Jie Jingchen smiled but said nothing.
This wasn’t something worth agonizing over. Qin Mei picked up the washed grapes and walked toward Jing Qi’s room.
When Jing Qi was studying, Qin Mei would always knock before entering.
"Fourth Sister-in-law." Jing Qi put down her book and smiled at Qin Mei.
"Jing Qi, have some grapes." Qin Mei dangled the bunch she was holding. Jing Qi took them with a smile. Qin Mei watched her eat one without batting an eye, and her own facial muscles twitched. Her mouth wouldn’t stop watering. ’Nope, I can’t keep watching her eat.’ "Jing Qi, take your time. I’m going to see if your fourth brother is done with dinner."
Qin Mei had just left Jing Qi’s room when Jie Jingjue returned, covered in grime.
"Why are you back so early today?" Qin Mei was surprised. Jie Jingjue usually came back very late.
"It’s too hot," Jie Jingjue said, wiping the sweat from his face.
"If it’s too hot, you should stop working. Wait until the weather cools down. I’m not in a hurry, anyway," Qin Mei said. The temperature was too high, and Jie Jingjue was so full of drive that she worried he’d get heatstroke. She had prepared some herbal medicine for him to infuse in his water and drink.
Qin Mei had been very thorough with her heatstroke prevention efforts. Everyone in the family had some herbs, which could be steeped or boiled into a decoction. She even gave some to Shen Qing to take to her parents’ house for them to drink. She put extra thought into the one for Xiao Duo. Since children are afraid of bitterness and refuse to drink medicine, the blend she made for Xiao Duo wasn’t bitter at all, though its effects were weaker. But since Xiao Duo was still little, a reduced potency didn’t matter.
"Fourth Sister-in-law." Jie Jingjue was deeply moved. Qin Mei was the first person to ever remind him to balance work and rest. Whether it was his parents or the girls he dated, they all just pushed him to work harder.
All their pushing gave him zero motivation. He would slack off at his job, skip work when he was in a bad mood, and even skip work when he was in a good mood. His boss didn’t have high expectations for him either. As long as he didn’t quit, his boss wouldn’t fire him.
His office job was easy, but he hated it. The renovation work was exhausting, but he loved it, filled with a seemingly endless supply of energy.
His fourth sister-in-law had asked him to supervise the work from time to time. But after watching for a while, he wanted to do it himself. He understood it at a glance and got it right on his first try. So, he just sent the renovation workers away and took over, a move his fourth sister-in-law fully supported.
He was slow, of course. He was a complete amateur with no master to teach him, learning by fumbling his way through it. He was constantly redoing his work. But over time, the number of do-overs decreased.
"Hold it. Don’t look at me like that. Your fourth brother will get the wrong idea," Qin Mei said jokingly.
"The wrong idea about what? This is a look of worship and gratitude, not adoration." Jie Jingjue rolled his eyes. ’Qin Mei is my fourth sister-in-law. Would I dare covet my own sister-in-law? Forget Fourth Brother, Mom alone would beat me to death.’
"That’s debatable. Your fourth brother is as petty as they come." Qin Mei even made a tiny gesture with her hand.
Her comment made Jie Jingjue laugh. "Fourth Sister-in-law, when it comes to things like this, any man would be just as petty."
Qin Mei wanted to tease Jie Jingjue more, but seeing him covered in grime and drenched in sweat, she asked, "Aren’t you uncomfortable like that?"
Jie Jingjue was the most famous dandy in the alleyways, always dressed in flashy, flamboyant outfits. Seeing him in this state would shock everyone. The way Jie Jingjue looked now, even Bai Aiyun would probably find him disgusting.
’How terrible he looks now is a measure of how successful he’ll be in the future.’
"I am." Jie Jingjue looked himself over. He reeked of sweat. He used to hate the smell, but now it gave him a sense of accomplishment. Every drop of sweat was a testament to his hard work. "I’m going to take a shower."
"Don’t rush into the shower. Rest for a bit." Qin Mei stopped him, then added, "I’ll go ask your fourth brother to heat up some bathwater for you."
"Fourth Sister-in-law, don’t worry about it. A cold shower is fine." Jie Jingjue called out to stop Qin Mei. It was so hot, a cold shower would feel great.
"A cold shower? Do you not care about your body?" Qin Mei frowned, disapproving.
"I’ve always taken cold showers on hot days," Jie Jingjue said nonchalantly.
"The past is the past, and now is now." Qin Mei had Jie Jingjue sit down, then sat across from him. Their eyes met. "I think I need to educate you on the dangers of taking a cold shower after sweating heavily."
’Actually, cold showers can be beneficial. Some people even take them in the dead of winter. However, everyone’s constitution is different. For some it’s beneficial, for others it’s harmful.’
"Dangers? What dangers?" Jie Jingjue asked, his interest clearly lacking.
Seeing his dismissive attitude, Qin Mei raised an eyebrow. She pretended to think, looking at Jie Jingjue as if she were hesitant to speak.
Qin Mei’s deliberate suspense made Jie Jingjue a little anxious. "So, what are the dangers?"
A sly glint flashed in Qin Mei’s eyes, her expression unreadable. Seeing Jie Jingjue’s impatience, she finally spoke slowly. "For example... impotence and infertility."
"What?!" Jie Jingjue’s eyes widened in horror. He had witnessed Qin Mei’s medical skills firsthand. Forget everything else, the fact that she could heal Jing Qi’s leg was enough to call her a miracle doctor.
Jie Jingjue swallowed hard and asked, "For real?"
Qin Mei pursed her lips, her expression dead serious. "For real."
Jie Jingjue’s face instantly filled with regret. He asked nervously, "If I don’t take one now, is it still not too late?"
"It’s not too late." Qin Mei nodded. Jie Jingjue breathed a sigh of relief.
"I’ll go heat up the bathwater." Jie Jingjue shot up and ran toward the kitchen.
Qin Mei smiled. ’When dealing with men, you have to prescribe the right medicine for the ailment.’
Qin Mei got up and went back to her room to cool off in front of the fan.
She had just sat down when Jie Jingchen came into the room and closed the door.
"Why are you closing the door?" Qin Mei knitted her brows. She was using a fan, not an air conditioner. A closed room would get stuffy with just a fan on.
Jie Jingchen didn’t say anything. His expression was a complex, tangled mess. He walked over to Qin Mei. She stared at him, stunned for a moment, then asked with concern, "What’s wrong?"
"What you told Jing Wu... was it true?" Jie Jingchen’s face was taut, his expression complicated.
Qin Mei froze for a second. ’Did I kill two birds with one stone?’
Staring at Jie Jingchen, Qin Mei gave a light cough and asked tentatively, "You’ve been taking cold showers too?"
Jie Jingchen’s silence was an admission. If Jie Jingjue took cold showers simply to cool off, Jie Jingchen took them to quell his ’wicked fire.’ Jie Jingjue wasn’t married, but he was. He was a normal man, but Qin Mei couldn’t stand the heat and refused to let him get close. He couldn’t bring himself to force her, so what other choice did he have but to use cold water to cool his desires?
Qin Mei let out an awkward dry cough, carefully observing the expression on Jie Jingchen’s face. "For the sake of your health, you should try to avoid cold showers from now on."
How could Qin Mei not understand why he was taking cold showers? She bore an undeniable responsibility.
"Taking cold showers... does it really cause impotence?" Jie Jingchen asked bluntly. He wasn’t too concerned about the infertility part; he wasn’t that keen on having heirs.
’The Jie Family has the second and third brothers, and the Qiao Family has Jing Wu and Jing Qi.’
"AHEM, AHEM, AHEM." Qin Mei choked on her own saliva, not expecting Jie Jingchen to be so direct. "Well..."
Under Jie Jingchen’s expectant gaze, Qin Mei didn’t know how to answer.
"Meimei, is it that hard to talk about?" This just made Jie Jingchen even more nervous. She looked as if he were terminally ill with no hope of recovery.
Qin Mei gave Jie Jingchen’s chest a bashful shove and said irritably, "Whether you can get it up or not, don’t you have a pretty good idea yourself?"
’He’s just worrying over nothing,’ Qin Mei thought, ’and he’s completely missing the point. He shouldn’t be worried about whether cold showers will make him impotent; he should be worried about whether his back injury has any lingering effects.’
’It was Jie Jingchen’s good fortune to marry the original owner of this body. No, to be precise, it was his good fortune that my soul transmigrated into her body. If it weren’t for me, Jie Jingchen’s back injury would have truly left lasting effects. The back injury was the minor part; the internal damage was the real hidden danger, one that would have slowly eroded his health until he was truly beyond saving.’
’Because I showed up—and because he’s handsome and his family is wealthy—I wanted to latch onto his "golden thigh." I also didn’t want to become a widow, so I stepped in to save him, curing him completely with my medicine.’
"I don’t have a good idea, that’s why I’m asking you." Jie Jingchen moved closer to her.