Prelude to Separation

Xiaoguo heard a lot about Li Zhaodi from Mrs. Yang after the incident. To summarize, Li Zhaodi and Chou Louzi had been chased out of Peach Blossom Village by the village chief. They were thrown out of the village without being given a chance to return home. Their household registration had also been erased. The village chief had even announced that if the two of them were to enter the village secretly, they would be reported to the officials.

The villagers were supportive of the chief’s decision and said that they would watch out for the two of them. If the couple was ever spotted in the village, they would be beaten up!

Regarding this outcome, Xiaoguo could only say that they had brought this upon themselves.

—-

Li Zhaodi’s matter had come to an end, but Xiaoguo still had a question that she had no answer to.

“Are you going to tell me?”

For the fifth time, Xiaoguo pestered Jiang Danhe for an answer, but he deliberately refused to tell her.

Jiang Danhe slowly ground the bean flour. He shook his head and refused to say anything.

Xiaoguo looked at the man grinding the beans and gritted her teeth. In a fit of anger, she threw the dried soybeans in her hand into the pile of black beans.

“Take your time grinding. I need the black bean flour and soybean flour to be packed separately.”

With that, Xiaoguo gave all the beans a good stir. At first, the soybeans were just resting on the top of the pile. After some stirring, they were completely mixed with the black beans below.

Having succeeded in her prank, Xiaoguo snickered and stood at the side with her hands on her hips. She was waiting to see Jiang Danhe’s helpless expression.

However, the outcome was disappointing for her. Jiang Danhe smiled at her and sat down patiently to distribute the soybeans. He seemed to be mocking Xiaoguo for being childish.

Jiang Danhe sat on a small stool and carefully rummaged through the soybeans. Xiaoguo suddenly felt that he looked a little pitiful and a strong sense of guilt instantly welled up in her heart.

At this moment, Jiang Danhe was wearing an expression that looked like he was accusing Xiaoguo of bullying him. This made Xiaoguo feel like apologizing to him and then sort the beans with him.

Just as guilt was about to overcome Xiaoguo, there was a sudden knock on the door. Xiaoguo came back to her senses and put down the soybeans she had picked up. Without looking at Jiang Danhe, she went to open the door.

Jiang Danhe hid a smile. Xiaoguo was so cute.

“Zhuang Zhuang?” Zhuang Zhuang had gone out to play with Xiaohu after breakfast in the morning. It was about time for him to come back.

As Xiaoguo opened the door, she called out his name. “Why was this child knocking? He could have just come in.”

“You little boy…”

“Hello, Madam.”

Before Xiaoguo could finish speaking, she realized that there was a stranger behind the door. He was calling her Madam.

“And you are?”

Xiaoguo looked at the man carefully. She couldn’t say that he was a complete stranger because she had just seen him two days ago. This was the man who had confronted Li Zhaodi.

“Hehe.” The visitor looked completely different from the other day. At this moment, his mouth was wide open, revealing two rows of white teeth. He pointed behind Xiaoguo. “I’m looking for the general.”

As soon as he addressed Jiang Danhe, Xiaoguo could guess his identity. Apart from his subordinates, there was no one else who knew Jiang Danhe’s identity around here.

“Jiang Danhe, someone is looking for you.”

Xiaoguo moved aside and let the man in. “Since this man was related to Jiang Danhe, he must have been acting on that day?”

Jiang Danhe heard the movements and looked up at the person. He did not speak and continued to distribute the soybeans.

Xiaoguo walked over and pulled him to his feet. “Stop sorting them. I’ll do it.”

As she spoke, she gestured to the man standing at the side. She blinked at him without a word, seemingly telling him to explain himself later.

Jiang Danhe pursed his lips and smiled. He knew that Xiaoguo was quick-witted. She could guess what was going on at a glance. He gave the man a look and led the way into the house. The man nodded at Xiaoguo before following behind Jiang Danhe.

Looking at the beans in the basin, Xiaoguo let out a long sigh. She had no choice. She had to sort through the beans that she had messed up.

Jiang Danhe went into the room and stood by the window, looking at Xiaoguo, who was picking up the beans. “How is it?”

“After the two of them left the village, Li Zhaodi wanted to go to Qin Manor to seek refuge with her maternal family, but our men went there early to spread the news. Before they could enter the village, Li Zhaodi was chased out. After leaving the village, Chou Louzi latched onto Li Zhaodi. He followed her wherever she went and they got into a fight over this. Yesterday, Li Zhaodi suddenly headed for the county like she had been possessed. As she didn’t have any money, she walked on foot. As soon as she arrived at the county, she was arrested by the officials, and was thrown into prison on a random charge of being dressed indecently.”

The man finished speaking in one breath and lowered his head, waiting for Jiang Danhe’s next order.

Jiang Danhe did not react at all. He just looked at the person behind him in boredom. “Just do as you deem fit.”

The man’s body trembled. He understood what that look meant. The general was dissatisfied…

“What do you think it means by living a life worse than death?”

Jiang Danhe said these words slowly after a while. When the man heard this, he immediately wanted to kneel down. It seemed that his actions had not achieved the outcome that the general wanted. “General…”

“You worked hard that day. I’ll have to trouble you to follow-up on this matter.”

Jiang Danhe did not seem to notice the man’s emotions and continued to speak.

The man nodded and said firmly, “Don’t worry, General!”

Jiang Danhe did not make things difficult for him. Seeing that he was still kneeling, he said, “Get up.”

“Yes!”

The man stood up and bowed to Jiang Danhe, preparing to leave. However, just as he turned around, he remembered something and looked at him hesitantly. “General, there’s a letter from the capital. We’ve spent too much time here.”

Jiang Danhe looked at Xiaoguo in the courtyard with reluctance in his eyes. “Yes…”

The man could not guess what the general was thinking. He could only wait quietly for Jiang Danhe’s order.

“Get ready. The day after tomorrow.”

No matter how reluctant Jiang Danhe was, he was helpless. It had been a while, and that person had turned a blind eye for long enough. He had no excuse to delay any longer.

Xiaoguo seemed to have sensed something and turned around. She happened to see the moment when Jiang Danhe’s thoughts were flashing through his head. Before she could take a closer look, he had put on a smile.

She snorted at him and turned back to sort out the beans. It was useless to smile at her. She will make him explain himself later.

Jiang Danhe looked at her angry back and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. When the man behind him heard this, he quietly raised his head and looked at Jiang Danhe’s smiling profile. He was shocked and shuddered before lowering his head hurriedly.

After the man left, Jiang Danhe took the beans and began to separate them and work the mill. Xiaoguo was beside him, tirelessly asking about the inside story. He finally told her when he couldn’t take her pestering anymore.

That day, Jiang Danhe found his subordinates and asked them to look for the man who was hired by Li Zhaodi to slander Xiaoguo. After finding the man, his subordinates beat him up. When Jiang Danhe heard the things that the man was going to say about Xiaoguo, he couldn’t control himself and beat him up again. As a result, the man was badly injured. That was why his subordinate had to stand in and use all the intended slander for Xiaoguo on Li Zhaodi. As for why Li Zhaodi and Chou Louzi confessed so easily, Jiang Danhe explained that the two of them had been drugged with knockout powder and truth powder. These were specialty drugs commonly used by the penal department.

When Xiaoguo heard the names of the powerful drugs, she was a little tempted. Although she only encountered such troubling matters once in a while, it would be more assuring if she had such powerful drugs kept on standby.

Hence, Xiaoguo tried to find out if he had any more of those drugs. However, Jiang Danhe refused to respond to her and just feigned ignorance. Xiaoguo was so angry that she gave up. “Forget it. I’ll rely on myself.”