Beside the jeep’s front passenger door, Li Zhengting watched Yu Qinghuan climb into the passenger seat with the nimble grace of a cat.
For once, his usually unflappable face—one that wouldn’t change expression even if Mount Tai collapsed right in front of him—revealed a rare flicker of astonishment.
“Why did you go to the county seat?”
Li Zhengting opened the driver’s door and got inside. Gripping the steering wheel with both hands, he turned to look at her.
His voice was deep, carrying a hint of curiosity that even he himself hadn’t noticed.
Yu Qinghuan patted the appointment certificate in her arms, now stamped with a bright-red official seal.
Tilting her head, she raised an eyebrow at him and smiled smugly.
“Regiment Commander Li, of course I went to protect my secure government job.”
“Otherwise, once your Li family smashes my rice bowl, am I supposed to live on the northwest wind?”
Li Zhengting looked at the mischievous yet brazen sparkle in her eyes.
Something stirred faintly in his heart.
But he quickly suppressed the feeling.
“My mother… is at the commune clinic.”
Li Zhengting sighed and started the jeep.
“The production brigade members brought her here on a tractor. The doctor said she suffered a severe emotional shock and lost consciousness.”
The moment Yu Qinghuan heard this, her eyes lit up.
A severe emotional shock?
She had passed out?
Oh, wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!
Ahem. No, wait.
As a newlywed daughter-in-law who was supposed to be filial and respectful, how could she possibly look so delighted at someone else’s misfortune?
Yu Qinghuan immediately wiped the smile off her face.
She slapped her thigh and put on an expression of extreme anxiety and concern, her voice brimming with sincerity.
“Oh, no! How did Mom faint?!”
“Zhengting, hurry! We need to get there! As her daughter-in-law, I absolutely must stay by her bedside and care for her!”
Li Zhengting watched her through the rearview mirror, observing how she changed expressions faster than someone could flip through a book.
The corner of his eye twitched violently.
He silently pressed down on the accelerator.
Half an hour later, the military-green jeep pulled up outside the commune clinic.
It was a small, two-story white building, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of soda water and disinfectant.
Yu Qinghuan jumped out of the jeep ahead of Li Zhengting and rushed toward the ward, her face full of anxiety.
“Mom! Mom, how are you feeling?!”
Her worried cries echoed through the hospital corridor.
Anyone who didn’t know the situation would have thought the person lying inside was her own mother.
Old Man Li and Li Chunhua, who was wrapped in a tattered burlap sack and still reeked of filth, were huddled outside the ward.
The moment they saw Yu Qinghuan rushing toward them, mother and daughter instinctively shrank toward the wall in unison.
Li Chunhua, in particular, looked at Yu Qinghuan as though she were staring straight at the living King of Hell.
Yu Qinghuan couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge either of them. She pushed open the door and charged directly into the ward.
On the hospital bed, Miao Cuihua lay stiffly on her back, her face sallow and her eyes closed.
A bottle of intravenous fluid hung beside the bed, dripping steadily.
Just as Yu Qinghuan and Li Zhengting approached the bedside, Miao Cuihua’s eyelids suddenly twitched.
Then—
With considerable effort, she opened her eyes.
The moment she saw Li Zhengting standing beside the bed, tears immediately welled up in her cloudy eyes. Her entire face filled with grievance.
“Second Son… My precious son…”
She began to whimper, preparing to pour out her complaints.
But then she turned her head slightly.
And saw Yu Qinghuan standing beside Li Zhengting, gazing at her with what appeared to be deep affection.
Miao Cuihua’s eyes immediately widened into enormous circles.
Her chest heaved violently.
“You… You jinx…”
Miao Cuihua opened her mouth, ready to unleash a torrent of abuse.
Yu Qinghuan didn’t give her the chance.
The moment Miao Cuihua had managed to spit out just five words, Yu Qinghuan’s expression of concern intensified dramatically, and she threw herself forward with utterly exaggerated enthusiasm.
“Mom! You’re finally awake!”
“You scared us half to death just now!”
As she spoke—
Yu Qinghuan’s fair thumb and index finger moved with incredible precision and force.
She pinched Miao Cuihua’s philtrum—the groove between the nose and upper lip—with all her might!
With that single pinch, Yu Qinghuan used every ounce of her strength. She even drew on a little of the physical enhancement energy from her dimensional space.
“OW—MMMPH!”
The curse that had been about to burst from Miao Cuihua’s mouth was forcibly swallowed by the pain.
Her eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets.
The force was so tremendous that her upper lip was pressed firmly against her gums.
Under Yu Qinghuan’s terrifying finger pressure, her two yellowed front teeth began to creak ominously.
They nearly snapped on the spot.
Miao Cuihua was in so much pain that tears streamed down her face, and her entire body trembled violently.
She tried to push Yu Qinghuan away, but Yu Qinghuan had thrown her body weight firmly over her.
Her hands were like iron pincers, clamped tightly onto Miao Cuihua’s philtrum and refusing to budge.
“Mom! Don’t speak! Your blood and qi are flowing in reverse! You need emergency treatment!”
While continuing to pinch her with all her strength, Yu Qinghuan craned her neck and shouted toward the corridor in an extremely loud, deeply concerned voice.
“Doctor! Nurse! Come quickly!”
“Mom’s philtrum is practically turning blue from my pinching! Why hasn’t she fully regained consciousness yet?!”
“Mom! Please, you absolutely mustn’t die!”
“If you die, people outside will start saying all sorts of things about me, your newlywed daughter-in-law, being unfilial!”
“For the sake of Zhengting’s future in the military, and for the sake of our family’s reputation, you have to hold on!”
“Pinching the philtrum can save lives! I’ll just have to press a little harder!”
Yu Qinghuan was crying so bitterly that tears streamed down her face.
But instead of loosening her grip, she twisted her thumb downward another half-turn.
Her thumbnail dug deep into the flesh, nearly tearing a piece of skin out of Miao Cuihua’s philtrum.
Miao Cuihua’s body convulsed violently from the pain, and her legs kicked frantically against the hospital bed.
But with her philtrum firmly trapped, she couldn’t even produce a proper scream. All she could manage were muffled, anguished whimpers.
Tears poured down her face like beads spilling from a broken string.
She stared at Yu Qinghuan’s face, so close to hers—at the little face drenched in tears, sobbing uncontrollably while her eyes remained icy and mocking.
For the first time in her life, Miao Cuihua felt a level of fear and despair she had never experienced before.
That wretched girl!
She was using the excuse of saving her life to openly and brazenly try to kill her!
“Doctor! Come quickly and see whether my daughter-in-law is doing this correctly!”
Old Man Li shouted anxiously from the doorway.
Hearing the commotion, several nurses hurried into the ward.
The moment the head nurse saw Yu Qinghuan’s forceful pinching technique, she nodded approvingly.
“Comrade, you have an excellent awareness of emergency first aid!”
“Your pressure is strong and right on target! Keep it up!”
Upon hearing the head nurse’s words, Miao Cuihua’s eyes rolled back in fury. She nearly passed out from anger all over again.
Right on target?
Her front teeth were practically about to be crushed! How could it possibly be anything but right on target?!
Beside the hospital bed, Li Zhengting had remained silent throughout the entire ordeal.
His gaze fell on Yu Qinghuan’s thumbnail, which was practically digging into his mother’s flesh.
Then he looked at his mother’s miserable state—her eyes rolling back from the pain, unable to utter even one complete sentence.
The two sharply defined eyebrows on Li Zhengting’s usually stern, handsome face twitched violently once again.
And his firm, resolute lips—
For one brief moment, they too began to twitch uncontrollably.
He was completely unable to stop them.