Chapter 40

In the end, Baobei didn’t manage to fulfill her desire to eat from the first of the snacks stall to the last. No matter how cute or pitiful she acted, Lecturer Jiang didn’t relent.

Since he loved you and pampered you, you can be absolutely unrestrained. But the man had some bottom lines, such as her health. This so-called “food street” was actually a gathering of mobile stalls to such a scale that it could be described as a small “food street”. Looking at the flow of vehicles, the dust that flew around, the strange colours of the burning oils, or even the dirt accumulating on the stalls, Jiang Moxiu decisively grabbed Baobei’s collar and led her away.

However, as their car drove through the “food street”, Baobei still stared at the various foods with a reluctant expression. Actually, she didn’t really eat much of those in the past too. With Xia Tian around, Baobei wouldn’t be able to touch such foods anyway. However, sometimes she would successfully be able to stow some back, and even though she didn’t think they tasted especially great, she still liked them.

“Wait for me in the car.” The young lady looked so adorable that Jiang Moxiu couldn’t bear it in the end. He stopped the car by the sidewalk, took his wallet, then walked down the path.

When he asked her not to leave the car, she really didn’t. She was pampered, and was afraid of taking in the dust if she opened the windows. Hence, all she did was to stare from the rearview mirror. Lecturer Jiang returned only after more than ten minutes. It was so difficult to buy something edible. The oil that was used for frying was probably recycled oil, so he was fearful of all sorts of things. In the end, he brought a cup of milk tea back, his expression stern. Baobei guessed that he was probably wondering things like if the milk tea was made from some powdered tea, or whether the water was clean.

Jiang Moxiu started the car once again.

Baobei was rather happy. She gulped her milk tea down blissfully. Even though she felt that the taste of the tea was too mild, but because he was the one who bought it, she still felt it tasted wonderful.

“Oh man, by your standards, there won’t be anything to eat in China. You’re a big man, can’t you be more bold? It’s just eating some recycled oil or drinking some poisoned milk powder. The countrymen are already immune to all of these.” She was getting ahead of herself after getting what she wanted, after eating what he gave, she was still being mean, and admonishing him after all these.

Jiang Moxiu smiled, but he didn’t reply.

“Do you want some?” She pushed the milk tea to the corner of Jiang Moxiu’s lips. She was asking him, but from her expression, you could tell that she wouldn’t give up until she got what she wanted.

Jiang Moxiu gave a perfunctory sip. It really didn’t suit his taste buds, so he frowned. “I’ll bring you to Taiwan another day. We can go to the night market and eat all the way from the first stall to the last.”

“Yes yes yes!” She nodded excitedly. “You’d better keep your promise!”

He smiled, looking at her dotingly.

There was still some time before dinner, so Jiang Moxiu drove to a shopping mall. Baobei was still wondering if this man was going to shop, and why he was bringing her to Haagen Dazs, teasing her as they walked, “Come on, Big brother will bring you to Haagen Dazs to search for your happiness.”

Which young lady didn’t like ice cream? Naturally, Baobei was also a loyal fan of ice cream.

“Brother, you are the best!” Hugging her “brother’s” neck, she hopped excitedly, while her “brother” enjoyed this young lady’s proactive embrace, but still made sure to protect her in case an accident occurred in her excitement.

There were a lot of people in the mall in the evening. This pair of “siblings” were both good looking, so they were turning heads. There were even others who were envious of them. Look at this pair of siblings, their relationship is so good.

The young lady had a bad habit when she ate - she loved to lick everything. She would lick her spoon, or lick her lips. It was an innocent and pure move, but her age wasn’t right. If it was a loli who was three or four years younger, she would appear moe, but to Jiang Moxiu, twenty year-old Baobei's licking movements weren’t that pure at all.

Young Master Jiang seemed to be gifted with the skill of foresight, as he stuck beside Baobei the entire time. When she licked the spoon, he would kiss her. If she licked her lips, he would lick her.

It was just eating an ice cream, but Baobei was teased to no end.

At the beginning when Baobei was teased, she was so shy that she would push him away and reject him, but her resistance was futile. In the end, the young lady also learned to play the game. If someone was to kiss and lick her lips, there should have been a reaction. However, this young lady sat there expressionlessly and continued relishing her food. When he leaned down to kiss and lick her lips, she allowed him to do whatever he wanted, and even smiled at him cheerfully.

Coincidentally, one of the audiences of the loving “sibling” performance was also at Haagen Dazs. When he saw this scene, he clutched his heart, and his jaw was so wide he almost dislocated it. He then started gossiping, what a monster! He was violating his weak-minded sister!

After finishing their ice cream, Jiang Moxiu held Baobei’s hands and pulled her into a well-known fine jewellery shop. Baobei looked down at the ring on her hand, and immediately understood his intentions for bringing her here. Of course, Jiang Moxiu might look mild on the surface, but once he’s made up his mind, there was no changing it.

The salesperson dutifully introduced them to many couple ring designs; most of them were classics, there were both simple and elaborate ones, but the common point across all of them was that almost all the female rings had diamonds of different sizes on them, and the prices were considerably expensive.

Jiang Moxiu looked and nodded, but seemed as though he was disdainful about the pathetic number of carats on the women’s rings.

“A plain ring will do.” Baobei tugged at Lecturer Jiang’s hand.

Immediately, the salesperson who had been speaking non-stop became silent. She thought to herself, this girl must be stupid. Which girl who walked in here wouldn’t be happier when the diamonds were larger? And yet, she didn’t even want any diamonds!

“If you don’t like these, we can go and check out other shops.” Jiang Moxiu thought that she didn’t like these designs. If he took a closer look, they did seem a bit more mature. Especially with diamonds - putting them on a young lady like Baobei seemed somewhat solemn. Diamonds were always used to represent love because it was the most solid natural mineral, and everyone hoped that their own love would be ever-lasting, pure and sparkling like a diamond. However, love didn’t need to rely on a tiny stone to show its greatness or worth. The fact that many women would use the number of carats to measure the value of love and show the status of their relationship was actually in direct violation of the meaning behind diamonds and love.

“It’s not that I don’t like them.” They were still in the shop, so Baobei pouted, “Didn’t your mother say that the wedding ring was already being made, and the engagement ring would be your family heirloom, so there’s really no need to buy a ring. I’m worried that I can’t safekeep so many.”

What did she mean by she wouldn’t be able to safekeep so many? That was simply infuriating. Was she trying to show off?

In reality, Baobei had been scared off by empress dowager Kong. Yesterday, when the two mothers discussed details of their engagement and wedding ceremonies, empress dowager Kong said that she had already auctioned a 7.03 carat Oilie diamond from Switzerland and had sent it to the jeweller to be created into a wedding band for her future daughter-in-law. At the same time, the engagement ring was a ring with a precious stone, handed down over hundreds of years within the Kong family to the eldest daughter-in-law.

Back then, Jiang Mojie had teased that Baobei was going to be a wealthy woman overnight, and now, this Oilie diamond alone cost 10.5 million Swiss francs.

Baobei was astounded, and said that there was too much pressure.

“The wedding and engagement rings are one thing, this is another.” A love token had was especially meaningful. Obviously, Jiang Moxiu wasn’t convinced by Baobei’s reasoning, so he grinned and asked her, “Wifey, are you trying to save money for your husband?”

“No matter what, we need to have a love token. We must!” Jiang Moxiu was adamant.

“Why don’t you buy a bracelet?” Anyway, Baobei didn’t want anything else on her finger anymore, because she was seriously concerned about safekeeping them.

In the end, the couple each wore a bracelet when they left the jewellery shop. It was a classic couple’s bracelets that signified “love and loyalty”. Jiang Moxiu held Baobei’s hand and looked down at his wrists occasionally. That lifted his spirits up so much!

“Baobei Baobei, big brother is your man from now on. You have to treat me well!”

“......”

Dinner was at Baobei’s house. Mr. Xia and Mrs. Xia were still quite satisfied by Young Master Jiang’s actions. Initially, they weren’t prepared to marry their daughter off. And if you were going to bring their daughter out to play for an entire day, the parents would surely be unwilling. She’d been out for more than half a year for her education, and they hadn’t seen her much, so they’d surely wish for her to stay at home more now that she’s finally back, and spend some time chatting with her parents.

It was good as it was now, the entire family having dinner together. It was also Jiang Moxiu’s first dinner at the Xia residence as their future son-in-law. Even though he was still quite reserved, at least it was a start.

After dinner, Baobei pulled Jiang Moxiu into her room, saying that she had many photos to show him, as though she was presenting him with a treasure. Hence, Jiang Moxiu had to bear with Mr. Xia’s hidden bitterness and warning gaze as he smugly went into Baobei’s room.

But this was Jiang Moxiu, a black-bellied man with many intentions. He had a lifetime ahead of him with Baobei, so why would he be concerned about this short period of time? It was more important for him to do well in front of the elders and leave a good impression. Hence, after Jiang Moxiu walked into the room, he left the room door wide open, so that Mr. Xia, who would occasionally pop his head into the room to monitor them.

If it was possible, Mr. Xia would definitely have wished that he could pull a chair and watch them at the door.

Baobei’s chirpy voice could be heard all the time. The kid was rather happy, flipping her old albums as she shared every single impression she had of each picture. Jiang Moxiu would reply to every one of her comments, and teased Baobei sometimes, but he didn’t blatantly take advantage of her. His teasing would make Baobei happy, so when the parents heard that, they were naturally happier. There was nothing more important than their Baobei’s happiness, and it was rare for someone who would spend the effort listening to their daughter’s banter and make their daughter happy.

After spending more than two hours in the room, Jiang Moxiu squeezed Baobei’s small hand more. Tsk, he still had to satisfy his urges.

As such, the Labour Day holiday passed with all sorts of sweetness, as well as all sorts of conflict. The Jiang parents had already returned to the capital with Jiang Mojie the third day after their meeting. These few days, Baobei had led a blissful life, having been pampered by her parents. Every day, Jiang Moxiu had either brought her out or came to the Xia residence to accompany her. He was well-behaved, his intention to butter up Mr. and Mrs. Xia was clear.

Perhaps Mr. Xia wasn’t worth mentioning yet. He was biased against everyone who had intentions for his daughter. No matter how well Big Jiang performed, he still wouldn’t see him in a good light. However, Jiang Moxiu’s performance over the last few days had gotten him the acceptance from Grandmother Xia, and had pulled Mrs. Xia over to his camp. Mrs. Xia had made it clear - Baobei was too young, so she wasn’t of marriageable age yet, but if she was to marry, the groom would certainly be Jiang Moxiu, and no one else.

After leaving the elders, Jiang Moxiu started acting boldly. On the plane back to the capital, in front of Xia Tian, Jiang Moxiu placed Baobei over his knees and teased her the entire way. After they alighted the plane, he even brought her home to continue teasing her, in order to appease the grievances and patience he had to endure over the past few days.

He’s a beast! A beast! The next day, Baobei dragged her trembling legs to school, feeling as though she wanted to cry. Before she left the house, the beast had even opened up his wallet and given her a card, shooting his mouth off like a wealthy man who had just finished his business with a hooker, “Here, this is my supplementary card. You can use it however you want.”

Immediately, Baobei was infuriated. “What supplementary card! I’m using the main and you are using the sub!”

In future, when Baobei recalled Lecturer Jiang’s reaction, she would still find herself tickled. However, he really handed over his main card. Later on, when Baobei received the bills for the card one day and saw the astronomical figure on the bill, she suddenly felt as though she had become rich overnight.

Baobei was late for the first lesson after the holidays. Shi Xiaoxi, the lightning god, said this, eight days after reuniting with Baobei, “Oh, you must have been well fed.”

Baobei was both infuriated and embarrassed.