SDIWD - Chapter 101
Chapter 101
"J-Just pen pals?"
Hua Mu found it unbelievable. If she had approached her relationship with Bai Zhen with the goal of binding from the very beginning, they'd probably have a child by now!
"He's from the Hezhou branch, and we were in different units. We were both busy, so we always communicated via email."
Could that even be called a relationship?
While Hua Mu couldn't comprehend it, she also felt a slight sense of relief.
"In other words, you two never made it official?"
Bai Zhen frowned, her voice hesitant. "I guess you can't really say that. Minjun and I were very compatible in all aspects. It's extremely rare to meet a male Guide with a compatibility rating of over seventy percent, so when he expressed his desire to bind, I seriously considered it."
"Wait, you said Minjun… which Minjun?"
Please don't let it be the Minjun I know, she thought. I'll explode!
"It's Du Minjun, Viscount Du. At the time, he already held the rank of Major. I remember he attended your birthday banquet last year."
It really was Du Minjun!
The two of them had only met a few times, and one of those times had been right under her nose. No wonder that guy had struck up a conversation with her and kept asking about Bai Zhen. It turned out he was coveting her Sentinel all along!
"It's really him! You, you, you… you and him…"
If there was anyone Hua Mu hated more than Derek, it was Du Minjun. Derek was merely an idiot; Du Minjun, on the other hand, was a completely two-faced, sadistic scoundrel!
"Miss, do you know him?"
Of course she knew him! How could she not? Her father and the former Viscount Du had been good friends, so Du Minjun often came to visit with his father when she was little. The guy was a full ten years older than her, yet he had to compete with her for everything and never once let her win. Never!
Hua Mu was so angry she slapped the Sentinel's shoulder. "And you actually considered it seriously! How could you fall for him? That guy is awful! He's nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing, a refined scoundrel! Apart from his decent looks, he's the scum of the earth."
Bai Zhen was a bit surprised by Hua Mu's reaction, but she still spoke a fair word for her former pen pal.
"Minjun doesn't seem like that kind of person. He's always been gentle and polite. After Jinshen was transferred to Hezhou, he became good friends with him and always praised him."
Jinshen? Who was Jinshen? Why did that name sound familiar? Whatever! This Sentinel was a total social butterfly. She called her 'Miss,' but she was on a first-name basis with everyone else.
"Don't you dare call him Minjun! What's with the familiar tone!"
"Uh…" After all, he was someone she had once discussed marriage with. She had continued to use that form of address at his suggestion. "Then what should I, uh, call him?"
"Call him Scumbag Du!"
"That's…"
The honest and loyal Bai Zhen couldn't bring herself to say it, but Hua Mu began to list Du Minjun's misdeeds.
"Do you know how despicable he is? He even snatched a five-year-old girl's baby bottle!"
"Uh…"
Seeing Hua Mu's indignant expression, it was self-evident whose baby bottle Du Minjun had snatched. What surprised Bai Zhen was that Hua Mu still hadn't forgotten something that happened when she was five.
"That was probably Minjun…" The Sentinel was shot a fierce glare by the Young Lady and had to correct herself. "Viscount Du was joking with you. It must have been because he thought you were cute…"
"Pah! Was that the only time Scumbag Du snatched something from me?" Hua Mu hugged Bai Zhen tightly, saying with lingering fear, "He even wanted to snatch you… Tell me, were you two making eyes at each other at my banquet!"
Bai Zhen didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I was on guard duty outside the door at the time; I didn't even run into him. Besides, our correspondence was four years ago. After we made things clear, we barely had any contact."
They had made things clear four years ago, yet that Du Minjun was still so hung up on her last year. It was clear he really wanted to snatch Bai Zhen away.
Thank goodness, thank goodness. Now, on the island, there was no one to compete with her.
Hua Mu relaxed a little, then thought of another question. Since Bai Zhen seemed to have a good impression of Du Minjun, why didn't the two of them end up together?
"Hmph, it seems you liked him a lot. Then why didn't you just bind with him!"
Bai Zhen smiled, showing a hint of shyness.
"At that time, I had only been your guard for a year. If I had chosen to bind with Min… Viscount Du, there was a very high chance I would have been transferred to the navy, so…"
So, she had rejected him.
So, Bai Zhen really did like her from the very beginning! Even if Bai Zhen didn't know it, she knew it! It had to be true!
Hua Mu hugged her gleefully, humming and muttering, "I guess you have some conscience after all…"
As she said this, she couldn't help but recall the joy of meeting Bai Zhen again, and the subsequent disappointment and indignation. For that entire year, she had basically never given Bai Zhen a pleasant look, yet the Sentinel still chose to continue protecting her, even disregarding her own lifelong commitment.
She must have been so in love with her that she couldn't pull herself away!
Bai Zhen's heart began to race at her embrace, and she had to struggle to suppress the stirring in her body.
"Miss…"
Immersed in her joy, Hua Mu didn't notice Bai Zhen's agitation for a moment.
"Was I awful to you back then?"
Not only had she been bossy, but she had also always looked for trouble, just hoping to get her attention.
The thoughts of a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl were already hard to guess, especially since Hua Mu had undergone the huge change of awakening, which caused a significant shift in her personality. And her feelings for Bai Zhen, which hovered between worship, adoration, and shame, were even harder for her to express.
Later, as she gradually grew up, her personality became more reserved and also more awkward. After learning about matters of love and understanding her own situation, her attitude toward Bai Zhen changed from deliberately making things difficult to intentionally being cold.
She understood that no matter what she thought, she and Bai Zhen were impossible.
But now, that impossibility had become a possibility. She no longer wanted to think about her responsibilities, no longer wanted to follow the rules for members of the royal family, and no longer wanted to pretend or forget. She liked Bai Zhen and wanted to be with her, whether on this deserted island or anywhere else.
"That's not true. You just didn't know how to express yourself."
The Sentinel's words were not wrong at all. She really didn't know how to express her thoughts, even now.
How on earth could she make this idiot understand that she wanted her so badly she was on the verge of pouncing!
No, she had clearly already pounced.
"Hmph, it's all because you forgot me…" Hua Mu felt the joy of her wish coming true, but also an unavoidable bit of guilt. In the end, she had willfully chosen love. Now her dream had come true, and she even felt a little fortunate to be stranded here. But how painful must their disappearance be for their family and friends?
"I wonder how Auntie and Father are doing now."
Thinking of the Grand Duke and the Queen, Bai Zhen also felt a bit of worry and unease. How would the two of them view her developing such a relationship with Hua Mu?
"They must be very anxious, doing everything in their power to find you, Miss."
"I know… I'm just a bit conflicted."
She wanted to be found, but was also a little afraid of being found. Here, she could put everything out of her mind, but if they went back…
Bai Zhen understood Hua Mu's feelings.
"Miss, I will be with you no matter what."
The two stayed on the north shore for two days, stockpiled some food, and then found a shortcut up the mountain.
After climbing up the cliff on the western side of the north shore, they were right behind the shelter they had chosen on the mountainside. They only needed to go around a palm forest to reach it, which would take just over ten minutes at Bai Zhen's pace. Compared to going to the south shore, it was clearly more convenient to get seafood here.
In the past two days, the wood had dried enough, and Bai Zhen officially began to build the frame of the house. Because there were no iron nails, and the wood wasn't hollow, light, and easy to pierce like bamboo which could be tied with vines, Bai Zhen chose to use mortise and tenon joinery to build the house.
Thanks to the tools left by the previous inhabitants, she saved a lot of effort in processing the wood. But mortise and tenon joinery required a lot of thought and effort, so she had to devote herself completely to it.
However, to ensure Hua Mu's calcium intake, Bai Zhen still took her to the seaside every five days to eat some fresh seafood. Overall, Hua Mu was very satisfied with this—except for that lingering dolphin!
Dolphins are social animals and are rarely alone. Bai Zhen didn't know if this dolphin had been separated from its pod or was staying behind due to an injury. Seeing that it was always near the island and hadn't left, she took good care of it.
The bottlenose dolphin clearly liked Bai Zhen a lot too, and would even catch fish for her from time to time. Bai Zhen also gave the dolphin a name, Helena. Seeing the relationship between the person and the dolphin getting better and better, Hua Mu was seething with jealousy.
She could even flirt and attract admirers here; what would happen if they went back?
Because of this, she deliberately gave Bai Zhen a hard time, but perhaps because she was used to being difficult, the other party was completely oblivious, which made her furious. If it weren't for her inconvenient leg injury, she swore she would drain Bai Zhen dry… No, that sounded too obscene!
The Sentinel, of course, had no idea that the Young Lady was already entertaining thoughts of not letting her out of bed. She diligently and conscientiously built the house, finally finishing the frame after more than twenty days.
The wooden cabin wasn't large, only about forty to fifty square meters. The kitchen, bathroom, and toilet would be built separately later. As a place for the two of them to rest, it was more than enough.
Hua Mu looked at the house, which was already taking shape before her, and couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. This was her and Bai Zhen's new home, a dwelling they had built together. After three months of hard work, soon she would be able to have nightly… cough, cough, cough… live a stable and comfortable life inside.
"Next, we still have to lay all the floorboards, reinforce the walls, and build the roof." Seeing Hua Mu's satisfied expression, Bai Zhen was also filled with joy.
Hua Mu's status meant she lacked for nothing material, and Bai Zhen never felt she could provide anything for Hua Mu in that regard. But here, she had built a home for the Young Lady with her own two hands, which gave her immense satisfaction.
"How much longer will it take?"
"All of that together should be done in five or six days, but after that, we'll need to apply wood wax oil. Before that, we have to fix the oil press first."
In the dilapidated cabin, the two had found a machine that was almost unrecognizable. Though called a machine, it was made entirely of wood. Recalling the bottle of hemp oil found in the cave, Bai Zhen quickly determined that it was a traditional oil press—the kind of machine now only used in remote areas like those of the Black-Eyed Clan and a few others who still maintained a traditional way of life.
It was less about fixing it and more about building one from scratch. However, if they could make an oil press, their life together would immediately take another great leap forward.
Hua Mu couldn't help but start looking forward to the future. Her menu would become much more rich and varied. Not only could they stir-fry, but they could even make small, crispy fried fish!
Comments
Post a Comment