The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 88

 

| TBBOTOF | 88

Tang Xu said he wouldn't sleep, but the kang was too warm, and the quilt was soft and without any strange smell.

It should be mentioned that although Tang Erhu is a rough man, he was still clean. 

After working in the fields, he always washed his body with water when he came back, which was different from those men who didn't even wash their feet.

Tang Li was also diligent and clean. When it was cold and she didn't sell skewers, she would occasionally take out the bedding at home, wash what needed to be washed, and air it out.

Although the quilt on Tang Erhu's bed looked like old cotton, it was also fluffy after being washed and dried, layer by layer pressed together with effort. It happened to have been sun-dried twice during the sunny days of the past few days.

Tang Xu, drowsy, slowly slid down under the quilt.

Then he fell asleep under the quilt.

Wei Dong sat there the whole time watching his movements, without making a sound to disturb him. After everyone fell asleep, he got up and went outside.

Tang Yang and Wei Xi were studying in the room, and Tang Rui was there too which was a rare sight.

Not only was he there, but he also had a book in his hand and was reading it with relish.

The books were brought over by Wei Xi, a total of three. They were the books Wei Dong learned to read when he was young, bought by his father from the bookshop for one or two silver coins each at that time.

Wei Xi brought them over hoping to read and learn some characters together with Tang Yang, but Tang Rui borrowed one from him, and he didn't think it was a problem.

The young man had an easygoing nature. He politely asked to borrow the book, so of course, he wouldn't refuse.

So, as soon as Wei Dong entered the door, he saw a harmonious scene.

Tang Rui, despite being fifteen, had very few encounters with Wei Dong, so he seemed a bit nervous when he saw him.

On the other hand, Tang Yang was quite close to Wei Dong. As soon as he heard the door open and saw it was Wei Dong, he immediately called out to him, "Brother-in-law!"

Wei Dong nodded and responded with a grunt, "I'm going to catch some fish, who's coming with me?"

Wei Xi raised his hand, "I'll go."

Tang Yang jumped up, "I'll go too!"

Tang Rui shook his head, "I'll stay here, I want to read."

Wei Dong nodded without saying much, gave a nod to the two younger ones, and headed out.

In the kitchen, Tang Li had just finished plucking the chicken and was about to chop it into pieces. She thought since there were many people at home today, she might as well stew the whole chicken, which would also be good for her eldest brother.

Her eldest brother liked to eat white rice, so she would cook another pot of rice, stir-fry some pickled vegetables and preserved meat, and make a soup, which would be enough.

There was only one pot in the kitchen. When they were selling skewers before, they had set up an additional stove outside. Cooking with two pots would be faster.

As Tang Li was about to raise her hand to chop the meat, Wei Dong approached and gestured, "Let me do it."

Tang Li didn't hesitate and handed him the knife. She glanced at the two behind him, who were holding buckets and fishing nets, and asked, "Brother-in-law, are you taking them to catch fish?"

"Yeah, your eldest brother is asleep, and Dad went to bed too," Wei Dong felt something was off and turned to ask, "Did Dad go to your eldest brother's room?"

Tang Yang paused for a moment and nodded, "Yeah, we were studying here originally. Eldest brother came over and said Dad was sleeping in his room and he wanted to stay in my room for a while."

Wei Dong nodded, "Then we'll have dinner a bit later. Ah Li, take your time cooking, there's no rush. Stew some fish when we come back from fishing. Do we have any tofu at home?"

"We have frozen tofu, fresh tofu needs to be bought in the morning, but it's probably sold out by now," Tang Li replied, then looked at his expression and asked uncertainly, "Should I go check?"

"No need, frozen tofu is fine. Your eldest brother loves it."

Lately, Tang Xu's taste has changed. A while ago, he didn't want to eat anything, but now he had an appetite for everything he saw. He didn't eat a lot, but he ate enough, about two bowls of rice. At this rate, he might gain weight soon.

He has developed a new habit lately. If he wanted to eat something and couldn't, he'd get upset, couldn't sleep, and would end up making a lot of food just to take a bite or two to satisfy his craving, leaving the rest for Wei Dong and Wei Xi to finish the rest.

With this pattern, it wouldn't be long before Wei Dong might gain some weight. Wei Xi, on the other hand, would definitely gain weight, especially since Wei Xi doesn’t exercise much but he sleeps well.

After thinking for a while, Wei Dong finished chopping the chicken, took the hoe that Tang Erhu had placed against the wall, and led the two young ones carrying buckets and fishing nets to the riverbank.

The river was covered with a thick layer of ice. There were quite a few teenagers sliding and playing on top, and some were drilling holes in the ice to fish. 

However, they spent half a day chiseling out a small hole, and although he could see the fish swimming below, unfortunately, the opening was not large enough. It was a struggle to pull up the larger fish, and he even broke the hemp rope in the process.

Tang Yang ran over to take a look, then ran back to Wei Dong and briefed him on the situation.

"There are several big fish in the bucket," Tang Yang gestured, "He said he can't catch the big ones, the ice is too thick, and drilling the hole is too hard."

Wei Dong grunted in acknowledgment, walking on the ice surface while tapping it with the hoe, then selecting a spot.

Wei Xi and Tang Yang cautiously followed him, holding hands to support each other. They slipped a few steps, thankfully catching each other, otherwise, they would have fallen.

Wei Dong raised the hoe, steadied his stance, exerted force with his back, clanging three times, then clanging three more times.

A round hole was smashed into the ice, and he began to remove the broken ice.

Water surged up after the ice was removed, quickly submerging the hole.

Wei Dong struck two more times, enlarging and smoothing the edges of the hole.

Then he directly lowered the fishing net into the hole.

Tang Yang and Wei Xi squatted beside him, curiously peering down.

They didn't need to scatter any bait. With just this one ice hole, several fish were already swimming up, and some of them were quite large.

Not long after, Wei Dong began pulling up the fishing net. There were quite a few fish in the net, but since the hole wasn't very large, it wasn't realistic to pull them all up. Wei Dong simply used his foot to hold down the net and gestured to the two, "Pick up the fish."

Tang Erhu had woven the fishing net with very dense holes, and the hemp rope he used seemed to have been re-twisted, making it thin and tough, and not easy to break.

The three of them worked for half an hour, and the fish caught in the net were frozen on the ice surface.

Wei Dong pulled the net out of the hole, shook off the water, picked up the fish frozen on the ground, and threw them into the bucket.

Their harvest was so plentiful that it attracted many onlookers.

Many youngsters exclaimed in amazement each time Tang Yang picked up a frozen fish and threw it into the bucket. A few who were on good terms with Tang Yang even came over to help pick up the fish.

"You guys are amazing, these fish are so big!"

"Yeah, I've seen many people fishing here while I'm skating, but no one has ever caught so many big ones!"

"Is that person your brother-in-law? He's so skilled, he makes bigger ice holes than anyone else!"

"These fish are huge! Look!"

Tang Yang took a glance and found one even bigger than the one he had picked up. He turned to Wei Xi and noticed that Wei Xi had already filled a bucket on his side. His own bucket was also full, but there were still a few fish left on the ice that hadn't been picked up.

"Brother-in-law, the bucket's full," Tang Yang turned to Wei Dong, pointing at his bucket, then at the fish on the ground, "I can't fit anymore."

Wei Dong nodded, "Let's go back." He picked up the two buckets, handed the hoe to Wei Xi, and gave the fishing net to Tang Yang. "Let's go."

Tang Yang turned to the few youngsters who had helped and pointed at the frozen fish on the ice, "You guys can take some home to eat. We're heading back. Bye."

"Thank you, Ah Yang’s brother-in-law!"

"Yeah, thank you!"

Tang Yang waved his hand, dragging Wei Xi back in a few slippery steps.

Wei Dong took big strides forward, walking quickly and paying no attention to whether the two youngsters behind him could keep up with his pace.

After all, they wouldn't get lost.

Back at the Tang household, Tang Erhu had already woken up, even earlier than Tang Xu.

After waking up, he went to the kitchen and smelled the aroma, asking, "Where's your eldest brother?"

Tang Li turned to look, noticing a few traces of marks on his face, and quickly poured a bowl of water for him, "Eldest brother should still be sleeping. I didn't hear any movement. Brother-in-law took Ah Yang and Xiao Xi to the river to catch fish. They've been gone for a while."

Tang Erhu nodded, then asked, "And your second eldest brother?"

"It seems like he's in Ah Yang's room," Tang Li replied, licking her lips and hesitantly asked, "Dad, did second eldest brother come back to ask you for money?"

Tang Erhu frowned, "Ask for money? Didn't he take twenty taels? Wasn't that enough?"

Tang Li didn't understand much about Tang Rui's expenses in the county, but she had seen a few times when Tang Rui came back from the county and went to ask Liu Xiangxiang for money. 

Wherever he came home, her mother would give him a small cloth bag containing an unknown amount of money. When he would leave, her mother wouldn't buy meat or fish for the family for a while, until her father became unhappy and insisted, then her mother would cook a couple of eggs and stew a pot of vegetables with a small piece of meat.

At that time, Tang Rui was quite gentle in temperament. When Mother didn't give him money to buy meat and wouldn't let him eat eggs, he would secretly go to the mountains to look for bird eggs or wild chicken eggs. If he was lucky, he could find a few, but if not, it would be a wasted trip. 

However, every time Tang Rui found some, he would share them with Tang Li and Tang Yang. 

Tang Li remembered this clearly.

After sprinkling some salt into the pot and tasting the flavor, Tang Li covered the pot again.

Upon hearing her father's words, Tang Li scoffed, "Second eldest brother asked me before if I made a lot of money selling skewers and if I used the money to pay for Ah Yang's tuition. I told him we made some money, but Dad bought a cow, so there wasn't much left. I also said Ah Yang's tuition isn't much, and all the living expenses are covered by Brother Xu. Then he asked why our Eldest brother gave money to Ah Yang, but I said I didn't know."

After she finished speaking, she glanced at Tang Erhu, "Dad, did I say something wrong? I felt like my second Eldest brother's expression wasn't quite right at the time."

Tang Erhu frowned, "What do you mean?"

"It seemed like he felt that our Eldest brother was taking care of Ah Yang more than him, and he wasn't too happy about it?" Tang Li didn't quite understand, but she didn't like the expression Tang Rui had at the time.

Tang Erhu's expression turned cold, and he snorted, "I think he's too absorbed in his studies!"

Tang Li didn't intend to continue this conversation. 

Instead, she said, "Eldest brother is pregnant now. They say it's difficult for ger to conceive. If Second eldest brother really went to ask Eldest Brother for money and upset him, what should we do? Dad, why don't you go have a talk with Eldest Brother? At least let him know what's going on."

Tang Erhu felt that Tang Rui probably wouldn't directly ask Tang Xu for money in front of others, but he might do so indirectly.

Tang Xu woke up shortly after Tang Erhu, but while Tang Erhu got up and left the room, Tang Xu remained curled up in the warm quilt without moving.

He yawned and rubbed his face. Only when he heard some activity in the yard did he slowly get up and leave the bed.

Outside, the cold wind whistled, and as soon as the door curtain was lifted, Tang Xu shivered.

He quickly put down the curtain, he turned back into the house, wrapped his cloak tightly around himself, and then went back outside.

Wei Dong placed the two buckets on the ground and looked up to see Tang Xu coming out of the house. He smiled, "Come take a look, see how big the fish are."

Tang Xu's eyes lit up, and he quickly walked over.

Eat fish to nourish the brain!

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