HE With the Cold Male Protagonist C36

Chapter 36: Dominant Clearing of the Field, Marry Him

When Jiang Baiye found his father, the man was not wiping away tears. On the contrary, somehow he had sneaked into Lu Lizhi’s house, shamelessly asking him to cook porridge.

Lu Lizhi could tell he was forcing down his low spirits. Though he did not know what had happened, he still planned to make a pot of porridge to comfort him.

Just as he was about to start the fire, Jiang Baiye walked in. He wore a new robe, the very one they had bought together in the prefectural city. He still remembered—he had only glanced at it once, thinking it would suit him, and Jiang Baiye had immediately bought it without hesitation.

Now, draped on his body, it lent him a radiance utterly unlike his usual roughness—resplendent, handsome, dashing.

This man, once he used his face properly, truly carried the bearing of a dragon and phoenix. But when Lu Lizhi looked up at him, he subtly turned his eyes away, as if avoiding, slightly evasive.

“Father, come outside with me.”

Jiang Dazhu froze, his expression turning solemn. “What has happened?”

“Nothing. I just want to say something to everyone.” Jiang Baiye smiled lightly, tone calm, betraying not a trace of the storm he was about to unleash.

“T-then you go ahead. I’ll stay here with Lizhi and eat a bit, no problem.” Jiang Dazhu instinctively turned to leave, but Jiang Baiye pressed a firm hand to his shoulder. “Father, you are a good man!”

Jiang Dazhu’s whole body trembled.

“Though you’re a little lazy, a little indifferent, fond of eating, you listen to your wife, cherish her, protect your son, are kind-hearted, loyal in feeling. You are my example, my firmest support and foundation. Because of you and Mother, I have the courage to stride out boldly. I don’t need to fear failure, nor worry about disappointing you…”

Unlike his modern parents, both senior clinical physicians, intellectual elites, who demanded the highest standards from him, pressing him to excel in everything, to be outstanding in every skill—so much so that as a child roaming the mountains with his grandfather, he felt suffocated.

To pursue his true passion for games, he had shouldered enormous pressure, forced to balance fulfilling their ambitions with earning achievements, lest they strip away his dream.

He was grateful, for their expectations had armed him with the capabilities to survive with ease in this world. He cherished their wholehearted devotion, the way they poured themselves dry to raise him.

But Jiang Dazhu and He Shi—so utterly different as parents—gave him endless love, letting him live freely as himself. Whatever he did, they perhaps did not understand, but supported him from the heart, tolerant and warm.

In his past life, his father had stood before his cage when stones, clubs, and curses rained down, guarding him with everything, struck down and bloodied, finally clutching his corpse and howling like a child.

“Everyone.” Jiang Baiye brought his father outside. As the crowd feasted happily, he suddenly raised his voice.

The place fell instantly silent, all eyes turning.

“This is my father, Jiang Dazhu, the man who gave me life. He is no servant to be ordered about at your whim. He is the father of the one who prepared this feast for you today. He is your host!”

Though it was a flowing banquet, the foremost tables before his home held the most important guests. Every word now rang clear to them.

Hu Yaowei and the headmen, the elders—they immediately darkened.

“He is a man of kindness and courtesy, a host full of warmth and sincerity, seeking only to treat you well, to ensure none felt neglected. He is not someone you may humiliate and belittle!”

Jiang Dazhu’s ears rang, fists clenched, tight, tighter, just to keep the tears from spilling.

When a man endures insult alone, he may appear calm. But when another steps forth to voice his pain, to feel his hardship, to defend him openly—then, even a man of thirty cannot stop his eyes from burning hot.

The guests were stunned. None had expected anyone to speak so seriously, so earnestly, for an ordinary father, usually unnoticed.

Jiang Baiye swept their faces, voice ringing like iron: “Today you mock him as timid and awkward, unfit for a stage. Tomorrow he may soar, succeed, and win glory!”

A roar burst forth. The hall exploded. Those who had been happily stuffing their mouths froze, staring in disbelief.

“Hah, ignorant child!” Several headmen’s hands trembled, as though struck across the face.

“Arrogant—far too arrogant! Where does he get the gall to say such things? Just a workshop! Who knows if it won’t collapse tomorrow?”

“Daring to run a pharmaceutical workshop—without backing, one slip of the herbs can kill! Let’s see how long his luck lasts!”

Some villagers overheard, uneasy, sensing dark plots brewing.

But Jiang Baiye only curved his lips faintly, brows lifting into an expression of exactly the arrogance they accused him of. “Then now, all who disrespected my father, leave at once. You are not welcome here. Have some self-awareness.”

Jiang Dazhu panicked, glancing at him. But Baiye strode straight to the few headmen Uncle Luo had named. “You’ve eaten your fill by now, haven’t you? This banquet cost me a hundred taels. Worth your trip, I’d say.”

The implication clear: you’ve had your share, don’t press your luck.

One headman still had grease wet on his lips. Meeting Baiye’s eyes, his own faltered.

The shame—unprecedented. Even the elders, hair silvered with age, could not play dead. Fearing the bold youth would call them out, they muttered curses and stormed off.

Hu Yaowei, just lowering his head to eat, “…”

Steward Tian shielded his face with his sleeve. “Quick, let’s leave before he comes for us. Too humiliating!”

Hu Yaowei eyed the empty dishes before him, “…”

“I’ll go first!” Steward Tian fled, ashamed of having come uninvited, and worse, having eaten.

Hu Yaowei, proud that he had not touched a bite, glared at Baiye approaching with his father.

“Father, did this man speak ill of you?” Baiye asked like a parent defending his child.

The words jolted Hu Yaowei’s heart.

Jiang Dazhu wasn’t sure, but he thought of this man’s sour face from the moment he arrived, eyes forever looking down. Surely unfriendly. He gave a heavy nod.

“You!” Hu Yaowei’s face turned green. Yet he only sneered at Baiye. “Boy, very good!”

He gave him a long, weighted look, then turned and left coldly.

Now those who had felt guilty could no longer sit still. Even those who had whispered insults in secret felt the shame too heavy, rising quickly to leave amidst the tide.

Watching nearly half the guests gone, Jiang Baiye’s heart tightened. He had overlooked something. He had thought only of correcting the flaws of his parents as written in the book, never of how, in his rapid rise, they might feel left behind, how flustered they must be, forced to stand in the spotlight unprepared.

“Changshui, won’t this bring you trouble?” Jiang Dazhu worried his bold act would cause harm.

“No matter what I do, there will be those who oppose me. If so, better to make my stance plain, make them hesitate.” Baiye’s tone was steady. Low profile? He knew nothing of those words. In his last life, hadn’t he hidden enough? What end did it bring him?

Resolute, he grabbed a wine jar and strode toward Headman Wang. “Apologies, Uncle Wang. I’ve driven away some of your guests.”

“It is I who should apologize. I never thought they’d behave so rudely…” Wang flushed with shame. He had hoped they would be shamed by Baiye’s success, but instead they came only to pick fights. Baiye was right to send them away.

Wang even apologized to Jiang Dazhu, drinking three cups in penance.

Mayor Xue, seeing his men expelled, his own authority slighted, grew dark as well. He forced a brittle smile when Wang introduced Baiye, but inwardly simmered.

Baiye thought coldly—Mayor Xue. If not for his report in the past life, would the county yamen have seized him? Would he have died?

He perfunctorily greeted him, then moved on, wine jar in hand, toward Doctors Meng and the others. There, one figure caught his eye—striking, like a white crane among chickens. No, more like a fox… a white crane suited only him.

“Heir He?”

Not far away, limping, clinging to Wang Yujiao’s arm, Feng Lan’er had just arrived, and she had seen it all. Her hand pressed to her chest, the heat of her wild heartbeat still pounding.

“He’s not like what you told me.”

Wang Yujiao opened her mouth, stunned, confused, filled with admiration. She had been shallow. This man could not be defined in a few words.

“Come, let’s go over!” Feng Lan’er could not wait to appear before Jiang Baiye. But her mother, Madam Feng, bloated with food and carrying a basket to stash away dishes, spotted her.

Instantly fussing, she rushed over. Seeing Uncle Luo’s table barely touched, she said, “Lan’er, sit here. This table still has food. The rest is already picked over, filthy!”

Uncle Luo’s group had just sat, chopsticks untouched, but Madam Feng domineeringly dragged all the dishes to her daughter’s side.

Lan’er’s mind was elsewhere, eyes fixed on Jiang Baiye, who drank and laughed boldly with others. She felt her very soul fly away.

In this tiny village, how could there be such a man? She had visited before—why had she not met him sooner?

“Mother, I want to marry him…”

Author’s Note:

Ah, haven’t hit six thousand words these past days. Everyone seems to have disappeared, and I fell into self-doubt, endlessly revising and rewriting, then had no time to meet the count. Apologies. Hope someone cheers me on, lifts me up, hey-choo~