"Xiao Fan."
Tian Mengyao, wearing a mid-length trench coat, announced her arrival before she was seen.
"It's so cold."
Tian Mengyao rubbed her hands as she entered the clinic.
"You're here."
Lin Fan rose and leaned against the sofa, smiling at her.
"Are you feeling better?"
"Much better."
Lin Fan gestured, indicating he wanted her to peel an orange.
Tian Mengyao's expression shifted slightly, and she huffed, "I just walked in and you're already ordering me around?"
"Who's ordering you around? I just asked you to peel an orange, is that ordering you around?"
Lin Fan was only teasing her, and seeing her pout made him find it even more amusing.
"Can't you go a single day without annoying me?"
Tian Mengyao rolled her eyes, then sat on the sofa and obediently began peeling the orange.
"Considering you risked your life for Luofeng Village... Humph!"
Tian Mengyao thought it over and found a reason for herself.
Lin Fan chuckled, "Didn't you say you'd support me for the rest of my life?"
"What, you're feeling put upon because I asked you to peel an orange?"
"I..."
Tian Mengyao's face instantly flushed red.
When she had gone down the mountain earlier, she had seen Lin Fan in a very bad state, and she had been as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
What's more, Lin Fan had asked her, "Mengyao, what if I can't work anymore, can't lift anything, can't carry anything, what then?"
Without thinking, Tian Mengyao had replied, "If you can't move, I'll support you for the rest of my life!"
She never expected Lin Fan to bring this up every single day now, it was infuriating!
"Eat your orange."
Tian Mengyao shoved the peeled orange into Lin Fan's mouth.
"Don't... Mmph mmph mmph."
Lin Fan opened his mouth wide and managed to eat the orange that almost filled his mouth.
Tian Mengyao let out a snicker, then took out a tissue, wiped the juice dripping from Lin Fan's lips, and said, "I'm leaving. I won't be back until around the tenth day of the first lunar month next year."
Her voice was soft, tinged with reluctance.
"Let me see you off."
Lin Fan suddenly felt an emptiness in his heart.
"Take good care of your injuries, and don't make me worry."
Tian Mengyao chuckled, complaining, "And don't annoy me the moment we meet. I'm leaving soon."
"Tian..."
"Call me Mengyao."
Tian Mengyao pouted and huffed, "Mengyao sounds so much better. Call me that from now on."
"Heh~" Lin Fan nodded vigorously, "Then Mengyao, have a safe journey. I have injuries, so I won't be able to see you off."
Tian Mengyao stood up, looked into Lin Fan's eyes, as if she had something sentimental to say, but after a moment's hesitation, she didn't.
"Take good care of your injuries. There's a lot to do next spring."
"Yes, of course. I'll be your laborer, working hard and without complaint, never refusing."
"I'm going."
Tian Mengyao took a few steps, then turned back repeatedly, leaving the clinic with reluctance.
"I was even thinking of bringing you back a gift. You bad boy, you didn't say a single nice thing to coax me, humph!"
As soon as she stepped out of the clinic, Tian Mengyao pouted and started complaining.
In her opinion, Lin Fan was a very unpromising boyfriend.
However, the unspoken understanding between them had never been truly broken, and Lin Fan wasn't quite her official boyfriend yet.
"This bad boy, what is he really thinking?"
Tian Mengyao pondered this with a sense of unease, then slowly drove away.
Her Wrangler was too conspicuous. Fearing her parents would question her endlessly if she drove it home, she took out the minivan that she had relegated to the cold storage.
...
She hadn't expected to be so busy even during the New Year holidays.
Around two in the afternoon, Aunt Li brought her granddaughter to the clinic.
"Xiao Fan, can you take a look? Does she have a fever?"
After entering the room, Aunt Li directly placed her granddaughter on a chair.
"She has a cold."
Lin Fan knew instantly.
"Yes, she's been sneezing for the past two days. I gave her two doses of cold medicine, but she doesn't seem to be getting better."
Aunt Li looked worried and added, "This little rascal, all she does is run around during the holidays. I wasn't watching her for a moment, and she ran off."
"She slept until noon today, and I felt something was wrong. When I touched her, I realized she had a fever."
Lin Fan frowned, stepped forward, examined the child's eyelids, and then asked her to stick out her tongue to observe the color of her tongue coating.
Then, he asked the child about how she was feeling.
After listening, Lin Fan comforted her, "It's nothing serious, just a cold. Two days of Ephedra Decoction will fix it. But be careful not to let her catch a chill again, especially when she sleeps at night. Don't let the wind blow on her."
"Okay, okay, I'll remember."
Aunt Li feigned a fierce look and scared the child, "If you dare to run off again, I'll spank your bottom!"
As Lin Fan walked behind the counter to prepare the medicine, Aunt Li looked around and suddenly asked, "Xiao Fan, where's Xiao Xue? And that girl Song Yue, why aren't they here either?"
"They're all busy at home with New Year's goods. I came to the clinic to find some peace and quiet."
"Xiao Fan, it's the end of the year, why haven't you brought a wife home?"
"Who's my wife? I'd like to bring one, but no one is willing to come with me."
Lin Fan gave a self-deprecating laugh.
Recently, Su Yurou and Wang Ying had been calling him frequently, but with his current physical condition, he couldn't handle it and could only worry.
"You're talking nonsense!"
Aunt Li didn't believe him at all. "With your amazing medical skills and the money you've made, how could you not have a wife?"
She smiled and added, "Hao Jianjun even found himself a wife while chopping firewood on the mountain!"
"What?"
Lin Fan suddenly turned around, and the medicinal herbs in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter.
Chopping firewood on the mountain and finding a wife?
For some reason, Lin Fan immediately thought of the snake demon.
"Aunt Li, can you tell me what happened?"
"Xiao Fan, is something wrong?"
Aunt Li glanced at the herbs on the ground and asked in surprise.
"Oh, it's nothing. I just find it strange."
Lin Fan gave an awkward smile, bent down to pick up the herbs, and explained, "It's not warm weather now. Who would go to Luofeng Mountain for no reason? Without a place to shelter from the wind and stay warm, one could freeze to death in a single night. How could someone find a wife there?"
"That's what I'm saying!"
Aunt Li recounted in detail how Hao Jianjun had gone up the mountain to chop firewood and accidentally discovered a disheveled woman.
"I heard that the woman's lips were purple from the cold, and she was covered in injuries. I really don't know how she survived."
"Is it possible that her lips turned purple due to poisoning?"
"Who knows."
Aunt Li shook her head. "Anyway, Jianjun picked her up and took good care of her, and that's how she was saved."
"I heard Jianjun say that the woman seemed to be from a village near Luofeng Mountain. She ran away because she couldn't stand being beaten by her own husband."
Aunt Li showed a look of pity and continued, "Jianjun is over forty and still hasn't married. If he managed to find someone like this, it's like heaven has opened its eyes. Everyone who has seen that woman says she's very beautiful!"