Su Qingtong saw her coming and hurried to climb over the crop ridge, “Wife Yun.”
Su Ersao quickly lifted the basket. “I"ve made five millet pancakes for you. You see if they"re not enough.”
Su Qingtong held her hand to halt her. “Wife Yun, don"t be busy. I just ate.”
Su Ersao looked a little way away. Madam Su was right in the middle of cleaning up the plates. The dishes were not finished eaten yet.
“You have eaten?” Su Ersao suddenly felt embarra.s.sed and her hands were stiff on the basket.
Su Qingtong seemed to feel her embarra.s.sment too, and said, “I just had a meal and not had a drink yet, Wife Yun, have you brought any water?”
Su Ersao felt even more embarra.s.sed. “I forgot. Or, I"ll go bring it.”
Su Qingtong hastily grabbed her and said, “No, you go home and look after our daughter. The firewood at home is almost gone, I"ll go home early to cut firewood, so you don"t have to come to deliver it.”
Su Ersao had to nod.
She put down the basket with the pancakes. “I"ll put the pancakes here. If you"re hungry, you can eat some to pad your belly.”
Su Qingtong nodded.
Su Ersao inadvertently caught a glimpse of a strange figure in her father-in-law"s field next to theirs. “Who is that?”
At this moment, Jiang Mao had robbed Su Qingbai of his job and at the side Su Caicai was even laughing around him.
“Sigh~ that is Caicai"s Dad.” Su Qingtong did not hide from his first wife of many years, even though they had a little conflict recently.
Su Ersao was somewhat surprised. She knew that little uncle was conceived in the capital city, but how could that man find him in this town now?
Seeing his wife was surprised, Su Qingtong didn"t explain it. It was not really good for him to say.
After a few days of spring ploughing, the Sun family arrived.
Su Lingchuan was surprised that the Sun family arrived so quickly.
At the county inn, Sun Zhong, Su Ersao"s father, said to the young person beside him, “Is that all right? I think our trip here might be in vain this time. Su Lingchuan is not open to persuasion; otherwise he will not end up in exile.”
The young man, Sun Zhe, took a dish with his chopsticks and said, “We are helping Uncle Su to get away from this d.a.m.n place. He will thank us even if it is too late. Dad, eat quickly. Don"t think so much about it.”
Sun Zhong nodded hesitantly and persuaded himself to believe what his son said.
“Father-in-law ――” Su Ersao was very happy. She hadn"t seen her father or brother for about two years. “My Dad"s and DaGe"s letter is here. They"ve arrived in the county town.”
Su Lingchuan nodded his head to show that he knew, and then asked Su Qingtong to take Su Ersao to the county town. Anyway, it was Su Qingtong"s father-in-law and brother-in-law.
Su Lingchuan meant that he did not want to see the two men, nor did he want to be mixed up with the trifles in the capital city. Therefore, he let Su Qingtong and his wife to receive the guests in the county town for a few days and then send them away.
Listening to Su Lingchuan saying such and also taking care of his wife"s face, Su Qingtong nodded his head even though he was reluctant.
When Su Qingtong saw Sun Zhong and Sun Zhe, he disliked them in his heart yet not lack of etiquette. Sincerely, he and his wife came forward and called out to them, only it lacked the former friendliness.
Sun Zhong also felt quite awkward. He was someone who cherished his reputation and was cautious. He would never have done such things as spurned people if it hadn"t been for the last time incident involved the life of his whole family.
It was Sun Zhe who turned a blind eye to the awkwardness of the two families and called out to his younger sister and brother-in-law enthusiastically.
“By the way, what about Uncle Su?”
“My Dad is busy, he can"t come.” That was what had been said, but both sides knew that it was not that he could not come, but he was unwilling to come.
In the past, Sun Zhe would never put his warm face on people"s cold b.u.t.tocks[1], but currently he had things to request with Su Lingchuan. “The mountain road is b.u.mpy, it"s alright if Uncle Su couldn"t come. I"m strong and as the junior generation, I should personally go to pay him a formal visit.”
[1 = you who treat others with enthusiasm, while others treat you with cold eyes]
Su Qingtong refused without thinking. Asked him to go, he feared that his Dad was not angry enough?
However, this Sun Zhe seemed to be unable to understand people"s words. Regardless of what was said, it did not make sense to him. He only wanted to hear pleasant things without argument. Su Qingtong could not articulate, and moreover Su Ersao was happy to see her father and older brother and tried to persuade him. Su Qingtong really couldn"t refuse.
The party packed up and rushed to the small mountain village.
Meanwhile, Su Qingbai was fooling around in Jiang Mao"s bed.
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you"re going to let me go.” Su Qingbai was almost crying. He brought some wild vegetables to the man, and the beast pulled him to bed under the blue sky and in broad daylight.
After making love, Jiang Mao satisfactorily reached into Su Qingbai"s collar. “Can"t you stay a little longer?”
Su Qingbai grabbed his hand fiercely. “Don"t think about it. I"ve got my next door"s housewife to look after Caicai. I have to go back as soon as possible.”
“Why don"t you bring Caicai?”
Speaking of this, Su Qingbai got angry. “Every time he comes here, he eats, eats and eats. He"s already fat. He"d eaten today, and I"m afraid if he comes here, he will be filled till he burst in the evening.”
After saying that, Su Qingbai dressed up and rushed back.
At Su Family"s entrance.
The next door"s housewife, who looked after Su Caicai for Su Qingbai looked up at the sun. “Didn"t he say he will be back soon? Why hasn"t he come back yet?” She also had to cook for the old and young in her family.
“Liang Liang.” The housewife happened to see her son who had been home for the meal time. “You take little brother to play for a while, mother goes to cook for you.”
Su Caicai had barely getting familiar with the housewife and was handed over to a small big brother like that, his mouth pouted as he was about to cry.
Liang Liang was a big boy and once he saw Su Caicai crying, he was anxious. Helplessly, he put him down. He then took a bamboo tube in the hand of his small companion and handed it to Su Caicai, “Here you go.”
Su Caicai pulled back his tears and curiously looked at the mouth of the bamboo tube.
“Heh heh.” Liangliang was very happy to see the little brother was coaxed. “Give it to you.”
“No!” the little friend next to him refused. “The bamboo tube was made for me by my grandfather. You can"t give it to him.”
Liang Liang licked his lips and squatted down to Su Caicai and said, “How about you take big brother to your house, and I will put it in the pot or jar in your house for you.”
Su Caicai thought about it, pulled Liang Liang into the kitchen, pointed to the big water jar where his family cooked, and said, “there~”
He remembered that the jar was always full of water.
Liang Liang tiptoed and poured the tadpoles into Su Caicai home"s water jar.
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When Su Qingbai came back, he happened to meet the Sun"s father and son. After looking a glance at them, Su Qingbai turned around and left without greeting pleasantries.
Being ignored by the junior, Sun Zhong looked a little unsightly but Sun Zhe pulled his father and quietly consoled him, “Dad, Su Qingbai is precisely the improper, uneducated rash hoodlum. Why do you want to bother about with him?”
Sun Zhong felt better when he heard it. He had watched Su Qingbai grew up and he also knew his (SQB) moral conduct. In his opinion, his old friend Su Lingchuan had almost no black spots until he was middle-aged and had Su Qingbai.
When Su Qingbai came home, Su Caicai was moving a stool and sitting there looking at the big water tank.
“Qingbai, boil water for tea.” Su Lingchuan didn"t want to see his former friend, but he also didn"t want to be told that he didn"t know how to be good host; his old friend came to see him from thousands of miles away, and he didn"t even give anyone water to drink.
Sun Zhe intentionally wormed his way into being friends with Su Lingchuan. As soon he saw Su Lingchuan, when ought to call out to people, he called out to him, when ought to laugh, he even laughed just as though the two families had not fallen out priory.
“No, Uncle Su, don"t bother Qingbai. If I want to drink, I"ll find it myself.”
It was just a polite remark, but Su Lingchuan nodded his head because he had to go to school.
Sun Zhe was embarra.s.sed at once. He was just being polite, but he really was feeling a little hot along the way and was thirsty.
Sun Zhong went to Su Qingtong"s house, and Sun Zhe had some plans so he was left with Su Qingbai here.
Su Lingchuan obviously didn"t want to see him, so he had to do it himself.
Looking for the kitchen, Sun Zhe did not notice the small child sitting at the side. He went straight to the water tank, grabbed a ladle and scooped water up for a sip.
At the side, Su Caicai was anxious and very slowly climbed down the stool before he ran to grab Sun Zhe"s leg. Sun Zhe divided a little attention to Su Caicai.
“Mine~mine~” Su Caicai pointed to the water he scooped.
Sun Zhe was not very good at getting along with children, so he wanted to take a few more drinks before he gave the ladle to the child. Who knew when he looked down, he abruptly jumped and shouted out.
There was a black thing, a little bigger than a bean in it, and it swam around with its tail which was not very obvious.
“Ough…” Sun Zhe couldn"t help it any longer; he threw the water ladle away from his mouth and ran out.
In fact, Sun Zhe could be regarded as lucky enough. In the big jar of water, there were only a few tadpoles. When a ladle of water was scooped up, it caught only a tadpole. He was lucky that even though the tadpole came to his mouth, it was not drunk by him.
Su Qingbai also heard the stirring of activity there. He rushed over and saw Su Caicai squatting down to pick up the water ladle. The water in the water ladle was rushing out, and a tadpole was still struggling inside.
As the situation was fully understood, Su Qingbai took off Su Caicai"s pants and spanked him a few times.
Said to be spanked, in fact, it was to gently touch a few times, mainly to appease Sun Zhe.
Contrariwise, Su Huai, who greatly disliked seeing the Sun family, was unapologetic and even embracing Su Caicai to mock Sun Zhe. “What a person ah, even want to grab a child"s little toys?”
Catching sight of Su Zhe scurrying up towards Su Qingtong couple"s place, Su Huai was unable to endure it, and carrying Su Caicai, he gave him a resolute kiss.
“Brat, you wait for me.” Sitting on Su Qingtong"s side to rest, Sun Zhe"s eyes flashed a hidden fierceness.
Watching the bustling scene at the sideline, Su Qingbai was in a cheerful mood, but he still wanted to beat Su Caicai. Su Caicai spoiled a jar of water. He not only had to pour the water out and wash the jar, but he also had to fill it up anew.
“Mine~mine.” Su Caicai saw his Dad used a bucket to scoop out the water and wanted to throw it away, thus he held Su Qingbai"s legs in his arms, not letting him to throw it.
“What is this for, ne?” Shortly after Su Qingbai left Jiang Mao"s place, Hu Hong came to deliver the clothes for Su Caicai that Jiang Mao told him to prepare.
“Look what your son has done.” After saying that, Su Qingbai caught a tadpole from the bucket and showed him, “Look! A big jar of water can"t be used, and now he won"t let me throw it.”
Jiang Mao picked up Su Caicai and spoke to Su Qingbai for him. “Or let him keep it, just find a bucket.”
When Su Caicai heard that, he hugged Jiang Mao and gave a few bubbly kisses, and then he turned to Su Qingbai with pouted lips. He still held a grudge, ne.
“You actually pretend to be decent ah!” Su Qingbai ground his teeth.
“Don"t say that.” Jiang Mao looked at him with a smile. “The child rarely wants to play. It won"t hurt following his wish a little.”
It was all very well to talk, but getting things done was another matter. Su Caicai made a mess in Su House and the person who tidied up was Su Qingbai.
“That"s truly a good father.” Su Qingbai walked up to Jiang Mao and handed him the bucket. “In that case, your son"s broken basket will be left in your, this good father"s hand to mend it.” Then Su Qingbai turned around and pointed to the jar. “Remember to wash the jar and fill it up again.”
Su Qingbai walked out of the kitchen door and saw Hu Hong standing at the door. He was here to deliver Jiang Mao"s business and Su Caicai"s clothes.
In the evening when Su Lingchuan came home, Su Qingbai poured him water for washing up and stood upright beside him.
“What"s the matter?” Su Lingchuan asked him.
“Dad,” Su Qingbai leaned over. “We have guests tonight, how about I go to the village for a night?”
Jiang Mao lived in the village.
Seeing Su Qingbai eagerly delivering himself to Jiang Mao"s door, Su Lingchuan"s heart could not be said to not be aggrieved, but he nevertheless agreed. Unhappily, he said: “Go, go ahead!”
“Then I"m going.” Su Qingbai was itching to go find Jiang Mao immediately. After he had opened up about them with his family, he could not find an excuse to go to Jiang Mao in the evening. The consequence of not spending the night with Jiang Mao was that the man seized every chance to pull him to bed, regardless whether it was day or night.
Now that the two Suns were here, he just had an excuse.
Where there was first, there would be second, and then everything went according to this logic.
Su Qingbai went with Su Caicai in his arms. The next day, when it was bright, he didn"t get up and rolled happily in bed.
Su Caicai was still sleeping soundly at the side.
Su Qingbai took him into his arms; he was very comfortable.
“Wake up.” After Jiang Mao cooked a meal, he went out to run for a few laps in the early morning. Only now he came back.
“Jiang Mao~” Su Qingbai called Jiang Mao as soon as he reached the door. Jiang Mao climbed onto the bed and stroked his head. “The breakfast is ready, get up?”
“Don"t want to dress, don"t want to get up.” Su Qingbai rolled again.
Hearing what was said, Jiang Mao looked at Su Caicai, who was sleeping soundly, and then leaned over and said, “I"ll help you wear the clothes.”
At Su House. Su Qingtong went out after breakfast and Su Ersao kept her father and older brother company.
“By the way, why didn"t I see the small child that I saw yesterday? Wasn"t he the child in your house?”
“He"s the son of Little Uncle.” Su Ersao said.
“Qingbai? Isn"t he still unmarried?”
Su Ersao looked outside and whispered, “It was born of little uncle with a man.”
Sun Zhe was surprised. While Su Ersao told him, he did not make it known to public. He was not interested in Su Qingbai"s affairs. He still had proper business to attend to.
As for that little thing, when he freed up his hands, he would take care of it later. Su Qingbai was a good-for-nothing. At that (future) time, Su Qingbai would have no way to stop him. Whatever he wanted to do, he would do.
Now, Sun Zhe could be considered as officially throwing himself onto Third Prince"s door. Now that Yue w.a.n.g suddenly disappeared, there was some tension on Third Prince"s side. The other princes were glaring like a tiger watching its prey, and thus Third Prince wanted to find help again.
He took a fancy to Bai Cangning, the governor of Suizhou.
Suizhou, the closest to the Imperial City and with strong troops, was an important gateway to the Imperial City and a solid barrier to guard the Imperial City. If it could be won, Third Prince would be able to grasp more power.
But unfortunately this Bai Cangning was very obedient to the Emperor. Third Prince had sent many people to persuade him but he was unmoved by force or persuasion, and extremely unyielding.
Helplessly, Third Prince thought of Su Lingchuan.
Bai Cangning, a former student of Su Lingchuan before he abandoned his penmanship for the army, had a large part of his status today because of Su Lingchuan"s instructions. Third Prince expected with Su Lingchuan"s words, Bai Cangning would probably listen a bit. So there was the story of Sun"s father and son went to the trouble of traveling a long distance to the border town.
He promised to pardon Su Lingchuan"s crime if Su Lingchuan could do it.
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> Chapter 49