Chapter 406: Du Zhongshu Has Been Poisoned!
It isn’t just Du Zhongshu who’s come, but also Du Fuling, who is wearing a red dress, looking very bold and assertive.
Having previously caused a ruckus at the stall, Du Fuling left a poor impression on Lin Ping’er. Now that it seemed like she was going to accompany them, Lin Ping’er suddenly felt anxious and didn’t want Bai Ruozhu to go anymore.
Carrying her bundle and holding Little Dengdeng, Bai Ruozhu walked out from the house. She was a bit surprised upon seeing Du Fuling. Wasn’t this girl still planning to hold a Plum Appreciation Banquet? Why was she going along with them to Beiyu City?
Seeing Bai Ruozhu and her mother’s stunned looks, Du Zhongshu explained somewhat awkwardly, "Fuling wanted to accompany us home this time, she won’t cause any trouble on our journey."
With Du Fuling’s brother being that polite, Bai Ruozhu and Lin Ping’er naturally didn’t feel that they could question further. However, Du Fuling came over, laughing cheerfully, and linked arms with Bai Ruozhu, saying, "I originally planned to host a Plum Appreciation Banquet. But since my third brother needed to go home, I thought I’d accompany him and take care of his meals. If I go with him, I can invite you and Sister Hongxiu to appreciate the plums when we return to Anyuan Town."
Bai Ruozhu responded with a smile, but feeling Du Fuling’s arm hooked around hers made her feel uncomfortable.
The family came out to see Bai Ruozhu and Bai Zepei off. Lin Ping’er’s eyes were red as she said, "I won’t be able to see my little Dengdeng for several days; it’s really upsetting."
Bai Ruozhu jokingly said to her second brother, "Second brother, did you hear that? Mother is not reluctant to part with us at all, we have fallen out of favor."
Nudged into laughter by the term "fallen out of favor", Lin Ping’er didn’t dwell on her sorrow and instead quietly reminded Bai Ruozhu to be careful around Du Fuling.
Under the longing gazes of their family, Bai Ruozhu and Bai Zepei exited the corner gate. Du Zhongshu had someone lead a horse over for Bai Zehao and suggested, "Brother Zepei, why don’t we ride horses?"
Looking at the reins handed to him, Bai Zepei showed a rare look of embarrassment.
"I don’t know how to ride a horse," he said in a low voice.
Watching her brother, Bai Ruozhu felt a tightness in her chest. As peasants, they didn’t even have a donkey, let alone a horse. How could her second brother possibly know how to ride a horse without any teaching? Rarely had she seen such an expression on her brother’s face and, while sympathetic, she also made a secret resolution. Once they reached Beiyu City, not only would she buy a house, but she would also buy a horse. Even if it meant increased expenses, she wanted to keep a horse for her family!
Du Zhongshu looked startled, only reacting after a moment. Realizing that the Bai family seemed awkward, he silently cursed himself for being too impulsive. He should have anticipated that Bai Zepei wouldn’t know how to ride a horse.
As the son of a wealthy family, he had everything from a young age, including servants who could ride horses. So it hadn’t occurred to him that Bai Zepei couldn’t ride a horse, or probably hadn’t even touched one before.
"Then riding in the carriage is also fine," Du Zhongshu suggested apologetically. "The carriage is quite spacious. You can sit with Ruozhu and help her take care of the baby."
Bai Zepei quickly recovered to his usual self, nodding and saying, "Thank you, Brother Du."
He and Bai Ruozhu waved goodbye to their family again before boarding the carriage. As the carriage began to move, Bai Ruozhu held Dengdeng and watched as their home receded into the distance. Her heart filled with emotion. This was the first time she had left home since her transmigration, leaving her parents. Although it was only for a few days, she still felt very reluctant.
In the carriage, Du Fuling was chattering away, trying to get familiar with Bai Ruozhu. Soon enough, any trace of Bai Ruozhu’s sorrow got drowned out. But somehow, Bai Ruozhu couldn’t shake off the feeling that this girl was purposefully following her in the hopes of meeting Jiang Yichun.
Perhaps she was overthinking it. Their Jiang Yichun hadn’t reached the point of being a heartthrob yet, had he?
Because there was another lady in the carriage, Bai Zepei remained pointedly oblivious to his surroundings. After a while, he took out a book and started reading. Bai Ruozhu wanted to tell him not to strain his eyes as the carriage jolted about, but thought better of it. A day of reading was better than sitting there doing nothing.
Bai Ruozhu started to play with Dengdeng, but she was surreptitiously studying Du Fuling out of the corner of her eye. She soon noticed that Du Fuling gave her a disdainful glance when she wasn’t paying attention. Sure enough, the girl had not truly become friends with her yet.
Before long, Du Fuling started secretly checking out Bai Zepei, perhaps because she thought he was attractive or maybe because he had topped the exams. She just gazed at Bai Zepei for a long time.
Feeling a twitch at the corner of her mouth, Bai Ruozhu thought to herself that this girl was a typical fangirl, all caught up in the sight of a handsome man. She should continue to pine for her mysterious rescuer, and not cause trouble for her second brother.
If Jiang Yichun knew what Bai Ruozhu was thinking at the moment, he would not be able to resist spanking her. To think she’d be worried about Du Fuling causing trouble for her second brother and not worry about him being troubled!
The carriage set off in the morning, and by the evening they would have arrived at Beiyu City. At noon, they stopped at a small town for food and to stretch their legs.
The midday meal was quite simple, after which the party continued on their journey. However, before long, the servants outside yelled out in shock, "Young Master, Young Master, what’s the matter?"
The carriage halted abruptly. Sensing something amiss, Du Fuling immediately lifted the curtain and jumped down from the carriage, asking, "What happened to my third brother?"
"Miss, come quick. Young Master fell off the horse!" the servant exclaimed in a panic, his voice trembling.
Bai Ruozhu and her second brother glanced at each other and hurriedly got down from the carriage. Falling off a horse could result in minor injuries or serious ones, even potentially fatal ones—although they didn’t believe Du Zhongshu could be so unlucky.
"What happened that he fell off his horse?" Du Fuling exclaimed in fright, shouting questions as she rushed over.
Since Du Zhongshu was the first to run into trouble, and the carriage had only stopped once he fell, it ended up quite a distance—more than twenty meters—from where Du Zhongshu had fallen from his horse.
Du Fuling ran over and Bai Ruozhu and Bai Zepei followed suit.
"Second brother, hold Dengdeng for me. I’ll check on Young Master Du," Bai Ruozhu said.
The servant had already begun to cry, "I don’t know what happened, Young Master was just fine, and suddenly he swooned and fell off. Luckily, we weren’t going too fast."
Furious and alarmed, Du Fuling slapped the servant right across the face, hissing, "You useless thing! Is this how you take care of your master? Do you want to die?"
Bai Ruozhu frowned as she kneeled beside Du Zhongshu. Seeing Du Fuling’s overreaction, she turned to her and said, "We should prioritize saving him now. The rest can wait till later."
Du Fuling opened her mouth, apparently upset about Bai Ruozhu’s remark, but seeing her unconscious third brother on the ground, she swallowed her retort.
After checking Du Zhongshu, Bai Ruozhu turned Du Zhongshu’s eyelids back and exhaled, saying, "He’s been poisoned."
"What?" cried Du Fuling, "How could my third brother be poisoned? Was the food at the inn we just ate at poisoned? I’m going to confront them right now!"
With that, she was about to mount a horse. Bai Ruozhu was getting a headache from Du Fuling’s reckless words, thinking, did this girl not have a brain?