After dinner in the evening, Yi Qing went to do the dishes as usual.
Grandma He scolded Deng Xiao, "Gou'er, don't let Xiao Qing do all the work while you slack off. Xiao Qing is a girl. How can she do so much work? You're a grown man. It's not right for you to do nothing every day. Your father was never like this. Don't bully the little girl. Go and do the dishes!"
Yi Qing approved of Grandma He's ideas that were thousands of years ahead of her time.
Deng Xiao followed her into the kitchen, but this master of the house would never lift a finger to help.
Well, he came to supervise.
While doing the dishes, Yi Qing asked, "Have you thought about how to tell Grandma?"
Deng Xiao replied woodenly, "I'll tell my mother tomorrow morning that Hu just left without saying goodbye."
If he didn't make up an excuse, he could still deceive himself into thinking he hadn't lied that much.
Yi Qing rolled her eyes. "I'll meddle in this one more time. But let me tell you, this has nothing to do with you. I just think Grandma is cute."
Deng Xiao was speechless. His mother was so old, yet in her mouth, she was cute?
Cute it was, as long as it could help solve the problem.
"You mean—"
Yi Qing said, "Tomorrow you tell Grandma that Hu liked you and confessed her feelings to you privately. You refused, and then she left."
Deng Xiao got angry. "What nonsense!"
"She liked you, not the other way around. Why are you so excited?" Yi Qing said. "Only in this way will Grandma miss her the least."
Deng Xiao was silent for a moment and then asked, "Why?"
He didn't understand women's minds, so he asked humbly.
"Because I'm also a mother. I know a mother's psychology," Yi Qing said. "No matter how useless you are, in Grandma's heart, you're a unique and rare wonder."
"Wonder?"
"Yeah, a precious and beautiful flower that only appears once in a century," Yi Qing said seriously, spouting nonsense.
Deng Xiao nodded blankly. "Am I a wonder?"
No one had ever praised him like this before!
"You are, definitely!" Yi Qing affirmed.
If you're not a wonder, who is?
Deng Xiao said, "Go on."
"Hu is so old and not good-looking. Grandma may like her for being eloquent and having the same interests as herself, but she definitely won't like her having designs on you."
Deng Xiao seemed to be thinking.
"Isn't it very reasonable?" Yi Qing said while putting away the washed dishes. The dim candlelight cast a golden glow on her.
"I don't understand," Deng Xiao said honestly. "But since you said so, I might as well trust you one more time."
Yi Qing snorted. "You'll know I'm right later."
What she meant was that after Deng Xiao did as she said, he would know she was right by seeing Grandma He's reaction. But Deng Xiao obviously misunderstood. After a long pause, he said, "I'll recognize your son as my godson."
He would never be a father in his life, so he couldn't understand a parent's mind.
Yi Qing: "… Are you sure you want to do this?"
Deng Xiao also realized it was inappropriate. He didn't know why the words just blurted out. He stubbornly said, "I mean to repay you for helping me."
"Forget it," Yi Qing said. "You're repaying kindness with ingratitude. It's good that my son is unknown now. I don't want him to become the target of everyone's arrows."
Deng Xiao almost gritted his silver teeth to pieces.
If someone else dared to talk to him like this, he would have...
The next morning, Yi Qing woke up early. Don't be fooled by how casually she talked to Deng Xiao. In fact, she was very anxious.
As time passed, the people in the mansion must think she was lost and were probably going crazy looking for her.
Especially Baozi. Although he received the letter from her saying she was safe, too much time had passed. He must be very worried.
Yi Qing pretended to be calm and went to pay respects to Grandma He. She saw that there were only the mother and son in the room. Grandma He was sitting on the kang, wiping her tears. Deng Xiao was standing beside the kang, glaring at Yi Qing as she came in.
Yi Qing was confused by the glare.
"Get out," Deng Xiao scolded. "Who let you in?"
Why was he so angry?
Grandma He wiped her tears with a handkerchief and said, "Why are you scolding Xiao Qing? You're always being mean to girls. No wonder you've been a bachelor. I used to think there was something wrong with your body. Now it seems that you just don't know how to please girls."
Hearing this, Deng Xiao could hardly maintain his expression.
It was probably no worse than being shot by a thousand arrows through the heart.
Yi Qing didn't expect herself to speak, but she heard her own voice.
"Good things come to those who wait. It's just that the fate hasn't arrived yet. Maybe the Matchmaker God got drunk and accidentally broke the red string of fate, but there will always be a time when he wakes up and reconnects it."
Deng Xiao was also stunned. Then gratitude flashed in his eyes.
Yi Qing lowered her eyes and pretended not to see.
Although she could understand Deng Xiao's actions, as an innocent person involved, she was still very angry.
After leaving here, it would be better if they never saw each other again. So there was no need for gratitude or resentment.
Grandma He sighed, "I hope your words will come true. By the way, your Sister Hu left."
Yi Qing pretended to be surprised. "Where did she go? Why did she leave so suddenly without saying goodbye?"
Grandma He gave Deng Xiao a hard look and sighed, "It's all his fault. I don't know when your Sister Hu developed feelings for him. He's so stupid. He probably rejected her roughly and scared her. She packed up and left without saying goodbye to me."
Yi Qing: "… We'll surely see each other again in the future."
That was absolutely impossible. Deng Xiao probably wanted to cut Hu into a thousand pieces now.
"Mother," Deng Xiao said, "Let's go home."
Grandma He was surprised. "Go back now? Didn't the fortune-teller say that you have to stay here for a year to overcome your disaster?"
Yi Qing almost burst out laughing.
So this was how Deng Xiao deceived Grandma He.
Overcome a disaster? He really had a wild imagination. What kind of disaster? A thunderbolt disaster?
After overcoming the disaster, was he going to ascend to immortality?
Good riddance!
Just by looking at Yi Qing's expression, Deng Xiao could guess that this woman was up to no good again. He gritted his teeth in hatred. But when facing Grandma He, his attitude was very gentle. "The master said that after Sister Hu left, the aura around me has changed, and the disaster is over."
Grandma He asked, "Gou'er, do you mean that Sister Hu brought you the disaster?"
"Mother, let's not talk about the past anymore."
Yi Qing thought: What a shameless guy. He really knows how to take advantage of the situation.
Sure enough, Grandma He believed it. "Gou'er, why didn't you tell me? I didn't even know... You should have said earlier. We could have made proper arrangements for Sister Hu earlier!"
Fine. There's no saving this saintly woman.
"When shall we go back?" Grandma He asked again. "By the way, what about my medicine?"
You just remembered! Aren't those things life-saving for you?