Mutual understanding
The sky was hazy with a faint glow, and the endless layers of clouds pressed against the horizon, seemingly within reach.
In the early morning, there were not many people on the street.
Liu Niang covered her hair with a scarf that was messed up by the wind and entered the kitchen through the back door carrying a basket of vegetables.
The stove was already burning with firewood, and the water in the large pot was bubbling. Liu Niang placed the basket on the ground and raised her hand to tie her hair scarf neatly again, looking at the water surface.
At this time, Dan Ye walked in from outside, yawning. She half-closed her eyes, walked to Liu Niang, stopped, and leaned half of her body against her.
"The Madam and the others slept late last night, so I'm afraid they won't have much of an appetite this morning. Serve them with some pickled radish later; it'll whet your appetite."
Liu Niang: "I understand. Then I will make something appetizing for breakfast today."
Inside the room, it was still dark behind the curtains.
Shi Yanqing's consciousness slowly withdrew from the dream. After a while, she felt the breath of another person beside her pillow.
She moved her head, opened her eyes and looked at Zhou Hanzhang.
But I saw that he had woken up and was staring at the curtains above the bed, wondering what he was thinking.
As if noticing her gaze, Zhou Hanzhang turned his head to look at her, "Awake?"
The man caught her gaze.
Shi Yanqing subconsciously looked away, lowered his eyes slightly to look at the pattern on the quilt, and buried his head in the quilt again.
"Yeah, I'm awake."
After she finished speaking, she turned over and wanted to lie on her side to talk to Zhou Hanzhang.
After he noticed it, he cooperated by turning his body to the side.
Although the two were facing each other, Shi Yanqing's head was resting on the bottom of the pillow, while Zhou Hanzhang was sleeping higher up.
Zhou Hanzhang could only see her head and her delicate features.
"You have a day off today. Do you want to go with me to the teacher's house for dinner?" Shi Yanqing thought about what happened yesterday and felt that he couldn't keep Zhou Hanzhang stuck in the house. He wanted to take him out for a walk to relax.
"The last time I went there, the teacher and An An kept asking me when you would come. Especially An An, she likes you so much."
Zhou Hanzhang couldn't help but chuckle at these accusatory words. "That's because I always bring her candy figurines whenever I go. She's young and doesn't know how to control herself. You and the teacher are close to her, so naturally you keep an eye on her. With that comparison, she's naturally happy to see me."
"But she still likes you and the teacher the most."
After hearing this, Shi Yanqing fell silent.
She had never thought that this was the reason. She thought An An wanted to see Zhou Hanzhang just because she wanted to see him.
I didn't expect it was because I was craving candy.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Zhou Hanzhang thought she didn't believe it, so he told her some more things to prove it.
"When I went there before, she always pulled me aside to ask about your past."
"I told her that you have been learning medicine since you were a child with your master, and you have saved many lives and cured many people's illnesses. Every time she heard this, she would jump up excitedly and say that she wanted to learn medicine too."
"No wonder An An suddenly came to me one day and said she wanted to learn medicine and save many people. I didn't expect it to be like this."
Shi Yanqing found it a little funny, but felt soft in his heart.
Because ever since Pang Jiuan said this, he has been learning to read the herbal picture book.
She really is doing this.
Shi Yanqing thought of herself when she was a child. At that time, she also decided to leave home to study medicine for some reasons.
After that, the two chatted in bed for a while, and only got up and washed up at around noon.
In the main hall, breakfast was already laid out on the table.
Liu Niang made vegetarian noodles, and the side dishes were stir-fried pork with sour beans and stir-fried black beans with mushrooms.
Both mixed dishes tasted delicious. By the end of their meal, Shi Yanqing and Zhou Hanzhang had sweat on their foreheads, their bodies felt warm, and they felt full of energy.
I am going to my teacher's house for dinner today. Shi Yanqing posted a notice at the door of the clinic three days ago stating that there will be no doctor seeing patients in the afternoon.
Not long after the clinic opened in the morning, several patients waiting for follow-up visits were already waiting at the door.
After the medicine boy finished cleaning the place, he hurried out to persuade them to go in and wait.
After all, the temperature is still cold in the morning. If you catch a cold, it would be more trouble than gain.
When Shi Yanqing arrived, the other patients were persuaded and all went into the clinic and sat inside waiting for her.
"Doctor Shi is here." The patient inside saw Shi Yanqing come in and quickly stood up and shouted.
The remaining few people also stood up and went forward together.
Shi Yanqing took off the medicine bag from his body and put it on the counter.
She walked up to them and smiled gently, "You came so early, but have you had breakfast? If not, I'll ask Xiao He to go out and buy some buns."
Xiao He is a medicine boy in the clinic. He is fourteen years old and his full name is He Sumu.
The clinic had only been open for two days when Xiao He came to visit, saying that he had studied medicine with his father since childhood and had some knowledge of pharmacology. He hoped that Shi Yanqing would accept him to help out in the clinic.
The clinic was short of staff at the time, so Shi Yanqing agreed after observing him.
During this period, Xiao He has been working very hard and has a steady personality.
Shi Yanqing decided to find some time to take out the medical books he brought from the capital and give them to him, so that he could see if there was anything suitable for him to study.
Hearing her say this, one of the patients quickly waved his hands.
"We ate, we ate. We all came here after breakfast."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone echoed him.
"Yes, we remember what you said before, Doctor Shi, that we can't skip breakfast in the morning, as it can easily harm our health."
Shi Yanqing observed that their faces were rosy and did not look like they had not eaten breakfast, so he nodded.
"Then I will start my follow-up examination for you to see if you still need to take medicine."
"Okay, I'll trouble you, Doctor Shi."
The follow-up consultation was very quick. Shi Yanqing had a good memory and remembered everyone's condition. After taking the pulse and asking about the specific situation, she thought about it for a while and changed the prescription.
Then ask someone to take the prescription to the pharmacy next door to get the medicine.
There weren't many patients in the morning, about a dozen or so, most of them had minor ailments, and no one had a serious illness.
At noon, after Shi Yanqing finished her meal at the clinic, she waited for a few minutes but no one came to see the doctor, so she went back home with Tan Ye.
In the mansion, Zhou Hanzhang stayed in the study all morning handling official business. He was so busy that he had not yet had lunch when Yanqing came back.
Shi'an was guarding the door of the study. When he saw Shi Yanqing from afar, he hurried forward and complained in a low voice.
Shi Yanqing was originally in a good mood, but after listening to Shi'an's complaint, the smile in her eyes disappeared instantly, but the corners of her mouth were still curved.
"Okay, I understand. Go to the kitchen and prepare some food."
Shian suddenly felt guilty for some reason: "Yes, ma'am."
After he left, Shi Yanqing walked towards the study.
The door of the study was closed, and Shi Yanqing raised his hand and knocked.
"Han Zhang, am I coming in?"
Zhou Hanzhang, who was handling official business at his desk:!
He quickly put down the pen in his hand, walked to the door and opened it.
After the door opened, before Shi Yanqing could say anything, she heard Zhou Hanzhang surrounding her and asking about her well-being.
"Yanqing, were you busy at the clinic this morning? Do you want to sit down and rest for a while?"
Seeing this man looking guilty, Shi Yanqing became even angrier.
She walked to the wooden chair in the study and sat down, just looking at the man without saying a word.
Zhou Hanzhang felt a little at a loss. He was silent for a moment, then walked to Shi Yanqing and held her hand.
"I'm wrong. I shouldn't have been so busy that I haven't eaten yet."
Obviously, he knew where he was wrong.
Shi Yanqing moved, trying to pull his hand away.
But there was no twitch.
Seeing this, Zhou Hanzhang tightened his grip even more.
"I finally understand why you ate so much when you came back from the county government office at night." Shi Yanqing said in a light tone.
Her mood at the moment was very complicated. She didn't know when her emotions were affected by Zhou Hanzhang.
In the past, she would never be like this.
Shi Yanqing pulled his hand again, but still didn't move.
She lowered her eyes, hiding the emotions in them, and said lightly, "Let go first."
Zhou Hanzhang didn't dare to let go, but he also didn't dare not to let go.
He looked at Shi Yanqing's face pitifully, trying to see what she was feeling at the moment.
Shi Yanqing suddenly sighed. She looked up at Zhou Hanzhang with a hint of helplessness in her eyes. "Alright, I won't scold you, let alone argue with you. Just remember that three times is the limit."
"I guess you've missed lunch quite a bit. If you do that again, I'll make you feel the pain of not being able to eat. Remember that?"
Zhou Hanzhang nodded immediately.
He held Shi Yanqing's hand again, but this time he didn't feel as cautious as before.
"Yanqing."
Shi Yanqing responded: "What's wrong?"
Zhou Hanzhang fell silent, then said after a while, "Yanqing."
Shi Yanqing now understood that this person was simply calling his name.
She lowered her eyes and looked at the hand she was holding. She felt helpless, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but rise a little.
"Yanqing, I want to call you by your nickname." Zhou Hanzhang suddenly said after playing with her fingers for a while.
Shi Yanqing was stunned, then told him his nickname.
"Huahua, my nickname is Huahua."
"But no one has called me by this nickname since my parents passed away."
She spoke slowly, her voice filled with nostalgia.
She vaguely remembered that before she was four years old, two adults always held her in their arms and played in the garden.
They pointed to the blooming flowers and said to her, "This is a fresh flower. Isn't it beautiful? When our Huahua grows up, she will be as beautiful as a flower."
Now the flowers have grown, but the person is gone.
"Huahua," Zhou Hanzhang chanted, "Huahua, Huahua."
"My name is Zhuye'er, a flower and a leaf. Our nicknames are really meant to be together."
When Shi Yanqing heard this, he looked at him and wanted to say something.
There was a knock on the study door from outside.
"Madam, the meal you ordered is ready."
What she was about to say turned into urging, "The food is ready, why don't you go and eat it quickly."
Zhou Hanzhang reluctantly let go of his hand, stood up and opened the study door.
Outside the door, Shian was given a bewildered stare.
He looked at the door that was closed again, raised his hand and stroked his chin. What happened?
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