Uneasy

“… I guess not.”

Xiaoguo didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t sure if there was anything going between Ruyi and her brother, so she could only say this for now.

“Sigh…”

“What’s wrong?” Xiaoguo looked at the woman, and she was suddenly confused.

“What a pity. If only I were a few years younger…”

As soon as Mrs. Yang finished speaking, Xiaoguo looked like she had been struck by lightning. She stammered, “Sister-in-law, Sister-in-law, put away your dangerous thoughts!”

If she didn’t stop her now, she was afraid that Mrs. Yang would say something immoral.

“It’s really rare to see a man with such temperament…”

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Yang did not stop talking and continued to praise Qin Anming in an admiring and mushy tone. Xiaoguo’s scalp turned numb when she heard this. She said in horror, “Mrs. Yang, if Brother Yang finds out about your thoughts, he might kick you out of the house.”

“Pfft, hahahahaha…”

When Mrs. Yang heard this, she was extremely amused. Then, she snorted loudly. “He wouldn’t dare!”

Xiaoguo thought that made sense. Although Brother Yang looked like a chauvinistic man, he was actually afraid of his wife.

“But then again, your brother is not young anymore. Other people his age had become fathers.”

Xiaoguo nodded and teased, “Why? Do you want to be a matchmaker like Auntie Lin?”

“No way. I don’t have her talents.” Mrs. Yang smiled and nudged Xiaoguo. How dare she tease her like this? She was so mean…

At this moment, Qin Anming, who was in the distance, was pounced on by the children again. He acted like he was fine and sat up with a smile. He patted his body and continued playing with the children. One of the children tripped and was about to fall when Qin Anming reacted quickly and grabbed him. He patiently comforted the frightened child until he regained his smile. Then, he continued playing with the children.

“Sigh… I’m just saying that your brother’s personality is really enviable. If only I had half his patience.”

To see a man so patient, it really made her feel a little ashamed. If she was put in the same situation as Qin Anming, she would have gotten irritable long ago. She wouldn’t have comforted the child so gently. It would be considered a miracle if she didn’t beat him up.

“That’s right. I should learn from my brother.” Xiaoguo looked at Qin Anming, who was laughing happily in the distance. As far as she could remember, he had a gentle personality since he was young and rarely got angry.

“It is most likely that he was born with such a personality. It must be quite hard to achieve that through training at the later stages of life. I should give up.” Mrs. Yang had been thinking about trying to change her temperament, but when she realized that she really couldn’t, she immediately gave up.

Xiaoguo smiled and did not say anything. She continued to look at the group of little people playing in the distance. It was just a group of children and a little adult.

The temperatures were very unstable now. Sometimes, the weather would turn cold suddenly after a few days of warm weather. Sometimes, the temperature would drop sharply in the afternoon after a warm morning.

The few of them played for quite some time, and only went home when they started to feel cold.

—-

In the capital.

Jiang Danhe returned to the residence from the palace very late at night. Li Shouji thoughtfully prepared hot food for him.

“How is it? It’s heartwarming to have me around, right?”

Li Shouji said smugly. “Don’t you dare you despise me. Without me, you will just starve.”

“…”

Even though Jiang Danhe was very hungry, he still ate in a careful manner. However, he did not pay attention to the other party.

Li Shouji pursed his lips and pushed the side dishes closer to him. He tactfully shut his mouth in the meantime.

Today was the Qingming Festival. Other than taking two hours off to pay respects to his ancestors, Jiang Danhe spent the rest of the day by Shao Zhan’s side. He also took his meals with him. However, there were too many things to prepare at night, so he did not have time to take his dinner.

After eating his fill, he put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief that was placed at the side. After which, he folded it neatly and put it away. After doing all this, he finally had time to look at Li Shouji.

“I have some matters to attend to tomorrow and will have to go out for a while. Keep an eye on the military camp. Send me a message if there’s anything.”

With that, he got up and walked into the house.

“Where are you going?”

Li Shouji asked subconsciously.

“I’m not telling you.”

“…” Li Shouji was confused and followed closely behind him. “How am I going to find you if you don’t tell me!”

Jiang Danhe stopped in his tracks and glanced at him. “Not bad, at least his brains are working quite well.”

In the end, Li Shouji did not ask where he was going. He returned to his room gloomily. What was the meaning of asking him to look for him if anything was up, and yet he refused to give him the address?

After thinking for a long time, he suddenly realized something. “Doesn’t that mean that I shouldn’t look for him no matter what?!”

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. This sounded like what Jiang Danhe would normally say.

Li Shouji couldn’t take this lying down. He held back his anger and wanted to ask Jiang Danhe the next morning. However, when he woke up and went to look for him the next day, Jiang Danhe was gone.

The news he received was that Jiang Danhe had set off in the middle of the night. Helpless, he could only return to his room indignantly to catch up on his sleep. He would settle the score with the man when he returned.

On the other side, Jiang Danhe was eating breakfast at the wonton stall after traveling in the middle of the night.

His destination was Peach Blossom Village.

Ever since he wrote to Xiaoguo to ask if he should stay in the capital, he had not received a reply. It had been some time since then, and he was starting to feel uneasy.

During the period when he didn’t get any reply from Xiaoguo, he had insomnia every day. He had many speculations in mind. “Is Xiaoguo not agreeable to me staying in the capital? That’s why she stopped contacting me in a fit of anger. Could she be sick…?”

In short, he could not focus every day and had insomnia every night, so he applied for leave from Shao Zhan. However, the emperor definitely wouldn’t let him leave so easily.

With this hard-won vacation, Jiang Danhe had to get on quickly with his journey home.

—-

After the Qingming holidays, Zhuang Zhuang was sent back to Mr. Kong’s house.

“Mother…”

“No.”

“I didn’t even say anything. Aren’t you being too cruel by saying no to me?” Zhuang Zhuang pouted and looked at Xiaoguo seriously.

“No matter what you say, at this moment, you only have one choice. Get in the carriage and go back to Mr. Kong.” Xiaoguo smiled and pointed at the carriage. Then, she lifted the curtain and gestured for him to enter.

“Is it non-negotiable?”

Zhuang Zhuang’s small hands were still tightly holding on to the door as he looked at her accusingly.

Xiaoguo shook her head calmly and gave him a look, letting him take his time to figure out what she meant..

Zhuang Zhuang pretended to be pitiful and swallowed his saliva. He looked at her with his big watery eyes and said in a childish voice, “Okay, I got it.”

If it were anyone else, that person would have given in to him. However, he was up against Xiaoguo, a woman who had developed an immune system towards him.

Zhuang Zhuang dawdled as he got on the donkey cart. He grabbed his bag and stuck his head out. “Mother, can you go to school with me?”

He enjoyed school. If Xiaoguo could follow him, he would like it even more.

Xiaoguo didn’t want to speak anymore. She pushed his head in with a slap.

“Mother, let’s go together…”

Zhuang Zhuang suddenly felt that this was a good idea. He could study and keep watch over his mother at all times. It was killing two birds with one stone. What a wonderful idea!

“Sigh…”

Xiaoguo let out a long sigh as she listened to the pleas coming from the carriage from time to time. She was exhausted.

Things were going well at the beginning. She thought that Zhuang Zhuang had stopped being a mummy’s boy. She didn’t expect him to get back to his old ways after these few days of leave.

“Mother… Mother… Mother…”

Xiaoguo covered her ears, but she couldn’t block out the chicken-like cries coming from the carriage. It wasn’t a roar, but a wail.

When passers-by heard this, they thought that she was kidnapping a child and looked at her suspiciously. Some parents even hugged the child in their arms tightly. Xiaoguo’s mouth was almost blistered from explaining incessantly throughout the journey.