Chapter 36 Chapter 36 You treat me as your mother-in-law, I want to be your...
Seeing that Shen Miao hesitated for a long time and didn’t say anything, Wang Dongmei asked again: “You really don’t like him?”
"Yes, but not in the way you think."
Shen Miao really likes playing with Yao Heng. It’s not the kind of love between a man and a woman, but the kind of love between a brother and a sister.
It’s not that Yao Heng didn’t suit her taste, but the feeling he gave her. He was warm, caring, and occasionally would say a few sarcastic words to liven up the atmosphere, making her feel happy as if she was being coaxed like a child.
Moreover, she could feel that Yao Heng didn't like her either. His innocent eyes were filled with pure and bright sunshine, and he was even more unclear than her about what kind of emotion love between men and women was.
“Why do we have to be together if we like each other? Isn’t it good to be brother and sister?” Rubbing the soft fur of the little white rabbit beside him with his fingers, Shen Miao couldn’t help but think of his movements when he was rubbing his head today.
He must also treat me as his sister.
"Really?" Wang Dongmei pouted and said while breaking beans, "I think Chen Xiulan really wants you to be her daughter-in-law."
Shen Miao was very careless and only cared about going out to eat, drink and have fun with Yao Heng.
But as a mother herself, Wang Dongmei saw through Chen Xiulan's thoughts at a glance.
Perhaps because she felt that Shen Miao was very similar to her younger self, or perhaps because she had heard about Shen Miao's experience practicing medicine with Old Man Shen, Chen Xiulan liked Shen Miao very much.
When chatting at her house today, her eyes were full of love for Shen Miao, as if a mother-in-law had chosen her favorite daughter-in-law. Especially when she asked Yao Heng to take her out to play, she was very pleased to see that the two of them became familiar with each other so quickly without any strangeness.
It was said that Shen Miao and Wang Dongmei were invited to visit the temple fair, but to put it another way, it was just the two families bringing their children to visit each other.
Wang Dongmei initially thought that Shen Miao had grown up and was thinking about her own lifelong affairs, but she didn't expect that she was only focused on playing and didn't understand Chen Xiulan's intentions at all.
Shen Miao: “Ah, what should we do then?!”
"What should I do? Find an opportunity to explain it clearly to them next time." Wang Dongmei replied calmly.
But after she finished speaking, her hand paused for a moment, and then she changed the topic and said, "How about...getting to know him/her more first? No one falls in love with someone after just one meeting. Maybe after a month or two of getting to know him/her, you'll change your mind."
Not only Chen Xiulan had a crush on Shen Miao, Wang Dongmei also felt that Yao Heng was a reliable guy.
She has always had a good eye for people, and she had a hunch that for a college student like Yao Heng, who came from a well-off family and was handsome, there must be a lot of girls around him who were attracted to him.
And then again, Shen Miao will be twenty-four after the Chinese New Year. Girls of her age in the village have already married, and no one knows how many children they have. Now that she has learned medical skills from the old man, it is time for her to plan for the second half of her life.
"Change your mind? I don't think that's possible."
Shen Wanshan, who was sitting next to him, didn't say anything until Wang Dongmei finished speaking. He then slowly lit a match and lit his pipe. "It's the same as boiling medicine. If it's medicine, the longer it's boiled, the stronger it will be. But if it's a piece of wood, then no matter how long it's boiled, it won't cure the disease."
It’s rare to hear grandpa say such philosophical words about “love”.
In my impression, my grandfather seldom reveals his emotions. Even when dealing with his own family, he is never particularly soft-hearted. If there is something, he just speaks honestly. If there is nothing, he doesn't act pretentiously.
Shen Miao remembered that when she was little, she acted like a spoiled child to her grandfather. Although he would satisfy her in the end, his attitude was always indifferent, and even the most gentle words sounded cold when they came out of his mouth.
But today, when grandpa said this, there were thousands of emotions between the lines that were difficult to express.
Slowly exhaling a puff of smoke, Shen Wanshan did not continue to speak, but stood up from the chair with the help of the handle. After he sighed long and hard, he slowly walked back into the house.
Looking at Grandpa’s back, Shen Miao thought about the melon that she didn’t get to eat from Chen Xiulan today.
Walking quietly to Wang Dongmei's side, Shen Miao lowered her voice and whispered in her ear: "Mom, do you know about my grandfather and my grandmother?"
"I don't know." She put the selected vegetables into the sink to rinse. The sound of the running water covered her voice. "When I married your father, your grandmother had passed away many years ago. I never heard your grandfather mention her."
"Does my father know?"
"He has no idea. How old was he then? He probably forgot what your grandma looked like after all these years."
My biological father doesn’t know, my biological mother doesn’t understand, and my biological grandfather doesn’t want to mention it… It seems that only one day can I hear from Chen Xiulan about this past that has been buried for more than 40 years…
A few days later, Chen Xiulan called again to invite Shen Miao to her home to play.
This time the excuse she gave was that she asked someone to buy some cloth from the south, but unfortunately the colors were too bright for her to wear. After distributing it to her relatives, there was one piece left. As the Chinese New Year was only a few months away, it was a good opportunity for her to take it home and make clothes.
Worried that Shen Miao would refuse, she then said that her waist was aching badly and she wanted to buy some pain-relieving plaster from the Shen family.
No matter how slow Shen Miao's reaction was, after being reminded by Wang Dongmei last time, she understood what Chen Xiulan meant. She probably wanted to create an opportunity for herself and Yao Heng to get along.
So she thought of going with the flow and took the opportunity of going to her house to make things clear to her that she only regarded Yao Heng as a brother and had no intention of getting married.
The day Shen Miao arrived at Beiguan Village happened to be another weekend, and it was also morning. If the time was calculated correctly, Yao Heng should be back in more than an hour.
After briefly chatting with Chen Xiulan about family matters, Shen Miao expressed her idea of treating Yao Heng as her brother.
Chen Xiulan did not show any surprise. She said the same thing as Wang Dongmei, that they should give each other a chance to get to know each other better. It would be best if they could be together, but if they were not suitable, there was nothing to regret.
After saying that, she took out the new cloth from the closet and tried it on herself, then measured her size with a tape measure and said that she would be allowed to take it after it was sent to the tailor shop and made.
Well, it seems I have to run again next time...
In order to meet Yao Heng more often, she came up with one idea after another.
As she was measuring herself, Shen Miao couldn't help but ask, "Aunt, there are so many good girls out there, and Brother Yao Heng has so many classmates, why don't you try to get him to meet more people?"
"I'm not familiar with them, unlike me, who knows them all very well."
Shen Miao: …
Well, actually, I don’t know him so well.
Chen Xiulan was not very vain and did not want her son to find a girl from the city. She hoped that Yao Heng could find a down-to-earth and honest girl from the village and live a stable life after marriage.
"We haven't met before, how do you know I'm down-to-earth?"
"Your father married your mother, and they haven't had a quarrel or a quarrel for decades. Aren't they living a down-to-earth life? And your grandfather and grandmother, their lives were so hard in the past, and they also pulled each other through so many years, didn't they?"
After hearing Chen Xiulan’s explanation, Shen Miao became even more curious: “My father and mother don’t know much about my grandma, you know about it?”
Chen Xiulan asked Shen Miao to turn around, and when she was measuring her sleeves with a tape measure, she curled her lips proudly: “I heard this from my mother when I was a child.”
Because the incident happened so long ago, and it happened to their older generation, not many people knew about it. But anyone who lived in the village around Yu City more than 30 years ago would know about Shen Wanshan and Jiang Suqin.
Jiang Suqin is Shen Miao’s grandmother.
More than thirty years ago, just two years after Qin He returned to Yu City, disasters hit several cities in Henan Province. Many people starved to death, and many of those who survived were sick. In order to survive, many people fled to Yu City.
Yu City could not accommodate so many people, so those who could not enter the city temporarily settled in nearby villages.
At that time, Shen Wanshan and Shen Miao's great grandfather ran between villages every day to treat sick refugees. It was also at that time that he met Jiang Suqin from Jiangjiazhuang.
Jiang Suqin is the only daughter of the village chief of Jiangjiazhuang. Because their village is closest to the city, when refugees poured into their village, they caused a lot of trouble.
Although she was a girl, she was able to pick up weapons and lead the villagers to maintain stability in the village. It was also she who asked her father to discuss with the nearby villages to separate the refugees and manage their behavior to prevent any accidents from happening again.
One was responsible for treating the refugees, and the other was responsible for managing the refugees. They took up the responsibility of disaster relief, and at the same time, they set up the thread, and then twisted the thread into a rope bit by bit, pulling each other together.
Their marriage seemed complicated to outsiders: Jiang Suqin had been divorced, and divorce was a big deal for women in that era, but Shen Wanshan happened to be in his thirties, so from this point of view, the two of them were probably just getting by and living together.
But they were wrong.
After getting married, Jiang Suqin managed the household in order so that Shen Wanshan could concentrate on practicing medicine. Although Shen Wanshan did not earn much, they lived a colorful life, and everyone could see the happiness in their busy life.
It was not until Jiang Suqin suffered from severe bleeding during childbirth that Shen Wanshan, a doctor, saved her life from the hands of the King of Hell, but in the end...
On the day Jiang Suqin passed away, Shen Wanshan stayed by her side for two days and one night, and ignored his son no matter how much he cried. From then on, Shen Wanshan devoted all his energy to traditional Chinese medicine, and buried his softest emotions with Jiang Suqin.
Their feelings may not sound so touching, but in that era when people lived together and made a living, Shen Wanshan's friendship with Jiang Suqin was particularly precious.
Chen Xiulan also wanted to marry for happiness because she had heard these old stories when she was a child. Unfortunately... it didn't matter! Even if she had no chance in this life, as long as her son could find a good woman in the future, the two of them could live a life of love for each other.
At Zhao Quan's wedding, Chen Xiulan unexpectedly saw Shen Wanshan, and immediately thought of the Shen family's daughter, and happened to hear that she was not married yet...
As a loving grandfather and an honest father, her character can’t be bad either!
So she thought about bringing Shen Miao and her son together, and tried to get her son the happy marriage she had always hoped for.
"As for feelings, they develop little by little through getting along with each other, just like your grandpa and grandma," Chen Xiulan wrote down the last few measured numbers in a small notebook and continued, "They didn't know each other very well at the beginning, but they relied on such daily contact and finally got together."
Before hearing the story of Grandpa and Grandma, Shen Miao still felt that the four words "love grows over time" had some meaning, but after listening to it, she became more certain and convinced of Grandpa's words about "herbs and wood":
If it were medicine, the longer it was boiled, the thicker it would become. But if it were a piece of wood, no matter how long it was boiled, it would not cure the disease!
Grandpa should have liked Grandma Qin at first, but he knew that he and she were not the same kind of people and that they were not suitable for each other, so he was so decisive when he sent her away;
But for grandma, grandpa has more love.
He loved his grandmother, even though she had been divorced, he still loved her to death, so when his grandmother passed away, he was in so much pain and took a long time to recover.
Therefore, Shen Miao felt that Grandpa and Grandma did not fall in love over time, but recognized each other at first sight, so their medicine would stew more and more thicker in the pot.
"hiss……"
Chen Xiulan was about to take out the shoe box from under the cabinet, but when she bent down, she felt a pain that took her a long time to recover.
“Did you sprain your waist?” Shen Miao quickly helped her to sit down on the bed, “Slow down, come on, come on, wait a while and I’ll give you a massage.”
"No, no."
Chen Xiulan placed her fingers on the lower back and pressed hard twice. It felt painful but also comfortable.
"It hurts here. I don't know if it's because of the change in weather or what, but it hurts recently."
Chen Xiulan doesn't work normally, so it stands to reason that she wouldn't have suffered from lumbar muscle strain.
So Shen Miao gave her a simple diagnosis.
"Does it hurt here?"
"Below, a little below."
"here?"
"Yes, yes, yes! It's right here."
After determining the painful area, Shen Miao took her pulse again and asked her to stick out her tongue to check her tongue coating.
The tongue coating was pale, there were some dark circles under the eyes, and the whites of the eyes were cloudy... and she also felt a weak pulse. A weak pulse will feel weak when pressed and lacks beating strength. It is usually felt when the kidney qi is insufficient.
Well, combined with her lower back pain.
If her judgment is correct, Chen Xiulan should be suffering from kidney deficiency due to excessive sexual intercourse. Due to her older age and excessive exhaustion, the symptoms are relatively obvious.
Of course, the back pain is also due to a sprain, probably due to incorrect posture, so... um...
The cause of the disease was known, but how could Shen Miao say it out loud?
Aunt, please don't have children with your husband so frequently in the future.
Even if you have reached menopause, you can't indulge yourself so recklessly?
Even if you want to indulge yourself, you have to find a better posture? Pay attention to your body?
Well, that's a little hard to say.
After touching her nose and thinking for a long time in her mind, Shen Miao finally thought of a way to make both of them less embarrassed: "Aunt, your kidneys are not very good, maybe you are tired. I will go back and prescribe some medicine for you tomorrow. After taking it, you should rest for a while and don't tire yourself out. "
Glancing at the red on Shen Miao's cheeks, Chen Xiulan understood what she meant, so she nodded awkwardly, "Okay, then I'll lie down and recuperate for a few days."
The more familiar Shen Miao became with Chen Xiulan, the more “cute” she found her to be.
Although she is several decades older than her and is an elder whom she should call aunt, her personality and psychology are still as innocent as a girl who is just beginning to fall in love.
Perhaps because she had lived such a good life since childhood and married well, she has not suffered too much hardship in life. Therefore, when chatting with her, I can hear a lot of her beautiful fantasies, which although unrealistic make her yearn for them very much.
Especially since she was genuinely good to him, and their opinions when chatting about gossip were surprisingly consistent, which made Shen Miao feel that they had met too late.
Chen Xiulan wanted to be a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law with her, but Shen Miao… wanted to be a sister with her!
At around noon, Yao Heng came back.
"Eh? Miaomiao is here?"
Yao Heng seemed to be in a bad mood, but when he saw Shen Miao, a hint of joy quickly flashed across his eyes.
It's like a child who has been doing homework for too long. When he turns his head, he sees a cat taking a nap on the windowsill. Any tiredness he feels will instantly disappear.
"Have you washed your hair today?"
Shen Miao: …
Well, his poisonous mouth still deserves a beating as always.
“Washed!” Shen Miao shook her head, the faint scent of shampoo in her fluffy hair, “I washed it last night, it’s clean.”
After putting down his bag, Yao Heng was about to change his shoes when he suddenly heard a few shouts coming from downstairs.
"Senior Yao Heng, just agree to her~"
"Senior, Shanshan really likes you~"
Chen Xiulan lived on the sixth floor and could still clearly hear what the women were shouting.
"Who is it?"
Shen Miao and Chen Xiulan said in unison.
Yao Heng frowned and said unhappily: "A few girls in school are so annoying. They followed me all the way."
I see, he is in trouble with love affairs~
Those girls didn't know which floor Yao Heng's house was on, so they had to help their sisters confess downstairs.
To be honest, these girls are really brave and don't care about other people's opinions at all. Of course, times are different now. If they went back to the era of our parents decades ago, they would have been arrested as "female hooligans."
I secretly peeked down from the window and saw three girls. I couldn't see their faces clearly because they lived too high up, but they all looked fair and clean, with ponytails that exuded youthfulness.
The two girls kept calling Yao Heng's name, while the protagonist, who liked Yao Heng, just waited downstairs, looking at the many windows upstairs, hoping that Yao Heng would come down to see her.
“Brother Heng, you are very lucky. So many girls like you.” Turning to look at Yao Heng, Shen Miao teased him deliberately.
"Blessing?" Yao Heng rolled his eyes at her. "Do you want this blessing?"
"Senior Yao Heng, just agree to Shanshan!"
"Shanshan has liked you for a long time! Really a long, long time!"
Yao Heng felt a bit annoyed by their noise, and Chen Xiulan also told him to go downstairs and talk things out with those girls, so as not to let the residents in the building laugh at them in the middle of the day.
Yao Heng put on his shoes again and prepared to go downstairs. Before he went out, he suddenly thought of something.
"Can you do me a favor?" Turning around, Yao Heng said to Shen Miao.
"Okay~!"
Because Yao Heng treated her very well, Shen Miao agreed without even thinking about it.
When it comes to "sowing discord" and "breaking up a couple", Shen Miao is more or less good at it. As long as she takes action later, there will be no problem in driving them away.
Following Yao Heng downstairs, Shen Miao saw those girls who were from the same school as him.
The saying "A man of culture is naturally elegant" is absolutely true. The three girls look very literary and are obviously intellectuals with a lot of knowledge. Coupled with their fair faces... Zhu Yingtai in the drama script is probably like them.
Seeing Yao Heng coming down from the building, the two girls who were confessing on behalf of their sisters took the initiative to step forward, but when they saw Shen Miao next to him, they suddenly put away the smiles on their faces.
Not only them, but also the girl who had a crush on Yao Heng, when she looked at Shen Miao, a trace of disappointment and loneliness could be seen in her eyes.
"Senior, you finally came down. Shanshan has been waiting for you for a long time."
"Who is this sister...?"
Shen Miao was only three months younger than Yao Heng. Logically, they were both younger than him, but Shen Miao looked younger and dressed... rustically, so she was naturally treated as a younger sister.
But they were right, I am Yao Heng's sister.
Shen Miao had thought it all out. She was going to play the role of a willful and capricious little sister, and then tell them that her brother already had someone he liked, and that they should stop bothering him.
Before she could even open her mouth, Yao Heng grabbed her hand.
"She's not some sister, she's someone I like."
Two girls: ???
Actress: ???
Shen Miao: ???
Brother, what do you mean? You just started acting without informing me?
Shen Miao tried to pull her hand out, but found that he was holding it tightly.
Shen Miao: …
Isn’t this a bit too fast to enter the play?
How could she and Yao Heng become siblings so quickly? After a quick glance at him, Shen Miao instantly understood what he meant.
If you want to dissuade someone from a relationship, the best way is to use another relationship to make the other person give up, even if it is fake.
Putting away the surprise in her eyes, Shen Miao, who always maintained her actor's qualities, immediately entered into the role and took Yao Heng's arm: "Yes, that's right, Brother Yao Heng is also someone I like."
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