Bao Min walked over and took Bao Shuyi from Ye Yunniang's arms, coaxing her with a heart full of tenderness.
"Shushu, don't cry. Whatever you want, Daddy will get it for you."
Bao Shuyi looked at Cai Damei with tear-filled eyes, reaching for the walnut in her hand.
A hard, brittle walnut was not something she could eat.
"Shushu, you're still too little to eat walnuts. How about some rice cake instead?" Bao Min tried to distract Bao Shuyi with the cake.
If she would listen to reason, she wouldn't be a child, much less Bao Shuyi.
Waaah waaah...
Bao Shuyi cried even louder.
Bao Min's heart ached terribly. He shot a meaningful glance at Cai Damei.
Hurry up and comfort our daughter.
"You spoil and indulge her every day, letting her cry whenever she doesn't get her way. Let her cry." Cai Damei was determined today to cure Bao Shuyi of her little stubborn streak.
"If you, as her mother, can be so heartless and not dote on your daughter, and I, as her father, don't spoil her a little too, then Shushu will become a poor little thing unloved by both parents." Bao Min couldn't bear to see Cai Damei be so strict with their daughter.
"You're blaming me." Cai Damei put down the walnut in her hand.
"How would I dare to blame you? To put it nicely, I'm your lover. To put it not so nicely—" Bao Min didn't continue.
"What's the 'not so nicely' part?"
"Anyway, I'm just someone you beckon and dismiss at will—" Before Bao Min could finish his sentence, Bao Shuyi, uncomfortable in his arms, had had enough. She squirmed and struggled.
Bao Min stopped talking and began swaying from side to side, soothing Bao Shuyi. "Shushu, don't cry, don't cry. Daddy was wrong, Daddy didn't hold you properly. It's Daddy's fault. Shushu be good, don't cry, don't cry, oh~"
"I said, leave her be. Let her cry." Cai Damei was dissatisfied with Bao Min's unconditional doting on Bao Shuyi.
"Wife, Shushu is our daughter."
"Since Shushu can't eat walnuts, she can have walnut powder paste. I'll go make some walnut powder." Ye Yunniang stood up and left quickly, closing the courtyard gate heavily behind her, shutting out the argument.
"I know you look down on me. But Shushu is the daughter you carried for ten months and gave birth to. Don't be so harsh with her."
"You think just because I don't like you, I don't like our daughter either."
Hearing Cai Damei say outright that she didn't like him, Bao Min felt as if a knife were twisting in his heart.
"Wife, please don't take it out on our daughter just because of me, alright?"
Cai Damei looked at Bao Min and uttered two words, "You fool."
"Wife, why are you insulting me?" Bao Min felt even worse—not only did she not love him, but she was also cursing him.
"Bao Min, I'll only say this once." Cai Damei's expression turned serious. "I, Cai Damei, would not sleep with someone I disliked for four years and have a child with them."
Would not sleep with someone she disliked?
That meant,
It meant she liked him!
So, his wife liked him!!
Bao Min's heart instantly blossomed with joy.
"Wife, do you mean what I think you mean? You have feelings for me, don't you?"
"Figure it out yourself." Cai Damei reached out and took Bao Shuyi. "Shushu, let's go find Sister-in-law and have some walnut paste, okay?"
Cai Damei carried Bao Shuyi home.
Bao Min was still overjoyed. Cai Damei had personally admitted that she cared for him, Bao Min.
"Little Aunt has left. No need to grin so smugly."
Bao Min instantly wiped the smile off his face. "Jealous?"
"Little Aunt really ought to see your smug, petty face right now." Tong Mo was indeed green with envy and resentment.
How could this old man, his uncle, win the affection of the one he loved?
He, a graceful young gentleman of unparalleled charm, always got the cold shoulder.
That heartless woman, Ye Yunniang.
Bao Min shot a look of disdain at Tong Mo, who was radiating resentment.
"Get out. Don't tell anyone you're my nephew. I can't bear the shame."
"How am I bringing you shame?" Tong Mo protested.
"How are you not?" The thought of the things Tong Mo had done made Bao Min's anger flare up.
He had given Tong Mo money to win over Li Ping. Instead, Tong Mo had tried to bribe Li Ping directly with silver.
"Kid, call me 'Daddy' once, and I'll give you 100 taels of silver."
"Really? One 'Daddy' for 100 taels?"
"Really." Tong Mo shook the money bag in his hand. The crisp clinking of silver proved he wasn't lying.
"Okay, I'll do it." Li Ping agreed readily. "Daddy, daddy, daddy..."
Li Ping called out 100 times in one breath. "Daddy, hand over the ten thousand taels."
Tong Mo couldn't admit to a child that he had no money. With his real parents and step-parents far away, he set his sights on Bao Min.
He sneaked into Bao Min's private stash and took 11,000 taels of silver.
Bao Min's entire private stash had only been 11,000 taels.
Furious, Bao Min wrote a letter overnight to Bao Shao in the distant capital, demanding money and cursing him out thoroughly.
"Just tell me. Did Pingping acknowledge me as his father or not?" Tong Mo felt a pang of guilt but immediately raised his head defiantly.
"I even wrote to Jiang Mingzhe. I told him his son recognized me as his father, that I beat him."
"You mean this letter?" Bao Min pulled a letter from his robe.
"How dare you intercept my letter?"
"If I hadn't, you'd have lost your head." Bao Min slapped the letter onto the table. "Tong Mo, how many times have I told you? You cannot get involved in the things Jiang Mingzhe does."
“I’m no worse than him. I could do it too.” Tong Mo was unconvinced, believing himself more capable than Jiang Mingzhe, if only given the chance.
"You couldn't do a damn thing." Bao Min was so angry he cursed outright. "Tong Mo, don't think just because your martial arts are high you can do whatever you want. Right now, you can't even outsmart a four-year-old child. How can you compare to Jiang Mingzhe?"
"I wasn't outsmarted. I was willing." Tong Mo refused to admit Li Ping had tricked him.
"Still saying you weren't tricked. Let me ask you, who paid for those two baskets of red dates, Li Ping or you?"
Tong Mo hesitated. "We both paid."
"Li Ping paid 5 coppers, you paid 15 taels."
"He's just a child; he couldn't carry too many anyway."
Tong Mo's explanation only made things worse. Bao Min wished he could crack open Tong Mo's head to see why the boy was so easily fooled.
"This is all because of what you taught me."
Bao Min took a deep breath and spat out one word at Tong Mo, "Out."
She placed the walnut kernels into a pot and stir-fried them over a low flame until toasted. Then, she ground them into powder using a small stone mill and sifted it finely.
She scooped a spoonful into a bowl and poured hot water over it.
The aroma of walnuts wafted out.
Even Ye Yunniang felt like having some after smelling it. She prepared a few more bowls and brought them to the backyard.
"Mother, try the walnut powder I made." Ye Yunniang took Bao Shuyi from Cai Damei. Using a spoon, she fed her sip by sip.
Cai Damei picked up a bowl and tasted it.
"It's delicious. Make more. From now on, let Pan'er and An'an make their own walnut paste in the mornings. You can sleep in a bit longer." Cai Damei felt for Ye Yunniang, who was busy from morning till night.
"Alright." Ye Yunniang agreed.
"Ah."
"Sorry, Shushu, Auntie was talking and forgot to feed you. Here, open wide, ah—" Ye Yunniang scooped up another spoonful for her.
Bao Shuyi opened wide and finished a whole bowl.
"Mother, tomorrow I plan to go with Qiongniang, her mother-in-law, and Hongyan to the outskirts of the city to dig for wild vegetables."
