Chapter 61
Yuan Ling was born in the 1970s and is the youngest child in the family, with two older brothers and an older sister. In that era of food and clothing shortages, she did not suffer much because she was the youngest. Yuan Ling was also very hardworking when she was a girl. After attending a technical secondary medical school, she found ways to become a disciple and learn Chinese medicine. In her twenties, she established herself in a traditional Chinese medicine hospital with her excellent medical skills.
She and Li Qingyao's father, Li Xizhou, met in the hospital. At that time, Li Xizhou was a young criminal policeman who had just joined the work. He was injured during a mission. After finishing the Western medicine treatment, his family found a Chinese medicine doctor, who was Yuan Ling's master, to prescribe medicine for his treatment. After a few attempts, Li Xizhou finally won over the old Chinese doctor's youngest and most gentle apprentice.
The following year, they got married and gave birth to Li Qingyao. Both of them are busy with work. They say they are open-minded parents, but in fact they just don't pay much attention to Li Qingyao. However, no matter their professional characteristics or their personalities, both of them are particularly responsible, reasonable, and meticulous in their work towards people and things. Yuan Ling is a kind person, and Li Xizhou is a resolute person. In such a family environment, Li Qingyao was influenced by his surroundings and became very sensible and hardworking since childhood. He always understood things better than his peers. Therefore, she was so open-minded, confident and precocious in middle school. Because of this characteristic of their daughter, the couple respect her very much, listen to her opinions on everything, and do not treat her completely as a child.
Therefore, Li Qingyao is now 24 years old, and the only period when his growth was off track was the four years from the second semester of his senior year in high school to the second semester of his junior year in college. That was also the most painful time in Yuan Ling's heart. Every week, Yuan Ling would prepare Chinese medicine and prescribe Western anti-depressant medicine and send them to her daughter. When she looked at her silent and wooden daughter, she felt as if her heart was being cut out.
By his senior year, Li Qingyao's condition had stabilized and he stopped taking medication. The pain in his heart seemed to have finally been healed, and he had no problems with either psychological tests or depression diagnosis. She looked for a job, took civil service exams, and used connections with clear goals in mind and followed a routine. She seemed even more cheerful, positive, and sophisticated than before. She seemed to be back on the bright and correct path of life.
As a result, after spending more than a year in the envied provincial department, Li Qingyao was suddenly assigned to the front-line criminal police team, the team where her brother had worked before his disappearance and which Chen Pu was currently leading. After she told her parents about this decision, Father Li was silent for a while and said, "Just do whatever you want to do." Yuan Ling felt as if it was just as she expected, and her heart, which had been uneasy before, now felt relieved.
Yuan Ling had a hunch that it would not be a bad thing for her daughter to go there, and maybe things would get better for her.
Because Chen Pu is here. Even though they hadn't seen each other for several years, Yuan Ling knew that Chen Pu would definitely protect her daughter, Li Jincheng's sister.
Therefore, when Yuan Ling and her apprentice Xiao Luo were sitting on benches outside the orthopedic operating room and saw Li Qingyao and Chen Pu walking over from the other end of the corridor, she felt both surprised and expectant.
The emergency examination had been completed, and the orthopedic doctor would take another ten minutes to come and put a plaster cast on her, so the master and apprentice sat at the end of the empty corridor waiting.
Li Qingyao asked: "Mom, are you okay?"
Yuan Ling: "It's just a minor injury. I told you not to come." But her eyes fell on the person behind her. The old Chinese doctor, who was always calm and gentle, had tears in his eyes.
Li Qingyao felt bad when he saw his mother's reaction, and said, "When Dad called, I had just finished a mission with Chen Pu. When he found out, he wanted to come too."
Yuan Ling bit her lip.
Chen Pu, holding a handful of gifts, glanced at Yuan Ling, then lowered his eyes and called out, "Aunt Yuan." He wanted to say a few more words of concern, but his throat seemed to be blocked and he couldn't utter a single word.
Yuan Ling said softly, "Okay, okay, you're so busy at work, but you still come to see me. Really, what else are you talking about? You're just being picky."
Chen Pu smiled, his voice a little hoarse: "I'm happy to do that."
This sentence made all four of them laugh.
But Yuan Ling really wanted to take a good look at him, this good boy who studied and worked with her son. After not seeing him for seven years, he seems to have grown taller. If Li Jincheng were still alive, he might not be as tall as Chen Pu now. He had also become darker and thinner, with calm features and the cold and stern temperament that only an experienced detective could have. The muscles and bones of a grown man are strong and healthy. He is no longer the flashy, cold-faced but sweet-hearted boy.
If Jincheng were still alive, would he grow up to look similar to Chen Pu?
Noticing Yuan Ling's gaze, Chen Pu raised his head and smiled at her.
Yuan Ling's eyes suddenly turned red. Chen Pu felt uncomfortable as well. He continued to stand there like a piece of wood, neither speaking nor moving.
Li Qingyao had already squatted beside Yuan Ling and gently lifted up her injured foot. Although only two small bones were broken, a cast would be enough and no surgery was needed. But seeing the injuries in person was still very scary. The instep of his foot was swollen as high as his head, and was blue and purple, and there were abrasions and blood on his ankle.
Li Qingyao was angry but also wanted to laugh: "Tell me, how could a bone be broken just by going down the stairs?"
Yuan Ling said dejectedly: "I was holding the acupuncture bag in my hand and thinking about the treatment plan. I stepped on empty air and broke my instep."
"Do we need to remove the stairs in your clinic and install a spiral slide so that you don't have to lift your feet when walking, which will make it completely safer?"
"That's really hard to say."
Chen Pu just wanted to laugh when he heard it, and he found it interesting. He always thought that Yuan Ling's words were law at home, and Li's father and Li Jincheng were always well behaved in front of Yuan Ling. I didn't expect that the devil would be stronger than the good. Li Qingyao was so arrogant in front of her mother.
Chen Pu suddenly felt that the "oppression" he had suffered all along seemed to be nothing.
At this time, a nurse came over with a list and said, "Yuan Ling? Family members, please go and pay the fee and get the plaster and protective gear back."
Xiao Luo stood up and said, "I'll go."
Li Qingyao: "Let's go together. Chen Pu, you stay with my mom."
Chen Pu looked at her. Her face was indifferent and she still didn't look him in the eye. But he understood that this was to leave space for him to talk to Aunt Yuan.
In front of Yuan Ling, Chen Pu naturally had to give Li Qingyao enough face and also couldn't let Yuan Ling see any of the cold war between them. He smiled and said, "I guarantee to complete the task!"
Li Qingyao glanced at him, then turned and left.
Yuan Ling saw all the little interactions between the two. She remained calm and said to Chen Pu with a smile, "Chen Pu, come and sit down."
Chen Pu immediately sat down beside her obediently, but kept a certain distance to avoid touching her injured leg. He looked down at her foot and said, "Aunt Yuan, you'll have to wait two or three months. Don't get out of bed until the plaster is done."
Yuan Ling said, "I know. I plan to lie on the bed in the clinic and take the patient's pulse and prescribe medicine."
Chen Pu was amused again and said, "You are really dedicated. I will learn from you."
Yuan Ling also laughed.
They were both quiet for a while. Seven years have passed, and with Li Jincheng missing, the two wanted to chat like they did in the past, as close friends regardless of age difference, but they didn't know where to start.
Chen Pu suddenly stretched out his wrist and said, "Aunt Yuan, you haven't taken my pulse for a long time."
Yuan Ling smiled and put three fingers on his wrist, feeling it for a while, then asked him to stick out his tongue, asked about his current daily routine, and asked him if he had any discomfort.
Chen Pu said he didn't feel any discomfort, but he had heartburn when eating recently, got easily inflamed, had mouth ulcers, and had trouble sleeping.
Yuan Ling thought for a moment and came to a conclusion: "Overall, it's pretty good. You policemen have stronger physical foundations than most people. There are just two things that are a little lacking. One is... do you often stay up late?"
"Awesome, how did you figure that out?"
"The kidney energy is a little weaker than it was seven years ago. Young people of your generation love to stay up late, and once you stay up too much, your kidney pulse will be affected to some extent."
Chen Pu wanted to explain that he stayed up late because of work. But what’s the point of this? As long as the topic of kidneys is involved, no man wants to talk about it.
Seeing his slightly embarrassed look, Yuan Ling laughed and said, "Didn't I say before that your health is better than most people's? It's just that compared to me, this part is slightly damaged. In the future, try to stay up less late. Health is the most important thing."
Chen Pu nodded and said yes, then asked, "What about the second point?"
Yuan Ling looked in the direction where Li Qingyao left and raised her eyebrows: "Do you feel so much pressure as a criminal police officer? Same as Qingyao, liver qi is stagnant, but your liver fire is much stronger than hers. Aren't most of the oral ulcers on the sides of the mouth? Think about everything more positively, there is still a long way to go. Emotions are the most hurtful, and even a strong body cannot withstand internal friction."
Chen Pu was silent because of what she said, but afraid that she would see through him, he lowered his head and said, "You are right."
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Small Theatre "My Second Brother's Phone Call"
On the third night in Yunnan, Chen Pu received a call from his mother.
That day they had just found out the whereabouts of Lu Xing and Li Meiling, which was considered a small breakthrough. The group of criminal police were quite happy and went to eat Yunnan barbecue together.
Chen Pu’s favorite thing before was barbecue and beer, and when he lived with Li Jincheng, they often ate skewers. But he had no appetite today. Listening to others bragging at the table, he ate some roasted red peppers and eggplants instead of meat for the first time. It's nothing, it's just heartburn.
That's when my mother called.
After asking about Chen Pu's work and health, the mother changed the subject: "Your eldest brother's colleague has a younger sister who graduated from a key university with a master's degree and is now a clerk in their office. I met her last time I had dinner with her. She is very pretty and has a good personality. I think you will like her after you meet her. Come back to Yunnan this time to meet her. She is such a good girl, and I think she is a good match for you. I don't want you to miss her. A civil servant and a police officer, how great!"
Chen Pu just felt a headache after hearing this: "No, I'm not interested."
"How come you're not interested in someone before you even meet them? You're already 29, if you keep putting it off, you're really not going to be able to find a wife."
"I really don't want to fall in love right now, Mom, can you please stop worrying about me?"
The mother's heart sank and some bad associations came to her mind.
The phone was taken away, and Chen Pu's second brother Chen Lan's cold voice came: "Talk to mom nicely, why don't you agree to the blind date?"
Chen Pu's momentum instantly waned: "I really don't have time recently. I'm busy and on a business trip."
Chen Lan sneered: "When will you come back? We'll meet on the day you come back, no matter how late it is. We can have supper. I'll be there in person."
Chen Pu really wanted to curse. His brother is in his forties and he is really sick!
But who is Chen Lan? He is a domineering CEO in the traditional sense. He might really do something like personally taking him to a blind date.
Unless you give him an absolutely reasonable reason. After all, the domineering president still has brains and is reasonable most of the time.
Chen Pu simply confessed: "I've been heartbroken, and I'm really not in the mood to meet other girls."
Chen Lan sighed and asked, "The lychee girl from last time?"
Chen Pu was horrified: "How did you know?!"
"Am I blind? The last time you went home, you were absent-minded and had amorous feelings. In all these years, when have you ever given even a single melon seed to your colleagues? Last time, you snatched away all the lychees that my parents liked to eat. You were so inhumane. I can't tell who you were trying to please."
Chen Pu was silent for a while, then said, "No need to please me in the future."
"colleague?"
"Um."
"You are still eating grass in your own backyard. The person is younger than you. How shameless."
Chen Pu finally couldn't stand it anymore: "Are you here to comfort me or to laugh at me? I just want an old cow to eat young grass, but I can't eat it! You got married in your thirties, so what?"
Chen Lan didn't take Chen Pu's attack to heart at all. Instead, he said softly, "Since you are heartbroken, I won't bother with you and will even give you some advice. Tell me, how did you break up? Were you dumped or did you just fail to catch up with the person?"
Chen Lan's attitude was so calm that Chen Pu's fist felt like hitting cotton. He said in a muffled voice, "I didn't pursue her. She already has someone she likes."
"What did she say?"
"I can see that."
"Just the look in your eyes?"
Chen Pu: ...
Chen Pu: "Nothing's wrong yet, I'll hang up now. I definitely won't go on the blind date, so tell mom to stop bothering me."
"You dare to hang up before I finish talking?"
Chen Pu...didn’t dare to hang up.
With a cold face, he listened attentively.
"Want to hear my objective evaluation?"
"explain."
"In fact, your overall conditions are quite good. You are 29 years old, neither too old nor too young. This is your first advantage. You can extend your age upwards to 40 years old, and you can also extend your age downwards to 18 years old."
Chen Pu laughed.
His brother continued in a serious tone, "Advantage two, you look decent; advantage three, you have a respectable job; advantage four, your family is not short of money; advantage five, is you as a person. You have the best character among the three of us brothers. Girls who meet you at first may find you boring, but after getting to know you for a long time, they will understand that you are reliable, can make decisions and can handle things. You are a kind and pure person."
Chen Pu was stunned.
"Brother... do you really think I..."
Chen Lan interrupted him without hesitation: "So I really want to know, how outstanding is this man, that he surpassed you? You just accepted it so cowardly. It's rare to see you being moved, so why don't you think about fighting for it? Wake up, what era is it now? As long as you are not married, it's fair competition. Your second sister-in-law is obsessed with some novels about male mistresses taking the top spot recently, saying that girls nowadays are the most attracted to this. Why don't you dare to fight for the top spot?"
Chen Pu: “…”
What are his second brother's values? This matter cannot be discussed!
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