The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 218

 

| TBBOTOF | 218

Brought back two people.

Wei Dong said in one sentence.

In his mind, what kind of people could his man bring back?

Wei Dong stepped aside.

Wei Dong’s tall figure blocked Tang Xu's line of sight. Once he moved, under the moonlight he could clearly see the two people standing by the mule cart.

He stared for a long time before uncertainly asking, "Two men?"

He felt a bit embarrassed; he was somewhat night blind, and the light was really dim. They were about four meters away. He tried hard, but unfortunately, he couldn't see clearly.

From their outlines, they seemed to be two slender figures, their heads wrapped in cloth used to block the wind, making it hard to tell if they were male or female.

"Who are they?" Tang Xu asked with a confused expression, shaking the hand he had just shaken with the man. "Do I know them?"

Wei Dong shook his head. "No, you don't know them; I bought them."

"What?" Tang Xu was instantly baffled. "Bought them? Isn't buying people illegal?"

After he asked, he quickly realized that in this era, buying people was indeed not illegal, as long as it was from a legitimate dealer.

Wei Dong waved to the two people behind him, signaling them to come over.

As the two people walked in, Tang Xu could see more clearly and confirmed that they were indeed two men.

The two removed the cloth wraps they had on their heads for warmth, revealing young faces that were fairly ordinary; they seemed to be quite young.

Both of them stared at Tang Xu's strikingly beautiful face for a moment, momentarily dazed, but after a brief pause, they quickly knelt down in front of him.

Tang Xu was startled and instinctively reached out to help them up.

Wei Dong grabbed him, coldly saying, "Get up."

The two immediately stood up, their bodies pressed tightly together, looking very frightened of Wei Dong.

Tang Xu felt confused and asked his man, "What’s going on?"

"You know there’s a war in the north, right?" Wei Dong asked a seemingly unrelated question.

Tang Xu nodded. "I know. Didn't you say you weren't going to the northern borders? What’s up? Is there a war in Yongzhou too?"

"They were recruiting soldiers. First, settle them down. I’ll explain everything to you later," Wei Dong said, pointing at one of the men. "This one is a ger."

Tang Xu widened his eyes, staring at the man's delicate brows, unable to discern where he had a beauty mark.

"Benefactor, I can work! I can do any kind of work, just don't send me away," the young man said, trembling as he pleaded, feeling the pressure from Tang Xu's gaze.

Tang Xu responded with an "oh," saying, "No, I didn’t mean to send you away. Well, you both come with me. Let's get you cleaned up first."

He gave Wei Dong a slap on the arm and shot him a glare.

Xu Ze had already washed his feet and climbed onto the kang. He lit an oil lamp and started studying on the kang. When Old Xu left, he had left his medical books for him, instructing him to study on his own and to ask Old Wen if he didn’t understand anything.

At that moment, he was reading one of the medical texts, the content of which made his head spin. He thought about going to bed earlier and waking up early the next day.

"Ze’er, are you asleep?" Tang Xu called softly from outside the window.

"No, Brother Xu, I’m not asleep!" Xu Ze sat up quickly from the kang and leaned over the bedside, asking, "Did you need something from me?"

Tang Xu replied, "Open the door; I have some things to trouble you with."

"Okay, wait a moment." Xu Ze hurriedly got off the kang, put on his shoes, and went to open the door.

With a clang, the latch was pulled back, and the door opened. Xu Ze smiled at Tang Xu, then turned to the person standing next to him.

"Brother Xu, who is he?"

Tang Xu turned his face toward the young man. "I haven’t asked yet. What’s your name?"

"Liu Ge'er," the young man replied, his chest slightly hunched, his head lowered, and he seemed a bit timid as he shrank his body.

He hadn’t noticed it before, but now that he was closer, Tang Xu could see clearly that this young boy was probably only thirteen or fourteen olds. He was very thin, almost skin and bones, and the clothes he wore didn’t seem to belong to him; they hung loosely and looked oversized.

Tang Xu nodded and smiled gently at him, saying, "Don’t be afraid. This is Ze’er, he is a ger just like you. It’s a bit late to tidy up the house today, so you can stay with him for one night."

Liu Ge'er looked a little nervous, glancing at Xu Ze.

Xu Ze smiled at him kindly and said to Tang Xu, "Brother Xu, it’s fine for him to stay with me. My room is big enough; there’s plenty of space!"

"Your brother-in-law brought him back. Let him live with you for one night. I will clean up a house for him tomorrow," Tang Xu said, patting Xu Ze's head and giving him a gentle smile. "You can chat with him for a bit while I go make dinner."

There were still quite a few steamed buns left from dinner, so Tang Xu heated them all up and made a pot of cucumber and egg soup.

"Time to eat!" Tang Xu called as he glanced into the room, where Wei Dong was playing a game of catching little chicks with the three kids. The three little chicks were running all over the kang, while the big eagle reached out to catch them from the edge of the kang.

The children were laughing and shouting, making a lot of noise and sweating profusely.

"Alright, alright, stop shouting! You'll wear your voices out," Tang Xu said, giving them a stern look. "Ah Dong, hurry up and eat."

He sent the three little ones back to their own room and then went to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Wei Dong and the other two were already eating.

As soon as Tang Xu entered, Liu Ge'er quickly set down the bun he was holding, and the other one did the same.

Tang Xu waved his hand, smiling and signaling them to continue eating.

"Don’t be nervous. My family doesn’t have so many rules. Just finish eating and get some rest early." He turned to Wei Dong and asked, "Where did you let him stay?"

"In Old Xu’s room," Wei Dong replied, lifting his bowl to drink some soup. "His name is Zhao Ming."

The kitchen was bright, and it was only now that Tang Xu could clearly see what the two of them looked like.

Both of them were dark-skinned; it was hard to tell whether it was from sun exposure or if that was just their natural skin tone. Zhao Ming appeared to be older than Liu Ge'er and was quite thin, but his body seemed strong.

Initially, their eating style was not very refined. They bit into the palm-sized buns, stuffing their cheeks until they were bulging.

Tang Xu stared at them, and their eating slowed down considerably.

"Liu Ge'er was sold by his father to a trafficker. His beauty mark is too faint, and he doesn’t have the looks that attract buyers, so no wealthy families wanted him as a little servant. The trafficker wanted to sell him to a brothel, but he didn’t agree and ran away several times, getting beaten up a few times," Wei Dong explained.

"Zhao Ming’s entire family has died. He inherited their land but couldn’t support himself, so he sold himself."

After Wei Dong finished explaining, Tang Xu sighed, "It's pretty chaotic up north. Many families are selling their children. Several prefectures up there are recruiting soldiers, and families with male members are sending at least one person to serve."

Tang Xu couldn't help but feel sorry for them. "You bought them because you felt pity for them?" He thought his man shouldn’t be that compassionate.

"No," Wei Dong glanced at Zhao Ming. "I plan to take him on trade journeys. Once he gets familiar with it, I’ll let him join the merchant caravan."

Tang Xu understood now: his man didn’t have suitable friends to lead trade journeys, so he decided to train one himself.

He then looked at Liu Ge'er and raised an eyebrow at the man.

Wei Dong understood his teasing gaze and said, "He ran away and accidentally bumped into the mule cart. The trafficker caught him and beat him up. When I saw him all bruised I said that he was gonna die, then the trafficker tried to blame it on me."

Tang Xu raised an eyebrow. "Are you someone who can be threatened?"

"I gave him a beating, then paid two taels of silver to buy him," Wei Dong shrugged. 

If he hadn’t brought him back, Liu Ge'er likely wouldn’t have survived when taken back. He didn’t want it to weigh down on his conscience if he ended up dead, so he decided to buy him instead.

"He said he could do many household chores, so I thought I could bring him back to help you," Wei Dong continued, biting into a bun. "Auntie has gone to town, and it’s just you and Ze’er working at home; he can lend you a hand."

Tang Xu smiled and nodded. Alright then, let’s consider it a good deed for the day.

　

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