Chapter 643 - 645: Give Him a Retaliation
After seeing that the mother and son had stopped crying, Jiang Yichun finally came back to his senses, secretly cursing himself for his foolishness just now. How did he not think of other things to say?
"Ruozhu, aren’t you curious about why I’m suddenly back? I originally received a royal edict and went to the Capital." Jiang Yichun began to explain.
Bai Ruozhu blinked but then still held a grudge, she glanced at him and said, "I don’t want to know, what does it have to do with me?"
Jiang Yichun smiled wryly, mischief sparkling in his eyes, "Why wouldn’t it matter to you? I am your husband, we did register our marriage in the County Government Office of Anyuan Town, didn’t we? I gave a token, and you left your handprint. Shouldn’t a wife care about her husband’s affairs?"
Bai Ruozhu glared at him, realizing he must have seen the marriage document she had asked Mr. Li to draw up! At that time, it was her second brother’s idea, who said that having a marriage certificate would cause less trouble, so she wouldn’t end up pregnant before marriage.
Well, she regretted it now. She shouldn’t have bothered with a marriage document and given this bastard something to hold over her head.
She took a deep breath and said, "What was the point? You disappeared for so long, and it’s not a given that I should accept you. Moreover, we’ve always said that we’d divorce once Chang Sheng came back. Didn’t you say the same thing?"
Jiang Yichun choked, he did say so. Moreover, he never ceased scolding Chang Sheng in the past, for he held the belief Chang Sheng was irresponsible. If he was not dead, why had he not come back to take care of his wife and child? He even said that once Chang Sheng was found, Bai Ruozhu could divorce him sooner, and then marry him instead.
Well, this was definitely a slap in the face. How could he have known that he was the bastard Chang Sheng back then?
"I was rescued by a merchant team after falling from the cliff. I was in a daze most of the time, and by the time I woke up, a lot of days had already passed. They had taken me quite a distance, claiming they were headed to the capital city and would find a doctor for me there," Jiang Yichun explained.
"I did want to come back at that time, but unfortunately, I couldn’t even move. Soon after, the merchant team was attacked by mountain bandits. I watched helplessly as they were killed. In the end, I could only shoot a signaling flare I had for connecting with my master, but the person who showed up was Wu Wanqing."
Bai Ruozhu was taken aback. This part of the story was not present in her predecessor’s memories, who, up until her death, had always been wondering why he didn’t come back. Hence, Bai Ruozhu was curious about what had actually happened.
"She then said she had made a mistake and wanted to be with me." Jiang Yichun’s expression looked rather unnatural at this point, and it was evident he now hated Wu Wanqing to the core.
"I told her I was already married and had someone I loved. She then went mad and put a forgetfulness charm on me. Once under the influence of this charm, not only would I forget everything about my lover, but also lose some of my memories. I realized I had lost some memories, but I couldn’t recover them no matter what. The place where I was saved was too far from Anyuan Town, and not even Wu Wanqing could find out anything about it. Otherwise..."
"Also, once under the influence of this charm, even if I saw my lover again, I wouldn’t feel anything. You can enquire about this when you have the chance. There’s no way I would be lying to you. It was so unexpected that the person you were once married to turned out to be me." Jiang Yichun continued speaking, a smile appearing on his face, "You were the one who got the marriage certificate, so you can’t deny this."
By ’you,’ he was referring to Bai Ruozhu herself, not her predecessor.
Bai Ruozhu shot him a glare and said, "Let’s not waste time. Talk about why you suddenly came back." She had a hunch this might have something to do with her.
Jiang Yichun remained silent, his gaze on Bai Ruozhu deepened.
After a long pause, he lowered his voice and said, "I received a secret order from the Prime Minister." He then recited the content of the secret order verbatim to Bai Ruozhu.
"The investigation has revealed that the four doctors were kidnapped by Zhou Jue, the sixth prince of Chengshui Country, and he now knows about Bai Ruozhu’s existence. You are instructed to intercept him as quickly as possible. In case of emergency, you are allowed to eliminate Bai Ruozhu, but under no circumstances should she fall into the hands of Chengshui Country."
Bai Ruozhu gasped in shock after hearing this. She knew she was on the cusp of a life or death situation. Fortunately, she wasn’t someone inherently loyal to the government; otherwise, she would have been devastated.
"So, you are here to protect me, and you’ll take action when necessary?" Bai Ruozhu raised her eyebrows and asked.
Jiang Yichun was genuinely irritated this time. He glared at her, "Can’t you stop being angry at me? If I really had such thoughts, would I have recited the secret order to you, word for word? The Prime Minister won’t just issue one secret order. What if someone else gets the same order and shows up? I traveled day and night to come here to ensure your safety."
Seeing the dark circles under his eyes and the gauntness of his face, Bai Ruozhu did feel a pang of sympathy. However, she was unable to let go of her resentment.
"You don’t need to worry; I can protect myself," she said coldly.
"What’s there to protect? Zhou Jue was here last night; didn’t you know that?" Jiang Yichun said angrily.
Bai Ruozhu thought to herself, "How do I not know about it? I know it better than you do."
Seeing Bai Ruozhu still holding a grudge, Jiang Yichun took a deep breath to calm himself down, "Ruozhu, let’s have a proper talk, shall we? I came back to live a peaceful life with you. Can we stop fighting now?"
Bai Ruozhu flared up instantly, "Who’s fighting? Who doesn’t want to live a peaceful life? Who’s the one who didn’t come to see me as soon as he returned and asked those questions? Who exactly is causing trouble? Also, are you sure you came back for me? And not someone else?"
Jiang Yichun was taken aback, not expecting Bai Ruozhu to think this way. Taking advantage of his stunned silence, Bai Ruozhu quickly sidestepped him, carrying Dengdeng in her arms, and entered the kitchen.
Lin Ping saw that Bai Ruozhu and her child both had red eyes, so she hurriedly wiped her hands and took Dengdeng from Bai Ruozhu. Bai Ruozhu gave her a faint smile and said, "Mom, let me prepare a few dishes. You guys take a break."
"Sure, these two dishes were Chang Sheng’s favorites. You can cook those," Lin Ping said with a smile, assuming that her daughter came to prepare the dishes just for Chang Sheng.
"Okay," Bai Ruozhu agreed, but her gaze became a bit annoyed. Then, taking advantage of the moment when no one in the kitchen was paying attention, she heavily coated one dish with a great heap of salt. Besides salt, she also added sugar to the other dish. As things stood, she just meddled around with the dishes.
When it came time for dinner, everyone cheerfully took their seats around the table. Bai Ruozhu placed those two dishes in front of Jiang Yichun, saying, "My mother told me these are your favorites. So, I want you to have your fill. Don’t let my mother’s goodwill go to waste."
Seeing the "harmony" between her daughter and son-in-law, Lin Ping said cheerfully, "These were prepared by Ruozhu personally. You should know how good her cooking is."
Jiang Yichun wore an expression of surprise and delight. He thought Bai Ruozhu had already forgiven him. Overwhelmed, he said, "Okay, okay, I’ll eat them all. They are all my favorites."
Bai Zepei snorted slightly. The fact that Jiang Yichun was hogging all the food right after returning made him feel a little uncomfortable. But when he looked at his little sister, he saw the triumphant look in her eyes and instantly realized something. Goodie, he was going to see a drama unfolding at today’s dinner.
Sure enough, as soon as Jiang Yichun took a bite, his face stiffened as if he was trying to vomit but couldn’t. In the end, he forced himself to finish those two dishes, but not without drinking three large bowls of bone soup...