Chapter 380: Moving in with the Zhang Family
By the time Lin Ping’er found Bai Ruozhu to talk, Bai Ruozhu pretended to be clueless, saying, "How could I know where they hooked up, I myself was baffled."
Seeing her response, Lin Ping’er assumed she really didn’t know, and sat down next to Ruozhu, whispering in confidentiality, "Then, who do you fancy more?"
Bai Ruozhu suppressed her wildly beating heart, cast her mother a resentful look, and said, "Have I not made it clear? My remarriage depends on Dengdeng’s approval in the future. There’s no rush in these two years. We don’t want people gossiping."
Lin Ping’er thought it made sense. Chang Sheng’s disappearance was still unexplained, and they had to wait for at least three years before they could apply for a divorce and remarry. After doing the math, it would still be about two years from now.
"That’s fair, but don’t you have any considerations?" Lin Ping’er raised an eyebrow, determined to get to the bottom of things.
"I really don’t know, who do you think is better mother?" Bai Ruozhu deflected the question back to her mother.
As soon as she asked this, Lin Ping’er got a bit excited, "In my opinion, the benefactor is certainly better. He saved you once, helped rescue your second brother another time, and he’s especially fond of you in his heart. Plus, Dengdeng likes him too. I think he’s the right fit."
Bai Ruozhu started to laugh. She was quite delighted to hear what her mother was saying, "But then, you’ve never seen him. What if he has an ugly face?"
Lin Ping’er looked at her in disbelief, "That’s impossible. Judging by his demeanor, there is no way he looks bad. Besides, why should a man look too handsome? What’s important is that he’s competent and knows how to cherish people."
Bai Ruozhu laughed to herself, thinking ’If you saw his devastating looks, would you still say this?’
In the following days, Bai Ruozhu did not work at the stall, and took advantage of the free time to accompany Yu Hongxiu. Yu Hongxiu was now showing her pregnancy, and for the sake of protecting the fetus, she rarely went out. Bai Ruozhu crocheted a small hat for her yet-to-be-born baby, and Fang Guizhi also helped to make some clothes. This made Yu Hongxiu very happy.
"Have you guys heard? Officer Li was promoted, he’s been given a new appointment," Yu Hongxiu changed the topic of the conversation after a while.
"Was he promoted to county magistrate?" Bai Ruozhu asked when she heard this.
"Yes, the former county magistrate was transferred, so wasn’t the position meant for him? But I heard that on the day he received his appointment letter, he went to express gratitude to the masked gentleman specifically. With such profound gratitude, I truly wonder what his official rank and identity are," Yu Hongxiu said while massaging her chin.
As soon as the conversation turned to the masked man, Fang Guizhi immediately glanced at Bai Ruozhu, only to see Bai Ruozhu’s face remained as calm as ever. She couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. When would Ruozhu ever show a little girlish shyness?
"He should hold a higher official rank than Officer Li," Bai Ruozhu casually replied.
Yu Hongxiu looked at her in disbelief and said, "Ruozhu, I heard he specifically came to visit you a few days ago. Don’t tell me you know nothing about this."
"He wanted to inquire about the person who attacked me. I heard that it might be a notorious bandit they’re currently chasing after. I know nothing more than this," Bai Ruozhu thought to herself that women were indeed gossipy. However, she kept pretending she knew nothing.
Yu Hongxiu felt she couldn’t get much more out of her, sighed disappointedly, and said, "This is really boring. There’s no fun in this."
Understanding how frustrated Yu Hongxiu was due to being unable to go outside, Bai Ruozhu decided to tell her about the time she met Mrs. Ding and Mrs. Li, and ran into Miss Liu, who called herself a "Chrysanthemum Lady".
Upon hearing this, Yu Hongxiu burst into laughter, "What ’Chrysanthemum Lady?’ Is she praising herself too much? Instead of making a fuss, she should have just stopped ordering items. Accusing the shopkeepers for being greedy and deceiving customers. In the end, she is just a narrow-minded woman who has not seen the world."
Bai Ruozhu wanted to share a word or two to remind Mrs. Li but found it inconvenient to bring up the topic. Thus, she tried mentioning it to Yu Hongxiu subtly.
"It seems she doesn’t respect Mrs. Li, her elder sister-in-law very much, but always speaks highly of Officer Li. This young lady doesn’t seem so young anymore, right? Has she gotten engaged yet?"
Yu Hongxiu’s expression changed slightly, as she appeared to be pondering, "It seems that she’s not engaged yet. If she’s this old, why isn’t she staying at home to negotiate marriage proposals? Why is she staying at her cousin and sister-in-law’s house?"
Bai Ruozhu smiled and didn’t say any more. She felt this hint was enough as she came to Yu Hongxiu that day to discuss something else.
"Sister Hongxiu, I want to discuss something with you," Bai Ruozhu brought up the matter of the Zhang family, then said, "My god sister and her family are good people. Uncle Zhang is wholeheartedly devoted to me. He even wanted to sign an indenture contract with me, which I refused. So, I’ve allowed him to manage affairs for me. In this way, I would have more people available to help me. Hence, I was thinking, given it’s inconvenient for them to live far away, how about they move to the West Courtyard to live with us?"
Bai Ruozhu didn’t originally have the heart to mention this. It was already quite an inconvenience for her family to live in the West Courtyard. If the Zhang family came along, it would seem like they were pushing their luck. However, the Government Office had yet to apprehend the person who attacked her. Every time she visited the Zhang family, she had to be accompanied by her elder brother, which took up his precious time.
Moreover, she was worried that if the attacker tracked her down and found out about the Zhang family’s situation, if he couldn’t retaliate against her, he might victimize the Zhang family instead.
"How could such a thing happen? That’s so unfortunate. Since you are technically their master, it’s only reasonable for them to live in the West Courtyard with you. Besides, there are so many empty rooms there. Leaving them vacant makes them more prone to humidity damage and accelerated wear and tear. Why are you feeling awkward about this?", Yu Hongxiu chastised Bai Ruozhu.
From Yu Hongxiu’s perspective, it was a trivial matter, but Bai Ruozhu felt a bit embarrassed.
"Thank you, Sister Hongxiu. I’m always causing you trouble." Bai Ruozhu said embarrassingly, "In a little while, we might move to Beiyu City. By then, I plan to buy a mansion to settle down."
"Let’s talk about it when the time comes. If you need any help, you must let me know. We’ll also have to go back to Beiyu City soon. Don’t distance yourself from me," Yu Hongxiu said while giggling.
"Not at all, I plan to be the one delivering your baby, serving as a godmother to your child," Bai Ruozhu also jokingly said.
That night, Bai Ruozhu talked to her family and together they went over to get the Zhang family with a cart. Mrs. Rongrong and her daughter moved to the West Courtyard for convenient treatment. With Guizhi there to help look after them on regular days, Zhang Liliang was relieved quite a bit. With reddened eyes, he said, "Ruozhu, uncle and aunt thank you, and also thank your family."
"What’s there to thank? Uncle Zhang, aren’t you going to help me run my business?" Bai Ruozhu said with a smile.
Bai Yihong also patted Zhang Liliang on the shoulder and said, "Brother Zhang, when we have free time, we can have a few drinks together. That sounds great, doesn’t it?"
Zhang Liliang laughed, "I’ve been keeping a jar of old wine. Tonight, I’ll accompany older brother in having a few drinks!"
"Good, good, let’s get moving first and talk about this later," Bai Yihong laughed heartily.