OL CH45

Almost no one knew that, many years ago, the Bai family was a prominent and aristocratic household, a genuinely wealthy and influential family.

However, that was the glory of the main branch. The lineage Bai Su belonged to was merely an extremely remote branch of the Bai family. Of course, they were still a hundred times better off than ordinary farmers, but compared to other aristocratic and official families, they were completely unfit to be seen on the grand stage.

Even so, because the inner courtyard of the Bai family’s remote branch lacked proper discipline, it was constantly plagued by shady affairs. The deceit, backstabbing, and petty schemes were endlessly exhausting. Thanks to Bai Su’s quick wit and early understanding of human affairs, making him somewhat of a child prodigy, he knew how to conceal his brilliance to avoid jealousy and assassination. This was how he managed to protect his soft-hearted mother from being bullied in the inner courtyard.

Sometimes, Bai Su genuinely didn’t understand the point of all this inner courtyard infighting. It wasn’t as if there was a throne to inherit. The branch family never seemed to reap any benefits from the main branch in their daily lives, yet the moment the main branch ran into trouble, the branch family was instantly implicated.

After Bai Su accidentally discovered that a massive disaster might befall the main branch, he acted decisively. He convinced his concubine-born father, who had little to no presence in the family, to take him and his mother away from the Bai household to this remote village. Sure enough, shortly after, the entire Bai family was annihilated, leaving the three of them as the only ones to slip through the net.

The family of three settled down in Li Family Village, thinking that as long as they could live in peace, it would be enough. But Father Bai had never been favored; he had little money on him and lacked any special skills to support a family. To avoid the disaster, they had already spent a significant amount of silver bribing people to alter their household registration records. By the time they arrived at the village, their remaining funds were only enough to buy a small plot of land and build a house.

When Father Bai fell ill, it completely drained whatever was left of their savings. After his father passed away, Bai Su helped his mother support the household. Knowing deeply the importance of keeping a low profile, he didn’t reveal any of his talents in the early years. It was only recently, seeing that the matters concerning the Bai family had truly faded into the past, that he figured it was about time to pursue an official rank. He also started looking for ways to make some silver on the outside to improve their living conditions.

In the beginning, it was copying books. Bai Su had beautiful handwriting. Since there was no advanced printing technology, books relied on manual copying. Copying a book paid better than manual labor, but it was far too time-consuming. Later, noticing the storybooks sold in the bookstore, he tried writing one himself. Unexpectedly, he wrote quite well and earned a lot of silver.

Bai Su had signed a contract with the bookstore early on. His identity as an author of storybooks was a secret and could not be revealed to outsiders. He had known the bookstore owner for many years and trusted him enough to store his earnings there. With a stable partnership and a good relationship, he would also ask the owner to handle certain matters for him.

However, he didn’t take these money-making methods to heart. No matter how well he wrote his storybooks, he was still just a commoner. If he truly offended someone with power and influence, a single word from them could drag his immense talent straight into the mud. Bai Su despised the feeling of being at the mercy of others, nor did he want to be cooped up in Li Family Village for the rest of his life.

Since childhood, his goals had always been incredibly clear. He knew that to live the life he wanted, he had to earn a scholarly degree and enter officialdom. Only with absolute power and status could he control his own destiny. It was just like now—he had set his sights on the peerless beauty he picked up. Since he wanted to completely possess the other party, he didn’t mind using some minor schemes. Ultimately, he needed to thoroughly carve his way into the man’s heart.

On the other side, Chen Tian had no idea that his “wife” was laying down a thousand layers of traps for him. He was still busy feeling heartache for Bai Su. Or perhaps, even if he did know, he wouldn’t care. He might even be overjoyed that his lover was willing to spend so much effort on him, packing himself up and obediently delivering himself right to Bai Su’s door.

The taste of the coarse grain flatbreads and steamed cornbread was truly quite awful, incredibly dry and hard, but they were easy to store, and steaming them made them significantly softer. Chen Tian washed the food down his throat with boiled hot water. Then, after preparing lunch, he called Mother Bai over. Seeing the old lady start eating, he hurriedly grabbed the other portion of food and headed toward the fields.

His original clothes, riddled with sword cuts and soaked in blood, had already been disposed of by Bai Su. He was currently wearing Bai Su’s everyday loose robes. Yet, even dressed in such coarse fabric, his outstanding beauty could not be hidden, and his exceptional aura caused anyone he met to frequently turn their heads.

Fortunately, the Bai family’s courtyard was situated in a remote part of the village, so he didn’t run into too many villagers on the way. Otherwise, being stared at like a monkey in a zoo would truly not be a pleasant experience. Chen Tian finally understood why the Second Prince always wore a mask in the military camp to cover half his face.

With System 009’s guidance, finding his way was quite easy, so it didn’t take him long to spot the village’s farmlands. Patches of fresh green were neatly arranged together. The fields in the village were all clustered side-by-side, not scattered. At this time, quite a few people were working in the fields. Some had already received food from their families and were sitting in twos and threes under the trees to rest.

Bai Su’s land was small and located right on the edge of the fields, making it easy to recognize. When Chen Tian walked over, Bai Su was watering the seedlings. He wore short clothes suited for farming, his sleeves rolled up high. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his cheeks were slightly flushed from the sun. Seeing his lover looking so exhausted from afar instantly made Chen Tian’s heart ache.

But before he could step forward, a young girl in a yellow dress carrying a basket walked up to Bai Su. The girl took an egg out of her basket and said to Bai Su with a blushing face, “Brother Bai, you’ve worked hard here. Have an egg and take a rest.”

Seeing this, Chen Tian raised an eyebrow. Through 009, he already knew that this little girl delivering the egg was the female lead of this small world, Li Xiaochan.

The current Li Xiaochan looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, still very green. Even though she was the female lead, her looks definitely couldn’t be considered country-toppling; at most, she could be called pretty. Having read the plot, Chen Tian harbored no ill will toward the female lead of this world. But seeing her staring at his partner with a flushed face, looking exactly like a girl experiencing her first crush, a wave of sour jealousy surged in his heart.

Hearing her voice, Bai Su straightened his back, waved his hand at the female lead, and smiled, “No thank you, Sister Xiaochan. You should save this egg for Uncle Li.”

Seeing Bai Su refuse, Chen Tian felt slightly more satisfied. Just as he thought, how could an unweaned little brat compare to him! But still, calling the female lead “Sister Xiaochan”? Hmph! ╭(╯^╰)╮

Suppressing his displeasure, Chen Tian took wide strides over. Without even glancing at Li Xiaochan, he shoved his basket directly in front of Bai Su and flashed the young man an incredibly perfect smile, saying, “Suzhi, take a break! I brought you lunch!”

Initially, Li Xiaochan felt a bit unhappy at being interrupted by a sudden arrival. But when the person turned around and she saw his face clearly, she froze entirely. Subconsciously taking a step back, Li Xiaochan reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, looking rather awkward.

With such a peerless beauty standing in front of her, it was like comparing a weed to a peony; Li Xiaochan felt entirely overshadowed. She had finally mustered the courage to speak to her admired Brother Bai and offer an egg to show her goodwill, only to encounter such a stunning beauty. Instantly, half of the young girl’s courage dissipated.

Bai Su didn’t notice Li Xiaochan’s unease. He had spotted Chen Tian when the man was still far away. Seeing him come over now, Bai Su immediately put on a pleasantly surprised expression and said, “Zichen, why did you come? Didn’t I tell you to rest well at home!”

“I just wanted to come help you out. What, am I not welcome?” Chen Tian shot a glance at Li Xiaochan, then looked at Bai Su with a half-smile.

Seeing him act like this, the smile in Bai Su’s eyes deepened. He stepped closer, initially intending to pull Chen Tian along, but seemingly noticing his mud-stained hands, he hurriedly withdrew them. Nodding at him, he pointed to a large tree not far away and said, “I was just about to take a break. Let’s go sit over there.”

It was as if Bai Su only remembered Li Xiaochan was still there after he finished speaking. He gave her a polite greeting before leading Chen Tian away.

Chen Tian obediently followed behind Bai Su. Seeing that his sweetheart truly didn’t seem to care much about the female lead, he felt much better.

Once the two sat down by the large tree, Chen Tian took the food out of the basket. Ordinary families usually only ate two meals a day. When the midday sun grew intense, some better-off households might bring a few snacks over, but there was no formal lunch. Yet Bai Su, keeping Chen Tian and his mother’s health in mind, prepared three full meals.

But now, with one glance, Bai Su knew this was the food he had prepared for Chen Tian and Mother Bai. Realizing that Chen Tian hadn’t eaten it and brought it to him instead, Bai Su couldn’t help but furrow his brows and ask, “Why did you bring this food to me? Have you not eaten lunch yet?”

Chen Tian pursed his lips, shook his head, and said, “I already ate. It’s not like this was the only food in the kitchen.”

His tone was flat, but Bai Su inexplicably heard the bad mood in his voice. After a moment of silence, he realized what the other man had eaten.

He had wanted the beauty to realize his kindness, to know that he was willing to save the best for him. While he felt joyful in his heart, it didn’t mean he actually wanted this person to suffer alongside him. Instinctively, he wanted to give all the sweetness to this person; eating the bitterness himself was enough. The beauty across from him was supposed to wear fine silks and eat delicacies—how could he eat those rough things like him?

Feeling absolutely no guilt about this differential treatment, Bai Su’s gaze toward Chen Tian carried a bit more strictness. “Did you eat the flatbreads and cornbread by the stove? Those things taste terrible, how could you eat them!”

“If you can eat them, why can’t I!”

Hearing this, Chen Tian felt even more sorrowful. He stared fixedly at Bai Su, the heartache in his eyes practically overflowing.

Reading the emotions in the other’s eyes, Bai Su felt an extra surge of joy, followed by a soft, melting sensation in his chest. He sighed internally, marveling at how this person wasn’t just extremely beautiful on the outside, but was so sweet on the inside too. It made it impossible for him not to like him even more.

His expression inevitably softening by a large margin, Bai Su reached out and, seemingly casually, smoothed a stray strand of hair against Chen Tian’s cheek. He said softly, “Your injuries haven’t fully healed. Eating better food to nourish your body is what you should be doing.”

It was this excuse again. Chen Tian wanted to retort, but he heard the person opposite him continue, “Seeing you eat better makes me happy.”

This completely blocked Chen Tian’s words, and the intense emotion in his heart grew even stronger.

Since the food had already been brought over, Bai Su didn’t refuse it. Although he had already eaten an egg and some smoked meat, the portions were small, and his stomach still had plenty of room. The refined rice and greens were good, but the best part was naturally the smoked meat. Farming households never lacked vegetables, so Bai Su insisted on sharing half the rice and cured meat with Chen Tian.

“No, I already ate lunch. This is for you. You still have to work this afternoon, you need to eat more!”

Hearing this, Bai Su simply picked up a slice of cured meat with his chopsticks and shoved it directly into Chen Tian’s mouth, smiling at him. “If you won’t eat, then neither will I. Or perhaps Zichen wants this brother to feed you?”

The person opposite him was acting like an utter rogue, a side of him Chen Tian hadn’t seen yet in this world. Those chopsticks had just been used by Bai Su, and now he was feeding him with them. This realization made the tips of Chen Tian’s ears turn red, and an infinite sweetness bloomed in his heart. His partner always cherished him so much.

In the end, he could only helplessly agree, and the two of them sweetly shared the lunch together.

After the meal, Chen Tian packed up the bowls and chopsticks, preparing to leave. He actually wanted to stay and accompany Bai Su as he worked, but he knew his partner wouldn’t agree to it, so he had no choice but to head back and find something else to do. After chatting with Bai Su a bit more, he reluctantly left, turning his head back to look at him every three steps.

Watching Chen Tian’s lingering, reluctant expression, a gentle smile remained fixed on Bai Su’s face.

It wasn’t until the man turned around completely that his gaze seemingly casually swept over the people in the fields—those who were whispering in twos and threes while staring in Chen Tian’s direction, as well as a few men who were looking at his back with obsessed expressions.

A trace of sharpness flashed through his eyes. Sure enough, this beauty was far too much of an attractor…