The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 346

 

| TBBOTOF | 346

Tang Qi sat in the chair, holding a teacup, his body frozen, and his facial expression was exaggerated.

It took him quite a while to process what he had just heard, yet he still doubted whether he had misheard.

"You want me to run a shop with Ah Yang???" Tang Qi's eyes widened in shock. "When did you get a shop again, Brother Xu?"

Tang Xu scratched his face and smiled, "This year, part of our family's liquor is sold at the shop, and the rest is sold in the tavern. If you agree, we'll need to sign a contract."

Tang Qi nodded repeatedly, "Of course, we'll sign it for sure! But... I don't really know much about liquor. Can I handle it?"

"Our family's liquor is just one type, sorghum liquor. There's not much to learn. Once it's brewed, we transport a barrel over, and you just serve however much the customers want." Tang Xu figured selling liquor shouldn’t be too complicated. 

After all, he didn't know much about it himself.

Seeing Tang Qi's slightly nervous expression, he thought for a moment and added, "Ah Dong should be coming back soon. In the next couple of days, clean up the shop, including the front and back yards. Move the street food stall into the store and bring over a barrel of liquor to sell and see how it goes."

Hearing this, Tang Qi nodded, "Alright, then I'll head over with Ah Yang tomorrow."

Tang Yang added, “The two of us will definitely clean everything up properly. Don’t worry, Brother.”

Tang Xu raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder. “Afterward, listen to your Brother Qi. Don’t be like a firecracker. When running a business and welcoming customers, remember—the customer is king. As long as they’re paying, everything’s negotiable.”

Tang Yang puffed out his chest and patted it twice. “Don’t worry, Brother. I’ll definitely listen.”

And just like that, the matter was settled. Tang Xu was the type to delegate responsibilities without interfering too much. 

As long as the shop made money, Tang Qi and Tang Yang would naturally earn more silver. As for how to run the place, he didn’t really care.

Days passed in busy work, and as the weather grew warmer, they eagerly awaited Wei Dong’s return. Finally, in early May, he was back.

It was a bright, windless day. Tang Xu was playing hopscotch in the courtyard with the children when he suddenly froze at the sound of shouting from the back courtyard.

Er Bao was the first to react, he tossed the pouch in his hand aside, spun around, and ran off.

The other two little ones, a step behind him, also dashed toward the back courtyard.

"Slow down, you’ll fall if you run too fast."

"Father!"

"Father~~~"

"Father!!!"

The three kids raced towards him, each faster than the other. Er Bao was like a nimble little monkey, leaping onto Wei Dong and immediately climbing up, hugging his neck and not letting go.

Next came Da Bao, who also rushed over and hugged his legs, though he wasn’t as agile as his younger brother and couldn’t climb up.

However, Wei Dong bent down, grabbed him by the waist, and easily lifted him up, one child in each arm.

Xiao Bao ran up to him and looked up at his father.

Wei Dong immediately raised his right arm and placed Er Bao on his shoulder. Er Bao, quick as ever, swung his legs and sat on his father’s neck, while Wei Dong then picked up Xiao Bao as well.

When Tang Xu came over, he saw his man holding all three children, and his eyelids twitched slightly.

"Anyone else wouldn't be able to carry them," he joked.

Wei Dong flashed him a smile, raising an eyebrow as he scanned Tang Xu up and down, his gaze lingering on him.

The look was so intense that Tang Xu felt his face flush for no apparent reason.

He quickly walked up to Wei Dong, reached out, and pulled the three children off their father, setting them down on the ground. 

Only then did he smile and ask, "Why did it take you so long to come back?"

Wei Dong raised his arm, pulling Tang Xu into his embrace. After a firm hug, he answered, "I was helping them get familiar with things over there, and I also went over the accounts."

"The store's open? How's the business?" Tang Xu stepped out of his embrace and glanced at the cart behind him. Three large wooden boxes were piled together.

"Pretty good. Yongcheng is large, and the two braised food shops, one in the south, one in the north don’t interfere with each other." Wei Dong turned around and began unloading the boxes.

Tang Xu remarked that a chain of stores is like that, there are usually over ten in a city, and he only had two so far.

"I hired two people to help with the work. There’s too much going on at home. They’re cutting grass right now; I'll introduce them when they come back." Tang Xu helped him move the boxes, but when he tried to lift one, it didn’t budge.

"What’s inside? Why is it so heavy?"

"Silver," Wei Dong blocked him and lifted the box down himself.

Tang Xu: "?" Silver?

"It’s silver," Wei Dong replied with a grin. Seeing Tang Xu’s surprised expression, he raised his chin to indicate that he should take a look.

Tang Xu opened the box lid and saw it packed neatly with silver ingots.

He blinked several times, his eyes almost stinging from the bright, shining silver.

"..." He took a deep breath to calm himself and then looked up, confused. "What did you bring silver back for?"

It wasn’t that he was questioning it; every time Wei Dong returned from business trips, he always brought back banknotes. This was the first time he had brought back such a large box of actual silver.

"Profit split from the caravan," Wei Dong said, reaching out to pinch his cheek. "Tomorrow, I’ll deposit the official silver."

Tang Xu glanced over and saw a row of ten, five rows, and each layer containing fifty pieces, there must be at least five layers of wooden boxes. "Are they all like this?"

"Mm," Wei Dong nodded. "Two boxes, the other one has cloth in it. I thought the color was nice, so I had it embroidered with a lot of patterns."

"Alright, then it’s best to deposit the silver as soon as possible. It’s safer than keeping it at home with so many people around." Silver should be kept safe.

Wei Dong bent down to grab Er Bao and handed him the ingot, "Here, take this inside to play with."

Da Bao, seeing the silver ingot, eagerly stepped forward and stretched out his hand, "Father, I want one too."

Tang Xu’s eyelid twitched as he grabbed the ingot from Er Bao, tossed it back into the box, and shot a glare at the three children. "Alright, go back to your room and practice writing. Stop causing trouble here."

Xiao Bao pouted, pulling on his older brother’s hand with one hand and tugging on Er Bao’s with the other, unwillingly letting out a few hums.

Da Bao and Er Bao weren’t having it either. Though they were young, they knew silver was valuable!

But since their dad wouldn’t give them any, they couldn’t get their hands on it!

They were then sent back to the front yard.

Tang Xu shot a glare at Wei Dong and waved him off, "Hurry up and deposit the silver, get moving."

Wei Dong nodded, agreed, and after unloading the rest of the bundles from the mule cart, he loaded the two boxes back on and drove off.

Once he left, Tang Xu was still trying to figure out why Wei Dong brought back two boxes of silver. 

Could it really be just to flash it in front of him?

Tang Xu clicked his tongue, turned, and headed back to the front yard. He decided that with all this going on, he’d better make tonight’s meal more extravagant and make extra dishes.

"Brother, I think I heard the back gate creak," Wei Xi came out of the house, seeing Tang Xu walking from the back yard, and asked with confusion.

"Your brother’s back." Tang Xu replied.

"He's back?" Wei Xi exclaimed in surprise, about to head toward the back yard.

Tang Xu stopped him, "He just left. Help me bring the lamb over. Your brother will be back later."

Wei Xi nodded and agreed.

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TL: This is the last chapter for now, hopefully we get more chapters next month~ Thanks again to Chubbiest Cheeks!