Abandoned Woman Busy Farming
Chapter 501 - 503: New Use of the Pond

Chapter 501: Chapter 503: New Use of the Pond

They say pain promotes growth, especially in men. This poisoning was a great blow to Du Zhongshu. His sudden transformation into a somber, silent figure is somewhat understandable.

"You should focus more on your studies. My elder brother said you are smart and quick-witted. With a little hard work, you could easily top the imperial examinations," Bai Ruozhu encouraged him, noticing a hint of despair in his demeanor.

Bai Yihong echoed, "Exactly. Your family can handle the business. The sooner you devote yourself to your studies, the sooner you’ll bring honor to your family."

Du Zhongshu didn’t comment, but a mocking glint flickered in his eyes. It passed so quickly that Bai Ruozhu thought she might have just imagined it.

"You’re right, I should focus more on proper matters." His tone remained flat, missing the previously warm and inviting nature. Bai Yihong and Lin Ping’er found his change disconcerting.

Du Zhongshu didn’t stick around for long. Although Bai Ruozhu insisted he should wait for Bai Zepei to return home and join them for dinner, he excused himself, claiming he had more pressing matters to attend to.

Once he left, Lin Ping’er sighed, "It’s good that he’s become more mature and ambitious, but why does it feel so disheartening?"

Bai Ruozhu sighed as well. As his friend, it was painful to see Du Zhongshu like this. But who had poisoned him? Did he know the truth, leading to such a drastic change in his demeanor?

When Bai Zepei returned home, she told him about Du Zhongshu’s visit and his plans to study at Beiyu’s Study Palace. Bai Zepei merely responded with an indifferent "Okay," seeming not overly concerned about Du Zhongshu.

"You guys are classmates, right? Why don’t you seem to care about him?" Bai Ruozhu asked perplexedly.

Bai Zepei couldn’t help but flick Bai Ruozhu’s forehead. Having been at the receiving end of this countless times before, Bai Ruozhu quickly dodged. Were they all under the impression that her forehead was a fun toy?

"Where do you come up with these odd questions every day? What’s this about caring or not caring?" Bai Zepei retorted with a disgruntled tone, clearly upset not by her remarks, but by the fact that he had missed her forehead.

Bai Ruozhu chuckled and evaded a little further, "It’s just an analogy. Don’t overanalyze things."

Bai Zepei stopped verbally sparring with her, suddenly serious. "He’s not the master’s official student. The Du family even dared to plot against you, why should you be overly friendly with him?"

"You’re right," Bai Ruozhu conceded and dropped the subject. Even if Du Zhongshu hadn’t been part of the Du family’s plot against her, the paths they were on seemed to be drifting apart.

That night, after falling asleep, she saw Jiang Yichun, whom she hadn’t seen for days. She ran towards him excitedly, entirely forgetting her suspicions and the phoenix-eyed beauty. She reached to embrace him.

Just then, the mist behind him parted and a woman, holding a delicate oil paper umbrella, slowly walked up and stood beside him.

Jiang Yichun didn’t look at Bai Ruozhu anymore. Instead, he looked tenderly at the woman, who returned his look with a sweet smile on her face.

Bai Ruozhu stared at them, her heart aching as if it was being slowly cut into pieces. Nevertheless, she held her tears back.

Finally, Jiang Yichun put an arm around the woman’s shoulder. They turned and left together, disappearing into the mist without so much as a backward glance at her.

Unable to suppress the heartache any longer, Bai Ruozhu fell to the ground and burst into tears.

When Bai Ruozhu opened her eyes, she found herself in her room. Her cheeks were moist, and her pillow stained with tears. It had all been a dream. Was it because she’d been thinking about it too much during the day that she’d dreamt about it at night?

She sat up slowly, wiped away her tears, and walked into the Space.

There was no night inside the Space. She sat by the pool and took off her shoes and socks, kicking the water in a gloomy mood, startling some of the plump fish which quickly hid.

Feeling restless, she caught one of the fish and started grilling it.

After eating a large grilled fish, she felt too full to move. Thankfully, it wasn’t time to get up and feed Dengdeng yet.

The land inside the Space was far from cold. Lying on it was highly comfortable. She took out the mirror that Jiang Yichun had given her and looked into it.

Did she resemble a bitter woman now, weeping over such an uncertain matter? It was truly a shame to her name, Bai Ruozhu.

Considering this, she found herself amused and began to laugh. But her laughter soon ceased abruptly. Was she depressed, or was she just too busy recently? Why were pimples appearing on her face? Had her pores become enlarged too?

Perhaps these conditions had been present earlier, but because she couldn’t see her pores clearly in the bronze mirror, she hadn’t noticed them.

Bai Ruozhu jumped to her feet, determined to make some skincare products, like a cleansing mask to get rid of the blackheads. Otherwise, wouldn’t the phoenix-eyed beauty leave her far behind with her pimples and blackheads?

If there was something like a mud mask from her previous life, that would be great. Wait a minute, mud? There was plenty of mud in her pond. When she was digging up lotus roots, she got some on her hands. It didn’t stink and even had a faint lotus scent. Could she use that mud as a mask?

Being action-oriented, Bai Ruozhu quickly went to the pond to collect some mud. Instead of applying it directly to her face, she spread it on the back of her hand and waited.

Somehow, she felt the mud would work. It must be due to the fact that drinking the water from the pond improved her skin condition.

Unfortunately, the pond’s water didn’t show significant effects on other people. She had secretly let her family drink it and had observed them for a while, but the results weren’t as good as when she drank it.

When the time came to wash the mud off her hand, the skin felt significantly smoother and seemed a bit fairer.

Bai Ruozhu almost jumped with joy. She promptly slathered the mud mask over her face, neck, legs, and arms. Were it not for it being the middle of winter, she might have stripped off all her clothes for a full-body treatment.

While she was lounging comfortably with the mask on and humming a tune, Dengdeng started to cry outside.

"Oh no, how can I go out looking like this?" Bai Ruozhu moaned. She quickly rinsed the mud off her arms, rushed out of the Space and, after lifting Dengdeng up, returned back into the Space.

Sitting on the ground, she began to nurse Dengdeng. Luckily, Dengdeng didn’t open his eyes. If he had seen a dark face, would he even recognize his own mother?