Chapter 384: So It’s Wang’s Lover
By the time Bai Ruozhu reacted, Jiang Yichun’s hand had already reached her full bosom. In a furious reaction, she delivered a knee strike towards his sensitive area. Jiang Yichun, who was engrossed in his pleasure, stumbled upon reaction. By the time he regained his senses, his move to dodge was exaggerated.
With a loud cry, the baby Dengdeng was awakened, angrily crying. The baby’s cry wasn’t just a complaint about being disturbed, but also a clear indication that it was feeding time.
Fearing that her mother might hear the noise and come back, Bai Ruozhu angrily kicked Jiang Yichun and whispered, "Get lost immediately!"
Seeing that she was genuinely furious, Jiang Yichun didn’t dare to goof off anymore. He quickly caressed her delicate face once more, then, he swiftly opened the window and jumped out, even conveniently closing the window for her.
Bai Ruozhu arose to cuddle Dengdeng and feed him. Indeed, she soon heard footsteps; her mother was walking in.
"Feeding the baby at night must be hard for you," Lin Ping’er said, sitting down next to the bed.
"Why aren’t you asleep, mother?" Bai Ruozhu acted surprised.
Lin Ping’er sighed, asking, "Now that our family’s circumstances have improved, we have more troubles. Doesn’t it bother you? Is this the same for other families?"
Bai Ruozhu smiled, "Mother, who in the world can live a perfectly smooth life? Which family doesn’t have some troubles? Take uncle Zhang’s family for instance, they were doing well until they were hit by a big fire. Look at Uncle Dehai’s family, they seem well-off, but Tao Hua’s monthly affairs were irregular; I heard they are having difficulty conceiving. If we look closer, let’s think about Mr. Xie’s family. When Sister Hongxiu wasn’t pregnant, they had no end of trouble with relatives insisting he adopt someone’s son."
"Moreover, as our days get better, jealousy arises. We just had some outsiders causing trouble in our family. But we, the members of our family, are united. This is far better than those families that fight each other every day," Bai Ruozhu said, thinking of Li Shunsheng’s family, where his mother and cousin were harming his wife. How would he feel if he knew?
Lin Ping’er nodded, saying: "You’re right. Harmony in our family is better than anything else. The other things really don’t count as troubles. It was just me overthinking things. But how are you going to deal with Old Yang’s matter? That man is a brute, who doesn’t listen to reason. Do you think we should ask the magistrate for help?"
Bai Ruozhu was still angry with Jiang Yichun, hearing her mother mention him, she immediately said sternly, "For a minor issue like this, we don’t need him. If it’s really necessary, we should let my second brother handle it."
Lin Ping’er embarrassedly laughed twice, feeling that she had just been a bit too inconsiderate in asking her daughter that question.
"Just go to sleep once you finish feeding him. I’m going back to my room," Lin Ping’er said, standing up to leave. But after taking a few steps, she stopped, puzzled, muttering, "Did you light some incense in this room? Or perhaps use some bamboo leaves in a concoction? Seems like there’s a refreshing fragrance."
Bai Ruozhu instantly tensed up, a thin layer of sweat covering her back. She had just decided not to dwell on this, and now her mother was noticing something odd. Was her mother trying to drive her to an early grave?
Perhaps sensing that she was too tense, Dengdeng, who was breastfeeding in her arms, grunted discontentedly. Snapping out of her thoughts, she hurriedly switched him to the other breast and turned to her mother, "I’ve added some cooling ingredients like bamboo leaves to the medicines I’m preparing for aunt Zhang and Rongrong, to make them more comfortable after having the medicine."
Lin Ping’er nodded, "Help Rongrong’s mother more. You don’t have to worry about the stall. Just make sure they recover."
"Alright," Bai Ruozhu breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, her mother didn’t suspect anything.
There were no more interruptions for the rest of the night. Early the next morning, Wan Minglu suddenly arrived. He informed her that they had apprehended the person who had attacked her. Magistrate Li wanted Bai Ruozhu to identify the criminal.
Bai Ruozhu suddenly remembered Jiang Yichun showing up the night before. She suspected that he had wanted to discuss this matter but hadn’t had the chance to say anything.
"Alright, I’ll come with you right now," Bai Ruozhu handed Dengdeng over to Fang Guizhi to watch, then went out with Wan Minglu.
On the road, Wan Minglu, blushing, asked in a low voice, "Ruozhu, is your leg better now?"
"It recovered a while ago." Bai Ruozhu smiled and asked, "When was the criminal apprehended? Was he caught in town?"
Wan Minglu’s face reddened slightly, clearing his throat before saying, "He wasn’t caught in town. He ran off to Beiyu City. Afterward, he was apprehended by someone sent by a certain official."
Seeing his nervousness and the way he phrased it, Bai Ruozhu immediately realized that Jiang Yichun was the official that Minglu referred to. She also understood that Minglu was disappointed that he hadn’t been the one to capture the criminal. Not knowing how to comfort him, she simply stopped bringing it up. They chatted casually for a while, and soon arrived at the government office.
To Bai Ruozhu’s surprise, the criminal wasn’t being interrogated in the public hall, but being tortured in jail. Jiang Yichun had previously stated that the man was a notorious gangster, but she had thought that was just an excuse for his visit. Turns out it was true.
No wonder the man had been so belligerent, Bai Ruozhu thought to herself, wondering how the Wang Family had managed to find such a person.
Following behind Wan Minglu, she entered the county government prison. This was her second time at the county prison - the first time had been visiting her second brother, Bai Zepei, when she had also secretly added something to Bai Yibo’s food. Now, she was here to identify a suspect.
Before she could even approach, she saw Jiang Yichun standing next to Li Shunsheng. Li Shunsheng wasn’t short, but standing next to Jiang Yichun, he seemed to be half a head shorter. Jiang Yichun was standing with his hands behind his back, seemingly lost in thought. Hearing the noise, he instantly turned his head; their eyes met midair.
She quickly glared at him; she was still angry!
Jiang Yichun gave a bitter smile when he saw her reaction, but his gaze stayed firmly on her.
Ignoring Jiang Yichun, Bai Ruozhu greeted Li Shunsheng.
Li Shunsheng didn’t notice that Bai Ruozhu was ignoring Jiang Yichun. He said to Bai Ruozhu, "Miss Bai, due to this criminal’s special status, we couldn’t take him out of prison. So we had to trouble you with coming here to identify him."
"No trouble at all. It’s not my first time here," Bai Ruozhu said, smiling.
Li Shunsheng sighed ruefully, thinking about the time when Bai Zepei was imprisoned, before saying to Bai Ruozhu, "Please confirm if this man is the one who attacked you that day."
Bai Ruozhu looked into the prison and saw that the man was indeed the one. He looked different from that day, appearing as though he had been drained of all energy; he was now slumped languidly on the ground.
"Indeed, this is the man. He also came by our stall and spread false rumors that there were bugs in our soup," Bai Ruozhu said.
The man who had been sat listlessly suddenly sprang up and lunged towards the bars of the prison cage, banging against them and making a loud noise.
Jiang Yichun moved to shield Bai Ruozhu, clearly intending to protect her from being startled.
Li Shunsheng was annoyed by the man’s sudden outburst and yelled at him, "You are merely the Wang family’s extramarital lover, not their official husband. Is it worth it to try so hard for them?"
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