After becoming a widow, I became the apple of a rough man's eye.

"Scutellaria baicalensis is bitter and cold in nature, and enters the lung, gallbladder, spleen, stomach, large intestine, and small intestine meridians. It clears heat and dries dampness, purges fire and detoxifies, and stops bleeding..."

"stop."

Gu Qiangying took the ruler and tapped it lightly twice on the edge of the medicine cabinet, without even lifting her eyelids: "Where's the Coptis chinensis?"

Lin Qingqing stood ramrod straight, but her mind was a bit of a mess. She had stayed up too late last night to memorize the medicine, and this morning he had dragged her out of bed at 5:30. Right now, she could only talk about the names of the medicines, but her mind was a complete blank.

"Coptis chinensis... is bitter and cold in nature, and enters the heart, liver, stomach, and large intestine meridians. It clears heat and dries dampness, drains fire and detoxifies... and calms the fetus..."

"hand."

Lin Qingqing was taken aback: "Huh?"

Gu Qiangying finally looked up, her eyes behind her glasses cold and clear: "I said, put your hand out."

She slowly opened her palm, her fair hands still damp with the morning air. The next second, the ruler fell, not heavy, but crisp, striking her palm with a "smack."

The pain shot through her immediately, and Lin Qingqing reflexively pulled her hand away, her eyes instantly turning red.

Gu Qiangying said expressionlessly, "You can even mix up Scutellaria baicalensis and Coptis chinensis. If I really put you on the doctor's desk, and you prescribe something to prevent miscarriage, and the patient gets sick from taking it, are you going to take responsibility with tears in your eyes?"

Lin Qingqing bit her lip, remaining silent, her nose turning red.

Gu Qiangying placed the ruler on the examination table, her tone indifferent: "Crying won't help. Recite it again."

"...Scutellaria baicalensis is bitter and cold in nature, and enters the lung, gallbladder, spleen, stomach, large intestine, and small intestine meridians. It clears heat and dries dampness, drains fire and detoxifies, stops bleeding and calms the fetus."

"Coptis chinensis"

"It is bitter and cold in nature, and enters the heart, spleen, stomach, liver, gallbladder, and large intestine meridians. It clears heat and dries dampness, drains fire and detoxifies."

"Let me repeat the difference between the two."

Lin Qingqing sniffed and recited more slowly than before, but she pronounced each word clearly: "Scutellaria baicalensis is good for treating heat in the upper burner and is good for calming the fetus; Coptis chinensis is bitter and has a strong effect of clearing heat from the heart and stomach."

Gu Qiangying hummed in agreement and turned to go to the small kitchen at the back.

Lin Qingqing stood there, shaking her hands, feeling increasingly aggrieved. She thought: "I only misremembered one sentence, but they're beating me like a teacher punishing a student. This person is just...!"

Just then, Gu Qiangying returned with an enamel mug and shoved it into her hand.

"Here you go."

Lin Qingqing looked down and saw that the brown sugar water was hot, with steam rising from the rim of the cup.

She blinked.

Gu Qiangying glanced at her, her tone still unforgiving: "Your throat is already hoarse, and you're still trying to memorize it. You'll cough like a bellows again in a bit. After you finish drinking, continue with your medicine."

Lin Qingqing held the jar, sipping the sweetness slowly. The sweetness warmed her from the tip of her tongue all the way to her stomach, and the sour feeling in her heart inexplicably dissipated. She muttered to herself, "Giving you candy after you've finished is really like being a good teacher."

Gu Qiangying, looking down at the medical records, heard this and her lips twitched slightly: "I'm being polite as a doctor. If you were doing an internship at the county hospital and made this mistake, the attending physician would have made you cry three times over."

"I was about to cry."

"You'll be more efficient at memorizing after crying."

"...You're not cute at all."

"Being cute can't cure illness."

Just as Lin Qingqing was about to retort, a voice came from the doorway: "Dr. Gu! Ouch, my back is killing me..."

Aunt Wang next door, holding the door with one hand and carrying a half-basket of vegetables in the other, deliberately walked with a limp, her wrinkles all scrunched up on her face, groaning and moaning, while her eyes darted around Lin Qingqing.

"Dr. Gu, you really have to take a look at me. My back feels like it's broken when I woke up this morning."

Gu Qiangying got up and went over to her, took the vegetable basket from her hand, and put it aside: "Take the vegetables back, no gifts needed."

"Oh, no need for formalities, they were picked from our own field." Aunt Wang said, craning her neck to look at Lin Qingqing with a gossipy grin, "Is this girl new? She's really pretty. Is she related to you, Dr. Gu?"

Gu Qiangying lifted the white sheet on the treatment bed and said in a flat tone, "Lie down first. If your back hurts, treat your back. Don't let your eyes wander."

Aunt Wang chuckled twice, still unwilling to give up: "I was just asking, we live in the same alley, it's good to be concerned. Is she your cousin? Or...?"

"Aunt Wang," Gu Qiangying put on gloves and pressed on her side, "with this lumbar muscle strain, if you carry two more baskets of vegetables, you'll be walking hunched over next month. How about I prescribe you some 'Quiet Talk Pills'?"

Aunt Wang: "..."

Lin Qingqing couldn't help but burst out laughing, but quickly suppressed it and lowered her head to pretend to tidy up the medicine bag.

Gu Qiangying looked up at her: "What are you laughing at? Come here."

"what?"

"Teaching. Didn't you want to learn? Just stand there like a doorkeeper, and the acupoints will grow into your brain by themselves?"

Lin Qingqing immediately put down what she was doing and went over.

Gu Qiangying gently pressed around Wang Dama's lower back, her voice regaining its calm tone from when she was lecturing: "Pay attention. First find the spinous process, then look to the side. For lower back pain, we often use Shenshu, Dachangshu, and Yaoyangguan. For acute sprains, look for tender points and add Weizhong. Memorizing is useless; you have to be accurate with your hands."

Grandma Wang lay there groaning, "Don't treat me like a piece of wood for your practice."

"Don't worry, you're thick-skinned and durable," Gu Qiangying said.

Aunt Wang: "Dr. Gu, your mouth..."

"Opening your mouth is bad for your back, so be careful," Gu Qiangying replied briskly, then turned to Lin Qingqing, "Here, you feel around. Find the second lumbar vertebra first."

Lin Qingqing's palms were still a little warm, and when she touched Aunt Wang's lower back, her movements noticeably tightened: "Like this?"

"Too high, move it down a bit."

She slowly moved her fingertips, pressing on a spot, when suddenly Aunt Wang cried out, "Ouch! Right here! It's so sore! It's so sore it feels like it's going to pierce my bones!"

A hint of satisfaction flashed in Gu Qiangying's eyes: "Not bad. Find Shenshu (BL23) next."

Following the location she had just learned, Lin Qingqing reached out symmetrically from both sides and stopped: "Here?"

Aunt Wang exclaimed again, "Yes, yes, it hurts here too!"

Gu Qiangying nodded: "Next, Weizhong, right behind the knee."

Lin Qingqing squatted down and pressed her fingertips on the Weizhong acupoint with just the right amount of pressure. This time, Aunt Wang didn't yell out, but instead let out a long sigh: "Ah, this feels quite comfortable."

"You recognize it quite well," Gu Qiangying said. "Take the mugwort ointment and the hot compress pack."

Lin Qingqing deftly handed over the items. Gu Qiangying applied plasters, bandaged the wounds, and gave instructions, her movements as fast as an assembly line: "Don't lift heavy objects for the next three days, don't bend over to wash clothes, and apply a hot compress for twenty minutes every night. If you try to push yourself again, don't complain of pain next time."

Aunt Wang got up, rubbing her back, and replied with "Okay, okay," while glancing at Lin Qingqing with her eyes: "This girl is really clever, Dr. Gu, where did you get here from...?"

Gu Qiangying slapped the prescription into her hand: "I don't handle household registration when I see a doctor here. If you ask again, the registration fee will double."

Aunt Wang immediately shut up, picked up her half-basket of vegetables, and slunk away. At the door, she turned back and shouted, "Keep those vegetables for yourselves!"

"Leave it there." Gu Qiangying was too lazy to chase after her. She closed the door and bolted it shut, then looked back at Lin Qingqing.

Lin Qingqing was still standing by the treatment bed, her palms sweating with nervousness. Only now did she belatedly relax: "I...did I press the wrong button?"

Gu Qiangying picked up the ruler, twirled it in her hand, and deliberately put on a stern face: "You were a beat late in one place."

Lin Qingqing's heart sank.

The next second, he put the ruler back in the drawer: "But the accuracy is sufficient. This morning's punishment is cancelled."

Lin Qingqing's eyes lit up immediately: "Really?"

"When have I ever gone back on my word?"

You just called me stupid.

"Being slow and being teachable are not mutually exclusive." Gu Qiangying walked to the medicine cabinet, took out two herbs, Scutellaria baicalensis and Coptis chinensis, and placed them in front of her. "Identify them again."

"Scutellaria baicalensis is yellow on the outside and green on the inside, with obvious fibers in the cross-section, and is good for preventing miscarriage; Coptis chinensis is yellower, more bitter, and has a stronger effect in clearing heart fire."

"Hmm." Gu Qiangying nodded. "This time it looks decent."

As noon approached, the clinic quieted down. Gu Qiangying opened the outer window to let in some fresh air and went into the kitchen.

Lin Qingqing wanted to go in and help, but he sent her back as soon as she took a step: "Go and copy the medicinal properties you got wrong this morning twice. I'll take care of the kitchen."

"I already know how."

"Even if you know it, copy it; writing helps you remember."

"You're so annoying."

"I have to listen, even if it's annoying." Gu Qiangying said, then closed half of the kitchen door, and the sound of spatulas soon followed.

Lin Qingqing sat at the consultation table copying down the medicinal properties, smelling the aroma of food as she did so. Soon after, Gu Qiangying brought the dishes to the table: winter melon and dried shrimp soup, steamed egg custard, stir-fried wood ear mushrooms and yam, garlic-flavored lettuce, and a small dish of salted radish.

Light, warm, and clean-looking.

"Wash your hands and eat," he said.

Lin Qingqing had just sat down and picked up a bite of food when Gu Qiangying's chopsticks came over and put a piece of steamed egg into her bowl: "Eat more egg whites, your legs will shake after standing all morning."

"I'm not a child."

"You're harder to please than a child." He put another yam on her plate. "Eat."

Looking at the small mountain piled up in her bowl, Lin Qingqing couldn't help but laugh: "You're like a worried old father now."

Gu Qiangying didn't even blink: "What's wrong with being a father? At least someone is willing to listen."

"Who listens to you?"

"You're not going to listen?" He looked up at her.

Lin Qingqing lowered her head and ate her rice, mumbling, "I listen occasionally."

"Then I'll discipline you occasionally."

"...That sounds like a threat."

"It's not just similar, it is."

That's what he said, but he didn't stop, keeping putting food on her plate while he only ate half a bowl of rice himself. Lin Qingqing was so full towards the end that she put down her chopsticks and surrendered, saying, "I really can't eat anymore."

Gu Qiangying glanced at her, then didn't press her further. She got up and pushed the bowl of soup closer to her: "The last two sips are to soothe your throat. Don't lose your voice again this afternoon when you're carrying your medicine."

As the afternoon sun rose, the streets and alleys were nearly deserted. A wooden sign reading "Lunch Break" hung outside the clinic, and the fan inside whirred.

After washing the dishes, Lin Qingqing stood on the backyard steps and started massaging her legs. As she massaged, she began to grimace. She had been standing for a long time that morning, and then she had been squatting and running, so her calves felt like they were filled with lead.

Gu Qiangying came out of the house and glanced at her: "Having a cramp?"

"No, it's just sour."

"come over."

"I can rub it myself..."

"Come here." He said in a low voice, but there was no room for negotiation.

Lin Qingqing had no choice but to slowly move over. Gu Qiangying sat on the bamboo chair, spread her long legs, reached out and pulled her directly onto her lap.

"Hey... Third Brother!"

"Don't move, I won't catch you if you fall." He held her waist with one hand, and with the other hand, he dipped some medicated oil and placed it on her calf, slowly massaging it along the muscle lines.

The medicated oil smelled of mint and angelica, cool yet warm, and was applied accurately and steadily. Lin Qingqing was tense at first, but after a few presses, she leaned into his arms as if her bones had melted, her voice softening: "Here... a little harder."

"Um."

"It's sour here too."

"You stood there for too long today, trying to be brave."

"Didn't you make me practice?"

"I made you practice, not push yourself to the limit."

Gu Qiangying moved his palm upwards, pressing against her knee, his fingertips pausing before continuing upwards. Lin Qingqing froze, reaching out to grab his wrist: "Third Brother..."

Gu Qiangying raised her eyes, and the color in her eyes behind her glasses darkened. She was no longer as calm as when she was examining patients; it was as if she was suppressing a fire.

"What's wrong? It doesn't hurt anymore?"

"It's not that it hurts..." Lin Qingqing's voice was weak, "Please, please don't go any higher."

Gu Qiangying didn't answer, but his fingers continued to slowly move upward along her leg, his breath falling on her ear, making her shiver with heat.

Lin Qingqing felt flustered under his gaze and pleaded softly, "I was wrong. I accept the punishment for mixing up the drug's properties this morning, please don't do this..."

Gu Qiangying stared at her for two seconds, then raised his hand, took off his glasses, and casually placed them aside. Without the lenses obscuring his gaze, his eyes were so sharp that it was impossible to look directly at him.

He lowered his head and brought his voice close to her ear, his voice so low it was almost whispered against her earlobe:

"I hurt you this morning, so I'll apologize to you now, Third Brother."

Lin Qingqing's breathing became erratic, and she subconsciously tried to get up, but he pulled her back into his arms.

Gu Qiangying got up, carried her into the inner room, and closed the clinic doors one by one with his backhand. The latch clicked shut, and the sounds of the street outside were immediately silenced.

The curtains were drawn, leaving only a thin layer of afternoon light.

The next moment, the bamboo bed was pressed down and swayed slightly, making a soft and lingering sound.