Shen Yunzhi stroked his beard. Yang Xi leaned closer, about to ask a question, when suddenly a crowd surged outside, shouting, "Help! Murder! Help!"
Tracking down criminals and maintaining public order are the duties of constables. Yang Xi stood up nimbly and ran out without saying a word.
Before Zhou Chenyu could stop him, he disappeared. It was absolutely true that he was a very straight man.
She looked out the door, her face full of frustration: "They just left me like that?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Yunzhi suppressed a laugh. "Miss, that's just how he is. Let's not worry about him; your injury is the most important thing. Your foot injury is serious; I need to scrape the bone to treat it."
"Scraping the bone to treat the injury?" Zhou Chenyu turned around instantly, her eyes widening in horror. "Doctor, are you serious?"
“Yes.” Shen Yunzhi took out his medical instruments. “The bone in your ankle is broken. I will make an incision and set the bone. Don’t worry, I have been practicing medicine for decades and I will not harm you.”
Zhou Chenyu glanced at the clinic. It looked like it had been open for quite some time, and it didn't seem like a quack doctor.
Yang Xi has already left, so what else could she possibly have to worry about?
If not now, when?
Zhou Chenyu limped to his feet, wiped away his tears, and smiled, "Doctor, my family is dirt poor, and Yang Bantou is gone. I have no money for treatment. You don't need to see a doctor for my foot. Thank you."
Shen Yunzhi looked at her leg with concern, wanting to stop her: "Miss, is your leg injury beyond repair?"
"I won't treat it anymore. Thank you." Zhou Chenyu waved her hand and left without looking back.
Shen Yunzhi watched as the woman limped out the door, and once she was a little further away, she walked briskly as if nothing had happened.
He picked up a teacup from the side and couldn't help but laugh. "You're the first person to pretend to be sick in front of me, Shen Yunzhi. This girl is quite interesting, much more interesting than Yang Xi."
After a cup of tea, Yang Xi hurriedly returned, but Zhou Chenyu was no longer in the room. "Where is she?"
"She's gone." Shen Yunzhi leaned against the table while preparing medicine. "That girl saw you leave and was worried that she wouldn't have the money to pay, so she left shortly after you left."
Yang Xi strode over and scolded him, "Shen Yunzhi, even if I weren't here, you can't let her go alone! Doctors have the heart of parents. She has a leg injury. What will happen to her, a weak woman, if something happens to her on the way?"
"A weak woman?" Shen Yunzhi scoffed, slowly raising his eyes. "Who said she was injured?"
"What do you mean by that?" Yang Xi frowned and looked at him.
Shen Yunzhi put down his things, walked over, poured a cup of tea, sat down to the side, and said slowly, "That girl only had a minor scratch on her leg; she didn't sprain her ankle at all. You've been fooled by her."
"What?" Yang Xi's eyes widened in disbelief. Recalling everything that had just happened, his face instantly turned red. He picked up the tea beside him and angrily drank it all in one gulp.
Seeing this, Shen Yunzhi laughed and teased him, "That woman is no relation to you, why would she lie to you? Brother, did you get into some romantic entanglements somewhere?"
Yang Xi glared at him unhappily, then sat down with his fist clenched: "I'm busy with official duties all year round, how could I have any romantic entanglements? She's just a cunning woman."
"She managed to fool you, that's quite something," Shen Yunzhi said with a sneer. "That woman might become my sister-in-law someday, right?"
"You!" Yang Xi pointed angrily at him, but was interrupted by a young and spoiled woman, "What are you talking about?"
Shen Yunzhi looked at Li Jiao, who had just arrived, and stopped joking. He immediately went up to her like a lackey, "Wife, what brings you here?"
Li Jiao'ang walked into the house and asked, "What? As your wife, can't I come to the clinic you run?"
"Who is spouting such nonsense!" Shen Yunzhi shouted, then smiled slickly, "Not to mention my clinic, even my people are yours."
Yang Xi looked at Shen Yunzhi's expression as he spoke, then turned his head speechlessly to look outside the door.
Li Jiao wasn't buying his act. "What were you talking about earlier, women?"
Shen Yunzhi feigned ignorance, "Huh? What woman?"
"I clearly heard it!" Li Jiao looked at Yang Xi. "Yang Xi, tell me!"
Seeing Shen Yunzhi's nervous expression, Yang Xi raised the corners of his lips, took a sip of tea, and said, "Sister Jiao, it's nothing, just a woman."
“Woman.” Li Jiao closed her eyes slightly. Shen Yunzhi looked at Yang Xi and winked hard to signal him.
Yang Xi pretended not to see it and added fuel to the fire: "That woman came for Old Shen, but Old Shen wants to marry me. Sister Jiao, you have to do something about him."
"You, Shen Yunzhi, how dare you lie to me!" Li Jiao twisted Shen Yunzhi's ear, and Shen Yunzhi was powerless to fight back, only able to grimace and accuse, "Yang Xi, you!"
——
After leaving the clinic, Zhou Chenyu limped for a while, pretending to walk, but then he couldn't keep up the act any longer and straightened his back to walk normally.
She couldn't help but laugh when she thought about how Yang Xi's earlobes had gradually turned red.
He appears to be a cold and aloof straight man, but in reality, his earlobes turn red at the slightest touch.
Such a contrast is actually quite cute.
Zhou Chenyu suddenly looked forward to seeing him blush and say one thing but mean another; that would be hilarious. She laughed all the way, thinking about it.
By the time we returned to the entrance of Zhoujia Village, the sun had already set. Children were gathered under the banyan tree at the village entrance, playing with the birds they had caught from the fields.
As the rice paddies grew increasingly barren, piles of straw were set ablaze, sending wisps of grayish-white smoke into the air and spreading near the village.
The fiery red sunset was faintly visible through the cooking smoke, and the surrounding clouds were dyed a red glow, just like the fiery clouds in the Chinese textbook.
A man with his upper body exposed carried back rice, and a woman cleaned up the mess. All the men greeted her, including some who had previously given her the cold shoulder.
Looking at these surprising changes, Zhou Chenyu realized that their dessert shop had become profitable, so those who used to look down on them were now smiling.
In this kind of relationship, when you're doing well, they're the ones who add to your glory. But if you fall on hard times, the same people will come back to kick you while you're down.
Zhou Chenyu simply smiled politely in return, without engaging in further contact, and returned home after saying goodbye.
Hearing the sound, Baoyu rushed out to open the door, "Sister, you're finally back."
Zhou Chenyu peered into the yard from the doorway. "I'm back so late, is Grandma worried?"
Baoyu frowned in annoyance. "I've reassured Mother, so she's not worried. But I was worried sick. Sister, why are you so late? Were you bullied?"
Zhou Chenyu breathed a sigh of relief, then chuckled and poked his forehead. "You think it's possible for me to be bullied?"
Baoyu covered his forehead, glanced at his sister's happy expression, and leaned closer with a gossipy look on his face, asking with an ambiguous smile, "Sister, did you see Headman Yang?"
"Why should children meddle in adults' affairs?"
Zhou Chenyu pretended to scold him sternly, leaving him outside the door, and went inside herself.
Looking at the undisguised smile on her sister's face, Baoyu blinked lightly, "Yang Bantou as my brother-in-law seems pretty good."
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