After the pastries were snatched away, Zhao Qingling wore an expression of utter disbelief.
But the mother-daughter pair no longer cared about her feelings—they sprinted all the way back to the Guest House.
“Eww~ those two look like Dr. Lin’s mother and sister! Did they eat something bad? The smell is really strong,” remarked a passerby, wrinkling their nose in disgust.
Zhao Qingling was on the verge of tears. Those pastry vouchers had been so hard for her to save up.
Just after getting off work, Lin Jianguo heard that his mother and sister had caused trouble again.
“Can’t you stop causing trouble? If you have stomach issues, couldn’t you find a restroom somewhere instead of rushing back here?”
Worst of all, they had been seen—and smelled—by others!
Lin Jianguo felt a pain in his chest from frustration. These daily troubles were driving him insane.
Zhao Qingling had also approached him earlier, complaining that the pastries she bought were snatched away by them and that they had been rude to her.
Liu Cuihua and Lin Hongmei lay slumped in chairs, nearly exhausted to the point of collapse.
“We didn’t cause any trouble. We just went to see Mingxi, and our stomach issues are because of her medicine. There’s something wrong with that Liang Cha she made.”
These two never admitted their mistakes—it was always someone else’s fault.
“Son, go talk to your superiors. Tell them there’s a problem with Mingxi’s Liang Cha—it made us sick.”
Lin Jianguo closed his eyes, unwilling to even look at them.
“What is there to say? Everyone else drinks the Liang Cha without any issues—only you two get sick.” He himself had bought Suan Mei Tang and Liang Cha packets, and the heat-relief effects were genuinely good.
“Just don’t go looking for her anymore. I have nothing to do with her now. If you want to embarrass me, then go ahead and seek her out.”
Lin Jianguo truly didn’t know what to do with them. As a son and brother, he believed he had done his best, but they were becoming increasingly unreasonable.
Seeing that Lin Jianguo seemed genuinely angry, Liu Cuihua and her daughter exchanged glances and guiltily lowered their heads.
Mingxi and Yue Kai had already returned to her place. After seeing her home, Yue Kai prepared to leave.
Not only had Yue Kai brought food, but he also brought some money and vouchers.
Mingxi thought he was far too extravagant. “You should keep this money and these vouchers for yourself. I don’t have many expenses here.”
She had already bought clothes, and for meals, if Yue Kai didn’t bring food over, she usually ate at the hospital cafeteria.
The cafeteria meals were cheap. Though the taste was average, they offered a balance of meat and vegetables, and the nutrition was decent.
Yue Kai ruffled Mingxi’s hair and said with a smile, “I’m a grown man—I don’t need all this. Consider it helping me out.”
“Grandpa Qi even gave me a lot of fabric vouchers. My clothes are provided, so I don’t need these. If you don’t use them, you can trade with others. Just take them for now.”
He was happy to spend money on the person he cared about.
Old Qi had remarked some time ago that Yue Kai had changed a lot. Well, of course—when you have someone you like, change is natural.
Unable to refuse, Mingxi accepted the gifts.
Aside from her difficult circumstances when she first arrived, she had never really lacked for money since coming here.
“Alright then, I’ll save this for now. Come find me if you ever run short of money,” Mingxi stored nearly all the money Yue Kai had given her, though she had used some of the ration coupons.
After all, everything required coupons in this era—coupons were even more valuable than cash. Some coupons were so scarce that people couldn’t obtain them even if they wanted to.
Seeing her accept the money, Yue Kai actually breathed a sigh of relief.
He had genuinely feared Mingxi might refuse him. He’d prefer if she accepted everything—if she took nothing at all, that would be truly alarming.
Delivering these items to Mingxi was secondary today; the main reason was that Yue Kai had another mission coming up.
“Mingxi, I’ll likely be away for about a month. If anything comes up, go find Wang Jun—he’s the husband of your patient Tu Xiaoli.”
Mingxi looked at Yue Kai with concern. He always wore such a carefree smile around her that she’d nearly forgotten the nature of his profession.
When they first met, Yue Kai had been covered in wounds.
Gently stroking her eyelids, he reassured her: “Don’t worry. Last time was just an accident. In all my years in this world, that was the only time I’ve ever been at a disadvantage.”
“But that misfortune brought its own compensation from heaven—if I hadn’t been injured, how would I have met you?”
Yue Kai felt truly grateful to fate. Though he had friends and family in this era, he’d always felt somewhat adrift—until meeting her felt different.
Mingxi pressed her lips together and turned to rummage through her room, emerging with several medicine bottles.
“These are medicines I prepared myself. If your mission takes you into wilderness areas, the green bottle can refresh your mind and repel mosquitoes. The other one can be applied to wounds—it has anti-inflammatory and hemostatic properties. This smallest bottle contains Medicinal Pills for emergency situations.”
While this last bottle couldn’t save lives, it could sustain vital energy in critical moments.
When Mingxi studied medicine, she had several mentors. These Medicinal Pills came from a secret formula passed down by one of them.
The preparation was quite complex, requiring rare ingredients that made mass production impossible.
The small bottle contained only about a dozen tiny pills, filling less than one-third of the container.
She’d only managed to make these by salvaging discarded materials. During her first days working at the pharmacy, some inexperienced warehouse staff had thrown out many medicinal herbs that had become damp or spoiled from prolonged storage.
Suspecting there might be some usable ingredients, Mingxi had searched through the discarded materials and indeed found some quality remnants, enabling her to produce this small batch.
She wasn’t concerned about the medicine attracting suspicion—she could always claim it was a family recipe, which was plausible since the Ming family had produced physicians for generations.
Clutching the small bottles, Yue Kai felt his nose tingling with emotion. He pulled Mingxi into a fierce embrace, murmuring into her shoulder: “Don’t worry. No matter what happens, I’ll definitely return safely.”
Mingxi felt droplets fall on her neck. Looking up in surprise, she asked: “Are you crying?”
Yue Kai refused to lift his head. “I’m not. Why would I cry?”
After a two-second pause, Mingxi observed: “But your voice sounds tearful now.”
What’s wrong with crying? Who says men can’t cry? A handsome man’s tears can be quite captivating and alluring.
Cupping Yue Kai’s face in her hands, Mingxi examined his features and sighed admiringly: “Your tear-streaked face truly resembles pear blossoms glistening with rain. The phrase ‘a beauty’s falling tears’ was made for you.”
Yue Kai instantly held back his tears. “Neither of these idioms really suit me.”
Mingxi nodded firmly. “They do, of course they do. If only I had a camera—I could capture this moment perfectly.”
Though it was hardly appropriate to say so, she genuinely adored seeing Yue Kai in this tearful state.
During training, he was an iron-willed tough guy, his beautiful face always stern and cold. But now, with his eyes rimmed red, the tip of his nose tinged pink, and tears clinging to his lashes, refusing to fall—he looked utterly irresistible!