Reborn in the 1970s — Married a Proud Rough Man

”I believe in you.” Jie Jingchen caught the small hand poking at his chest, his eyes filled with sincere love.

Qin Mei froze. With just those four words, ”I believe in you,” she couldn’t bring herself to blame him any longer. It felt so good to be trusted. And when she met his gaze, brimming with love, she suddenly felt her heart flutter in her chest.

”What if I let you down?” Qin Mei thought back to the medical ethics her grandfather had instilled in her. ’At the time, I’d misunderstood. I was upset, my thoughts were a mess. If selfishness and stray thoughts had snuffed out my conscience, I might very well have taken the opportunity to send that pregnant woman and her unborn children to the Yellow Springs Road.’

”Then I’ll just give Gao Yang one of our children as compensation,” Jie Jingchen said.

Qin Mei was dumbfounded. ”How?”

”We’ll have a baby and give it to him,” Jie Jingchen stated, as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world.

Qin Mei’s expression turned cold. ”I disagree. You think I’d go through all the trouble of having a baby just to hand them over to someone else? Dream on.”

Jie Jingchen lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. ”My wife is such an amazing doctor. You won’t let me down.”

Qin Mei shot him a glare. ”Don’t try to butter me up. I’m not falling for it.”

”If you’re not eating this up, I’ll change into something you’ll *want* to eat up when we get home.” Jie Jingchen leaned down and whispered suggestively in her ear.

Qin Mei froze for a second, then a seductive blush crept up her pale cheeks. She pushed Jie Jingchen away, shyly scolding him for being so indecent.

A roguish smile played on Jie Jingchen’s lips as he leaned closer to her flushed earlobe.

”Sis!” Qin Xiang suddenly popped out of nowhere, looking at Jie Jingchen and demanding, ”Jing Si, what are you doing here?”

They both looked embarrassed. Jie Jingchen pulled Qin Mei behind him, frowning at Qin Xiang. He shot back in the same demanding tone, ”Where have *you* been?”

”I haven’t been anywhere. I was right here.” Qin Xiang hadn’t even dared to use the restroom, worried that Qin Mei would come looking for him and not find him. She had taken longer than he’d expected.

They were certain they hadn’t seen a trace of Qin Xiang just moments before. Qin Mei, knowing she was in the wrong, kept quiet. Jie Jingchen, however, feeling he had the upper hand, wasn’t ready to let it go. Qin Xiang pointed to the ground.

”I got bored waiting, so I squatted down to draw and pass the time.”

The two followed the direction he was pointing. And what do you know, drawn on the ground in chalk was a landscape painting.

It had mountains and water, so it was technically a landscape painting. Qin Mei delivered her verdict: ’Qin Xiang has no talent for drawing.’

”Where did you get chalk?” Qin Mei asked. ”This is a hospital, not a school.”

Qin Xiang rubbed his nose, looking a little embarrassed as he spoke. ”Yesterday, when I was helping our second brother and sister-in-law move, they had a lot of it in their apartment. I just swiped a piece and put it in my pocket. Heh, who knew it would come in handy for passing the time today.”

Jie Jingchen paused for a moment. Seeing Qin Mei’s surprised expression, he said, ”Xu Chunyan is a teacher. It’s normal for her to bring chalk home.”

Qin Mei chuckled and asked, ”But doesn’t that count as pilfering state property?”

Jie Jingchen said nothing, just looked at Qin Xiang.

Qin Xiang glared at Jie Jingchen. ’What are you looking at me for?’

”Brother, your ideological awareness is still lacking,” Qin Mei said out of the blue.

Jie Jingchen looked over at Qin Mei. Qin Xiang’s heart lurched. ’I only swiped one piece of Xu Chunyan’s chalk. Sis isn’t actually going to report me for theft, is she? Taking something that belongs to someone else without their permission... isn’t that stealing?’

”Meimei, it’s just one piece of chalk. It’s not that serious,” Jie Jingchen said with a laugh, patting Qin Mei’s head.

Qin Xiang gave Jie Jingchen a grateful look. ’That’s my boy. When push comes to shove, a bro is more reliable than a sister.’

”A soldier doesn’t take a single needle or thread from the people, yet you swiped a piece of chalk from Xu Chunyan.” Qin Mei struggled to hold back a laugh, staring at Qin Xiang with a completely straight face. She just wanted to tease him.

Jie Jingchen and Qin Xiang were both stunned. This was especially true for Qin Xiang; ’this could be a huge deal or nothing at all. If a rival got wind of this, they’d absolutely use it to stir up trouble. I’d be finished.’

”Meimei,” Jie Jingchen started, wanting to say something, but he didn’t know what.

Qin Xiang swallowed hard. His weary eyelids shot up as he asked, ”Sis, you’re not really going to sacrifice your own brother for the sake of justice, are you?”

’If my little sister really dared to turn me in for righteousness’ sake, I’d dare to... silence her...’

’No, no, no! That’s my little sister, the one I’ve doted on since she was a kid. She can mess with me all she wants, but I can’t do the same to her. Bullying her would have very serious consequences.’

”Brother, I’m a woman of principle,” Qin Mei said with a grin, ”but I’m not against accepting hush money.”

Qin Xiang froze for a moment. He understood what Qin Mei was saying. ’When did my little sister become such a money-grubber, talking in circles just to get me to open my wallet?’

”Hush money! Pay up! Pay up!” Jie Jingchen chimed in, mistakenly thinking Qin Xiang hadn’t understood.