Sensitive

After the few of them had had enough fun, it was time for lunch. Jiang Danhe had already made arrangements with the delivery man to bring over a few more portions for lunch. Therefore, they sat down on the ground and enjoyed a picnic among the sea of flowers at noon.

“I recall you saying that there was no transportation. How do you explain the carriage?”

Xiaoguo pointed at the departing carriage and asked Jiang Danhe with a smile.

Jiang Danhe explained without batting an eyelid, “There are indeed no carriages or sedan chairs available for leisure purposes. However, there are a few that are being used on the island for conveying messages and delivering food. Otherwise, if there were any emergencies, it would take a long time to travel on foot.”

“Oh, it’s the state’s property. Outsiders are prohibited from using it,” Xiaoguo summarized his words succinctly

“That’s right. My wife is awesome!”

Jiang Danhe was generous with his praise, seemingly inspired by Xiaoguo’s approach towards Zhuang Zhuang’s education. At some point in time, he started practicing his encouraging mode of love on Xiaoguo. He was constantly praising her for no reason. For example, “You are so beautiful today, you are so cute today, I love you so much, you’re so awesome…”

Xiaoguo could only respond to him with a blush. To be honest, all his cheesy and childish praises worked really well on her.

Zhuang Zhuang and Wen Xiaoyi looked at each other, their eyes filled with doubt. When had the couple become so lovey-dovey? It was just a few days ago since they last saw them.

“Hey, hey, hey…” Li Shouji put down his bowl and chopsticks and shook his arms exaggeratedly. “I am having goosebumps. Do you have to be so disgusting? If you don’t eat now, the food will turn cold. If you don’t want to eat, give the food to me!”

As he spoke, he picked up the drumstick from Jiang Danhe’s bowl and started eating. Jiang Danhe did not say anything about this. “Go ahead then. Who cares?”

Seeing this, Xiaoguo got a bit upset. She glanced at Li Shouji and then at Jiang Danh before saying softly, “I’ll give you mine.”

Jiang Danhe’s eyes softened and he smiled gently. “You can have it.”

“I don’t want it. You can have it.”

Xiaoguo picked up the drumstick and gave it to him.

“You take it.”

“You eat…”

“No, you eat…”

After going back and forth a few times, the two children didn’t know where to look anymore.

“That’s enough! Stop it. I’ll spit out the drumstick now and return it to you. Ugh…”

As he spoke, he pretended to stick his finger down his throat and successfully got a slap from Jiang Danhe. Then, he started to act like he was in pain and covered his arm while writhing around. He kicked up a fuss and asked Jiang Danhe to take responsibility for his actions. He even said that he would not stop until he had two drumsticks.

Li Shouji’s antics successfully made the few of them laugh out loud.

—-

At night, Xiaoguo sat on the bed while Jiang Danhe gently washed her feet. Her legs were swollen from walking all day. He felt so sorry to see her in this state.

“I’m fine.” Xiaoguo was overjoyed to see his concern for her, but she couldn’t bear to see him worry too much.

“I’ll massage you for a while more to relieve your fatigue.” Jiang Danhe’s large hands were very strong. He massaged every acupuncture point and it made her feel very comfortable.

“What exactly happened to you today?”

Seeing that the other party had relaxed, Jiang Danhe tried to ask about what had frightened her so much while on the way to the flower fields. He was hoping to get an answer from her.

Unexpectedly, when Xiaoguo heard this, her body tensed up. Jiang Danhe could clearly feel her discomfort for a moment. This made him even more curious. “What had she seen to cause such a reaction? Xiaoguo was not a timid person. What could it be that could scare her like this?”

Xiaoguo was silent for a long time. Then she looked at him nervously. “I don’t know if I should talk about this. It might not be true. Maybe it was just me thinking too much. But…”

“Tell me what it is first.”

Jiang Danhe massaged the acupoints on her feet that helped with relaxation as he listened to her.

Xiaoguo took a deep breath. “It’s like this. Zhuang Zhuang and Xiaoyi told me a story today…”

Xiaoguo told him everything she had heard and seen. Jiang Danhe’s eyes darkened as he listened. He only regained his composure when she was done.

He wiped her feet clean with a smile and placed them on the bed. Then, he said, “You didn’t see wrongly. There was indeed someone there. It was a girl in a white dress. She was a physician that the Prime Minister’s wife had brought from the fishing village. The physician that she was supposed to bring fell sick, so she could only find a replacement from the fishing village. That day, the physician happened to be strolling around, that was why you saw her there.”

“I see. I’m relieved to hear this.”

Xiaoguo patted her chest. She actually didn’t believe in ghosts and gods, but it was hard not to believe in the things that happened around her. Zombies, transmigration, and various other signs made her think about beings in the parallel dimension. Now that she had heard his explanation, she finally felt more at ease. It was good to know that the person she saw was a human.

“So you’re afraid of… ghosts…”

Jiang Danhe was trying to be cheeky and deliberately moved closer to scare Xiaoguo.

But who was Xiaoguo? She was someone who had hit a zombie before. Why would she be afraid of something that she couldn’t see or touch? And Jiang Danhe actually dared to scare her. She definitely has to teach him a lesson!

She suddenly pounced on Jiang Danhe and tickled him hard. The last time, she had discovered his ticklish spot, which was under his ribs. When she touched him there, he would blush and react strongly by struggling. This time, she gathered all her willpower and attacked his ribs.

Jiang Danhe was caught off guard and was pushed to the ground by Xiaoguo. The moment she touched his ribs, he knew what she was going to do.

As he couldn’t react in time, he had no choice but to use a little force to subdue her. Previously, he was afraid of hurting her, so he tried to endure her attacks. However, when he sensed that something big was about to happen, he stopped her. If she continued tickling him, he didn’t know what he would do.

In just that short span of time, he was already blushing and panting as he looked at her smug expression. In the end, he couldn’t take it anymore and pinched her cheeks before walking out hurriedly with the basin.

After Jiang Danhe left the room, he put down the basin and sat down aggrievedly. He didn’t have any ticklish spots at all. The reason why he was struggling and blushing was because his… sensitive spot was under his ribs.

This silly girl was still trying to challenge his willpower. If he had left the room slightly later, his plan to have a daughter would have been moved to the top spot on the agenda.

—-

The plans for sightseeing were affected by some last minute changes. Jiang Danhe was kept busy in the next few days. It was said that the emperor was holding a banquet. All the ministers and their families were invited to enjoy wine, food, and dance performances at the event.

Xiaoguo had no choice but to bring Zhuang Zhuang and Xiaoyi to sightsee around the island. She had thought that there would be guards following her, but she didn’t expect the emperor to put so much trust in her. He didn’t prepare anything after handing over the crown prince to her.

Although there were no accompanying guards, Xiaoguo wondered if there could be any secret guards like the last time?

Hence, after taking two steps, she turned around to look at the trees and bushes. As expected, there was no one.

“Mother, what are you doing?”

Zhuang Zhuang and Wen Xiaoyi had long noticed that something was wrong with her. Why was she stopping every now and then to check out the surroundings?

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Let’s go.”

Xiaoguo dismissed her thoughts and focused on playing with the two children. It didn’t really matter whether there were secret guards following them or not. In any case, she just had to do her best to protect them.

The three of them walked and stopped along the way. They stayed close to the vicinity of the residence and did not dare to venture too far. The main reason was that they would not be able to take their meals if they wandered too far. Jiang Danhe did not know where the three of them were going so there was definitely no way he could arrange for someone to deliver food. Xiaoguo could only keep watch of the time and go back when it was time for lunch.

Xiaoguo didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she had a feeling that someone was watching and following her.

At first, she thought that it was a secret guard, but she quickly dismissed the thought. Secret guards shouldn’t be so bad at hiding. She could inadvertently see the hem of the person’s clothes when she turned around. There was also one time when she saw a lady’s skirt from the corner of her eye. It was quite obvious that the person was not a secret guard.

Who would spent so much effort to follow her?