The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 286

 

| TBBOTOF | 286

Tang Xu was sitting at the table.

The house was crowded now. The elders in the family, Old Sun and Old Wu, had no objection to sitting at the same table as the servants. However, Old Fu insisted that he would not sit at the same table as his master.

The food was delicious, and today Tang Mei was asked to help cook dinner as Tang Xu wasn't feeling well and needed to rest.

Tang Mei was quite worried and asked how Tang Xu was doing.

But then Tang Mei was caught off guard by Wei Dong’s two words, “Tired.”

She never expected that, even though they already had three children, the couple would be so... active! 

It was broad daylight, and they still couldn't settle down, with outsiders in the house too!

Wei Dong didn’t stay in her room for long. He went to the backyard to finish his work, still full of energy, even after using so much strength.

After dinner, the three children went to check on Tang Xu. Seeing that their dad was asleep, they quietly withdrew from the room.

“Father, is my dad sick?” the chubby boy asked, running to the backyard to check on the man who was pulling a water bucket from the well. 

His brows were furrowed with worry. “Grandpa Wu said he would check on him and give him two doses of medicine.”

Wei Dong quickly refused, “No need.” 

He had already angered his husband. If Old Wu checked his pulse, his husband would really be so mad that he might kick him out of the room.

The chubby boy looked up at him and asked, “Why?”

"Your dad is just tired, once he wakes up tomorrow, he’ll be fine," Wei Dong said, placing a firm hand on his eldest son's shoulder and pulling him out of the room.

"Didn't you tell me that you would recite ‘Exhortation to the Emperor‘ for me earlier? Since you're not doing anything, go to the study and recite it to me."

The chubby boy said "Oh" and left, turning around three times before going out the door.

Tang Xu, still groggy from sleep, heard the noise but didn’t pay much attention. He was incredibly tired and didn’t feel like doing anything except sleep.

He slept through to the next morning and was woken up by Wei Dong.

Having slept for quite a while, his mind was still hazy, and his body felt weak.

Instinctively, he raised his hand to his forehead to check for a fever. Once he confirmed he didn’t have one, Tang Xu yawned, got off the bed, and put on his shoes.

"Dad~~" Xiao Bao rushed in from outside and hugged Tang Xu's leg.

Luckily, Tang Xu was sitting on the edge of the bed; otherwise, the child might have knocked him over.

Looking down, he pinched his son’s cheek and said with squinted eyes, "You’re getting more mischievous. Who told you to run around inside the room? What if you bumped into something? You’d be the one hurting, you know."

Xiao Bao hummed and clung to Tang Xu’s leg, missing his dad after not seeing him all night.

Tang Xu couldn't do anything about it. He bent down to pick him up, but his back ached terribly, so he could only sit on the edge of the bed and place Xiao Bao on his lap. "Where’s your father?"

"Father took my eldest brother and second brother up the mountain!" Xiao Bao’s voice rose, and then he pouted, "He didn’t take me!" 

His sulking expression made Tang Xu laugh.

"He didn’t take you because you’d start complaining about being tired after a short while. They’re going up the mountain to hunt, and if you keep whining, it’ll be hard to carry you," Tang Xu explained, gently lifting Xiao Bao and standing up, holding his hand. "Come on, let’s go wash your face."

Xiao Bao reluctantly followed him to wash up, but as his mood improved, he cheerfully chattered to Tang Xu, "I found an egg!"

Tang Xu wiped his face and glanced at him. "How many did you find?"

Xiao Bao raised his hand and gestured, "A lot."

Although his speech wasn’t as smooth as the chubby child’s or Er Bao’s, he could still express himself clearly, especially when he was eager to do something.

"Big brother said after we eat, he’ll take me to find more eggs," Xiao Bao said, looking up with a bright, eager expression in his eyes.

The "Big brother" he was referring to was Sun Yang.

Recently, Sun Yang had been helping his mother look after his younger brothers.

When he wasn’t studying to learn characters with the chubby child and the Er Bao, he was mostly looking after his younger brothers and helping to gather eggs.

After the weather warmed up, Tang Xu started letting the chickens roam freely. The children would go up the mountain every day to collect eggs. The three children enjoyed running around the mountain to gather eggs, but later, Xiao Bao couldn’t handle the exhaustion. 

After a few days, he lost interest.

Today, Wei Dong took the two older sons up the mountain to hunt early in the morning, leaving Xiao Bao behind. 

Since Tang Xu hadn’t woken up yet, Xiao Bao went to find Sun Yang, who really liked his younger brother.

"Okay, if you're not tired, go ahead," Tang Xu always believed in a joyful, free-range approach to education for his children. 

He let them do what they wanted to do, thinking that keeping them cooped up indoors and forcing them to study would make them into dull-witted children.

He and Wei Dong both shared this philosophy. However, Old Sun would frown every time he saw the chubby boy running around the yard with his younger brothers, shaking his head while saying that Tang Xu was wasting the children's potential.

Because of this, Old Sun had gotten into an argument with Tang Xu some time ago, but Old Wen had told him to mind his own business, saying that neither of the two fathers expected their children to have great achievements. 

Letting them be happy and free was perfectly fine. Old Sun was acting like he had authority just because of his seniority, and had become rather annoying.

Tang Xu felt helpless and talked with Old Sun for a while, though he wasn’t sure whether he had convinced him. 

Now, Old Sun still gave the children lessons, but he no longer insisted on making the chubby boy memorize everything.

It was during this time that Tang Xu realized his eldest son might actually have a talent for studying, like one of those natural prodigies.

He didn’t have perfect photographic memory, but he could read a book once and remember ninety percent of it. For a scholar, that was a rare gift.

Every time Wei Xi and Tang Yang were struggling with memorization, they would look at the chubby boy and envy him, praising him several times.

"Dad!" Xiao Bao grabbed the hem of Tang Xu’s pants and shook it forcefully, pouting and saying, "Dad, I’m calling you!"

Tang Xu snapped back to attention and apologized, "Sorry, I was lost in thought. What did you say?"

Xiao Bao pointed ahead. "Uncle is calling you."

Tang Xu turned his head and saw Xu Ze walking over.

"What’s wrong?" Xu Ze had come from the back door, so he must have just been at the new house.

"Nothing, I finished helping over there. What are we having for lunch today? I see there are lots of vegetables ready to be picked. Should we pick them and dry them for the winter?" 

Their garden had a variety of vegetables, and they grew much earlier than those of others, mainly because they were well-fed and tended to grow fast.

Tang Xu nodded, "We should start drying vegetables now. Pick a lot, since we have more people this year. We’ll need them for the winter."

Xiao Bao ran over to grab Xu Ze’s hand, but he avoided him.

Opening his hand to show Bao, Xu Ze bent down and smiled at him, "My hands are dirty. Let me wash them first, then I’ll hold your hand."

Xiao Bao nodded and waited eagerly for him to wash his hands.

Tang Xu went to the kitchen to prepare lunch, while Xu Ze and Xiao Bao went to the vegetable garden with a bamboo basket to pick cucumbers. 

In the yard, Old Fu saw them and walked over, taking a glance before asking, "Ze’er, do you need any help?"

"Ah, we’re planning to start drying vegetables. Our vegetables grow quickly, so we should pick some of these loofah gourds and dry them all to keep for the winter," Xu Ze said, pointing ahead.

Old Fu nodded and went to get a basket to help.

One by one, Old Wen and Old Wu, who had been strolling around the yard, also came over to join in.

Tang Xu looked out the window and saw them busily working. A smile appeared on his face.

The old men were full of energy and working hard, so he didn’t need to worry about them being affected by the summer heat.

On the mountain, Wei Dong was holding a bamboo basket and looking at his two sons, who were each holding a slingshot. He softly said, "Aim carefully before you pull the slingshot back. Don’t rush."

The chubby boy held his breath, his round face tense with seriousness.

Er Bao squinted one eye, his arm steady and held out, and suddenly released it.

Whoosh—the stone flew forward.

He missed the rabbit he had aimed for, but the shot startled a wild pheasant. The rabbit, frightened by the flapping pheasant, quickly ran off.

Er Bao pouted and looked up at Wei Dong.

"Father's gone."

Wei Dong lightly tapped the back of his head with his big hand. "The rabbit’s gone, not your father."

Er Bao blinked a few times and said, "Oh."

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