Okay! It’s fine if he couldn’t get any sleep! It’s also fine that he had to shop with Jiang Danhe every day! Even if he had to pick out the best hue of pink every day, it’s also fine! But now this man had torn down the door, and he was still blaming him for not opening the door earlier?!
“Jiang Danhe, if you weren’t my boss, I would have given you a taste of my sandbag-sized fists.”
It seemed that Li Shouji’s gaze was too intense, Jiang Danhe coughed twice and said, “Forget it, forget it. I’ll look for someone else.”
His eyes were filled with dissatisfaction as he left while mumbling to himself.
How Li Shouji wished to catch up with him and give him a big punch. That way, he could never ever torture him again.
But eventually, Li Shouji grabbed his blanket and walked grudgingly towards Jiang Danhe’s house.
If one were to ask him why…
Needless to say! It was late and cold, how could he sleep without a door in the house?
Li Shouji looked like he had been forced to compromise. Armed with his blanket and pillow, he knocked on Jiang Danhe’s door.
Jiang Danhe did not seem surprised by his arrival. He opened the door and pulled him in.
The door closed slowly and Li Shouji looked towards the doorway with teary eyes. He looked like he was sending out a distress signal. Once the door was completely shut, Li Shouji could no longer be seen.
“Alright, alright. Look at these two pieces of fabric. Is the pink one better for my daughter?”
Jiang Danhe’s bed and table were all covered with pieces of colorful fabrics. When Li Shouji entered, he felt like he was inside a fabric shop.
Li Shouji yawned loudly and tears trickled from the corners of his eyes.
The dark circles under his eyes seemed to have grown bigger. He had already helped to pick out more than a dozen pieces of cloth since he entered the house. At this moment, he felt that he could no longer distinguish colors anymore. Everything looked gray in his eyes.
Noticing that the bed was just inches away from him, Li Shouji slowly moved towards it. When he was about to get on the bed, a smile appeared on his face.
Jiang Danhe pulled him back instantly.
“Let me ask you, which of these prints look better?”
Li Shouji broke down. F*ck! He didn’t care if the wind came into his house. At most, he would just catch a cold. At the very least, he wouldn’t have to go through with this torture!
Jiang Danhe saw that Li Shouji was obviously out of sorts, so he mercifully let him off so that he could sleep.
Li Shouji was delighted and quickly got into bed. Before he could lie down, Jiang Danhe said softly,
“Sleep early. We will check out the shoe shop first thing in the morning.”
Li Shouji spat out a mouthful of blood! “I quit!”
Jiang Danhe put away the fabrics and carried his blanket to the other bed. There were two beds in his room.
Ignoring Li Shouji’s murderous gaze, he thought about his family and fell asleep happily.
Li Shouji, on the other hand, had tears in his eyes. He bit the corner of his blanket and looked at the back of Jiang Danhe’s head. It will be another sleepless night…
“Mother, where are we now?”
Zhuang Zhuang lifted the curtain and threw out the joss paper. Then, he turned around and pouted at Xiaoguo. His two small hands were rubbing his buttocks. He seemed to be feeling very uncomfortable.
“We have reached… Feng City.”
Xiaoguo lifted the curtain and looked out. She could just make out the words carved high above the county gate, Feng City.
Xiaoguo was in discomfort too. They had spent the entire day in the carriage. According to the route, they should have stopped at the Zhao family’s shop. However, when they passed by the county, the convoy took a detour instead.
Apart from stopping for lunch, they just kept moving forward.
Xiaoguo wondered if they would stop traveling at night. She really hoped that they would stop in one of the counties. At the very least, they could stay in an inn. If they were en route when night falls, they would have to set up camp on the spot. Xiaoguo did not wish to spend the night in the wilderness, and in a carriage at that.
“Come, Mother will give you a massage.”
Xiaoguo saw that Zhuang Zhuang was feeling uncomfortable, so she pulled him over and placed him on her lap. Then, she gave him a gentle massage.
With Xiaoguo’s massage, Zhuang Zhuang felt much better and stopped complaining about his pain.
“Alright, it’s my turn to massage Mother.”
Zhuang Zhuang stood up and stretched out his little hands towards Xiaoguo.
“No need!”
Xiaoguo was so nervous that her voice cracked. “Thank you, son. I accept your filial piety, but you can forget about massaging me…”
“Mother…”
Zhuang Zhuang widened his eyes and looked at Xiaoguo innocently. He didn’t understand why his offer was rejected.
Xiaoguo changed the subject, so as to redirect Zhuang Zhuang’s curiosity. He finally stopped pestering her about why he couldn’t massage her.
As she answered his questions, Xiaoguo threw joss paper out of the sedan.
Before the sky turned dark, the carriage finally came to a stop, just as Xiaoguo had hoped for.
The moment the carriage stopped, Xiaoguo got out of the car with Zhuang Zhuang and quickly breathed in the fresh air. At first, Xiaoguo thought that they had arrived at the county city. But she saw that they were still outside. To be precise, they were at the entrance of the county city.
This county city seemed different from the other counties they had seen.
This was because the gates of the previous county cities were kept open. However, the gates to this place were tightly shut. There were even soldiers standing guard at the entrance of the county. Everyone who was going in or out of the city had to register and wait for inspection.
Xiaoguo took two steps forward to check things out. What was going on up ahead?
When the leading soldier saw Xiaoguo, he quickly walked over. “Please get in the car first. We don’t know what’s going on.”
Xiaoguo sighed and nodded. She saw a group of people in front of the convoy, waiting to enter the county city.
She didn’t know when it would be their turn in the queue. Xiaoguo rubbed her stomach. If she had known, she would have brought some snacks. At least the snacks could alleviate their hunger while they were on the road.
“If you’re hungry, I still have some dried food. You can take this If you don’t mind.”
The leading officer was very observant. When he saw Xiaoguo’s actions, he took out a bag of food and offered it to her.
“Oh, no, no, thank you. We’ll be entering the city soon. We’ll see how it goes.”
Feeling a little embarrassed, Xiaoguo shook her head repeatedly. After thanking the officer, she picked up Zhuang Zhuang and walked towards the carriage.
Magistrate Liu did not care much about the situation outside. He sat firmly in his sedan chair and looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. In any case, there was no need for him to worry. Everyone had their own official duties.
When Xiaoguo passed by County Magistrate Liu’s carriage, she happened to catch a glimpse of his face through the gap in the curtain. She also saw the interior of his carriage and its decorations.
Woah!
With just one look, Xiaoguo was thunderstruck. After getting over her shock, all that she could feel was envy.
She was still wondering why County Magistrate Liu never got off his carriage along the way. It turned out that the interior was so well-decorated. There were even beauties accompanying him.
When she returned to her carriage, she sat on the hard board and leaned against the hard walls. She was sick with envy. The only soft thing in the carriage was Zhuang Zhuang, who was in her arms.
In comparison, County Magistrate Liu was sitting on a soft cotton cushion, accompanied by beautiful women and fruits.
How was this a mission? This was practically a spring outing for him.
“Mother, I’m a little hungry…”
Zhuang Zhuang said pitifully as he sat in Xiaoguo’s arms and wrapped his arms around her neck.
“Hang in there. When we enter the county city, Mother will buy more food. We keep them for the remaining journey too.”
Xiaoguo comforted Zhuang Zhuang, hoping that they could enter the county as soon as possible. She would then be able to go out and buy some snacks for him.
How careless of her to have not thought of this. She was still not fully prepared.
Zhuang Zhuang was rubbing his eyes and looking a little sleepy. Xiaoguo held him in her arms and gently patted his back. Since they couldn’t get in for the time being, it would be good for Zhuang Zhuang to take a nap.
“Eh? Right!”