Chapter 22.1

Substitute Marriage (8) – Sensitive (1)

“Who looks better, me or Mr. Zheng?”

This sentence was clueless, and Li Ruo Shui was at a loss for words.

Her head spun around in Lu Zhi Yao’s hands, she tried to pull it out but failed, so she replied frankly.

“What are you asking this for?”

Li Ruo Shui remembered that he said before that he didn’t particularly care about the appearance, so what did he mean by this question?

“Just curious.”

She would be a fool if she believed it, it was definitely not curiosity.

Li Ruo Shui’s head was being held by him, but her mind was spinning fast and she began to analyse the pros and cons of the situation.

Firstly, he had an opinion only about her just caring about appearance, secondly, he didn’t care about appearance, but lastly, he still thought from the bottom of his heart that she was a person who only care about the appearance, so—

“I think you two are similar.”

After a brief analysis, Li Ruo Shui chose to be fair.

Rubbing his hand on the end of her hair, he murmured, “I see.”

Li Ruo Shui couldn’t see his expression and his tone didn’t change much. She pondered it over for a while, and she  thought that what she said and being fair were good.

“Do you often look at him too?”

A cold fingertip touched her neck, stirring a wave of goosebumps, and Li Ruo Shui subconsciously shrank her neck.

Her analysis told her to be fair, but her subconscious told her she should follow her heart.

“Of course not.”

She chose to trust her subconscious mind and chose to follow her heart.

The cat in her arms was being held nervously in her arms, meowed and escaped, running through the door and out of sight.

“Your cat ran away.”

Li Ruo Shui turned her head with difficulty , so he let go of her head.

“Didn’t run away.”

Lu Zhi Yao came down from the edge of the window, tossing the black hair that had slipped in front of him behind him. He picked up the blind stick that was set aside with a soft expression.

“Come on, let’s catch ghosts with you tonight.”

He looked like one of those compassionate people who help others with their swords, and even Li Ruo Shui couldn’t help but have the absurd thought of “he’s so nice”.

Li Ruo Shui smoothed her hair and ran after him, “Let’s have breakfast first.”

Morning in Cangzhou was lively, with people starting work early, and there were many breakfasts on the streets. Wontons, fried dumplings, noodles, everything was available.

The mist that rose when the lid was lifted drifted across the April sky.

Li Ruo Shui took Lu Zhi Yao to sit at the side of the street, ordered two bowls of soup wontons, and excitedly handed him a spoon.

“I knew his wontons were fragrant as soon as I smelled them, and sure enough, there were shrimps mixed in it, and it must taste fresh.”

Lu Zhi Yao tilted his head towards her, “What is shrimp?”

“It’s a very small shrimp.” Li Ruo Shui took a sip of the soup and had a feeling that her soul had returned to her body.

“Do you like to eat it?”

Lu Zhi Yao still looked as usual, and didn’t react much even when he lowered his head and ate a wonton.

His mother gave him steamed buns since he was a child, and he didn’t have a good life with his master later on, so it was logical that a child who grew up like this usually loved food.

But not only did he not love it, his appetite was very small, as if eating was a form of torture.

Even such wontons with thin skin and many fillings and mellow soup were not able to catch his eyes. After eating five or six of them and drinking some of the soup, he slowed down.

Li Ruo Shui, who intended to make him eat more, struck up a conversation.

“How come you’re not curious at all to hear me talking about catching ghosts?”

Hearing this, Lu Zhi Yao couldn’t restrain himself from curling his lips, and the porcelain spoon touched the edge of the bowl, making a clunk sound.

“Of course it’s because I was there.”

Now it was Li Ruo Shui’s turn to be stunned.

“What do you mean?”

“I was sitting on the roof listening when the ghost tried to enter the room, and it was interesting to hear you swear for the first time.”

Li Ruo Shui: ……

The atmosphere seemed even scarier at the thought of Lu Zhi Yao smiling behind them, but—

“Why were you on the roof?”

“Waiting for something to happen.”

He was waiting for the scene where the two newlyweds had a big fight, and when that happened, perhaps he might make a mistake and send Zheng Yan Qing to heaven, and everything would return to the original track.

Li Ruo Shui didn’t know what he was waiting for, but she wasn’t going to dwell on the question any longer, intuiting that she might have a heart attack if she kept asking.

Li Ruo Shui sat on a stool, felt the morning breeze blowing and stretched out. All the fatigue of the previous days was greatly relieved.

“There aren’t many wontons in this bowl, so eat them all. I’ll wait for you.”

Lu Zhi Yao paused for a moment at her words and put down the porcelain spoon: “I’m already full, let’s go.”

Li Ruo Shui stared at him for a moment and her dark eyes tinged with a slight smile.

“Let’s go then.”

Without arguing with him about how much to eat, Li Ruo Shui put down the coins and led him away.

She didn’t go straight back to Zheng Mansion, but took a long detour and led Lu Zhi Yao around the streets.

“This soup dumpling tastes weird, try it.”

Li Ruo Shui not only ate it herself, but also picked one up and naturally handed it to his mouth: “See if it’s different from what you’ve eaten before?”

Lu Zhi Yao’s lips smiled as he felt the warmth on his lips and subconsciously opened his mouth to eat it.

It was just the taste of ordinary dumplings, there was no strange taste.

Li Ruo Shui couldn’t hold back her laughter and patted him on the shoulder, there was an undisguised laughter in her words.

“This one is probably not right, try this one again.”

Knowing what she meant, Lu Zhi Yao still smiled softly, but there was something indescribably strange in his heart.

He kept smiling, but never opened his mouth again.

Li Ruo Shui didn’t force him either and ate the soup dumpling herself.

The street was so long, so if he ate a little at one stall, he would have eaten almost all of it by the time he reached the Zheng Mansion.

“Someone is selling crystal cake over there.”

The crystal cake was made from fruit, the steamed crust was crystal clear and the glutinous rice cake wrapped between it looked soft and lovely, it must taste good.