Chapter 284: Interaction
"It's nothing, it's nothing." Wang Tongjing recounted the incident to Third Sister. "Everything's fine now!"
Third Sister let out a sigh of relief. "That's good, that's good!"
A Sen asked curiously, "How did you find out?"
Third Sister smiled. "Xi Ge'er sent Baoshu to deliver a message, saying Youyou had gotten into trouble and asked me to come quickly."
"Ah!" Both A Sen and Wang Tongjing widened their eyes in surprise. A Sen added, "No wonder I didn’t see Xi Ge'er earlier—I thought he was hiding out of fear. Turns out he was busy sending for reinforcements!" He couldn’t help but feel proud of the boy’s quick thinking. As an uncle, he swelled with pride and stepped forward, calling out from the porch, "Xi Ge'er!"
Xi Ge'er immediately popped up. "Second Uncle, Second Uncle, keep your voice down! Or Mother might hear."
A Sen grinned at Xi Ge'er’s chubby cheeks. "Where’s your master?"
"Uncle Yang called him away for some 'Eight Immortals Banquet,'" Xi Ge'er replied, his eyes narrowing into slits. "Has that Li Thirteen left?"
A Sen nodded and ruffled Xi Ge'er’s hair. "You did well today, knowing to call for help!" Just as he finished speaking, Chunbing and Yuanxiao walked in side by side.
"Cousin Shen! Second Cousin Shen!" Xi Ge'er immediately ran over to them.
Third Sister explained, "When they heard Youyou was in trouble, these two insisted on coming along, saying they wanted to plead for her. I figured if things really got out of hand, they might be of some use, so I let them tag along."
As they spoke, Fu Tingyun emerged upon hearing the commotion. "Third Sister, why didn’t you come inside instead of standing out here?"
"I didn’t want to interrupt while you were busy," Third Sister greeted her, and they all entered the hall together.
Chunbing, not seeing Youyou but not daring to stray far from his mother, stood on tiptoe to peek into the inner chamber.
The house had recently replaced its bamboo curtains, and through the gaps, Chunbing caught sight of a small figure in pink kneeling motionless by the window-side kang. For some reason, his heart ached. Once the adults had taken their seats and tea and snacks were served, he could no longer hold back. "Aunt Nine, where’s Cousin Youyou?"
Chunbing, having been meticulously taught by Third Older Cousin's Husband, was usually the epitome of courtesy and restraint. For him to speak out of turn like this was unprecedented. Fu Tingyun found it odd but replied, "She’s being punished for causing trouble."
"Aunt Nine, it wasn’t Cousin Youyou’s fault," Yuanxiao chimed in, unwilling to let his brother have all the say. "If anyone should be punished, it’s that Li Thirteen. Why punish Cousin Youyou?" He ran up to Fu Tingyun and tugged at her sleeve. "How about... how about..." After thinking for a moment, he brightened. "I’ll take the punishment for Cousin Youyou!" The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. "I’m her older brother—let me take the punishment for her!""This child!" Fu Tingyun chuckled as she patted Yuanxiao's head. "Such an innocent nature. But it was Youyou who did wrong—how can we let you take the punishment for her? What meaning would that punishment hold then?" Fu Tingyun went on about how "whoever makes a mistake must bear the responsibility," then asked why Third Sister had suddenly brought the children over. Upon learning that Xi Ge'er had gone to deliver the message, she grew visibly moved and pulled Xi Ge'er to her side, smiling. "This child—usually all I see is him eating this and that, never seeming to care about anything. Who would have thought he’d know to stand up for his sister..."
Now that’s more like an eldest son should be!
Xi Ge'er, praised by his mother, grinned until his eyes narrowed into slits.
"Our Xi Ge'er clearly has a good head on his shoulders," Third Sister seized the moment to compliment him.
Fu Tingyun, of course, had to modestly deflect the praise.
Meanwhile, Chunbing’s gaze drifted toward the bamboo curtain of the inner chamber.
There, he saw the little figure kneeling by the window kang shifting uncomfortably, clearly in pain from kneeling too long.
Chunbing couldn’t help but feel anxious.
Noticing the adults were still deep in discussion about the day’s events, he quietly signaled Xi Ge'er with his eyes.
Xi Ge'er took advantage of his mother’s distraction to sidle over to Chunbing.
Chunbing whispered, "Why hasn’t your family served lunch yet?"
Xi Ge'er looked outside in confusion. "It’s not even noon—what lunch?" Then, realization dawned, and he grinned. "Ah, I see! Cousin Shen must be hungry." He was quite pleased with himself. Usually, everyone teased him for always thinking about food—now even the ever-praised Cousin Shen was thinking about it. No one could call him greedy anymore!
Nearby, Yuanxiao overheard and chimed in, "Big brother, you already ate two buns and a bowl of porridge this morning..."
Chunbing grew frantic. After a quick glance at the engrossed adults, he hissed, "You two idiots! If lunch were served, Cousin Youyou wouldn’t have to keep kneeling!"
The two boys gasped in understanding. Xi Ge'er immediately said, "I’ll go tell Zheng Sanniang!" and dashed out of the hall.
Chunbing sighed in relief.
Soon, Xi Ge'er returned, flashing Chunbing a thumbs-up.
Chunbing allowed himself a small smile.
His gaze returned to the bamboo curtain.
Meanwhile, his mother’s voice reached his ears: "...So we can go to Yuming Mountain to escape the heat this summer?"
"Yes!" Fu Tingyun replied cheerfully. "We just finalized the deed transfer in Shuntian Prefecture a couple of days ago. These past few days, we’ve been preparing to hire craftsmen to renovate the house there. Once the weather gets hot, we can all go stay at Yuming Mountain for a while."
"We’ll definitely go," Third Sister said with a laugh. "We’ll help you warm the house!"
It was customary to invite relatives and friends to celebrate moving into a new home, adding liveliness and "warming" the house with good energy.
Fu Tingyun nodded eagerly.
Third Sister then asked, "Did Seventh Younger Cousin’s husband help find this property?"
"Yes!" Fu Tingyun said. "Who would’ve thought he’d have better leads than the property agents or even Shopkeeper Ye San?"
Third Sister sighed. "Back when your Third Older Cousin’s Husband was in need, he also ran around tirelessly to help. Tell me—how can someone so sharp-witted not put more effort into his scholarly pursuits? And Seventh Younger Cousin just lets him idle his days away in the capital like this.""Everyone has their own temperament!" Fu Tingyun said with a smile. "Just like our sixth uncle—he loves traveling around."
Hearing this, Third Sister sighed. "The family split up before even a year had passed since Grandmother's death. Now the Fu family has become a laughingstock in Huayin. And Sixth Uncle still won’t settle down—he actually moved to Weinan... People might think they’re trying to establish a separate ancestral hall!"
Didn’t Second Uncle and Second Aunt also buy a house in the northern part of the city to live separately?
In the end, they’ve all left the ancestral home. To outsiders, it looks just like they’re cutting ties with the old residence.
But Fu Tingyun didn’t feel it was appropriate to say much in front of Third Sister, so she changed the subject and asked about Third Older Cousin's Husband’s official duties. "I heard he’s about to be promoted to a supervising secretary?"
At this, Third Sister beamed. "It’s not certain yet. Hard to say."
Just as she spoke, Zheng Sanniang entered, smiling as she curtsied to everyone and asked Fu Tingyun for instructions. "Where would you like the midday meal served?"
So early!
Fu Tingyun couldn’t help but glance out the window, but since the meal was already prepared, it wouldn’t do to let it go cold. She smiled and said, "Let’s serve it in the main hall!"
Zheng Sanniang acknowledged the order and instructed the serving women to bring out the dishes.
Yuanxiao’s face lit up with joy, and he opened his mouth to bring up Youyou’s situation, but his brother quickly grabbed him and covered his mouth.
He looked at his brother in confusion.
Then he heard Ninth Aunt instruct Yu Wei, "Let Youyou get up. After the meal, she can copy 'A Thousand Poems' five times as punishment."
Yu Wei smiled and went to fetch Youyou.
Only then did Chunbing release Yuanxiao.
Yuanxiao immediately gave him a big thumbs-up.
Chunbing smiled faintly, though a hint of pride flickered in his eyes.
The children were seated at a smaller table for the meal.
As soon as Youyou sat down, she thanked Xi Ge’er.
Yuanxiao, meanwhile, placed a chicken drumstick in Youyou’s bowl. "Eat this, and your leg won’t hurt anymore."
Youyou nodded vigorously, her eyes reddening. "Thank you, Second Cousin Shen, for pleading for me in front of Mother."
"Heh heh!" Yuanxiao chuckled sheepishly. "It wasn’t your fault anyway..."
Mentioning the upsetting incident, Youyou grew indignant. "It was all because of that Li Thirteen..."
Xi Ge’er offered a suggestion. "How about I talk to our martial arts master and have him beat Li Thirteen up?"
"I’ll go too!" Xu Ge’er, sitting beside Xi Ge’er, chimed in immediately. "I’ll go with the master to beat him up!"
"That’s not right!" Chunbing objected at once. "Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire. He did wrong, but that doesn’t mean we should stoop to his level..."
"Eldest Cousin Shen is such a pedant!" Youyou pouted, clearly displeased, muttering under her breath, "Didn’t even plead for me..."
Chunbing watched the sulking Youyou, his lips parting slightly as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he held back, a trace of sadness flashing in his eyes.
"Don’t be angry, Youyou!" Yuanxiao quickly tried to cheer her up, placing the other chicken drumstick in her bowl. "I’ll go with you to settle the score with that Li Thirteen."
Youyou shook her head and gave the drumstick to Xu Ge’er instead. "No matter what, I shouldn’t have been shooting stones around. And he lied to me too. Let’s just call it even."
"Then why don’t you practice martial arts with us?" Xi Ge’er suggested. "That way, you won’t miss next time—didn’t he claim we hit him in the eye? Next time, we’ll just blind him for real, so he can’t pretend anymore!""No, no!" Youyou shook her head like a pellet drum. "Getting shot in the eye would hurt so much! And if you go blind, you'll never see anything again." Only then did she realize Chunbing's words made sense, falling silent for a long moment before saying, "We can't be bad like him!"
Yuanxiao nodded repeatedly.
Xi Ge'er, however, remained indifferent.
He had only wanted to stand up for his sister. If she thought it wasn't a good idea, then they could just think of another way.
A faint smile tugged at Chunbing's lips as he said, "No talking during meals. Eat quickly, or you might spit food into someone else's bowl."
Everyone immediately quieted down.
But Chunbing seemed to hear Youyou muttering under her breath about him being too controlling.
He couldn't help but smile wryly.
Looking up, he saw Yue Chuan hurrying into the hall: "Madam, Madam Li is here to visit!"
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O(∩_∩)O~
PS: Wishing everyone a happy weekend!
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(End of Chapter)
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