Chapter 137

In the afternoon, Wu Mei and the rest came over to take care of the baby with Liu Tong, while Xu Ran and the others were poaching and dying eggs in the kitchen.

When the eggs were ready, Xu Ran had to give them to the whole village, and then there were a bunch of people who came to congratulate him. He had to reply to every one of them, which was physically exhausting.

By the time he could rest in the afternoon, he was already dog-tired.

Moreover, at night, he couldn’t let the baby cry from hunger or pee, nor could he make Liu Tong hungry. Xu Ran had to get up at least four or five times a night. He basically had no sleep for the whole night. As he ran upstairs and downstairs, the weather was cold at night and the wind was blowing. It really gave him a taste of bitter sweetness of life.

In the daytime, Xu Ran could finally sleep for a while, but he had not been able to sleep for long and had to get up to take care of the baby. Xu Ran felt that one baby could make him exhausted like this, so he couldn’t imagine how Liu Tong went through the time when he had to take care of the two kids alone while taking care of Xu Ran.

Running downstairs and upstairs was too troublesome. It was cold anyway, so Xu Ran simply moved a brazier into the room.

The teapot has been placed on the brazier to keep the water warm, and they could also put ewe milk in the teapot so that it could be used anytime.

Then the chicken soup was warmed in the kitchen, which was prepared for Liu Tong. Xu Ran also cooked two eggs in syrup for Liu Tong every meal and didn’t even let him go outside, let alone do other things. He wanted Liu Tong to lie in bed for a month to rest.

And that was said in a very serious tone. During his confinement, Liu Tong couldn’t do anything. He wouldn’t eat anything that he was not supposed to eat. If he was bored stiff, he would play chess with Tangtang and Guoguo, or Xu Ran could teach him to read.

Three days after Baozi was born, Xu Ran got used to the pattern of him crying when he felt hungry, wanted to pee or poop. He asked Shao Yu to take care of the baby for one day and then went to the town with the red eggs.

Needless to say, he had to tell Mr. Chen, Zhuo Yun and the Qin family.

Xu Ran also brought dried bamboo shoots and dried potatoes. These were what he had promised to Mr. Chen. He didn’t sent them to Mr.Chen because he was too busy before.

The dried bamboo shoots belonged to the four families, and the dried potatoes belonged to him, so were the recipes. Apart from the money that he saved for the New Year, he had to save some more for Baozi’s hundred-day party and to buy a new mountain next year. In short, he had to budget carefully.

Xu Ran had not been to Mr. Chen’s restaurant for around twenty days.

There were all dry foods in his packbasket, so it didn’t look like there were too many things. Xu Ran gave Mr.Chen the red egg when he saw him at the restaurant.

Mr. Chen looked at the red egg and was stunned for a moment. “Xu Ran, Liu Tong gave birth to the baby?”

Xu Ran nodded. “Three days ago.”

Mr. Chen cupped his hands together, “Congratulations! Is he a Ge’er or boy? Did you name him?”

Xu Ran answered with a smile, “We already had two boys. Of course I want a Ge’er. Tongtong is awesome. The name has been confirmed long ago. His nickname is Baozi, and formal name is Xu Nian.” He actually sounded very proud.

Mr. Chen couldn’t help but smile, “You’re satisfied now. You got two boys and a Ge’er, and you’ve also passed the imperial examination. It’s really enviable!”

Xu Ran waved his hand and said politely, “Thanks, I could just barely support my family. We still have to rely on you, Mr. Chen.”

Mr. Chen also copied Xu Ran’s tone and said, “You’re welcome, I still have to expect you to take care of me. Don’t say that you came today just to send me the red egg. I still remember what you said a few days ago.”

“Of course. It’s the best thing to eat in winter. It doesn’t have to be made delicate. It’s just a common taste. I can guarantee that this can definitely be sold well.” As Xu Ran said this, he brought out the things in the basket, put them on Mr. Chen’s counter and then intended to open it.

Mr. Chen stopped him. “Don’t, follow me upstairs first.”

It was almost New Year and there were quite a lot of people going around. Xu Ran looked around and felt that it was not suitable, so he put things in the basket and went to the second floor with Mr. Chen.

When they closed the door in the room, Mr. Chen rubbed his hands and hurried Xu Ran to take out the things, as if he was going to do something bad.

Xu Ran found that a bit funny. He took the things out, opened the bag and showed them to Mr. Chen. Then he explained, “Mr. Chen, these are dried bamboo shoots and dried potatoes. I made the name casually. You can change it if you like. The simplest food that you can make with these two things is soup. It’s better to put some bacon in the soup too, and that’s why I told you to buy some bacon. There are more foods that you could cook with the dried bamboo shoots. I’ll write them down for you later.”

Mr. Chen took out both things and had a look. Xu Ran paid special attention to the color when he was drying them. So now both of them looked pretty in yellow.

Mr. Chen asked Xu Ran, “The color looks good, but what about the taste? Have you tried it yourself?”

“Mr. Chen, the things that I brought you all sold good price every time. The dried bamboo shoots are just bamboo shoots which are dried, and the same goes with the potatoes. Haven’t you sold these things before? You know this better than me.”

After hearing Xu Ran’s words, Mr. Chen thought about the popular potatoes which were not enough for sell, and felt heart-broken.

Mr. Chen gritted and said, “Well, then I’ll take both of these things. I know that you’re in a hurry to go home now, so I won’t let you try for me. Just write me the recipes. The price would be the same as we agreed on before.”

“Okay, please give me some papers and a writing brush.” Xu Ran said.

Mr. Chen quickly came over with a brush and paper. When Xu Ran was writing, he felt that he was about to become a big chef with all these recipes.

But this was not difficult. He saw his mother do it before, and he also cooked on his own after he got a job. His cooking skills were all learned from his mother.

Xu Ran only wrote two recipes for Mr. Chen. As for why he didn’t write more, it was because he didn’t remember… Who could remember things for so long?

The two of them agreed on the prices of the dried bamboo shoots and potatoes, and Mr. Chen also paid Xu Ran for the two recipes. Then Xu Ran left the restaurant and went to Zhuo Yun’s house with the remaining red eggs.

The person who opened the door for Xu Ran also changed. Xu Ran didn’t know him, but he knew Xu Ran and called master Xu, “Our young master at home today. He said that if you come, you can just go in.”

Xu Ran nodded and walked inside. He really didn’t see many people along the way, and nobody was standing at the entrance of the living room. It seemed that Zhuo Yun had really dismissed the servants.

Zhuo Yun and Qin Shuwen were teasing their darling Ge’er. Xu Ran was not envious at all, because he also had a Ge’er now.

Zhuo Yun saw Xu Ran, and stood up to greet him, “Ran, you’re here! Come and have a look at my baby, he’s getting prettier.”

Xu Ran put down the basket and said, “I have a baby too. I don’t envy you at all.”

“Ah, you got a baby too? When?” Zhuo Yun, who had yet to react, asked.

Qin Shuwen realized and hit Zhuo Yun with his hand. “Liu Tong had a baby. You didn’t even understand that. You’re so silly.”

“Ah! Oh! He had a baby! Congratulations. Have you brought a red egg for me? I have never eaten the red egg.”Zhuo Yun who had just reacted was excited.

Qin Shuwen couldn’t bear to look at him, feeling that he had become more and more silly recently.

Xu Ran smiled and said, “It’s in the basket, go get it yourself.”

When Zhuo Yun went to get the red egg, Qin Shuwen asked Xu Ran, “When did Liu Tong give birth? Is it a Ge’er or a boy?”

“Three days ago. He is a Ge’er. Still looks wrinkled by now.” Xu Ran said.

“All babies are like that in the first few days. When Qingshu was born, Zhuo Yun didn’t like him either, but as the baby growing up, he didn’t want to let go.”

“That’s right, Qingshu is very beautiful.”

The two of them chatted with each other. Zhuo Yun took out the red egg and placed it on the table one by one.

Just as he was about to peel and eat the egg, Qin Shuwen suddenly yelled, “Zhuo Yun, this egg is cold. Your stomach will hurt if you eat it. Take it to the kitchen to warm it up before eating!”

“OK!” Zhuo Yun reluctantly put down the egg, and left it on the table, then walked over to chat with them.

Qin Shuwen was a little dumbfounded after yelling. He really hadn’t spoken to Zhuo Yun so loudly, but Xu Ran was there. He could not just apologize. However, Zhuo Yun didn’t take it seriously. He just walked over to ask Xu Ran about his Ge’er’s name.

Therefore, Xu Ran mentioned Baozi’s nickname and formal name again. Zhuo Yun said that Baozi’s formal name wasn’t as good as his kid’s. But Xu Ran said that there were two more kids in his family, one was Xu Qing, and the other was Xu Mu, which meant admire when their names combined together.

Then Zhuo Yun stopped talking.

These two people were just bickering with each other like kids, which sounded really shameless.

Xu Ran left soon after. He had to go to the Qin family and then rush home. He was worried that if he wasn’t around, they could not handle the stuff at home.

Liu Tong gave birth to the baby without any warning. The Qin family was also quite surprised. Qin Daddy even packed up some clothes worn by his grandson when he was young and gave them to Xu Ran. Xu Ran also knew that old clothes were good for the kid, so he happily accepted.

Qin Daddy reminded Xu Ran to take good care of Liu Tong, and asked Xu Ran to not let Liu Tong touch cold wind, cold water or do the hard works.

Xu Ran already knew about these, but he still nodded obediently. This was out of the concern of an elder. If it was for someone else, Qin Daddy probably wouldn’t bother to say that.

Xu Ran ate at Qin’s house and asked Qin Shuwu about the booklet.

Qin Shuwu said, “I’ll go get it after lunch. Do you want to take it back or put it here? These days dad and daddy have gone around a few times, and talked about this chess thing. There are quite a few people around here who are interested, and some of them have come to my house and played with my dad and daddy. I think this might actually work.”

Hearing Qin Shuwu’s words, Xu Ran was also very happy. He said, “I’ll just leave it here then. Save myself some efforts to take it back. But since you say that the chess business might work, I’ll rush them to make some more and then I’ll bring it here to try out in a few days.”

“Alright, I’ll introduce you to my friends then.”

“Thank you, eldest brother.”

“There’s no need to be so courteous to me. We’re family…”