Free Web NovelChapter 1307: Chapter 1304: Proposal Rejected, Both Get Slapped in the Face
Leah heard that he had actually gone back to the cabin and asked in surprise, "Are you planning to go back to the cabin later on?"
Richard Shaw paused slightly, then said in a low voice, "Depends on where you want to live. If you don’t want to stay at the Shaw Mansion, we can buy another place."
Richard had always had deep feelings for the cabin. Every blade of grass, every brick and tile there had been built by his own hands, carrying all his emotions. Now that he was idle at home, he actually wanted to split his time between the cabin and the Shaw Mansion, but in the end it still depended on where Leah wanted to live.
Leah’s eyes flashed a little brighter; actually, she still hadn’t decided whether she wanted to stay in the Imperial City for good.
With nothing else to do, the two simply drove out to the cabin in the Suburban Outskirts to pick some fresh fruits and vegetables to bring back to the old lady. The man changed his shoes and clothes and went into the vegetable garden to pick fresh greens.
Leah saw that there were also a few persimmon trees planted behind the house. In this season, the golden-yellow persimmons hung from the branches like small lanterns. Delighted, she went to find a bamboo basket and a pair of scissors, then went off to cut persimmons.
She loved persimmons the most, especially since persimmons in this season could be made into dried persimmons. Grandma Shaw loved dried persimmons best, so she planned to pick some to take back and make them for her.
The persimmon trees behind the house weren’t exactly tall, but they weren’t short either. She could only cut the ones on the lower branches. When Richard came over, he saw that Leah had already picked half a basket of persimmons.
"Blockhead, help me pick the ones on the higher branches, leave the twig on like I did." Leah’s eyes lit up when she saw him come over, and she immediately waved him over.
Richard couldn’t help but chuckle. Seeing her so rarely this happy, he stepped forward to lend a hand and filled a whole bamboo basket with persimmons.
"Eating too many persimmons isn’t good for your digestion." The man lowered his eyes, looking a bit troubled at the basketful of persimmons. It seemed Grandma liked them too.
"Then we’ll eat something that’s good for digestion to balance it out," Leah said carelessly.
Richard carried the basket of persimmons to the car, then changed his clothes and shoes again. Lastly he closed the cabin door and quietly took in the tranquil, elegant courtyard with its clear stream and stones and clumps of asparagus fern. The washing platform by the stream was something he’d personally built for Casimir. Those few years, he’d lived here alone with his son—resting at sunset, rising at dawn—keeping to the same routine he’d had in the Military District.
"Don’t stare at it. Once my brother goes back to Brocade City, we’ll come live here, okay?" Leah saw the tea-colored depths of his eyes filled with nostalgia, so she slipped an arm through his and smiled sweetly.
Richard paused at her words, then looked at her. The corners of his lips lifted as he said with a faint smile, "Okay."
They drove back to the Shaw Mansion without calling ahead. When the old lady saw them come back, not only with fresh fruits and vegetables but also a full basket of persimmons, she exclaimed happily, "Where did you pick these? They’re so fresh!"
The old woman had seen all the wealth and splendor there was. In her later years she felt all the glitz was empty, and cared only about the ordinary matters of food, clothing, and shelter.
"We stopped by the cabin. Grandma, I’ll make dried persimmons for you," Leah said, going over to take the old lady’s arm with a smile.
"Good, good, good." The old lady was all smiles. When she heard that everything at the cabin was just as usual and that Richard’s subordinates kept going over in a steady stream to look after the place, she immediately said, "Those kids really do have heart. Richard, didn’t Leah say there are lots of persimmons there? You should pick them and let those kids all have a taste."
"I’ve already told Shuangzi to let them go to the cabin and help themselves," Richard said in a low voice. Now he only held the empty title of Major General and it wouldn’t be good to keep in contact with that side too much, in case it aroused suspicion.
"That’s true. At times like this it’s better to avoid suspicion, or people will think our family can’t bear to part with that overwhelming power." The old lady nodded, looking at the golden persimmons with joy in her heart.
Leah had already called Aunt Zhao over. The three of them sat in the courtyard, peeling the persimmons. The peels were taken out to be sun-dried, while the peeled persimmons were each tied with hemp rope one by one and hung under the eaves like a beaded curtain.
Casimir heard the commotion and ran out. Seeing the persimmons hanging under the eaves, he "wow’ed" in admiration, "Old Shaw, why are you hanging all the persimmons up?"
"Because we’re making dried persimmons."
"Then when can we eat them?" Casimir swallowed hard.
Seeing this, Richard rubbed the young boy’s head and said with a smile, "You’ll have to wait until December."
"That’s still so long." The young boy wrinkled his nose, then happily ran over to Leah and the old lady.
The man stood under the eaves, looking at the warm, harmonious scene in the courtyard, feeling calm and content inside. Then he snapped a few photos of the strings of persimmons and sent them to Ignatius Leclair.
Ignatius replied in seconds: "???"
The man lowered his tea-colored eyes, his thin lips lifting slightly as he replied with a smug look, "My wife is making dried persimmons for me."
Once the message was sent, it sank like a stone into the sea. There was no movement at all on Ignatius’s end, as if his internet had been cut off.
Richard lifted his sharp brows, put his phone down in satisfaction, and felt that his PDA had been a success. Old Leclair should have taken a hundred thousand points’ worth of emotional damage.
A few seconds later, Richard’s phone suddenly received twelve messages in one go—a barrage of photos thrown at him.
Richard looked through the photos: the big ones were aerial shots of a villa and a lineup of limited-edition luxury cars; the smaller ones were of the Leclair Family’s Samoyed, the flowers and plants in the garden, and the most vicious of all, adorable photos of his son and daughter.
The man sneered, "All of this was given to me by my wife."
Ha. Showing off in front of him? Leah making dried persimmons for him was nothing. Little Delphine was his sugar mama now.
Richard narrowed his eyes, his smile stiffening. Old Leclair was really getting more and more shameless.
"By the way, when are you and Leah Squire actually going to have the wedding?" Mentioning this matter, Ignatius immediately got annoyed. He didn’t even know what kind of stupid pact from which year was haunting him—Delphine had already rejected his proposals no less than ten times, on the grounds that if Leah wasn’t happy, she wouldn’t get married.
What was with women these days? One after another they didn’t want marriage? How come the ones with no sense of security had somehow turned out to be them, the men, huh?
Richard was stumped by this question. He still hadn’t proposed, because the most pit-digging and stubborn brother-in-law in history, Griffith Squire, was still butting heads with him, and on top of that, he felt Leah had absolutely no intention of getting married.
"For now, the wedding isn’t on the agenda yet." Richard pressed at his temples helplessly. As a straight-as-steel man, proposals and romance and such were really killing him.
"Give me some pointers. How did you propose in the past?" Richard asked.
Ignatius’s face went entirely black. He’d never proposed before; he’d basically forced Delphine to marry him. So this was karma now? Every time he proposed he got rejected, his face hurt from it.
The two outstanding heirs of prestigious families fell silent at the same time.
That night, Richard started scouring Weibo for all kinds of proposal ideas, while Ignatius issued a bounty task to the think tank. Each person had to come up with at least ten proposal plans. Whoever provided the plan that ultimately succeeded would receive a super New Year gift package.
