Chapter 13: The Love Between a Father and Daughter

After a busy day at the Yamen ¹, Shen Wenhua went directly to the study after he returned. Lian Zhi smiled when she noticed that Shen Wenhua had returned, she then immediately went over to him, “Laoye, you returned? The tea is boiled and ready, does Laoye want to drink tea?” This girl, Lian Zhi, was very observant, and she handled matters neatly. The most important thing was that her thoughts never showed. Although she served in the study, she was always well-behaved, Shen Wenhua was also satisfied with her.

“Okay, is that Longjing ²?” Smelling the fragrant tea filling the room, Shen Wenhua looked at Lian Zhi with a satisfied expression.

This Lian Zhi was a lot better than Xi Que, not only did she serve sincerely, but she was also careful with her words and avoided doing things that shouldn’t be done. Behaving like this, she was unlikely to overstep.

“Yes, nubi ³remembered that Laoye likes Longjing. Laoye worked hard all day so nubi prepared some snacks. Laoye, please sate a bit of your hunger first with some snacks, dinner will be ready in a moment.” Lian Zhi took out the food she had prepared earlier, she knew that Shen Wenhua came home around the same time every day, naturally she had prepared everything flawlessly.

“En, I will taste it. Hmm… the taste is not bad, you did well!” Tasting a bit, Shen Wenhua praised Lian Zhi. After all, he was not stingy with praise. Shen Wenhua did not have anything to nitpick about Lian Zhi. The way Lian Zhi handled matters was really not bad. Every day when he came back, the study was completely cleaned and tea, water, and the snacks he liked were already prepared. “Laoye, this is what nubi ought to do!” Lian Zhi lowered her head respectfully. Her eyes were cast down and her nose was pointed towards her chest.  In this way, she was not like Xi Que, who always liked to coquettishly glance at Shen Wenhua. This caused Shen Wenhua to feel reassured in letting Lian Zhi stay in the study. “En, carefully serve and you will have a bright future ahead of you!” Smiling, Shen Wenhua sat down and started looking at the official documents. Not long after he sat down, he heard Shen Jingshu’s sweet and sticky voice, “Daddy, Daddy! You came back?” Shen Jingshu’s vivacious lake blue, small silhouette ran in, rushing directly toward Shen Wenhua’s body. Shen Wenhua quickly caught her, “Hahaha! Shu-er, be careful.”

Holding his child, he could see that her hair was a bit of a mess, so he carefully tidied it, “This child… You are so big already, but still do things like an infant.”

Shen Jingshu giggled. “Daddy, daughter missed you!” Sitting in Shen Wenhua’s embrace, Shen Jinghsu leaned against her father’s arms. Looking at the docile and submissive Lian Zhi from the corner of her eye, Shen Jingshu’s eyes glimmered as she thought of a plan, “Daddy did not miss me?” If it were someone else’s child, they would not dare to act spoiled with their father, but Shen Jingshu knew Shen Wenhua loved her deeply, that was why she wanted to carefully enjoy this feeling of love. “Of course, I missed you! But was Shu-er well behaved today?” Shen Wenhua cuddled his daughter. He was not an old-fashioned parent who would rather dote on their grandchild than dote on their child. Shen Jingshu was his first child, in so many years she was his only child, so Shen Wenhua loved Shen Jingshu dearly.

“Daddy, daughter has been very good! Today, daughter kept mother company. Accompanied mother to talk and eat… Right! Daughter told mother a joke so mother can be happy!” Little by little she counted the things she did that day; The appearance of Shen Jingshu’s folded little fingers was very cute.

“Is that so? Shu-er is really well behaved!” Shen Wenhua chuckled. Looking at his daughter’s cute and intelligent appearance, Shen Wenhua’s love for Shen Jingshu grew a little more.

Now, his daughter was aware of another’s pain, and she was acting more like a little, intimate padded jacket.

“Is Daddy tired today? Come, daughter will give daddy a massage!” Shen Jingshu giggled as she sat on top of Shen Wenhua’s legs, and with her soft, pinkish hands she began to give Shen Wenhua a massage. Although her little hands gave Shen Wenhua a massage, in the end, her strength was still small so it had no effect.

“Daddy, is it comfortable?” Shen Jingshu’s hands were a little tired now, and she was getting frustrated as she was unable to do even this trivial task; It was not the first time Shen Jingshu had felt frustration over her young age.

“En, very comfortable. Shu-er is tired, rest for a while. How about we go see your mother?” Originally, he wanted to read the official documents for a while, but seeing his daughter’s tired appearance, Shen Wenhua changed his mind.

“But Daddy, aren’t you busy?” Looking at the official documents on the desk, Shen Jingshu did not think her father, the administrative magistrate of Jiangnan, had an easy job.

“Daddy’s not busy, let’s go!” Grinning, he carried Shen Jingshu and left. Lian Zhi followed them out but Shen Wenhua instructed Lian Zhi that she did not need to serve.

“Lian Zhi jiejie, do you want to go together?” Shen Jinghsu giggled as she looked at Lian Zhi. She had always been vigilant towards Lian Zhi. In the past life, Lian Zhi was also the same. She and Xi Que were very different, compared to Xi Que, Lian Zhi was very low-key. But only Shen Jingshu knew that Lian Zhi’s thoughts were much deeper than Xi Que. Otherwise, in the previous life, it would not …

Reminiscing, Shen Jingshu looked at Lian Zhi with a somewhat grim expression. Lian Zhi seemed to sense it and glanced towards Shen Jingshu, but Shen Jingshu had already recovered her normal expression. Lian Zhi furrowed her brow and believed she made a mistake, “Xiaojie ⁴, nubi has to organize the study. Nubi will go pay respects to Furen again in a while. “

Knowing when to advance and retreat, in this way Lian Zhi would certainly not allow others to catch any mistakes.

“That’s fine. Daddy, let’s go!”

“En. Lian Zhi, tidy up the study and then go rest. No need to serve in the study.” After Shen Wenhua finished instructing, he then immediately held Shen Jingshu’s hand and left. Along the way, everyone heard the father and daughter laughing. Their eyes were delighted, but they were feeling somewhat envious towards the good relationship between the both of them.

Laoye really, really loved Xiaojie!

…

Shen Wenhua and Shen Jingshu went over to Dan Yuerong’s place and happened to see her in the middle of making clothes. Shen Wenhua suddenly started, “You… you are pregnant now and must properly rest. How can you make these clothes? Straining your eyes is not good.” Their family was well off, and Shen Wenhua loved Dan Yuerong a lot, of course he did not want Dan Yuerong to work too hard.

“Wenhua, it’s alright.  It’s still early, sitting here by myself is no problem. If you do not let me do things, I will get bored.” Dan Yuerong said while smiling at Shen Wenhua. In her free time, Dan Yuerong only did embroidery.

“Mom, are you making clothes for little brother? It’s very beautiful!” Looking at the clothes that Shen Wenhua was holding, Shen Jingshu’s face was filled with amazement.

In the past life, she vaguely remembered that her mother’s embroidery was very good, but that memory was already a bit fuzzy. Seeing it now, it was really lifelike.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes, I like it!”

“If you like it, mom can teach you!”

“Mom…” Shen Jingshu’s looking miserably at the embroidery, in her past life her embroidery skills were a mess.

“Shu-er does not like it?” Embroidery is very important for a woman because it symbolized the virtue of a woman. Sometimes in marriage, it made people see that a woman had more layers.

1. Government office
2. Dragon Well, a type of high-quality green tea
3. Slave/servant
4. Young lady/Miss