Chapter 203

The two walked outside while talking. As soon as they reached the door, Yueya’er rushed over and stuffed a slice of deep-fried pork into his father’s mouth. With another one in his own mouth, he mumbled,”Vegetarian meat, Xu Ran, crispy.”

After all, he was the child’s father, and he could understand this.

Xu An chewed and swallowed the pork, and said to Yueya’er who was still chewing, “You said the meat was brought by Uncle Xu Ran, right?”

Yueya’er nodded non-stop.

Xu An patted his head and told him to go play.

Then he asked Xu Ran, “Was the pork brought by you?”

Xu Ran said, “Yes! It happened that I needed to come over for you and some pork had been fried today.”

It was already dark. Xu Ran remembered that Liu Tong had mentioned that he would wait for him for dinner, so he said to Xu An, “Xu An, let’s call it a day! Tomorrow let’s go on with our talk. It’s dark, I will leave now.”

Xu An urged him to stay, “Why not leave after dinner?”

Xu Ran shook his head. “No, my family are still waiting for me.”

Xu An saw him out of the yard and reminded him from behind, “Watch out on your way back.”

Xu Ran’s figure had disappeared under the curtain of the night and Xu An could only hear his voice.

Having walked on this road many times, very familiar, he made it home safely..

As expected, everyone was waiting for him. They sat around the table, with the dishes and chopsticks set, and they would start to eat as long as he came back.

Xu Ran washed his hands and sat down. “I’m back. I forgot about the time while talking.”

The family naturally didn’t mind this.

Qin Shuwen asked Xu Ran, “Xu Ran, are you there to ask Xu An to make trolleys for the children?”

Qin Shuwen’s words attracted many people’s attention. Xu Ran nodded, “Yes, that’s it. I had the idea a long time ago. But as I’ve been busy these days, plus it hasn’t been hot yet, I forgot it. It was not until you put two kids on the stone table today that I recalled the matter.”

“What is that trolley like? Is it convenient? “Qin Shuwen was very concerned about this question.

Xu Ran said, “I can’t describe clearly. You’ll know when it is made. As for convenience, it must be very convenient. If it’s not, I won’t do it.”

Qin Shuwen thought about it and asked, “How long will it take?”

Xu Ran said, “I’m not sure about this either. After all, we are going to plant grain soon. Everyone will be very busy, but we will make one first anyway. Now that Qing Shu has grown bigger, which requires greater effort from you to carry him. Plus, you have to help take care of Baozi.”

Qin Shuwen thought alike. It was no problem for him to take care of one kid, but as far as two were concerned, it would be a bit troublesome. It was getting hot, the children were wearing less, and they were active.

If the trolley worked, it would be more convenient.

After talking about the trolley, Xu Ran remembered that Qin Shuwu had told him that someone would deliver fruit trees over here tomorrow. If so, his original plan of catching fish might have to be postponed.

When Xu Ran talked about it, Gao Quan said, “I will take charge of planting the fruit trees. You go to fish-catching!”

Xu Ran quickly shook his head. “No, how can I let you do it alone?”

Gao Quan was about to say something when Xu Ran interrupted him, “How about this!? We planted trees at home in the morning, and then at noon when the sun was high above the sky, we would catch fish by the river. When the sun was down, we would come back and plant trees. The more people, the faster.”

Although the sun was not very hot now, it was better than a scorching one!

As Xu Ran said so, Liu Tong nodded, “Let’s do as Ran said! There shouldn’t be many trees. We just need to plant them faster and it won’t take us long.”

“Fine, that’s it then. I’ll take care of the child,” Qin Shuwen agreed.

Only Gao Quan and Shao Yu were a little hesitated, but since everyone had agreed, they would not disagree.

After this, Xu Ran asked Tangtang and Guoguo, “Tangtang, Guoguo, why don’t you skip the classes tomorrow afternoon and catch fish with us?” His tone was like he was trying to trick children with candy.

The two kids shook their heads and the ‘ambassador’ Tangtang said, “Dad, you go! Guoguo and I will go to school.”

Xu Ran really wanted to ask what they could get from the school, so engaging that two would rather give up playing. He remembered how happy he was when he was a child, especially when he took sick leave and didn’t go to school.

But the two kids of theirs were really strange.

Wasn’t they fond of playing at this age?

However, since they already decided, Xu Ran was in no position to say anything else. After all, he could not force the children to skip school to play.

So it was decided. After dinner, they sat in the yard for a while. Tangtang and Guoguo were going to take a medicated bath. Today it would be the last time. According to Gao Quan, it might hurt today.

After Xu Ran heard this, he was in agony. He had personally witnessed that the two kids were in so much pain that they couldn’t utter any word.

However, Tangtang and Guoguo didn’t react much. After all, they had experienced it before. Having been more than a month, they were already used to it. What’s more, the last time was vital. If they refused to do it because they were afraid of pain, wouldn’t all their previous efforts be wasted?

It was something that no one would allow to happen.

In order to divert the attention of the two kids, Xu Ran kept asking them about their school.

Since Tangtang and Guoguo had a lot of contact with people of the same age, they knew a lot of fresh tricks, and even knew how to tease people. The two kids turned on the nagging mode and gossiped about school affairs to Xu Ran.

Xu Ran asked them, “What have you learned in school? Don’t you want to play?”

Tangtang and Guoguo thought about it and shook their head. “Dad, all were things that you had taught us.”

Xu Ran was confused, “Why do you still want to go to school?”

Tangtang and Guoguo shook their head, indicating that they did not know the reason.

Okay! Let it be! It was a good thing for two kids to be motivated. He had to encourage and support them.

Although Xu Ran was chatting non-stop next to them, the pain was still unbearable. Tangtang had bitten into his lips but still didn’t want to utter a sound.

Feeling his heart ache when Xu Ran saw it. He reached out his arm for him to bite.

With tears hanging on face, Guoguo was no better than him. The two kids were so tough that they would not sob only when the pain was too unbearable. But it only rendered the onlookers even more heartbroken.

While Xu Ran was comforting the two kids, he asked Gao Quan, “Is there any way to relieve their pain? Do they have to suffer like this?”

Gao Quan was behind Tangtang and Xu Ran could not see what he was doing.

Gao Quan shook his head when he heard Xu Ran’s words. “They have to go through it by themselves. As long as they can rub through tonight, it would be fine.”

Gao Quan’s words showed that there was really no way. Xu Ran could only think of some way to divert their attention. However, he felt a sharp pain on his arm and almost cried out.

He gritted his teeth and tried hard to swallow the cry.

This bite was exerted by Tangtang. He gritted neatly and the trace of a row of teeth showed on it. Some blood was seeping out.

Xu Ran looked towards the other side. As Guoguo was raising his arm to his mouth, Xu Ran grabbed Guoguo’s hand and offered his instead.

Another bite. Now with one on both sides, it was very symmetrical. Only Xu Ran’s face was twisted.

Xu Ran said to Gao Quan, “Give the two kids two chopsticks or some clean cloth for them to bite! Biting people like this will definitely not work.

Gao Quan took a look at Xu Ran’s arm and nodded. Then he went out to get two pairs of chopsticks and stuffed two into each child’s mouth.

Since he wouldn’t be bitten again, Xu Ran was able to spare his mind on the other things.

In front of the two kids, Xu Ran racked his brain to juggle, which did work.  At least they smiled though still in pain.

From the start of the bathing until midnight, the pain finally receded.

However, after seeing the tooth print on Xu Ran’s arm, Tangtang suddenly cried, and Guoguo, who was unknown of ins and outs, also cried after his brother.

Xu Ran held his forehead helplessly. He didn’t even cry when he was in so much pain.

With a shake of his arm, Xu Ran comforted Tangtang, “Tangtang, what are you crying about? I am just being bitten? No big deal. The tooth marks would fade in two days. Daddy and the others were sleeping. It would be bad if they woke up. Don’t cry, be good!”

At Xu Ran’s words, Tangtang wanted to stop crying, but he just cried so violently that he couldn’t stop it completely and had to sob in Xu Ran’s arms.

“Dad hurts…” The voice that had just cried was a little soft, mixed with the nasal sound, sounded unusually nice.

Xu Ran knew what he meant, so he shook his head. “It doesn’t hurt for Dad. A true man can sweat but can’t shed tears. Why are you crying? You didn’t cry when you were in so much pain just now. If it really hurts for Dad in the future, there’s no use in crying. You have to think of a way to make it not hurt for Dad. Listen to Dad. Stop crying or you won’t be pretty anymore.”

“I don’t want to be pretty!” Tangtang curled his lips and said unhappily.

Fine! ‘Pretty’ is a description of boys, but Xu Ran thought that his two kids were really pretty.

He hurriedly coaxed, “Okay, okay, okay, not pretty, handsome, little man.”

Tangtang was satisfied and his sobbing lowered.

Seeing that his brother didn’t cry anymore, Guoguo stopped too. Then he was carried out of the bucket by Gao Quan, and was placed side by side with Tangtang.

Tears smudging his face, Guoguo immediately started to comfort Tangtang as soon as they got together, “Brother, don’t cry. The pain goes away.”

From his look, he must haven’t seen the tooth print on Xu Ran’s arm. When he bit on it, he probably didn’t know what he was biting, so it was normal for him not to remember.

Xu Ran quickly pulled down his sleeves to cover his arm in case that Guoguo would cry again after seeing it.

Tangtang wanted to say something to Guoguo, but before he could speak, Xu Ran stopped him by rubbing his face. In order to show fairness, he also rubbed Guoguo after kneading Tangtang.

Xu Ran then asked Gao Quan, “Can they go to sleep now? It’s about midnight. They must have been exhausted after all this ordeal.”

Gao Quan touched the water temperature, felt Tangtang’s and Guoguo’s pulse, and then nodded, “It worked. No need to take the bath again in the future.”

This meant that the medicated bath had done its stuff. Xu Ran was happy, and he didn’t make his hands idle, reaching out to slap high five with the two kids. So excited.

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