Chapter 142: The Occasional Body Contact

The next day.

Xiaoguo opened her eyes early in the morning. She had just tidied up the bed when there was a knock on the door.

Xiaoguo could guess who it was. Apart from Jiang Danhe, there was no one else.

As soon as she opened the door, Jiang Danhe came in with some warm water.

“Wash your face first. The water is just right.”

Jiang Danhe put down the basin in a customary manner and placed a clean towel on the basin.

“Wash up first, then we can have breakfast.”

Xiaoguo nodded. She wasn’t quite used to this, but she walked over towards him.

She thought that Jiang Danhe would leave, but to her surprise, he sat down by her side, and waited for her.

Xiaoguo couldn’t care less about being awkward. She still had to pick up Zhuang Zhuang after breakfast. After which, she would go to the Jiang family’s ancestral hall to bury the two elders.

Now that Jiang Danhe was around, Xiaoguo could put her heart at ease. She followed him to the hall.

There were millet porridge, eggs and pickles on the table, and a man was already seated there.

As soon as he saw the two of them, he stood up and smiled at Xiaoguo.

Jiang Danhe took Xiaoguo’s hand, then walked around the man and sat down.

“Hey, Sister-in-law. I’m Li Shouji.”

Li Shouji was thick-skinned and did not mind. He turned around and sat down on the other side of Jiang Danhe.

Initially, he was intending to sit beside his sister-in-law and get acquainted with her. In the future when he returns home with Jiang Danhe, she would feel more at ease when she sees him. However, when he thought about maintaining a clear divide between genders, he gave up and sat down beside Jiang Danhe.

Jiang Danhe rolled his eyes at Li Shouji and turned to say to Xiaoguo, “This is Li Shouji. He’s only 20 years old this year. He’s now a deputy general. This is my wife, Xiaoguo. My ‘son’ is playing with the little crown prince in the palace. Go and fetch him back later.”

Jiang Danhe did not say anything else. He only explained the general situation so that the two of them could get acquainted. At the same time, he emphasized the word ‘son’ to Li Shouji.

He glanced at Li Shouji, who did not respond to what he said. This man was unreliable. The information he had obtained was not comprehensive.

Li Shouji was rather insensitive and did not reply to Jiang Danhe. Obviously, he did not get what the man was trying to imply. At this moment, he was only focused on building a good relationship with Xiaoguo.

“Sister-in-law, eat an egg. It’s nutritious.”

“Sister-in-law, did you sleep well last night? Is it a cold at night in the capital? You have to cover yourself with more blankets.”

“Sister-in-law, the porridge is hot. Come, eat it with a spoon.”

“Sister-in-law, eat more. These dishes are delicious. They go well with porridge and are not salty. You can have more of them.”

“Sister-in-law… Sister-in-law…”

Xiaoguo found it hard to turn down his kindness. She really could not understand why this man was so talkative.

She was talking to him with a smile on her face, but she was a little curious. The name Li Shouji sounded quite familiar…

Jiang Danhe, who was seated by the side, got annoyed. He slapped his chopsticks on the table and said, “Hurry up and finish your food! Go and fetch my son after dinner!”

“Surely I could take care of his own wife. There was no need for a bachelor like you to worry.”

With that, not only was Li Shouji shocked, Xiaoguo got a fright too. His voice was pretty loud.

Jiang Danhe did not expect to scare Xiaoguo. He was used to speaking with a loud voice when he was training in the military. He had yet to correct his habit and accidentally exposed his shortcomings.

“What should I do? Will she think that I’m being rude?”

After Jiang Danhe’s outburst, there was a temporary silence in the room.

Everyone continued eating the porridge in silence. Jiang Danhe secretly sized up Xiaoguo and helped her refill her bowl.

During this time, he didn’t forget to glare at Li Shouji. It was all his fault. If it weren’t for him, he wouldn’t have raised his voice and frightened Xiaoguo. If she were to distance herself from him because of this incident, Li Shouji would get it from him.

Li Shouji detected Jiang Danhe’s oppressive aura, and quickly retreated when he saw that things were not looking good.

“I’m done.”

With that, he put down his chopsticks and ran out.

Jiang Danhe followed closely behind. “Eat first. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.”

Xiaoguo nodded. Seeing Jiang Danhe like this, she observed three minutes of silence for Li Shouji.

… .

“Stop!”

Li Shouji stopped in his tracks and smiled sheepishly as he slowly turned around. “What can I do for you, General?”

Jiang Danhe grabbed his collar and brought him to a distance from the door. “Where do you think you are going?”

Looking at Jiang Danhe’s dark and ambiguous smile, Li Shouji swallowed hard. “I am going… going to pick her up.”

“Pick up who?”

“You, your son.” Li Shouji was stunned by himself after uttering the word. “Your son?!”

“That’s right. Jiang Danhe was referring to his son just now. Where did this son come from?”

Li Shouji blinked hard to show his innocence. He didn’t know what was going on, and please don’t ask him what was going on. He had to check with his subordinates regarding this matter.

“Those brats! I had bought them drinks for nothing. They actually gave me the wrong information. Let’s see how I will deal with them later.”

“Brother, don’t be angry. I…”

In the past few days, Jiang Danhe’s enthusiasm to buy things for his daughter had frightened Li Shouji. Now that it had turned out to be a son, he might be planning Li Shouji’s punishment in his heart.

Just as Li Shouji was racking his brains to think of a good apology, Jiang Danhe’s words stunned him.

“I don’t know how you guys do things. You don’t even know about the twins. Because of that, I only bought things for Xiaoguo and my daughter. My son was completely left out!”

Jiang Danhe frowned, he was clearly displeased.

“…?? Twins?”

Li blinked. ‘Twins? Where did he get that information?’

“Forget it, forget it. Look at how stupid you are. Hurry up and bring my son to the Jiang family ancestral hall. Don’t miss the auspicious hour.”

Li Shouji knew the priorities. The rest could be discussed later. His priority now was to pick up the young master.

With a nod, he got someone to prepare the carriage.

Jiang Danhe watched him leave in satisfaction. He could have gone himself, but there was still a pile of things to prepare for the burial. He couldn’t spare the time.

Jiang Danhe had prepared a set of joss paper for his parents. He had wanted to buy more, but when he found out that Xiaoguo still had some left, he decided to buy only one set.

Xiaoguo did not say much to him as they sat in the carriage. From the moment they got onto the carriage, he didn’t keep a distance and sat very close to her. He had completely invaded Xiaoguo’s personal space.

Being so close, she could hear his strong breathing and feel his chest muscles that would occasionally bump against her back due to the bumpy car ride. This made Xiaoguo very uncomfortable.

“By the way, you don’t have your mourning clothes yet. Also, you need to make two memorial tablets for Father and Mother.”

Xiaoguo couldn’t stand the awkward atmosphere, so she tried to start a conversation.

Jiang Danhe nodded and reassured her. He said that he had gotten someone to prepare it after he left the house last night. Now, he just had to go pick it up on the way.

Seeing that he was well-prepared, Xiaoguo had no choice but to end the conversation.

When the carriage stopped, Jiang Danhe reluctantly left Xiaoguo and got out of the carriage.

Xiaoguo heaved a sigh of relief the moment he went out. She did not dare to move just now as she was afraid of bumping into him.

“Why was Jiang Danhe sitting so close?”

Xiaoguo couldn’t help but blush. In fact, she had never been in close contact with a man before. When she was in school, she never liked hanging in a group because she enjoyed being alone. As a result, her peers thought that she was a little antisocial and no one wanted to get close to her. Earlier on, she was really a little embarrassed by the occasional body contact with Jiang Danhe.

Hearing footsteps outside, Xiaoguo quickly composed herself and pretended to be calm as she waited for him to come in.