Reborn in the 1970s — Married a Proud Rough Man

Chapter 31: Chapter 25: Mrs. Xie is a Stepmother (Part 2)

Qin Mei was at a loss. She looked at Jie Jingchen beside her.

Jie Jingchen changed the subject. ”Mom, Qin Mei can treat Jing Qi’s leg.”

”What?” Mrs. Xie exclaimed, staring at Qin Mei in utter shock. She had wracked her brain trying to find a cure for Jing Qi’s leg. She had sought help from senior medical colleagues in Xiangjiang and even reached out to connections overseas, but nothing had worked. Everyone told her to give up, but if she did, Jing Qi would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Mrs. Xie’s shock was exactly what Qin Mei had expected. ”Mom, Western medicine hasn’t been able to help Jing Qi’s leg, but traditional Chinese medicine should work.”

Qin Mei didn’t over-promise; it was always wise to leave a way out.

”You know traditional Chinese medicine?” Mrs. Xie grabbed both of Qin Mei’s hands, trembling with uncontrollable excitement. Her gaze was filled with a brilliant glimmer of hope.

”I know a little,” Qin Mei answered modestly.

Mrs. Xie’s expression fell, her eyes clouding over with disappointment. Qin Mei could see she was disheartened. After a moment’s thought, she said, ”Mom, I’m eighty percent certain I can heal Jing Qi’s leg.”

Jie Jingchen raised an eyebrow. ’Wasn’t it seventy percent?’

Mrs. Xie drew in a sharp breath, her grip tightening. Her eyes lit up with rekindled hope. ”Really?”

She knew full well what eighty percent meant. When her senior colleague had operated on Jing Qi, she had only given her a ten percent chance of success. After the surgery, Jing Qi still couldn’t stand.

They had tried traditional Chinese medicine as well, but the result was the same.

The grip on her wrist was painful, but Qin Mei didn’t cry out. She gritted her teeth and endured it, nodding solemnly.

”Who was your master?” Mrs. Xie asked. She knew a few of the leading authorities in traditional Chinese medicine. If Qin Mei’s master was one of them, she wouldn’t let her treat Jing Qi. It was better to cut off any hope from the start than to give Jing Qi hope only for it to be crushed by disappointment.

No hope meant no disappointment, and certainly no despair.

”My sister,” Qin Mei said, bringing up Jie Jingling again.

”Your sister?” Mrs. Xie asked. ”Who is she?”

”Not my biological sister,” Qin Mei corrected. ”Jie Jingchen’s eldest sister. Your eldest daughter.”

Mrs. Xie’s brow furrowed. She looked over at the silent Jie Jingchen and asked curiously, ”Since when does Jing Ling have this kind of skill?”

Jie Jingchen remained silent.

’She doesn’t?’ The lie was about to be exposed. Qin Mei racked her brain, trying to salvage it. ”It must be... she learned it from that person in the village.”

Mrs. Xie understood. During these sensitive times, it wasn’t unusual to encounter extraordinary people in the villages.

”Jing Ling has suffered,” Mrs. Xie sighed. Her eyes, full of pity, then fell upon the scratches and bite marks on the back of Qin Mei’s hand.

And suffer she did. The Sun Family valued boys over girls, and Jie Jingling had only given birth to a daughter. Even as a village barefoot doctor, her life with the Sun Family couldn’t have been easy.

”Mom, if my sister comes back, would you accept her?” Qin Mei asked.

At her words, both Jie Jingchen and Mrs. Xie froze. The ”return” Qin Mei spoke of wasn’t just a visit—it was about coming home to stay.

”Your sister is an Educated Youth, and she’s married in the countryside. I’m afraid it would be very difficult for her to come back,” Mrs. Xie said, her eyes filled with regret.

’In a few years, the policy will change and the Educated Youth will be allowed to return to the cities. As long as the Jie Family is willing to take her and her family in, she’ll have a chance to come home.’

’Still,’ Qin Mei thought, ’just in case, I’d better not reveal future policy changes. If the walls have ears, I could be arrested.’

”It’s difficult, but that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless,” Qin Mei said cryptically.

Neither Jie Jingchen nor Mrs. Xie paid it much mind. Mrs. Xie was still hesitant about letting Qin Mei treat Jing Qi’s leg, but Jie Jingchen eventually persuaded her to agree.

When word got out that Qin Mei was going to treat Jie Jingshan’s leg, the reactions were mixed: some sneered, some were contemptuous, some were shocked, and some were pleased. In any case, few in the Jie Family truly cared, because none of them believed Qin Mei could actually heal Jie Jingshan’s leg.

It wasn’t as if they hadn’t treated Jie Jingshan’s leg for lack of money. On the contrary, the Jie Family was rich, and Mrs. Xie’s family was even richer. Even after spending a fortune, they hadn’t found anyone capable of healing her.

After washing up, Qin Mei returned to her room. She stood by the bed with her chin in her hands, lost in thought.

Hearing the door open, Qin Mei turned to see Jie Jingchen walk in. She reminded him, ”Jie Jingchen, there’s only one bed in this room.”

”And?” Jie Jingchen’s gaze was intense, his eyes glinting with a captivating light.

”Look, while it’s true we’re husband and wife, there’s no affection between us. It’ll inevitably be awkward for us to lie in the same bed. To avoid that, I suggest we sleep in separate rooms. Your house has plenty of extra rooms—the ones next to your second and third brothers are empty. Why don’t you move into one of them?” Her unspoken meaning was that Jie Jingchen should give the room to her.

’I don’t want to be the one to move. Shen Qing is as cold as ice and hard to get along with, and Xu Chunyan and I can’t stand the sight of each other. It wouldn’t be good to be near either of them.’