Chapter 5

This looked so ridiculous, it was almost funny.

A tall and handsome man, about 185 centimeters tall, had a newborn baby hanging from his chest.

Aria burst into laughter. “Liam, I’m not ignoring you. I’m just trying to read seriously so I can earn more money in the future!”

As she spoke, she pulled his large hand over. When she touched it, she felt the calluses.

“Really? I thought you were mad at me.”

“Mad at you for what?”

“For not being capable enough to give you a good life.”

Aria smiled, her eyes curving gently. She untied the sling behind Liam’s back, took the baby in her arms, and spoke softly.

“How could I blame you? We’re husband and wife, we share our fate. I’m not the kind of person who’d run away just because life got hard.”

Liam was so moved he couldn’t even lift his head. He gently took her hand and kissed it.

“It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t insisted on climbing that mountain back then…”

“It’s not your fault.”

How could it be his fault? If anyone was to blame, it was the author who wrote this story!

Aria vaguely remembered that Liam’s eyes would recover eventually. But the author didn’t write it clearly, and she didn’t have time to finish reading the book.

So how his eyes recovered in the end, she had no idea.

What she did know was that Liam’s eyes would get better. And also, he was the son of the Southern Duke.

Years ago, the Duke’s wife had taken three-year-old Liam to pray for her husband, who was away at war. Liam had gotten lost.

As for how he ended up so far away in Qing City, Aria hadn’t read that part.

She’d only read about two-fifths of the book.

“Then for this month, you can’t stop me from fussing over you. Your health is more important than anything. Whatever you need to do, wherever you want to go, just tell me.”

As he said this, he reached up and touched the black cloth over his eyes.

“Even if I can’t see, I can still do basic things. My ears and hands are my eyes now.”

Aria listened quietly, then gently held his scarred hands.

“I’m your eyes too.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“I said I’m your eyes too.”

Liam’s face turned even redder. He buried his head in her chest and mumbled, “You’ve changed…”

Crap. Aria had forgotten that she was supposed to be a reserved and proper girl. What if she gave herself away and Liam found out she wasn’t the real Aria?

After thinking it over, she decided to tease him. “You don’t like it?”

“I… I do. But you can only be like this with me.”

“Alright. Now go do your thing. I’m staying here to read. If Avi wakes up, I’ll call you.”

Only then did Liam slowly walk out of the room.

Not long after, she heard the faint rustling sound of bamboo being stripped and the soft creaking of weaving.

Aria looked at the baby in the crib. A strange feeling came over her.

Was this… maternal love?

By noon, Nick finally came home. He went straight into his room and didn’t come out again.

When Aria’s stomach started growling from hunger, he suddenly stormed into the kitchen, clearly in a bad mood.

Even through the door, she could hear him slamming firewood down with loud crashes.

“Nick, what’s wrong?”

He looked at the firewood in his hands and said in frustration, “Sorry, Sis. I didn’t mean to scare you. I ran into Gaston in the woods. He said the firewood there was his and took all mine. We fought.”

“Are you hurt?” Aria asked as she opened the door to go check.

But the moment she opened it, she saw Liam sitting by the door, weaving a bamboo basket.

He reached out and stopped her.

Nick heard the door open and quickly threw down the wood. “Sis, I’m fine. Don’t come out. If you catch a cold, Dad and I would feel awful!”

That… that made Aria pull her foot back inside and gently closed the door again.

Liam stood at the door, frozen with his hand raised. After hearing the door shut, he got up and checked if it was properly closed.

“Come over here, let me take a look!”

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

Nick clapped his hands and shouted into the house, “Aria, I’ll go open the door first, then I’ll help you check them out later!”

Nick opened the front door and saw a woman dressed like a broker, standing with several maids and servants.

“Oh my! You must be Mr. Lin’s son, right?”

That reminded Nick—his father had mentioned earlier that someone would bring maids around noon so he could choose a few to keep. The silver was still with him. How did he forget?

“Yes. You must be Madam Wu. My father said you’d come around noon.”

“Yes, yes, I’m married to a man with the surname Wu, so everyone calls me Madam Wu!”

“Please come in. My sister just gave birth, and there’s no one at home to help. We need a maid who’s quick and handy. Also, my brother-in-law’s eyes are injured, so we need a clever servant boy too.”

As they spoke, Nick led her to the front courtyard. Madam Wu lined up the maids and servants and told Nick to pick whoever he liked.

Nick didn’t know how to judge people like this, so he knocked on his sister’s door and brought her out.

The sun was bright. Aria, fully wrapped up by her brother, stepped into the yard and looked at the ten people standing in a line.

She asked in a clear voice, “Does anyone here know how to care for a baby?”

She knew it wasn’t the best way to say it. They were buying maids, but the work was closer to what a wet nurse would do.

Maids were cheaper. Wet nurses usually weren’t for sale.

Madam Wu’s wrinkled face stretched into a flattering smile. “Meilin is quick and capable. She has younger siblings at home, so she knows how to take care of kids. Most importantly, she used to work for a wealthy family, and her cooking is great!”

“Then why is she not working there anymore?” Aria asked calmly.

“Well... um...”

Madam Wu couldn’t come up with an answer and looked at Meilin, who was standing nearby with her head down.

Meilin understood Madam Wu’s look and stepped forward to kneel. “The young master of the house I worked at said I tried to seduce him, but I swear I didn’t!”

Everyone was shocked. Usually, a maid accused of that would be beaten to death, but maybe the family had been kind-hearted.

“Madam Wu, do you have any other capable maids? We can’t take this one...” Nick started to speak but was interrupted when Aria raised her hand.

“Meilin, right? Look into my eyes and say it again.”

Meilin was surprised that this lady was even willing to listen to her, so she repeated her words.

“Miss, I really didn’t seduce anyone. I’m already twenty years old, and that young master from the Sun family was only fourteen. How could I even think of doing such a thing?”

This time, everyone was even more surprised. Aria didn’t say anything else but turned her attention to a big, strong-looking young man.

“Do you practice martial arts?”

“Yes, miss. I’ve trained for a few years,” he replied.

Aria looked at everyone carefully. Most of them were either covered in pimples or had sly expressions. One of the maids kept glancing flirtatiously at Nick.

The group was clearly a mess. But the martial arts boy looked solid and honest, with a strong build.

“Madam Wu, we’ll take Meilin and that... what’s your name?” Aria asked, pointing to the boy who just spoke.

“I’m Yunoo, miss.”

“Alright. Just those two. Take the rest back. How much silver?”

Madam Wu had only brought those two to make up the numbers. She didn’t expect Aria to actually choose the ones no one wanted.

Still, she didn’t want to ruin her own reputation, so she carefully asked, “Miss, are you sure you don’t want to look again? Meilin has a bad record, and Yunoo… well, he let the master’s horse die...”

“Just these two. How much silver?”

Madam Wu choked a bit, then held up three fingers and tested carefully, “Three... three taels?”

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