The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 280

 

| TBBOTOF | 280

"Dad~~" Xiao Bao called out excitedly, running and shouting, "Dad~~~" before throwing himself into his dad's legs, hugging them tightly. Tilting his little face up, he cooed sweetly, "Daddy~"

Tang Xu bent down and lifted the little one up, giving him a playful shake. "Hmph, you sure know how to sweet-talk."

Xiao Bao clung to his neck, rubbing his face against Tang Xu’s affectionately, and asked in a sticky, affectionate voice, "Daddy, where's Father?"

"I miss him."

Spring had already passed, and summer was fast approaching, but Wei Dong still hadn’t returned.

Although he knew this trip involved both seeing a doctor and delivering gifts, it had been so long without any word. 

How could Tang Xu not be concerned?

Holding Xiao Bao, who seemed a bit downcast, Tang Xu walked toward the front yard and asked, "What were you just doing? Why do you smell so nice?"

Xiao Bao pursed his lips and smiled, looking a little shy. He shrank his neck slightly and leaned his face closer. "Daddy, smell~"

Tang Xu leaned in toward the soft, tender cheek and sniffed lightly. He raised an eyebrow. "Peach-scented."

"Mm-hmm!" Xiao Bao’s eyes sparkled as he covered his nose with his hand and giggled. "It smells so good~ Great-Grandpa put it on me."

Tang Xu let out an exaggerated "Oh," and said, "So Great-Grandpa finally made the balm for you guys? Didn't he say he was too tired and didn’t want to do it?"

Xiao Bao tilted his head. He understood the words but didn’t quite know how to respond.

Tang Xu didn’t really expect him to answer; he was just talking to himself.

Back in early spring, the wind was harsh, making faces and hands dry and chapped—not just for adults but especially for children with their tender little cheeks that would turn red from the wind.

Although the family had creams and balms for hands and faces, they were either overly fragrant or had almost no scent at all. The children weren’t very enthusiastic about using them. If they remembered, they’d reluctantly smear some on their faces; if they didn’t, they’d just skip it entirely.

Seeing that his kids were about to get their faces windburned into little potatoes, Tang Xu went to Old Wen for help, asking him to make some balm suitable for children. Tang Xu offered to buy whatever ingredients were needed.

The old man had scoffed, saying Tang Xu was spoiling his children too much. "What’s wrong with using the ones you already have? Why go through the trouble?"

Though his words were sharp as usual, his heart was soft like tofu. Tang Xu wasn’t worried that the old man would refuse.

This had only been mentioned once at the time, and Tang Xu hadn’t expected the old man to actually take the request seriously. 

Yet, after some delay, he really did make the balm.

"Great-Grandpa made soooo~~ many~~," Xiao Bao spread his arms wide, drawing a big circle in the air. "And they smell amazing~~."

Tang Xu chuckled softly. "Alright, let’s go take a look. While we’re at it, we’ll ask Great-Grandpa what he wants to eat, and I’ll make it later."

Carrying Xiao Bao, Tang Xu headed straight for Old Wen's room. The old man wasn’t there, but voices came from the side room, so they walked over.

The door was open, but a bamboo curtain blocked the view. Tang Xu set Xiao Bao down, telling him to walk on his own, and lifted the curtain to step inside.

As soon as he entered, a mixture of scents hit him—a blend of floral and fruity aromas. The smells were mixed together, somewhat chaotic but not overpowering.

Sniffing the air, he raised an eyebrow. "So this is why Liu Ge’er and Ze’er have been running to the mountains these past few days to pick flowers and fruits—turns out it’s for the balm you're making."

Old Wen let out a small snort of laughter and casually tossed something over.

Tang Xu hurried to catch it, realizing it was a short, wide-mouthed porcelain jar. He pulled out the wooden stopper and saw a pale pink balm inside.

Bringing it to his nose, he sniffed lightly. The soft, sweet scent of peaches wafted up.

"Is this the one Xiao Bao used? Smells pretty nice."

Old Wen gave a grunt of affirmation and gestured toward a small table nearby. On it sat rows of porcelain jars in various shapes and sizes. "Take them for you all to use. Pick whichever ones you like. There’s enough to last a while."

Tang Xu's eyes widened in surprise. He walked over, picking up each jar to pull out the stoppers and sniff. By the time he had gone through the whole lineup, his sense of smell was almost overloaded. 

All he could think was that every single one smelled delightful.

“Old Wen, you’ve worked hard. What would you like to eat? I’ll make it in a bit,” Tang Xu said cheerfully as he carefully packed the porcelain jars into a small bamboo basket, filling it up.

Old Wen waved his hand dismissively. “Anything’s fine.” Then he asked, “Any word from Dongzi? He’s been gone a long time this time.”

Tang Xu shook his head. “The last letter he sent mentioned he was preparing to head back, but it’s been over a month since then, and there’s still no sign of him.”

Based on what he knew about Wei Dong, if they had received that letter but he still hadn’t returned, it likely meant he had already set off on his journey home.

“That old friend of mine is skilled in acupuncture and medicinal baths. He’s probably been tied up with treatments over there,” Old Wen said, standing up and patting Tang Xu on the arm. “Don’t worry. Go on now, get cooking. Everyone’s getting hungry.”

Tang Xu laughed and agreed readily. He glanced over at Xiao Bao, who had run to hold the old man’s hand, and reminded him, “Xiao Bao, stay here and keep Great-Grandpa company. Daddy’s going to cook.”

Xiao Bao nodded obediently. “Okay~!”

Er Bao, was in the study practicing writing. It wasn’t that Old Sun refused to teach Xiao Bao, but since Xiao Bao’s writing needed more practice, he was allowed to finish early.

Tang Xu took a quick look around the kitchen and then brought some fruit tea to the study. While there, he checked on how the two children were doing with their writing.

Er Bao could sit still better than Xiao Bao, but even so, he was wriggling like he had ants in his pants. His writing was a mess—crooked lines, uneven spacing, and wavy strokes where there should have been straight ones. 

A supposedly straight line had so many curves it looked like a meandering river.

It could be said that the writing looked like squirming earthworms—an exaggeration, of course.

Tang Xu’s expression darkened as he fixed his gaze on Er Bao.

Er Bao quickly straightened his back and looked up at his father with a hopeful, almost pleading gaze.

Tang Xu held up his finger, pointing at the paper in mid-air without speaking.

He put down the tray and glanced at his eldest child.

The chubby boy was sitting properly, but for some reason, his strokes were much too forceful. 

He would press down hard, causing dark splotches of ink to appear on the paper, which he then tried to stretch out.

Tang Xu sighed, walked over to the desk, and looked at the two sheets of paper laid out there. 

They both had four characters written on them. Though the writing wasn’t exactly straight, the paper itself was clean, and the size of the characters was fairly consistent. For children who had only been learning for a few days, this was already quite impressive.

Old Sun set down the book in his hands and looked up. “What are we having for lunch?”

Tang Xu chuckled softly and asked in return, “What would you like to eat?”

“Braised noodles. The mung bean braised noodles you made last time were really good,” Old Sun replied. 

Since moving into the Wei household, he hadn’t been eating exotic delicacies every day, but his appetite had notably increased. After the winter, when he changed into lighter clothes, he noticed his clothes were a bit tighter than last year.

Old Fu was completely stunned at that moment. It had been a while since the master had needed to change his clothing size.

Not only Old Sun, but even Old Fu himself had gained quite a bit of weight since he first arrived.

The old master’s health, complexion, and overall vitality were stronger than anything else.

Tang Xu nodded in agreement. “Alright, then we’ll have braised noodles. I’ll make that and also prepare an egg flower soup. Just braised noodles alone might be a bit too heavy.”

"Let’s have some sweet rice wine soup with eggs, too," Old Sun added.

Tang Xu agreed, "Alright, I’ll get to cooking. You can go ahead and continue."

In the yard, Liu Ge’er and Xu Ze had just finished feeding the livestock in the back yard and was now picking bugs and pulling weeds in the vegetable patch.

Tang Xu called out, “Ze’er, go to the freezer and get some frozen green beans, and also take out some pork belly. We’re having braised noodles for lunch. Go get the noodles ready.”

“Got it, Brother Xu!” Xu Ze responded.

Entering the kitchen, Tang Xu put on his apron, rolled up his sleeves, and began preparing the noodles, ready to get to work.

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