278 Wronged and Resentful
Lu Jiao took out around 15,000 taels of silver worth of bank notes from her sleeve and handed it to Zhao Lingfeng, “You can get your people to buy it for me then.”
Zhao Lingfeng didn’t take the money, “You are not going to check it out?”
Lu Jiao smiled, “I trust you.”
They were in the same boat with the same goals. There was no way Zhao Lingfeng would scam her.
Men could betray anyone but they would never betray the thing that reaps them benefits.
Zhao Lingfeng smiled and took the bank note, “Since you trust me, I will make sure everything is handled to perfection.”
“Great.”
In the living room, Mo Bei narrowed his eyes at Lu Jiao. Though this woman was money hungry, he just couldn’t hate her after he got to know her.
She may be greedy, but she didn’t hide it. That alone changed his impression of how fake women were.
This woman was different from others.
Mo Bei thought.
Lu Jiao got up and was ready to leave, “I’ll be going back first then.”
She then reminded Qi Lei, “Uncle Wang’s body is weak. Remember to give him lots of supplements so he can recover fast.”
“Master, don’t worry. I will.”
Qi Lei then walked Lu Jiao out.
Behind them, Mo Bei watched Lu Jiao go. Zhao Lingfeng glanced at him and said, “You need to stop calling Lady Lu greedy. If she gets pissed, she may stop helping you out. Think about it, don’t you think the few times she helped you were worth more than 5,000?”
His master, for example, had his life saved by her. That was worth way more than 5,000.
This time, she saved Wang Kui. Wang Kui was someone their master was cooperating with. At first, general Wang was hesitant to take their master’s side. But now that they’ve saved his life and his arm, he will now be loyal to their master.
Someone as capable as the general must be worth more than 5,000.
Zhao Lingfeng stared at Mo Bei, “Lady Lu isn’t asking for too much. When she treated magistrate Hu’s daughter-in-law and grandson, she only asked for 500.”
Mo Bei was now silent.
By the time Lu Jiao returned with Feng Zhi, Xie Yunjin was already home and was reading.
Lu Jiao and Feng Zhi went to find him.
Xie Yunjin was ecstatic that Lu Jiao was looking for him. However, he remained calm and didn’t show any excitement.
“You need something from me?”
Lu Jiao nodded, “As you know, Dr. Qi has been calling me ‘master’. He wants to learn surgery skills from me.”
Xie Yunjin stared at her then said slowly, “Before, I thought he was the one who operated on me and I was very thankful to him. It turned out that that wasn’t what happened.”
Given his wronged and resentful expression, Lu Jiao felt a little guilty. She smiled dryly, “At that time, if I told you I knew how to operate, you wouldn’t have believed me. So I had to borrow Dr. Qi’s name.”
“Then how come you didn’t tell me after? I would’ve believed you.”
Lu Jiao grinned, “After, I thought it would no longer be necessary.”
Worried Xie Yunjin would obsess over this, her expression hardened, “I’m here to ask you something. Why do you keep bringing up the past?”
Looking at her almost vertical brows and her fierce expression, Xie Yunjin didn’t find it annoying at all. On the contrary, he thought she looked cute.
“What is it?”
“Though Qi Lei is already calling me master, we never had the ceremony. He thinks it’s too unofficial that way and wants to have an apprenticeship banquet.”
Xie Yunjin frowned a little, “A banquet? We should be staying low-key right now.”
Xie Yunjin thought the banquet would be big and didn’t support it.
Right now, the Qinghe District was chaotic and it wasn’t good to draw attention.
Lu Jiao nodded, “I mentioned that and told him to only invite enough people to fill one table. We’ll get a few witnesses and go through the normal ceremonial processes. After that, the apprenticeship will be official. Or else he feels uncomfortable.”
Xie Yunjin agreed right away then. During this era, the relationship between an apprentice and a master was a very serious matter. Once the apprenticeship banquet is done, Qi Lei will officially be an apprentice below Lu Jiao.
“That sounds okay with me.”
Xie Yunjin then stared at Lu Jiao, “Did you get witnesses?”
Lu Jiao smiled and shook her head, “I don’t know anyone so I don’t plan on inviting anyone. I’ve asked Qi Lei to handle it.”
Xie Yunjin smiled, “I will deal with it. Don’t worry too much.”
“Okay.”
The two chatted a little more and then headed to the back courtyard.
In the back courtyard, the four little ones noticed how harmonious Lu Jiao and Xie Yunjin were. They chuckled like little birds and they were now certain of one thing…
Their mommy wasn’t going to leave anymore. They were going to have a mommy forever now. For dinner, the four little ones were exceptionally enthusiastic and kept on getting Lu Jiao and Xie Yunjin food.
The two adults were in awe, “You guys seem to be happy today. Tell us what good things happened today?”
The four little ones pursed their lips to seal their laughter. The First Born blinked at Lu Jiao and Xie Yunjin, “When we see mommy and daddy happy, we are happy.”
The Second Born nodded, “We don’t want mommy and daddy to be apart. When you’re apart, we get sad.”
The Third Born with his big eyes gawked at Lu Jiao and Xie Yunjin, “My mommy and daddy are both so good-looking. When you stand together, it looks like a painting. I hope you would never separate.”
The Fourth Born was sitting next to Lu Jiao so he straight up wrapped his arms around Lu Jiao’s neck and kissed her face.
“My mommy is a beautiful fairy. I’m sure daddy likes you. I also like you very much.”
Lu Jiao was speechless and pointed at her cheek, “Fourth Born, you can talk but can you not place grease onto my face with your lips?”
Her statement made the whole family laugh.
Xie Yunjin glanced at the happy and laughing family. He was now even more certain that he needed to give 120% sincerity to keep Lu Jiao.
Though he thought it, he didn’t speak or show it. He had to retreat and be distant if he wanted to move ahead. He needed Lu Jiao to be defenseless against his actions.
“You’re so little yet you constantly worry about adult matters. Hurry and eat. After eating, bathe. You ran around all day and must’ve sweated a lot. Don’t you find yourselves stinky?”
The four little ones heard Xie Yunjin and sped up their eating. They ran around all day and were truly stinky.
At the dinner table, Lu Jiao studied Xie Yunjin and discovered that he didn’t seem to have overthought anything.
Lu Jiao thought that it was because she had clearly rejected Xie Yunjin. After all, he was a man who had his pride and needed to keep his face. She was sure that he had accepted their separation now.
Lu Jiao settled down and stopped overthinking. After dinner, she bathed the four little ones with Xie Yunjin.
She didn’t notice at all how she was no longer uncomfortable with Xie Yunjin bathing the children with her. Before, she thought it was weird and now, she had accepted it without questions.
After the bath, Xie Yunjin volunteered to tell the four little ones a bedtime story. Lu Jiao was happy he was willing to take care of the children and she went to chat with Lu Gui in private.
“Tomorrow morning, ask uncle Lin to give you a ride to apricot flower village and pick up Lu An. I found him some work.”