The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 287

 

| TBBOTOF | 287

It was hot, but it was still cool in the forest.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the grass. A breeze rustled the leaves, creating a soft, rustling sound.

Wei Dong leaned against a large boulder.

In his back basket, there was a wild rabbit with its neck twisted, and the long, beautiful tail feathers of a pheasant drooped over the edge of the basket, swaying gently with the wind.

After spending the whole morning up the mountain, they had only managed to catch one pheasant. Wei Dong let out a small sigh but dared not show the slightest sign of disappointment, afraid of dampening the excitement of his two sons.

He recalled the first time he went hunting with his father as a child. He had managed to shoot a fat rabbit with his own hands. His mother cooked a large pot of rabbit meat, and they ate until their mouths were greasy. He was about the same age as his sons are now.

His own two boys had the right attitude, but one was too steady, while the other was too impatient.

The chubby boy stood there holding a slingshot, aiming at a wild rabbit. He had aimed for as long as it took to drink a cup of tea. 

Not only were his arms sore from holding up the slingshot, but the rabbit he was aiming at had already finished eating all the grass in that patch and hopped to another area to graze. 

Yet the stone in his slingshot still hadn't been launched.

On the other side, his younger son, Er Bao, was the complete opposite of his older brother. This kid was too impatient. 

Though not rash, he couldn’t endure the waiting time required to aim properly.

Usually, as soon as he raised the slingshot and spotted the target, his hand would release, and the stone would fly out. 

To his credit, the force was strong—one could hear the whooshing sound as the stone shot through the air. The problem was his accuracy. 

When he shot at a rabbit, he often ended up startling a pheasant instead. Still, he wasn’t discouraged. He would keep shooting continuously, with "whoosh whoosh whoosh" sounds going on and on.

The rabbit in the basket wasn’t even caught by hunting. Instead, one rabbit had been startled by Er Bao’s flying stone, panicked, and ran chaotically, accidentally knocking itself unconscious against a tree trunk. 

Another rabbit had been pulled up from a trap. The traps dug a while ago had only managed to catch rabbits lately. With the good weather, the wild animals in the mountains had plenty to eat, and the larger beasts rarely came to the front side of the mountain anymore.

He figured he would need to head deeper into the mountains again sometime soon. Otherwise, his hunting skills would get rusty over time.

Hunting was still a way for the family to make a living—it couldn’t be wasted.

As Wei Dong was mulling over plans to gather his gear and head into the mountains, he suddenly heard Da Bao and Er Bao cheering excitedly nearby.

Glancing once more at the pheasant that had flown away, Wei Dong sighed, turned his head, and asked, “What happened? What did you catch?”

“Dad! There are eggs!” Er Bao called out excitedly, waving his arms. “Come quickly!”

Wei Dong thought about the pheasant that had flown off earlier and guessed it might be pheasant eggs. 

He stood up, walked over to take a look, and sure enough—there were six eggs in a grassy nest. They weren’t very large, unmistakably pheasant eggs.

“Do you want to put them in the basket and carry them down the mountain?” Wei Dong asked.

The two boys squatted by the nest, curiously tilting their heads as they stared at the eggs. When they heard their father’s suggestion, they quickly shook their heads.

Wei Dong raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“It's not like our family is short on eggs,” The chubby boy shook his head and pulled Er Bao up with him. The brothers stood and tilted their heads to ask Wei Dong, “Dad, will the pheasant that flew away come back?”

Wei Dong shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.”

Er Bao blinked his eyes, clearly confused. “Why wouldn’t it come back? The eggs are still here!”

Wei Dong reached out and wiped some dirt off Er Bao’s face, but his hand was a bit rough, leaving a red mark on the boy’s cheek. To cover it up, he rubbed again, as if trying to wipe away the redness too.

Er Bao winced from the sting and quickly dodged to the side.

“If you two don’t want to pick up the eggs, then leave them. Your dad has probably already made lunch by now,” Wei Dong said. 

He didn’t feel like answering his sons’ endless string of questions. 

As patient as he usually was, he wasn’t in the mood to chatter on. “If you don’t understand something, save it and go ask your Teacher. He knows everything.”

The boys’ eyes immediately lit up.

That’s right—Teacher Sun was so knowledgeable and clever! If they didn’t understand something, asking him would definitely solve it!

In the large Wei family estate, Old Sun, his shoes caked with mud from the vegetable garden, held a rather large cauliflower in his hands and turned his head to sneeze.

Old Fu, who was nearby, looked up from pulling weeds and tossed the handful aside before asking, “Master, are you feeling unwell?”

Old Wen, who was working nearby, let out a chuckle. “Did you see the way he downed that bowl of porridge this morning? Does he look unwell to you?”

Old Sun turned his head and glared, unwilling to back down. “And you ate a whole fried pancake!”

“You also ate a boiled egg!” Old Wen shot back, flinging a bunch of spinach in his hand and sending a spray of muddy water flying.

Old Sun tilted his head to dodge the dirt clumps, his beard trembling with anger. “What’s wrong with eating an egg? It’s not like you laid it!”

Old Wen’s eyes widened in outrage. One hand went to his hip while the other pointed accusingly at Old Sun. “You are a disgrace to scholars!”

From a nearby rocking chair, Old Wu chuckled and snorted. “With the way you two are acting, what part of you can still claim to be a scholar?”

“Mind your own business!” Old Wen and Old Sun snapped in unison, turning their heads to glare at him.

Old Wu clicked his tongue and smirked insincerely. “Not that it’s any of my business, but Old Sun, you should really cut back on those eggs. Eating one every day might not be good for you. Judging by your yellow-coated tongue lately, could it be that you're having trouble with your bowels?”

In the kitchen, Tang Xu, who was leaning against the window frame listening to the commotion, hunched his neck and smiled. 

He muttered to himself that these old men really had no filter when they argued—talking about bowel movements and whatnot without the slightest bit of shame.

Old Sun froze for a moment, then erupted in fury.

He actually jumped up, ready to go fight Old Wu. Trouble with his bowels? 

Was he cursing him to be constipated?!!

Old Wen fanned the flames from the side, saying, “Old Sun, you should listen to the doctor’s advice and eat more greens. Look at you, hugging a bowl of meat every day—of course your body must be feeling unwell!”

Old Wu added with a chilly tone, “And you’re one to talk. Why don’t you check your own pulse? Aren’t you the one feeling blocked up? You eat eight meals a day—how are you so hungry all the time?”

Old Wen shot back, “What eight meals? That’s called breakfast, brunch, afternoon tea, and a midnight snack! Are you saying you didn’t eat any? You’ve eaten no less than me!”

The courtyard grew lively once again as the two old men bickered, neither willing to back down, slinging petty insults at each other.

Old Fu glanced at one, then the other, realizing that neither of these stubborn old men could be reasoned with. 

He decided to ignore them entirely and bent back down to continue digging out the weeds and wild greens that were stealing nutrients from the vegetables. 

The wild greens growing in the garden were much thicker and more tender than the ones from the mountains—delicious to eat.

Tang Xu had planted the vegetable seeds earlier in the year and buried last year’s wild green roots in the soil as an experiment. Surprisingly, all of them sprouted.

They had been picking these greens since the spring, and now, even in July, they were harvesting the final batch. The greens were starting to get a bit tough, so they decided to pull them all up. 

Once the vegetables were fully harvested, they could bury the wild green roots again, ensuring another crop for the following year.

Wei Xi and Tang Yang were busy in the backyard vegetable garden, fixing support poles for the climbing plants. The recent rainfall had loosened the poles, so they had to be replanted deeper into the soil.

“The grapevines over there look like they’re growing nicely. Maybe we’ll get to eat grapes this year,” Tang Yang said as he pushed a bamboo pole firmly into the ground. 

He gave it a shake to make sure it was stable, then moved on to the next one.

Wei Xi turned to glance at the grape trellis. When they’d transplanted the wild mountain grapes a couple of years ago, his brother had said that grapes take a few years to bear fruit. Even when they first start producing, they wouldn’t taste very good; they’d need more time to mature.

Still, he and Tang Yang had looked forward to it every year, often standing beneath the grape trellis, hoping to spot a cluster of grapes.

Last year, there hadn’t been any. This year, though, a few tiny grapes had started to appear. Whether they would grow into anything substantial remained to be seen.

“Probably another year,” Wei Xi said. “As long as the vines are alive, that’s what matters. The wild fruit trees on the mountain should be bearing fruit this year. Last time I went to gather eggs, I saw that the wild pears and apricots had already sprouted.”

Tang Yang agreed with a nod. Thinking about the sweet and sour fruit they’d soon get to eat, he couldn’t help but swallow in anticipation.

Just as they were daydreaming about the taste of the fruit, the faint sounds of arguing drifted over from the front courtyard, the voices growing louder and louder.

Tang Yang tilted his head, listening carefully. After a moment, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.

Wei Xi wasn’t even curious. He just rolled his eyes and complained, “Ever since Old Wu came, our house has gotten so noisy. The other day, when I went to bring something to Auntie, I ran into Old Zhang next door. He asked me if something had happened in our family lately because there’s so much shouting and bickering every day.”

Wei Xi pulled an exaggerated, pained expression. “I didn’t even know how to respond to that. If people find out those three old men bicker every day for no reason, it’d be so embarrassing.”

Tang Yang burst into laughter, his shoulders shaking, and even the bamboo pole in his hands wobbled with him.

“Stop laughing,” Wei Xi said helplessly. “You’re about to pull that pole right out of the ground. All that work would be for nothing.”

Tang Yang tried to stifle his laughter and wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his hand. Glancing at the sky, he said, “Brother Xu is probably getting lunch ready. My brother-in-law and the kids should be back soon.”

No sooner had he said that than the arguing in the front yard came to an abrupt stop. This was quickly followed by the excited cheers of the chubby boy and Er Bao.

“Dad! Dad! We’re back!” Er Bao’s voice rang out as he dashed forward at full speed, leaving his older brother far behind.

The chubby boy, though slightly more composed, still showed his eagerness as he jogged forward with a big grin. “Dad~~~~”

Tang Xu poked his head out of the kitchen, smiling as he waved to the kids.

As soon as Tang Xu saw the two boys, their faces and clothes covered in dirt, his smile didn’t falter, but he called out to Wei Dong, “Clean those two up before they come over.”

Er Bao had already run up to the kitchen window, bouncing with excitement. “Dad! We caught a chicken and a rabbit!”

Tang Xu raised an eyebrow. “You two did great! Now go change your clothes and wash your face and hands—lunch is almost ready.”

Er Bao gave a quick “Oh!” before turning around and dragging his older brother off with him.

Hearing the commotion, Xiao Bao and Sun Yang came out of the house, along with Goudan, who was already walking steadily on his own.

Wei Dong set the bamboo basket down on the ground and glanced at Xiao Bao. When they had left that morning, his youngest son had thrown quite a fit upon learning he wouldn’t be joining the trip to the mountains. 

It had taken quite a bit of coaxing to calm him down. Now, seeing that Xiao Bao seemed perfectly content and not upset anymore, Wei Dong let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“This is so pretty,” Sun Yang said, his attention immediately drawn to the pheasant’s bright, long tail feathers. It was the first time he had seen one up close.

Xiao Bao reached out, grabbed a handful of the tail feathers, and yanked one off, waving it around happily.

Goudan, finding this entertaining, also reached out to grab a feather.

Sun Yang quickly stepped in to stop them, coaxing, “You can’t play with this. Come on, I’ll take you both to wash your hands. It’s almost time to eat.”

Goudan, who still couldn’t talk, reached out to grab the tail feather from Xiao Bao’s hand.

Xiao Bao thought for a moment, then handed it over, only to pluck another one for himself.

Sun Yang sighed and grabbed both of their hands, leading them away. “Come on, let’s go wash up.”

In the kitchen, Tang Xu ladled the stewed meat out of the pot and turned to Xu Ze, who was scooping rice into bowls. “Ze’er, take that bamboo basket to the ice cellar. With this heat, it’ll spoil if we leave it out.”

Not hearing any noises from the basket, he figured the rabbit and pheasant inside were already dealt with. They’d deal with cleaning them after lunch.

“It’s time to eat!”

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