After rebirth, I kidnapped the sickly Dugong

Wen Baizhi regretted it after she said this.

Now she has no old friendship with Si Jiu, and she was even forced to marry him against his will.

Even if she feels a little different about Si Jiu now, she shouldn't say it so early.

It would be bad if it scared people away.

So, to ease her embarrassment, she poured herself a glass of water and drank it silently.

She thought Si Jiu didn't respond because he was embarrassed.

Little did she know that at this moment Si Jiu's ears seemed to have an echo, and her words kept ringing.

Seeing that Si Jiu hadn't said anything, Wen Baizhi felt that what she had just said was a bit too much.

She put down the cup and said, "Well, don't take what I just said to heart. I know that with your current status, you naturally don't need the care of a little girl like me. I don't mean to say that you really need someone to take care of you. I just hope that you can take care of your health."

She was rarely incoherent, and looked at Si Jiu's reaction while she spoke.

Si Jiu looked at her for a long time, then he said, "I'm very happy."

Wen Baizhi paused: "Ah?"

Si Jiu showed the first heartfelt smile since their reunion: "I said I am very happy about what you just said. You said you would take care of me, I am very happy."

Wen Baizhi touched her head unconsciously and said, "You scared me. I saw you didn't say anything just now, so I thought I was being abrupt."

Si Jiu said: "No, I just don't know what to say in return. After all, no one has said they would take care of me for a long time."

Wen Baizhi inexplicably thought of his current situation: "I heard that you became like this three years ago," she paused and thought about the wording, "three years ago."

Si Jiu nodded, his throat seemed to be blocked by a piece of cotton, and he spoke with difficulty: "Three years ago, my father was found guilty of treason, and the whole family was executed and exiled. Because I was on good terms with His Majesty, His Majesty spared my life and allowed me to enter the palace and become the governor."

This was the first time Wen Baizhi heard Si Jiu talk about what happened three years ago since she met him again. She couldn't help but ask, "Except for you, are all the family members gone?"

She knew the pain of losing all family members, and she instinctively didn't want Si Jiu to experience the same thing.

Si Jiu clenched his palms and said, "When my eldest brother was still alive, many people in the court advised His Majesty not to kill all the people in the Marquisate. So His Majesty spared my eldest brother's life and let him succeed the Marquisate. Although he could not hold power and attend court as before, he left a root for the Marquisate in the future."

He spoke with difficulty and paused several times.

Wen Baizhi was furious: "Your Majesty, why are you like this? We are both from the Si family, but why can your elder brother be a cool marquis, while you---"

Wen Baizhi bit her tongue and stopped talking in time.

Si Jiu's face was pale now: "Yeah, why me?"

He looked extremely pitiful, and even though he said this so calmly, Wen Baizhi still felt that he was about to cry.

Wen Baizhi had no choice but to comfort him: "You just said it, even if your elder brother is a marquis now, he is still suspected by His Majesty, and he cannot hold power and attend court. What is the difference between him and a useless person? He is just a mascot set up by His Majesty to stabilize the court."

She couldn't bear to see Si Jiu suffering like this, so she took the initiative to hold his hand.

"Besides, no matter what, you survived, and that's good. Only when you are alive can you have more possibilities, right? And now you are the governor, and you work in the Imperial Household Department. Almost all matters, big and small, have to go through you. You are much better than your useless brother."

"There are many ways to realize your value in life, and this is also very good."

For three years, Si Jiu couldn't sleep well every night.

Every time when he was about to fall asleep, the dead people from the Marquis' Mansion would appear in his dreams.

Those who once bullied him still cursed him in his dreams.

They called him worse than pigs and dogs, yet he was the only one left alive.

He was scolded again, saying that he was no longer a man and might as well die.

He lives under the shadow of his past every day and night.

He almost forgot what it felt like to be affirmed by others.

He was a little dazed. He looked at Wen Baizhi's unguarded smile and felt his eyes sore.

When he closed his eyes and opened them again, he saw Wen Baizhi approaching him.

Wen Baizhi knew that Si Jiu had scars in his heart, and she wanted to slowly help him heal them.

But she didn't expect that he started crying in front of her after she just said a few words.

She leaned forward and wiped the tears from his cheeks with her fingers.

She joked, "Are you yawning because you're sleepy? Tears are coming out."

Only then did Si Jiu realize that he was crying.

He said shamefully, "I am rude."

As he was speaking, Ping'an's meal was delivered.

After all the dishes were laid out, Wen Baizhi said happily, "Oh, there's also the spicy noodles that I like."

Ping An stood aside and replied respectfully, "Madam, when I went to the kitchen, I happened to meet Miss Cuizhi in Madam's room. She said that Madam had the habit of having a midnight snack at night. Knowing that Madam was with Du Gong, she made this bowl of noodles and asked me to bring it over."

Wen Baizhi took the chopsticks, picked up the noodles and stuffed them into her mouth: "Cuizhi is so nice and really understands me."

Ping An handed Si Jiu's meal to him again.

Wen Baizhi took the time to take a look and saw that it was just a bowl of white porridge.

Si Jiu picked up the spoon and stirred the porridge back and forth.

Wen Baizhi was eating happily when she looked up and saw Si Jiu with a conflicted expression.

She took the bowl of noodles and moved closer to Si Jiu.

"I'm not saying anything, but is it really okay for you to just eat porridge every day? Can you get enough nutrition? You're so thin."

Si Jiu was used to it and said, "I'm used to it. Sometimes there are banquets in the palace and His Majesty gives me food. I would vomit it out not long after eating it. Later I found that I would vomit it out no matter what I ate. Only when I vomited out something like white porridge, the smell would not be too bad and the filth would not be too unsightly."

Wen Baizhi sucked the noodles into her mouth: "I see."

Seeing how happily she was eating, Si Jiu became curious about the taste of the noodles.

He also asked, "Is your noodles delicious?"

Wen Baizhi was about to say it was delicious, but then she remembered that he couldn't eat it. If she said it was delicious but he couldn't eat it, wouldn't that be even more pitiful?

So she lied calmly and said, "It's not delicious, it's very spicy, look, my face is red from the spiciness."

She didn't lie about this. Wen Baizhi's body couldn't handle spicy food like it used to. She was sweating from the spiciness.

Si Jiu smiled and said, "It seems that it doesn't taste good." He changed the subject and said, "But I still want to try it."

Wen Baizhi said in disbelief: "You want to try this? It's so spicy, your stomach will definitely not be able to handle it."

Si Jiu said gently: "It's okay, my stomach is not feeling well, it's good to eat something different."

Seeing that he insisted, Wen Baizhi picked up a noodle with the other end of the chopsticks and put it in his porridge bowl.

The green branches were added in plenty, and even a single noodle was covered with red oil.

The white porridge was suddenly dyed red.

Si Jiu smiled, took the spoon and rolled the noodles into a ball, put it on the spoon, and put it into his mouth.