Chapter 368 Extra Five

"Mom and Dad are not coming this year. My second uncle is dying and may not survive the winter. They have to stay at home." Zhao Xiping said to Sui Yu.

Sui Yu said "Oh", "How old is your second uncle?"

Zhao Xiping wasn't quite sure. He thought for a moment and said, "Maybe sixty."

In this dynasty, living to sixty was considered a long life. Zhao's father and mother were already in their early fifties. Judging from the current situation, the two elders were in good health and it might not be a problem for them to live to seventy.

"Did you go back to your hometown when you went to Jiuquan?" Sui Yu asked. Seeing him nod, she agreed, "You should go back more often if you have the chance, buy more things to bring back, and give them some money. During the busy farming season, you can pay for some help to work in the fields. Don't let your parents force themselves to do the heavy work. At their age, a fall or an illness would take a toll on their energy and spirit that they can't regain."

Zhao Xiping pulled out a chair and sat down. He took Xiaohua and used her strength to support her as she stepped on his legs to walk. After a long while, he raised his head amid the little girl's childish laughter and said with emotion: "Let me apologize to you on behalf of my parents. They treated you badly, and they didn't treat our children well either..."

"I don't accept it," Sui Yu interrupted him. She smiled nonchalantly and said, "Although you are your parents' son, you can't take their place in this matter. You are my husband and the father of my children. The ones who are being treated poorly are your wife and children. You are the one who has suffered and been wronged, so how can you apologize? You don't need to apologize either. Our children have no lack of grandparents' love and care. As for me, apart from you, I have no relationship with your parents. When I was a slave, I suffered a lot of hostility. Your parents are just strangers to me, and I don't think they are friendly. But I can understand the source of their hostility. It's simply because I've burdened you. If I had nothing to do with you, I'm sure they wouldn't have any hostility towards me. In the final analysis, your parents are not bad people, and there's no need for me to bear grudges, but I won't get close to them either. I'm thinking of them and wanting to maintain a semblance of harmony. It's all because of you. I love you, so I'm willing to be considerate of your biological parents on your behalf."

The three words "I love you" came violently, like a thunderclap exploding in the man's mind. He hurriedly lowered his eyes, not daring to look directly at the woman in front of him. Zhao Xiping was worried that if he looked at her a few more times, he would lose his composure and make a fool of himself.

Xiaohua tentatively raised her foot and stepped on her father's belly. Seeing that he did not resist, she smiled and raised her leg, trying to step on his belly and move up to his chest.

Sui Yuqing coughed, and Xiaohua turned her head to look over. Seeing her mother glaring at her, she stuck out her tongue awkwardly, and her legs that had been playing tricks on her also calmed down.

Sui Yu looked at the bed full of small clothes, all with small flowers. From birth to nine months old, the clothes for spring, summer and autumn filled three large wooden boxes. After the winter, these clothes would no longer be worn, but they still looked new.

Someone came up from behind. Sui Yu turned around and the man leaned over and gave her a kiss. He handed the little girl over and said, "Xiaohua, kiss your mother and tell her that I love her too."

Sui Yu turned around and hugged the man's waist, holding the little girl in her arms. Feeling a wet kiss on her cheek, she raised her eyes and looked straight at the man, saying teasingly: "I allow Xiaohua to express this sentence on behalf of her father."

Even after having two children, this man was still reserved and reserved, doing more than talking. But there was progress, and at least he responded, no longer getting annoyed and disgusted by sweet talk. Sui Yu thought that if she hadn't said "I love you" when they first met, he would have jumped up in anger, his face red and his neck thick, and he wouldn't have given her a good look for three or five days.

Zhao Xiping thought her smile was strange.

Erhei happened to come looking for him, and he took the opportunity to hide away with Xiaohua.

The little cub hummed a little tune as he walked over the gravel path. Seeing his father and sister sitting in the flower hall, he walked in slowly and asked, "What is Xiaohua eating now? A teething stick."

Xiaohua generously took out the pepper wood from her mouth and handed it to Xiaozai. Xiaozai quickly waved his hand and said, "You chew it, I won't."

"There were dried shrimps in the drawer of the table, and you took them all and ate them." Zhao Xiping said.

"You don't want to eat?"

"They're all prepared for you."

The kid will be eleven years old in another month. It is a good time for him to grow taller. It is also the time when the child has a big appetite. He eats a lot and gets hungry quickly. He can stuff anything he can eat into his mouth.

The boy grabbed a handful of shrimps, peeled them skillfully, and stuffed his mouth with them. He then peeled another shrimp and pinched off a piece to feed his sister.

"Chew slowly, don't chew too fast." He fed the rest to himself, and then went to peel the shrimp. Xiaohua ate a piece of shrimp meat, and the rest was his.

Although Xiaohua is greedy, she doesn't want to eat too much. As long as she has enough food and can have more after she finishes it, she doesn't care if her brother eats more.

Zhao Xiping looked at his two children quietly for a long time. He then held Xiaohua and sat her on his left lap. When the little one came over to offer him some shrimp, he patted his right leg and asked, "Would you like to sit?"

The kid paused, chewing the shrimp in confusion, "Isn't this bad? I'm not a one or two-year-old child."

Zhao Xiping patted his legs again. The kid couldn't resist the temptation and sat on them with a laugh. "Dad, can you handle me? My uncle can hardly carry me anymore. Will the pressure on your legs hurt?"

"No, sit firmly." Zhao Xiping pressed him. "How much do you weigh? Even if you were ten years older, I could handle you two sitting on my lap."

The kid plucked a piece of shrimp meat and fed it to his sister. Then he realized what was happening and asked proudly, "Dad, you want me to sit on your lap, right?"

Zhao Xiping did not deny it.

Xiaohua stretched her legs and put them on her brother's knees. The little guy bounced a little and she giggled.

Sui Yu came out of the house and saw this scene. She shouted, "General Zhao, you really know how to enjoy yourself. You hold your son and daughter in your arms."

The boy felt a little embarrassed and wanted to get up, but his father held him down.

"Looking at Xiaohua, I think of the little boy when he was a child. There was a child sitting on each of his legs. These two legs were not grown in vain and they came in handy." Zhao Xiping was very satisfied.

"These two legs are grown just for me and my sister?" The kid was grinning from ear to ear.

Zhao Xiping nodded.

Although the kid didn't believe it, he was coaxed to death. He hugged his father's arm and laughed, looking like a little kid. The sense of distance that came with age was shattered in him before it even took shape.

The kid ate half a drawer of shrimps by himself. When it was time for dinner, he ate a big bowl of dumplings. He also finished Xiaohua's unfinished egg custard without any disgust. When he went to the teahouse to watch the wrestling performance, he chewed the dried meat given by Hu Shang.

This was the first play that Baimei and the other six performed after arriving in Dunhuang. The first act they performed was a wrestling scene that blew up the whole audience. Four sturdy men fought hand-to-hand, imitating the fight between cows and sheep, colliding, rolling, climbing and jumping. With their skills, the noises they made when they collided were loud and the amplitude of their rolling movements was large, which attracted cheers from the audience and they threw handfuls of copper coins onto the stage.

The wrestling scene ended, and Bai Mei and the short

A man came on stage. This man, who was less than four feet tall and almost as tall as the back of a chair, was wearing a sheepskin and pretending to be a sheep. Bai Mei taught him to roll, jump, bend his hooves and bow to the audience, performing a series of pleasing movements. With Bai Mei's good voice as a supporting role, he also received continuous applause.

"They're carrying things upstairs." Ah Shui's eyes were sharp. She pointed to Sui Yu and said, "Sister-in-law, look, they're carrying wooden boxes and ladders upstairs again. What are they doing?"

"Let the sheep climb the mountain. There is a kind of sheep outside the Great Wall called goats. They often forage on steep mountain walls." Sui Yu said.

As she expected, the dwarf disguised as a "sheep" imitated the movements of a sheep, jumping onto the wooden box and climbing up the wooden ladder, bleating from time to time.

Although torches were lit in the teahouse, the height of the flames was limited. The higher up and closer to the roof, the dimmer the brightness. Only a small half of the upright wooden ladder was exposed to the flames. The sheep climbed over that part and then went up. The wooden ladder disappeared, and "it" continued to move upwards as if walking in the air, a white shadow without stopping.

The voices in the guesthouse died down, and everyone stared intently at the sheep that was almost as tall as the roof.

Suddenly, a roaring wolf howl was heard outside the door of the guesthouse. Everyone was startled. Before they could turn around, the "sheep" at the top of the wooden ladder was also frightened. "It" jumped down from the air and jumped down from a high place.

The wolf howls disappeared, and the sheep bleated again. The sheep on the stage raised their front hooves and bowed.

Sui Yu knew that it was the old blind man imitating the wolf's howl outside the guesthouse, so she did not panic, but took the lead in clapping and cheering.

The boy walked forward holding a gong and copper coins, and with a wave of his hand, the copper coins fell on the stage like rain.

The confused merchants came to their senses and applauded.

"The wolf howling just now..." The newly arrived merchant was worried.

"It was a human shouting. Shopkeeper Yu has a ventriloquist who can imitate anything," explained a nearby merchant who knew the situation. "If there really was a wolf, the owner wouldn't have bothered to throw coins."

After the two acts were over, Bai Mei changed into her costume and put on a veil and went on stage to play music. The merchants below chatted and laughed along with the music of the zither, and when the music ended, they dispersed.

"It's snowing." The person who went out first shouted.

Sui Yu walked out of the teahouse. She didn't know when the snow had fallen, but the ground was already white.

Zhao Xiping asked Ding Quan to take the servants to patrol at night, and Sui Liang took a torch to send his sister and Xiaohua home first.

When Zhao Xiping returned, he heard a scream from the backyard. He hurried over and asked, "What happened? Sui Liang?"

"My eagle ran away! I tied its claws with a rope and locked it in an empty room. It pecked the rope and broke through the window to escape." Sui Liang screamed.

Zhao Xiping slowed down his pace, which scared him. He thought Sui Liang had encountered a thief.

"If it escapes, it escapes. It's not meant to be a pet," Zhao Xiping said. "Close the door. It's late at night. Go to sleep. Stop making trouble. We'll look for it tomorrow morning."

The Black Hawk escaped, but didn't get far. It rested on the Great Wall.

Sui Liang searched for it for five days but couldn't find it. After the mountain was blocked by heavy snow, it revealed itself. Unable to find food in the mountains, it thought of coming back to steal chickens. After stealing the chickens, it was also discovered.

"It's something that's harmful to people. Let's go find it in the mountains and shoot it down with arrows." The escorts suggested.

Sui Liang stopped them and used the income from the Fire Cocoon Shop to buy meat to feed the eagle, trying to bribe it with food.

From winter to spring, the black eagle almost ate Sui Liang to death, and it finally began to repay the favor.

At night, Sui Liang heard footsteps on the roof in his sleep. He opened his eyes, and then he heard a knock on the door. It didn't sound like knocking, but a few clanging sounds, like an iron nail drilling into wood.

"Who?" he asked bravely, "I called for help."

There was a cry of an eagle outside the house, so he hurriedly opened the door and went out. In the moonlight, he saw a black shadow rising from the ground. The wind it blew carried a strong smell of blood. Outside the door, the ground was littered with miserable dead rabbits and field mice.

"Good guy, you finally have a conscience." Sui Liang was very pleased.