Chapter 448: Rest or Marketplace

Li Shouji saying those words with an expressionless face made Xiaoguo break out in a cold sweat. Even the others who were standing around her couldn’t help but feel worried.

Li Shouji became amused when he saw their serious expressions and he burst out laughing. After having a good laugh, he explained, “He is well and healthy. I was referring to his heart. That heart is suffering from serious lovesickness.” Xiaoguo didn’t get what he was saying at first. She only realized it later when she saw the teasing expressions on everyone’s faces.

Lovesick? Did Jiang Danhe miss her?

At the thought of this, she felt the blood rush through her veins, and she pursed her lips shyly.

In her panic, she did not forget to look down at Zhuang Zhuang. The little boy only looked up at her in confusion. He was still too young to understand the romantic relationships between adults.

Seeing that Zhuang Zhuang didn’t quite understand what Li Shouji was saying, Xiaoguo was relieved. She pretended to be calm and said with a smile, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Li Shouji knew that Zhuang Zhuang was still around, so he didn’t repeat himself. However, he definitely wasn’t lying about the part where Jiang Danhe was lovesick.

…..

The few of them were exhausted from the journey. Li Shouji quickly found rooms for them, and they were all staying close to each other. After putting down their bags, the few of them did not rest. Instead, they gathered together to chat.

Shu Botong wanted to find out more about the capital, so he took the initiative to chat with Li Shouji. When the two of them became very familiar with each other, the rest of the group gradually came over to join them.

“When will Danhe be back?”

Li Shouji replied to Qin Anming, “I’m not sure about that. If things go smoothly, he’ll be back in the afternoon. Otherwise he’ll only be back at night. How about I try to find out later?”

In the future, it was very likely that he would follow Jiang Danhe back to his hometown. Since Qin Anming was Jiang Danhe’s brother-in-law, he will also become his biological brother. He must make sure to answer all his questions seriously.

“Forget it. It won’t be good if he finds out we are here.”

Qin Anming smiled and shook his head. Ever since his brother-in-law left Xiaoguo, he had become highly sensitive. If anyone was careless and did anything to arouse his suspicion, he would quickly find out the truth by following the clues. He only turned into an unthinking and hopeless fool when he was around Xiaoguo.

Li Shouji nodded in agreement. That’s right, the cunning Jiang Danhe must not know of this. They must keep the secret to the end.

The group had arrived at lunchtime. When the chefs in the backyard heard that Xiaoguo was here, they were dying to meet her immediately. However, there was too much work to do, so they had to finish their work first.

When they were done with their chores, the two chefs happily came to the hall on the pretext of serving the dishes. As they served the dishes, they exchanged pleasantries with their Madam.

The two of them genuinely missed their Madam from the bottom of their hearts. Even though they hadn’t spent much time together, they just liked her very much.

The two of them had worked as chefs for a long time, and they had worked at many other places before. The general’s residence was the only place where they were treated like equals, without any form of discrimination. They were always happy and motivated to come to work each morning.

They had basically tried all the recipes that Madam had given them the last time, but the taste still didn’t seem quite right. So they were hoping for their Madam to demonstrate the cooking in person. After waiting for so long, their wish had finally come true. Therefore it was inevitable that they were overjoyed to see her.

Since Xiaoguo and the others had arrived at the mansion, the two chefs worked hard to make a table full of dishes.

Xiaoguo was hoping for the chefs to join them for the meal, but the two of them had a pile of chores waiting for them in the kitchen, so they had to leave regrettably.

At the dining table, Li Shouji was eating when he suddenly thought of something. “Sister-in-law, will you still be going back this time?”

“Yes. I’ll go back after the Spring Festival.”

After adding some food to Zhuang Zhuang’s bowl, Xiaoguo heard a sigh. She looked up at Li Shouji and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s a pity. If you stay, I’ll get to enjoy delicious food every day,” Li Shouji said pitifully. But then, he suddenly looked happy again. “It’s fine. At least until next year, I’ll still get to enjoy good food. Am I right, Sister-in-law?”

Xiaoguo was feeling helpless, she felt like saying, “Did I come here to cook?”

However, before she could say anything, she was startled by Li Shouji’s sparkling eyes.

The words that were about to come out of her mouth became stuck in her throat. She could only nod and agree in silence.

A brilliant smile immediately appeared on Li Shouji’s face. Although he didn’t say anything, everyone present could understand what he was thinking. It could be summarized into three words. “That is awesome…”

“Let’s go to the fair this afternoon!”

At the dining table, Ruyi put down her chopsticks and said excitedly.

When they were traveling towards the capital, the courier had specially chosen a remote path to avoid the crowd. However, they still came across many people who were rushing to the New Year fair. The capital had truly lived up to its reputation for being a bustling and prosperous place.

From the moment Ruyi entered the capital, she couldn’t stop thinking about the fair. In her entire life, she had only been to the market in Yonghai County. She didn’t think that she would get a chance to venture out of the county in her lifetime. En route to the capital, she visited many markets, of varying sizes, and was dazzled by all the things she saw.

After passing by the entrance of the capital’s market, she couldn’t stop thinking about the lively atmosphere after taking just one look at it.

At this moment, Xiaoguo was done eating. She looked at Ruyi helplessly. “Aren’t you tired?”

“I’m not tired. It’s so fun to go out!”

Ruyi whispered in her ear, seemingly too embarrassed to let the others hear her.

Xiaoguo rubbed her ears, which were feeling ticklish from Ruyi’s breath. Then she looked at the others. “Are you guys resting or going to the fair?”

Qin Anming looked at Ruyi and said, “I want to rest.”

Shu Botong immediately chimed in, “Me too!”

“We’re resting too,” Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling said in unison as they looked at Ruyi apologetically.

Everyone’s reaction was as expected. Xiaoguo also nodded and said, “Me too.” Seeing that no one was on her side, Ruyi looked pitifully at the only person who had yet to speak up. “Zhuang Zhuang?”

Zhuang Zhuang was feeling a little hesitant. He was thinking about how to phrase his rejection in order not to upset Sister Ruyi.

After much hesitation, he decided not to speak, and demonstrated his intentions through his actions instead.

Ruyi took a deep breath and said weakly, “Alright, I’ll stay in and rest too.”

Xiaoguo patted Zhuang Zhuang, who was hugging her, as a reward. The little guy also gave her an adorable smile.

“Just stay home and rest well. In any case, the fair will remain open for quite some time. You can still visit the fair in the next two days.”

As soon as Li Shouji finished speaking, he received unanimous agreement from the group.

Ruyi nodded helplessly. They were right. Everyone was tired from traveling over the past few days. During this time, she had visited so many markets that her excitement had gotten slightly out of control. It seemed that she had to slowly adjust her state of mind.

The few of them laughed when they saw Ruyi looking all listless. “This little girl is really interesting. She’s so young, yet she loves going to markets so much. It seems that youth is still the best.”

Wait a minute, Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling were younger than her? Why didn’t they like marketing?

To each his own.

Although the plan was not to tell Jiang Danhe about the arrival of Xiaoguo and the group, if nothing was revealed at all, it was unclear when the protagonist would return.

So Li Shouji, the thoughtful subordinate, waved his hand and sent someone to the military camp to fetch the general.

“What should I say, Deputy General?”

Coincidentally, Li Shouji had casually summoned a newcomer. And when Xiaoguo arrived, this soldier was having his lunch. By the time he came out, he didn’t hear any news, so naturally he didn’t know the identity of the person who had arrived at the residence

Although Jiang Danhe’s soldiers were quite gossipy at times, they were very loyal. They freely spoke among themselves, but never spread idle gossip outside the camp.

Moreover, this soldier was a newbie and was still not familiar with the other soldiers yet. Therefore, no one would deliberately update him with the latest happening in the residence.

So, the newcomer arrived at the military camp in a daze and met with the general again.

Facing the general’s authoritative gaze, the recruit’s mind went blank. He could only remember one sentence from the deputy general. “Be very vague when you speak to him.”

Vague, vague, vague!!

“General, there are some visitors at the residence. The deputy general wants you to go home early.”

“Who?” Jiang Danhe frowned. The dignitaries in the capital would not dare to turn up unannounced.

“General, it’s a group of people!”

The recruit looked very pleased with himself.. “That’s vague enough, isn’t it?’