| TBBOTOF | 206
The elderly lady wore a worried expression, constantly fearing that their family would face a major disaster.
She sighed.
Tang Xu couldn't find a way to comfort her.
Even if they managed to resolve the situation this time, if someone tempted his uncle to gamble again in the future, would he really stop?
If that day really came, it would be too late; nothing would work, and he'd end up as a hopeless gambler.
Sensing the weight of the situation, Tang Xu thought for a moment and asked, "Grandma, what did Grandpa say?"
"What else could he say? Besides cursing, he beat him. Your grandpa slapped him a few times, but his hand got numb, while your uncle, with his thick skin, didn't even seem to feel it." Talking about it made her angry again, and the old lady snorted with a sullen face.
Tang Xu couldn't help but feel a little amused. This, this, this—this was really unexpected.
"Grandma, don't worry just yet. Next time I see Uncle, I'll talk to him."
"What will you say?" Wu Guizhi's interest was piqued, a curious look in her eyes.
Tang Xu rested his chin in his hand, thought for a moment, then suddenly lowered his voice and said, "I'll just tell him, if he gambles again, I'll bring Auntie and you and Grandpa to live with us, and let him fend for himself. He can waste away the family property if he wants, since he doesn't care about this family anyway. He might as well leave home early, save himself the trouble of being useless and dragging everyone else down."
Wu Guizhi listened, her face showing a complicated expression.
Tang Xu wasn't finished yet. He took a sip of tea and, in a calm and indifferent tone, continued, "If one day he gambles everything away, is betrayed by everyone, and his son won't care and his daughter won't speak to him, he'll end up all alone.
If he loses the farmland too, he'll truly have nothing left. When that day comes, if he can't even find a place to get a warm meal, and he really wants to live that kind of life, then sure, let him gamble—go all out. Why gamble in small amounts? He should go to the big gambling houses in town, let him fulfill his dreams."
He finished speaking, his gaze icy cold.
The elderly lady remained silent for quite a while, genuinely a bit frightened.
Even though his words weren't directed at her, the thought of growing old and being left alone without anyone to rely on made her shiver.
Tang Xu replaced the lukewarm tea in her cup with fresh hot tea, smiling gently as he comforted her: "Grandma, you don't need to worry. It hasn't come to that yet, right? I'm just trying to scare Uncle a bit. If my words don't work, or even if we have Ah Dong set up a trap and that doesn't work either, then there's really nothing else we can do.
What I said about losing everything would still be the best outcome. But what if the debt collectors come after him, making threats of violence? And they really might. If it gets to the point where they start cutting off hands or feet, not only will his life be in danger, but none of us will have peace either."
He felt it necessary to make the situation sound as dire as possible. After all, the elderly couple lived with their eldest son and had done so for many years.
How could they sit by and watch when the debt collectors inevitably showed up? Out of pity, they might even end up helping him pay off his debts.
Once or twice, sure, but what if he couldn't quit gambling? Would they keep bailing him out forever?
When it comes down to it, gambling is a bottomless pit. No matter how wealthy you are, you can never fill it.
"If we aren't tough now, the whole Tang family might be dragged down. Grandma, don't you agree?"
At first, the elderly lady only wanted to express her worries to Tang Xu, but now, after hearing his words, she felt truly unsettled.
"Daddy!~~~~" A soft, childish voice came from outside the window, followed by the sound of quick little footsteps.
The door swung open, and a chubby little boy ran into the room.
As soon as the little boy saw the elderly lady, he beamed with joy and ran straight into her arms. "Great-Grandma~~~" His childish voice was soft and sweet, with a playful lilt to it.
The old lady's earlier worries vanished in an instant as she pulled him into her embrace.
Despite her thin frame and age, she still had some strength left. The chubby boy cooperated, and after some effort, the pair—one old, one young—managed to clamber onto the bed.
Once settled in her lap, the chubby boy leaned against her, clinging affectionately. "Great-Grandma, why did you take so long to come? I missed you~~"
No matter how many troubles had been weighing on her, all her worries disappeared the moment this little bundle of sweetness started snuggling up to her.
The old lady’s face lit up with joy as she hugged him, swaying him gently. She gave his arms and legs a playful squeeze, then touched her cheek to his, sighing, “Your dad's been taking good care of you. You've put on some weight again.”
The boy giggled, squirming as she tickled him, trying to wriggle out of her grasp.
Afraid that he might accidentally hurt the old lady, Tang Xu quickly said, “Sit still and stop wiggling around.”
The chubby boy pouted and looked at him. “Daddy’s being mean.”
Tang Xu shot him a stern look, and the chubby boy, knowing he was in trouble, quickly scooted out of the elderly lady's lap and sat to the side.
"Where are your little brothers?" the elderly lady asked, holding him by the shoulder and handing him a piece of Sachima.
The chubby boy accepted it with a "thank you" and glanced at his dad.
Tang Xu raised an eyebrow, and the boy grinned sheepishly, munching on the snack as he replied, "I just woke up, and Grandma said Great-Grandma was here, so I got out of bed first. Great-Grandma, how long are you staying? Stay for a while, okay?"
Wu Guizhi nodded repeatedly, laughing, "Alright, alright, Great-Grandma will stay for a few more days, as long as you all don’t mind me being a bother."
"How could we? I love having Great-Grandma here~~" The boy’s words were as sweet as honey, making the elderly lady burst into laughter.
Tang Xu got off the bed and said, "I'll make dinner. We'll have stuffed pancakes tonight. Grandma, if you're tired, let Da Bao stay with you. You can lie down and rest for a while."
"I'm not tired at all! With our Da Bao keeping me company, Great-Grandma isn't tired one bit!" The old lady cupped the chubby boy's round cheeks, her wrinkles deepening with joy.
Seeing that, Tang Xu didn’t say more and went to the kitchen to start kneading dough. From outside, he soon heard Er Bao calling, "Great-Grandma!" followed by Xiao Bao.
The three children surrounded the elderly lady, not wanting to stay inside. They pulled her towards the backyard.
Covered in flour, Tang Xu hurried out from the kitchen, trying to stop them. "Hey, don’t pull Great-Grandma like that! The three of you, don’t run off—Your Great-Grandmother can't keep up!"
“Brother I’ll follow along,” Tang Yang came out from the study and waved his hand at Tang Xu.
“Xiao Xi and I finished cleaning up. He’s a bit tired and went to lie down for a bit, so I’ll stay with Grandma and watch the little ones in the backyard.” He quickly walked over to Wu Guizhi, offering support as he reached her.
“Grandma, if you feel tired, just let us know. We’ve still got that wheelchair at home—we haven’t used it in a while.”
Tang Xu remembered the wheelchair as well. Ever since Tang Erhu recovered from his leg injury, it had just been gathering dust in the storage room.
Realizing this, he quickly called to Tang Yang, “Go grab it and wipe it down. You can push Grandma around—she can sit and rest her legs, otherwise she won’t be able to keep up with those three.”
Wu Guizhi didn’t object. The three children, full of energy after their nap, treated the backyard as their playground.
Ever since the wild goat got pregnant, Tang Xu had built a temporary shed for it in the backyard.
At night, the goat would be kept inside. Right now, fresh shoots were just starting to sprout on the hillside behind their house, and with the tall walls surrounding their yard, they didn’t worry about any intruders.
On good weather days, Tang Xu would take the three little ones up the hillside to gather wild vegetables, and they’d run around collecting eggs.
The chickens, ducks, and geese in their yard were all free-range. During the day, the hens liked to wander up the hill, sometimes laying eggs in piles of dry leaves and hay, so every day they’d collect eggs.
The ducks and geese, however, preferred to lay their eggs in grass nests by the pond.
Each of the three kids ran to the storage room and grabbed a small bamboo basket hanging from a low rack. The baskets were lined with dry grass, specially prepared by Tang Xu to help them gather eggs.
Each child carried their own basket, and the chubby boy even took down three straw hats hanging nearby.
After placing one on each of his younger brothers, he finally put one on himself.
The old lady watched his series of actions, stunned and was amused. When the chubby boy bent down to roll up his brothers’ pant legs, she couldn’t hold back and nudged Tang Yang beside her. “Go help him already! He’s too little to do this.”
Tang Yang smiled and said, “Da Bai told me before that he's the big brother, so he takes care of his younger brothers. He pretty much does this every day.”
Tang Xu had knitted long wool socks for the three little ones, made from cashmere, which made it easier for them to tuck in their pant legs.
Once their pant legs were tucked in, the three kids began putting on their gloves.
You could really say Tang Xu was handy. The little gloves were just the right size, and once they had them on, they were ready to head up the hill.
Wu Guizhi sat in the wheelchair, basking in the sun, watching the three kids dart around the hillside. A plump cat sauntered over and meowed several times at her, glancing at her legs.
When she didn’t pay attention to it, the cat became bolder, rubbing against her pant leg. Then, with one quick leap, it jumped right onto her lap.
Feeling the weight on her legs, Wu Guizhi looked down and saw a big, fluffy ball of fur.
Surprised, she reached out to pet the chubby cat on her lap. “Your big brother’s been feeding you well. You’ve gotten so fat.”
“Everything around here has gotten fat,” Tang Yang chuckled. “Look at the ducks my brother raised. They’re bigger than the ones you buy at the market.”
He pointed to a couple of duck pens nearby. “Those ducks over there are the ones we just bought. They seem big enough on their own, but when you put them next to the ones raised at home, you can tell they look scrawny.”
Wu Guizhi grew interested. “I’ll go take a look,” she said.
Tang Yang glanced at the three little ones gathering eggs and called out, “Don’t go too far up the hill, I’ll be right back.”
“You stay here and keep an eye on them. I’ll go check out the ducks myself,” Wu Guizhi said, shooing the chubby cat off her lap before making her way over to the ducks.
Meanwhile, Tang Xu had finished kneading the dough, leaving a large, soft mound in the basin.
“What kind of filling are we having?” Wang Cuicui came over to help.
“Let’s make two kinds,” Tang Xu said. “I saw the chives in the garden have grown nice and tall. We can cut the first batch and make chive pancakes—they’ll smell amazing.”
Wang Cuicui nodded and grabbed a pair of scissors and a bowl. “I’ll go cut them now.”
“Yeah, they’ll grow back in just a few days anyway.” With plenty of fertilizer, the vegetables in the garden grew big and fast.
The other filling was pork and green radish.
As Xu Ze came in to help, the strong aroma of chives filled the kitchen.
He sniffed the air and, after washing his hands, said, “Brother Xu, let me help wrap the pancakes.”
“No need, the dough is still too soft. I don’t think you’ll be able to wrap them properly. How about you flip the pancakes instead?” Tang Xu placed a batch of wrapped pancakes into the iron pan, gently pressing them with his fingers.
He glanced at the fire in the stove. “Keep an eye on them, and make sure you flip them in time so they don’t burn.”
Xu Ze nodded eagerly, ready to take on the task.
Wang Cuicui had prepared a pot of mixed grain porridge and, noticing how quickly Tang Xu was wrapping the pancakes, decided to lend a hand herself.
Once she started, though, she realized the dough was too soft and difficult to work with.
Tang Xu reassured her, “Just add a little more flour, and it won’t stick.”
Following his advice, Wang Cuicui added more flour, which made it easier to handle.
While the three of them were busy in the kitchen, the three little ones were running wild in the backyard.
Wu Guizhi, had dozed off for a short nap in the warm sun while sitting in her wheelchair.
Tang Yang called out toward the hillside, “Da Bao, bring Er bao and Xiao Bao back! Time to wash up—your dad’s almost done with dinner!”
Wu Guizhi yawned and stood up, stretching her back and rubbing her waist. “They sure can run, don’t they ever get tired?”
Tang Yang nodded, smiling. “Kids are always full of energy.”
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