Chapter 440: The One I Like Is You
Noticing her nervous expression, Jiang Yichun couldn’t help but smile. He spoke softly, "Master already guessed it was you, and he thinks highly of you. Of course, he agreed."
Heat rushed to Bai Ruozhu’s face. Had she been too eager? Was she really in such a hurry to marry him?
Turning her head away in a huff, she said, "You went ahead with everything without asking for my opinion. I’m not necessarily going to marry you."
Jiang Yichun knew by now that she had a tough exterior but a soft heart. Reaching out to hold her again, he said, "I was wrong, okay?"
She could never resist when someone apologized so straightforwardly. It shut her up. She thought for a while before asking, "When will you stop accepting these dangerous assignments?"
"I’ll wait for Master’s arrangement to have a chance to come out to the open. But, there might be some problems that follow, like the situation with Elder Jiang Ge," he said, his voice trailing off and taking on a slightly desolate tone.
Bai Ruozhu paused briefly before realizing that the "Elder Jiang Ge" he was referring to was his grandfather, who had once expelled his own son from the family.
She didn’t know if Elder Jiang Ge had exiled his son because he was too attached to his concubine and couldn’t tolerate any scandal involving her, or because he was too upright and couldn’t tolerate any dirt in his family. But what she couldn’t understand was, why wouldn’t Elder Jiang Ge trust his son more?
Also, perhaps it was her modern thinking, but she always felt that an upright scholar shouldn’t have multiple wives and concubines.
Jiang Yichun was hugging Bai Ruozhu from behind, his right cheek resting against the corner of her left forehead. His chin playfully rubbed against her head, just like a little puppy seeking comfort. This made Bai Ruozhu feel soft and ticklish, and her earlier irritation evaporated.
"Don’t worry, I’ll be more careful in the future and won’t get hurt," he whispered into her ear. "And I’ll try to find Chang Sheng as soon as possible, so he can finalize the divorce with you. But for now, there’s no clue. I suspect he may have changed his name."
Bai Ruozhu shrugged, "Perhaps he always had a different identity. My second brother once said he is not simple."
Then why did you marry him in the first place? Jiang Yichun choked back the words, hesitating to ask but also feeling terribly uncomfortable keeping them to himself.
Turning around, Bai Ruozhu saw his hesitant expression and couldn’t help but smile. It would be hard for any man to accept that his loved one also had other men, wouldn’t it? Was it even possible not to feel a tad bitter about it?
"Are you trying to ask, why I chose to marry Chang Sheng back then?" Bai Ruozhu asked.
Jiang Yichun looked a bit awkward and coughed lightly, "If you want to tell me, you can. If not, we can just pretend I never asked."
Shaking her head with a smile, Bai Ruozhu mumbled, "You clearly want to know, stop pretending."
Jiang Yichun touched his nose awkwardly, "Alright, I’m very curious."
"What if I told you that I’m not the old Bai Ruozhu, but another person, or another soul. Would that scare you?" Bai Ruozhu asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Huh?" This question caught Jiang Yichun off guard.
Bai Ruozhu lowered her gaze, hiding the dimming light in her eyes as she contemplated that people of this era might not be ready to accept such a concept.
But suddenly, Jiang Yichun embraced her tightly. So tight that she felt a slight pain in her chest. When she was just about to question his sudden behavior, his voice echoed from above her.
"You fool, no matter who you are, I like you. Whether you’re Bai Ruozhu or Hei Ruozhu, I like you for who you are."
Bai Ruozhu’s nose tingled, and her eyes stung. She sniffed and mumbled, "Why do you have to be so sappy? It’s not like you."
Jiang Yichun suddenly leaned down to kiss her, sealing off her words. The sudden fervent kiss left her dazed, and it took her a while to understand that he was rejoicing because he was the only man for the new Bai Ruozhu.
It’s a tricky thing to articulate. If she said too much, it would touch on the taboo of possessing another person’s body, which was highly frowned upon in the old days. She chose not to explain further and was soon lost in his passionate embrace.
At the height of their excitement, Dengdeng stirred and burst into tears without opening his eyes. Bai Ruozhu hurriedly pushed Jiang Yichun away and went to comfort Dengdeng, her face flushing. Hadn’t the baby just fed? Why was he crying?
She reached out to check and found that Dengdeng had peed through his diaper, and the discomfort had aroused his protest.
She turned to Jiang Yichun and wrinkled her nose, "He’s wet."
After announcing this, she started to change Dengdeng’s soiled diaper. Jiang Yichun came to help; sometimes holding up Dengdeng’s little legs, sometimes taking the wet diaper. His movements were somewhat clumsy, but he did help Bai Ruozhu, showing potential to be a good dad.
Bai Ruozhu nudged him with her lips, suggesting, "You should go back and rest. Just toss the diaper in the bucket outside."
Although Jiang Yichun didn’t want to leave, he understood that Bai Ruozhu needed to rest, and his own injuries still required some rest. He took a long look at Bai Ruozhu, "I’ll be back tomorrow." With that, he jumped out of the room, carefully closed the window for her, and left.
Bai Ruozhu got back into bed after taking off her jacket. His words, "Whether you’re Bai Ruozhu or Hei Ruozhu, I like you for who you are," kept echoing in her head. She couldn’t help but laugh. Her heart was thumping wildly. What was Hei Ruozhu? It sounded strange. Nonetheless, she found that she liked what he said very much!
Getting up early the next day, the Bai family didn’t set up their stall because they were too busy preparing to move out and return to the village to present gifts; there was simply no time left for the stall.
Bai Ruozhu handed Dengdeng over to Guizhi to look after, grabbed the shawl she crocheted and four boxes of dimsum, and headed to the stall to see Fusa.
"Fusa, I’m back. These pastries are for your family." As soon as Bai Ruozhu saw Fusa, she handed her two boxes of pastries.
Fusa took a second look at Bai Ruozhu, who was wearing new clothes, and clicked her tongue in admiration. "Our Ruozhu is so beautiful, just a casual dress up and she looks like a young lady from a rich family."
Bai Ruozhu playfully rolled her eyes, "What young lady? I am a mother now."
"Still a noblewoman, then." Fusa laughed.
Bai Ruozhu took out the shawl she had crocheted and showed it to Fusa, asking, "How’s your crochet coming along? If it’s ready, let’s deliver it soon. My family won’t be setting up a stall in the future. We’re moving to Beiyu City in three days. From then on, you’ll have to handle the crochet work yourself."
"What?" Fusa and her husband responded in unison. Fusa quickly grabbed Bai Ruozhu’s arm asking, "How long will you be staying there? Are you moving there for good? How will I see you then?"
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My apologies to everyone. I was out for the whole day, and also had a meeting with a friend in the evening. It wasn’t until now that I’ve managed to update this third Chapter. I can’t add more today, but tomorrow, I’ll definitely update four parts, and certainly earlier!