Failed at Playing Cool

“I’m sorry, I was wrong!”

Jiang Danhe covered Xiaoguo’s mouth just a second before she exploded. He stared into her eyes with his bright eyes, trying to express his apologies.

Xiaoguo’s rage had barely erupted when it was quickly extinguished by Jiang Danhe’s actions.

Actually, Xiaoguo was no longer angry when Jiang Danhe covered her mouth. Seeing how pitiful he looked while apologizing, she felt her anger subsiding.

She signaled for him to let go with her eyes. But Jiang Danhe mistakenly thought that Xiaoguo was still angry, so he thought for a moment and said, “Don’t wake the child.”

After hearing his words, Xiaoguo was so angry that she started to laugh. Her body trembled uncontrollably.

Jiang Danhe mistakenly thought that Xiaoguo was still mad at him. He suddenly remembered one of the rules in the wife-management book that Zhu Yang had shared with him. “If you can’t win, run!”

At first, he thought that it was ridiculous. Now, it really made sense.

Hence, the next thing Xiaoguo saw was Jiang Danhe running away like the wind. In the next instant, Xiaoguo was the only one left in the house. She was staring with her big eyes, and her anger was slowly rising again because of the wind that just blew past.

Xiaoguo stood up and closed the door. She blew out the candle in one breath and lay on the bed angrily. Staring at the ceiling, she thought to herself, “Jiang Danhe, don’t come back if you can help it.”

In the middle of the night, Xiaoguo, who was half asleep, heard the door creak. Just moments ago, she was still tossing and turning in bed. Upon hearing the sound, she immediately turned around and froze.

Jiang Danhe sneaked closer to the bed and looked at the two persons with the help of the moonlight. Zhuang Zhuang was fast asleep, and Xiaoguo seemed to be asleep too. Jiang Danhe heaved a sigh of relief. He gently took off his shoes and got into bed. He lay down beside Zhuang Zhuang and sighed as he looked at Xiaoguo’s back. If only he could shift Zhuang Zhuang inside and let Xiaoguo lean against him.

Of course, that was just a thought. Looking at the back view that was so close to him, Danhe was dying to reach out.

Xiaoguo was listening to Jiang Danhe’s movements and she smiled to herself. She had deliberately left the door unlocked because she was waiting for him.

As the moon rose higher in the sky, Xiaoguo and Jiang Danhe slowly closed their eyes.

This was the first time the three of them were sleeping in the same bed. Xiaoguo had thought that she would not sleep well. Unexpectedly, she slept very soundly.

The next morning, Xiaoguo woke up late. When she opened her eyes, Zhuang Zhuang was already getting dressed. Jiang Danhe had brought breakfast to the table, but there was no sign of him in the room.

“Mother, you’re a little late today…”

Zhuang Zhuang had a smirk on his face. It was rare to see Xiaoguo wake up so late. This was new to him.

At this moment, Zhuang Zhuang looked a little charming, but only without the sleep crusts at the corners of his eyes.

As she was sleeping with her usual clothes on, Xiaoguo didn’t need to get dressed. She just tidied things up and got out of bed. Xiaoguo wasn’t affected by Zhuang Zhuang’s words. She just rubbed at the corners of Zhuang Zhuang’s eyes. “Wipe away the eye crusts first, handsome.”

After saying that, she flicked the eye crusts away. Zhuang Zhuang let out a cry and pounced on the blanket while rubbing his face against it, “That’s so embarrassing!”

Xiaoguo smiled and stood by the bed to watch Zhuang Zhuang’s antics.

“What’s wrong?”

Jiang Danhe was just coming up the stairs when he heard Zhuang Zhuang’s voice. He thought that something had happened, so he quickly entered the room. When he saw that Xiaoguo was awake, he was relieved. With Xiaoguo around, Zhuang Zhuang should be in safe hands.

“The young master failed to act cool with eye boogers on his face,”

Xiaoguo explained succinctly. Zhuang Zhuang was deeply buried under the blanket and was not going to look up.

Jiang Danhe assumed his role of a loving father and coaxed Zhuang Zhuang to wash up and eat.

Xiaoguo got into her usual routine. She washed up and wiped her face, paying no attention to the commotion by the bed. When she saw that Jiang Danhe could not settle the matter, she brought a bowl of porridge, with a braised pork bun to the bed and handed it to him.

Jiang Danhe caught on to Xiaoguo’s hint and nodded. He pried open the bun and moved it towards Zhuang Zhuang.

The bun was just taken out of the pot. When it was pried open, steam and gravy gushed out instantly. Within seconds, the golden juices from the filling were soaked up by the soft bun.

Zhuang Zhuang suddenly stopped moving under the blanket and Jiang Danhe could hear him inhaling loudly. Jiang Danhe glanced at Xiaoguo while she brought the porridge over to entice the boy.

Jiang Danhe’s voice sounded, “There are red dates added to this fragrant porridge. It smells so good, doesn’t it, Xiaoguo?”

“That’s right. A mouthful of porridge and a mouthful of meat buns, with some pickled vegetables.”

Xiaoguo added on to Jiang Danhe’s words.

The two of them looked at each other and sniggered. They had thrown enough bait. All they had to do was wait for the small fish to come ashore.

They sat back down at the table and waited for Zhuang Zhuang to come and join them.

“Let’s eat.”

Xiaoguo handed the porridge to Jiang Danhe and told him not to worry about Zhuang Zhuang. He will be here in a while. As soon as she finished speaking, the boy got out of bed and walked over loudly with his shoes on.

Xiaoguo placed the bowl of cooled porridge by the empty seat beside her. Jiang Danhe was about to turn around to look at Zhuang Zhuang when Xiaoguo grabbed his hand and shook her head at him. If he turned around now, Zhuang Zhuang would definitely be too embarrassed to come over. The stomping sound just now was a reminder to the two of them that he was coming.

Although Zhuang Zhuang was thick-skinned and wasn’t afraid of strangers, that was his behavior in front of outsiders. When he was with family, he was still relatively shy.

Zhuang Zhuang saw that the two of them did not turn around to look at him and felt much happier. He took the empty seat at the side and ate his porridge in small mouthfuls. His eyes were still looking at the two of them.

Xiaoguo unwrapped a bun and handed it to Zhuang Zhuang. Jiang Danhe picked up some pickled vegetables and placed them in his bowl.

Both of them deliberately avoided looking at his face.

Zhuang Zhuang slowly ate the buns and laughed silently. By accident, he let out a chuckle. “Hehe…”

Jiang Danhe glanced at Xiaoguo, who shrugged at him. “See? It’s fine.”

“Hehehehe…”

Zhuang Zhuang’s laughter became even louder, causing Xiaoguo and Jiang Danhe to laugh together with him.

–

“Madam, we should be setting off.”

Magistrate Liu appeared at the door but he did not enter. He reminded Xiaoguo while standing outside the room.

Xiaoguo nodded. “Okay, we are coming out now.”

With that, County Magistrate Liu left. Xiaoguo packed her bag and asked Zhuang Zhuang, who was holding Jiang Danhe’s bag, “Where’s your father?”

“I don’t know.” Zhuang Zhuang shook his head. “He just gave me the baggage after eating and went out.”

“…Let’s go.” Xiaoguo nodded and looked around the house to check that she didn’t forget anything. Then she brought Zhuang Zhuang outside to wait for Jiang Danhe.

Xiaoguo explained the situation to Magistrate Liu first. When he heard this, he immediately instructed everyone to wait. Then, he smiled at Xiaoguo and said that they would set off when Jiang Danhe returned.

“… Thank you.”

Xiaoguo smiled. Was this the same Magistrate Liu who didn’t allow anyone to be late? After thanking him politely, she brought Zhuang Zhuang to the carriage. She carried him up and loaded the bags. Then, she stood outside the car to wait for Jiang Danhe.

Shortly after, Jiang Danhe came back. From afar, she could see a man in a blue robe carrying a floral red bag.

“Where did you go?”

Xiaoguo looked at Jiang Danhe, who was walking towards her with a smile.

Jiang Danhe was delighted when he heard that. “She is finally asking about me!”

“I bought this.” Jiang Danhe held up the bag in his hand and showed it to Xiaoguo. She couldn’t see what was inside and was going to ask him.

In the next instant, Jiang Danhe stuffed the bag into the carriage and lifted Xiaoguo effortlessly onto the carriage too.

Startled, Xiaoguo gave Jiang Danhe a punch.

Jiang Danhe didn’t take her weak punches seriously and followed her into the carriage. Xiaoguo picked up the floral bundle and opened it. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “So you went to buy this?”