Chapter 48
Bai Qingyu abruptly turned to stare at He Renyuan.
He Renyuan subconsciously adjusted his shirt sleeve, like an intern suddenly singled out by the interviewer, so nervous that a layer of sweat appeared on his temples.
Bai Qingyu gripped the corner of the book. Some lines had missing characters, some were blurred, some had holes, some had to be read against the light, but none of this affected the continuous reading of the text.
Bai Qingyu murmured, “Is this a pirated book?”
He Renyuan, “This book is a museum piece, how could it be pirated?”
Bai Qingyu, “I understand, it’s so damaged, it must be because Old Man Deng’s ancestors modified and embellished the ending of this story.”
He Renyuan was exasperated, “I hate that you’re a blockhead.”
“I am a blockhead.”
Bai Qingyu pursed his lips. He knew whether the ancient book had been modified or not. He was just a little confused, how could copying a story lead to finding a father for Cha Bao?
Seeing him about to crush the ancient book and destroy the evidence, He Renyuan quickly grabbed both of Bai Qingyu’s hands, “Let go.”
Bai Qingyu released the book and was pulled into a warm embrace.
Two hearts beat against each other’s chests, as if wanting to synchronize their rhythms. He hadn’t held Bai Qingyu like this since the swimming pool incident, as if he was holding a missing piece of himself.
Bai Qingyu was like a pitiful rabbit being sniffed by a wolf, his skin trembling.
He Renyuan took a deep breath. Even if Bai Qingyu didn’t admit it, he couldn’t do anything. He still had to ask Bai Qingyu to find a way to break the seal from the immortal system.
The ancient tea deity was really thoughtful, what could a mortal do to an amnesiac tea deity? Nothing.
“Let’s analyze this book.” He Renyuan pressed Bai Qingyu down, like a top student tutoring his academically challenged wife on a difficult problem.
Bai Qingyu fidgeted, “I’ll go see where Cha Bao is.”
The academically challenged tea deity practically had “I definitely won’t understand” written on his face, but He Renyuan still wanted to try, after all, he really wanted to go to the same university as his wife, no, share the same bed.
He Renyuan coaxed gently, “Listen to my analysis for five minutes, okay?”
Bai Qingyu rubbed his reddened ears and didn’t speak.
He Renyuan picked up a pen and highlighted the key points: “Trading tea weakens the tea deity’s power and endangers the unborn child.”
Bai Qingyu, “Yes.”
He Renyuan, “Because the tea deity was repeatedly deceived and softened by the scholar, he could no longer keep the child. Did the tea deity’s fetus also have divine power?”
Bai Qingyu, “Yes, but he didn’t know how to use it.”
He Renyuan, “So here, after being freed by Deng’s ancestor, the tea deity used the fetus’s power to seal his own memory, leaving a blood oath as a reminder.”
“This way, he could kill the scholar without hesitation when faced with his pleas and remorse. The seal was only broken after his hands and feet were covered in the scholar’s blood.”
Bai Qingyu shifted, “I think I heard Cha Bao calling me.”
He Renyuan pressed him down and turned him around, “You always run away at the crucial point. So you can see at a glance that the ancient tea deity used their child as a seal, and only the scholar’s blood could break it. Do you feel sorry for me? Are you afraid I’ll die?”
Bai Qingyu, “Do you want to die?”
He Renyuan, “No.”
Bai Qingyu, “Good.”
He Renyuan looked heartbroken, his eyes reddening. He grabbed Bai Qingyu’s hand and pressed it against his tea leaf mark, “But this proves you really have amnesia, you forgot our past, you marked me, and you still don’t admit it.”
Humans were so fragile, their eyes turning red faster than Cha Bao’s. A faint divine power flowed under his palm. Bai Qingyu softened, “Alright, alright, if you can coax Cha Bao to call you Dad, I won’t stop you.”
They did look alike, and there weren’t so many coincidences in the world. If Bai Xiaocha only had the tea deity’s genes, there was no reason for his hair color to be different. Maybe he really did take He Renyuan to the divine realm to heal his injuries, and mortals forgot everything after leaving the divine realm, so He Renyuan also had amnesia.
He Renyuan’s throat tightened, “Can you only conclude that Cha Bao and I are father and son? What about us?”
Bai Qingyu looked at him incredulously. You’ve already claimed a little tea deity with your imagination, do you want the big one too?
Bai Qingyu, “When you fell, I was dormant, about to conceive Cha Bao. Your head hit my roots, you bled so much, your blood nourished Cha Bao’s spiritual veins, giving him your genes. You got a son for free by bumping into the tea deity, aren’t you satisfied?”
He Renyuan laughed, “…Nourished by blood?”
Bai Qingyu thought his reasoning was flawless. Who said only He Renyuan had a rich imagination?
He Renyuan said crudely, “Clearly nourished by Bai Da Cha’s essence.”
Bai Qingyu blushed, “In your dreams.”
“Let me tell you, to enter the divine realm for healing, you must have been severely injured, unable to move, and you still wanted to hit on me?”
“…” He Renyuan changed his tactic, “I admit we’re innocent. Is there any way to help me recover my memory? I’ll give up completely once I remember.”
“I won’t bother you anymore, okay?”
Bai Qingyu lowered his gaze. He Renyuan’s memories were confiscated by the divine realm as soon as he left, they should be hanging on a tea tree in the divine realm like a light bulb, he might be able to find them if he looked.
But, if He Renyuan recovered his memory and he didn’t, what if He Renyuan made things up to deceive him?
[Information asymmetry must be in your favor.] He recalled a sentence, perhaps advice from an ancient tea deity at this moment, and decided to heed it.
“There’s no way,” Bai Qingyu said.
He Renyuan didn’t dare to push too hard, afraid it would deplete Bai Qingyu’s divine power. He might as well ask Old Man Deng first.
Besides, he wasn’t completely without options.
He could understand the ancient tea deity. If he had given up on the scholar earlier, he wouldn’t have lost his child. This restriction was to protect the tea deity’s offspring. If the mortal was sincere, they could just fall in love again.
Breaking the seal required a lethal amount of blood.
But that was in ancient times, there were no freezers. The tea deity ancestor probably didn’t expect modern refrigerators. Thanks to science, he had a way to cheat.
Losing 1200 ml of blood at once would be life-threatening for a human. A safe blood donation was 400 ml, once every six months, he could collect enough in a year and a half.
Luckily, he had frozen plasma, red blood cells, and a small amount of whole blood stored in the hospital for emergencies. The expired blood wasn’t discarded, and the collected amount was considerable.
He bet the tea deity’s restriction couldn’t accurately identify blood preserved and thawed with high technology.
As long as he ensured it was his own.
He would donate blood in small amounts multiple times. In another month, he would have enough blood to test it.
Pursuing a wife required both metaphysics and science. It wouldn’t be a pity if he failed.
Bai Qingyu finished copying the last sentence, the tea deity’s edict: I’d rather wrong others than be wronged myself.
His fingers trembled. No way, he hadn’t wronged He Renyuan.
Bai Qingyu glanced at He Renyuan and saw his determined expression, not dejected, so he put away his guilt.
Bai Xiaocha came back holding an egg in each hand, “Dad!”
For the first time, He Renyuan felt possessive of the title “Dad.” He would make Bai Qingyu teach Cha Bao to call him Dad sooner or later.
Bai Xiaocha distributed the eggs, “This one for Dad, this one for Uncle.”
Bai Qingyu, “Then what do you eat?”
Bai Xiaocha, “Baby drinks milk.”
Someone nearby raised cows and sold milk when the cows gave birth. Old Man Deng ordered milk as soon as Cha Bao came back.
He Renyuan, “Is there a spare room? Can I stay here?”
Old Man Deng folded boxes and said, “Only the utility room, I’m afraid you won’t be used to it, Boss He, you should stay at a hotel in the city.”
He Renyuan, “The utility room is fine, thank you, Old Man Deng.”
Old Man Deng was speechless. Poor scholars and rich scholars were all thick-skinned scholars, “We don’t have any change of clothes for you.”
He Renyuan, reminded of this, realized he came empty-handed, without even snacks for Cha Bao.
He seemed to have seen a small shop on the way here.
He Renyuan decided to make amends, “Cha Bao, Uncle will take you to buy something.”
Bai Xiaocha, “Okay!”
He Renyuan picked up the little one, “Baby, do you know where to buy things?”
Bai Xiaocha, “Yes!”
Old Man Deng racked his brains to badmouth He Renyuan, “Qingyu, look, he’s slacking off again, wandering around.”
He Renyuan stiffened slightly and quickened his pace.
The tall, handsome man holding the adorable Bai Xiaocha, appearing at the small village shop, made people wonder if it was a parent-child variety show.
The shop owner looked at He Renyuan while eating sunflower seeds. So handsome, was he a relative from Bai Xiaocha’s mother’s side? She wanted to chat, but He Renyuan’s aloof aura deterred her.
“Cha Bao, what do you like?” He Renyuan put Cha Bao down.
The shop wasn’t big, many things overflowed the shelves. Bai Xiaocha squatted in front of a box of rainbow marshmallows, “Uncle, this is delicious.”
“Anything else?”
Bai Xiaocha looked at the freezer. He Renyuan hurriedly said, “Uncle owes you two ice creams, I’ll pay you back next time, okay?”
Old Man Deng’s impression of him was already very low. Seeing him buy ice cream for Bai Xiaocha would make it negative.
Bai Xiaocha, “Okay.”
He Renyuan took the whole box of marshmallows to the counter and asked, “What does Grandpa like?”
Bai Xiaocha patted a case of energy drinks, “Grandpa likes this!”
He Renyuan carried two cases of Red Bull to the counter, then another case of milk.
“What does Dad like?”
This stumped Bai Xiaocha. There wasn’t anything free here.
Oh? Bai Xiaocha saw a plastic bucket of lollipops, with only one left, “Dad likes this!”
He Renyuan picked up the bucket, puzzled. Did Bai Qingyu like lollipops?
The next second, the shop owner answered his question. She skillfully entered the price of a lollipop into the calculator, “220+62+30+1=313 yuan, the last lollipop, the bucket is free.”
Bai Xiaocha hugged the whole bucket, as if he had expected it, “Thank you, auntie!”
“Uncle, the lollipop bucket can be used to store sugar at home.”
He Renyuan thought of the expensive condiment jars in his house. Here, Bai Qingyu and Bai Xiaocha were so poor they had to buy the last lollipop from a small shop to get the bucket.
This was Bai Qingyu and Bai Xiaocha’s daily life in the countryside.
If it weren’t for the absence of a father figure, why would Bai Qingyu like to reuse things?
He was such a jerk.
He Renyuan wished Bai Qingyu would stab him with a sword.
“Do you need delivery?” The shop owner asked.
He Renyuan saw an electric scooter parked at the door, “Please.”
The shop owner carried the three cases of drinks on the electric scooter.
He Renyuan peeled a marshmallow for Cha Bao and carried him back.
As soon as they arrived home, Cha Bao showed off his treasure to his dad, shaking the bucket vigorously, the lollipop rattling like a drumstick.
“Baby bought the last lollipop? So awesome!” Bai Qingyu’s thought process was exactly the same as his son’s, “This bucket can be used to store sugar.”
Old Man Deng kept a couple of beehives. When there was no pollen, he would occasionally feed them sugar.
Old Man Deng had just been forced to accept three cases of drinks when, in the blink of an eye, He Renyuan sat down and started folding cardboard boxes with determination, as if making explosives.
He Renyuan didn’t know what he could give Bai Qingyu, he knew he had to integrate into his life first.
He folded quickly, unlike Bai Qingyu and Old Man Deng, who often watched TV while folding, their movements unhurried. He was more like Bai Xiaocha, who said, “If you drink water, you’ll pee, and if you pee, you’ll fall behind.”
The faster He Renyuan folded, the more labels Bai Xiaocha had to stick. He didn’t ask his uncle to slow down, but immediately started working seriously.
Bai Qingyu looked at the father and son working diligently. They really did look alike.
“What’s wrong with you, are you a pervert?” Bai Qingyu leaned over and asked. Was he so energetic after returning from the shop because Old Man Deng said he was slacking off? Actually, Old Man Deng didn’t mean any harm. He just asked if He Renyuan was Cha Bao’s father because three years ago, he happily took a bowl of porridge from him.
Bai Qingyu was embarrassed by Old Man Deng’s description. What “happily”? As if he was lovestruck, he wasn’t in love with He Renyuan.
He Renyuan glanced at him, “Yes, people like you, with strong bones and a fragrant body, are most likely to attract perverts.”
Bai Qingyu: “…” I’m not comforting you anymore.
