Received A Wife From The Civil Affairs Bureau Ch.25

When Jiang Ziquan returned home, it was already past one at night. Afraid that she would wake the other two up, she turned on her phone’s flashlight and tiptoed slowly towards her room like a thief. Then she glanced at the sofa and saw a figure sitting there causing her to jump back in fright. 

She walked closer and it turned out to be Shen Yumo. 

Jiang Ziquan wondered as to why she was sleeping on the sofa. Could it be that after hearing about that piece of scum’s marriage she got depressed and….she leaned closer and sniffed. There was no alcohol scent on her. 

She shook her head and turned on the lamp. She leaned down and picked her up. Recently, she had gotten a little thinner, so she struggled to princess carry Shen Yumo back to her bedroom. It seems like Shen Yumo was really tired because she didn’t wake up even when Jiang Ziquan grunted with effort. She placed her down and gently pulled the covers over her. 

Shen Yumo’s sleeping face was peaceful and tender, with some hair scattered across her face. Jiang Ziquan squatted beside her bed and brushed the hair behind Shen Yumo’s ear. 

“Ehm…”

The sudden sound caused Jiang Ziquan to pull back her hand. Then seeing that Shen Yumo merely moved but showed no signs of waking up, she whispered, “Yumo, that piece of scum isn’t worth it. I hope you don’t blame me.”

Then she gently kissed Shen Yumo’s forehead. Such a simple action and yet Jiang Ziquan did it so sincerely like she was kissing a rare treasure.

Jiang Ziquan carefully and quietly closed the door behind her. She couldn’t help but lit up a cigarette. She never did ask Shen Yumo if she still had any feelings for that scum. In the photos Sister Chen gave her, the two looked affectionate with each other and Shen Yumo would always be smiling while looking at Chen Ruoguang. She had to admit that she was jealous of Chen Ruoguang. So jealous that she might go crazy. When Shen Yumo was next to him, she would always carry a faint smile and anyone could tell that she was happy. Unlike with her. Shen Yumo was kind to her, but Shen Yumo always carried a slight apology in her eyes. So she was afraid, afraid of what Shen Yumo’s answer might be. 

She didn’t want to admit that at the time, her proposal was somewhat cruel. She didn’t give Shen Yumo a chance to think through the situation and virtually forced her into it. Perhaps Shen Yumo had thought about it later and had come to regret this. After all, that scum did treat Shen Yumo well during their relationship and he didn’t even know about the child. Furthermore, everyone had an ex, so it wasn’t rare that he had one too. 

However, due to the Jiang family’s belief of ‘love at first sight’, she had forced Shen Yumo to marry her. With her own hands, she had cut off the last chance for Shen Yumo and that scum to make up. Maybe she hates me now.  Whenever she thought that Shen Yumo might hate her because of that piece of scum, her heart squeezed in pain. 

The next day, the dark circles underneath her eyes were a little heavy and when she saw Shen Yumo, she didn’t know how to face her. So she made an excuse about her restaurant being busy and slipped away. She still needed some time to think about what she had learned. 

Shen Yumo thought Jiang Ziquan was still angry about yesterday, and before she could explain herself, the person in question had slipped away. Maybe she had really hurt Jiang Ziquan’s self-esteem this time. 

Jiang Ziquan was already in a bad mood, but she continued to encounter problems at work. During the New Year, one had to increase their purchases, but their suppliers still gave them the same amount. They couldn’t miss out on this opportunity to make money, so she made a few calls but still did not receive any confirmation from her suppliers. Then she had to ask some friends to let her buy some of their materials. In this way, she and her staff were worked half to death and the usually lively restaurant became sullen as the employees dragged themselves around listlessly. 

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Shen Yumo rubbed her neck and grabbed the lesson plans. She had just finished class and there was still a lot of chalk dust on her body, so she brushed it off gently. As she walked to her office, she could hear Teacher Zhou scolding someone from far away. This was something that occurred often and she stopped at the door, contemplating whether or not she should go in.

“Miss Jiang, I don’t expect much from Chen Feng’s studies and I don’t ask him to make any progress. I will be grateful as long as he doesn’t cause trouble in my class. It’s one thing if he doesn’t like to study, but it’s another thing if he disturbs the other students. As a teacher, I hope you can discipline this child more, especially on his character.” 

Zhou Kairui always had a sharp tongue, and would often say things that can cause even parents to feel ashamed. Seeing Jiang Ziquan’s youthful appearance, she guessed that Chen Feng had grabbed a random person to stand in for his guardians. Therefore, her tone and words were even harsher.

Jiang Ziquan’s face was completely pale as she listened silently. 

Shen Yumo had stood outside for a while now and it was extremely cold in the corridor. She couldn’t help but wonder which student had made Teacher Zhou so angry. She glanced inside. A tall woman wearing a sapphire blue coat stood silently in front of the screaming Teacher Zhou. Shen Yumo recognized the coat because it was the one she bought for Jiang Ziquan the other day. Then looking at the shiny Martens that had a bit of mud on them, she could guess who it was.

She couldn’t help but frown. She was worried about Jiang Ziquan. 

However, no matter what Teacher Zhou said, Jiang Ziquan just lowered her head with a guilty expression on her face. Seeing her expression, Teacher Zhou felt like she shouldn’t go further and said, “Of course, Chen Feng has memorized his texts, so he must have worked hard.” 

Hearing this, Jiang Ziquan’s face turned even more white, not a trace of blood left in her complexion. 

“Alright, you can go.” Teacher Zhou also felt this was a bit embarrassing. Chen Feng was a bit too much, but this was the first time in a while she had fiercely scolded someone this young. 

“Thank you.” Jiang Ziquan bowed and left. 

Jiang Ziquan walked out and saw Shen Yumo standing outside the door. She guessed that maybe Shen Yumo didn’t want others to know that she was married to her, so she didn’t even bother to greet her. Thinking like this, she passed by, her speed increasing a little bit. 

Shen Yumo thought that Jiang Ziquan was still mad at her. She hadn’t seen Jiang Ziquan around much for three days already. Watching her retreating back, she thought about it, and then finally ran after her. She caught up to Jiang Ziquan and grabbed her arm. Fortunately, since it was still class time, there were only a few people in the hallway. She dragged Jiang Ziquan with her to the bathroom, as to not disturb the students, with the intention to apologize. 

However, after looking into Jiang Ziquan’s eyes, she was stunned. How did she become so pale and sickly again? There’s a pitiful aura surrounding her. 

Jiang Ziquan suppressed her unpleasant feelings and forced out a smile, “Teacher Shen, is anything the matter?” 

Seeing her like this, Shen Yumo felt a little saddened. She fiddled with her hair, then leaned forward and gently hugged Jiang Ziquan. Her body was very thin, she didn’t even feel like she was hugging a human. She comforted: “Teacher Zhou has a tofu heart but a sharp tongue. Don’t take it to heart, alright?”

The sudden soft touch caused Jiang Ziquan to freeze. The familiar scent that belonged to Shen Yumo drifted into her nose, it smelled a bit like peppermint. 

Yumo is….hugging me? 

“I also apologized for the other matter a few days ago.” Seeing that Jiang Ziquan had calmed down, she released her and said seriously, “Chen Feng said your English is quite good. I’m sorry, I had only done that to establish my authority in front of Chen Feng. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

Jiang Ziquan stood there blankly for a while before she remembered what had happened that day. In the past few days, she had been busy fixing things at her restaurant. That other matter completely slipped her mind. She knew that in other people’s eyes, they see Shen Yumo as a gentle and docile person, which was a little true because her temperament was not at all aggressive, but this tended to make the students feel not afraid of her. Chen Feng and her were friends despite their difference in age, so with Shen Yumo treating her strictly, Chen Feng would listen to her more as well. 

“My English is good?”

At the time, she had already forgotten all about the English assignment, but she didn’t know it had caused this unexpected situation. So it turned out that Shen Yumo stayed up that night because she wanted to apologize to me. If that’s so, then Shen Yumo is an angel and I also got a hug from her!

Shen Yumo looked at her and saw that this matter wasn’t a big deal to Jiang Ziquan at all. She wanted to ask Jiang Ziquan why she didn’t come home to eat lunch for the past few days, and why she sometimes wouldn’t even come home. 

However, she felt like these words were too intrusive and didn’t say them. 

Jiang Ziquan gave Shen Yumo a strange look. She felt sorry and didn’t say anything. 

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When Jiang Ziquan returned home, she called Chen Feng over with a serious expression. 

Chen Feng felt scared. After getting scolded by his homeroom teacher, it was natural for her to be angry, so he hurriedly said, “I can explain.”

Jiang Ziquan raised an eyebrow and motioned for him to continue. 

“Sister Quan, you probably already know that Teacher Shen’s ex used to visit our school. Our classmates all thought that they were going to get married, but then one person said that the man was getting married on Sunday but the bride was not Teacher Shen. Then another person said that Teacher Shen had married an ugly woman instead. Sister Quan, you’re obviously very beautiful, but that crazy person said such a thing. So I couldn’t help myself but argue with him a bit.” Chen Feng said huffily. He was holding back, otherwise, he would’ve beaten that guy up. 

Jiang Ziquan pressed her temples. So it turns out that piece of scum wanted to quickly get married because he wanted to place all the blame on Shen Yumo. At a sacred place like school, obviously it was female teachers who were looked down upon if they didn’t fit society’s gender norms. If a woman couldn’t get the man to marry her? Then there was something wrong with the woman, at least that’s what society thought. At the time, she had taken down the proposal video because she wanted to protect Shen Yumo, giving her a way out. Unexpectedly, she did not expect the piece of scum to have used it to his advantage. However, he didn’t know if Shen Yumo still had feelings for this man, so she couldn’t go knocking on his door and beat him up. 

“Don’t even think about going to Su Yan’s concert after all this.” Jiang Ziquan’s expression relaxed. Although she was grateful for Chen Feng standing up for her, it was a good time to teach him some patience.

Seeing that Jiang Ziquan was being serious. Chen Feng didn’t dare to talk back and only nodded his head. He glanced at Shen Yumo who was cooking in the kitchen and said sullenly, “I’m going to go do my homework.”

Jiang Ziquan eaved a hand and then went into the kitchen to help cook. At the same time, she thought about the problems in her restaurant and Shen Yumo’s thoughts and feelings for Chen Ruoguang. Just thinking about all that caused her brain to hurt. 

“The potatoes will be skinned into nothing if you keep doing that.”

“Ah?” Jiang Ziquan stopped and looked down to see that she had skinned the potato down into a tiny lump. Well, this is embarrassing. 

Shen Yumo also stopped moving the knife in her hand and asked, “Did Chen Feng make you angry?”

“No.”

Shen Yumo thought that with Jiang Ziquan’s personality she probably wouldn’t punish Chen Feng that much, but sometimes these things happened, “Chen Feng has been working really hard recently.”

After she finished her sentence, Shen Yumo started moving the knife again and started to cut the vegetables. This time, Jiang Ziquan didn’t think that her knife skills were cool but instead was worried that Shen Yumo might hold that knife against her throat anytime now. 

Jiang Ziquan grabbed another portato and reflected. In the past, whenever Chen Feng was scolded by the teacher, he would yell back about how bad the teacher was. Recently, she has been in a bad mood, so she felt that she might have misplaced her anger on the kid. Furthermore, she was feeling sorry for Shen Yumo and didn’t want to trouble her. So she may have demanded too much from the boy. 

During dinner, since Jiang Ziquan hadn’t eaten at home for the past few days, she made up for it by eating almost all of Shen Yumo’s delicious food. After eating, she washed the dishes. 

Recently, they had bought a few bottles of milk. Although she didn’t like to drink milk, Shen Yumo did and so did Chen Feng. Therefore, they had bought several boxes. She took out two bottles, warmed them up and then delivered it to the two studying at the table. 

Shen Yumo was surprised to see she hadn’t gone back to work and said: “Thank you.”

Chen Feng felt like his Sister Quan was kinda scary today and didn’t dare to even raise his head as he pretended to finish his homework seriously. Jiang Ziquan rolled her eyes, but din;t have time to deal with this because she still had to hurry back to her restaurant. She grabbed her coat and walked out the door.

Shen Yumo glanced at the serious Chen Feng and followed her quietly. “Are you not going to draw today?” Shen Yumo stopped her at the door. Shen Yumo thought that maybe the situation that day might have disturbed Jiang Ziquan’s design work.

Jiang Ziquan frowned and thought about it, before realizing what Shen Yumo was talking about. She sighed and then sent a message telling Tang Jiu to figure out the problems himself. 

Tang Jiu received the message during his break, the bread he was eating still in his hands as he rolled his eyes. He missed the boss who only knew how to make money and seldom went outside to do anything. Now the boss only knew how to fall in love and forgot all about him. He really wanted to throw his half-eaten bread into her face and say, “You’re an incapable ruler who has become addicted to a woman’s charms!” 

Of course, he didn’t dare to say that. 

“I will draw.” Jiang Ziquan took off her scarf, but her neck didn’t feel cold. In fact, she felt like a fire had been lit inside of her. 

As the three did their own things, Jiang Ziquan twirled her pen. It was an old habit that could not be changed. She had to constantly remind herself and also stared at by Shen Yumo, who she didn’t know if she was glaring or laughing at her. However, she took it as a tender and affectionate gaze and fell into a daze.

Chen Feng glanced at theSuster Quan who was behaving abnormally and felt worried. Was it because the homeroom teacher has scolded her silly? Although when he gets scolded, he entire eighteen generations of ancestors get cursed out by Teacher Zhou as well, but wasn’t he still fine? This time, he had asked SIster Quan to go because he knew that Sister Quan would also get scolded often back in the day, but he didn’t know she would end up like this. 

Now even Teacher Shen is staring happily at her? Chen Feng felt that it was better if he just focused on his homework. 

If Jiang Ziquan knew what he was thinking, she would probably say that he was too young and wouldn’t understand. 

After two months of sketching, her drawing of Shen Yumo was finally completed. Although she still didn’t know if Shen Yumo liked her, she wanted to give her this drawing. Wouldn’t it be worse if she didn’t take this chance and end up regretting it in the future? 

“What’s wrong?”

Jiang Ziquan carefully took out her sketch, “A gift for you.”

She hadn’t drawn any sketches for anyone in a long time, so Jiang ZIquan felt a little uneasy in her heart. As she watched Shen Yumo appraise her art, she felt a student waiting for their test back. 

What a horrible deja vu. 

“Huh?” Shen Yumo had thought that Jiang Ziquan was working on interior design the entire time. Confused, she looked at the drawing. In the drawing, a long-haired woman sat on the ground. The woman’s long hair fluttered in the wind and she looked very attractive. Although she was frowning slightly, it gave the woman a more mysterious temperament. Next to her, there were two bottles of water laying on the ground. Isn’t this….the first time we met?

However, looking closely, the woman looked like her but wasn’t exactly like her. 

Because the woman in the drawing was too beautiful as if she didn’t exist in this world. 

And at the bottom, written in ink and elegant handwriting, was a line from one of Lin Huiyin’s poems. [1] 

Shen Yumo felt a little surprised. She gently brushed across those words with her hand. So this was her first impression of me.

Although Teacher Shen still had the same expression on her face, her eyes were full of joy. Jiang Ziquan had already prepared herself for rejection, but still smiled and asked, “Do you like it?”

“I do.”

The voice was so soft and quiet, that one might not have heard it. However, Jiang Ziquan did and she was ecstatic. So, it turns out that Shen Yumo liked this type of wooing. 

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T/N notes:

[1] Lin Huiyin: An famous female architect who liked to write poems.

*Sister Chen showed up in chapter 13. She’s Shen Yumo’s friend who gave her all the juicy info about Shen Yumo.

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