Su Lang dodged and smiled, "Wait a moment, baby. Daddy is dirty right now. Let me wash up before I hug you."
Seeing him refuse, Linlin put her hands on her hips, stomped her foot heavily on the ground, and ran into the kitchen to tattle.
Her spoiled and willful appearance looked quite a bit like her mother's.
Su Lang's lips curled into a smile as he went to take a shower and change his clothes first.
By the time he came out, the food was just ready.
Jiang Chengzhou brought over the chairs, Linlin handed out the chopsticks, and Su Lang went to the kitchen to bring out the dishes.
Lin Zhilan motioned for him to look at the living room. "Chengzhou usually helps me with chores too. As his uncle, you shouldn't be too harsh on him."
Su Lang wanted to say that a doting mother spoils her children, but meeting his wife's bright eyes, he nodded. "I'll listen to you."
At the dinner table, Su Lang wanted to feed his daughter, but Lin Zhilan stopped him. "She knows how to eat by herself now."
A doting father spoils his daughter...
"Linlin," Lin Zhilan placed the spoon in her daughter's hand, "show Daddy how you eat."
"Mhm." Linlin lowered her head, earnestly scooped up a spoonful of rice, and put it in her mouth. After eating, she even gestured for her dad to look.
Su Lang, who could no longer feed his daughter, felt a bit disappointed, but he still played along and praised her.
Hearing this, Linlin ate even more seriously, not dropping a single grain of rice on the table.
After dinner, Su Lang came out of the kitchen after washing the dishes. As he rolled down his sleeves, sharp-eyed Lin Zhilan noticed what looked like a bloody scratch on his arm.
"You're hurt?" She nervously pulled his arm to check.
Su Lang glanced at the children sitting at the table drawing, then closed the door with one hand, trapping her in the kitchen with him.
"I got scratched during the disaster relief. It's nothing, just a minor injury."
After saying that, he lowered his head, seeking his wife's red lips.
Lin Zhilan raised a hand to cover his mouth and scolded playfully, "Wait, let me look at it first."
"Zhilan," Su Lang kissed her palm, the corner of her mouth, and the side of her neck with unbearable longing. "I've held back all day. Let me kiss you first, I'm dying here."
Lin Zhilan's ears turned red. She raised her hand and pinched the man's lips. "Stop talking dirty!"
Su Lang chuckled, relaxing his body to let his wife lean against him.
He admitted that he was growing more and more fond of his wife. Whenever he saw her, he just wanted to kiss and hug her, wishing he could stick to her every moment of the day.
He could also tell that his wife wasn't averse to his intimacy.
Although he didn't know how deep her feelings ran, she at least liked him a little and cared about him.
As for the depth of her feelings, he had a lifetime to cultivate them.
Thinking of this, Su Lang could hardly contain the joy overflowing from his chest; it felt as if his heart had been dipped in honey.
He wrapped one arm around his wife's waist and used his other hand to grasp her delicate hand that was still messing with his lips.
Before his wife could react, he parted his lips and took her slender fingers into his mouth.
He even licked them with the tip of his tongue.
Lin Zhilan instantly burned up with embarrassment.
The skin on her neck exposed outside her collar turned from fair to a bashful pink, slowly spreading to her face.
A layer of moisture appeared in Lin Zhilan's eyes. She glared at him, broke free from his embrace, opened the kitchen door, and went to the room to find the medical kit.
She was extremely shy, which made her look even more pitiful and adorable in Su Lang's eyes. Even though he could easily overpower her with just one hand, he was clearly craving her so much that his Adam's apple kept bobbing.
But when Lin Zhilan seriously pulled his hand away and stopped him from touching her, he truly stopped.
However, unable to completely restrain his instinct to be close to her, Su Lang followed right behind her, not leaving her by a single step.
Lin Zhilan pressed him down to sit in the living room and carefully rolled up the cuff of his left sleeve.
The wound wasn't deep, but the scratch was somewhat long. Coupled with being soaked in sweat and covered by clothes, the edges of the wound had started to fester and blister.
Lin Zhilan was alarmed at the sight and glared at him fiercely.
She used iodine to disinfect it, then used a silver needle to pierce the blisters, squeezed out the pus, and finally applied a thin layer of ointment.
Seeing that he was injured, the two children also gathered around.
Little Linlin was both scared and worried, her eyebrows scrunched together like caterpillars, a sight that made one want to laugh.
"Baby, help Daddy blow on it."
Little Linlin puffed out her cheeks and earnestly blew on her dad's arm.
The customer feedback was very timely. Su Lang pretended to be surprised, "It really doesn't hurt anymore."
Linlin smiled happily with her lips pressed together.
Seeing this, Jiang Chengzhou quickly leaned in, wanting to help too.
Su Lang quickly blocked him. "Forget it for you, I'm worried you'll blow spit all over me."
Jiang Chengzhou had lost a front tooth a few days ago, and now air leaked out when he spoke. Having him blow on it would be worse than just going outside to stand in the rain.
"Hmph, I didn't want to blow on it for you anyway." Sensing his uncle's disdain, Jiang Chengzhou curled his lips and snorted coldly.
Watching Su Lang interact with the kids, Lin Zhilan felt an inexplicable warmth in her heart.
The fatherly love she had never experienced seemed to be visible right here in Su Lang.
...
With half a month left until the New Year, the couple were still busy with their respective work.
Fewer people came to buy medicine, but there were too many injured patients. The traditional Chinese medicine ward was full, so it didn't seem quiet at all.
Lin Zhilan was taking inventory of the medicinal herbs when she suddenly heard a loud commotion outside.
The instinct to watch a spectacle was carved into people's bones. The patients in the ward poured out; even those on crutches insisted on going out to see the drama.
Lin Zhilan glanced over, then lowered her head to use the abacus, thinking about what medicinal herbs the department should purchase next year.
Lin Zijun went out to take a look and came back with a rather unpleasant expression.
"There's a postpartum woman who is doing her month-long confinement. Her husband wants to divorce her, and they are fighting over the baby."
Divorce was a novel thing these days, and other patients who didn't know the inside story gathered around to listen.
Ye Congshan asked in confusion, "She just gave birth, why does he want a divorce?"
Lin Zijun couldn't help but roll his eyes. "That man said his wife's C-section was performed by a male doctor. He insists that his wife was seen completely naked by a man and that it means she cuckolded him."
Lin Zhilan's hand stopped moving the abacus beads, her brow furrowing tightly.
The others began to discuss it animatedly. Some even said they could understand it, arguing about who could tolerate their own wife being looked at by another man.
Lin Zijun, who had previously studied Western medicine, anxiously explained to them, "This was to save a life! The surgery was done in a temporary tent set up in the disaster area! If they had been even a little bit late, both mother and child would have died. Who has the time to care whether the operating doctor is male or female? Are they crazy?
Besides, a C-section involves cutting open the belly. Why are your minds so filthy? Where did your thoughts even go?!"
"A woman's belly shouldn't be casually shown to other men either. If you ask me, this woman just didn't uphold her wifely virtues!" a middle-aged man argued self-righteously, not noticing that the others had distanced themselves from him.
The doctor had just said it was to save a life.
For him to say such a thing was truly heartless.
Lin Zhilan looked up, her gaze sweeping over the middle-aged man's balding head and his greasy face.
"This... sir," Lin Zhilan chose a polite term of address, "how old are you?"
The middle-aged man smiled. "I'm only 38. You can call me big brother."
Lin Zhilan sneered. "Is it convenient for me to check your pulse?"
"Sure." The middle-aged man stretched out his hand and placed it on the counter, the fat on his face twitching slightly.
