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

Lin Qingqing's eyes reddened from Li Dongye's shameless demand to "call me husband," tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to spill over, making her look extremely pitiful. She pressed her hands tightly against Li Dongye's chest, her fingertips turning white from the force, as if resisting a wild beast that might pounce at any moment.

"Fourth...Fourth Brother, please don't do this, I want to get off the bus..."

The voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, with a distinct vibrato.

Li Dongye stared at her for a few seconds, his peach blossom eyes, which always held a hint of a smile, narrowed slightly, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

Just when Lin Qingqing thought he was really going to do something to her here, the suffocating sense of oppression suddenly disappeared.

Li Dongye withdrew his body and casually flicked the tip of her nose with a light touch.

"Tsk, just kidding. Look how scared you are. You're more timid than a rabbit."

He turned to the side, stretched out his long arm, rummaged around under the passenger seat for a while, and pulled out a glass bottle.

Fine droplets of water clung to the bottle, and it was still steaming. It was a rare find in the city—Arctic Ocean soda.

"Take it."

The cool glass bottle pressed against Lin Qingqing's burning cheek, making her shiver and instinctively reach out to hug it.

"Drink it, I saved it especially for you. This stuff costs two cents a bottle in the city, and you have to return the bottle."

Li Dongye restarted the car, shifting gears with practiced ease. With an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth, he mumbled, "That was just to scare you. Fourth Brother may not be a good person, but he's not so desperate as to do it in the cornfield."

He glanced at Lin Qingqing's still-recovering face and added, "This kind of thing has to happen on the bed, and it has to be something you're willing to do."

Lin Qingqing's face turned even redder, clutching the bottle of soda as if it were a hot potato. She wanted to say she didn't want it, but the cool touch did relieve the heat in the carriage.

Li Dongye held the steering wheel with one hand, took the soda from her hand with the other, and tapped it on the car window sill.

"Pfft—"

A wisp of white steam rose up.

"drink."

Lin Qingqing hesitated for a moment, then took a small sip. It was sweet and bubbly, with an orange flavor. As it went down her throat, it sent a cool sensation through her, calming her anxiety considerably.

"Is it good?"

"Um……"

"Is it sweet?"

"sweet."

Li Dongye laughed, his chest heaving with laughter: "Sweet is just right. How could anything given by Fourth Brother not be sweet?"

On the way back, Li Dongye didn't make any more moves, but the car was driving like it was flying, making Lin Qingqing feel like her insides were being shaken. She drank the soda too quickly, and with the bumpy ride, before they even got home, Lin Qingqing felt waves of tightness in her stomach, as if a block of ice had been placed on it.

……

When the large truck, kicking up dust, stopped at the entrance of the Qin family compound, the sun was already high in the sky.

In the courtyard, Xiao Yong was smashing a piece of scrap metal with a large sledgehammer. When he saw Lin Qingqing get out of the car, he threw the sledgehammer on the ground, strode over, his eyes wide as he scanned Lin Qingqing from head to toe.

"Cousin, are you alright? Did Fourth Brother do anything to you?" Xiao Yong's dark face was very close, his nostrils flaring as if he were sniffing. "If you've been wronged, tell Second Brother, and I'll teach him a lesson for you!"

Lin Qingqing's face was deathly pale, her forehead was covered in cold sweat, one hand was clutching her stomach, her body was hunched over, and she couldn't even speak.

"What's wrong?"

Qin Lie walked out of the main room, his brows instantly furrowing. He strode over and grabbed Lin Qingqing's arm. Her arm was so thin that he dared not exert any force, and the skin beneath his palm was frighteningly cold.

"My stomach... my stomach hurts..." Lin Qingqing's lips turned pale with pain, and she slid down.

Li Dongye jumped out of the driver's seat, still twirling the car keys in his hand, looking completely bewildered: "What happened? She was fine just now, and I even gave her a bottle of soda."

"Soft drink?"

A sinister voice came from behind.

Gu Qiangying stood under the eaves, his glasses reflecting the light, obscuring his eyes. He slowly unbuttoned his cuffs, rolled up his sleeves, revealing his lean but strong forearms.

"In this sweltering heat, you're giving someone iced soda on an empty stomach, especially on such a bumpy ride." Gu Qiangying walked up to Lin Qingqing, not even looking at Li Dongye, and directly reached out to touch her wrist, placing two fingers on her pulse.

Li Dongye's smile froze: "How was I supposed to know about this spoiled brat..."

"Alright."

Qin Lie shouted and bent down to pick up Lin Qingqing.

"Big brother, don't move." Gu Qiangying stopped Qin Lie, placed his palm on Lin Qingqing's lower abdomen, and pressed it through her clothes.

Lin Qingqing hissed in pain and curled up into a ball.

"The cold air entered her body, causing stomach cramps, in addition to her pre-existing cold uterus." Gu Qiangying withdrew her hand, pushed up her glasses, and said in an unquestionable tone, "Take her to the east room. I'm not coming out, and nobody is coming in."

Qin Lie glanced at Gu Qiangying, said nothing, picked up Lin Qingqing and strode towards the east room. After placing her on the bed, he took a deep look at Lin Qingqing, who was sweating profusely from the pain, turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Outside the door, Xiao Yong paced anxiously, "Is the third brother alright? Should we take him to the clinic?"

"He's a doctor, why send him to the clinic?" Jiang He squatted by the door, drawing circles on the ground with a twig in his hand, his eyes gloomily fixed on the closed door. "Third Brother is the best at treating illnesses, isn't he?"

Li Dongye leaned against the wall, scratching his hair in frustration. He took out a cigarette pack from his pocket, only to find it empty. Furious, he crushed the pack and threw it on the ground.

……

The light in the east room was somewhat dim.

The windows were covered with thick paper, blocking out the glaring sunlight and turning the room into a small, enclosed world. A faint scent of mugwort filled the air, the scent that Gu Qiangying always carried.

Lin Qingqing curled up in the blanket, groaning in pain.

Gu Qiangying placed the medicine box on the bedside table, opened it, took out a small brown porcelain bottle, and poured a little red medicated oil into her palm.

"Lift up your clothes."

His voice was flat, revealing no emotion, just like he would treat any patient in the clinic.

Lin Qingqing was in so much pain that she was delirious. Upon hearing this, she instinctively clutched the hem of her clothes and shook her head, saying, "No...no need..."

"obedient."

Gu Qiangying sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his hands together rapidly until they were warm. He leaned down, his eyes, which appeared exceptionally deep behind his glasses, fixed on Lin Qingqing, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"Does my cousin want to continue in this pain, or does she want me to call my older brother in and hold her down?"

Lin Qingqing bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes, and timidly let go of her hand.

Gu Qiangying reached out and used her fingertips to lift the hem of her Dacron shirt, pushing it up little by little.

In the dimly lit room, her skin was so white it seemed to glow, so smooth that even the pores were invisible. Because of the pain, the muscles in her abdomen were slightly tense, rising and falling with her breath, tracing an alluring arc.

Gu Qiangying's eyes darkened instantly, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

"Relax."

"Don't move around. If you press the wrong acupoint, you'll be the one who suffers."

Gu Qiangying's technique was very professional, but the force was by no means gentle. Her thumb pressed precisely on the "Zhongwan" acupoint and pressed down hard.

"It hurts a little."

"It's only effective if it hurts," Gu Qiangying chuckled.

As he spoke, he observed Lin Qingqing. He looked at her face, flushed with pain, her misty peach blossom eyes, and her lips, which she had bitten until they were swollen and bleeding.

I really want to bully him a lot.

Once this thought arises, it grows wildly like weeds.

……

Outside.

The four men stood guard like four gatekeepers.

The intermittent cries, mixed with the man's deep, seductive voice, sent chills down one's spine.

Xiao Yong kicked the jujube tree next to him, sending leaves tumbling down his face. "Damn it! Is this third brother getting treatment or is he trying to kill himself? Something doesn't sound right to me!"

The grass roots in Li Dongye's mouth were all chewed up. He irritably spat them out and stared at the door with a dark and unfathomable look in his eyes: "Treating illness? Ha, I think he's using the guise of treating illness to eat all the food himself."

Jiang He squatted on the ground, the small twig in his hand already broken into several pieces. He raised his head, his once clear eyes now dark and brooding, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth: "Third Brother, you're quick on the uptake. I should have studied medicine."

Only Qin Lie remained silent.

He sat on the millstone in the courtyard, holding the axe he hadn't finished wiping. But the wiping motion with the cloth slowed down more and more, until finally he stopped.

The soft moans coming from inside the room were like hooked feathers, scratching at his heart.

He could certainly tell that besides pain, there was something else mixed in with that sound.

That third brother, that seemingly refined scoundrel, is truly ruthless.

Qin Lie threw the rag in his hand onto the millstone, stood up, and was about to walk towards the east room.

"That's enough, I'll go take a look."

Just then.

"Bang bang bang!"

The large wooden gate of the courtyard was being smashed so hard it was deafening, as if someone was trying to take the gate panel off.

Immediately afterwards, an old but powerful voice boomed from outside the door.

"Qin Lie! Open the door! Something terrible has happened to your family!"

The men in the courtyard stopped moving at the same time.

The noise inside the house also stopped abruptly.

Qin Lie frowned and gave Xiao Yong a wink. Xiao Yong walked over, cursing, and pulled open the door latch.

As soon as the door opened, a group of people rushed in.

Leading the group was an old man in a Zhongshan suit with his hands behind his back; it was none other than the village head, Su Daqiang. Behind him followed several villagers carrying hoes and carrying poles, all of them looking grim. At the very back of the crowd was Li Liushi, wailing and lamenting.

"Oh my god! This is outrageous! Murder!"

As soon as Li Liu entered the courtyard, she collapsed to the ground, slapping her thigh and wailing, "Those bandits from the Qin family broke my son's leg! He was the only son of the Li family! You'll pay for my son's life!"

Qin Lie stood in the middle of the courtyard, blocking the group's path. He looked expressionlessly at the tantrum-throwing Li Liu Shi, his voice as cold as ice.

"Shut your mouth. Who broke your son's leg?"

"It's you!" Li Liu pointed at Qin Lie, her fingers trembling, whether from anger or fear, it was hard to tell. "My Er Gou was perfectly fine this morning, but because he wanted to find that little slut... to find Lin Qingqing, he was just found in the ditch behind the mountain, both his legs broken! Who else but you Qin family thugs could be so cruel?"