Chapter 135 Did She Overthink?
Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Zhou immediately said, "Let Zhou Fu help you. Although he is currently a small shop assistant, he was previously a farmer’s child and is adept at farm work."
Bai Ruozhu was excited to hear that. "That’s excellent, I’ll pay him a bit more as wages."
Shopkeeper Zhou quickly waved his hands, "Don’t worry about the wages, he’s supposed to help you."
Bai Ruozhu didn’t bother arguing about it. If no wages were to be counted, then she would just give him a bit more gratuity. She wouldn’t let him work hard for nothing.
"What about others? Even with Zhou Fu, it won’t be enough." Bai Ruozhu began to worry again.
"Let my son help you, he’s also good at farming," Shopkeeper Zhou added.
Hearing this, Bai Ruozhu felt awkward. After all, Shopkeeper Zhou’s son must have stopped farming long ago. Would it be too hard for them to help her?
Shopkeeper Zhou noticed her concerns and laughed, "What’s wrong with my son? You don’t know that Zhou Fu is my nephew. The children from farming families have been working from young. My son often carries goods even though he no longer farms. It won’t be hard for him to get back to farming."
Bai Ruozhu didn’t expect Zhou Fu to be Shopkeeper Zhou’s nephew. Upon hearing his words, she didn’t say anything more, otherwise, it would seem as if she doubts their ability to farm.
"Then, I will notify the two and they will go to the Back Mountain Village to find you later," said Shopkeeper Zhou.
Bai Ruozhu was in a hurry to say, "It’s already afternoon. It’ll be quite late if we rush to the village now. We better start early tomorrow. I’ll make a good meal for them tomorrow as a reward."
Shopkeeper Zhou thought for a moment and agreed. Bai Ruozhu thanked him once again, took Little Dengdeng, and left Du’s Pharmacy.
She headed towards the town gate, carrying Dengdeng’s basket. As she passed by the West Market, she saw a man in a green shirt from afar. Despite standing at a distance in the busy market and after separating through many people, Bai Ruozhu noticed him at first sight.
The man’s appearance was in complete contrast to the town, just like how Bai Ruozhu felt when she first saw him. He was like an immortal painted in the painting, seemingly not from this world.
Of course, the mask on his face was the most conspicuous. How many people would wear an ugly black wooden mask?
She couldn’t help but recall the faint scent she smelled on him after her exhausting childbirth which left her in a delirium. She thought she had hysteria; why would she think of him at that moment?
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but laugh mockingly at herself, her true nature had been exposed once again. She must’ve been so infatuated with the attractive man that she couldn’t forget him. In her past life, she had a particular liking for aloof handsome men, of course, this was limited to male celebrities as she never had the chance to meet others.
Considering so many people around, she thought he wouldn’t notice her. She decided to avoid him to prevent her perception of him as a refined immortal to be ruined by his poisonous tongue. But to her surprise, just as she had walked half the distance, he noticed her and even walked towards her.
Bai Ruozhu looked down to see two black shoe tips. The fabric and craftsmanship seemed high-grade. It was clear that it wasn’t hand-stitched by a family member as there was an embroidered logo, probably the mark of some clothing store.
"Your child has grown well, looks just like you." A cold voice arose, Bai Ruozhu looked up in surprise at Jiang Yichun. Wasn’t he usually very sarcastic? How was he speaking nicely today?
Jiang Yichun felt somewhat uncomfortable being looked at in surprise by her. He subconsciously wanted to touch his face, but quickly remembered he was wearing a mask.
"What? Did you become foolish after giving birth?" Jiang Yichun asked coldly.
Bai Ruozhu calmed herself, she knew he had a sharp tongue. She had mistaken him to have mellowed out just now!
"Of course, my son resembles me. Haven’t you heard that a son takes after his mother?" Bai Ruozhu glanced at him disdainfully, speaking in a not-so-polite tone.
Jiang Yichun wasn’t annoyed and looked over at Little Dengdeng. To his surprise, the little one was smiling back at him. He was slightly stunned, but he found the child more and more pleasing to the eye.
With that thought, he directly took out a jade pendant from his belt and handed it to the child, saying "Here, play with this."
Bai Ruozhu was surprised once again. The jade pendant was shiny and white, it was certainly top-grade Hetian jade.
"No, this is too valuable." Bai Ruozhu said, attempting to take back the pendant from the child’s hand to return it to him, but Jiang Yichun turned and left, not giving her a chance to return it.
"It’s just a thing, it simply happened to be destined for the child," Jiang Yichun said without turning his head back.
"Hey, don’t go!" Bai Ruozhu called out hastily. Suddenly a lot of people looked her way, their gazes full of curiosity. Her face flushed red; what an awkward situation.
She wanted to chase after him with her child and return the jade pendant, but as soon as she looked up, she saw no sign of him. Was he truly like the painted immortal, who disappeared into the painting?
Bai Ruozhu quickly left the market, holding Little Dengdeng. She took the jade pendant from Dengdeng’s hand and carefully put it away. She decided that if she gets a chance, she must return it to that man.
She held the jade pendant and sniffed it. Yes, it was the same scent, she was sure she didn’t remember it wrong. But why did she have a hallucination that day?
"Why would I smell this man’s scent when I was giving birth? Could he have entered the delivery room? That’s strange." Bai Ruozhu wondered, flipping the jade pendant as she muttered, and continued to walk towards the town gate.
Jiang Yichun, hiding around the corner of the street, shivered. His martial arts background produced excellent hearing, so he naturally heard what Bai Ruozhu had said. He quickly left the place, as though staying a second longer would expose him.
On reflecting, he realized that Bai Ruozhu was just confused, not necessarily discovering his secret, so why was he worried? Besides, although it was inappropriate for him to enter her delivery room, his intentions were good and he saved her life after all.
Thinking about this, Jiang Yichun felt calmer and headed towards the County Government Office.
...
Bai Ruozhu didn’t stew over the matter for long, just carefully put away the jade pendant. She had already shattered the jade pendant left by Chang Sheng, so she couldn’t afford to damage this one too. She must return it to the man when she gets the chance. Accepting such an expensive gift from a stranger was inappropriate.
Due to the inappropriateness of the situation, Bai Ruozhu did not plan to disclose it to her family. If the story got extended, the situation would become even more complicated.
When she returned to the Back Mountain Village, she first went to her own field. After greeting her parents, she picked up the dishes and bowls from the noon meal and headed back home. But on her way, she noticed more people working in the fields than just the Zhang couple.
She stopped and squinted for a closer look, and discovered that it was a young man from the Wan family and the eldest son of the Zhou Deshun family.