Chapter 59
As Bai Qingyu approached, He Renyuan understood why he sent Bai Xiaocha to the bathroom.
Bai Qingyu stirred the fish soup, a bitter medicinal smell wafting out, “I found these herbs in the divine realm, drink it while it’s hot, it will help your wound heal faster.”
He Renyuan finally knew what his wife had been doing while she was gone. Herbs were rare in the divine realm, growing in hidden corners, not easy to find.
He asked with both gratitude and apprehension, “Wouldn’t the herbs be more effective on their own?”
Bai Qingyu, “The herbs are too bitter, I’m afraid you won’t be able to drink them, so I added some fish soup you like.”
“Don’t worry, I chopped off the fish head and tail, pan-fried both sides, and added ginger, scallions, and garlic before blending it.”
Before adding the herbs, it was a normal, milky fish soup.
After adding the herbs, it looked no different from the medicine Wu Dalang drank.
He Renyuan held the bowl and saw Cha Bao peeking out from the bathroom. Catching his gaze, Bai Xiaocha stared blankly, like a little hamster seeing rat poison, hesitating between drinking it for his dad or not.
He Renyuan swore to heaven that he absolutely didn’t want Cha Bao to drink the medicine for him.
Freeloading off his wife and making his son drink medicine… was there such a person in the world?
To prevent Cha Bao from misunderstanding that he was an irresponsible father, He Renyuan held his breath and finished the soup in one gulp, feeling like he had ascended to immortality after putting down the bowl.
“Wife, I was really wrong, I won’t hide my injuries from you again.”
Bai Qingyu looked at He Renyuan with his arms crossed, “Really?”
He Renyuan, “Really, if I do it again, let Cha Bao call someone else Dad.”
Bai Qingyu, “Okay.”
After making the vow, He Renyuan slightly regretted it, “Or let me be struck by lightning.”
Bai Qingyu, “You’ll still have to drink medicine after being struck by lightning.”
He Renyuan: “…”
Bai Xiaocha ran over and put a colorful candy in his dad’s palm, “Dad, eat.”
He Renyuan ate the candy, “Thank you, Cha Bao, you’ve helped Dad tremendously.”
Bai Xiaocha’s eyes widened, “Really?”
He Renyuan, “Really, really.”
Bai Xiaocha climbed back into bed, nestled against his dad.
At noon, Bai Qingyu finally relented. The assistant, who hadn’t seen his boss for two days, hurriedly brought a nutritious meal. Even a twenty-yuan fast food meal would make He Renyuan happy.
A small table was set up on the bed with three dishes and a soup. Bai Xiaocha sat across from his dad, also cherishing the hard-won food.
Bai Qingyu scooped a spoonful of minced meat and tofu for the little one, it was especially delicious mixed with his rice.
“Thank you, Dad.”
After eating, He Renyuan offered to clear the table. Bai Qingyu stopped him and covered him with the quilt, “Sit still.”
Bai Xiaocha pounced on He Renyuan’s legs, “Dad, be good.”
Don’t make Dad angry, or there will be no more delicious food.
The son disciplined the father, turning the world upside down.
He Renyuan obediently said, “Okay, Dad understands.”
Eating well was a big deal. Bai Xiaocha strictly supervised He Renyuan. Whatever Bai Qingyu didn’t allow, he wouldn’t let He Renyuan do.
Baby was doing this for Dad’s sake.
How much patience could a child have? He Renyuan didn’t know what other children were like, but immortals were the most patient beings in the world, that’s how they survived long periods of dormancy.
Cha Bao’s patience was surprisingly good. For the entire afternoon, Bai Xiaocha sat on the bed, staring at him.
He Renyuan, “Baby, how can you sit still at your age, without anything to play with?”
Bai Xiaocha, “Hmm?”
He Renyuan wanted to work on his tablet. Bai Xiaocha tried to dissuade him in a milky voice, “Dad, you need to rest more.”
He Renyuan, “Dad has rested enough.”
Bai Xiaocha, “Dad said not enough.”
Which dad had more authority? No need for discussion.
He Renyuan put him on his lap and took out the picture book, “Alright, let’s read some idiom stories.”
“Pulling up seedlings to help them grow… Once upon a time, there was a farmer who thought the seedlings were growing too slowly…”
Before finishing the story, He Renyuan looked at the little one—asleep.
He Renyuan smiled, carefully placed his son on the small bed, and logged into the company system on his tablet.
哄睡 was easy, just tell a story.
Ding-dong—a message popped up on his tablet. The kindergarten teacher reminded parents to help their children with the homework: writing the number “3,” and to be on time for school tomorrow (except for Cha Bao).
Those who sent their children to the Shu He employee kindergarten were generally ordinary to mid-level employees, mostly highly educated parents who knew the importance of education and had expectations for their children’s academic performance. Therefore, the kindergarten also had some academic focus, not just playtime.
But Cha Bao was too young, and Bai Qingyu’s only requirement was for him to eat well, so the teacher’s written homework assignments always had a (except for Cha Bao) at the end.
He Renyuan suddenly froze. His son fell asleep after three minutes of listening to a story, and he thought it was funny?
What would happen in the future?
Would he be easily deceived like Bai Qingyu, even after living for two hundred years?
He Renyuan, who had always relied on his intelligence, frowned, too worried to work.
He suddenly wanted to wake up Bai Xiaocha. How could he fall asleep at this age?
The next day, Bai Xiaocha went to school, leaving only the two of them in the ward. Bai Qingyu hadn’t been around much yesterday except for meals and sleep. Today, after sending Cha Bao to school, he came back on time, with no intention of going out.
He Renyuan, “Where did you go yesterday?”
Bai Qingyu recovered his memory, they should be whispering sweet nothings and kissing, but one was hospitalized, the other was elusive, and the little one was always watching with his round, amber eyes.
Bai Qingyu sat down by the bed, his tone less assertive than yesterday, even a little embarrassed, “I went back to the divine realm, did some cleaning.”
If it was just the tea deity living in the divine realm, he would prefer to be a tea tree, feeling the breeze with his leaves, touching the earth with his roots, as if still in the embrace of the sleeping tea deities, the fallen leaves a thick quilt woven by his parents.
But the scenery was a bit monotonous for humans. Bai Qingyu remembered a flat area in the divine realm, made of a single stone slab, with a cave nearby.
Bai Qingyu went back to clear the fallen leaves, revealing the stone slab, built a stone table, cleared the moss and vines in the cave, then, blushing, hung two small red balloons at the entrance and pasted a double happiness character inside.
Three years ago, when he went out to get food, he encountered a family holding a wedding. It was said that there would be a lot of leftovers after a wedding, especially at rural banquets. By the last few dishes, everyone was full, and almost no one touched their chopsticks. Stir-fried dishes could be kept for a few more meals, but soups would be poured out.
Bai Qingyu liked soups, they would be perfect for He Renyuan.
Bai Qingyu squatted behind a tree, waiting for the banquet to end, when a gust of wind blew a double happiness character and balloons from the host’s house into the sky. One landed on the tea deity’s head.
Bai Qingyu waited, but no one seemed to be looking for it.
So it was unwanted? Finders keepers?
It was so beautiful. Bai Qingyu immediately forgot about the soup and took the wedding decorations back, hanging them on a remote tea tree.
Today, Bai Qingyu took them out again.
The ritual for sharing a lifespan with a mortal was simple, just sincerely bowing to the divine trees on the mountain. In human terms, this was called paying respects to heaven and earth.
He was going to marry He Renyuan, so he naturally had to clean the divine realm first.
Bai Qingyu scratched his cheek and asked He Renyuan, “Are you willing to marry me?”
“Yes,” He Renyuan said without hesitation, then realized, was this a proposal from the tea deity?
The scene changed, and he entered the tea deity’s divine realm again, standing in an open space he had never seen before. Two cute red balloons floated by the cave entrance, and opposite them were rolling green hills, lush from afar, and up close, ancient divine trees.
Bai Qingyu pointed to the opposite side, “Those are my ancestors, we’ll pay our respects to heaven and earth, and to our ancestors here.”
“As long as they don’t object, we’ll be married.”
Bound together, blessed with a precious child, may we be like intertwined branches on earth, sharing the same breath, the same heart, the same virtue, facing wind and rain together on the green mountain.
The romance of human ancestors lay in creating beautiful metaphors, so many vivid idioms to describe the tea deity’s romance.
He Renyuan looked at the tall mountain. The view from where the tea trees grew must be excellent. Could the tea deity ancestors see through his tricks?
He Renyuan was a little nervous, “Under what circumstances would they object?”
Bai Qingyu, “Huh? I don’t know, I haven’t heard of any.”
Tea trees couldn’t talk, he couldn’t imagine how his ancestors would object.
He Renyuan knelt down with a thud, apologizing for missing the three years Bai Qingyu raised Cha Bao alone.
Bai Qingyu hurriedly knelt down too, his lips curling up. He Renyuan was too anxious.
“I haven’t finished yet.”
“Tell me, I’m listening.”
Bai Qingyu, “After the ceremony, we’ll have the same lifespan, but it’s not without a price for you.”
He Renyuan, “What price?”
Bai Qingyu, “From now on, your life is in my hands. If one day I don’t want you to live anymore, you will immediately wither and die.”
Deities were naturally indifferent and could endure loneliness, but mortals who became immortals halfway might not. After a long, long time, their minds might become twisted.
Bai Qingyu pointed at the opposite mountain, “Look at those ancestors, some tea trees are in pairs, some are alone. The latter might be because they didn’t find love, or because they ended their partner’s life.”
He Renyuan smiled, “What kind of price is this? I’m willing.”
Bai Qingyu pursed his lips, “Then let’s begin.”
They knelt on the ground, bowing to heaven and earth, to their ancestors, and to each other.
He Renyuan was nervous throughout, worried about being objected to, and worried that his random thoughts would be misinterpreted as insincerity.
He raised his head nervously. It was quiet, no voices, no thunder.
“Wife,” He Renyuan called out with the greatest confidence.
Bai Qingyu leaned forward and hugged his waist, “Do you remember the tea leaf mark on your lower back?”
He Renyuan, “Yes.”
Bai Qingyu, “That’s the switch to the divine realm. Press it for ten seconds if you want to come in. It wasn’t effective before because we weren’t married. From today onwards, time flows at the same rate in the divine realm as in the human world.”
Three years ago, Bai Qingyu used a lot of divine power to heal He Renyuan, then saved up some more to create this mark.
It was a pity they didn’t have time for the ceremony. He Renyuan couldn’t come back in after he left.
He Renyuan, “The same rate, does that mean we have five hours to pick up Cha Bao from school?”
Bai Qingyu, “No, someone will be here with lunch in two hours.”
He Renyuan hadn’t thought of this. If he had known, he wouldn’t have asked for food, and they could continue eating Bai Qingyu’s cooking without being disturbed.
“Then we have to hurry up with the consummation.”
He Renyuan picked up Bai Qingyu, stood up, and walked straight towards the cave.
His wife was too good, he would go crazy if he waited any longer.
Two hours now, a meal later, and another two hours on the big bed, otherwise his wife’s knees would hurt.
