Having a Baby Before Marrying a Wicked Husband - Chapter 81

Jiang Mantian felt bitter in his heart. Even now, his father was still like this. As long as Jiang Manyue’s brilliance shone a little, it completely overshadowed him, and his father couldn’t see his presence at all.

So, he felt jealous.

Jiang Mantian stood still for a while and bowed to Jiang Nan, but Jiang Nan was preoccupied and did not hear clearly. Jiang Mantian sadly left.

What good deeds done by the wife at home, the daughter-in-law who entered their Jiang family’s gate, were chosen by her initially as agreed upon. He had wanted to pick someone with a strong fate and good fortune. However, behind his back, she arranged for a male daughter-in-law, which Jiang Nan was not entirely pleased about.

After all, Jiang Manyue was still the eldest son of the family. Marrying a male daughter-in-law would damage the family’s reputation, and it would not look good for them if it spread. However, Madame Fu had said many good things to him. At that time, he thought this son was truly hopeless, impossible to have a future…

He had indeed made a mistake in judgment. Now, many people in the court were mocking him for lack of foresight. The son he looked down upon performed even better in the exam, and the one he put a lot of effort into nurturing turned out worse.

Jiang Mantian left gloomily and was called over by his mother.

“Mantian, why do you look so listless?”

Madame Fu was having her nails painted by a maid, and the new rouge color was bright and beautiful. Seeing her son coming, she asked the maid to take away the tools.

Jiang Mantian shifted his gaze away from his mother’s hands laid on the table, but the words stuck in his chest for a long time and he couldn’t say them out loud. He didn’t want to admit to his mother that he was jealous of Jiang Manyue, which made him feel ashamed.

Jiang Manyue is just a merchant’s son while his mother is the daughter of a current court grand tutor and also the sister of Concubine Huang Guifei. She is much more noble than Manyue’s mother. Ironically, he envied Jiang Manyue instead, which made him ashamed to face his mother.

Madame Fu didn’t know what was going on in her son’s mind and thought he was troubled by something else.

Madame Fu said: “I heard that the business in the store isn’t doing well?”

“Yes, yes.” Jiang Mantian quickly shifted the blame to business matters when his mother brought it up, admitting to it. He’d rather attribute it to business matters than let his mother know he was jealous of Jiang Manyue.

“You’re confused!” Madame Fu slammed the table in anger. “Business matters can be handled by others, it’s not the young master of the Jiang family’s turn to waste time managing them. You should know, you’re destined to become an important official sooner or later, how can you stoop to such lowly matters? It’s truly absurd, making a mountain out of a molehill, losing sight of the bigger picture.”

Jiang Mantian raised his head, suddenly enlightened.

“What Mother said is true. I was foolish before,” He knew that Jiang Manyue owned many stores, and when he was thinking about competing with Jiang Manyue, he forgot that he didn’t need to do such a thing.

“Only the lowest of the low would disregard their dignity to do business. Look at those high-ranking officials and nobles, none of them would personally engage in business dealings. In the future, don’t be foolish. Your task now is to rest well. Before long, you will be traveling afar to serve in an official capacity. Take this opportunity to gather strength and prepare,” Madame Fu was very pleased to see her son taking in her words.

“Let’s do this. For the next few days, you’ll go learn about the ways of officials with your grandfather, get to know other people, and expand your network. Stop doing the things that lowly people do,” she instructed.

“Yes, Mother,” Jiang Mantian agreed.

“Achoo!” Yan Cai rubbed his nose. Why did he suddenly sneeze? Was someone cursing him behind his back?

It wasn’t cold at all now, it was already early summer, and he had already taken off his winter clothes and put on lighter attire. Yan Cai held a bowl of strawberries in one hand and carried Qingke in the other. They sat on a rocking chair, leisurely eating strawberries.

This strawberry is a good thing Yan Cai found recently. They didn’t grow much on the Qingqu side, but there were plenty in the capital. After obtaining strawberry seeds, Yan Cai regularly harvested strawberries to eat.

Now that the strawberries outside were in season, Yan Cai not only enjoyed a bowl every day but also had extra to make dried strawberries.

Sweet and sour, without artificial colors or flavors, the strawberry flavor was very intense.

Qingke also likes to eat. He was quite strong now. He has small teeth like grains of glutinous rice, crunching on everything. He bit off a whole shrimp cake made by Hong Yu with a crack.

Picking up a large apple, he chomped on it. Seeing this, Hong Yu quietly closed the door. The young master was growing too fast, and his teeth were sharp, not like those of a child at all.

This was a euphemistic way of saying it. Hong Yu compared the bite marks on the apple with those left by the child. The child’s teeth were neatly arranged, resembling grains of rice, but their actual biting force was comparable to that of a wolf.

Jiang Manxing returned home from school and saw Yan Cai sitting on the rocking chair, with Qingke sitting on him, munching on biscuits.

Yan Cai waved to him and called him back to eat, “Manxing, you’re back, have some strawberries.”

“Thank you, Brother Yan.” Jiang Manxing picked up a strawberry casually, but his eyes were fixed on his nephew. When Qingke saw Manxing return, he quickly finished the remaining half of the apple in his hand and stretched out his arms for him to be picked up. Jiang Manxing put down his book bag, and his heart melted with joy.

He hurriedly picked up his little nephew. The little nephew is so cute. He took out a package from his pocket, a candied hawthorn.

“Eat candy!”

“Ah!” Before Qingke could take a bite, the candy was taken away by Yan Cai.

“Eating candy is bad for your teeth. Confiscated,” Yan Cai said.

“Ah! Candy!” Qingke ‘s voice sounded extremely melancholy. Jiang Manxing’s heart softened immediately, and he quickly pleaded with Yan Cai.

“Just give Ke Ke something to eat, just one piece…”

“Alright then.” Yan Cai compared a few hawthorns and finally chose the smallest one. After biting off half of it, he gave the remaining half to Qingke and confiscated the rest.

Yan Cai didn’t hesitate to eat up the hawthorn, which had been forcefully offered as a tribute by the little one to his old father.

Yan Cai had been quite relaxed lately. There were no disturbances in the shop, and things had calmed down. Apart from the daily need to produce some special foods like off-season fruits to add some uniqueness to his shop, he had nothing much to do.

With Lin Shu managing the affairs there, Yan Cai had initially been the one who contributed financially but not physically. Consequently, he could only leisurely drink tea and eat fruit at home.

As for Jiang Manyue in his family, it’s a pity. He’s a well-educated intellectual, yet he works in the fields every day. Yan Cai originally wanted to go to the fields with him to help, but Jiang Manyue insisted on keeping him at home.

“It’s too ostentatious,” Jiang Manyue said seriously. Yan Cai understood… if he couldn’t resist using his abilities to help, it would indeed be too conspicuous.

However, many people didn’t expect Jiang Manyue to endure the toil of working in the fields every day. He wasn’t just putting on a show; he was sincerely and genuinely working alongside the farmers to conduct experiments.

At first, the farmers were somewhat indifferent when they saw a young and handsome scholar visiting. They thought he was just another wealthy young man who didn’t know the first thing about hard work, at most just sitting under a pavilion with a fan while they labored away.

There were officials assigned to supervise, but they all pretended to be busy only when the Emperor came for inspection.

Who would have known that Jiang Manyue would personally took part in the work, and the resistance from the farmers disappeared. They now addressed him as “Big Lord.”

Their farming tools were old, and they had reported it numerous times, yet they were still using tools from over a decade ago. After earning the trust of the farmers, Jiang Manyue visited them, and they came forward to complain about their worn-out tools

Jiang Manyue inspected the tools and found many of them rusted, breaking easily with a bit of force. However, checking the previous records showed that the court had sent a batch of new farming tools three years ago.

” Big Lord Jiang, I swear I haven’t lied. No one has brought new tools here,” the village chief vouched.

“I understand,” Jiang Manyue frowned, instructing his subordinates to take away the dilapidated tools. “Please wait a moment; I will investigate and give you an explanation.”

Returning home, the day had already grown late. He sniffed himself and caught a whiff of an unpleasant odor but couldn’t fathom how he endured it. Without drinking a drop of water, he headed for a bath.

When he emerged, his face showed weariness.

“You must be very tired.” Yan Cai felt a little distressed but never mentioned sparing Jiang Manyue from working alongside the farmers. Placing their son on his crib, he patted his chest and said, “Come here; let me massage your shoulders.”

Jiang Manyue smiled a little, and the daytime fatigue was instantly swept away. He agreed, giving a kiss to his son, who gripped the crib railing. Then he lay down on the bed.

Yan Cai removed Manyue’s clothes, revealing a well-defined back.

He swallowed hard; wow, so fair.

After comparing Jiang Manyue’s skin all over, he found it was uniformly fair, shining brightly under the light.

Not getting tanned – truly envious. Yan Cai rubbed a bit and realized he applied too much force, making Jiang Manyue’s skin turn red.

Feeling guilty, he withdrew his hand and then lifted their son directly onto Jiang Manyue’s back.

Yan Cai, with no guilt, assigned tasks to his son.

“Son, step on your father’s back.”

Their son: A cute puzzled face.

The baby is so young, will he now have to go out to work so soon?