Translator: Fan Translation Studio

  Ye Xiaoxian hesitated and stopped what she was doing, asking Baozhu, “You’ve fallen in love with Mr. Wong?”


  “No, not like that, I just admire him. He’s a scholar and will go to the capital to take the imperial exam in the future, so how could he lay eyes on ordinary people like us?” Xiao Baozhu lied.

  “As long as you understand.”


  However, Xiao Baozhu then asked Ye Xiaoxian again, “Sister-in-law, what about being his concubine?”


  “.……” Ye Xiaoxian had now figured it out that Xiao Baozhu, though said she did not like Scholar Wong, secretly adored him very much. It was no wonder that she was so eager about everything that Scholar Wong had been involved in recently.

  What was more, Xiao Baozhu refused to be a cook in the kitchen and insisted on doing the accounts, perhaps as a result of her efforts in looking more well-to-do so that she could be a match for Scholar Wong.

  “Baozhu, mind you, when a common girl marries into a rich family as a concubine, she will usually suffer, as no one treats you equally and, what’s worse, even a servant will bully you. If your husband cherishes you, that will be a rags-to-riches story but if he doesn’t then you will end up being extremely pathetic. You’d better find someone who really cares about you and understands you and lead a quiet life,” Ye Xiaoxian explained to her sincerely.

  Despite Ye Xiaoxian having told her a lot, Xiao Baozhu only heard one sentence, “If your husband cherishes you, that will be a rags-to-riches story”. What if Scholar Wong cherished her? Therefore, Xiao Baozhu still decided to look on the bright side.

  At the same moment, Scholar Wong’s wound was being treated in the carriage. Scholar Wong, Lord Wong and their butler were all riding together. Lord Wong did not say a single word the entire way home. Even though Scholar Wong was hurt he was still furious with his son.

  As soon as they arrived home and got out of the carriage, Lord Wong then began to question his son. “Why did you step forward for those people in that restaurant? Because of that female cook? Who on earth is she that you should risk your life for her?”


  Scholar Wong gently covered his chest. On the one hand it hurt there, and on the other hand he had to come up with an answer carefully. After some time he said, “Father, that female chef’s young brother is my student and also, she’s cousin Qianqian’s friend. Qianqian asked me to take care of her. The reason I went there for food was also that Qianqian recommended their dishes to me. As for why I stepped forward for them, I couldn’t bear to watch that Young Master Zhang’s outrageous behavior. If it wasn’t they who were being bullies today but others I would still have come forward and risked my life to help them. Ahem.”


  Scholar Wong coughed painfully who looked so gravely unwell and upset.

  Lord Wong finally believed what his son had said and felt sorry for him with his wound, so he urged the butler, “Take him to his room to rest and ask a doctor to have a look at him.”


  Xiao Baoshan heard the news at dusk that day and hurried back home. Luckily he had not sailed recently, as if he had he would not have found out what had happened back home.

  After he arrived back the restaurant had been tidied all up and it was open for business as usual. Apart from the fact that everyone was slightly wounded in the face it was just the same as normal.

  Xiao Baoshan first saw Li Hongmei and Xiao Baozhu in the hall and heard the whole story from them. After he asked them about their wounds and showed great concern for them he then went to the kitchen to find Ye Xiaoxian.

  Ye Xiaoxian was busy cooking food, so after seeing Xiao Baoshan she did not have time to greet him but simply nodded to him and then continued to mind her own business. She did not know why but after the matter of the gift last time Ye Xiaoxian had given up hope on Xiao Baoshan.

  She had realized long ago that it was necessary to have a man by her side in this era and, being a woman, her ultimate aim was to have a caring husband. Xiao Baoshan was a man of integrity so she used to have expectations of him. However, now she failed to see that Xiao Baoshan valued her at all so she had gradually given up on him.

  Particularly when Young Master Zhang came to cause trouble for them, she was deeply hoping that he would be here so he could step forward for her, however it turned out that the one who finally saved her from all this trouble was Scholar Wong, bare-handed without knowing any kung fu.

  Therefore, when Ye Xiaoxian now saw Xiao Baoshan she could not help but feel rather sulky. What are you coming back for? You don’t care for me at all and only care about your ma and your sister, so why don’t you just come to them and stay hell away from me!

  Ye Xiaoxian held the spatula, stirred the dish in the wok, added water in, put the lid on and then blended the seasoning as well as put the food on the plate, during which she did not look at Xiao Baoshan at all.

  Xiao Baoshan felt that he was being cold-shouldered, but standing behind Ye Xiaoxian he couldn’t even say a single sentence to show his concern.

  At night-time, after the restaurant had been closed up, the whole family gathered around the table and had dinner. Because of what happened Ye Xiaoxian felt that everyone had been scared so she had specially saved more delicious dishes for everyone, so, naturally, Xiao Baoshan also joined them to eat.

  Everyone was tired and even the delicious food could not perk them up, and they all just wanted go back to their rooms to rest. There was only Li Hongmei talking with Xiao Baoshan from time to time.

  Ye Xiaoxian did not speak a single word and finished her dinner in no time. She then asked everyone to take their time and said that she was going back to rest.

  After dinner, Little Five, Little Six and Xian went to wash the dishes and Xiao Baozhu went to her room to read novels. There was only Li Hongmei and Xiao Baoshan chatting together in the lounge.

  Li Hongmei noticed Ye Xiaoxian’s indifferent towards Xiao Baoshan so she said to her son, “Baoshan, you must go home more regularly in the future and might as well call on Little Ye more often. She used to like you so much but now she did not even bother to talk to you.”


  Xiao Baoshan could only answer, “I kind of feel it.”


  “Sigh, it is also probably because of what happened today. You didn’t see that Young Master Zhang……he was so cocky and Little Ye was almost bullied by him. If it weren’t for Mr. Wong, who knows how terrible it would have been.”


  It was the second time that Li Hongmei mentioned Mr. Wong in front of him. When Xiao Baoshan heard this name he somehow felt a bit uneasy.

  “Ma, I’d like to pay a visit to Mr. Wong’s and thank him in person next time around when I’m free,” said Xiao Baoshan.

  “No need, he is from a high-class family and his pa is a country gentleman, so we’re far too shabby. They may not even let us in. By the way, also thanks to him, Baofeng has been transferred to Bamboo and Orchid School.” Li Hongmei said.

  Xiao Baoshan felt more uneasy now. It seemed that during the time he was absent this Mr. Wong had helped their family out many times and did quite a few favours for little Ye. Could it be that Little Ye had……

  Li Hongmei saw that Xiao Baoshan was silent and she could not help but blame him. “Oh, look at you. You were only worried about your pride and too proud to sleep with Little Ye from the very beginning. You blamed yourself for having done something wrong but what’s so bad about it? Little Ye had never really married your brother and you hadn’t married anyone either but you just use other’s morality to restrain yourself. Then you start being occasionally intimate with Little Ye and the other times you treat her as a stranger, so now she is indifferent to you which is what you’ve asked for. If you like her, just be frank and don’t put on a mask and have others guess what’s on your mind.”


  Xiao Baoshan lowered his head. He also had deep regrets but he had never imagined that he would be lured by Little Ye little by little. The whole time he had been carrying the bangle which he bought for her and he thought about her every time he looked at it. Maybe he really had already fallen for her.