The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 182

 

| TBBOTOF | 182

Tang Erhu got scolded by Tang Xu, which caused his blood pressure to rise. However, Tang Xu said to take it easy and not to actually faint.

Tang Xu stayed with him a bit to keep him company.

When he got home, Tang Xu glanced at the side room and saw that Xiao Bao's hair was still slightly damp, indicating he had just taken a bath.

The chubby one and Er Bao were not around.

"Auntie, you stay here. If my dad doesn't come to comfort you, don't go back." Tang Xu sat by the bed and reached out to poke Xiao Bao's soft cheeks. "Are you going to sleep with Grandma tonight?"

Xiao Bao blinked his big eyes and turned to look at Wang Cuicui.

Wang Cuicui gently pinched his arm and asked, "Do you want to sleep with Grandma? Let your dad have a break. He must be exhausted from taking care of you all recently."

Xiao Bao nodded and asked in his baby voice, "Where's pot?" (TL: he’s trying to say brother)

"Let your brothers come over and sleep too. The three of you can sleep with Grandma," Wang Cuicui said with a laugh, hugging him and giving him a little shake.

"Pots come!" Xiao Bao looked up at Tang Xu with his big round eyes, indicating that he wanted his brothers to join him.

Tang Xu was at a loss for words and poked his soft cheeks again, saying, "Can you please change your pronunciation? It's 'brother,' not 'pot'."

"Doudou~" Xiao Bao tilted his head back and gave him a big smile, showing all his little white teeth, looking incredibly sweet.

Wang Cuicui hugged Xiao Bao, gently rocking him while exclaiming, "Our little Xiao Bao has really grown up so well. Your dad sure knows how to have kids—he practically made a copy of himself."

Tang Xu, smiling brightly at her, asked, "Is he really that much like me?"

"Yes, very much alike," Wang Cuicui said, staring at him for a while before pointing to Xiao Bao's eyebrow. "But this little mole of his isn’t as red as yours. I've never seen one as red as yours before."

Tang Xu raised his hand to touch the mole above his eyebrow and, with a smile, gestured toward Xiao Bao. "Well, how else could we have ended up with the three of them? Even the old man said that this mole of mine is unusually red."

When Old Wen first saw the red mole on Tang Xu's eyebrow, he was momentarily stunned. He even remarked that with Tang Xu's looks and such a distinct mole, if he were born into a noble family, he might have had the fate of entering the palace as a consort. 

And with such a fertile physique, he would surely be favored and spoiled to no end.

At the time, Wei Dong nearly kicked the old man out upon hearing this, but luckily, Old Xu stopped him, saying that Old Wen had a loose-tongued and meant no harm.

Over the past couple of years, they had come to understand and got used to each other, with Tang Xu and Wei Dong even discussing plans for taking care of the two elders in their old age.

Old Xu was getting on in years, and his health was gradually declining. Even though his spirits remained high, there would inevitably come a day when his body would give out. 

However, he still had quite a few blood relatives, so when that day finally arrived, he could be sent back home in time for his family to say their final goodbyes while he was still conscious.

Old Wen's situation was different. He was truly a solitary figure. As he often said, when he was younger, he devoted himself to practicing medicine at the palace's medical bureau. 

Later, he became responsible for treating nobles, living with the constant threat of danger. With his life hanging by a thread, the thought of marriage never crossed his mind. 

Later on, due to certain incidents, his health was affected, making the idea of marriage and having children even more distant.

In the past, he had a servant to take care of him, but eventually, he was left alone. According to him, if Old Xu hadn’t written to him, inviting him to come over, he would have likely died of old age in the palace. 

After all, for someone like him, it didn’t matter where he was.

Tang Xu and Wei Dong weren’t the type to pry into others' lives, so most of what they knew about Old Wen came from Old Xu. 

Unfortunately, Old Xu didn’t know much either, so he only gave them a rough outline.

To sum it up in four words: a lonely old man.

“Xu Ge’er, what are you thinking about?” Wang Cuicui’s voice pulled him back from his wandering thoughts.

Tang Xu shook his head and replied, “The two elders have been coughing a bit lately. I was thinking about making some pear water for them to drink.”

"Then ask them if they want some. I remember there are still quite a few mountain pears in the ice cellar. We should eat them before they spoil," Wang Cuicui suggested. 

She had always admired Tang Xu's knack for storing supplies. When she first came to help Tang Xu with the kids, she was amazed at how much he had stockpiled—he was even better at it than she was, despite her many years of managing a household.

"There aren't many left. Ah Dong said the trees we transplanted from the back mountain should start flowering and bearing fruit next year. I'm thinking of going up the mountain to pick more pears when the time comes. We can make dried pears or pear preserves, which will be easier to store and better than keeping them fresh like this." 

The mountain pears they had now were picked before they fully ripened and were stored in the ice cellar to ripen slowly. 

The taste couldn’t compare to pears that ripen on the tree, but Tang Xu wasn’t picky—having any fruit in the middle of winter was already a treat.

Wei Dong had just finished bathing their two sons, wrapping them up like big silkworm cocoons. With one son tucked under each arm, he marched into the room and tossed them onto the kang.

"Hey, be careful! You might hurt them!" Wang Cuicui exclaimed in shock, rushing over to catch them.

Wei Dong responded indifferently, "They won't get hurt. They've got plenty of meat."

Tang Xu's face twitched at the comment, and Wang Cuicui was left at a loss between laughing and crying.

The two "silkworm cocoons" on the kang wriggled for a while before finally poking their heads out. 

Tang Xu reached out to help his sons free themselves from the blankets, then poked the chubby one's cheek, asking, "What did you do to make your father so angry?"

Wei Dong sat at the table across from them, holding Xiao Bao, who had just asked to be picked up. His expression was as sour as could be.

The chubby one struggled hard, kicking his legs and finally managing to wriggle out of the blanket, stark naked.

Tang Xu was momentarily stunned before bursting into laughter. "Why aren't you dressed yet?"

Wang Cuicui had also unwrapped Er Bao from his blanket, and he, too, was completely undressed.

The two brothers, both bare and facing each other, shook their little birds and made small, whimpering noises.

"Where are their clothes?" Wang Cuicui turned to Wei Dong and asked, "Why didn’t you bring their clothes over? What if they catch a cold?" As she spoke, she spread the blanket out and wrapped the two boys back up.

When she spread out the blanket, the clothes that had been wrapped inside it fell out as well.

The clothes were the custom-made pajamas, complete with little underwear and vests, that Tang Xu had requested.

At first, when Wang Cuicui sewed the clothes according to the pattern Tang Xu had drawn, she muttered several times, wondering if they would be comfortable to wear. 

But after the three kids started wearing them, she realized that the design was actually great—both practical and comfortable.

Nowadays, everyone in the household, from the oldest to the youngest, wore these roomy shorts, which were much more comfortable than just pulling on two layers of pants.

As Wang Cuicui dressed the two bare-bottomed chubby boys, Tang Xu looked over at Wei Dong and gently asked, "What happened?"

It wasn’t the first time Wei Dong had bathed their sons, but it was the first time he’d brought them over without dressing them.

With a stern face, Wei Dong replied coldly, "They wouldn’t stop playing in the water. They stayed in there so long they were about to turn into little balloons. I had to wash them twice, and they still wouldn’t listen."

Tang Xu’s mouth twitched. "You didn’t spank them?"

"Didn’t have to. They started wailing before I could," Wei Dong said dismissively. He placed Xiao Bao on his lap, holding his youngest son with both hands, and began to bounce him on his knee.

Xiao Bao burst into giggles, flapping his little arms and making excited "ga-ga-ga" sounds.

The chubby one, now dressed, looked at his younger brother with envy and softly asked, "Dad, I want to ride the big horse too. Can I have a turn?"

"No," Wei Dong responded coldly. "You misbehaved, so no big horse for you."

The chubby one opened his mouth, ready to start wailing, but Tang Xu gave him a firm pat on the back, earning a sharp glare from his dad.

"Don’t even think about it. Your father didn’t spank you, so you’re already getting off easy. How dare you try to cry now?"

The chubby one pouted, and seeing this, Er Bao also pouted, crossing his arms and letting out a huffy "hmph."

Wang Cuicui was amused by their antics. She grabbed a dry towel to dry their hair, coaxing them, "Apologize to your father, admit that you were wrong, and promise not to play in the water for so long next time. If he forgives you, then you can ride the big horse again."

Hearing Wang Cuicui's suggestion, the chubby one and Er Bao both turned to look at Wei Dong simultaneously.

Though Wei Dong could be stern, they were still his sons, and he couldn’t stay mad at them for long. 

He let out a begrudging "hmph," which was his way of giving them an opening to make up.

The chubby one immediately seized the opportunity, quickly sliding down from his position and starting to sweet-talk his father in his soft, babyish voice. 

“Father, I was wrong~ Please forgive me~ I’ll be good from now on~”

Er Bao, seeing his brother's success, mimicked him, though his words were less coherent: “Father~ la la~ me ba ba~ hua hua~” 

Tang Xu and Wang Cuicui were caught off guard for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Even Wei Dong couldn’t help but chuckle. He walked over, sat the two boys on the edge of the kang, and soon had all three brothers lined up, taking turns riding the "big horse" on his knee.

Meanwhile, Tang Xu went back to his room and returned with some fabric, cotton, and about ten rabbit pelts. These pelts had been carefully processed by Wei Dong, making them especially soft and smooth.

“Auntie, I noticed you don’t have a fur cape. You should make one for yourself,” Tang Xu said as he placed the basket filled with rabbit pelts under the kang. “If you don’t want to make a cape, a rabbit fur vest would be nice too.”

Wang Cuicui was about to refuse, but Tang Xu’s suggestion left her with no choice but to accept.

With eyes full of helplessness, she said, "You... I'll sew a vest to wear; this thing is really warm."

"Yes, if you usually wear a big cotton jacket while working outside, it might get in the way. Just wearing a vest is enough; it covers your back and you won't have to worry about getting sick." 

Tang Xu then took out the fabric he had bought to show her. "This fabric will be used to make three more sets of clothes for them, just like usual. I feel like the two sets they have now aren't enough for them to ruin."

"Sure, making clothes for kids is the easiest. I'll rush to get these done in the next couple of days." Wang Cuicui felt the fabric, realizing it was really good—soft and smooth, certainly expensive.

She had noticed that while Tang Xu didn't care much about what he wore himself, the fabric he chose for the children was always top-notch. She had checked the fabric shops in town, and none of them sold anything like this.

"There's another matter," Tang Xu glanced at Wei Dong. 

His husband was busy helping each of their sons to the bathroom before putting them to bed, so Tang Xu moved closer to Wang Cuicui and said, "Auntie, have you not heard from your daughter?"

Wang Cuicui was taken aback, and the look on her face dimmed slightly.

When her daughter got married, she had told her not to keep coming back home, that everything was fine here and there was no need to worry. 

After Wang Cuicui married Tang Erhu, her daughter only sent a message through someone, telling her to live well, and there hadn't been any contact since.

Seeing her expression change, Tang Xu guessed what was going on and said, "If she's not that close to you, then I guess she won't be involved in this matter."

Wang Cuicui looked at him in confusion, "What’s the matter?"

"Ah Dong is organizing a small caravan to sell our dried and marinated products. If we want to sell it outside, the demand will be huge, and we can't produce that much ourselves. So, we plan to have the villagers help with production. We'll collect the semi-finished products and sell them."

Tang Xu raised the corner of his mouth and, seeing her surprised look, said, "I originally thought that if your daughter was close to you, she could earn some extra money from this business as well. But since she isn't, I won't complicate things for myself."

Wang Cuicui nodded. It's true that they weren't close, and it's indeed a bit of a regret, but she didn’t insist on forcing it.

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