Chapter 42

Hè Tíng also regretted not thoroughly searching earlier to see what other treasures he might have found at the recycling station. He immediately agreed to Lù Bái Wēi’s suggestion, and they pushed his bicycle toward the nearby scrapyard.

This time, Hè Tíng didn’t come across any discarded broken jars or bowls. After all, items without cracks or damage, like intact jars or bowls, were usually kept by people for use rather than being thrown away.

However, while helping Lù Bái Wēi search for high school textbooks, he stumbled upon a torn calligraphy practice book and a damaged painting with a missing corner.

When Hè Tíng noticed the seal on the practice book and painting, his eyes lit up.

The name on the seal belonged to an obscure calligrapher, but having spent time with Zhōu Yánfēng’s grandfather, he recognized it. He’d seen a similar seal before on authentic reproductions. If what he held was genuine, it could be traced back to the Song Dynasty.

Even if it turned out to be a replica, it would still be worth something.

Hè Tíng immediately bundled the calligraphy practice book and painting together with the high school textbooks he found for Lù Bái Wēi. At the entrance, he presented the items to the scrapyard gatekeeper.

The old man thought the calligraphy book and painting were worthless scraps and didn’t charge him for them. For the high school textbooks that Lù Bái Wēi found, he only asked for fifty cents.

The joy of such a lucky find was indescribable.

As the two left the scrapyard, they loaded the items into the bicycle basket. The smiles on their faces were impossible to hide.

The medical supplies Lù Bái Wēi had received from the hospital, along with the books and jar, filled up the two baskets attached to the rear of Hè Tíng’s bicycle.

On the way back to Xiàngyáng Brigade from the county, Lù Bái Wēi had no choice but to sit on the front bar of the bicycle.

It wasn’t her first time riding there. Last time, when they had rushed to the county under the cover of darkness to sell medicinal herbs, Hè Tíng had kept his distance after hearing her call out someone else’s name, Yǐn Zhìhé, in her sleep. He had maintained a cold demeanor the entire ride.

This time, with no lingering misunderstandings and the warmth of reunion after a brief separation, the two sat close together.

Whether intentional or not, Hè Tíng kept resting his chin on her shoulder. His chest pressed firmly against her back, and the heat of his breath tickled her neck, leaving her flushed and flustered.

Lù Bái Wēi felt as if her whole body was on fire. She couldn’t help but use her hand to push his face away.

When her hand met his cheek, Hè Tíng chuckled quietly as he pedaled the bike.

“What are you laughing at?” Lù Bái Wēi asked in exasperation.

“Wēi Wēi, your face is red,” he replied in a low, teasing voice. “My wife looks beautiful even when she’s shy.”

The way he leaned close and spoke into her ear, calling her “wife,” sent a shiver down her spine. It was like his voice burrowed through her eardrum and lingered, making her heart flutter and tingle.

Their relationship had progressed significantly since she had taken care of him at the hospital after he was injured by wolves.

But with Hè Tíng flirting with her like this, Lù Bái Wēi felt completely out of her depth.

All the way back, her thoughts wandered. Now that she was officially the brigade’s barefoot doctor, she realized they’d need to convert the room next to the health station into a proper clinic. The bed where Hè Tíng currently slept would have to be relocated so that patients who fainted or needed treatment could have a place to rest comfortably.

All the way home, her thoughts wandered. Now that she was officially the brigade’s barefoot doctor, she realized the room outside the clinic needed to be cleared out and converted into a proper consultation room. Even Hè Tíng’s current bed would have to be relocated so that patients who fainted or needed care could have a place to lie down and rest.

But how could she bring this up in a way that sounded natural?

Despite building up a mental script, when the time came to ask Hè Tíng to move his bed, reserved as she was, Lù Bái Wēi still couldn’t find the courage to say it outright.

When the couple returned to their small home, Lù Bái Wēi busied herself setting up the clinic, organizing the medicines and equipment she had brought back from the hospital and placing them neatly into cabinets.

Hè Tíng helped her out.

By the time they finished, it was dark. Lù Bái Wēi went into the kitchen to cook dinner for them.

During her two-week internship at the county hospital, Hè Tíng had taken to joining meals at her third aunt’s place, following Zhōu Yánfēng’s example. Though her aunt refused to take payment for food, Hè Tíng would bring meat or grain to contribute, just like Zhōu Yánfēng.

Since they hadn’t cooked at home in some time, Lù Bái Wēi decided to keep dinner simple—just some noodles with soy-braised eggs.

When the eggs were ready and the noodles were boiling, she asked Hè Tíng to keep an eye on the pot while she went out to the backyard to pick some green onions.

Thanks to Hè Tíng’s care, the vegetable patch in the backyard was thriving. The seedlings they’d taken from her eldest uncle and third uncle’s homes had grown robustly, and the garden was lush with greenery. As a novice gardener, Hè Tíng had even taken advice from her cousin Táng Yuánliáng, cutting bamboo poles and setting them up as a trellis in the patch.

The newly planted bitter melon and bean vines were already climbing the bamboo.

As Lù Bái Wēi picked some fresh green onions, a patterned creature darted out from the garden and startled her. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a harmless flower-patterned snake. Instead of being scared, she grabbed the snake firmly at its neck, swung it, and slammed it onto the ground to knock it unconscious.

Looking at the snake, not only did she think about how to cook it, but she also came up with a way to get Hè Tíng to move his bed.

With green onions in one hand and the snake in the other, she walked toward their house. Passing by the window of their shared room, she casually tossed the snake inside before heading back to the kitchen.

By the time she returned, Hè Tíng had already taken the cooked noodles out of the pot and topped them with the egg sauce she had prepared. Lù Bái Wēi chopped up the green onions, sprinkled them over the bowls, and served up two steaming portions of soy-braised egg noodles.

Just as he had done shortly after they got married, Hè Tíng carried water from the stream under the cover of night and heated it up for Lù Bái Wēi to bathe.

After her bath, the two retired to their respective rooms. Without hesitation, Lù Bái Wēi closed the door to the inner room. Hè Tíng’s hopeful expression turned dim, and whatever he was about to say was swallowed back down.

It was destined to be a sleepless night. Lying on his bed in the outer room, Hè Tíng tossed and turned, unable to settle into sleep. When he finally managed to drift off into a light slumber, a sudden scream from Lù Bái Wēi’s room jolted him awake.

“Wēi Wēi, what’s wrong?”

Hè Tíng sprang from his bed and rushed into the inner room.

Hè Tíng jumped out of bed and rushed into the inner room.

By the light of the flashlight, he saw a flower-patterned snake coiled on the pole supporting Lù Bái Wēi’s mosquito net, flicking its tongue menacingly.

Grabbing a stick from the corner of the room, Hè Tíng knocked the snake to the ground and struck it with the stick’s end. The snake went limp and stopped moving.

“It’s okay now, Wēi Wēi. Don’t be scared,” he said, turning to her.

Lù Bái Wēi looked utterly shaken, clinging to him tightly. Hè Tíng wrapped his arms around her, gently rubbing her back to calm her down.

“Don’t worry, the snake’s gone. It’s dead now,” he reassured her.

Snuggling deeper into his embrace, Lù Bái Wēi looked up at him with teary eyes.

“But… I’m still scared,” she whispered, her body trembling slightly. “That snake was flicking its tongue at me just now. It almost crawled into the mosquito net and bit me.”

She added nervously, “I’ve heard that snakes are the most vengeful creatures. You killed it—what if I dream about it coming back to haunt me tonight?”

As Lù Bái Wēi buried her head in his chest, her soft movements and warmth heightened Hè Tíng’s awareness of how delicate she was in his arms.

Having ventured into the mountains a few times with Táng Yuánliáng, Hè Tíng was no longer the clueless city kid from Beijing. He’d learned not just about hunting but also about the various snakes, insects, and creatures in the wild.

From the brief glance he got, he could tell the snake on the mosquito net pole was a harmless flower-patterned snake. In fact, Táng Yuánliáng had told him that not only was this type of snake nonvenomous, but its meat was also incredibly tender and delicious—especially when stewed with chicken.

He also knew from Táng Yuánliáng that not only was Táng Yún Líng unafraid of snakes, but his wife, Lù Bái Wēi, wasn’t either. She had grown up following her grandfather into the mountains to gather medicinal herbs and had even learned how to catch snakes for brewing medicinal wine.

Yet here she was, seemingly terrified by a harmless snake, her eyes brimming with tears, and burrowing into his arms like a frightened little bird.

Hè Tíng couldn’t help but chuckle softly to himself.

His Wēi Wēi, pretending to be scared—she really put effort into her act. And he had to admit, it was quite amusing.