Chapter 53: Entanglement in a device that combines home life, gaming, and wellness...

After Grain Rain, there is a noticeable increase in rainfall. Sometimes, while people are working in the fields, the sky suddenly turns gloomy and raindrops begin to fall.

The members of the Tonggan production team skillfully searched for shade under the trees to take shelter from the rain, waiting for the rain to pass as usual before continuing their work.

"It started raining not long after we started work this afternoon, and I don't know how long it will last." Lin Shuhong stood on the edge where she wouldn't get wet, staring at the sky outside, trying to judge how long the rain would last by observing the dark clouds.

Behind her, Nie Ying raised her hand and wiped the rain off her face with her sleeve. "If it doesn't stop anytime soon, Captain Li will probably call a work stoppage."

Farmers don't have the concept of working Monday to Friday and resting on weekends. Rainy days are their days off, and only on rainy days do the members of the commune not have to work.

The women, who knew each other well, gathered together, idly chatting and waiting while listening to the rain.

Zhong Ying raised her hand to shield her head and ran from one tree to another.

"Sister-in-law, what have you thought about what I told you?" Zhong Ying seized the opportunity to persuade Yao Dongxiu, since the medical training course offered by the commune had a set start date, and there were only a few days left.

A hint of helplessness appeared on Yao Dongxiu's face. "Yingni'er, I really can't go with so many things to do with my family."

The women nearby were curious and pressed for details about what was wrong and why they couldn't go.

A moment later, everyone learned that Zhong Ying wanted Yao Dongxiu to attend the medical training course as well.

“Jinlong’s wife, if the women’s team leader wants you to go, then go. Besides, you have the background in this area.” Lin Shuhong said, then looked at Hu Dating and teased, “Or is it that your mother-in-law doesn’t want you to go?”

Hu waved his hand, "Don't put the blame on me. I stopped making decisions for the eldest son a long time ago. Once Xiaolong gets married, I'll completely stop interfering."

As a responsible member of the community, Zhong Ying consciously adopted the demeanor of an elder sister and patiently inquired of Yao Dongxiu, "Sister-in-law, tell me what difficulties you are facing. I sincerely hope that you can go and learn. Even though Brother Nie in the production team has already learned, there's really no way to find him to cure a woman's ailments."

Nie Ying, who had been listening in, couldn't help but nod. The others noticed and turned to look at her.

Nie Ying was immediately embarrassed, but stubbornly refused, saying, "Why are you looking at me? Everyone has their flaws."

The group fell silent.

The rain curtain seemed to be a protective shield descending from heaven and earth. Those who sought shelter from the rain in this corner were all women, and those words that were too embarrassing to say were not so difficult to say.

Lin Shuhong sighed, "I've always had this feeling that my belly is going to fall out of my body. Sigh, having too many children will cause this problem."

"After I gave birth to my second child and Rou Ni'er, I started having trouble holding my urine," Liu Hongyan said softly.

Deng Xia then spoke up, "Then I have an itch down there."

Zhong Ying immediately looked at her mother, "I didn't know! You never told me!"

"What's there to say? It's not a serious problem." Deng Xia waved her hand dismissively.

"If you feel unwell, just say so. Don't underestimate it or be embarrassed to speak up. Early treatment leads to early recovery." Zhong Ying frowned. It turns out that not only young women need female doctors to deliver babies, but older women also need female doctors to treat long-standing gynecological diseases.

Zhong Ying became even more determined to get Yao Dongxiu to study, and continued to persuade her, "Look, everyone has some health issues, more or less. Even if Brother Jinlong comes back after his studies, let them go to him for medical treatment—"

Before Zhong Ying could finish speaking, the women seemed to be frightened and waved their hands repeatedly.

"How can you ask a man to treat these problems!"

"No, no, I wouldn't dare say it..."

Zhong Ying asked at the opportune moment, "What if we want to see a female doctor?"

The group hesitated, no longer as resistant and terrified as before. Who would want to endure those unspeakable troubles if they could regain their health?

Yao Dongxiu looked at it, opened her mouth, and her heart began to soften.

Zhong Ying then said sincerely to Yao Dongxiu, "It's not just the aunts and uncles who need medical treatment; the sisters-in-law also need more professional doctors for childbirth."

She looked at Lin Shuhong apologetically, "Auntie, I'm not questioning your midwifery skills..."

Lin Shuhong waved her hand dismissively, "It's okay, I know my own limitations. I can usually handle things, but if there's a breech presentation or a difficult delivery, I'm helpless."

"To be honest, I've been thinking about retiring these past few years. After all, delivering a baby involves the lives of two people, one big and one small. If something goes wrong, you can only save the mother or the baby, and it takes me a long time to recover from that." As Lin Shuhong spoke, she unconsciously clutched the fabric of her clothes near her chest, as if that feeling of distress was surging up again.

Hu Dating was unusually silent, so he raised his hand and gently patted Lin Shuhong's back to comfort her.

As if remembering something, Deng Xia's brows furrowed with melancholy. "Yes, childbirth is a life-or-death ordeal for women. That's how my poor sister-in-law died."

Hu asked around because he remembered Cao Fang; the two of them had a very good relationship when they were young.

“Go ahead, eldest son,” Hu said in a deep voice. “Now that the production team has a nursery, you can send the children there. I’ll take care of the chores at home. You go and study hard.”

“Women need a doctor, a female doctor,” Zhong Ying said sincerely, now that she has some communication skills. “Everyone needs you.”

People at this time have great love.

Yao Dongxiu finally nodded.

Joy welled up in Zhong Ying's heart. It hadn't been easy. She had gone through what felt like three visits to a thatched cottage, but she had finally managed to persuade the person to come out of seclusion.

That evening, at the Li family's dinner table, Zhong Ying couldn't wait to tell the patriarch, "Dad, Sister-in-law Nie is also going to the commune's medical training class."

Li Ming nodded, "Okay, I'll wait and get their letters of introduction for the couple together."

Li Gang, sitting on the other side of the table, exclaimed in surprise, "She's going too? Would Jinlong be happy about that?"

“…What’s there to be unhappy about?” Zhong Ying’s impression of her brother-in-law was becoming increasingly complicated. “When I went to talk to Brother Nie, he seemed very willing.”

Nie Jinfeng, who was eating to Zhong Ying's right, couldn't help but speak up, "My older brother... if my sister-in-law can go with him, he probably already knows what's going on. If he really goes to study alone, I don't know how uneasy he would be."

The younger sister directly exposed her brother's secrets.

Li Gang clicked his tongue and shook his head, "Why bother with all this effort?"

I don't understand why Zhong Ying has been so busy running a nursery and trying to persuade Yao Dongxiu to study medicine again.

Unexpectedly, the first person to object to these words was Li Rongshi.

"Brother, you really don't understand the pain of childbirth," Li Rongshi retorted without any politeness.

The news of Nie Jinfeng's pregnancy has been made public at home. The couple has a deep affection for each other, and Li Rongshi is happy to see Zhong Ying busy with all sorts of things. The medical training course organized by the commune is a four-month course, and when Jinlong's wife returns after completing the course, Jinfeng will have better protection during childbirth.

Li Gang frowned, looking at his second brother as if he were an ignorant child, "How can you talk like that? I'm your eldest brother."

Li Rongshi secretly rolled his eyes. Tch, he's using the title "Big Brother" to intimidate people again. He's always done this since he was a child. He never comes up with anything new. He only knows this trick.

Zhong Ying ate her meal quietly, not getting involved in the brothers' dispute.

Although Li Ming always lamented his second son's lack of achievement and sighed that "a tiger has three sons, and one of them will surely be a scoundrel," in Zhong Ying's opinion, Li Gangshi was the one who had gone astray among the three sons.

After dinner, the dishwasher washed the dishes again. Although Zhong Ying refused to help, the ghost insisted on doing so.

It was getting late, so Li Rongshi and his family left to return to their own home, and Zhong Ying also went back to the house next door.

After taking a quick shower, Zhong Ying sat on a chair in the main room with her wet hair, tossing a toy ball made of woven cloth to Hongtang to play with.

They throw it out and bring it back, repeating the cycle, and both the person and the dog have a great time.

Suddenly, a warm substance touched the skin of Zhong Ying's neck, which immediately startled her. Her hair stood on end, and she turned her head to look.

"You scared me to death," Zhong Ying said with a sigh of relief, but she was also annoyed. "I thought someone had broken in."

Then, Zhong Ying realized what was happening and looked at Li Linshi strangely, "Why aren't you cold anymore?"

“I found a hot spring on Ying Mountain, diverted it into a section of the Ganlin River, and then sealed it into my body,” Li Linshi said.

Zhong Ying's eyes lit up: a hot spring!

But then she thought of the ferocious white tiger she had seen in Ying Mountain, and Zhong Ying decided that her life was more important.

The truth is certainly more complicated than Li Linshi said, and Zhong Ying already knows his personality well—he does more than he says.

Moreover, it was obvious that Li Linshi did this because of what she had said on purpose before. In fact, he could have ignored it, since he had superhuman strength and forced Zhong Ying to adapt to his cold body temperature, which Zhong Ying could not do anything about.

But he went to great lengths to change himself.

Zhong Ying looked at Li Lin with mixed feelings, "...Let's have a serious talk."

“…Okay.” Li Linshi nodded.

Zhong Ying pulled over a chair next to her and let Li Linshi sit down.

She sat down in the chair, looking directly at the other person. Zhong Ying's expression was serious. "Don't you think your feelings might be due to the suspension bridge effect? ​​No, that's not right."

Zhong Ying immediately denied her own experience, saying, "The suspension bridge effect refers to being in a relatively enclosed environment where stimulation can accelerate the heartbeat. Misinterpreting this tension as excitement doesn't quite fit our situation."

"Anyway," Zhong Ying couldn't think of any other psychological effect—after all, she wasn't an expert in emotional psychology—"could it be because only I can see you and communicate with you that you mistakenly think you've fallen for me? When choices are limited, sometimes you want to grasp at the only straw, I understand..."

Li Linshi's face grew increasingly grim as he listened. He reached out, grabbed the leg of the chair Zhong Ying was sitting on, and with a forceful pull, dragged the chair and Zhong Ying over together.

"Are you trying to give me excuses?" Li Linshi suppressed his anger. "Why do you think I'm still alive? My aunt did it for her daughter, but who do you think I did it for? Is it wrong for me to like you? Do I need you to give me excuses?"

Once he said it, Li Linshi suddenly realized that "I like you" wasn't as difficult to say as he had imagined.

Zhong Ying felt that the tip of her nose was almost touching Li Linshi's nose, and she could almost see every single one of his eyelashes. Her throat felt a little dry, and she subconsciously swallowed, giving a dry laugh. "I just want to look at and analyze things rationally."

Rationality? Li Linshi couldn't help but scoff. Had he never been rational? He had stayed in the Ganlin River several times, trying to regain his rationality, but each time Zhong Ying disturbed his mind. She even gave him the "candy" he wanted most without knowing anything about it. Now that he had lost all rationality, what rationality was Zhong Ying talking about?

They'd been entangled for quite some time, and Zhong Ying had come to understand Li Linshi somewhat, as had Li Linshi.

Li Linshi was not stupid; he was someone who could graduate from university in this era, or more accurately, he was very intelligent.

"Isn't it good to be with me?" Li Linshi changed tactics, his voice softening, sounding like a lover's whisper in their ear. "I can help you wash the dishes, and I can do the laundry too."

"When it's hot, I'll be cool; when it's cold, I'll become warm."

"Whatever dress-up game you want to play, I'll let you have it."

"Want to soak in a hot spring? I'll take you. Even if we encounter a tiger, I can immediately take you away, just like last time."

Zhong Ying's breath hitched, and she subconsciously held her breath. Wealth and honor cannot corrupt her, poverty and hardship cannot sway her, power and force cannot subdue her... but she couldn't resist the fact that he was giving her too much.

It features a dishwasher, washing machine, portable air conditioner, Miracle Linlin (a type of incense), and even offers hot spring services. It's a great device that combines home living, gaming, and wellness.

With her last shred of reason, Zhong Ying struggled, "You shouldn't be entangled with me. Don't you want to be reincarnated?"

It is risky for a ghost to stay in the human world for a long time. If it is forgotten by the last person who remembers it, it will be reduced to ashes.

Unconsciously, the hand gripping the chair leg covered Zhong Ying's hand, which was bracing itself on the edge of the chair beside her. Long fingers slipped between them, and the two hands intertwined without any room for struggle.

"You'll always remember me, won't you?" Li Linshi gazed into Zhong Ying's eyes.

If this ghost kept making its presence known, Zhong Ying thought about it and realized that she might actually be able to meet the survival condition of "someone who always remembers him." She could only nod honestly.

A slight smile, like ripples on water, touched the corners of his handsome lips and eyes, melting away like spring water in an instant.

"Then when you are seventy or eighty years old and die peacefully in your sleep, I will go with you to be reincarnated."

Zhong Ying, who had been momentarily captivated by the beauty, came to her senses. Wait, does this mean this ghost is going to haunt her until she dies?

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Author's note: Yes, lock it up, throw the key into the sea—