Chapter 275: Zhong Mingzhu

"Hello, everyone," Zhong Mingzhu also nodded slightly toward the women in the courtyard.

Zhong Mingzhu's attire was somewhat out of place here; she was dressed entirely in the uniform of a high-ranking official's daughter, and generally, no one would dare provoke someone wearing such clothes.

"Let's go, Mingzhu. You come home with me first; my husband has already gone out to buy groceries, and you can just eat at my place at noon."

"Okay."

"Xiaobao, don't scare Grandma!" As soon as Ding Qiunan and her companion entered the Back Courtyard, they heard a commotion, and Ding Qiunan ran over at top speed.

"Qiu Nan, you've come just in time! Xiaobao seems to be choking." Wang Cuihua looked at Xiaobao's flushed face, terrified and at a loss for what to do.

Ding Qiunan stepped in and hurriedly patted her son's back, with Zhong Mingzhu assisting from the side, but they couldn't relieve him, and she was on the verge of tears from anxiety.

"Xiaobao, don't scare your mother!"

Liu Guangtian returned from buying groceries and, seeing this scene, was also scared out of his wits. He suddenly remembered the method Zhang Ping'an had used to treat Mu Santai and stumbled as he ran to Zhang Ping'an's house.

"Uncle Zhang, help! Quick, quickly save my child!"

"Guangtian, what happened to Xiaobao?"

"He, he—he is choking!"

A child choking is no small matter; if things went wrong, it could be fatal. Zhang Ping'an didn't have time to worry about Liu Guangtian and hurriedly ran toward the Back Courtyard.

As soon as Zhang Ping'an entered the Back Courtyard, he saw a crowd gathered around Liu Haizhong's house. He squeezed in and found Ding Qiunan and another person patting Xiaobao's back, but Xiaobao's face was already turning a deep purple.

"Xiao Ding, give the child to me."

Zhang Ping'an didn't care if she agreed or not; he took the child, pressed on a specific acupoint, and gave a pat. Xiaobao spat out a peanut and immediately began to wail.

"Whew~" That was truly dangerous. If he had arrived two steps later, the child would likely have suffocated. Although he could still have saved him, it would have caused oxygen deprivation to the brain, which likely would have resulted in some damage.

"Xiaobao, Xiaobao!"

Ding Qiunan held her child and wept, her heart filled with lingering fear, and she felt a bit more resentment toward her mother-in-law.

Zhong Mingzhu, standing to the side, had seen everything clearly. As she looked at Zhang Ping'an now, her eyes were filled with wonder.

She and Ding Qiunan were both doctors and considered their medical skills to be decent, yet they had spent a long time working in vain when faced with food lodged deep in the esophagus.

Liu Guangtian squeezed into the crowd and, seeing that the child was fine, could no longer hold back his tears.

"Stop crying. The child is fine now, just a bit frightened. Go and check on him."

"Thank you, Uncle Zhang."

Liu Haizhong had been at the gate playing chess and bragging with a group of men. Hearing that his grandson had an accident, he hurried back and happened to bump into Zhang Ping'an, who was leaving the Back Courtyard.

"Ping'an, my grandson Xiaobao..."

"He's fine now."

"That's good, that's good."

Liu Haizhong patted his chest with lingering fear and hurried home. Hearing the gist of the situation from the crowd, his temper flared up, and he started berating his wife:

"How were you watching the child?"

Liu Haizhong was proud of his two sons. His eldest son was not by his side, and the two children he had were both girls, so he doted heavily on this, his only grandson for the time being.

"I—I don't know either. I just went out to fetch water, and Xiaobao, he..."

"Don't leave these round things in front of Xiaobao anymore; it's so dangerous. Xiaobao, don't be afraid, Grandpa is here."

"Yes, yes, yes. Guangtian, Qiu Nan, I..." Wang Cuihua stammered for a long time, unable to finish her sentence.

"Alright, Mom and Dad, it's good that Xiaobao is fine."

Liu Guangtian also sighed. He knew his mother hadn't done it on purpose, but the situation just now had been truly dangerous; he didn't even want to imagine what would happen to this family if they lost Xiaobao.

"Dad, it was all thanks to Uncle Zhang just now. Qiu Nan, bring Xiaobao, let's take something to thank Uncle Zhang."

"Mm." Ding Qiunan observed her son for a while and, finding nothing wrong, tidied herself up a bit.

"Mingzhu, I'm sorry about today."

"It's fine, as long as the child is okay."

Liu Haizhong had already tied up a hen from the house and brought along half a basket of eggs.

It wasn't that they were stingy about sending pastries or malted milk powder; they knew that even if they sent them, Zhang Ping'an wouldn't accept them, but Zhang Ping'an wouldn't refuse things they raised themselves.

"Let's go."

Under the grape trellis, Zhang Ping'an was lying leisurely on a lounge chair, with two one-year-old lynxes lying beside him. With a book and a pot of tea, he couldn't have been more content.

"Ping'an."

"Uncle Zhang."

"Brother Liu, Guangtian, have a seat."

"Ping'an, thank you for saving my Xiaobao today. Xiaobao, hurry and kowtow to your Grandpa Zhang."

"Don't, Brother Liu, it was just a small effort."

"Uncle Zhang, please don't refuse. If Xiaobao had..." Ding Qiunan's voice was slightly choked.

"Very well."

Under Liu Guangtian's guidance, Liu Xiaobao gave Zhang Ping'an a solid kowtow.

"Alright, alright, Xiaobao, get up quickly."

"Ping'an, this is a small token of gratitude from our Liu Family." Liu Haizhong then set down the hen and the eggs he was holding.

"Done." Zhang Ping'an didn't stand on ceremony, and the two little lynxes had already grabbed the hen and the basket and headed toward the main room.

The people in the courtyard were used to it, but Zhong Mingzhu was standing to the side with her mouth wide open in surprise.

"Um, may I ask how you managed to dislodge the peanut just now?"

Only then did Zhang Ping'an notice there was another person beside Ding Qiunan. She had a face that looked like it belonged to a peaceful and prosperous age, which was not bad, but having Wang Xiaoling for comparison, no one in this era could amaze him anymore.

"Acupoints," Zhang Ping'an glanced at her and said.

"Acupoints? Are you a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine?"

"..."

"Ahem, it's almost noon, Zhang Shu, we won't disturb you any longer, we'll head back first."

Seeing that Zhang Ping'an didn't answer, Liu Guangtian instantly realized that Wang Xiaoling's grandfather was a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner; he must have reminded Zhang Shu of something sad, so he hurriedly wanted to leave.

"Right, Ping'an, we'll head back first. If you need anything in the future, just say the word, I, Lao Liu, will never hesitate."

"Mm, alright."

Liu Guangtian carried Xiaobao, while Ding Qiunan pulled the reluctant Zhong Mingzhu out of the courtyard.

"Dad, Guangtian, you take Xiaobao back, I'll see Mingzhu off."

"Alright." Today's situation was clearly not suitable for eating anymore.

After leaving the Siheyuan, Zhong Mingzhu said huffily:

"Tch, just because he's a bit handsome and has some skills, he's insufferably arrogant."

"Mingzhu, he is Zhang Ping'an."

"Ah?"

"Did you forget how Guangtian and I addressed him?"

"..."

Only then did Zhong Mingzhu remember that they all seemed to call him Zhang Shu; she had just been too focused on being curious about Zhang Ping'an's medical skills.

"Sister Qiu Nan, why didn't you say so earlier?"

"If I had said so earlier, what would you have wanted to do?" Ding Qiunan looked at Zhong Mingzhu with a strange expression.

"Ah, nothing, Sister Qiu Nan, you don't need to see me off, I'll head back first." Zhong Mingzhu rode her Bicycle and scurried off in a panic.

"Strange..."

Ding Qiunan didn't think in that direction; after all, she knew a little about Zhong Mingzhu's background, and she seemed to be a relative of the Vice President at their Hospital, so she shouldn't be interested in the current Zhang Ping'an.

Zhong Mingzhu arrived home just in time for mealtime, and Xu Baisheng and Zhong Yan were there at the time.

"Mingzhu, didn't you go to your colleague's house to hang out? Why are you back at this hour?"

"Uh, something came up at my colleague's place."