Qin Xian ignored her and turned back straight to the medical clinic.
Li Yingtang followed in right after him, closing the door from inside and peering through the crack to look outside.
On the ground, Cheng Fang had already been picked up by Cheng San and placed onto a flatbed cart.
“Auntie, let’s go. Today Dr. Qin’s wife came over and we…” Cheng San’s voice gradually lowered.
Cheng Fang suddenly sat up in shock, eyes wide open. “What did you say? Dr. Qin has a wife?”
“Oh, Fang’er, you’re awake. Yes. Before we found you, some old woman shouted about catching an adulterer, which made the whole village rush over and kick the door, ruining someone’s good thing. At first, Auntie even thought he was holding you.” Cheng San’s voice grew smaller and smaller. “Dr. Qin’s face was dark the entire time. You didn’t see the way he looked like he wanted to kill someone.”
Hu Ping felt unusually guilty, but she was eager to know why things had gone differently from the plan. She asked, “Fang’er, didn’t you go to Dr. Qin to check my waist? How did you end up in the ditch?”
Cheng Fang twisted her already unattractive features as she recalled. “I… I remember seeing Dr. Qin. I was with him the whole time.”
Everyone burst out laughing at that.
Cheng San curled his lips sourly. “I think you’re having delusions. Look at your own appearance. How could a college-educated man stay with you?”
Cheng Fang flared up. “What’s wrong with me?! Stay away from me…”
The noise outside grew louder. Qin Xian went out to chase them away. Cheng Fang still wanted to ask about his wife, but under his oppressive gaze, she shut her mouth.
The clinic finally returned to silence.
Qin Xian sat behind his desk and casually flipped through a book. During a break, he looked up—and Li Yingtang’s delicate and striking face came into his vision, making him pause. His face slowly turned red.
“What are you looking at?” he asked.
“Looking at you,” Li Yingtang replied with admiration.
He was amazing.
He had seen through that person’s disguise at a glance.
Come to think of it, that mother and daughter pair seemed to be targeting him. The first time they came, before even seeing him, they were already shouting “Fang’er.” And when the other woke up, she acted strangely in front of him.
He must have understood this already, which was why he cleared the area when saving the person—probably to prevent nonsense from affecting his reputation.
After a long pause, Qin Xian finally said, “A young lady should be more reserved.”
Li Yingtang: “…”
So this already counted as not reserved?
Fine. He was the one in charge here, so he must be right.
She looked away and wandered around, touching here and there.
On the shelf storing medicine were large bottles of drugs.
In the paper boxes were not tablets, but ampoules of injection medication. It was completely different from the drug packaging in her understanding.
“Don’t touch things randomly,” Qin Xian ordered coldly.
Li Yingtang: “…oh.”
The atmosphere became awkward. To ease it, she volunteered to sweep the snow. “Can I borrow your gloves?”
“Take them yourself.”
She quickly went back into the room to get the gloves and swept a bit of snow. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aunt Liu on the main road carrying a basket of vegetables.
“On such a cold day, you’re still out picking vegetables?” Li Yingtang asked.
Aunt Liu smiled and shifted the basket behind her body. “Yes. Has Xiao Qin’s family eaten yet?”
Li Yingtang didn’t miss the movement. “Not yet. By the way, my name is Li Yingtang. Want to come sit inside?”
“No need, Xiao Qin’s wife. That name Ying Tang sounds sweet at first hearing. I’ll be going—there are more than ten mouths waiting at home to eat.”
Aunt Liu left in a hurry.
Li Yingtang felt annoyed that as someone’s wife, she didn’t even have a name.
Fine—Xiao Qin’s wife it was.
After Aunt Liu disappeared from sight, she tossed down the broom and followed her footprints.
She had deliberately hidden the vegetables so she wouldn’t see them. Something must be off about their origin.
Either they were wild vegetables, or they were hiding them because they were afraid she would go pick them too.
She walked about a mile and found scattered wild greens half-buried in snow near the foot of the mountain.
It was shepherd’s purse.
Sparse. Not much left.
But her goal wasn’t wild vegetables—it was wild game.
After observing carefully, she finally found a set of footprints shaped like maple leaves near some withered grass.
She thought of an elementary school text: “Snowy Field Little Painter.”
Ducks paint maple leaves.
Ducks like water and are omnivorous. There must be a water source nearby, and likely fish or shrimp inside.
She continued deeper. After walking about 700–800 meters, the view suddenly opened up. A large pond appeared, its surface already frozen.
If she set traps here, she might get something.
She memorized the terrain and returned to get a shovel to dig a pit trap.
Qin Xian was still reading in the clinic when she called out sweetly, “A’Xian~ do we have any animal traps at home?”
Without looking up, he replied, “Check the storeroom yourself. Don’t ask me about everything.”
Li Yingtang seriously suspected her own charm. She wasn’t being narcissistic—since childhood, she had always been popular with boys. In high school, her desk was full of flowers and chocolates.
Some even fought over her.
Yet now that she had delivered herself to someone, she was actually disliked.
She looked at herself in the mirror: thick cotton padded clothes, scarf wrapped around her head—she looked rustic to the extreme.
No wonder he didn’t bother with her. Even she didn’t like her current disheveled self.
Fine. She would find it herself.
She tested a mouse trap and confirmed it worked.
With her tools, she went back to the river area and laboriously dug a pit, placing wild greens as bait and covering it carefully before leaving.
But she didn’t go back immediately.
She wandered around and unexpectedly found a persimmon tree, its snow-covered branches full of fruit, beautiful.
But now wasn’t the time to admire scenery.
She knocked down a nearby persimmon with a shovel, wrapped it in her scarf, and proudly brought it back to Qin Xian.
“Here, for you.”
Qin Xian’s eyes moved slightly. “Who gave it to you?”
Li Yingtang rolled her eyes. “Who else? I picked it myself in the mountains. My shoes and socks got soaked—I wore yours.”
“Suit yourself.”
She changed back into his shoes and placed her wet ones by the stove to dry.
When she stood up, their eyes met. He froze slightly and lowered his head.
Li Yingtang smiled. “Thanks for lending me your shoes. So warm. Too bad they’re too big. It would be better if I had a proper pair.”
Qin Xian said nothing.
She waited a long time, but he didn’t respond. Changing the subject, she asked, “A’Xian, when are we eating?”
“Didn’t you say you would cook?”
Li Yingtang: “…”
Before she came, had he been fasting?
“I’m here to be your wife, not your servant. Let’s be clear—housework will be split. You cook, I wash pots. You wash clothes, I fetch water. Fair division of labor. Hurry up. If I starve to death, you won’t have a wife.”
Qin Xian: “…”
“Doctor Qin! Doctor Qin, are you here?”
In the kitchen, Qin Xian was kneading dough to make noodles while Li Yingtang prepared side dishes. Hearing the noise, she peeked out—it was Cheng Fang, the same person who had made a scene earlier today. Why was she back?
“I’m Doctor Qin’s wife. Do you need something?” Li Yingtang said.
Cheng Fang’s heart tightened when she saw her. “W-where is Dr. Qin? My neck hurts and my head hurts. I might have a fever. I want him to take a look.”
Li Yingtang examined her. Her face did look unwell, likely from freezing after falling into the ditch. Reason overcame possessiveness.
“A’Xian, take a look.”
Qin Xian said coldly, “Do your own work. Don’t mind her.”
He told her to prepare cabbage, washing it again and again. When cutting it, she even arranged it neatly—slow and overly particular.
No one knew where this woman had come from.
Thick-skinned, constantly calling herself his wife.
Yet strangely… he liked hearing it.