The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book)- 2

 

| TBBOTOF | 2

Tang Xu felt waves of coldness enveloping his body. He groped around but couldn't find anything to cover himself with, so he reluctantly pulled the thin blanket that was covering him.

As he adjusted the blanket, his eyes suddenly opened, and in his dizziness, he could only see the dark ceiling above.

Lowering his gaze slightly, he noticed the dark blanket covering him. If his nose weren't blocked, he might have detected the faint scent emanating from the dirty blanket.

He had never imagined that one day he would use his eyes to judge a smell.

Clearly, this wasn't his own home. In the middle of summer, he wouldn't use such a thin blanket; usually, it was a small floral-patterned sheet that covered him.

His head felt like it was being hammered, a dull pain spreading.

His throat felt dry and scratchy. Turning his head, he noticed a wooden table nearby, with two bowls on top, one large and one small, both with chipped edges.

He propped himself up and sat up, but a wave of dizziness hit him, and his eyes rolled back as he collapsed again.

When he opened his eyes again, he couldn't tell how much time had passed. Memories that didn't belong to him replayed in his mind like a revolving lantern, washing over his brain repeatedly.

Tang Xu stared fixedly at the dreary ceiling, taking several deep breaths. However, no matter how deeply he breathed, he couldn't calm the restless beating of his heart.

Not long ago, he had just finished reading "The General's Pretty Wife". He remembered most of the plot, if not all of it, as he had at least a vague recollection. He initially picked up the book because his fans in the livestream strongly recommended it, claiming it was incredibly intriguing and well-written. So, he decided to give it a try.

Even though he was gay, he didn't reject romantic stories.

But after reading it, he realized that his knowledge was shallow.

It wasn't just about love between men and women; there was even a third gender!

A "ger" who could bear children!

What was a ger?

It was someone with a red mole at the center of their eyebrows, a man who could become pregnant and give birth!

Tang Xu remembered being genuinely shocked when he first encountered this concept.

But he accepted it well; after all, it was just a fictional setting, not real.

The story had its ups and downs, and the author's writing was skilled, with a tightly woven plot that got Tang Xu's blood boiling. However, there was one aspect he wasn't entirely satisfied with. There was a character named Tang Xu, a minor character who had no connection to the main romantic storyline but was occasionally brought up for comparison whenever there was any romantic development involving the male and female protagonists.

It seemed like Tang Xu’s rejection of the general when he was still a peasant was constantly used to contrast with any romantic development on the general's side.

It's easy to imagine that the author wouldn't give such a minor character a good outcome. The ending for Tang Xu was tragic: the general became a duke, Tang Xu ended up as a lonely old man with nobody to rely on. After the general and his wife passed away, lovingly buried together, Tang Xu died of illness in his mud hut, his body left to rot until it was discovered, and the villagers hastily buried him with a grass mat.

When Tang Xu first saw this, he didn't feel much. After all, there are thousands of people with the same name, so it was normal to encounter characters with the same name as him.

But now!

Tang Xu clenched his teeth tightly. Wasn't it said that good deeds would be rewarded?

Then where was his reward?

He didn't want this kind of reward for his good deeds!

He pulled the blanket over his head, pounding the bed angrily a couple of times. This was just too cruel!

The sound of footsteps outside the door grew closer, and the creaking wooden door was pushed open.

Tang Xu furrowed his brows, peeling back the blanket to reveal his head.

A woman entered, holding a bowl. She appeared to be around thirty years old, and her slightly sour expression made her seem a bit sharp and unkind.

Seeing that he was awake, the woman walked over to the table and slammed the bowl down with a thud before speaking in a displeased tone, "You lazy bum, how long are you going to lie there? Your father has already gone to work in the fields, and I have to tire myself out bringing you water and food. Get up and go cut the pig grass. The chickens haven't been fed yet!"

Tang Xu remained silent, his mind replaying the memories he had received. Then, he turned over with his back facing her and muttered, "I'm not going. I feel dizzy, and I'm still not well."

Liu Xiangxiang froze in disbelief at his response, her hand paused in the motion of turning to leave.

As if she hadn't heard clearly, she looked at his back and asked, "What did you say?"

"Mother, have you forgotten how I got sick?" Tang Xu coughed lightly, his tone tinged with sarcasm. "If I hadn't pulled Tang Yang out of the river, your youngest son might have been swept away by the water by now."

Liu Xiangxiang was taken aback, as if she had never expected him to retort back at her.

She moved forward to grab the blanket to uncover him, and Tang Xu didn't resist. After she lifted the blanket, he pulled it back over himself. He was feeling weak and ill, not wanting to waste energy arguing with her.

Seeing his pale face, Liu Xiangxiang scolded, "You worthless thing! Falling ill from just soaking in water. I don't have that much money to spend on your medical treatment."

Tang Xu closed his eyes. "Okay, I got it. Please leave and close the door."

Liu Xiangxiang wanted to pull him off the bed, but fearing he might faint again and they would have to spend more money on medicine, she begrudgingly scolded him a couple more times and left. The door slammed shut, making the flimsy wooden door shake several times.

Tang Xu got up to pour himself a bowl of water. On the table was the bowl that Liu Xiangxiang had brought in earlier. He sniffed it and detected a medicinal smell, but looking at the clear color of the liquid, he wondered how many times the medicine had been boiled to become so clear.

He set the bowl down and poured himself two more bowls of cold water to drink. His stomach growled loudly.

There was likely nothing to eat in this room, and he didn't have the energy to cook for himself either. So, he poured himself two more bowls of water and drank until he felt full, feeling the water sloshing around in his stomach. At least he wasn't hungry anymore.

Tang Xu crawled back into bed, wrapping himself in the tattered blanket. He pushed all thoughts aside and focused on sleeping, considering it the most important thing right now.

When he woke up again, the light from outside was streaming in through the crack in the door. Tang Xu felt that his body wasn't as weak as before, except for a stomach ache from lying down too long without eating, he didn't feel uncomfortable elsewhere.

He took a good look around the small room he was staying in. It was truly tiny, with just a bed, a table, a broken cupboard in the corner, and a three-legged table—the fourth leg propped up with a stone.

Tang Xu joked, "It's not easy to prop it up so steadily."

His usual change of clothes was neatly stacked in the cupboard, and there were some strands of straw piled up in the corner, probably intended for making something. As for other daily necessities… he scanned the room but didn't see any.

Tang Xu sighed. Starting with just a bed and having to earn everything else by himself truly epitomized the phrase "bare walls make a bare home."

Voices from outside drifted in, soft and delicate at first, followed by Liu Xiangxiang's familiar scolding, repeating the same few phrases: worthless, lazy, and a burden.

Tang Xu slipped on his straw sandals, feeling uncomfortable as the rough straw scratched and irritated the soles of his feet. Next to them were a pair of tattered cloth shoes, their uppers all torn.

Tang Xu couldn't help but sigh again, feeling the weight of poverty pressing down on him.

He stepped out of the room into a small courtyard. In the courtyard, a few types of vegetables were growing, all just sprouting.

Liu Xiangxiang held onto her daughter's arm, her face filled with impatience.

Hearing Tang Xu open the door, both mother and daughter turned to look. There was a flicker of joy on the little girl's face for a moment, but it quickly disappeared.

Liu Xiangxiang glared at Tang Xu, grumbling, "You lazy bum, finally decided to come out? Why aren't you dead asleep in there? Go up the mountain and gather firewood. Every day, I have to tell you what to do. You have no initiative at all. No wonder nobody wants to marry you. With your laziness, there's not a second guy like you in the whole village!"

Tang Xu went to the water basin to rinse his face and wash up, catching a glimpse of his current appearance in the reflection.

He felt a pang in his heart. This face looked quite similar to how he looked when he was a child, except for the sunken cheeks and a small red spot in the middle of his eyebrows, signs of malnutrition.

As he touched his face, he noticed how rough his skin had become.

Liu Xiangxiang's scolding continued in the background as Tang Xu recalled memories of Xu Ge'er. The boy seemed to be only seventeen this year. He was good-looking and shy, always helping out at home. In fact, there were quite a few interested suitors, but all were rejected by Liu Xiangxiang.

The reason for the rejections was simple: Without twenty taels of silver, Tang Xu wouldn't be married off.

Twenty taels of silver! Even in a year of abundant harvests, with ten mu of rice paddies, one would only earn about twenty taels of silver. Not to mention that such prosperous years were rare. 

After deducting the grains for personal consumption from the ten mu of paddy fields, selling the surplus would only yield about ten taels. And for dry land, the earnings would be even less.

Although a ger could conceive and give birth, it was still not as suitable as a woman for bearing offspring. Basically, it was very difficult for ger to have two children. Who wouldn't want a prosperous family with many grandchildren? In rural households, only those truly too poor to afford a wife would marry a ge'er.

Rich households were different. Even if they married a ger as the main wife, they would also marry a lower-status woman as a concubine to expand the family line.

In the countryside, gers and women were usually married off by the age of sixteen at the latest. Someone like Tang Xu, who was seventeen and still unmarried, was considered quite old.

So, Liu Xiangxiang scolded him every day, calling him a waste of money and complaining that nobody wanted to marry him.

Honestly, wasn't it Tang Xu who didn't want to get married? Wasn't Liu Xiangxiang herself the main culprit?

On this matter alone, Tang Xu felt grateful to Liu Xiangxiang. At least he didn't have to get married before he came of age.

Setting down the water ladle and shaking off the water droplets from his hands, Tang Xu turned and headed towards the kitchen.

Everything else could wait. First, he needed to fill his stomach.

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