Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 139 - 138: Come Here

Chapter 139: Chapter 138: Come Here

In the end, Manager Luo asked, "Do you want me to send someone to inform the Chen’s that the young master has returned, and that Afu can rest at home tomorrow?"

Chu Lingxuan initially nodded his head, then added, "No need to make the special trip, let her come and teach Yan’er as usual."

For some reason, he, too, wanted to see her, to see how she instructs her daughter.

Having initially disapproved of the idea of starting a hot pot business with small businessman Yang Mingyuan, Chu Lingxuan agreed when he learned that the idea was suggested by Chen Afu, who was also one of the shareholders. He nevertheless cautioned Manager Luo to be discerning with people, not to have their reputation and his official status ruined by businessmen solely concerned with silver.

Manager Luo bowed in agreement.

Chu Lingxuan remembered the matter mentioned by his second aunt from the Capital Marquis Mansion, and a sarcastic snide smile flashed across his face. He asked, "Did anything new come out of the Zhaos’ Village?"

Manager Luo reported, "Recently, Mrs. Chen intentionally sent someone back to the Zhaos’ Village, with 50 taels of silver, proposing to build a stone bridge over the river next to the Zhaos’ Village for the convenience of the villagers. It is said that Mrs. Chen plans to visit the village before the New Year. A three-day feast is being arranged by the Zhaos’ Village, and they intend to invite an opera troupe from the county town. The villagers are looking forward to it."

Chu Lingxuan sneered, "That old woman, not only is she good at gaining recognition, but she is also very skillful at currying favor."

The next day, Chen Afu cooked a new dish, Puffy Rings, which were essentially finely grounded bran fried pumpkin rings.

In order to get the young girl to obey, Chen Afu racked her brains to create various dishes, changing the menu every two or three days.

Leading Dabao to Tang Garden, she didn’t see the hardworking Manager Luo, and ended up handing the food box intended for the Luo family to an elderly maid, requesting her to deliver it to the Luo’s residence in the backyard.

Upon stepping into the Yiran Courtyard, she saw little Chu Hanyan, dressed warmly and holding her Yanzi doll, standing under the gallery eagerly looking towards the gate. She broke into a smile when she saw Chen Afu and Dabao arrive. She waited for Chen Afu to come to her, to squat down and hold her in her arms.

It had been like this daily for the past half a month.

Today, Chen Afu didn’t walk over to her as she wished. Instead, she stopped about ten feet away. Squatting down, she extended her hands to the young girl and smiled, "Yan has been waiting for Auntie, hasn’t she? Come here, come to Auntie."

Seeing Chu Hanyan didn’t move, Chen Afu smiled again, "Yan, come to Auntie. Auntie likes you. Don’t you like Auntie anymore?"

Chu Hanyan softly mumbled, "Like... Auntie."

"If you like Auntie, then come to Auntie." Chen Afu encouraged.

Chu Hanyan hesitated for a while, seeing that Auntie wasn’t coming over to pick her up, but kept stretching her hand towards her, she mustered her courage and moved forward one small step at a time.

She desperately wanted that warm embrace.

However, her steps were very hesitant and timid. Each step required a lot of thought. She took almost half an hour to cover the ten feet.

When she finally reached Chen Afu, Chen Afu scooped her into her arms with a laugh, joyously saying, "Auntie knows, Yan likes Auntie. Yan is very brave, this is the first time Yan has taken the initiative to come to Auntie." Her voice slowed, "Remember Yan, if you want something, don’t wait for others to give it to you, you have to actively pursue it."

Chu Hanyan softly murmured again, "Like... Auntie."

Chen Afu pressed her face against the little girl’s and said, "That’s good. If you like Auntie, express it like this."

Having praised Ms. Chu, Chen Afu took a Puffy Ring out of the food box, holding it up and saying, "This is a Puffy Ring, Yan, repeat after Auntie, Puffy - Ring."

Under the sunlight, the Puffy Ring looked even more golden and a sweet fragrance wafted out. Chu Hanyan let a strand of saliva slide down the corner of her mouth, she slowly said, "Puffy - Ring, eat, want to eat."

"Oh, sis, you’re so smart to know this is a Puffy Ring while Hui Hui had no clue." Chen Afu spoke and passed the Puffy Ring to Chu Hanyan before using a handkerchief to clean her drool.

Unpleased with Chen Afu promoting one and belittling another, Hui Hui whined, "Hui Hui knows, Hui Hui knows..."

Chen Dabao caught Hui Hui with a laugh and fed him another piece of Puffy Ring.

As Chen Afu stood up, she spotted Mr. Chu coming out of the room.

If he’s already here, why call her over? She had been working overtime for several consecutive days and was quite tired.

Chen Afu, despite the dissent in her heart, had to bow her knees and said, "Greetings, Mr. Chu."

Mr. Chu nodded and replied with a smile, "Master Chen, you have done a good job teaching Yan."

Chen Afu laughed and said, "Yan is extremely well-behaved and smart. She learns even faster than I imagined."

Mr. Chu realized it was the time for his daughter’s meal and decided to visit Yiran Courtyard. However, he found Chu Hanyan standing under the eaves, refusing to go inside, and she said, "Auntie, Dabao."

Mrs. Song giggled and said softly, "She’s waiting for Master Chen."

Seeing his daughter behaving like this made Mr. Chu both happy and somewhat upset. He stood by his daughter and said, "Daddy will wait with Yan."

Chu Hanyan usually waited alone. She was unaccustomed to having company and pouted unhappily.

Seeing that he was unwanted, Mr. Chu quickly said, "Okay, Yan can wait on her own. Daddy will go inside."

In a while, Chen Afu and the others arrived.

When the Luo siblings and a few maidservants all gathered, Chen Afu started the lesson. Despite the cold weather and occasional snow flurries, they still had their lesson outside.

This was because their current lessons only involved "speaking" and "moving," which was more suitable for the outdoors. It not only immersed the young girl in the game but also improved her physical coordination and fitness. In a few days, they would start doing handcrafts which had to be done indoors.

Chen Afu clapped her hands to make the children line up. The two parrots were at the front to review the lesson, reciting the song "Little Swallow" twice.

After that, she told the story of "Good Little Rabbit" once more. However, she changed "Mommy" in the original story to "Daddy" because she simply couldn’t bear to see Chu Hanyan’s confusion and bafflement when hearing the word "Mommy."

Then, Chen Afu took out some props she had made for the children from a large bag.

She tied a belt around Luo Mingcheng’s waist with a big tail hanging from it. Everyone roared with laughter and called him the Big Grey Wolf. Luo Mingcheng also made faces and said, "I am Big Grey Wolf, I want to eat the little white rabbit."

She put hairpins on Chu Hanyan, Luo Mei, and another maidservant. The hairpins each had two white rabbit ears attached to them. They were the three ’Good Little Rabbits.’

She also put a hairpin on Dabao, but this one had two larger rabbit ears because he was ’Rabbit Daddy.’

Dabao loved this game, and he loved being ’Rabbit Daddy.’ So, instead of reading, he also joined the other children to play during the game.

Then, the children started performing "Good Little Rabbit."