Chapter 791 - 793: Big Brother Provoked Tao Hua
Bai Ruozhu’s mouth twitched, realizing that the misunderstanding had escalated. The nurse might think she intended to harm someone else’s child. Oh well, let Mr. Xie explain to the nurse.
Soon, Bai Ruozhu realized another problem. This nurse was sent by Sister Hongxiu’s mother’s family, undoubtedly someone the Yu Family held in high regard, perhaps even very decisive. What if Mr. Xie tried to explain, and they thought he was in cahoots with her? Wouldn’t that complicate things further?
With this thought in mind, Bai Ruozhu called the nurse into the yard, intending to clarify herself.
"Are you trying to bribe me or intimidate me, Mrs. Jiang?" The nurse was unexpectedly preemptive.
Bai Ruozhu could only respond with a bitter smile, "With my abilities and man power, if I harbored any ill intentions, it would be easier for me to kill and silence the matter."
The nurse’s complexion changed, evidently frightened.
"Don’t overthink it, I won’t kill to keep this quiet. You can tell Sister Hongxiu about all of this, though I hope she would get over her postpartum period first. Your young masters were poisoned in their mother’s womb. I have already reported this to Mr. Xie, it’s just that I temporarily concealed this from Sister Hongxiu fearing that her postpartum might deteriorate," Bai Ruozhu explained.
"How did you find out about this?" The nurse was skeptical of Bai Ruozhu’s explanation.
"You are welcome to investigate. Too many out of the ordinary events occurred the day of the birth; one of them was that the female doctor stabbed me with the same pair of scissors used to cut the baby’s umbilical cord. I discovered a few days ago that I’d been poisoned and even temporarily went blind," she said.
The nurse had heard of these events. Hearing Bai Ruozhu say this, she seemed slightly convinced but remained cautious. "Once madam recovers from childbirth, I must tell her everything," she pondered.
Bai Ruozhu smiled. "That’s fine, you can tell her everything. This will also give Sister Hongxiu a chance to thank me properly."
After appeasing the nurse, Bai Ruozhu said goodbye to Sister Hongxiu and left the Xie Residence. As she sat in her horse carriage, she chatted with Wa San driving it. She asked about what had happened at home recently.
As they passed the Ready-made Clothes Shop that Bai Zehao managed, Bai Ruozhu instructed Wa San to draw the carriage to a halt, intending to check on the shop and ask whether her elder brother was finished. Once he was done, they could go home together.
The carriage came to a halt. Just as Bai Ruozhu was about to disembark from the carriage, she saw her elder brother coming from the end of the street with a young miss beside him. The girl was wearing a shy and radiant smile on her face.
She quickly pulled down the curtain, leaving a small crack to spy through. Wa San was quick to pick up on this as he saw Bai Zehao from a distance. He understood Bai Ruozhu’s intent and slowly drove the carriage to park diagonally across the shop on the opposite side of the street.
Bai Ruozhu silently commended Wa San in her heart. With pricked ears, she strained to hear her brother’s conversation with the young miss, but due to the noisy crowd, she heard nothing until they approached the carriage.
"Young master, I truly cannot thank you enough this time. I will work hard to repay your kindness," the young miss said shyly and blushed.
Bai Zehao’s smile carried a naive honesty as he responded to the young miss saying, "Xiaoning, you’re too polite. You’re so dutiful and diligent. It would be a benefit for me if you work here as an embroiderer."
"Thank you for your praise, young master." The young miss, called Xiaoning, blushed even more, looking towards Bai Zehao with an expression filled with admiration and tenderness.
Bai Ruozhu, observing this exchange, felt her heart sink. Her sister-in-law was pregnant at home, and her brother was fraternizing with another woman. What was happening?
Although it was completely normal for a man to have multiple wives in ancient times, it wasn’t something their ordinary farming family from the Back Mountain Village practiced. Now that they were enjoying more comfortable circumstances, she didn’t want such customs to infiltrate their household.
However, she always believed her elder brother wasn’t that kind of person. And when her brother looked at Xiaoning, his gaze was so clear, so assured. Perhaps he was only helping her out of pity.
Bai Ruozhu didn’t go to the shop and instructed Wa San to drive the carriage home.
"Wa San, don’t blabber about what we just saw lest it causes unnecessary misunderstandings," she whispered as they arrived at their house and she got off the carriage.
"Don’t worry, miss. I understand. Besides, I don’t think there’s anything going on between young master and that girl. Miss, make sure not to misunderstand," Wa San advised Bai Ruozhu.
Bai Ruozhu scoffed, "The fact that my elder brother has no intentions yet doesn’t mean that the others don’t. We should still be cautious."
She then called for a dark guard, instructing him to investigate Xiaoning’s background.
When she got back home, everyone was asking if the poisoning of the two young masters from the Xie Family had been resolved yet. Bai Ruozhu reassured them that everything went well, and everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Eventually, the dark guard came back, whispering to Bai Ruozhu about Xiaoning.
He reported that Xiaoning and her father lived together; they depended on each other for survival. Her father had been ill for a few days. Because their family had no money, Xiaoning kneeled at the entrance of a clinic begging to sell herself to the clinic, only requesting for a doctor to check on her father. Bai Zehao happened to pass by and was moved by her filial piety. So, he paid for a doctor’s visit.
Now that Xiaoning’s father’s condition was improving, she had gone to the shop to thank Bai Zehao a few days ago. She offered to serve him as recompense, even mentioning that her embroidery skills were quite good and that she could work for him to repay him. Bai Zehao considered she truly had a worthy skill and decided to employ her, which provided her with employment.
Upon hearing all of this, Bai Ruozhu nodded. After all, Xiaoning was young and had a strong sense of filial piety – not to mention she was a good embroiderer. It was reasonable for her elder brother to help someone like that. Furthermore, her attitude towards working to pay back the money was commendable. She didn’t feel entitled just because someone richer had helped her.
Bai Ruozhu wasn’t sure if she liked this young miss, but if Xiaoning knew that her brother was already married and still pursued him relentlessly, there wouldn’t be a shred of fondness left for Xiaoning.
Thinking about this, she felt that she needed to have a word with his elder brother and give Xiaoning a stern talking to. Of course, it wasn’t because she didn’t trust her brother. What worried her more was that Xiaoning might not stop pestering him. That could give rise to rumors, and her sister-in-law, when she came to know about it, might feel heartbroken. What if she hurt herself out of distress?
In the afternoon, Jiang Yichun returned from outside. After greeting the elders, he went back to his room, picked up their son, and began to chat with Bai Ruozhu.
She told him about the encounter between her elder brother and Xiaoning. She said, "I’m worried that elder brother might be pursued relentlessly by that girl. You don’t know how passionately she was looking at my brother."
Jiang Yichun couldn’t help but laugh. He caught her hand and was about to play with her fingers as he asked, "Like how you look at me?"
With the topic suddenly shifting to her, Bai Ruozhu blushed. She glared at him and responded, "Stop changing the subject. If you were in such a situation, what would you do?"
"How is that possible? I never meddle in others’ affairs," Jiang Yichun replied with quite a bit of flamboyance, implying how wonderful he was, carefully free of...
Free of what exactly? He suddenly struggled to find words.
"Hmph, you certainly aren’t free of love debts, and the ones you’ve entangled yourself with are no ordinary people!" She huffed.