Chapter 97.2

When Gu Qinghan and Political Commissar Li arrived, they were taken aback upon seeing the strange man lying on the ground, screaming in pain.

Upon hearing the discussions of the crowd, Gu Qinghan’s worried feelings turned to confusion as he met Wen Nuan’s smiling eyes.

Political Commissar Li teased, “It looks like everything has already been taken care of. We don’t need to do anything now.”

Gu Qinghan pursed his lips. “Let’s go check it out anyway.”

They would definitely need to handle any follow-up.

As the higher-ups arrived, the murmurs in the crowd grew louder.

“Comrade Gu really is tall and beautiful, way better looking than that man. Who’s really trying to climb the social ladder here?”

“Exactly! They’re not even a match. Her older brother is a Captain, and her sister-in-law is General Lu’s granddaughter!”

“I suspect that this person had ulterior motives from the beginning. He probably knew about Comrade Gu’s connections, which is why he hurried from Beijing to insist on meeting her. Otherwise, as a cadre with a Beijing household registration, would he really have trouble finding a partner?”

“If that’s the case, he’s highly suspicious. I heard Aunt Liu previously took money from female comrades to introduce a blind date. This time, her enthusiasm in making connections might have come from benefits provided by this male comrade!”

Upon hearing these whispered conversations, Aunt Liu began to panic, her face turning ghostly pale.

This situation was indeed because Aunt Liu was tempted by the money from the man named Zhou.

She didn’t have a job in the family compound and often enjoyed introducing young people to each other. If a match was made, everyone would chip in and give her a little red envelope as the matchmaker.

As for this Zhou, he was even more generous, giving her a large sum of money even before the matter was settled.

He had also promised her an even greater reward if the match succeeded, which was hard to resist.

After all, it was just a matter of using her mouth to make a few introductions.

Originally, she thought Gu Qinglan would be easy to manipulate. Even if this didn’t work out, she wouldn’t suffer any losses.

Moreover, she had never considered that Gu Qinglan might look down on him. After all, Gu Qinglan was getting older and would surely be anxious about getting married.

Besides, this Zhou was a cadre and a local from Beijing. Who wouldn’t want to marry into Beijing?

Just based on these two points, even if Zhou looked like an ugly melon, he could still be considered a quality male comrade.

Aunt Liu felt regretful; if she had known, she wouldn’t have been so greedy. Gu Qinglan wasn’t willing, but there were plenty of female comrades who would have been interested!

But now, with such a commotion, it wasn’t just the promise of more money that worried her; she was also concerned about whether her son’s and daughter-in-law’s jobs would be affected!

With a determined heart, Aunt Liu suddenly threw herself to the ground and fainted.

The crowd had planned to deal with the man who had tried to hit Gu Qinglan, but they were surprised that Aunt Liu had fainted first.

“Oh no, oh no! Aunt Liu has fainted!”

“Quick, come help! This could turn into a life-and-death situation!”

Just as they were about to move her to the hospital, Doctor Zhao, dressed in a white coat, emerged from the hospital and shouted, “Don’t move her! Let me take a look.”

When Wen Nuan saw the old man come out, she smiled and called out, “Doctor Zhao!”

Doctor Zhao instinctively glanced at Wen Nuan’s belly and, with a hint of reproach in his tone, said to her, “Step back a little. You can’t be so reckless next time.”

Then he turned to Gu Qinglan and said, “Go get me some water.”

“I have some right here!” Gu Qinglan, too lazy to go back to the hospital, directly asked a nearby aunt for some water and handed it to Doctor Zhao.

Gu Qinglan crouched beside them, planning to watch how Doctor Zhao performed first aid. But in the next second, she was shocked to see the old man take a cup of water with a lid and splash it directly onto Aunt Liu’s face—

“Ah—” Aunt Liu jumped up almost at the same moment, no longer appearing weak and feeble. With a fierce expression, she scolded, “Oh my goodness, I’m freezing to death! Who is so cruel…?”

Doctor Zhao handed the cup lid back to Gu Qinglan and said, “Isn’t she awake now?”

The crowd watched as Aunt Liu woke up from “fainting” in less than three seconds, and they couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Doctor Zhao glanced at Wen Nuan and said, “You come with me. It’s freezing cold, and you’re here causing a scene. What if you catch a cold?”

He then turned to Gu Qinglan. “You’ve been running around during work hours; you come with me too!”

Gu Qinglan stuck out her tongue. “Got it, I’m coming right now.”

After saying this, she picked up Lele, who was sitting by the flower bed and eating watermelon seeds, and followed Doctor Zhao back.

Lele, suddenly being picked up, protested with a dissatisfied hum. “Auntie, my seeds!”

“Enough, you little glutton! Still thinking about seeds?” Gu Qinglan gave the little girl a playful pat on the bottom and laughed. “You can’t even shell them, so it’s a waste!”

“Quick, give me my seeds!”

The little girl covered her pocket and shook her head. “No way!”

After walking a few steps, Doctor Zhao turned back and looked at Gu Qinghan. “Captain Gu, you handle this matter, and then come find me.”

Political Commissar Li, seeing that the farce had finally come to an end, said to the soldier beside him, “Go find Zhao Dazhong and tell him to come over. I want to see if he’s so busy with the New Year that he’s neglecting his own mother!”

Zhao Dazhong was Aunt Liu’s son. Upon hearing that the Political Commissar wanted to call her son, Aunt Liu’s legs went weak, and she collapsed into the snow.

Tears, as large as soybeans, immediately flowed down her cheeks like pearls spilling from a broken necklace as she cried pitifully, “No, no, no! Whatever happens, I’ll take the blame myself. Please don’t involve my son!”

Hearing Aunt Liu’s piercing cries, Political Commissar Li scolded with a stern face, “Shut up! Don’t push me to send you back to your hometown during the New Year!”

Aunt Liu knew that Political Commissar Li was never easy to deal with. She immediately quieted down, no longer daring to cry out loud. Instead, she merely shook her shoulders, constantly wiping away her tears with her sleeve.

When Wen Nuan turned around, she happened to see this scene.

Compared to her earlier ruckus, Aunt Liu now appeared much more subdued and gentler.

Indeed, only by bringing in a higher authority could these bullies be dealt with.

Wen Nuan followed the old man into the hospital, behind her were the pitiful cries of Aunt Liu and the pleas of a man surnamed Zhou.

Doctor Zhao directly took Wen Nuan back to his office, and without saying a word, he took her pulse.

In the end, he handed her a urine test slip.

Doctor Zhao said, “There’s nothing serious, but you still need to do a urine test to confirm. You can’t be so impulsive next time.”

Wen Nuan smiled and explained, “When I worked in the Kitchen Unit, everyone taught me how to use a rolling pin as a weapon. I’m fine.”

She must have had confidence to act that way, believing she wouldn’t harm the child in her belly.

Moreover, the comrades in their Kitchen Unit were indeed all quite skilled.

A knife, a rolling pin, and even chopsticks or forks could be picked up as weapons.

Wen Nuan had picked up a few tricks, but it was only a surface understanding.

Doctor Zhao glanced at her, “You say that, but it can still be very dangerous; you should be more careful.”

If such an accident happened under his watch, he would have no face to remain there and would simply retire.

Wen Nuan obediently nodded, “Okay, I understand. Thank you, Doctor Zhao.”

“Go on, get checked out,” Doctor Zhao said as he looked at Gu Qinglan. “Take your sister-in-law with you.”

Perhaps thinking it was a holiday, Wen Nuan had an almost smooth journey and finished her examination quickly.

Originally, Doctor Zhao wanted her to return first and said he would bring the results to the family compound for her.

However, Wen Nuan wanted to wait for Gu Qinghan to come back together, so she sat in the hospital waiting.

During the wait for the results, Gu Qinglan was called away by someone from Commissar Li’s side, so Wen Nuan sat in Doctor Zhao’s office, peeling sunflower seeds for Lele.

Lele couldn’t eat properly yet; she would just put the seeds in her mouth and bite them, merely enjoying the flavor.

With nothing to do, Wen Nuan peeled some for her while casually observing Doctor Zhao’s working environment.

It was estimated that after taking off his hat, everyone who came to consult Doctor Zhao was polite to him, unlike before when they tried to stay as far away as possible.

Doctor Zhao could basically call each patient by name, not overly enthusiastic, nor excessively polite.

—o—o—o—

.

At two o’clock, Gu Qinghan arrived.

Although it was such a cold day, he had beads of sweat on his forehead, clearly having run over.

Wen Nuan took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his brow, asking, “Did you handle it?”

“Mm, I’ll tell you slowly when we get home,” Gu Qinghan said, slowly calming his breath, then looked anxiously up and down at his wife, asking, “Are you alright? They said you hit that man with a stick.”

“Mm.” Wen Nuan smiled and nodded, “I’m fine. Doctor Zhao checked my pulse, and everything is good.”

Gu Qinghan let out a sigh of relief, “You can’t be so impulsive next time. Leave the fighting to me.”

“I know, I’m fine.” Wen Nuan smiled at him again and said, “I just did a urine test, and we should have the results soon.”

Gu Qinghan suddenly laughed, “No need to check; you’re definitely pregnant.”

Wen Nuan looked at him in confusion.

Although she knew it was highly likely that she was pregnant—after all, she trusted Doctor Zhao’s medical skills—she still wanted to know why Gu Qinghan said that.

Man, you’ve piqued my curiosity!

“Doctor Zhao said that emotions fluctuate greatly during pregnancy,” Gu Qinghan raised his handsome eyebrows and said, “If it were before, you definitely wouldn’t have fought with anyone.”

Just as the two were joking, Gu Qinglan came in with a report, excitedly saying, “Elder Brother, Sister-in-law, it’s true; you’re pregnant!”

The two responded in unison, “We know.”

Doctor Zhao waited for them to finish talking before saying, “Since the results are out, you should head back early to prepare for the New Year’s Eve dinner.”

“Qinglan, you can take a break too. Come find me when you return to work on the third day of the New Year.”

Gu Qinglan nodded with a smile, “Got it, Doctor Zhao.”

Now, she was already considered Doctor Zhao’s close disciple. After the New Year, she would study hard and make sure to achieve good results to show her sister-in-law.

Wen Nuan looked at Doctor Zhao, who was still bent over writing at his desk, and said, “Doctor Zhao, why don’t you come eat with us after work? Let’s enjoy some lively company together.”

Doctor Zhao raised his head and smiled, “Comrade Wen Nuan, thank you for your kind offer, but I’ve already made plans with the hospital leadership to eat in the cafeteria later. You should head back.”

Wen Nuan no longer insisted and let Lele say goodbye to Doctor Zhao.

Lele was quite well-behaved; perhaps she had just been fed a lot of sunflower seeds, as she was not making a fuss at all. She smiled sweetly, saying, “Goodbye, Grandpa.”

Doctor Zhao chuckled, “Ah, goodbye, Lele.”

Wen Nuan leaned down and whispered another phrase in Lele’s ear. Lele then said in her milky voice, “Happy New Year, Grandpa! Wishing you good health.”

This time, Doctor Zhao felt warmth in his heart. After a moment of thought, he pulled out a red envelope from his drawer and handed it to her, saying, “Grandpa wishes you a Happy New Year too, and may you grow up healthy and happy.”

Lele, receiving the red envelope, beamed even more brightly and sweetly said, “Thank you, Grandpa!”

“Alright, be careful on your way back.”