CHAPTER 368: CHAPTER 358: THIS MEDICINE IS REALLY EXPENSIVE

"Honey, come here."

After dinner, Qin Guanglin had helped Qin’s Mom clean up the dishes and utensils when He Fang started calling him.

"What’s up?"

"Drink this."

He Fang gestured with her eyes towards the half bowl of soup on the bedside table.

"This is for postpartum recovery, and I’m not doing postpartum... you drink it, get some nutrients." Qin Guanglin shook his head vigorously, refusing.

How could he compete with a pregnant woman for food?

"It’s too much, I can’t drink so much every day. Do I look weak to you? How about I do a couple of push-ups to show you?"

While saying this, He Fang pretended to turn over and get ready to do push-ups, but Qin Guanglin quickly pressed her down, joking that she was just bored and there was no need for push-ups.

"Come on, I’ll feed you." He guessed that He Fang was just being coquettish and wanted to be fed, so he picked up the bowl, blew on the spoon a couple of times, and brought it to her lips.

Having just given birth to a big... oops, plump and fair daughter, the family’s hero. It’s only right to indulge her coquettishness a bit.

He Fang turned her head to avoid it: "I don’t want to drink it, you help me drink it."

"Mum spent so much time making this, it would be a waste..."

"That’s exactly why I’m giving it to you, otherwise I would have secretly poured it out... How can you ignore her kindness and upset her? Drink it."

"..."

Qin Guanglin was in agony, how was he supposed to deal with this?

He turned to look at his daughter, and an idea lit up in his mind, "Even if you’re not feeling weak, you have to think about our daughter, what if you end up starving her..."

"This soup is for lactation from noon, this one is for nourishment, it won’t starve her."

"..."

Seeing him dilly-dallying, He Fang worried that Qin’s Mom might come in to collect the bowl and see her having to drink it, so she glared at Qin Guanglin fiercely, "Do you still want me to help you or not?!"

"Like last time?" Qin Guanglin’s heart raced as he looked at her red lips, his heartbeat quickening.

"..."

He Fang hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said, "If you help me with the morning and evening soups, then yes, it can be like last time."

"No, no, that’s not okay, you’re weak, you can’t do this; you have to properly nourish yourself, otherwise, you’ll be like Lin Daiyu..."

Qin Guanglin struggled for a moment but still resisted the temptation. He shook the bowl and urged her, "Come on, I’ll feed you, it’s just a bowl of soup..."

Although such a deal was delightful, it definitely wasn’t right to not drink soup during postpartum. If she was weak, she needed to be nourished; he didn’t want his wife to be sickly. Plump and fair was the way to go, and someday she would live to be 98 years old. She had to have a strong body.

"Half a bowl, I’ll deal with half a bowl every time." He Fang continued to dodge and bargain, "It really is too difficult to drink, and it’s so nourishing, half a bowl is enough. We used to work out frequently, we have a good foundation... hurry up, or Mum will come in."

"..."

Half a bowl?

Qin Guanglin looked at the soup bowl, then at He Fang, struggling internally again—three bowls a day really did seem like too much.

"...Alright, half a bowl, then. If you really don’t want to drink it, I’ll help you."

It was out of concern for his wife, definitely not because he wanted that.

Right, that was the reason.

Qin Guanglin pinched his nose and gulped down half a bowl of soup, smacking his lips, and found it to be okay.

The taste was a bit strange, but not unbearable... when he heard He Fang say it was unpleasant, he thought it would be like traditional Chinese medicine—maybe it’s a pregnant woman’s taste issue, she felt nauseous just seeing the greasiness on top.

"Right, I remember there was another bowl..."

Just after finishing the soup, Qin’s Mom knocked and came in, saw Qin Guanglin holding the bowl and looking dazed, took it over with a chuckle, and brought it out to the kitchen to wash.

It was nice to see the young man feeding his wife during her confinement. Good job.

Not bad.

As the New Year approached, the winding roads of the neighborhood were all decorated with colored strings and small flags. Qin Guanglin had made one trip to purchase the New Year goods needed, went out to paste the New Year couplets on the front door, and nothing else was missing. Qin’s Mom wasn’t very familiar with this area and didn’t stroll around like she used to on North Fly Road. Instead, she spent her days leisurely cooking and playing with her granddaughter at home.

The New Year celebrations were simple; the family enjoyed their reunion dinner, laughed through the Spring Festival Gala, and as New Year’s Eve passed into the first day of the lunar New Year, Qin Guanglin aged another year, officially becoming a thirty-year-old middle-aged uncle. Now he could call himself ’Uncle,’ and anyone calling him ’Brother’ would be shameless.

The couple, already homebodies, spent their days happily at home, painting, writing novels, and never feeling stifled. He Fang was out of confinement in just over twenty days, occasionally sitting on the balcony, holding her daughter in the warm winter sun, chatting with the neighbor Xiaoshan. The winter sun shone brilliantly on the snow outside, a simple happiness.

...

...

Meanwhile.

Sun Wen spent the most absurd two months in the house he rented.

The rent was over seven thousand a month, which was considered high-end in Luo City, a finely decorated duplex apartment, which was many times nicer than the small rental house he had rented with Xu Yue. The floors were smooth and delicate, the bedroom’s big bed could fit three of him to roll around at will.

Xu Wei lay lazily on the floor, not wanting to move, while Sun Wen sat beside her, smoking. The two had rarely gone out in nearly two months, hardly able to go out, staying here all the time—though it was not as nice as Xu Wei’s place, this was his territory, and he felt more comfortable here.

Being with Xu Wei at her place and here were worlds apart; he even detested her home—there was a psychological aversion, as the familiar environment always made Sun Wen uncomfortable. Xu Wei had been the mistress there, and even though she wasn’t anymore, memories couldn’t be erased. Here, Xu Wei was just a woman.

"When it’s over, we’re over too," Xu Wei suddenly spoke up.

"Why?" Sun Wen was stunned, exhaled two streams of smoke from his nose, and asked subconsciously.

"I’m tired of it."

"..."

Sun Wen went silent. He didn’t know what he was feeling at the moment. Did he want Xu Wei to always watch him rise? Or did he purely like her body? Or maybe...

He wasn’t sure.

He had previously sought out a college student, thinking he would like it—being kept before, and now keeping someone else in return, negated each other, and he was still that upright Sun Wen, just with a somewhat disgraceful history, which had long become the past.

But Sun Wen realized he was wrong. He didn’t feel happy at all. Looking at that student, he felt no emotion, not even a tenth of what he did during in-depth consultations with Xu Wei.

People really are strange.

"You need to go buy medicine," Xu Wei said, ignoring his silence and glancing at the broken item on the floor, urging him.

"They say it’s fine if you take it within three days, right? We could..."

"No, I don’t want to take the risk," Xu Wei cut him off, expressionless.

"Okay, okay."

Sun Wen didn’t say more, got up to find his clothes for going out, put on a mask, and grabbed his leave permit. "I’ll buy something to eat on the way back."

"The usual stuff."

"Sure."

Clang.

The door closed behind him as Sun Wen took the elevator down, stepped outside into the sunshine, shielded his eyes with his hand, tightened his clothes, and walked towards the pharmacy.

"Contraceptive pills... that’s what they’re called, right?"

At the pharmacy counter, he wasn’t the least bit embarrassed as he gestured and told the pharmacist what he needed.

"69 yuan."

A small box was tossed onto the counter. Sun Wen picked it up, examined it, opened the packaging, and poured out a tiny white pill—pretty expensive for what it was.

"I’ve scanned it."

He pocketed the medicine, shook his phone, and turned to leave, heading to the supermarket across the street to buy groceries.

He needed to buy enough for three or four days. About twenty minutes later, Sun Wen emerged from the supermarket humming an unknown tune, a big bag of groceries in hand, heading back to his place. Just as he was about to enter the building, he suddenly stopped, squinting his eyes as if in deep thought.

After standing still for a moment, he looked up at the sunlight above him, pursed his lips, and glanced once more towards where he lived, then turned and walked towards another pharmacy.

"Calcium tablets... which ones do you have?"

"Plenty. Who are they for?"

"Just show me what you got, grab one of each of these..."

The pharmacist didn’t understand why he wanted to buy them like this, but a sale was a sale, so she didn’t fuss. She pulled various packages off the shelves while recommending some high-end calcium and vitamin supplements.

Sun Wen didn’t take her advice. After paying, he left with a bag full of different packs of calcium tablets, stopped after a few steps, leaned against a corner, opened each bottle, and then dumped them into a trash bin.

...

"Did you get it?" Xu Wei turned when she heard the door.

"Of course. How could a pharmacy not have this?" Sun Wen entered with the groceries, showing a simple smile. "Wait while I put the groceries in the kitchen."

After leaving a big bag of groceries in the kitchen, he touched his pocket, came out, shook the medicine box in front of Xu Wei, dodged her hand, opened the packaging, took out the plastic tray, and said, "Really, it’s stuff like this that makes money. Just this tiny pill, you know how much it costs?"

He pinched out the white pill, tossed the packaging box into the trash, and dangled it in front of Xu Wei.

"If you want to eat it, I can buy you a hundred to slowly enjoy," Xu Wei said.

"What the hell would I do with it... I’m a man," Sun Wen laughed, handed the pill to her, then pulled it back just as she was about to take it, pressed it back into the slot of the plastic tray, and placed it aside. "Anyway, since you’re going to take it, let’s have another round."

"Are you still up for it?"

"What do you think?"

Half an hour later.

Xu Wei took the white pill Sun Wen handed her and swallowed it with a tilt of her head.

"How does it taste?" Sun Wen asked.

"Swallowed it straight. How would there be any taste?"