Meeting Su Lang's gaze, Lin Zhilan instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but he grabbed her wrist.
Even through a layer of wool from her sweater, Lin Zhilan could still feel the scorching heat of his palm, and her face grew hot.
Guiding her hand, Su Lang brought the piece of chicken to his lips.
"It's delicious."
After he spoke, he did not let go of her hand. His gaze remained fixed on her face, filled with an ambiguous yet aggressive intensity.
Aside from her patients, Lin Zhilan had never been in such close contact with a man before. She turned her head away, leaving Su Lang with only the sight of her bright red ear.
"You... let go first."
The heated kang bed warmed the room, so she wasn't wearing a coat. Her fair neck was exposed, making her earlobes look so red they seemed ready to bleed.
Su Lang's movements paused as he belatedly realized he had been a bit too bold just now.
However, her unexpected shyness made him feel a bit awkward as well, and the temperature in the kitchen seemed to rise a few degrees.
He let go of her hand, pressed a fist to his lips, and repeated in a hoarse voice, "It's delicious."
"Mhm." Lin Zhilan lowered her eyes and poured the chicken sauce into a basin to cool.
As winter set in, it got dark early.
As Su Lang was preparing to leave, Lin Zhilan reminded him, "The one who drugged me last time was the youngest son of the Zhou family. Give him a couple of kicks for me later."
"Alright."
Lin Zhilan asked, "Do you know which one he is?"
Su Lang curled the corners of his lips. "Don't worry. I'll give all of them a couple of kicks, I'm bound to hit him eventually."
Those men were all local hooligans who bullied men and oppressed women; he wouldn't feel bad even if he beat them half to death.
"You and Linlin wait for me at home. I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning."
"Okay."
When night fell, Su Lang walked into the mountains.
Those men had been tied up for a day and a night. Hungry and cold, they had long since lost all their strength.
Without letting them see his face, Su Lang untied them and tossed them by the side of the road.
When the villagers came out to work in the morning, they would naturally find them.
After finishing this and cleaning up the scene, Su Lang finally hiked back to the guesthouse.
The next day, while Wang Guifen was crying and howling at home, Su Lang was already riding a bicycle to pick up Lin Zhilan and her daughter.
After getting their marriage certificate, they had lunch at Chen Jin's house.
Zheng Hui brought out a small bag.
"Zhilan, these are the sweaters I knitted for you and Linlin. I just finished them last night. On top are some boiled eggs and baked flatbreads for you to eat on the road."
Lin Zhilan's nose stung with emotion.
She hadn't been here long, yet she had received a kind of familial love from Zheng Hui and Chen Jin that she had never experienced before.
"Godmother, I've prepared some herbal soup packs for you and Godfather. When you have time, you can stew some bones or something with them. Once Yueyue is weaned, she can eat it too; it's good for strengthening the body."
"Okay, I know," Zheng Hui said, her eyes red as she looked at Su Lang. "Su Lang, Zhilan and Linlin are both good girls. They will be unfamiliar with the people and the place in the South, so don't you dare bully her."
Chen Jin snorted coldly, "Remember to write home. If you're not living well, I'll have Dongfeng go pick up you and Linlin."
"I know, Godfather."
Su Lang promised in a deep voice, "Godfather, whenever I have leave, I will bring Zhilan and Linlin back to see you, and you are welcome to come and inspect at any time."
Miao Yue reluctantly hugged Linlin, and then hugged Lin Zhilan.
"Sister, I'm clumsy with my hands, so I could only make two pairs of socks for Linlin. I put them in the bag. When you get to the South, could you take some photos and send them to me?
I heard that whoever a child looks at, they will grow up to look like. I'll hang Linlin's photo on the wall then, and let him look at it every day."
Actually, Miao Yue still felt a bit regretful. Her son was too young right now and couldn't distinguish between beauty and ugliness.
To be able to see someone as beautiful as Sister Zhilan with his own eyes would be a stroke of luck.
"Thank you, Yueyue."
Seeing Miao Yue's hand constantly rubbing the back of Lin Zhilan's hand, Su Lang's eyes grew dark and deep.
Chen Jin's family escorted them all the way onto the train before heading back.
Currently, there were only two trains a day from the North to the South. The limited train cars had to transport as many people and goods as possible.
Fortunately, Su Lang had asked a comrade for a favor and managed to buy two adjacent sleeper tickets. Both were bottom bunks, directly facing each other.
After boarding, Su Lang arranged the luggage while Lin Zhilan took off Linlin's shoes and placed her on the sleeper bed.
With so many people around in an unfamiliar environment, little Linlin shrank into her mother's arms, carefully observing the train car.
"How many hours do we have to ride before we arrive?"
Su Lang: "Thirty hours."
Although Lin Zhilan had mentally prepared herself, she was still startled by the duration.
But she had already boarded the pirate ship, and it was too late to get off now.
Lin Zhilan held her daughter and taught her how to count.
A short while later, an old man and a young man arrived in their train compartment.
Su Lang could tell from their posture and spirit that they were both from the military.
The young man helped the old man to their sleeper beds and asked politely, "Comrades, our tickets are for the upper bunks. Could we trade places with you?"
Lin Zhilan looked at Su Lang.
Su Lang: "Trade with me. It's inconvenient for my wife since she's traveling with a child."
"Great, great. Thank you so much, comrade."
The young man helped the old man sit down and stowed their luggage.
Of the four methods of traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis—observation, auscultation and olfaction, inquiry, and pulse-taking—the first is observation.
With just one glance, Lin Zhilan could tell that the old man's liver and spleen were damaged, and that he was currently enduring a torturous pain.
It was just that his willpower was strong, allowing him to temporarily endure it without letting anyone notice.
The other party's clothing and aura were extraordinary; at a glance, he was clearly a person of status and position, definitely not lacking the money or means to seek medical treatment.
Lin Zhilan chose to remain silent.
The train slowly began to move. Linlin looked out the window curiously, while Su Lang sat beside her, taking up more than half the space all by himself.
Su Lang was handsome, with striking and bold features. Looking at his face alone, Lin Zhilan was satisfied.
But his build was simply too tall and burly, and his presence was too strong. Sometimes she felt like he could knock her out with a single punch.
Su Lang came from a military family. As a child, he was always stirring up trouble. His father once said that if this kid wasn't sent to the army, leaving him in society would be a disaster.
Fortunately, he was smart and got into a military academy.
Having spent nearly ten years in the military, Su Lang was not nearly as gentle and refined as he appeared in front of Lin Zhilan.
But he knew how to pretend.
If Lin Zhilan liked him this way, he wouldn't mind pretending for the rest of his life.
The train car was stuffy and hot. Lin Zhilan had already taken off her coat. As she leaned sideways to support her daughter, her waist bent into a captivating curve.
Su Lang's hand, resting on his knee, clenched slightly.
His wife's waist was so slender that it seemed he could span it with a single hand.
The newlywed couple, who had only gotten their marriage certificate that morning, were separated by merely the width of a fist, yet their thoughts were poles apart.
Not long after, Lin Zhilan wanted to go to the washroom.
She instructed Linlin, "Baby, Mommy is going to the washroom. You stay with... you stay with Daddy, okay?"
Linlin was still young and didn't understand anything yet. Rather than making her change how she addressed him in the future, it was better to let her believe right now that Su Lang was her father.
Su Lang had, of course, been looking forward to the moment Linlin would call him Daddy, but he hadn't expected it to happen so suddenly.
Flattered and overwhelmed, he looked at Linlin as if waiting for her verdict.
Linlin was a little scared, but she listened to her mother more and obediently nodded.
"How old is your daughter?"