Chapter 201: Played it Out
Wan Minglu, who was sitting next to them, looked very depressed. He had finally gotten the chance to see Bai Ruozhu and hold Little Dengdeng when an intimidating figure appeared. Even Little Dengdeng didn’t seem to like him, which made him feel even more discouraged, almost taking his breath away.
Wang Luji pulled him back to the table to finish the rest of the pancakes and soup. They were occupying a space and not eating, so the customers behind them had nowhere to sit. It was affecting the business.
Wan Minglu knew it wasn’t appropriate, so he went back and finished his food quietly. However, his food tasted bland. He didn’t know if it was because he was in a bad mood or because the hand-held pancake was getting cold.
Wang Luji glanced at the man still playing with the child, his jaw almost dropping in shock. He remembered that this man was very fierce, and usually didn’t talk much to them. Some time ago, an old lousy officer didn’t complete his tasks properly and was directly punished by this man with twenty lashes. He is still staying at home, recuperating.
Oh, how could he forget about that? He quickly signaled to Wan Minglu, whispering, "It’s almost break time, we should get back to work quickly. Otherwise, we might be punished by the boss."
Wan Minglu nodded sulkily. He thought that the man hadn’t left yet. However, he also knew that the man was his own boss, not someone from the County Government Office. Besides, was it his place to meddle in other people’s affairs? Was he tired of living or something?
"Uncle, Auntie, we need to get back to work now. We’ll come to visit you again next time." Wan Minglu stood up and spoke to Bai Yihong and his wife. He then turned to Bai Zehao and Bai Ruozhu, "Brother Zehao, Ruozhu, I’m leaving now. If you need anything, come and find me at the County Government Office."
Wang Luji also stood up to say goodbye. The two of them left some coins on the table. Lin Ping’er came over, looked at the money, and yelled, "You can just leave the money as is, why give more? Are you trying to kill me with kindness?" She ran after them and forced them to take back the excess money.
The Wang family sneered at this, muttering, "Such fools, they won’t even take money when it’s offered. No wonder they’re all so poor."
She had specifically worn her worst clothes today to show that she was here to work. Yet, everybody in the second house wore clothes that were even worse than her worst ones. Their clothes were rough, and many places were patched up. So, she thought that the second house was particularly poor.
In reality, Bai Ruozhu’s family was doing well now. They had added some new clothes, but none of them would wear those nice clothes to the market, as they were afraid of getting them dirty. This was probably because the people in the second house had gone through so many hard times that they cherished everything that they had now.
Bai Ruozhu was busy. She was far away and didn’t hear the Wang family cursing them. But how could Jiang Yichun, his martial arts well-trained, not hear?
He thought that this woman really need to be taken care of. Bai Ruozhu’s family had been too kind to her.
While no one was paying attention, Jiang Yichun took the opportunity to kick a small stone straight in the direction of the Wang family during his walk.
"Ouch!" the woman from the Wang family screamed, falling to the ground.
Bai Ruozhu quickly looked over, only to see that the little stool the woman from the Wang family was sitting on had fallen to one side, and she had collapsed on the ground.
At this moment, the woman from the Wang family was lying on her side on the ground, yelling in pain. Lin Ping’er wasn’t there, and it wasn’t appropriate for Bai Yihong to help her up. Bai Ruozhu’s hands were busy, so Bai Zehao had no choice but to reluctantly help her up.
"Ouch, I’m going to die! What kind of stool do you have in your house? It can break when it’s perfectly fine, and I nearly lost my life trying to help." The woman from the Wang family was really in pain, but she also took the opportunity to provoke the situation.
Bai Zehao helped her up, scratching his head, "That’s strange. The stool is new, and the legs are so thick, how could it break? It’s perfectly fine for my mom to sit on it when she’s washing dishes."
At this time, Lin Ping’er had returned after giving back the money. Seeing the condition of the woman from the Wang family, she hurried over and asked, "What happened? Are you okay?" After that, she reached out and helped the woman from the Wang family.
Bai Zehao found a moment to get down and check the stool, only to find that it was perfectly fine—it wasn’t broken at all!
He looked towards the woman from the Wang family in confusion, asking, "Auntie, the stool is perfectly fine. There’s not even a single crack. How did you fall?"
Continuing to clutch her side, the woman from the Wang family continued to wince, and said, "How is that possible? I fell because the stool suddenly tipped."
"Well, see for yourself then." Bai Zehao lifted the small stool and held it in front of the woman from the Wang family.
The woman from the Wang family looked and was stunned - the stool was indeed not broken, but she clearly felt it tip, which led to her fall.
Bai Ruozhu was busy on the side, smiling as she said, "Auntie, you must be tired and confused. You should stop and rest. How distressing it would be if you fell again!"
The woman from the Wang family made quite a scene, attracting the attention of many people. Someone joked, "How tired must this auntie be to fall asleep while washing dishes!"
Fusa stretched her neck to take a look at the stool and disdainfully said, "People tend to get drowsy after eating too much."
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but laugh. When she glanced over and saw that the woman from the Wang family was grinding her teeth, she quickly said to her, "Auntie, thank you for your hard work today. There’s not much left for you to do here. You should go home and rest. Rub some medicated oil on the area where you fell."
The woman from the Wang family was already sick of washing dishes after half a day. Now that half of her body was in pain, she didn’t want to do anything. After thinking for a while, she said, "Okay, I’ll go home and apply some medicated oil so as not to delay helping out tomorrow due to any injuries."
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t be happier if the Wang family didn’t come to help tomorrow. Hearing this, she didn’t feel the slightest bit upset.
So, the woman from the Wang family left with a limp, and Lin Ping’er went to continue washing the dishes. Seeing how slow and messy the Wang family woman was at washing dishes, Lin Ping’er was already fed up.
Jiang Yichun continued to play with Little Dengdeng, pretending as if he hadn’t heard anything about the Wang family’s mishap. Suddenly, his mask made a slight cracking noise, and no matter how he pressed the mechanical trigger, the lower part of the mask no longer flipped up.
Hearing the noise, Bai Ruozhu looked over and couldn’t help but laugh, "You see, I told you not to play with it, and now it’s broken, isn’t it?"
Jiang Yichun looked at Bai Ruozhu when he heard her laugh. He glared at Bai Ruozhu, thinking, "I was only playing with it to amuse your son, and yet you have the audacity to laugh at me? You’re unbelievable!"
Bai Ruozhu quickly tried to hide her laughter. She dared not offend him, especially when her precious son was still in his arms.
Little Dengdeng didn’t know that the mask was broken. He kept reaching out and touching it, seeming to not understand why the mask wasn’t moving. However, after a while, the mask still didn’t move, and he appeared to be somewhat angry, slapping it with his hand.
Bai Ruozhu’s heart pounded, thinking, "My son, you mustn’t knock off his mask."
She wiped her hands and went over to pick up Dengdeng, "Thank you, kind sir. You have been a great help today, and my child is extremely happy."
This time, Jiang Yichun didn’t insist on holding onto the child. However, he spoke in a somewhat chilly tone, "It was nothing." After saying that, he placed something on the cart and turned to leave.