Abandoned Woman Busy Farming

Chapter 1501: Chapter 1602 The Mysterious Uncle Identity_1

But his folding fan actually managed to repel someone through a magic barrier, how deep must his inner strength be!

Duanyan squinted at Gao Zhou and said, ”Who are you? I advise you not to meddle in others’ affairs. If you leave now, I’ll pretend nothing happened just now, otherwise, I, Duanyan, will remember you as an enemy!”

Gao Zhou wasn’t angry; he casually strolled over, step by step. His robe was loose, resembling a literary scholar from the Weijin Period; had it not been for the power of his fan-throwing, anyone would mistake him for a frail scholar devoid of the strength to truss a chicken.

”This girl is my younger generation; if I don’t take care of her, who will? What does it matter if you remember me as an enemy? There’s nothing I, Gao Zhou, am less afraid of than others’ threats,” he said, his pace of speech unhurried and his demeanor relaxed. His composure was so impressive that even Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but be awed. Yet, when he got to the end of his speech, although his voice wasn’t loud, it was full of an overwhelming authority that completely overshadowed Duanyan.

Duanyan narrowed his eyes; he was poisoned and using his inner strength to suppress it was already somewhat strenuous, magic was not easy to use either. Now with Jianqi and this Gao Zhou present, he really couldn’t afford to be careless, and he even suspected that Gao Zhou might have brought other allies.

”Hum, refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. You all wait for me!” With that said, he flashed away, leveraging the magic to flee into the distance.

”Where do you think you’re running!” Gao Zhou raised his hand, ready to throw something, but realizing his folding fan was gone, he hurriedly pulled the jade pin from his hair and hurled it.

Bai Ruozhu was dumbfounded. Why did this uncle like throwing things at people so much—was throwing stuff his special move? But a jade pin? That seemed a bit much. Watching as his long hair cascaded down untidily was somewhat uncomely.

Beset by this moment of hesitation, Gao Zhou’s jade pin didn’t hit Duanyan, allowing him to escape. The jade pin made of white jade fell to the ground and shattered into several pieces.

There wasn’t a hint of distress on his face, as if the jade pin wasn’t his at all. He shook his hair and looked towards Bai Ruozhu, asking, ”Little friend Bai, are you alright?”

Bai Ruozhu, still stunned, had just thought untidy hair was unseemly, but now she realized her mistake. The way his hair draped freely actually gave him more of a Weijin literary scholar’s air; scholars from the Weijin Period pursued a carefree and natural style, even wearing wooden clogs at times, quite at ease.

”Scared silly?” Gao Zhou waved a hand in front of Bai Ruozhu’s face. She came back to her senses and noticed the calluses on his palm—that was from practicing martial arts with weapons.

Jianqi rushed over and nervously stood guard beside Bai Ruozhu. ”Master, are you alright? It’s my incompetence.”

Bai Ruozhu came to her senses and quickly gave him a pill to ease internal injuries, saying, ”I’m fine, but you’ve been injured inside. Bring someone over and then go back to rest.”

Jianqi glanced at Gao Zhou; Gao Zhou looked back frankly and said, ”Why don’t you trust me? If I wanted to hurt her, couldn’t I have done it any time? Why would I bother with all this effort?”

A thought struck Bai Ruozhu. Indeed, she had only seen Gao Zhou take action twice, and it was clearly not his full strength, yet it was already so formidable. If he meant harm to Achun, he truly didn’t need to go to such lengths.

She gave Jianqi a slight nod; Jianqi understood, signaled for other dark guards to come for support, and then followed Bai Ruozhu’s instructions to go back and recuperate.

Bai Ruozhu’s mouth still bore traces of blood. Gao Zhou, somewhat concerned, pointed to her lips and said, ”You’re spitting blood, are you really alright? Should we see a doctor?”

”It’s nothing. It’s better to spit out the congealed blood. Spitting blood doesn’t affect eating, right? Let’s hurry up to the guest-welcoming venue; I’m about to starve after all this delay,” Bai Ruozhu said with a laugh.

Her injury was due to Furball getting hurt, not that serious; a few days’ rest should suffice for recovery.

Seeing her so dismissive, Gao Zhou didn’t insist further and followed her towards the guest-welcoming venue.

”Senior Gao, you’ve saved me again—I’m thankful once more,” Bai Ruozhu said, thanking him with a cupped-fist salute like a man, her movements incredibly debonair.

A look of appreciation flashed in Gao Zhou’s eyes as he smiled and replied, ”It was a mere trifle, just tossing something. Hardly worth mentioning.”

Bai Ruozhu laughed out loud, ”Indeed, both times involved tossing something. It’s a pity the Jade Pin broke. I’ll present you with another one someday.”

As for the folding fan, it was currently in his hand. He had just picked it up from the ground and was leisurely fanning himself. Bai Ruozhu was surprised that the fan wasn’t torn and its ribs weren’t broken.

Soon the two arrived at the ’Welcoming Guests’ establishment and entered the private room Bai Ruozhu had reserved. The waiter served the dishes one by one, and Gao Zhou did not hold back, he started eating heartily with big bites.

Bai Ruozhu noticed that although he ate voraciously and his movements were large, they paradoxically conveyed a sense of leisure and elegance, devoid of any coarseness. She was truly curious how an ordinary merchant from Chengshui Country could possess such demeanor.

”Senior Gao isn’t an ordinary merchant, are you?” Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but ask.

Gao Zhou started laughing, ”Guess!”

The corner of Bai Ruozhu’s mouth twitched; wasn’t that her catchphrase? How had it been turned around on her? Did that mean he was aware of her affairs?

”Have you investigated me?” Bai Ruozhu stared into his eyes as she asked. The corners of his eyes already bore crow’s feet, yet his hair remained black and lustrous. Even under Bai Ruozhu’s intense gaze, he showed no sign of panic.

”There’s no need for investigation, Doctor Bai’s reputation is so illustrious.” Gao Zhou said, raising his cup towards Bai Ruozhu in a toasting gesture, not waiting for her reaction, and downed the drink.

Bai Ruozhu had no choice but to lift her cup as well and drank it in one go.

”Who exactly are you, Senior, and why do you keep coming to the aid of the younger generation?” Bai Ruozhu continued to press.

”If I said it’s because I admire your character and abilities, would you believe me?” Gao Zhou remained unflappable, even as he picked up a pastry and popped it into his mouth.

Seeing that his answer was as good as none, and it wouldn’t be right to press further, Bai Ruozhu put aside her suspicions. After all, he had saved her twice and bore no malice; it was quite improper of her to be so distrustful.

Once she had come to terms with that, she and Gao Zhou chatted about everything under the sun and hit it off splendidly.

”I’ve heard that east of Chengshui, past the ocean, lies Fusang Country where the sun never sets, and the people are descendants of the Three-legged Divine Bird. Being well-informed and widely traveled, Bai Xiaoyou, what’s your take on that?” Gao Zhou spoke with a longing look, apparently yearning to travel overseas.

”How could the sun never set? Wouldn’t that be incredibly hot? Fusang Country does exist, and their people indeed revere the sun, but they are not descendants of the Three-legged Divine Bird—it’s merely their totem,” Bai Ruozhu explained boastfully after sipping some wine.

At that moment, footsteps sounded outside, followed by Jiang Yichun’s voice: ”Are my wife and her friend dining?”

Bai Ruozhu hadn’t expected Achun to come, but thinking that Gao Zhou likely meant no harm to Achun, she was inclined to introduce them to each other; however...