuinely think you’re wonderful for him to say so honestly.”

Whether or not Lu Cheng had actually said that wasn’t important—who would dare go ask him for confirmation?

Then she continued, “I wanted to come find you earlier, but I don’t know if it’s the local climate or something, I’ve been lying in bed for half a month and couldn’t get better.

I even lacked the strength to eat. Thankfully, Xiao Haici is so sensible.

He has been taking care of me meticulously with three meals a day.

Thinking about it, this should have been my responsibility as his mother, but now he’s the one doing it. I really feel guilty toward him.”