Received A Wife From The Civil Affairs Bureau Ch.40

After putting on her makeup, Jiang Ziquan opened the door and was greeted with the fresh mountain air from the open windows. She inhaled deeply and the refreshing air caused her head to feel less dizzy. 

Su Qingwen was squatting down and carefully sorting through his pots of flowers, attending to the white and delicate petals. 

Teacher Shen is on the phone, listening to someone from the school give her a summary of what happened. However, the signal in the mountain was probably not very good as the words kept getting cut off and repeated. When she noticed that Jiang Ziquan had come out, she blinked and then pointed at the breakfast on the table before returning to her call. 

Jiang Ziquan approached the table. The breakfast consisted of steamed buns, cabbage, and rice porridge. The neatly arranged food had obviously not been touched by the two. She felt a little embarrassed knowing that they had waited for her. 

Yesterday she was so drunk she basically blacked out and now she had gotten up late as well. Her etiquette was somewhat improper for a guest and especially for a guest of an elder. 

She walked over to Su Qingwen and watched as he meticulously arranged the flowers. She sheepishly scratched her head, she realized she hadn’t brought any gifts for this trip, “Grandpa, next time I visit I’ll bring some bug repellent for you.”

Su Qingwen looked up from the flowers and looked at her in confusion, pushing up his glasses, he asked, “Bug repellent? There are bugs here?”

“Of course there are.” Finally, she had found someone she can speak her mind to, and she thought that the grandfather felt familiar, so she didn’t speak to him formally and lifted her shirt a little as she gestured with her hand, “Look, it gave me such a big purple mark.”

Su Qingwen looked shocked and hurriedly set down the white spray bottle in his hand. He had cleaned his place rather thoroughly and the cleanliness is even better than some places in the city. So how could there be bugs that could leave that kind of mark here? However, Jiang Ziquan did not look like one to deceive others and so he asked in a worried tone, “Is it serious? Do you need some medicine applied on it?”

Jiang Ziquan waved a hand and smiled, “That’s not necessary. I was just worried that you might be bitten by these bugs since you live here.”

Su Qingwen felt his heart warm up at that and a faint smile appeared on his face. 

At that moment, it just so happened that Teacher Shen had finished her phone call and the three sat down to eat together. 

“What were you two talking about?”

Jiang Ziquan grabbed a steamed bun, “I was just telling grandpa that he’s getting old and that we must pay attention to his health with so many bugs here. We should bring some bug repellent with us the next time we visit.”

Shen Yumo coughed a few times, her gaze dropped down to Jiang Ziquan’s waist. She had only pinched it a little bit, did she really use that much strength? 

Su Qingwen rubbed his chin, his smooth skin made him look not a day over thirty. Su Qingwen began, “When you go back, remember to bring some of these flowers with you. Water them every three days and put them in the bedroom, they are very helpful for restful sleep.” He continued: “Are you still hanging the eight trigrams scroll in your bedroom?”

Shen Yumo nodded, the hand holding her chopsticks stopped, “Yes, even after moving in with Jiang Ziquan I still have it hanging in my room.”

“That’s good.” Su Qingwen sounded relieved. 

“What is the purpose of that scroll?” Jiang Ziquan remembered seeing that eight trigrams scroll in Teacher Shen’s room. The scroll looked old and yellowed, definitely, something made generations ago. Maybe it was an heirloom? 

Su Qingwen’s eyes narrowed, his gaze dropping down to the jade hanging around her neck. He debated whether or not he should reveal everything and then glanced at the similarly curious Shen Yumo beside him. He coughed awkwardly. He estimated that the two’s relationship should be good enough that he can explain it to Jiang Ziquan separately at another time.

He coughed again and dryly said a few words, “You’ll understand later.”

Jiang Ziquan shrugged, it didn’t matter to her if she knew or not. Furthermore, sometimes it was better not to know about these supernatural voodoo things. She turned her attention to Shen Yumo instead, “is there something going on with the school?”

Shen Yumo blushed a little and said falteringly, “The first few mock exams came out and my class’s language scores were very poor.” She then embarrassingly explained that she was scolded by the director and she would probably be scolded even more during the meeting tomorrow. Just thinking about it made her lose her appetite.

“Oh, I see.” Jiang Ziquan had never worked as a teacher before or in a real company. She never tasted the feeling of being criticized by a superior and even if she did, with her thick skin she probably wouldn’t even take it that seriously. However, Teacher Shen was more thin-skinned and so Jiang Ziquan was thinking about how to comfort her. 

“If they performed poorly that is their problem. What does it have anything to do with you?”

For the first time, Su Qingwen showed a frowning and angry face. This was a first, even for Shen Yumo. 

‘That’s right, that’s right.”

Jiang Ziquan realized that this grandfather was one who was fiercely protective of their own and agreed with him. Then she explained to him why they would blame teachers for the failure of the student. 

Shen Yumo bit her lip. Actually, some of this was her fault. She was a soft-hearted person and didn’t want to make life hard for her students. Seeing that they had just come back from winter vacation, she was worried that her students were unable to endure the sudden increase of work and did not saddle them with boatloads of homework like other teachers. However, she didn’t expect that their rankings would fall this much and suddenly felt a little sorry towards them. She thought about it, and decided it would be better to be a little more serious in the future. 

The cabbage came straight from the mountain’s soil, probably planted by Su Qingwen himself. They were more delicious than the ones from the supermarket and Jiang Ziquan ate more than usual. 

After eating, Jiang Ziquan and Shen Yumo packed up to go home. Before they left, Su Qingwen gave them a jar of wine and a pot of flowers. 

Fortunately the two of them didn’t bring a lot with them so they were able to carry it all down the mountain without being too exhausted. 

At the bottom, Tang Jiu was waiting for them. He was here to pick them up. 

Tang Jiu helped carry their things and placed them carefully in the truck. 

“Tang Jiu, this…your hair…” Jiang Ziquan stared at his head and realized that Tang Jiu had shaved it completely bald. She couldn’t help laughing, “How old are you? You’re already this bald-”

Tang Jiu dragged his black knitted hat down to cover his head and grunted, “I was unlucky.”

Tang Jiu started the car and complained, “Tell me, why are children so annoying? A few days ago, my little nephew used a pair of scissors to cut my hair in my sleep and it looked like a dog took a bite of it.” His expression darkened, “When I met up with my blind date, the young lady even thought that I was mentally ill or something.”

An obvious touch of grievance could be heard in his tone.  

Jiang Ziquan knew that Tang Jie had returned home for the New Year’s and to meet a blind date. However, she had wondered why the blind date matter would take all week, and it turns out it was just because he was too embarrassed to show her his bald head. 

She put on a fake serious expression, “A shaved head needs to meet a certain standard to look handsome. Take off your hat and I can examine it for you.”

Tang Jiu was quite familiar with Jiang Ziquan to know that his wounded soul wouldn’t be spared her poisonous tongue. 

“Pfft-! Ok, ok, I’ll stop teasing you now. So do you and that blind date really have no chance with each other?” Perhaps it was because she had found love as well, but now she wanted everyone around her to be happy too. Although, she completely forgot that she was still struggling to chase after a certain someone. 

“She was really pretty. Intelligent and a little quiet.” Tang Jiu rubbed his chin, “However she was a little bit brusque. When she saw my shaved head she directly asked me if I was undergoing some treatment or if I was sick in the head. After I heard that, I immediately left in a fit of anger after slamming my hands on the table. What is wrong with being bald? Is one not worthy of love just because they are bald?”

The more he said, the more Tang Jiu felt that he was correct. He continued to rant and his face reddened from the exertion, making Jiang Ziquan suddenly feel for the first time that he was just a little too wordy. 

Then he looked over at the two and felt that there was a lovey-dovey atmosphere that seemed to surround Jiang Ziquan and Shen Yumo. 

He pouted, “Maybe I should try dating a man instead?”

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T/N notes:

Bisexual? Hell ya. 

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