Chapter 37
He Renyuan gave Cha Bao a fried chicken drumstick, effectively blocking him from the adult conversation.
Cha Bao took the drumstick, the crispy skin crunching between his teeth, fragrant breadcrumbs falling onto the plate. He picked up the breadcrumbs and stuffed them into his mouth while biting the drumstick, not wasting a single crumb, as busy as if he were in a battle.
He Renyuan looked at the startled Bai Qingyu and thought, if he didn’t make it clear, how much could he take advantage of this fool? But taking advantage was temporary and meaningless.
“Legally, I can’t force you to get a marriage certificate, and I won’t be so morally depraved as to force a kiss on you, you don’t have to be so nervous.”
Bai Qingyu agreed. Wherever a deity went, there were a bunch of believers. Every year during the tea deity worship ceremony, he heard countless devout speeches from tea farmers, saying they were willing to follow him for a lifetime, or that they would build a magnificent tea deity temple for him. There were all sorts of things over the centuries.
Someone like He Renyuan was just one of many, no need to be so wary. His frozen fingers moved, picking up a spicy snail and sucking on it. It was slightly spicy with a bit of chili pepper. He hissed and inhaled, his lips bright red, looking both divine and alluring.
He Renyuan said hoarsely, “There are many perverts in this world.”
Bai Qingyu’s lips were burning from the spice. He wiped his mouth, his eyes watering slightly. Not being kissed was a waste.
He Renyuan continued, “With your looks, if there isn’t a powerful suitor standing in front of you, intimidating others, there will be many people who overestimate themselves and throw themselves at you, disrupting your and Cha Bao’s normal life.”
“In terms of height, looks, emotional purity, status, and wealth, my overall strength qualifies me for this important role.”
He Renyuan was like a fledgling lawyer encountering a client willing to pay a high legal fee, he had to try his best.
Bai Qingyu, “Are you interviewing?”
He Renyuan, “You could say that.”
Bai Qingyu, “I can’t hire you, but I can hire you as my and Cha Bao’s lawyer.”
He Renyuan, “Huh?”
Bai Qingyu, “For example, if Cha Bao and I are arrested by the police, I won’t say anything until I see my lawyer.”
He Renyuan, “Family members can also bail you out.”
Bai Qingyu ignored him, “Also, if anyone questions my changing appearance, my lawyer has to explain for me. You’re more convincing. Is a monthly salary of ten thousand okay? Deduct it from my salary.”
He Renyuan: “…” So he still had to pay him twenty thousand a month.
“I’ve changed careers, I only do pro bono work now.”
Bai Qingyu, “Okay.” Then he would freeload.
He Renyuan changed the subject, “I had an inflatable castle installed at home today, children should all like it. Take Cha Bao to play after he finishes eating.”
Bai Qingyu had noticed it long ago. He passed by a similar inflatable castle last time, and it actually cost fifty yuan to play once, too expensive. Neither he nor Cha Bao was willing to play.
Playing at home was free.
Bai Qingyu rested his chin on his hand, watching He Renyuan and Bai Xiaocha eat expectantly. The actions of the big one and the small one were surprisingly synchronized. Cha Bao ate with big bites, He Renyuan ate elegantly, but their eating frequency was the same.
Bai Qingyu always ate less and was full after half a bowl of rice. He opened his phone, the local forum, to see if there were any second-hand geese for sale, but saw a popular post with many replies.
He clicked on it and was stunned.
He Renyuan had launched a massive search for him a few hours ago. Because the hourly wage was too high, all the food delivery drivers went to look for Cha Bao.
And food delivery drivers were familiar with the terrain, had electric bikes, and were the most suitable candidates. In the end, after searching for more than an hour, each person was paid two hundred yuan.
The people in the post were all hoping that the rich guy would issue other tasks.
Bai Qingyu was silent for a long time and said seriously, “Don’t waste money.”
He Renyuan, “You know?”
Bai Qingyu, “If I want to leave, you can’t find me, and bad people can’t do anything to me and Cha Bao. We won’t be in danger, we just might be having too much fun to notice.”
Bai Qingyu said somewhat cruelly, “I don’t have the habit of reporting my itinerary to anyone.”
He Renyuan couldn’t put on his boss airs at all and could only say like a pathetic man whose wife was out having fun while he was doing laundry at home, “I understand.”
Cha Bao put down his spoon and wiped his mouth, “Dad, I’m full.”
He Renyuan stood up and cleared the table, “Go play in the bouncy castle, Uncle will wash the dishes.”
Bai Qingyu looked at He Renyuan’s dejected figure, how come He Renyuan seemed so fragile?
He took Cha Bao to the bouncy castle and played on the slide twice with him, then let him play by himself. He took a basin of water and a small stool, sat down beside the castle, and washed Cha Bao’s backpack while watching over him.
The backpack smelled of seafood and was covered in mud, making its original color unrecognizable. Bai Qingyu held a brush, applied a lot of soap, and scrubbed vigorously.
He needed to use it for school tomorrow.
He Renyuan put the dishes in the dishwasher, regained his composure, calmly took out Bai Qingyu’s phone, downloaded a location tracking app, and put the phone back.
He wouldn’t check Bai Qingyu’s location all the time, he just hoped it would be useful when he couldn’t reach him.
He Renyuan calmed down, stood behind the castle, saw Cha Bao come down from the slide, and said righteously, “I’m afraid you’ll lose your phone, so I installed a tracking app, I can check your location.”
Bai Qingyu didn’t even look up, “Okay.”
He Renyuan had guessed correctly. As expected, the tea deity’s mindset was different, he wouldn’t mind such a small matter.
Wait? Where was that scrubbing sound coming from?
He walked out and saw Bai Qingyu scrubbing the backpack.
He was actually washing this thing for Cha Bao to use?
He Renyuan regretted not having the foresight to throw the backpack away. Now, he could only say tolerantly, “I’ll wash it.”
Bai Qingyu, “You have a cleanliness obsession, I’ll wash it myself.”
He Renyuan called Cha Bao, “Cha Bao, do you want Dad to play with you?”
Bai Xiaocha, “Yes!”
He Renyuan snatched the brush from Bai Qingyu’s hand, “Go ahead.”
Bai Qingyu thought, he had washed clothes for He Renyuan, and He Renyuan had also eaten the snails that stained the backpack, so it was okay for He Renyuan to wash a backpack for him, right?
Bai Qingyu took off his shoes, got into the bouncy castle, caught Cha Bao at the bottom of the slide, and covered his eyes, “You’ve been caught by the bad guys!”
Bai Xiaocha, “Baby’s been caught by the bad guys!”
Bai Qingyu, “Who will save you?”
Bai Xiaocha, “Dad, save me!”
Bai Qingyu, “The bad guys were defeated by Dad!”
Happy laughter came from the castle, and the young master, squatting outside and scrubbing the backpack, also smiled.
Bai Qingyu and Bai Xiaocha played childishly. From his genuine laughter, you could tell that having a child to play with had its merits.
Ring, ring, ring – the default ringtone of the phone rang. Bai Qingyu let go of the little one, “Is that my phone?”
He Renyuan wiped his hands and brought him the phone.
“Thank you, oh, it’s Old Man Deng.”
“It’s Grandpa Deng!” Bai Xiaocha repeated.
Bai Qingyu let Cha Bao play with small balls in his arms and turned on the speakerphone.
“Hello, Old Man Deng.”
Old Man Deng greeted Cha Bao first, “Grandpa sent you some dried sweet potatoes, you’ll receive them tomorrow!”
Bai Xiaocha, “Thank you, Grandpa, Baby loves dried sweet potatoes the most!”
He Renyuan heard the closeness in their tone and couldn’t help but feel a little envious. He turned the backpack inside out, applied some dish soap to remove the fishy smell, and continued scrubbing.
When could he become a family with Bai Qingyu? He Renyuan comforted himself, he had already made progress. Who else in the world was accepted by the tea deity and knew his secret like him?
Old Man Deng, “Grandpa will tell a story about the tea deity today. Cha Bao doesn’t have to listen, Qingyu, listen carefully.”
He Renyuan: “…” Oh, Old Man Deng also knew.
Bai Qingyu took out a handful of sunflower seeds from his pocket, cracked them open, and fed the kernels to Cha Bao, “Tell me, Old Man Deng.”
Old Man Deng’s voice was appropriately melancholic, proving that this wasn’t a happy story, “A long, long time ago, a tea deity found a husband in the human world, a poor scholar from a declining family. The scholar had talent but repeatedly failed the imperial examinations. Later, someone told him to give money to the chief examiner so that his exam paper would be noticed.”
“But the scholar had no money and was at his wit’s end. At this time, the tea deity secretly cut some of his hair, transformed it into tea leaves, and sold it to officials and nobles in exchange for money. The scholar was very worried about the unknown source of the money, and under his questioning, the tea deity revealed his identity.”
“The scholar used the money to pave his way in officialdom. However, the court was corrupt, and there were many places where money was needed. He was struggling, so he had to go back and ask the tea deity to sell his hair. However, the tea deity was forbidden from trading tea leaves for personal gain. If he did, his divine power would gradually weaken.”
“The scholar always said that it was the last time, and the tea deity was always soft-hearted and couldn’t bear to see her husband in difficulty, so his body became weaker and weaker. The highest-ranking official in the court loved tea, and the heartless scholar, in order to offer tea, trapped the weakened tea deity in the backyard, specifically cutting his hair, just for his own advancement.”
“Later, the tea deity became pregnant. If he continued to trade tea leaves, he wouldn’t be able to keep the child. The tea deity pleaded with the scholar, but the scholar had completely changed, he didn’t even care about losing his child. He said that he was about to become a minister, and then the tea deity would be the minister’s wife, living a life of luxury and never parting.”
“At the critical moment, a servant couldn’t bear it and secretly released the tea deity. The tea deity finally woke up and, in order to kill the scholar, destroyed his divine fetus to gather divine power, using a long sword to cut open his abdomen and bleed him to death, making him suffer the pain of bleeding to death.”
This servant was the ancestor of Old Man Deng, and later generations became guides in the human world.
This story had to be told to every generation of tea deities by their guides, to warn them not to be deceived by men.
Old Man Deng wore his reading glasses and flipped through the incomplete ancient book, struggling to make out the words. A large section of text was blurred due to improper preservation. He would have to air it out next time. He would ask Bai Qingyu to help him copy a new one when he came back.
“Oh, there’s also a tea deity quote at the end – I’d rather wrong others than be wronged myself! This is the key point of the story!”
“Men are unreliable, you must keep your identity a secret.”
“Yes.”
Bai Qingyu’s eyes were red from the tea deity’s experience in the story. His ancestor was so pitiful. His ancestor didn’t have a child with the scumbag’s genes, he probably broke off a branch and cultivated a little tea deity himself.
So he must also be asexually reproduced, this was a fine tradition.
Old Man Deng, “Some people look decent, but they’re full of evil.”
Bai Qingyu, “Yes.”
The decent-looking He Renyuan, who was scrubbing the backpack: “…”
Old Man Deng, “Just like that scholar, with a few more years of ink in his belly than others, most heartless people are scholars, they change their minds quickly!”
Bai Qingyu shared his indignation, “That’s right.”
The decent-looking, highly educated He Renyuan, who was scrubbing the backpack: “…”
Old Man Deng, “We have to learn from this. Not only should we avoid poor scholars, but we should be even more wary of rich second-generation scholars, they’re not sincere.”
Bai Qingyu cracked a sunflower seed and gave it to Bai Xiaocha, “That’s right.”
The decent-looking, highly educated, rich second-generation He Renyuan, who was scrubbing the backpack: “…”
He couldn’t help but think of the pitiful daughters-in-law in some melodramas, being looked down upon by their fathers-in-law while doing laundry, and their husbands even siding with their fathers.
He Renyuan continued scrubbing the backpack silently. The child needed it for school tomorrow.
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Clue obtained: Ancient book *1
