Rainbow After the Rain

At this moment, a woman suddenly called out to her and reminded her kindly, “Zhizhi, you dropped your seaweed.”

Yu Zhizhi came back to her senses and looked down expressionlessly. Then, she slowly picked up the seaweed and walked home silently.

“Hey, are you not gathering seafood anymore?!”

No matter how the auntie called out to her, she remained silent as if she had lost her soul.

After getting on the shore, a chill hit her as the sea breeze blew. The girl trembled uncontrollably. Then, she looked down at her equally drenched feet in a daze and muttered to herself again, “If only it was me…”

The auntie, who was not far away, shook her head regretfully. “What a nice girl. But she seemed to have lost her soul recently. How pitiful…”

On the other side, Jiang Danhe carried Xiaoguo on his back and returned to Xiao Zhu’s house as quickly as possible. He also placed her on the bed and carefully covered her with a blanket. After making sure that she was tightly bundled up, he reminded her, “Stay here and don’t move. I’ll make ginger soup for you and Xiao Zhu.”

Xiaoguo nodded obediently. “Okay.”

Seeing her nod, Jiang Danhe left the house in relief.

After he left, Xiaoguo hugged the blanket and rolled around happily. She didn’t stop until she was wrapped up like a ball.

After she drank the ginger soup, Jiang Danhe ordered her to wrap herself tightly in the blanket and sweat it out before unwrapping herself.

Xiaoguo nodded in agreement. She wrapped herself up in the blanket before his eyes, revealing only her facial features. She looked as cute as a silkworm baby.

Jiang Danhe felt like he couldn’t take it anymore, so he quickly suppressed his laughter and left.

While he was cooking the ginger soup, he found a big pot and a bundle of firewood beside it. After asking Xiao Zhu about it, he started boiling some water for Xiaoguo to take a hot bath. After all, she had gotten drenched in seawater so she should drink a bowl of ginger soup and take a hot bath to ward off the cold.

After boiling two large pots of hot water, Jiang Danhe poured everything into the bathtub and went to call Xiaoguo.

“A bath? Is there a bathtub?”

Xiaoguo peeked through the blanket and spoke in a daze.

“I found an unused tub that was filled with junk in a corner. It’s inconspicuous.”

Xiaoguo nodded. She was wrapped too tightly in and was starting to feel a little drowsy. As she had problems sitting up, she tried to get up by twisting around in a comical manner. It made Jiang Danhe laugh out loud.

“Stop laughing and help me out…”

For some reason, the blanket seemed to have gotten stuck to her body. No matter how hard she tried to break free, she couldn’t get herself unwrapped from the blanket. At this moment, Jiang Danhe was still laughing at the side. Xiaoguo was so anxious that her face turned red and she could only shout in exasperation.

“Okay, okay.” Jiang Danhe stopped smiling and pursed his lips as he helped to get her out from the blanket.

“Huff… huff…” Xiaoguo was so tired that she was panting when she finally managed to free herself. Looking at the other party’s twisted handsome face, she said aggrievedly, “Go ahead and laugh if you want to. Why are you holding it in?”

When Jiang Danhe heard this, the corners of his mouth curled up. He gently straightened the messy hair on her forehead and said gently, “Hurry up and take a shower. The water will turn cold soon.”

“Okay!”

Xiaoguo got out of bed energetically and walked out with a change of clothes.

Jiang Danhe looked at her back and smirked. “If you need help to scrub your back, just call me.”

Xiaoguo stopped in her tracks and said two words without turning around.

“Get lost…”

She closed the door and sat comfortably in the bathtub. Fortunately, she had brought along her scented soap. When she gets on the boat tomorrow, she will clean up nicely and make Jiang Danhe feel proud of her.

She raised her arm and rubbed the pink soap against her skin. Then, she rinsed herself with water. The foam dissipated to reveal her milky white skin. She couldn’t help but lean closer and smell herself. “Smells wonderful…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such a beautiful body. Jiang Danhe can wait another few decades for it!”

Xiaoguo laughed shyly. Not that she was bragging, but she had stayed out of the sun all year round. As a result, her fair skin had become even fairer. She was a little envious of Jiang Danhe—he was lucky to have gotten himself a tender little wife…

—-

“Where’s my seafood? Where’s the seafood?”

After taking a shower, she suddenly thought of her seafood. And she didn’t see Xiao Zhu anywhere. She couldn’t find her in the attic either.

“Jiang Danhe, where’s the seafood?”

Jiang Danhe handed her another cup of hot tea and scolded her helplessly, “Your hair is wet. Aren’t you worried about getting sick?”

As he spoke, he helped her dry her hair.

“Yes I am… where’s my seafood?”

Xiaoguo was pulled to a stool by him. She was still thinking about the seafood. She had picked a whole basket full of seafood. There was enough for her to prepare a seafood feast.

Jiang Danhe exerted strength in his hand and almost pulled her hair off. Xiaoguo snorted in dissatisfaction and started fidgeting around.

“…Don’t move. I’ll be gentle.”

Jiang Danhe heaved a sigh of relief and regained his composure.

“I’ll give you one last chance!”

Xiaoguo had started behaving petulantly whenever she was with Jiang Danhe. It was completely unlike her usual self.

“Got it, Madam…”

Jiang Danhe responded cooperatively and looked at her helplessly from behind. What a little devil. She only had eyes for that bag of seafood.

He sighed in his heart, but his hands did not stop moving. He was really afraid that she would catch a cold. An adult like her did not know how to take care of herself at all. But she was always very concerned about others.

“Where’s my seafood?”

For the umpteenth time, Xiaoguo asked about the seafood. She was surprised that Jiang Danhe didn’t say anything. She was starting to think that he had thrown it away.

“Xiao Zhu will bring it to the village chief’s house and get someone to cook them.”

Jiang Danhe put down the towel and explained to her.

“For lunch?”

“For lunch.”

“That’s great! Haha! I can taste the seafood I picked myself…”

“Are they going to taste especially good?”

Jiang Danhe smiled at the smiling woman. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that she had caught the seafood herself from the sea.

“Of course, the fruits of one’s labor are the sweetest…”

Xiaoguo said matter-of-factly. Although she had only picked them up from the beach, she was the one who brought them back after all. It made no difference.

“Sister Xiaoguo, it’s time to eat…”

Xiao Zhu had just returned with lunch when an amazing fragrance wafted over. Xiaoguo took a deep whiff and replied happily, “You’re here…”

When the two of them walked to the dining table, Xiao Zhu had already placed the dishes on the table. There were three dishes, one soup, and a plate of steamed buns. The dishes were all made from the seafood that Xiaoguo had harvested in the morning.

There was seaweed salad, stir-fried sea cucumbers with sauce, green pepper octopus, and sea fish soup.

“Delicious, delicious…”

Xiaoguo took a good look. They smelled very good. The cook must be a master chef!

Jiang Danhe was charmed by her cuteness again. Did she eat the dishes with her eyes again?

“Who’s the chef?”

Xiao Zhu shook her head. “I don’t know him. The master who lives in the village chief’s house brought him here.”

Xiaoguo glanced at Jiang Danhe. “Master must be referring to Shao Zhan. The imperial chef brought by the emperor?”

Jiang Danhe nodded silently at her, as if confirming her guess.

The villagers did not know their exact identities. They only knew that they were rich officials from the capital. Other than the village chief, no one else knew.

Xiaoguo knew that the dishes were made by the imperial chef, so she ate a lot. She was prepared to pick up a few cooking skills while she was at it. As expected of an imperial chef, the dishes were beautiful, fragrant, and delicious. Even a simple vegetarian dish could be transformed into something magical.

Zhuang Zhuang still did not show his face. Fortunately, she knew that he was with Xiaoyi. Otherwise, she would have been worried sick.

The light rain had stopped earlier than the Imperial Astronomer’s prediction—it stopped in the evening. Moreover, a super-large rainbow appeared right after, spanning across the sea, looking very beautiful.

Xiao Zhu had seen this scene many times. It was not surprising for rainbows to appear after the rain.

However, it had been a long time since Xiaoguo had seen such a dazzling rainbow. Without bothering to eat, she dragged Jiang Danhe to the beach to admire the rainbow.

“Run slower. Don’t fall.”

Jiang Danhe was like a worried old mother. Afraid that Xiaoguo would fall, he stayed close by her side.

“I’m fine. Look! The rainbow is so beautiful…”