Chapter 321: Ruthlessly Waking Guizhi Up
Bai Zehao was not only suffering from a badly swollen face, but also a bloody, broken lip!
Bai Ruozhu’s eyes instantly turned cold, asking: "Brother, was it Grandpa who hit you?"
Bai Zehao gave a bitter smile which then made face injury throbbing, he couldn’t help but grimace in pain.
"It’s outrageous! To hit his own grandson like this, your grandfather has indeed gone senile!" Zhou Deshun scolded angrily while his face turned grim.
It wasn’t very polite for people in the village to comment directly on the elders of other families. Zhou Deshun’s anger was so intense that he couldn’t help but lash out. His voice was loud, not caring about who could hear nearby.
Zhou Deshun’s wife opened her mouth. She wanted to express her concerns about the issue. For a child who was about to marry, beating him up like this would only make him feel ashamed. But, she held back her words in the end, worrying about upsetting Bai Zehao and Bai Ruozhu.
In fact, Bai Zehao and Bai Ruozhu were not upset but were indeed infuriated. They no longer had any emotional attachment towards Bai Yihong due to his behavior, and they were already seeing their grandfather as a stranger to them.
"I just asked Grandpa to attend my wedding, and he flew into a rage, saying that since my uncle is facing a catastrophe, how could I still be in the mood to have a wedding? Then he slapped me and said he would rather die than attend." Bai Zehao explained angrily.
"Whether he comes or not is his own decision. It’s just unnecessary to escalate the matter this way." muttered Bai Ruozhu, gritting her teeth. She had known that the grandfather would hit her brother, she shouldn’t have let him go to the old mansion.
She had initially assumed that while the grandfather did not like her, he would at least treat his own grandson more kindly. However, she didn’t expect him to be so ruthless.
"The wedding has been scheduled for a long time, and it was even postponed because of Bai Yibo’s issues. Are we supposed to suffer with him because of his illegal actions and not even engage in marriage affairs?" Finally unable to bear it, Zhou Deshun’s wife began to speak out, "He really is senile, he only has eyes for the crooked Bai Yibo; even after committing such actions, he can still act so self-righteously, as if everyone owes Bai Yibo."
Bai Ruozhu took a deep breath and took out a small box of ointment, "Brother, don’t move. I’ll apply a bit of this; it will help reduce the swelling faster."
She usually carried some hemostatic drugs, anti-swelling medicines, and burn medicines with her. This time, she really made the right choice.
After Bai Ruozhu spread the ointment on Bai Zehao’s face, he suddenly felt a cool sensation on his burning skin, and it made him feel much better.
"Zehao, don’t take it to heart. You don’t have to care too much about those who don’t care about you." Zhou Deshun patted on Bai Zehao’s shoulder and comforted him a bit.
Bai Zehao nodded and said, "Uncle Deshun, I understand. I won’t mind."
Then, Bai Ruozhu and her brother bid farewell to Zhou Deshun and his wife and returned to the West Courtyard. Bai Ruozhu went to nurse Dengdeng and told her brother to stay at home and rest. His swollen face would definitely pain their parents’ heart if they saw it.
As Bai Ruozhu finished nursing Dengdeng and was about to go out, the smell of something delicious wafted out from the kitchen. She held Dengdeng and took a quick peek. It was Fang Guizhi making fried sauce noodles. The sauce smelled delicious, which greatly whetted her appetite.
"Wait a moment, Ruozhu, it will be ready soon." Fang Guizhi smiled sweetly at Bai Ruozhu. She scooped a bowl of noodles and poured a lot of sauce over it, then she served it to Bai Ruozhu in the main hall.
"Guizhi, let’s eat together. I do not find pleasure in eating alone." Bai Ruozhu smiled at Fang Guizhi and added, "My brother will serve himself later; with his swollen face, he won’t be able to eat much now."
Fang Guizhi agreed, and also served a bowl of noodles for herself. Bai Ruozhu looked and saw that the amount of sauce Fang Guizhi poured for herself was much less than what she had poured for Bai Ruozhu.
"Why don’t you pour more of the fried sauce? It won’t taste good with so little." Saying this, she stood up to go to the kitchen to fetch some more sauce for Fang Guizhi. However, Fang GuiZhi stopped her.
"Don’t add anymore. I am afraid of getting fat." Fang Guizhi explained as she blushed. Recently she had been eating better than when she was in Fang Family, and she had also not been going out from Xie Residence much. Thus, she had gained a bit of weight.
"Look at my waist." Seeing no one around, she surreptitiously let Bai Ruozhu touch her waist.
Bai Ruozhu chuckled, "You gain weight interestingly, the weight doesn’t show much on your face but only on the waist. However, it’s good to gain weight, isn’t it said that it helps with childbirth?"
Fang Guizhi’s face reddened even more, "But I can’t become like this, you can say that I am fated to work hard, right? If I eat a little better, I will gain weight, and I don’t even know how I will end up in the future."
Bai Ruozhu sat down again with her fried sauce noodles, no longer insisting on adding more sauce for Fang Guizhi. She could understand the stress of a girl trying to lose weight, so it was better not to force her to eat.
Dengdeng, who was in Bai Ruozhu’s arms, was very curious about the noodles and kept exercising his small hands wanting to disrupt her. Bai Ruozhu had to put him on a chair next to her where he was able to watch but not touch.
"Guizhi, I’ve always wanted to ask about your thoughts on marriage. We won’t be looking around Anyuan Town, but when we get to Beiyu City, we’ll definitely want to meet some potential matches for you. However, I don’t really know what type of person you would prefer." Bai Ruozhu took a couple bites of noodles, wiped her mouth with a napkin, then casually mentioned the topic.
Fang Guizhi’s reaction was much larger than Bai Ruozhu had expected. She dropped her chopsticks on the table. Regaining her composure, she hesitantly picked up the chopsticks again and said awkwardly, "I don’t want to get married, stop teasing me. If I happen to meet someone like Yang San again, I would rather die."
Bai Ruozhu didn’t expect such an intense reaction, and she could see that her feelings for her brother seemed to be mixed with the shadow of her first engagement, which made Bai Ruozhu’s heart ache a bit and her tone became much more gentle.
"Silly girl, what woman doesn’t get married? Even I’m considering remarriage in a few years time. I’ll be in charge of your marriage, let you meet the man beforehand, and clear out everything about him. How could you possibly meet a man like Yang San?"
Fang Guizhi kept her head down, "Anyway, I don’t want to marry. I’d like to serve my foster parents for the rest of my life."
"But when your eldest and second brothers are both married, wouldn’t it be inconvenient for a single girl like you to continue living with them? And what if others think we are delaying your marriage?" Bai Ruozhu continued.
Fang Guizhi’s face turned gloomy, especially when she heard the phrase "when your eldest and second brothers are both married", her body shivered involuntarily.
"Unless there’s someone you already like?" Bai Ruozhu, unable to bear it, had to pretend not to guess Guizhi’s thoughts at all.
Fang Guizhi’s face turned bright red, and she could not face Bai Ruozhu. Keeping her voice low she said, "No, that’s...it’s not true."
Bai Ruozhu pretended to believe her, then sighed and said, "With my elder brother settling down soon, I am relieved. However, my second brother has really high standards. In future, he is going to bring home a lady from a scholarly family. I wonder if she will be easy to get along with. It would be great if she was like sister Hongxiu. As for you, you are the one I worry about the most. What kind of girl doesn’t want to get married?"
Fang Guizhi’s initially flushed face turned white in an instant, and her eyes started to well up with tears.