Chapter 281

The door to the yard was not related. Xu Ran gently pushed the door open and walked in.

It happened to be lunch time when he got home. There was the sound of Liu Tong and Baozi in the kitchen. Liu Tong was talking to Baozi while eating, telling him not to steal to eat.

Xu Ran leaned against the door with his hands in his arms and watched Baozi poke the plate from time to time. He wanted to grab it but didn’t dare to. Xu Ran smiled so gently.

It seemed that his gaze on Baozi was too obvious, which made Baozi feel something and turned back to look at the door.

Just as Baozi was about to call Xu Ran, Xu Ran reached out his hand and made a gesture to stop him. Baozi immediately got him, he covered his mouth and sat back in his seat. Xu Ran could vaguely see the trembling of his shoulder. He must be sniggering now.

Liu Tong turned around with the bowl in his hand and saw Baozi covering his mouth. He thought that he had stolen it again and said, “Baozi, why don’t you listen to Daddy? Didn’t I tell you not to grab it with your hand? Didn’t I tell you that you you would get sick if you grab food with your hands? There are chopsticks on the table. If you want to eat, pick them up with chopsticks . I’ll have to hit you if I catch you grabing food with your hands again.”

Liu Tong subconsciously raised his fist. This action must have been learned from Xu Ran.

Xu Ran was watching at the door. He did not expect that he would influence Liu Tong so deeply.

Baozi, who was wronged, stopped smiling. He took his little hand away from his mouth and said to Liu Tong, “Daddy, I promise I really didn’t steal food. I just covered my mouth because of a smile. Dad also said that the unclean food wouldn’t get me sick. Daddy, who do you want me to listen to?”

Baozi’s words made Liu Tong speechless. Thinking that Ran said these two sentences, he didn’t know what to say now.

Looking at Liu Tong’s awkward expression, Xu Ran could not help but walked in from the door and patted on the back of Baozi’s head and said, ” Just listen to your Daddy. Who told you to talk back? Be careful or I’ll punch you.”

Baozi was very dissatisfied with Xu Ran’s threat. He got off the stool and held Xu Ran’s thigh, saying that he was going to challenge Xu Ran.

Xu Ran just ignored him and turned his eyes to Liu Tong.

Liu Tong saw Xu Ran and his frown relaxed immediately. His face was full of smiles, “Ran, you’re back.”

Xu Ran also looked at him in full of silently conveyed tenderness and nodded, “Yes. Was Baozi obedient during my absence? I told you to punch him, he can’t beat you anyway.”

Xu Ran’s words made Liu Tong more happy and also made Baozi even more udisgruntled. He grabbed Xu Ran’s hand and fiercely bit it. Then he gritted his teeth after that, looking at Xu Ran with an arrogant expression.

There was no bleeding, just a deep tooth mark on it. Xu Ran didn’t feel much pain, but he didn’t let go of this chance to teach Baozi a lesson.

Xu Ran picked up Baozi and slapped Baozi’s buttocks. By the time Baozi could realize it, Xu Ran had already finished slapping. Baozi could only stare at Xu Ran and did not know if he should cry or not.

Xu Ran put down Baozi and said, “This is just a small lesson. You started to bite before we say anything to you. I’ll never let this become a habit for you. I’ll beat you up with a stick if you make this mistake again!”

There was a wooden stick in his home, which was specially used to beat someone, especially for Baozi. Because he was not obedient when he was a child. Baozi had been beaten with the wooden stick many times. It has been a long time since it was used. Baozi has almost forgotten about this. Hearing Xu Ran’s words, the first reaction of Baozi was to cover his butt with his hands.

Xu Ran ignored him and sat down to eat with Liu Tong.

Seeing that Xu Ran ignored him, Baozi felt that he was fooled and sat down with a bitter expression.

Baozi carefully pulled the corner of Xu Ran’s shirt, “Dad, I know I’m wrong. Please don’t ignore me.”

His pitiful look would have softened every one’s heart, not to mention the fact that he was his favorite childe.

Xu Ran rubbed his head and said, “I haven’t been home for a long time and I thought that you would really miss me, but I never expected that when I came back, I would see you talking back to your Daddy. What can I say?  It’s not like I’ve never  hit you before, but your mistakes are different every time. I can’t predict what kind of mistake you will make next time.”

When Baozi heard Xu Ran’s words, he felt even more aggrieved. He threw himself into Xu Ran’s arms, buried his head in his chest and sobbed softly with his shoulder.

Xu Ran patted him on the back and said, “Your two brothers were pushed to the ground when they were five years old and didn’t cry. How could you cry so much? Did you drink too much water every day?”

Baozi immediately raised his head and retorted, “No, I didn’t drink drunk as much as Daddy. I’m so young, I can only drink a little,” Baozi even stretched out his hand to measure it.

Seeing that he was in the mood to refute, Xu Ran was not worried that he would be upset anymore. He put him back on the ground and stood up to hold him. “Let’s go to wash our hands and we could have lunch after that. I haven’t had any of your Daddy’s cooking for a long time.”

Xu Ran was also good at pretending to be pitiful, but Baozi had already saw him through and said he would not fall for it. He shook off Xu Ran’s hand and went to wash his hands. Xu Ran smiled helplessly and followed behind him.

Baozi must have been missing him since they hadn’t seen each other for seven days. Not to mention Liu Tong. He kept saying that Xu Ran had lost weight when they were eating and picking food into his bowl for him. He even forgot Baozi, which made Baozi have a deep feeling that Daddy did not like him anymore.

Xu Ran and the rest were probably unaware of his inner struggle.

After lunch, the family gathered around the stove to talk, mainly to tease Baozi.

Baozi had indeed learned a lot from Xiao Qingyun during thepast few months. He already known the basics of everything he needed to learn. Xiao Qingyun did not say what he should do exactly, so he did not know about it for the time being, but Xu Ran was still very satisfied with Baozi’s performance.

After a while of busy work, Liu Tong got up and said that he was going to plant some garlic. Baozi had been clamoring to eat garlic bolt a few days ago.

Xu Ran came up up this idea in Xu Village before. For several years, their family would plant garlic bolt in the house in winter. The children liked to eat it. They said that the garlic bolt in winter was more delicious.

Xu Ran stood up and said, “Then I’ll join you! How much garlic is there? Let’s plant more.”

Liu Tong went to get a little dustpan. Half of it was filled with garlic flakes. Liu Tong waved it at Xu Ran and said, “That’s all we have. I bought it this morning when I went to buy some vegetables. Although there is garlic in Yanzhou , there aren’t many people who plant it.”

Xu Ran looked at the garlic flakes in the dustpan and said, “That would be enough. We won’t eat much.”

“Well,” Liu Tong nodded. “I’ve prepared the basin and mud. It’s in the yard. Let’s go and plant it.”

Liu Tong then walked out with a dustpan. Xu Ran followed behind him with Baozi, and three of them squatted in the yard to plant garlics. Baozi would occasionally make a fool of himself and make Xu Ran and Liu Tong laugh.

The small yard was full of warmth.

September passed in a full month of busy work. In early November, Tangtang and Guoguo returned home again. This time, they could only still stay at home for three days. After these three days, they would have to wait until the New Year before they could come back again.

The whole family really missed these two children. A lof ot delicious food and drinks had been prepared for them. Xu Ran took them to the coal factory, to see the potatoes and corns stored in the mansion, and fried a lot of potatoes  for them.

He also took the two children to see the large number of cows and sheep raised by King Yan and the large field of grass. It took only a few months to raise the sheep that King Yan had sent from other places into twice the size of they were.

There was still grass on the ground, and the cows and sheep were still resting on it. On the periphery of the grass, the cowshed and the sheep shed were to be built. By this time next year, this batch of cows and sheep could either be eaten or sold.

As for Xu Ran, he was more interested in wool, goat’s milk and milk. Xu Ran pointed at the cows and sheep and explained to Tangtang and Guoguo how to make money by these things and not to harm them.

Tangtang and Guoguo did not know anything about business and Xu Ran did not want them to get involved. He just told them some basic knowledge to let them understand.

Tangtang and Guoguo had always listened to Xu Ran’s words seriously. They knew that Xu Ran was doing it for their good.

The trust of the two children in Xu Ran was almost blind. In their minds, Xu Ran was capable of anything in their minds. Although it was a bit exaggerated, the that was what the boys really thought.

Xu Ran took the two children to look at many places in Yanzhou within a day. There were all kinds of things, and they also met many people. Although they didn’t know what was Xu Ran’s purpose of doing so, they took everything seriously.

Xu Ran told them the reason during dinner. He said to Tangtang and Guoguo, “We’ve been in Yanzhou for a whole year. We have to stay here for a few years in the future. I’m not sure how long it will be. I’ve brought you guys to see many places today. I hope you can think about what to do to improve the current situation of Yanzhou and let the Yanzhou develop better, which is also a favor for your uncle.”

Although Xu Ran said it lightly, Tangtang and Guoguo did not dare to be as relaxed as him. They knew that Xu Ran was serious and he wanted a satisfactory answer from them.

Tangtang and Guoguo nodded earnestly. “Dad, we get it. We’ll think about it seriously.”

Xu Ran said, “Take your time. Just tell me the answer when you come back for the New Year.”

“Okay,” Tangtang and Guoguo replied.