Chapter 88
Zhuangzhuang is only two years old, but he is already much taller than other children his age. He looks a lot like Zhou Yuan and has a similar temperament. I don’t know if it’s because he hears Zhou Yuan say every day that he should protect his little daddy. Every time Chen Qing takes him out to play, he stays by Chen Qing’s side, afraid that others will bully Chen Qing.
Chen Qing quickly took Zhuangzhuang's hand and gently touched his forehead, afraid that he might have hurt himself.
The man who was hit got up and started cursing. Li Xin immediately stood in front of Chen Qing and Zhuangzhuang and said, "If you're so capable, say what you said again."
The man looked embarrassed. Chen Qing was easy to bully, but Li Xin was not. Li Xin had never been one to be bullied since childhood. He also knew why this man was so keen on gossiping about him. It was because he had just given birth and the news of Qi Shuning passing the imperial examination had spread in the village, so some people had wicked ideas.
Li Xin has just given birth, so she is definitely unable to have sex right now. Some people are thinking of sending their sons and daughters to their homes, even if it's just to be concubines.
Unexpectedly, Qi Shuning resolutely refused, saying that he was a son-in-law who had married into the family, and there was no reason for a son-in-law to take a concubine. Not only did he not accept it, but he also cursed those who had the idea. Scholars always curse without using a single vulgar word, but they curse in a very harsh way.
They didn't want to offend Qi Shuning, so they harbored resentment towards Li Xin. That's why they said these things to Li Xin now that they knew Qi Shuning had been in the capital for three years.
The man slunk away, and Li Xin squatted down to look at Zhuangzhuang, pinching his nose: "Our Zhuangzhuang is really amazing."
Zhuangzhuang proudly raised his little face.
Soon after, Zhang Yin arrived with An'an and Ningning, and they quickly headed to Li Xin's house together.
Because of the children, the yard became much messier. In order to make toys for the two children, Li the blacksmith, despite his advanced age, went to learn carpentry from a carpenter. His greatest achievement was making a small wooden horse for each of his two children.
Chen Qing and Zhuangzhuang often came over to play, and the children quickly became friends, leaving Chen Qing and Li Xin to talk.
"You should be back next year, right?" Chen Qing asked.
Li Xin nodded. Although she had said she would take the child to Beijing to see him when she had time, the journey was too far and it was inconvenient to take the child with her. So, she only went to Beijing to see him once last year.
Qi Shuning's life in Beijing was not as glamorous as the villagers imagined.
"Let's not talk about him anymore. Your Zhuangzhuang is really a little adult now, so protective of you." Li Xin turned to look at the children running laps in the yard. "Where's my cheap older brother?"
“I went to the county town,” Chen Qing replied.
Li Xin looked up at the sky: "I wonder when Qin Xia will come back."
Qin Xia had not conceived since getting married, so he went out with Meng Shuanzi. Last year, it was said that he was injured while saving Meng Shuanzi and had to stay home for two months to recover. After recovering, he couldn't stay at home and went out with Meng Shuanzi again. He hasn't returned since.
The adults were talking in the yard, and the children were running around in circles. Zhuangzhuang had long arms and legs. He was the youngest, but he ran faster than his two older brothers. When An'an Ningning couldn't catch up with Zhuangzhuang, she started to fake cry.
Zhuangzhuang had no choice but to stop, take out the little handkerchief his father had embroidered for him, and gently wipe away the tears on his two older brothers' faces.
Li Xin started laughing: "Look at your Zhuangzhuang, how thoughtful he is."
Chen Qing also laughed: "Zhuangzhuang was taught by Zhou Yuan."
Before Zhuangzhuang turned one year old, he basically grew up in Zhou Yuan's arms because he would cry as soon as he was put down. So Zhou Yuan basically carried him with him. When he was little, he would lie on his arm, and when he got older, Zhou Yuan would hold him in front of his chest or carry him on his back.
On his first birthday, Zhuangzhuang learned to walk. Chen Qing also prepared items for him to choose from during the first birthday celebration. But unlike his two older brothers who played with everything, Zhuangzhuang had a clear goal. The first time he learned to walk, he went to Zhou Yuan's knife, hugged it, and wouldn't let go.
Zhou Yuan was quite satisfied; if the child resembled him, then there would be two people protecting Chen Qing in the future.
"He taught him well; this is how boys should be," Li Xin praised.
After studying at the Hanlin Academy for three years, Qi Shuning was appointed as the magistrate of Pingqing County under Qujiang Prefecture, holding the official rank of seventh grade.
It should be noted that Qi Shuning's ancestral home is Qinggang Town, which is under the jurisdiction of Pingqing County.
Qi Shuning is to take up his post in Pingqing County before the fifteenth of August, and he will take Li Xin and An An and Ning Ning with him.
Seeing that the children were all grown up, Zhou Yuan suggested that they go together to see Qi Shuning off to his new post, and also take the opportunity to go out for a trip.
With Zhou Yuan and Chen Qing accompanying her, Li Xin wasn't as sad when she left home. When they arrived in Pingqing County, Qi Shuning wanted to walk around the county town, so Zhou Yuan went with him. Chen Qing accompanied Li Xin to buy some daily necessities.
After they had all settled down, Chen Qing and Zhou Yuan were about to take Zhuangzhuang home. The three children cried their hearts out. Li Xin, who rarely sheds tears, also cried uncontrollably when she saw them off.
Chen Qing comforted him, "I will come to see you often in the future, the two places are not far apart."
After seeing Chen Qing and the others off, Li Xin was fortunate to have two children by his side, which prevented him from becoming depressed all the time. After a period of adjustment, Li Xin said he wanted to continue blacksmithing.
Qi Shuning patted his hand. After studying at the Hanlin Academy for three years, he had gained some scholarly air and some official authority: "We will leave here in just two years. If you want to continue blacksmithing, we will find two old women to take care of An'an and Ningning."
After weighing the options, Li Xin decided to stay with An An and Ning Ning. However, he couldn't stay idle, nor was he someone who was confined to the inner quarters. When Qi Shuning couldn't go out, he would take An An and Ning Ning on trips.
In the first case Qi Shuning brought to court, kneeling in the courtroom was his stepmother. Less than ten years had passed, yet she had aged so much. When she looked up and saw Qi Shuning sitting in the courtroom, she trembled all over.
Two years later, Qi Shuning completed his term and was transferred back to Luohe Village to take over the position of the previous county magistrate.
Li Xin, who had been away from home for two years, returned to Luohe Village with her child.
Time flies, and before we know it, Zhuangzhuang and An'an and Ningning are already five years old.
Over the past five years, Zhou Yuan has gradually delegated the affairs of the escort agency, only needing to collect a share of the profits each year. He doesn't aspire to great wealth or status; he started this business with the hope of taking Meng Qi and Shuanzi on a journey. So now he simply collects his profits peacefully, has learned to do farm work, and his family lives a very peaceful and prosperous life.
Although An'an and Ningning were young when they left, Zhou Yuan had taken Chen Qing and Zhuangzhuang to visit them in the past two years, so the children were not strangers to each other.
Zhuangzhuang resembles Zhou Yuan. Although he is younger than An'an and Ningning, he is already much taller than them.
Meng Qi and his wife had been married for many years, but there had been no news of her getting pregnant. Fortunately, Meng Qi's mother was not an unreasonable person and had never asked Meng Qi to divorce her. This year, she finally became pregnant, and the due date was around the Chinese New Year.
In the past two years, Qin Xia gave birth to a son who loves to follow Zhuangzhuang around all day. Zhuangzhuang, with his height and strength, quickly became the king of the village children.
He still has vague memories of his two older brothers and his father's instructions: he is a strong and upright man who must protect his father and those weaker than him.
Although Meng Xiaodou is always crying, he is younger and shorter than him, so as the older brother, he should protect him.
There are many children in the village, and several of them are older than Zhuangzhuang. However, even children who are two years older than Zhuangzhuang are not as tall as him. Zhuangzhuang has been practicing martial arts with Zhou Yuan since he was a child, so he is physically strong and the older children in the village cannot beat him in a fight.
After Li Xin and the others took office with Qi Shuning, Chen Qing took on the task of taking care of both families. Li the blacksmith was fine; he could forge iron and still had an interest in life. However, Zhang Yin's child had gone with Li Xin, and Niu Niu would only come back during the Chinese New Year, leaving her suddenly feeling empty.
So when Chen Qing wasn't busy with farming, he would take Zhuangzhuang to keep Zhang Yin company, and Zhang Yin loved Zhuangzhuang very much.
Now that Li Xin is back, Chen Qing wants to let them get to know each other for a while before taking Zhuangzhuang to visit them.
Three days after Li Xin returned, Chen Qing took Zhuangzhuang to Li Xin's house.
Zhuangzhuang held Chen Qing's hand: "Daddy, you said those two brothers who lived far away have come back?"
Zhuangzhuang was too young to remember things, but he still remembered that Chen Qing took him out to see An'an and Ningning.
Chen Qing nodded: "Yes, Zhuangzhuang will have to play with his two older brothers from now on, okay?"
Zhuangzhuang always listened to Chen Qing, and patted his chest, saying that he definitely would.
When they arrived at the Li family's house, Li Xin tied a jade pendant around Zhuangzhuang's waist as he entered.
"Zhuangzhuang has grown so tall."
Zhuangzhuang wasn't as introverted as Chen Qing. He flashed a bright smile at Li Xin, revealing his white teeth.
"Daddy, I'm taking my brothers out to play horseback riding and war!" Zhuangzhuang ran to Chen Qing's side and asked for his opinion.
Chen Qing looked at Li Xin, worried that An'an and Ningning might not be used to it since Li Xin and the others had just returned.
Li Xin nodded in agreement, after all, children need social interaction and they need to quickly integrate into this environment.
Previously in Pingqing County, in order not to affect Qi Shuning, Li Xin rarely took the children to participate in social activities, so An Anning's personality became a little introverted, so Zhuangzhuang needed to help them integrate into the village environment.
Soon, An'an and Ningning were taken by Zhuangzhuang to play with the village children. Li Xin had a lot to say to Chen Qing, and the two chatted about their recent situations.
As they were talking, they soon heard children crying outside. Chen Qing realized that Zhuangzhuang must have hit someone again. He quickly ran out with Li Xin and went to the place where the children in the village often played. There they saw Zhuangzhuang pinning down two children who were older than him and beating them. Chen Qing felt his scalp tingle.
He pulled Zhuangzhuang up, his words somewhat stern: "Didn't Zhuangzhuang promise his father he wouldn't hit people anymore?"
Zhuangzhuang wiped the dirt off his face: "They're bad, they bullied my brother!"
Chen Qing then noticed that the two older children were still holding the sachets that An'an and Ningning were wearing.
An'an and Ningning had always lived in the county town. They were always clean and tidy, and they even carried fragrant sachets. The older children in the village didn't like the children who kept their distance from them, so they reached out and snatched their sachets.
When Zhuangzhuang saw this, he remembered his mission and started fighting with them like a little wolf. The two children were no match for Zhuangzhuang and were beaten so badly that they had no chance to fight back.
The parents of the two children arrived. When they saw that their children were still holding An An Ning Ning's sachet, and remembering Qi Shuning's identity, they made their children apologize to Zhuang Zhuang.
Zhuangzhuang wiped his face again: "Apologize to my two older brothers!"
He looked like a victorious general, protecting his family, with a proud expression on his face.
A note from the author:
The next chapter will start writing the if/if scenarios!
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