The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 274

 

| TBBOTOF | 274

With things busy at home, and with matters on his mind, Tang Xu hasn’t been able to sleep well for the past few days.

After getting up in the morning and making breakfast, he said, "I’m going to the town, I won’t be back by noon. Cousin..."

Tang Mei quickly nodded. One meal doesn’t take long, and she can manage cooking on both sides.

"You’re going to the town?" 

Not to mention anything else, just Tang Xu’s face, usually when he meets other men outside the house, they can’t help but stare at him more than a few times. 

What if he runs into someone in the town?

Tang Xu said, "It’s fine, I’ll just smear my face a bit." 

When he used to go to the town carrying a basket, he did it like this. Although he painted his face, it still helped block those uncomfortable stares.

This made him think of his encounter with Wei Dong, and he chuckled softly.

So many years have passed, and back then, he had even given Wei Dong a pancake.

Thinking about his meeting with Wei Dong, Tang Xu’s brows and eyes softened. Tang Mei looked at him in surprise and asked with a smile, "What are you thinking about? Why are you spacing out?"

Tang Xu snapped back from his drifting thoughts, shook his head, and said, "Nothing, Cousin, you’ve worked hard, I’ll be back in the afternoon."

"Okay, you can ask around in the village. The weather’s good here, so the ox-drawn carts should be out."

In the village, there are ox-drawn carts that travel to the town and county. When the weather is good, it costs three wen per person; when the weather is bad, it costs five wen per person. 

You can bring two bamboo baskets with you, and if you carry more, there’s an additional charge—usually one more wen.

Recently, the weather had been bad, so not many people were heading to the town, and thus, the ox-drawn carts weren’t running.

But now, the weather has been quite good, with some wind, so it’s expected that the carts are out again.

If one is lucky enough to catch a ride to the town, they don’t have to exert themselves walking.

As soon as Tang Xu heard this, he quickly nodded. "I’ll go check right away. Are they heading towards the town?"

"Yes, there are carts at both village entrances. Go take a look." Tang Mei put the bowls and chopsticks she was holding into the basin and started gathering up the other dishes on the table. "Put on a hat and scarf to block the wind."

Tang Xu nodded, went into the house, and tidied himself up.

There wasn’t much to take to the town. This time, he mainly planned to speak to Liu Yao and Tang Li about the shop opening in Yongcheng.

After making sure the three children were taken care of and saying goodbye to the elderly, Tang Xu, before leaving, rubbed some black soot from the bottom of the pot onto his hands and smeared it onto his face.

Tang Mei entered and saw his actions. She was startled and quickly reached out to stop him, saying, "What are you doing? Do you want to ruin your face?!"

Tang Xu had his hand pulled away by her, and his blackened face was right in front of Tang Mei’s gaze.

"Puff,  hahahahahaha!" Tang Mei couldn’t hold back her laughter, her shoulders trembling with it.

Her laughter was so loud that everyone busy in the yard heard the noise, and out of curiosity, a few of the children ran over.

Suddenly, the kitchen was filled with noise.

The chubby boy and Er Bao were yelling, running around Tang Xu.

Xiao Bao, shocked by his suddenly blackened father, blinked his big eyes and stared at Tang Xu’s face for a moment, then suddenly let out a loud cry, looking up and shouting, "I want my dad, I want my dad~~~~"

Tang Xu raised his hand to his forehead, letting out a deep sigh.

This was a mess!

By the time he washed his face and calmed down the crying Xiao Bao, it was already past noon.

Forget about going to the town now!

Tang Xu glanced at Xiao Bao, who was lying on his chest with big eyes, his face flushed and teary. With a helpless sigh, he pinched his soft cheek and said, "You little clingy thing."

Xiao Bao pouted and hummed, still scared by his suddenly blackened father. He had thought his dad was sick!

The chubby child and Er Bao were also laughing around Tang Xu, noticing that there was still a patch of black ash on his neck that hadn't been cleaned off. Er Bao reached over and rubbed it.

Tang Xu flinched, confused, and turned his face to look. He saw that Er Bao’s little finger was covered in black ash.

His eyelid twitched, and he quickly said, “Go wash your hands, and don’t smear it on your face.”

Er Bao made a sound of acknowledgment, rubbing his little hands together and asking, "Why did you make your face all black, dad?"

"Ah, dad was just playing with you," Tang Xu said, figuring that the children might not understand, so he decided to just brush it off.

Xiao Bao wrapped his arms around his neck and pressed his face against his, speaking in a soft, childish voice, "Not fun, dad, don't play."

"Alright, alright, I won’t play anymore. Dad won’t do it next time." Tang Xu thought to himself that he would leave early tomorrow morning, so he wouldn’t have to deal with them seeing his blackened face again.

The next morning, Tang Xu, after having his breakfast, quickly grabbed two pancakes and left, afraid that if he delayed any longer, the children would cling to him again.

He was in luck. As soon as he reached the village entrance, he spotted the ox-drawn cart.

There were two middle-aged women sitting on the cart, each holding a bamboo basket in her arms.

Tang Xu looked at them for a while, then paid the three copper coins and sat on the cart.

The two women seemed to know each other, quietly talking to each other.

When they saw Tang Xu, they both obviously froze for a moment, staring at him for a long time. 

Then, one of them suddenly asked in surprise, "Is that you, Xu Ge'er? Is that really Xu Ge'er? Oh my, it really is Xu Ge'er!"

The other woman also looked over, her gaze fixed on Tang Xu’s deliberately ash-covered face.

The ash from the bottom of the pot had a strong effect yesterday. Tang Mei even said it was too dark, making it look unnatural. So, he had used some powder he usually kept on hand.

Tang Xu was holding the powder when he paused for a moment.

“How do you use this?”

Tang Mei pointed to a chair, signaling him to sit down, then began applying powder to his face.

This powder could make others’ faces appear a little brighter, but when applied to Tang Xu’s face, it only made the color dull.

While she applied the powder, Tang Mei said, "How did you end up with such fair skin? You don’t even work every day, how can you be so smooth?"

Tang Xu grinned and chuckled, quite proud of himself. "It’s just natural beauty. Xiao Bao takes after me, all soft and fair. Look at Da Bao and Er Bao—they take after Ah Dong, especially Er Bao. He really looks just like his father."

Tang Mei laughed at him, straightened her back, and took a couple of steps back to carefully examine his face. After a moment, she nodded and said, "Looks good, pretty decent."

Tang Xu picked up a copper mirror from the side. The mirror was polished smooth, and the reflection was clear.

The slight redness from the powder had been covered, but other parts of his face still looked too good.

After all, although the copper mirror was clear, the color still had a yellowish tint.

"Is there really any difference?" he muttered.

Tang Mei, hearing this, swiped some powder onto the back of his hand.

Tang Xu stared at the noticeable yellowish patch on his hand, and the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch.

"Cousin, this stuff is useless." If it can make a person’s complexion look so dark, it's really not as good as the ointment Old Wen makes.

He thought for a moment and wondered if he could ask the old man to try making some facial cream for personal use.

"What’s going on with your face? I almost didn’t recognize you at first." The voice of the woman from earlier snapped Tang Xu back to reality.

Tang Xu gave her a polite smile, "I haven’t been sleeping well recently, so my complexion’s a bit off." He certainly couldn’t tell her that he had intentionally smeared his face.

The woman looked at the center of his brows, her gaze filled with some suspicion.

Before she could ask any more questions, the other woman sitting next to her nudged her waist, and she gave a subtle glance.

They weren’t very familiar, so asking too many questions might be annoying.

Tang Xu let out a sigh of relief and held his bundle a little tighter.

Soon, another woman came over. The cart now had four people. The two women who were sitting earlier said to the driver, "Hurry up, we still need to get back and cook lunch. We’ve already been waiting for nearly half an hour."

The driver nodded, sat at the front of the cart, and cracked the small whip. The yellow ox bellowed and then started walking forward.

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