CH 90

“Let me hold you for a bit longer, and I’ll go in a little while,” Li Changfeng clung to Xu Qing and didn’t leave.

As Xu Qing reluctantly agreed to let Li Changfeng hug him, he soon began to feel nauseous.

“Ugh!” Xu Qing couldn’t bear the smell of wine on Li Changfeng’s body. He pushed Li Changfeng away and turned his head to the side, retching.

Xu Qing’s sudden action surprised Li Changfeng that he sobered up from his drunkenness.

“What happened?!”

Li Changfeng hastily patted Xu Qing on the back lightly. He then handed Xu Qing a cup of tea from the table and said, “Here, drink some water.”

Xu Qing waved his hands and heaved for a long time, but he didn’t vomit anything. After finally regaining his strength, tears streamed down his face when he raised his head.

“It’s okay. I’m all right.”

Xu Qing stopped Li Changfeng from patting him and instead put his hands on the bed to support himself. Li Changfeng noticed that Xu Qing was weak, so he sat beside him and gently embraced him with his arms.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

“Don’t worry, maybe it’s just a cold. I’ve been eating too much ice these days,” Xu Qing said hastily with an anxious look on his face.

Li Changfeng still felt uneasy after hearing Xu Qing’s words. “How about we go to town and see a doctor?” he suggested.

Xu Qing shook his head, “You didn’t even check the time. Besides, Tuan Tuan is sleeping soundly now. What will happen to him if we leave?”

Li Changfeng was conflicted as he looked at the sleeping Tuan Tuan, but he was still concerned about Xu Qing’s health.

“It’s fine, can you bring me some hot water? I feel a bit damp, perhaps I am sweating,” Xu Qing said, noticing that Li Changfeng still looked concerned.

“Okay, I’ll go right away!”

After listening to Xu Qing’s words, Li Changfeng quickly left the room. Left alone, Xu Qing’s thoughts began to race. He thought about how he and Changfeng had frequent intercourse and how there was no reliable contraceptive method in this world. Xu Qing trembled as he placed his hand on his lower abdomen. He couldn’t afford to have another child.

Looking at the sleeping Tuan Tuan, who was only six months old, Xu Qing’s heart was heavy. If he was pregnant again, wouldn’t that mean three years of being bedridden for him? When Li Changfeng returned with hot water, Xu Qing turned to him with a blank expression.

“Changfeng, let’s go to town tomorrow!”

Early the next morning, the two entrusted Tuan tuan to Xie Ama and hurried to the Lin family’s clinic.

“Hey, look at you two, those eyes are black and blue! Did something happen?” Lin Fangliang had just opened his clinic.

Xu Qing was worried about the possibility of being pregnant again, and the thought of having another child to take care of while Tuan Tuan was still unable to walk made him anxious. As a result, he did not sleep well the night before.

As for Li Changfeng, he was worried about Xu Qing’s health, so he didn’t sleep all night. So, the two of them arrived at the Lin’s clinic with dark circles under their eyes.

“It’s nothing serious, I just don’t feel well. Could you please take a look?” Xu Qing spoke with a slightly embarrassed expression, not wanting to talk about his groundless suspicions.

“Really? Come, let me take a look.” Lin Fangliang saw that Li Changfeng’s expression was not very good, full of worry, so he hurriedly invited the two of them into the clinic to check Xu Qing’s pulse.

“How is it?

As soon as Lin Fangliang finished checking Xu Qing’s pulse, Li Changfeng quickly asked for the result, and Xu Qing also looked at Lin Fangliang with a questioning expression.

“It’s not a serious issue. It must be that Brother Xu probably consumed some cold food these days, causing his stomach to feel a bit chilly. The weather has been hot lately. You need to take care of your health. I’ve prescribed two medications for him. Remember not to consume too much cold food.” Lin Fangliang informed Li Changfeng and Xu Qing, and then got up to fetch the medicine.

After hearing Lin Fangliang’s diagnosis, both Xu Qing and Li Changfeng felt relieved. Li Changfeng was happy to find that his wife was not sick, while Xu Qing silently thanked that she was not pregnant with another child yet.

After paying the fees, the two of them left the clinic with the prescribed medicine in their hands. They exchanged a smile and looked at each other.

“Fortunately, my wife is fine,” thought Li Changfeng.

“Fortunately, there is no second child,” thought Xu Qing.

Upon their return to the village, Xu Qing and Li Changfeng went to pick up Tuan Tuan from Xie Ama’s place. To their surprise, Tuan Tuan was now able to walk on his own, even though his steps were slow and shaky. Although it was clumsy and cute, it was a significant milestone that showed he would be walking confidently soon!

Xie Ama noticed the surprised expressions on Xu Qing and Li Changfeng’s faces and chuckled, “It’s your first time raising a child, so there are many things you don’t know. Sometimes, babies will kick their legs as if they want to walk while they’re falling asleep.”

Xie Ama observed Xu Qing and Li Changfeng’s serious expressions and continued, “So when you came today, I held him and his little feet kept kicking my hand. I thought maybe he wanted to walk, so I put him on the ground and supported his little arms. He took a step and then I placed a stool for support. Gradually, Tuan Tuan was able to walk while holding the stool.”

Xu Qing nodded in understanding, then reached out to pick up the wobbling Tuan Tuan and stroked his chubby legs gently. Li Changfeng also expressed his gratitude to Xie Ama, and the couple left with Tuan Tuan, heading back home.

“It’s amazing that you took your first steps in front of Xie Ama. Your real mother didn’t even get to witness it,” Xu Qing was regretful that he missed the important moment of Tuan Tuan’s first steps.

Li Changfeng found Xu Qing’s comment amusing and replied, “Well, you’ll still have the chance to see him run, jump, grow up, get married, and have his own children. It’s just a matter of time.” However, he also felt a little regretful that he hadn’t been the first to witness Tuan Tuan’s first steps.

Watching Tuan Tuan drink water eagerly, Xu Qing couldn’t help but think about how fast time flies. Before he knows it, Tuan Tuan would grow up, get married, and have children of his own. Xu Qing realized that he and Li Changfeng would also age by then and become old men.

“I’m going to boil the medicine for you. After drinking the medicine, you should take a nap.” Li Changfeng took the medicine and headed to the kitchen. Xu Qing was indeed feeling a bit fatigued, possibly due to overthinking last night, and his body felt weak. He decided to take a rest with Tuan Tuan in the room.

The harvest season had come to an end and this year’s yield was remarkably fruitful. Despite paying taxes and tithes, each household had surplus grains that would suffice for future crops.

With the passage of time, three more months had gone by and the temperature had started to drop slightly. Xu Qing observed the yellow leaves falling from the trees and realized that winter was not far away, which also meant that he had been living in this world for almost two years. Many things had happened during this period.

After giving birth to a pair of twin *gers, Xie Yu suffered serious injuries to his body and may not be able to conceive again. Despite this, both the Xie family and Lin Fangliang were overjoyed. As the Xie family only had Xie Yu as their child, Lin Fangliang decided that one of the twins would bear the Lin surname while the other would bear the Xie surname.

*(T/N: The raws said “两个都是小阿哥,” which google translated to “Both are little brothers.” So, I’m not sure whether the twins are gers or boys. Someone proficient in Chinese please help this poor translator.)

This moved both Xie Ama and Uncle Xie.

In the Li family’s courtyard, the dispute between Li Xiao’er and Li Ama ended up in Li Laosan’s wife accidentally losing the unborn child. As a result, Li Laosan blamed both Li Ama and Li Xiao’er for the incident and proposed separating the family last month. However, the old Li couple disagreed as the only person they could now rely on was Li Laosan.

Li Laosan, with his short temper, was indifferent and insisted on borrowing money from his in-laws to build a new house. Amidst the chaos in the Li family, Xu Qing and Li Changfeng decided not to get involved, and even Li Xiao’er never returned after losing his child.

“Ama, hungry.”

Xu Qing heard a gentle sound from behind him and turned his head to see Tuan Tuan in Li Changfeng’s arms. Tuan Tuan was now able to speak some simple words and was also looking at him.

“Hug oh hug.” Tuan Tuan stretched out his chubby hands towards Xu Qing.

“It’s just hug! Don’t add Oh in the middle!” Xu Qing said lightly, poking Tuan Tuan’s little nose.

Tuan Tuan didn’t care, and as soon as Xu Qing hugged him, he stretched out his neck and snuggled into Xu Qing’s arms like a chubby little bug.

“He can’t understand yet, let’s go inside, it’s windy out here,” said Li Changfeng as he tugged at the hem of Xu Qing’s clothes, took his hand, and walked back home with him.

Upon entering the house, Xu Qing placed Tuan Tuan on a small stool that was made for him and instructed him to sit by himself.

“What eldest brother said this morning, do you think we should go?”

Earlier that morning, Eldest Li had visited Xu Qing and Li Changfeng, informing them that the old Li couple wanted them to return home.

Li Changfeng shook his head and said, “Why should we go? It’s chaotic over there! Knowing Third Brother’s temperament, we’ll just be there to see his jokes. It’s better not to go back and get ourselves into muddy water. Also, Xiao’er has no plans to go back, so it’s fine if we don’t go back.”

Xu Qing thought about how Li Xiao’er was still grieving over the loss of his child. He knew it would take time for him to heal, and he probably had no desire to return to the Li family.

“By the way, while I was cooking in the kitchen earlier, I overheard Eldest Brother mention Chen Qi’s name. Do you know what happened? Has his wife returned yet?” Xu Qing wiped Tuan Tuan’s face and let him go play with Xiaobao.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Hearing Xu Qing mention his good friend, Li Changfeng let out a sigh and said, “He and his wife got divorced.”

“Get divorced?!” Xu Qing couldn’t believe it, but he knew that Chen Qi cared about his wife very much, so how could he suddenly agree to get divorced!

“I’m not sure about the details, but they did get divorced. And now the family is arranging a wedding for Chen Qi, saying that he needs to marry that young ger and have children soon to carry on the Chen family line.”

Li Changfeng recalled what Lin Fangliang had told him earlier. It was clear that Chen Qi had some issues with his body, and Li Changfeng had discussed it with him before. He assumed that Chen Qi agreed to marry this time because he was disheartened. After all, the Chen family’s old couple just would not sit still until he agreed to marry.