Chapter 171: The Scented Evelyn Ford

Evelyn froze for a moment, looking at their heads, which were wrapped in cloth. Their hair might grow back, but their teeth certainly wouldn’t.

"I need to check your hair follicles."

"Okay, thank you, Dr. Ford."

They removed the cloths from their heads, and Evelyn brought out a few bamboo chairs for them to sit on.

"Your hair loss is caused by malnutrition and a hormonal imbalance. I suggest you focus on your overall health first—get your periods regulated—and then we can address the hair problem."

"Dr. Ford, how do we regulate our periods?"

"Acupuncture, along with some internal nourishment."

"How long will the treatment take?" they asked nervously, their eyes fixed on Evelyn, a mixture of hope and fear in their gazes.

"It will likely take six months to a year. Let’s do this: you’ll start with internal nourishment, which is split into two parts: dietary and medicinal. For the dietary part, things like fish soup, chicken soup, and eggs are good. I have some medicinal herbs, but we’ll need to plant more. Once you’ve seen some improvement from your diet, we’ll add the medicinal supplements."

"Okay, thank you, Dr. Ford."

’To get their hair to grow, they would need things like soapberries, cypress, and ginger.’

After they left, Serena Lynch watched their retreating figures and sighed nonstop.

"What’s wrong?"

"I just feel so sorry for them. Three and a half years into the apocalypse is enough to grind someone down like this."

Evelyn nodded. ’Isn’t that the truth?’ In her past life, while she hadn’t lost her hair or teeth, she had been just as gaunt and haggard, like a wandering ghost. She hadn’t been much better off than they were.

Serena Lynch left with the malt candy she had made. Evelyn went to the vegetable patch to get a watermelon, then took some snow from her dimensional space to chill it before heading to the backyard to find Ronan.

Evelyn sat on a rock, watching Ronan diligently work on the shed. ’If this were before the apocalypse,’ she thought, ’with his looks and height, he would’ve been an overnight sensation if he’d gone into show business.’

’Ronan is so handsome,’ she mused. ’His features are refined and deep-set, he’s tall, has a great physique, and his skin is so fair. He has the intense, intimidating aura of an ascetic man, yet at the same time, there’s a simple, boyish innocence to him.’ The more Evelyn looked, the more she felt it was such a waste.

’A face like that could earn a fortune, but here he is, stuck repairing a chicken and duck coop.’

’If I were some rich sugar mama, I definitely wouldn’t let a tasty snack like him get away. So fresh and delicious.’

Evelyn’s stare was getting a little weird. Ronan shot her a glance, feeling a sudden chill creep down his spine.

"They left?"

Evelyn didn’t react, still wearing that dopey, lecherous grin.

Ronan frowned and came to stand in front of her. "Evelyn?"

Evelyn jumped. Seeing Ronan so close, she felt a flush of embarrassment, as if he had seen right through her shameless thoughts. Her face grew a little red.

"What do you want?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"N-nothing. I picked a watermelon. Are you done yet?"

Ronan narrowed his eyes. He could tell Evelyn wasn’t being honest. Her gaze was shifty, and she didn’t dare meet his eyes. She was obviously hiding something.

"Done. Let’s go."

Ronan walked in front, and Evelyn stared at his back. ’Those long legs... those perfect shoulders...’ Evelyn couldn’t help but click her tongue in appreciation.

Ronan felt that chill on his back again. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Evelyn staring blankly at him.

"What’s wrong with you?"

Caught again, Evelyn coughed. "I’ve just been a bit tired lately. I’m fine. Haha, hahaha."

"Evelyn, what are you plotting? Does it involve me?"

Evelyn wasn’t about to let him get the upper hand. She met his gaze coolly. "I was just thinking about what to make for dinner. You worked hard today, after all. What plotting could I possibly be doing?"

"Oh?"

"What do you mean, ’oh?’ Hurry up. Let’s go home and eat the watermelon."

Back in the house, the atmosphere between them as they sat facing each other was a little strange. Afraid Ronan would see the slightly unhinged look in her eyes, Evelyn kept her head down. Ronan, however, stared intently at her, as if trying to see right through her.

"What did you talk about with them?" Ronan suddenly asked.

"Your hearing is so sensitive. You couldn’t hear us?" ’Besides,’ she thought, ’he never used to ask me what I talked about with others.’

"My hearing’s not so good today. Didn’t hear a thing."

Evelyn nearly burst out laughing. ’His hearing’s not good today? Do his ears have an on/off switch or something? Good one day and bad the next.’

"They came to see me as patients. That’s private. Since you didn’t hear anything, I won’t tell you."

Ronan nodded. "Fine. Then why have you been acting so strange all day, always staring at me?"

Evelyn rubbed her nose awkwardly. "Have I? Maybe it’s just because you’re too handsome. Is there a rule against looking?"

Normally, Ronan would have deadpanned that she could look all she wanted.

But he was acting strange today, too. After a long silence, he actually lowered his head.

"You think I’m handsome?" he asked, his voice muffled.

"Of course. If this were before the apocalypse, you could have been a huge star."

"And you?"

Evelyn considered it. "If you paid me a salary of, say, a hundred thousand a month, I’d be your assistant. Or even your personal maid."

"You can have all the money," Ronan said, looking at her with that innocent, almost foolish gaze of his.

"Ha! That’s easy for you to say now. Money is just worthless paper in the apocalypse. But before all this, money could buy anything. You could do whatever you wanted with it. Would you still be so willing to give it all to me then?"

Ronan nodded with a completely serious expression.

Evelyn suddenly had the urge to smash the watermelon she was holding over his head to knock some sense into him.

"You must have been easy to bully when you were a kid."

Ronan’s lips curved into a smile. "And you must have been very fierce."

"Mm-hm, you guessed right."

"Evelyn."

"Hm?"

"Do you know why I can smell your scent?"

"Why?"

He simply smiled without answering. Evelyn pestered him for a long time, even playfully pouncing on him and hitting him, but he refused to say.

There is a theory that when you can smell a person’s unique, specific scent, it means your genes have chosen them as a mate.

Evelyn pinned Ronan to the floor and started tickling him, and for the first time, he couldn’t stop himself from bursting into laughter.

"Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Have mercy."

Evelyn grabbed his chin and kept tickling. "Are you going to talk? If you don’t, I’m bringing out the heavy-duty torture."

"You want to know?"

Evelyn lifted his arm and gave it a hard bite. "Are you going to tell me?"

"Nope."

Evelyn decided to give Ronan the silent treatment. ’That guy is getting more and more audacious,’ she fumed internally. ’How dare he mess with me.’

However, Evelyn was genuinely worried she smelled bad. She sniffed herself again and again. It’s said that you can’t smell your own body odor, but others can.

’Do I have BO?’

Evelyn despaired.

「The next day.」

Evelyn found Serena Lynch. After making sure no one else was around, she whispered in the lowest possible voice, "Do I smell?"

Serena Lynch looked completely baffled.

"A bad smell."

Serena Lynch shook her head. "No, but I think I smell laundry detergent... Or am I just imagining it?"

Evelyn gave a guilty smile. Her clothes did, in fact, smell like laundry detergent. She stormed back home and grabbed Ronan by the neck from behind.

"What is this smell you claim I have?!"

Ronan... ’My life is over,’ he thought, utterly exasperated. ’This little terror. A full day and night have passed, and she still won’t let it go.’