If it had been any other day, Chu Lian would have just ignored her lunatic husband.
However, considering how he was currently her patient and how injured he was, Chu Lian suppressed her rage and forced herself to calm down.
She shot a sideways look at He Changdi before resigning herself to her fate. She picked up one of the wontons on the side table with her spoon and blew on it before sending it to He Sanlang’s mouth.
He Changdi’s dark eyes lit up and sparkled like the stars of the night sky. His lips parted and Chu Lian shoved the spoonful of wonton right into his mouth.
She thought gleefully to herself inwardly as she looked at He Changdi with disdain. There! He could have his fill of wontons!
It was obvious that He Sanlang’s stiff features had softened into a warm expression. He followed Chu Lian’s movements closely. Every time she moved the spoon close to him, he would open his mouth obediently.
While eating, he didn’t forget to add, “It’s pretty good, but it’s not delicious as the ones you made.”
Chu Lian rolled her eyes. She felt that He Changdi was just lying brazenly. Setting the matter of the taste aside, Wenlan had already surpassed her in the skill of folding the wontons up into their ingot shape. Furthermore, Wenlan had come up with this chicken broth herself after much trial and error.
Chu Lian snorted in dismissal, but there was still a trace of warmth in her heart from his words.
When Sanlang’s band of brothers entered, they were met with the scene of Chu Lian patiently feeding He Sanlang.
Xiao Hongyu was stunned and the corners of his eyes immediately turned red. He showed his usual loud personality as he quickly strode towards the bed and wailed, “Brother He, so it wasn’t just your leg that was hurt, even your hands have been crippled! Just… How can this be?! Tell your little brother which damned bastard did this, I’ll kill them all!”
He Sanlang’s warm expression immediately froze over into his usual cold one. He glared once at the wailing Xiao Hongyu before taking the bowl from Chu Lian’s hands and gobbling the rest of the wontons down.
Xiao Hongyu watched his movements with a stupefied expression before understanding dawned upon him. He pointed at He Changdi’s arms, “Brother He, so your arms aren’t injured at all!”
Following that, his gaze landed upon the awkward Chu Lian, “Sister-in-Law, since Brother He’s arms are completely fine, you don’t have to wait on him. Brother He is actually really tough when he’s in our army camp! There was even this one time when…”
Before Xiao Hongyu could finish, he felt an eerily icy gaze fall upon him, which sent a chill down his back. When he looked up, he was met with He Changdi’s warning gaze. His voice trailed away and his throat clogged up.
He scratched the back of his head and chuckled sheepishly.
Captain Guo came up and delivered a smack on the head to Xiao Hongyu, “Alright, that’s enough nonsense from you. Single brats can go wait over there.”
Xiao Hongyu held the back of his head and gave off another pitiful wail before going off to one corner to lick his wounds.
Zhang Mai shook his head. Bachelors like Hongyu wouldn’t understand the little enjoyments shared between couples.
Chu Lian ordered Wenqing and Wenlan to clear the table and serve tea to their guests. She wanted to leave so that the band of brothers could have some privacy to chat, but He Changdi grabbed hold of her hand and told her to sit at the side.
Thus, she had no choice but to stay.
As she listened to their analysis of what had happened to Sanlang, Chu Lian was lulled into deep thought. She hadn’t expected that it was truly Xiao Bojian who sent those men.
Her brows scrunched together tightly, disbelief showing on her face. There was no other reason for there to be any enmity between Xiao Bojian and He Changdi, other than her. Count Jing’an was away guarding the border so Xiao Bojian couldn’t possibly have any interactions or connections with House Jing’an, nor would it benefit him politically to pit himself against House Jing’an.
Chu Lian was extremely vexed with the whole situation. She was completely innocent and she had done her best to avoid Xiao Bojian. However, he was still targeting her even when she was way out here in the north. Is he crazy!?
Chu Lian didn’t know if there was actually something wrong with Xiao Bojian’s mind, but she was going to be driven mad by him soon.
Captain Guo and the others who had come to visit He Sanlang shamelessly stayed for lunch before leaving. They even cleared out the He Estate’s kitchen before they left.
Chu Lian took the chance to have some free time to herself when He Sanlang settled in for an afternoon nap.
She ordered the servants to summon Manager Qin and had an hour-long meeting with him in the parlour.
After getting pointers from his young madam, Manager Qin happily ran off to work on his business.
Ever since He Changdi’s fever had broken, Chu Lian would accompany him in the side room every day. However, she told the maidservants to move the chaise away from the bedside.
When it was time to rest for the night, Chu Lian would return to her own courtyard within the He Estate. This was something she didn’t budge on even when He Sanlang gave her a long face.
Was he joking? The wound on his thigh was still in bad condition and it couldn’t be touched right now. If the two of them slept in the same bed and if Chu Lian were to accidentally kick him in the thigh in her sleep, He Sanlang would really lose the use of his leg.
They definitely wouldn’t be able to make it back to the capital before the new year now. Even if He Sanlang wasn’t injured, snowstorms were still raging all over the north. It would take too much effort to head back to the capital now, even with the snowboats. Furthermore, the report of their victory likely hadn’t reached the capital yet, so the northern border army had to remain on standby and await the Emperor’s orders.
It seemed like they would have to wait till after the New Year to get any news.
Thus, it was already certain that they were going to spend the New Year in the north.
