Jiulang was teaching twelve to count in the courtyard when Sisi led Niu Mingjie and Qi Zhi in from the doorway.

As soon as Twelve saw Sisi, she abandoned Jiulang and ran over to hug Sisi's leg. "Sister, sister."

Sisi ruffled Twelve's hair. "What are you playing with your Ninth Brother about?"

Grandpa Yun took all the boys in the family, aged ten and older, to clear the wasteland. Grandma Yun took Wang Ningxue and the older children to dig for wild vegetables.

Only Grandma Sisi, her second grandmother, and her third grandmother remained at home. The three of them stayed at home partly to take care of Fengchan, and partly to take care of Jiulang and the others.

The Yun family is large, so children as young as Jiulang don't have to do chores. However, they do help the adults take care of the younger children.

Twelve pointed to the small stick on the ground and said, "Let's play counting."

"So, have you learned it yet?"

"I know it."

"Then you count for your sister."

"Okay. One, two, one, three, three..."

Over here, Twelve, in a childish voice, showed his older sister his learning achievements.

Beside him, Jiulang bowed to Niu Mingjie like an adult.

Jiulang had met Niu Mingjie before when he accompanied his mother to a banquet, and he remembered Niu Mingjie. "Greetings, Third Young Master. Welcome to my home. My great-grandfather and my brother are all out, so let me greet you."

Niu Mingjie and Qi Zhi both thought to themselves: This is what the Yun family should be like.

Niu Mingjie returned Jiulang's bow. "Thank you for your trouble."

"No trouble at all. It's an honor for our family to have you as a guest. Please."

"please."

Sisi saw that Jiulang was quite good at entertaining people, so she ignored Niu Mingjie.

Niu Mingjie also wanted to talk to Jiulang alone.

So Niu Mingjie followed Jiulang.

Sisi smiled; this little calf was definitely trying to trick Jiulang into revealing something. "Twelve, come on, sister will take you to see your little brother."

"Okay." Ninth Brother told him that he was now the older brother too. "Sister, Twelfth, Brother."

"Yes, Twelve is also an older brother now."

When Sisi and Twelve arrived, Thirteen was awake.

Sisi and Twelve were quite excited to see Thirteen awake.

"Thirteen, I am your older sister."

"Thirteen, that's me, my older brother."

"Thirteen, you must listen to your older sister from now on."

"Thirteen, listen to your older sister."

...

Thirteen: These two are so noisy! "Wah...wah..."

Sisi and Twelve were at a loss for what to do.

Sisi: How should I soothe a newborn baby?

12: Why is he crying? Doesn't he like me?

Feng Chan was amused by Si Si and Twelve's silly expressions. "Look how scared you two are. He's either hungry, he's wet himself, or he's sleepy."

Sisi: I'll wait until he's older and can recognize people before I try to coax him.

12: I'll wait until my little brother stops crying before I come to play with him.

A moment later, Sisi and Twelve escaped from the house.

Sisi: "Let's continue counting."

Twelve: "Mmm."

On the other side, Niu Mingjie tried to get information out of Jiulang for a long time but couldn't get anything out of him. First, Jiulang didn't know much to begin with; second, Jiulang and Niu Mingjie weren't very familiar with each other; third, Niu Mingjie didn't bring any good food to bribe Jiulang; and fourth, Jiulang was a smart kid.

Sisi was teaching Niu Mingjie to count to twelve when Niu Mingjie arrived. "Yun Xiaoliu, weren't you going to take me to see your younger brother?"

Sisi gave Niu Mingjie a smile. "Didn't you want to chat with Jiulang?"

"..." This little girl is not cute at all. "Are you taking me or not? If you're not taking me, I'm leaving."

"Twelve, you play with your ninth brother first, I'll take him to see your little brother."

Twelve hesitated for a moment. "Twelve will go too."

"Aren't you afraid your little brother will cry?"

"...Ninth Brother, count."

After Sisi led Niu Mingjie to the outside of her mother's house, she asked Fengchan if they could go in.

Feng Chan didn't let Niu Mingjie in. Instead, she had Sisi bring Thirteen out for Niu Mingjie to see.

Niu Mingjie hesitated for a moment, then took a small jade pendant from his waist and placed it in Thirteen's swaddling clothes.

Sisi looked at Niu Mingjie and smiled, "This is the first gift my brother has ever received. I thank you on his behalf."

Niu Mingjie gave Sisi a cool look. Meaning: I'm a polite person, unlike some others.

Some people: This kid is actually quite cute. "Come to my place for dinner tonight."

"No, I need to go back and rest. You should take your little brother back with you; he's still too young."

"Okay, come visit me sometime."

I'm not coming to play with you; I'd rather be miles away from you. "I'm leaving."

"Okay. I'll have Jiulang take you."

Sisi was just about to call Jiulang Jiulang when he arrived.

After Niu Mingjie left with Jiulang, Sisi carried Shisan back to the house, where Shisan was fast asleep.

Sisi gently placed Thirteen next to Fengchan.

Feng Chan touched her son's little hand. "Did you tell your father?"

"No. When I arrived at the military camp, I originally wanted to greet General Niu first, but I didn't expect General Niu's third son to come. When General Niu saw me, he said that once my father made meritorious contributions, he would arrange a marriage between me and Niu Mingjie. As soon as I heard that, I took the opportunity to tell him that you gave birth to my younger brother."

"General Niu was a little unhappy. However, I called Niu Mingjie 'husband' a few times and deliberately forgot about going to tell my father the good news, and General Niu was fine."

As for Niu Mingjie's attempt to scare her, she didn't tell her mother, lest her mother worry.

Feng Chan was not happy at all when she heard that General Niu wanted Sisi to be his daughter-in-law. "General Niu is a good person, but his wife... this is not a good match."

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