Jiang Jianguo was persuaded by Wu Huani, but at the moment he didn’t dare return to the Jiang household.
“You go back first. Let me think about it. Once I’ve made up my mind, I’ll come find you.”
Wu Huani nodded. “Then hurry up. When the time comes, I’ll ask my dad for some money to take with me, and you should get some money from home too, got it?”
“Mm.” Jiang Jianguo waved absentmindedly.
After sending Wu Huani away, he still decided to make a trip to the Jiang residence.
If Jiang Ting changed his mind and was willing to take him as a disciple, then none of this would need to be so troublesome.
At the Jiang household, the atmosphere was as good as ever.
Ding Shichen’s surgery had been very successful. After another three months of recovery, he would be able to stand up.
These past few days, Jiang Li hadn’t been running back and forth. She had stayed at the Jiang household the whole time.
After hearing that she and Ding Shichen were husband and wife, Liu Xu didn’t arrange a separate room for her.
The first night sharing a room, Ding Shichen felt a bit uncomfortable, but Jiang Li was completely natural about it.
She had already decided to stay with the Ding family and truly regarded Ding Shichen as her husband. What did sharing a bed matter?
Having lived through the more open era of her previous life, this kind of interaction was nothing at all.
“Go to sleep,” Jiang Li said after tidying up, climbing onto the bed and leaving the outer side for Ding Shichen.
Ding Shichen had only injured one leg. Supporting himself on one leg to get onto the bed posed no problem, so she wasn’t worried at all.
Seeing her lie down under the covers with complete trust and close her eyes, Ding Shichen’s heartbeat became a little uncontrollable again.
Especially with the young girl’s fair, delicate face turned toward him—it looked so serene and beautiful.
This was a scene Ding Shichen had never even dared to imagine.
From the day he barely survived the battlefield, he had already prepared himself to give up everything for the Ding family.
Jiang Li was like a beam of light, suddenly breaking into his life.
Rather than saying he had used three tile-roofed rooms to save her, it was more accurate to say his own selfishness had wanted to keep her tied down.
It was because he couldn’t let go of his younger brothers and worried that his mother would have no one to care for her that he selfishly wanted to trade those three shabby rooms for her entire life.
But this girl clearly held a large sum of money in her hands, was clearly smart and capable, and even had close ties with Professor Jiang and his wife. If she wanted to escape the Jiang family, marriage wasn’t her only option.
Then why, back then, had she chosen the Ding family? Chosen him?
Ding Shichen thought about it for a long time without finding an answer, so he simply stopped thinking. In any case, since the girl treated the Ding family well, they would return that kindness tenfold.
As for whether she had another purpose…
Ding Shichen reached out and tucked the blanket around her, not daring to think any further.
A few days after the successful surgery, Chen Xiang came down from the mountain with her two sons.
During these days, Ding Shijun had been running back and forth constantly. He was quick on his feet—one round trip a day didn’t delay much. During the day, he could also help Jiang Li with chores and secretly pick up a bit of instruction.
The young man was very likable. The Jiang couple would occasionally offer him pointers on purpose. They didn’t bring up apprenticeship outright, but they were already consciously teaching him.
Jiang Li was happy to see this and put even more effort into learning alongside Ding Shijun.
When the Ding mother and sons entered the courtyard, Jiang Li and Ding Shijun happily went forward to greet them, chattering away. Then, from outside the courtyard gate, there came a sudden thud.
Everyone turned around and saw someone kneeling outside the half-open gate.
“If it’s a patient, I’ll go take a look,” Liu Xu said, jogging over to open the gate.
Jiang Li had sharp eyes and had already seen who it was. She wanted to stop Liu Xu, but it was too late, so she could only hurry after her.
As soon as the gate opened, Jiang Jianguo knelt and lunged forward.
“Doctor Liu, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said those outrageous things. I apologize to you and Professor Jiang. Please be magnanimous and forgive me.”
Because Jiang Jianguo had always done fairly well academically, he had carried a strong sense of superiority since childhood. From childhood to adulthood, when had he ever apologized to anyone?
To think that one day she would see him kneel and apologize—had the sun risen from the west?
Jiang Li’s brows sank, afraid that Liu Xu might soften her heart.
“Doctor Liu, how about I talk to him?”
Liu Xu waved her hand. “No need. I won’t forgive him. Those outrageous words weren’t said in a moment of urgency. I can tell whether he meant them sincerely or not.”
“This kind of person is rotten to the core—how could he ever be taught well? Kneeling here now, he’s only trying to force Old Jiang to take him as a disciple.”
“That intention is even more vicious. If I accepted him today, tomorrow he’d be belittling the two of us in the village. I’m not that stupid.”
Liu Xu snorted coldly. “Leave. Don’t kneel here and embarrass yourself. If you won’t go, I don’t mind asking Village Head Zhang to come and ‘invite’ you.”
As soon as Liu Xu mentioned Zhang Xigui, Jiang Jianguo’s expression clearly changed.
Zhangjia Village had long been jealous that their village produced a college student. If he got the chance to humiliate this college student, he would definitely come running.
Jiang Jianguo wasn’t about to give Zhang Xigui that opportunity.
Still, leaving just like this made him unwilling.
Changing direction, he suddenly hugged Jiang Li’s leg.
“Sis—sis, I really know I was wrong. Everything I said came from my heart. Please help explain things to Doctor Liu, okay?”
“You watched me grow up. You know what kind of person I am best. I was misled by Wu Huani and misunderstood Professor Jiang. I really didn’t mean to belittle the two elders.”
“Sister, my good sister, are you really going to watch your younger brother lose his future?”
Jiang Li motioned for Liu Xu to go back inside first.
“If he dares hurt you, call for help. I’ll have the Ding brothers come out,” Liu Xu said softly, patting Jiang Li’s shoulder before turning back into the courtyard.
Jiang Li squatted down and looked at Jiang Jianguo seriously.
This was her own younger brother—the younger brother she had exhausted herself to support in her previous life.
He was right. She knew exactly what kind of thing he was.
“Dad beat you, didn’t he?” Jiang Li let out a cold laugh.
“Let me guess—he used that iron-chain whip? The injuries must be pretty bad, right? That’s why you had to spend so many days recovering before you could come out?”
“Jiang Jianguo, can you tell me—how did you think of coming to apprentice under Jiang Ting in the first place? Was it Dad’s idea, or did you listen to someone else’s suggestion?”
Jiang Jianguo glared at her fiercely. “If I tell you, will you help plead for me?”
“Maybe I can consider it,” Jiang Li said. Although she felt that things were already developing differently from her previous life, Jiang Jianguo’s initiative to seek apprenticeship was still very suspicious.
After all, in her previous life, without her, Jiang Jianguo could never have apprenticed under anyone.
Could it be that someone else, like her, had been reborn and had incited Jiang Jianguo to seek apprenticeship?
To avoid trouble, Jiang Li decided to get to the bottom of it.
Jiang Jianguo knew Jiang Li was soft-hearted and assumed her words were just a way of giving him an out. After all, since childhood she had been willing to endure any hardship for her younger brothers—how could she really abandon them so easily?
Her refusal to return to the Jiang household was just lingering anger at their mother.
They hadn’t shown up these past few days. She must have already been anxious, which was why she was finally speaking to him today.
Feeling smug, Jiang Jianguo immediately climbed to his feet.
“It was Wu Huani!”
“She said I was destined to become a top scientific researcher in the future. For the sake of my future, I had to apprentice under Jiang Ting first. Dad thought what she said made sense, so he agreed.”
Wu Huani? She said Jiang Jianguo would become a top scientific researcher in the future?
So she had been reborn too?