Chapter 156: Do You Like His Simplicity?
He placed his palm over her forehead. “Are you having a fever?”
She answered with her head hanging low, “No… Nope…”
Feeling her cool forehead with the back of his palm, he affirmed with furrowed brows, “Yeah, there’s no fever.”
“I… I’m feeling hot…”
Hearing that, he turned to the chauffeur in the front seat and instructed, “Turn up the aircon.”
Soon, she could feel the cool breeze blowing on her, and the redness on her cheeks gradually subsided.
When he dipped his head to observe her face, he also noticed the pair of long, slender legs that laid exposed underneath her dress. Frowning with displeasure, he told her, “You are not allowed to wear dresses that are this short in the future!”
“…”
Did he mean that I have to cover myself with a long dress under the hot weather like today?
Whenever she complained of the heat, it went to show the extent of her discomfort with heat.
Just as she was about to say something, he commanded the driver, “Stop at the fashion store just in front of us.
“You have to dress prim and proper when you meet your elders.”
With that, he made her alight from the vehicle and had her change into a long black dress. Other than her head and hands, the rest of her was well covered up.
“…”
She would be perfect with a face shield.
And, indeed, she had only the eyes exposed at the end of the day.
And this was how she was wrapped up under a hot, sunny day…
Nevertheless, as a docile and dutiful wife, she had to obey without protest, naturally.
In any case, the aircon was blasting away on their journey to the Gu residence, so it was cool still.
While on the road, as she realized that they would be paying a visit to Gu Chenyi’s mother, she could not helping asking out of curiosity, “Hubby, with the Baos’ grand reputation, why was there a need for your cousin to marry into the lady’s clan?”
“This was for the sake of his wife, as well as to extinguish any gossip once and for all…”
Bao Junyan’s cousin was raised by the man’s father. Before he was born, everyone had reckoned that his cousin would be the next heir-in-line. After the man was born, his cousin’s followers still expressed their loyalty to him. They would not follow anyone else except him.
However, his cousin was full of gratitude toward his father. There was no way he would fight for the inheritance with Bao Junyan, whom he regarded as his true brother and family. At about this time, he fell in love with the only daughter of the Gu family.
In the end, he decided to marry into the Gu family. The plan was for Bao Junyan to become old enough to help his father with his business before he resigned from his post in the Bao’s family business. He did not want his followers to have unkind ideas.
The Bao family was one of those rare ones that was not abound with conspiracies and intrigues.
Hence, even though Bao Junyan and Gu Chenyi’s father were only cousins in name, they were as close as biological brothers. The man also doted on Gu Chenyi, his nephew.
“No wonder Gu Chenyi is such a simpleton. He is surrounded by love despite being born into a rich family…” Mu Huan could not help expressing her thoughts.
She had reckoned that the man must have had to go through much bloodshed to get to where he was right now. But it turned out that his was a peaceful and loving experience! After all, she had witnessed how members of the Mu family fought against each other even though their fortune could not be compared to the Baos at all…
“Are you praising him?” the man asked with narrowed eyes.
He thought that she meant the boy was a simple and childlike person[1]
After pondering for a second, she replied, “Well, if this is considered a positive trait, then I guess I’m praising him.”
Is calling someone a simpleton an act of praise?
The man kept quiet.
After a momentary lapse.
“Do you like his simplicity?”
“How could I possibly admire that?!” Although his gullible nature was justifiable, this did not mean that she liked the trait!
Obviously, these two were conversing on different wavelengths. Nevertheless, her answer satisfied the man.
“You are his senior now, so if he’s ever to agitate you in the future, you can go ahead and reprimand him.”
Intuitively, she asked, “Can I punch him?”
There were times when the boy warranted a thrashing!
[1] The Chinese word used here, “dan chun,” has a positive connotation, whereas the description used by Mu Huan earlier, “dan chun,” has a negative connotation of a foolish or gullible person. The word “chun” used by the two of them has the same pronunciation but differs in intonation.