The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book)- 19

 

| TBBOTOF | 19

When Tang Xu arrived home, it was around four o'clock in the afternoon. He washed himself all over, buried the silver, changed into clean clothes, and prepared to go to the kitchen. Just as he stepped out, he saw Tang Erhu standing outside the kitchen door, with a look of astonishment on his face.

Seeing his stiff posture, it seemed like he had been standing there for a while.

Tang Xu walked over and called out, "Dad, what are you doing?"

Tang Erhu was startled, turned his head to look at him, and pointed into the kitchen, "Is that the meat you bought?"

Tang Xu glanced into the kitchen. Tang Li sat on a small wooden stool, in front of her was a piece of pork belly. She was squinting her eyes, plucking pig hairs one by one. Tang Yang sat beside her, poking his head out with his mouth wide open, looking like he wanted to take a bite.

At this time, the butcher usually wouldn't bother removing all the pig hairs. Being able to burn them off over the fire was considered good enough.

"Ah Li, go find a stick, I'll teach you how to make a small clip."

"We dried some mushrooms before, and when we went to the town this morning, I carried half a basket, thinking it would be good to sell them if possible. If not, then I'd bring them back," he tilted his face upward, smiling at Tang Erhu proudly, "Dad, am I impressive or what? I sold five hundred copper coins and half an ounce of silver! Then I went to buy meat and sugar, and bought a headband for Ah Li. But I didn't buy you any more wine."

Tang Erhu looked at him.

Tang Xu continued, "I'm afraid if I bought too much wine, Dad would drink too much and harm his health," concern shone in his eyes, which made Tang Erhu momentarily dazed.

Although this father usually didn't pay much attention to the children at home, he had actually held Tang Xu when he was younger. At that time, Tang Xu was still a little round ball, soft and delicate, even his crying was weaker than other children's.

He once thought that this child wouldn't grow up.

But now, looking at Tang Xu, with his rosy cheeks and bright eyes, Tang Erhu couldn't help but feel that his features were a bit too exquisite, lacking any resemblance to Liu Xiangxiang or himself.

Why didn't he notice this before?

Their Tang family's Xu Ge'er grew up to be quite good-looking.

Tang Erhu stared at Tang Xu for a long time without shifting his gaze, wondering who this child really looked like. Did their Tang family ever have such an outstanding appearance?

"Dad?" Tang Xu reached out and shook his arm, "Dad, are you mad at me?"

Tang Erhu snapped out of his thoughts, "No, no, Dad isn't mad at you," he chuckled and patted Tang Xu's shoulder.

Tang Xu grimaced; this middle-aged man had quite the strength in his hands.

He was hungry.

"Dad, I'll go cook. There's quite a bit of pork belly here, do you want me to cut a piece and take it to grandpa and grandma?" Tang Xu asked casually.

Tang Erhu shook his head, then nodded, "After you finish cooking, just bring them a bowl."

Tang Xu nodded and then looked a bit shyly at him, "Then I'll go stew the meat. Dad, shall we have braised pork? I was thinking of making steamed rice to go with it, what do you think?"

"Alright, let's stew a pot of white rice!" Tang Erhu exclaimed, his spirits lifted.

Tang Yang, inside the kitchen, heard about stewing a pot of white rice and immediately jumped up to scoop rice, showing his enthusiasm.

Tang Li dragged a small stick from the firewood room and handed it to Tang Xu.

"Elder brother, is this one okay?"

Tang Xu nodded and used a knife to flatten both ends of the stick, leaving the middle thin, about the width of a pinky finger.

He soaked it in water for a while, then folded it in half and tested it by pinching. It was indeed more effective for plucking pig hair than using bare hands.

Tang Li also tried holding it in her hand, "Elder brother, this won't hurt your fingers as much."

When plucking pig hair, one had to pinch hard with the fingertips to pull them off. After doing it many times, the fingertips would become numb and painful. Now, it wouldn't be a problem anymore.

Tang Xu rubbed salt all over a whole piece of pork loin for marination, then placed it in a basin. 

Looking around, he didn't see any cover for the basin. He planned to make a cover with sorghum straws after dinner. The basin needed to be covered, or it would surely attract mice. If the meat was bitten by mice, it could still be cut off and washed, but if the mice defecated inside, and the feces soaked into the meat... ugh!!!

Tang Xu nearly vomited just thinking about it.

He quickly turned to see Tang Yang who was washing rice. When he saw Tang Yang was about to pour the rice washing water away, he stopped him, "Ah Yang, pour the rice washing water into the bucket over there. We'll feed it to the meat later."

Tang Yang nodded, washed the rice twice more, then poured it into the big pot, "Elder brother, how much water should I add to steam the rice?"

"Add a little more than a finger's width of water above the rice," Tang Xu raised his hand and gestured, "You should measure it with your hand, about two finger's width. And don't let the fire be too strong, keep it at medium heat."

Tang Yang nodded eagerly, "I'll definitely watch the fire carefully."

"After we eat lunch tomorrow, I'll make you a sugar painting. You can take it out to play and show it to your friends. They'll definitely envy you," Tang Xu smiled and pinched Tang Yang's cheek, "And if they ask you who made it for you, you tell them it's your big brother. If they want one, they have to exchange it with copper coins."

Tang Yang listened with his mouth slightly open, "Big brother, are you really going to make me a sugar painting?"

"Of course, but it won't be too big," he spread his hand and gestured, "About this big. I'll make them into shapes of little animals for you. If anyone asks, tell them it's three copper coins each. If they want one, tell them to bring copper coins to our house to buy."

Tang Yang vigorously nodded and patted his chest, "Big brother, I remember. Three copper coins for one sugar painting, let them bring copper coins to our house to buy."

Tang Xu praised him for being a good boy with a smile.

He bought a pound of sugar for fifty copper coins. Sugar paintings didn't require much sugar syrup, but with this little business running, he could earn some extra money.

Even if mosquito legs are thin, they're still meat; he didn't mind a penny of copper coins.

Because there was only one stove, he had to wait until the rice was cooked to stew the meat. Tang Xu soaked the pickled vegetables in water and peeled a few potatoes.

For some reason, Tang Erhu didn't leave but instead brought a small stool and sat in front of the kitchen. Tang Xu noticed him and quickly said, "Dad, I've finished knitting the socks. Why don't you try them on? If they're too small, I can adjust them."

Tang Erhu agreed.

Tang Xu dried his hands and went back inside, fetching the hemp-thread socks he knitted for Tang Erhu. His eyes glanced towards the foot of the bed against the wall, where he had buried the contract and the pieces of silver wrapped in oil paper. The soil there had a slightly different color.

Tang Xu rubbed the sole of the shoe on that large area, stepped back two steps to take a look, and nodded in satisfaction. "Dad, try them on," he handed the socks to Tang Erhu. As he entered the kitchen, he noticed Liu Xiangxiang, who had come over at some point, standing behind Tang Li, reaching out for the piece of pork belly.

Tang Xu reached out to stop her, and asked rudely, "Mother, what are you trying to do?"

Seeing Tang Xu's face, Liu Xiangxiang felt the urge to slap him hard, and she actually did it.

Tang Xu was already wary of her, so when he saw her glaring at him with gritted teeth, he quickly turned and dashed out, shouting as he went, "Dad! Mom wants to hit me!"

Tang Erhu had just put on the hemp-thread socks. Although they felt a bit stiff to touch, his soles were even tougher, so wearing them felt quite comfortable.

He was smiling and touching the socks when suddenly he heard Tang Xu's shout, which startled him so much that he nearly pulled the socks apart.

He looked up and saw Tang Xu rushing towards him. Reflexively, Tang Erhu opened his arms to catch him.

Tang Xu threw himself at Tang Erhu, shouting as he did, "Dad, mom's mad at me."

Tang Erhu caught him and looked at Liu Xiangxiang, who was chasing after them with a dark expression.

He stood up, raised his arm, and swung it around, landing a slap. However, instead of hitting Liu Xiangxiang's face, it landed on her arm, knocking her to the ground.

Tang Xu grinned, thinking that if the slap had landed on her face, it would probably have given her a concussion.

Liu Xiangxiang screamed in pain and lay on the ground for a while before getting up.

She didn't even dare to scream, and her crying was subdued.

Tang Xu was quite surprised; this wasn't like her usual character.

What's going on?

He turned his head and saw Tang Erhu's dark expression, and then he understood.

For now, it was better to silently endure it. At least, they could still share the same bed at night if she didn't anger Tang Erhu further. If she did, she wouldn't be able to escape a severe beating.

Tang Xu caught sight of two people standing on the wall and raised an eyebrow at them. Then he bent down to help Liu Xiangxiang up, speaking in a low voice, "Mother, you're so careless. How did you trip? Hurry up and get up. Did you hurt yourself?"

Liu Xiangxiang's eyes were red with anger.

Tang Xu exerted some force with the hand holding her arm, signaling her to look at the two people on the wall who were watching the commotion. "If you're not ashamed, you can shout. After all, it's not me who got slapped by Dad."

Liu Xiangxiang was so angry that her eyes rolled back, and then she suddenly went limp and fainted.

Tang Xu blinked and shook her shoulder vigorously, "Mother! Mother, what's wrong! Wake up!"

Tang Li and Tang Yang rushed out of the kitchen, their faces full of anxiety, calling out for their mother.

"Dad, quickly bring Mom inside. She must have hit her head just now," Tang Xu said to Tang Erhu.

Tang Erhu silently reached out and carried Liu Xiangxiang back into the house.

The two women leaning against the wall exchanged a glance. Tang Xu didn't enter the house but walked over and asked, "Auntie, is the food ready?"

The neighbor auntie's family name was Wang, and both of these women were daughters-in-law of the Wang family. They hadn't divided their household yet; the whole extended family, from the elderly to the young, lived together, totaling over a dozen people.

These two daughters-in-law were originally washing vegetables in the yard, but they heard Tang Xu calling for his father and came over to watch the commotion.

"Oh, the food will be ready in a little while. You tell Auntie, why did your mother provoke your father? Why did he even resort to violence?" Auntie Wang asked.

"No violence, my mother was just chasing after me to play. When I ran, she wasn't paying attention and slipped. My father reached out to catch her but missed, and she fell," Tang Xu explained.

As for whether they believed him or not, that wasn't his concern.

"Auntie, I'll go check on my mother. You guys carry on," he said, then turned and went into the main house.

Liu Xiangxiang had already woken up; she had simply fainted from a rush of anger.

Tang Xu saw that she was fine and immediately took his younger siblings out; dinner wasn't ready yet.

Tang Erhu sat by the kang, his face tense, watching Liu Xiangxiang cry with her face covered.

Liu Xiangxiang cried for a long time without hearing any comforting words from the man. She peeked timidly, but Tang Erhu's current expression frightened her. She choked back her words and started hiccupping.

Tang Erhu asked, "Why are you so unkind to Xu Ge'er?"

Liu Xiangxiang widened her eyes, startled, and her hiccups stopped abruptly.

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