The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 270

 

| TBBOTOF | 270

The elderly all turned out to love sweets.

However, Tang Xu doesn't dare give them too many sweets.

Although the elders seem to be in good spirits and health, who can be sure? 

Usually, when Tang Xu cooks soup, he doesn’t dare add too much sugar to it.

Today, the salted egg yolks that had been curing for over ten days were finally ready to use, so he made a batch of rice dumplings.

Originally, the plan was to make this batch with about thirty pieces, enough for the whole family to share. After all, these were made larger, with a generous bean paste filling. Each one was about the size of a child’s fist, so two per person should be more than enough.

However, when he brought six pieces to the three elderly, they weren’t enough!

He brought another six pieces, and again, they weren’t enough!

"If you keep this up, I won’t make these for you next time," Tang Xu said, not because he begrudged them the food, but because he worried they’d overeat. 

Glutinous rice is sticky and not easy to digest; for both the elderly and the young, overindulging could cause discomfort.

"Oh, don’t be so serious. These dumplings may look big, but they’re mostly bean paste and salted egg yolk. There’s not that much glutinous rice in them, so it’s fine," Old Wen said, unable to resist teasing Tang Xu when he saw his exasperated expression.

Tang Xu sighed. Is that even the point?

"Just earlier at lunch, you already ate three vegetable buns and drank a bowl of Eight-Treasure Porridge."

Tang Xu then turned to look at Old Sun. “You ate four, and also had a bowl of Eight-Treasure Porridge.”

Next, he looked at Old Fu. 

Before Tang Xu could say anything, Old Fu spoke up himself, “I only ate three buns, I didn’t drink the porridge.”

Tang Xu looked at the three of them helplessly.

The three old men, realizing how enthusiastically they had been eating earlier, couldn’t help but blush with embarrassment.

Tang Xu huffed, not cutting them any slack just because of their age. Hands on his hips, he scolded them sternly, “If you keep eating so recklessly next time, I really won’t make these for you again!”

With that, he picked up the small plates on the table and turned to leave.

Once Tang Xu had left the room, Old Wen clicked his tongue and grumbled under his breath, “His temper is really getting worse, no respect for the elderly!”

“Why didn’t you dare say that earlier? You're like a scared quail,” Old Sun retorted, stroking his beard with a look of disdain.

Seeing the two about to start bickering, Old Fu quickly intervened. “How about we go out to the yard for a walk and digest? If Xu Ge’er sees the three of us still sitting inside, he’ll probably get annoyed and scold us again.”

Though he said this, his face carried a hint of a smile. It was clear to see that their hearts were warmed by Tang Xu’s genuine concern for them. When someone truly cares for you, how can you not be happy?

Old Wen and Old Sun exchanged a glance, feeling a little awkward for a moment.

In the end, they took the advice and stood up, leaving the room one after the other.

Tang Xu was watering the garden, and when he noticed the three of them coming out of the house and starting to stroll along the corridor, he felt a bit relieved.

People often say that having an elder in the house is a treasure. In Tang Xu's case, apart from Old Fu, the other two elders really made him both angry and amused.

"Xu Ge’er, are you at home?"

Just as he threw another scoop of water out of the watering can, he heard a voice calling from outside the door.

Tang Xu responded, "I’m here." He tossed the watering can into the wooden bucket, shook off the excess water, and walked through the corridor to open the front gate.

It was a woman from the nearby Wu family. She seemed to have some distant relative connection with the Wei family, although Tang Xu wasn’t very familiar with her.

Being unfamiliar didn’t stop him from smiling politely and asking, “Auntie, what brings you here? Is there something you need?”

Since it was early spring, everyone was busy working in the fields, and people generally didn’t have time to chat, so Tang Xu assumed she must have something important to discuss.

Wu Liu, a distant relative from the Wu family, almost got dazzled by his smile. Though she had heard many times about the good looks of the Wei family’s husband, she had never seen him up close like this before, so she was momentarily stunned.

But she quickly regained her composure and asked, “My daughter-in-law just gave birth, and I was thinking of giving her an egg every day to help her recover. Otherwise, her milk supply might be too low, and my eldest grandson is crying and fussing every day. So, I wanted to ask if you’re selling eggs? My chickens haven’t laid many this winter, and we’ve already eaten all the ones we had stocked up. We had to buy from the town, and they were expensive.”

Tang Xu blinked, understanding that she was looking to buy eggs from him at a lower price.

After thinking for a moment, he nodded and said, “I can spare you twenty eggs, but no more.” 

The truth was, his family collected at least fifteen or sixteen eggs a day, and he hadn’t planned on selling them, mostly because he didn’t want the eggs to get stale. Otherwise, he might have made egg yolk pastries with them.

Wu Liu immediately broke into a delighted smile, then rubbed her hands together and asked, “So, how much are you selling them for?”

Tang Xu thought for a moment and replied, “I think eggs in the village are usually two wen for one, or three wen for two?”

“Right, right,” Wu Liu quickly nodded in agreement. When she had gone to the town to buy eggs, the price had already risen to three wen each. 

She wasn’t sure if it was because it was particularly cold that winter, but many of the chickens had stopped laying eggs. 

Before coming to the Wei family, she had asked around the village, and almost no one was selling eggs. Even if they were, they cost three wen each, which was why she had been hesitant to buy them.

The local villagers were all so close, yet some still tried to take advantage of her. She thought to herself, They’re so desperate for money, why don’t they just go and rob someone?

Of course, Wu Liu would never say such things to Tang Xu. She had come to ask about buying eggs simply hoping to try her luck. 

After all, everyone knew that Tang Xu raised a lot of chickens, and being somewhat related through distant ties, she thought he might give her a discount out of courtesy.

Tang Xu smiled and said, “Wait here, I’ll get the eggs for you.” He was willing to sell them mostly out of respect for Wei Zhonghong and didn’t want to cause any embarrassment for her over such a small matter.

Tang Xu filled a small bamboo basket with twenty eggs, and Wu Liu quickly handed over the copper coins she had warmed in her hand. “You count them.”

“I trust you,” Tang Xu replied with a smile.

Wu Liu, feeling even more favorable toward him, said, “I’ll go home and return the basket to you soon.”

“Alright, no rush,” Tang Xu nodded and, after watching her leave, turned and headed back to his house.

Meanwhile, Wu Liu, clutching the small basket, hurried back home. When she entered the yard, she saw her son washing the diapers. With a frown, she scolded, “What are you doing, washing these dirty things? Put them down right now!”

Wu Liu shoved the small bamboo basket toward her son and started rubbing the diapers herself, muttering, “I was just going to try my luck, but I didn’t expect Xu Ge’er to agree right away. He gave me twenty eggs without hesitation, and didn’t even raise the price.”

“Didn’t raise the price? Two wen each?” Her son looked down at the eggs in the basket. They were all red-skinned and appeared to be much larger than the eggs their own chickens laid.

He was puzzled. Why was it that Tang Xu’s chickens not only laid eggs during the winter, but those eggs were also much bigger?

Wu Liu nodded, continuing to praise Tang Xu for being kind-hearted and generous.

And just like that, word of the transaction spread throughout the village.

Tang Xu never expected that his little chickens would bring in a small income for the family during this cold winter.

Money just comes to you when you’re at home.

No matter how small the amount, it was still money!

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