1 Birth
Huo Yan: Messy in the wind, memories are like Lanzhou ramen noodles, only small pieces, no big chunks.
When Huo Yan opened his eyes again, the world seemed to have changed.
His world was foggy, and all he could hear was the child's constant crying and waves of heat all over his body.
It’s hot, so hot.
It was the height of summer, the cicadas were chirping incessantly, the sun outside was burning people's skin, and the servants' rooms in Pingyang Marquis's mansion were stuffy and hot, like a sealed tin can, making it hard to breathe.
"Second sister, are you okay?"
Eleven-year-old Wei Qing asked softly, wiping the sweat from his forehead. His fair, handsome face flushed with the heat. After he finished asking, he and his third sister each carefully lifted up two newborn babies, still steaming.
The child was too soft, which made him a little panicked. The tips of his ears turned redder, as he was afraid that if he used too much force, he would break the skin of this little meat ball.
Seeing this, the third wife of the Wei family chuckled. She placed Huo Yan, who had been motionless and seemed to be still asleep, next to Wei Shaoer, and then took the crying Huo Qubing from his hands and hummed a song softly.
She was a singer in the mansion of Marquis Pingyang, but she was born with a beautiful appearance. Her skin was the fair color unique to the Wei family, and she had almond eyes, red lips, and black hair that everyone praised.
At this moment in the dim room, she sang softly, like a sudden breeze, bringing a hint of coolness.
Wei Shaoer③ was lying on the bed, her forehead covered with sweat, and her tiredness could not hide her beautiful face.
Unlike Wei Zifu who was gentle and calm, she was much more impatient. Even the pain after giving birth did not stop her from expressing her anger towards the child's father, Huo Zhongru, to her brothers and sisters.
"That son of a bitch Huo Zhongru, he ran off when his term was up, and now it seems like I, Wei Shao'er, have to keep clinging to him. What a coward!"
Everything was fine when we went to bed, but now she's like an eagle without a tail. All my kindness was in vain.
The words she didn't say were indeed a bit inappropriate, and even Wei Zifu, who was usually the gentlest, looked at her with dissatisfaction, signaling her not to say anything more.
"Qing'er and the children are here, so please don't say a word. Huo Zhongru is just a minor clerk temporarily hired by the Marquis's mansion to manage the warehouse. He has little influence and naturally wouldn't dare to ask the Marquis for you. Now that his term has expired, he has decided to break off ties with you. From now on, you and he will be separated and have nothing to do with each other."
As soon as Wei Zifu opened her mouth, you knew that she was not as gentle and docile as she looked, but a person with her own ideas.
She looked at the two children and changed the subject, "But, have you thought about where these two children should go, Second Sister?"
Wei Shaoer followed her gaze and looked at the two children, his eyes so gentle that they seemed to be dripping with water.
She stretched out her cool fingers and gently stroked Huo Yan's face, and her body temperature was clearly transmitted to her child through the close skin.
Huo Yan's body seemed to weigh more than a thousand pounds, as if he had found something to lean on. He tilted his head, pressed his hand against Wei Shaoer's, and fell into a deep sleep regardless of the heat.
Seeing him fall asleep, Wei Shaoer put him down and said, "Huo Zhongru and I have broken up. There's no need to talk about the future. As for these two children, they will have the surname Huo. Huo Zhongru is an official after all. If Huo Zhongru makes something of himself in the future, I can share in his fame."
Huo Qubing, Huo Yan's natal hair was black, very similar to hers.
She was always straightforward, but now she wiped her eyes and said, "They are my children, Third Sister. They are the children of the Wei family."
She wanted to keep her two children with her for the time being.
She heard that Huo Zhongru had remarried after returning home. Since ancient times, there have been stepmothers and stepfathers. She didn't want her child to suffer like Qing'er in her father's home.
But raising two children is no small matter after all, and she needs the help of her sisters and brothers.
So she hesitated when she said this, because she really didn't know how to tell her brothers and sisters, and finally she just gave up.
"Let them work with Qing'er to herd horses for the princess, or serve as riding slaves. At worst, they can follow their elder sister and elder brother and do some rough work. At least they can have something to eat."
This was the early Han Dynasty, when remarriage was commonplace, and society was extremely tolerant. Even Prime Minister Cao Shen once opened his palace to guests, allowing them to have sex with his concubines in the hope of having children and caring for each other. High-ranking officials and commoners were like this, let alone servants like them, where extramarital affairs were even more open. Over time, illegitimate children were common, and it was no longer considered shameful or unusual. Among their brothers and sisters in the Wei family, there were quite a few.
She and the Wei family were not very shy about it.
Wei Zifu got up and opened the small window. A cool breeze came into the room, relieving the stuffiness.
Wei Ai came into the house tremblingly from here. This is her house.
She used to be a servant in the Pingyang Marquis's mansion and had stayed there for most of her life. The princess took pity on her old age and finally gave her a single residence.
She sat in front of the bed. Although she was old and had fine lines around her eyes, she had a kind aura and bright eyes. The snow-white almond-shaped eyes that all the Wei family members had came from her.
She looked at Wei Shao'er, wiped the sweat from her forehead with concern, and then said, "Of course, they are children of the Wei family."
Wei Shaoer fell at her feet and started crying.
"Mother." She felt aggrieved. As soon as that bastard Huo Zhongru left, he gave up the house they originally lived in. If her mother had not found out and quickly took her back, she would be alone now and would have died.
Wei Ai's tears also flowed down her face, and she cried out, "My son!"
The mother and daughter cried together.
Huo Yan was awakened. He wanted to frown and scold those noisy things to get away.
Unfortunately, he was surprised to find that he could not even speak a word, and his vision was foggy and he could not see anything. Even turning his head was difficult.
It’s over. He must have fallen out of the car and become a vegetable.
All that money he'd worked so hard to save for all those years, ahhh! It all went to those bastards!
Where did these bastards throw him? Why is it so hot and stuffy in the morgue?
There are still people crying. He is not dead yet, why are they crying?
You bastards, you got the advantage but you’re still acting like a good kid!
He tried hard to lift his arm, which was heavier than lead, but he couldn't even lift his hand. He was really disabled. This was at least a powder fracture.
Huo Yan's face wrinkled even more, like a tomato that had been scalded by hot water, wrinkled. If you peeled off the skin, you could see the anger that was red as if it was about to bleed.
He exerted all his strength and bent his fingers, leaving only the middle finger.
Idiots, I remember, I made a will.
You bunch of idiots, don’t even think about getting a penny from me.
Hahaha, why are you idiots crying? It turns out you didn’t get the money.
hhh.
My eyes are dark.
His face was no longer wrinkled, his dark eyes were full of pride, and his whole person exuded the peaceful aura of a fish in peace.
Even when the shrill sound of Huo Qubing crying beside him exploded in his ears, causing the previously annoying buzzing sound to gradually stop, he just blinked.
Cry, cry, the more you cry, the happier I am.
Wei Zifu held Huo Qubing in one arm and gently coaxed him. Seeing the pride overflowing from his body, her watery eyes could not help but bend slightly and she burst into laughter. She tried to lighten the mood, "Mother, Second Sister, look at his eyes, they can smile!"
She waved to Wei Qing behind her, handed Huo Qubing to Wei Shaoer, and hugged Huo Yan herself. She showed him to Wei Qing and said with a smile, "He looks so much like Qing'er. He was born to smile. He will be very likable in the future. He can be a riding slave."
Wei Shaoer naturally knew that his sister was trying to comfort him, so he burst into laughter and said, "My nephew is Xiao's uncle, and he, Xiao Qing'er, is naturally handsome."
Wei Qing had been listening to his two sisters' conversation, but unexpectedly the conversation came to him, and his face turned red. He stammered, "Second and third sisters are both right. I'll go out and see if the horses have eaten the grass."
After saying this, without waiting for anyone to respond, he walked out quickly on his own, as if he was being chased by a wild beast.
Wei Qing was the youngest among his siblings. His brothers and sisters loved to tease him, and today was no exception.
Wei Shaoer and Wei Zifu laughed out loud together.
Wei Ai couldn't help laughing and scolded, "You just know how to tease him!"
The princess's mansion had strict rules and regulations, and this small room was only spacious because Wei Ai was considered an elder in the princess's mansion. Otherwise, it would be a servant's room, and Wei Qing and the others would have to stand outside.
Huo Yan didn't know why he heard laughter again.
But the strange thing is that this time his brain seemed to be fogged up and he couldn't remember anything. He just stared with his eyes wide open in hatred. He didn't know why he stared, but he just wanted to!
It was not until the evening that Wei Junru and Wei Changjun arrived to see their little nephew.
There are many rules in the mansion, and the brothers and sisters each do different jobs, so they are never together. But today, because of the birth of these two children, the family is together.
"Twin brothers are rare. Children are blessed to have them."
Wei Junru smiled gently. She was always a gentle and docile person.
The others also agreed. Wei Shaojun, as the pillar of the family, said directly, "Our Wei family has added two more little ones."
Wei Shaoer couldn't help wiping his eyes when he was surrounded by his brothers and sisters.
Huo Yan was woken up by their buzzing again. He opened his eyes, but it was still foggy. However, he saw many people watching him as soon as he woke up.
Isn't he dead yet?
What the hell is death? I’m so sleepy.
He was about to close his eyes when the familiar crying sound rang in his ears again.
The baby next to him is crying so hard, but what’s the use of crying?
He was no longer sleepy, and was in a daze, thinking slowly.
What is a cub? What is crying?
There seem to be a lot of thoughts in my head, but now they are all like the beef in Lanzhou ramen, only small pieces and crumbs, no big chunks.
I can't remember, I can't think clearly.
So sleepy~
He closed his eyes again, and before he fell asleep, he didn't remember what Lanzhou Ramen was.
When Wei Zifu saw that he closed his eyes again, she smiled at his brothers and sisters who were busy trying to persuade Huo Qubing not to cry.
"You see, they look the same, but their personalities are completely different. My younger brother has never cried or made a fuss since he was a child. He has a calm personality."
Wei Shaoer patted Huo Qubing gently, coaxing him to sleep, and looked at Huo Yan with the loving eyes that only a mother could have, so soft that tears could drip from her eyes.
"The nephew looks like his uncle, and he looks like Qing'er."
Wei Junru smiled brightly, "That's right, these two children have small noses and eyes just like Qing'er."
Wei Qing waved his hands repeatedly. The eleven-year-old boy was too shy to stand his sisters' teasing, and the tips of his ears turned red again.
"I'm sometimes too boring, like I'm not good."
When he said this, everyone laughed.
Wei Junru tapped the tip of his younger brother's nose and said, "You know you're boring. When you have a nephew in the future, you need to talk more. Otherwise, the child will learn from you, and your second sister's lively personality will probably become bitter!"
After Wei Qing was called by her, he rubbed his nose involuntarily and looked at Wei Zifu for help.
Unexpectedly, Wei Zifu pretended not to see it, so he finally had to quietly agree, "I will talk more in the future."
Wei Junru laughed, her voice like a silver bell, "Qing'er has promised, I will remember this for your second sister."
Wei Qing smiled and nodded.
Suddenly, Wei Shaoer slapped his thigh, scaring everyone.
"Hey, what do you think about calling this crying kid Bu Yu and encouraging him to talk less?"
No one had ever heard of such a name, nor had they heard of the mother naming the children three months ago, but when they thought of the life stories of these two children, they could only sigh.
The eleven-year-old boy Wei Qing blinked his almond-shaped eyes, a pair of eyes that were unique to the Wei family, and pointed at the sleeping Huo Yan and said, "Second sister, can we call him Huo Yan? Tongyan, let him talk more."
Everyone was silent.
Wei Shaoer smiled heartily and praised Wei Qing, "Qing'er, that's a good name. Let's call these two boys Huo Yan and Huo Buyu."
Wei Qing blushed again in embarrassment, even the tips of his ears turned red, and he touched his neck.
Wei Junru and Wei Zifu smiled and shook Huo Yan and Huo Qubing's soft little hands. "Then your nicknames will be Ayan and Buyu, okay, aunt's little nephews."
Maybe the movement was too big and Huo Yan was awakened again. He was a little impatient and opened his eyes again. He pouted involuntarily and waved his hand to signal them to let go.
You're disturbing me, can you please be quiet?
He threatened with his eyes, but at most he twisted his neck; he couldn't help it.
The other one was different. The familiar crying voice exploded in Huo Yan's ears again, venting his anger for being disturbed.
Everyone was in a panic again.
Huo Yan couldn't sleep again.
He felt that this knight was so powerful that he could cry for so long and his voice was so high-pitched, he was simply not a human being.
So he became an animal whose cry sounds like crying, right?
What are animals?
It was horrible, his brain seemed to be in pieces.
He's broken!
Huo Yan thought.
But after another twenty or thirty days, the child stopped crying because he was sick and could only groan in pain every day.
As the mist cleared from Huo Yan's eyes, he began to reconsider his surroundings. He vaguely remembered that he was human, and that the cub was his brother. Although he didn't know what a human was, he was quite happy to see the cub beside him crying or blinking its dark eyes at him every day.
Now the child doesn't cry or blink at him anymore, and he suddenly feels uncomfortable.
He instinctively liked the cub and didn't want him to feel bad, even though he always woke him up by crying too loudly.
Fortunately, Huo Qubing's illness recovered after half a month, and the Wei family, including Huo Yan, breathed a sigh of relief.
The Wei family quickly changed Huo Qubing's name to Qubing, hoping that he would suffer less from illness and live a long life.
I guess no one would have thought that more than ten years later, the name of the famous champion candidate would be changed simply out of the deep love for his son and the desire not to let him get sick again.
In response to this, grandmother Wei Ai said that this was a good name, which would keep him healthy and free from disasters. Ayan would be lively and cheerful, and they would live a long life together.
Children grow up with the wind. After the first year of Jianyuan⑤, in a few months, the two red balls of flesh became white and tender. The handsome facial features unique to the Wei family made everyone who saw them want to pinch and hug them unconsciously.
The one who loves to pinch them the most is Wei Shaoer's unreliable mother.
The one who loves to hold them the most is naturally their beautiful aunt, but Huo Yan’s favorite is their uncle who always blushes but can pick them up in an instant.
It's nothing special. His uncle would save him when his face was pinched and hurt, and would always carry him and his brother to watch the horses grazing.
He likes the wind, likes watching horses eat grass, and doesn't like having his face pinched.
Uncle, you’re the best.
【Author’s words】
① Wei Zifu, who had an older sister, Wei Junjiao, and an older brother, Wei Changjun, was the third child. When she was young, Wei Zifu was likely sent to the household of the Marquis of Pingyang to learn singing and dancing. Some now say that Zifu was bestowed upon her by Emperor Wu of Han, but I haven't found any documentation, so I'll simply refer to her as Wei Zifu here.
②Ouzhe: singing girl.
③In the early Han Dynasty, princesses were accompanied by riding slaves, a group of young boys who were used to support the princess's ceremonial procession. They had to be handsome and have good figures, ahem.
③ Wei Shao'er was originally a waiter at the Marquis of Pingyang's mansion. At the time, Huo Zhongru, a Pingyang native, was working there as a county official. He had an affair with Wei Shao'er and gave birth to Huo Qubing. After completing his duties, Huo Zhongru returned home, married, had children, and severed ties with Wei Shao'er, refusing to contact her.
④ In the Han Dynasty, and not only in the Han Dynasty, but in the entire ancient world, there was no belief that having twins was a bad omen. It could even be a happy occasion.
⑤ Huo Qubing was born in the first year of the Jianyuan Period of the Western Han Dynasty (140 BC). As for whether his name was given by Emperor Wu of Han, I suspect not, as Emperor Wu of Han would have given him unusual names. Qubing and Yannian were quite common in the Han Dynasty. This is why Ah Yan didn't realize his brother was Huo Qubing.
In ancient times, a child was usually named in March by his father and had to shave his head.
But they have no father.
It hasn't been born yet.
Please collect the new article!
Oh, right.
I ordered a cake for Ayan, a sea salt Oreo cake.
Last time it was Ah Xiu’s birthday, I also ordered one, it was green grapes.
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