3 Once
◎Huo Yan: Sorry, I am Huo Yan! ◎
After Wei Zifu and Wei Qing were favored by Emperor Wu of Han, Princess Pingyang released the Wei family from slavery. The Wei family then rented a house outside the city, and Huo Qubing and Huo Yan moved with them.
But other than that, it seems to have no significant impact.
Huo Yan and the others were still taken care of by Wei Ai, an elderly woman who only needed to do light work.
Wei Junru and Wei Changjun had already been married, but they were still wasting their time on their own family matters.
Although Wei Qing had started his work, he still occasionally took Huo Yan and Huo Qubing to watch the horses graze.
Wei Shaoer still maintained the frequency of his private meetings with Chen Zhang①. Every time he came back, he would have a faint smile on his face and his temper would be much better.
If there is any change, it is probably that after autumn, Huo Yan and the others will suddenly run away.
Wei Qing said that they had grown up and could run like horses.
Huo Qubing was indeed like a horse. Although he was thinner than his peers due to malnutrition, he liked the feeling of running. He came and went like the wind and always ran very fast. Naturally, he fell many times.
But Huo Yan was not like Ma'er. He was the exact opposite of Huo Qubing, taciturn and quiet. Unless Huo Qubing invited him, he could sit in the corner and poke around with a branch all day long.
He has now begun to learn to write the characters of this era.
However, his progress in learning to read was very slow. After all, except for Wei Qing, everyone in the Wei family was illiterate.
Wei Qing only had a day off in Jianzhang every five days, and he was very tired after work every day. It was not convenient for him to pester Wei Qing to learn to read.
So he usually just sat quietly beside Wei Qing and wrote down every word when Wei Qing took his work documents to read during his rest time.
Fortunately, he had a basic understanding of simplified Chinese characters, so reading was not difficult for him.
It’s just that some characters have complicated strokes, and he can’t memorize them clearly, so it always takes time to revise them.
Therefore, he always appears dull, which is even more obvious when compared with Huo Qubing.
He is like a sick sheep.
For this reason, almost every adult in the Wei family became worried.
In the simple view of the Wei family, A Yan's daily frown was more serious than Wei Zifu's message after entering the palace saying that she was not favored by the emperor.
After all, Sanniang was going to the palace, out of sight and out of touch, so they didn't know what to worry about. The affairs of the royal family were not something that a servant like them could get into.
After a busy and tiring day, they could only think of their sisters far away in the palace and sigh deeply.
Or he might have thought of finding ways to send someone to the palace to pass on a message, saying that we don't seek wealth and honor, and if you don't want to stay in the palace, just come home, everyone misses you very much, to comfort Wei Zifu.
But Ah Yan was different. You could say that this kid, right under my nose, was at his most mischievous. He didn't talk, but sat in a corner every day, his eyes closed, lost in thought, not running or jumping. How could I not be worried?
Wei Ai, who took care of the children every day, was so worried that she couldn't eat.
Of course, Wei Qing is not among these people, because in Wei Qing's eyes, Huo Yan is simply the cutest child in the world.
Every day when he was reading, Ah Yan would sit beside him obediently, with his chin in his hand, looking at the book in his palm, as if he could understand it too.
She is not picky about food and always lies on the grass with him to watch the stars. Occasionally, she will ask him in a soft voice if he is tired.
It’s so sweet, even cuter than those little lambs.
Well, actually Qubing is also cute, but he is too lively. I always want him to run around with me.
So he refuted his worrying brothers and sisters, "Ayan doesn't have a communication problem. He speaks clearly and fluently. It's because you don't actively talk to him that you feel this way. He usually speaks in a similar way to me. If you don't believe me, just observe for yourself."
Wei Shaoer also nodded, "Mother, you forgot what I told you that Yan was a child prodigy."
The other members of the Wei family became even more worried after hearing what they said. Wei Junru sighed and said, "Ayan's intelligence is the problem."
Wei Changjun also said to Wei Qing, "Ayan is as quiet as you when you grew up. Isn't that the strangest thing?"
Wei Ai sighed deeply.
After Wei Junru and Wei Changjun said this, Wei Qing finally realized that something was wrong. He stroked his neck and looked at Wei Shaoer with a bit of guilt, "Ayan seems to have said less."
His second sister entrusted her two nephews to him, and it was his fault that Ah Yan was like this now.
Aunt Wei felt sorry for him. She gently tugged at his hand with her calloused palm and scolded him, "You're still a child and haven't raised a child before. What's your fault? I look after the two children every day. It's my fault."
Wei Shaoer also nodded repeatedly, but was hit by Wei Junru's elbow.
"In my opinion, it's all her fault as a mother. Ever since the child was born, she has entrusted the child to you and mother, and has not cared about it herself. Qubing is open-minded, but Yan seems to be intelligent and thoughtful, and I don't know how she can be so sad!"
Wei Shaojun also nodded in agreement.
Wei Shao'er originally complained that his elder sister beat him too hard, but after hearing what the other two said, he dared not say a word.
"It was my negligence. But when I see these two children, I sometimes think of that bastard Huo Zhongru, and my heart is filled with anxiety."
This time, Wei Shaojun and Wei Junru hit her head together, "Who said that Qubing and Ayan are my sons of the Wei family?"
Wei Qing lowered his eyelashes and whispered, "They are the children of the Wei family."
His surname is not Zheng, but Wei.
He was not a slave who raised sheep for the Zheng family and was driven around by others, nor was he a slave who was hated by everyone.
As soon as he said this, Aunt Wei's eyes could not help but turn red. His brothers and sisters all knew that he was thinking about the harsh treatment he had received in the Zheng family. Wei Shaoer hurriedly said a few flattering words, and Wei Junru rubbed and comforted him until his face turned red, and the matter was finally resolved.
Huo Yan's day of suffering came quietly.
From the moment Huo Yan opened his eyes until he closed them to sleep, the idle Wei Shaoer would always be around him.
Shouldn't my mother leave? It's time! She should go out to meet that strange uncle as my aunt said!
Why are you surrounding me and Bingbing? Have we been discovered for the bad things I did with him?
He sat cross-legged like a little panda, and was pulled by Huo Qubing to play clapping. He couldn't figure out why Wei Shaoer was abnormal.
Because Huo Qubing was not concentrating, he slapped his hand more than ten times in a row. Seeing that he did not move, he thought he was always losing and felt sad.
Although Ayan always loses, there has never been a time like today when he failed to hit him at all. Should he give Ayan a break? Ayan seems unhappy recently.
Finally, he mustered up his courage and spread out his hands with a heroic and confident look.
"Yanyan, hit him!"
Come on! He's not afraid!
Huo Qubing spoke in a crisp voice, and Huo Yan suddenly came back to his senses. The first thing he saw was that he spread his palms upwards, motioning him to take the shot.
Although he was very afraid of being hit, he still tried hard to control his instincts and keep his palm still to ensure that Huo Yan could hit him.
Huo Yan's heart warmed. He nodded, raised his hand, and smiled brightly, as if a bone, almost rotting in the darkness, had suddenly been dug out and exposed to the sun. He didn't care about his own embarrassment, just wanted to roll around in the sun and act coquettish.
Seeing him laugh, Huo Qubing laughed too. While laughing, he pulled his own hand to prevent it from moving back, and even forced himself to move towards him.
Huo Yan smiled even more happily upon seeing this, and finally the palm he raised high turned into a finger, which gently poked his little round face.
□□It bounces and feels really good.
Huo Qubing widened his eyes in surprise, then curved into crescents and started laughing too.
Huo Yan's mind echoed with the notification that his crystal was ganked by Huo Qubing with a smile.
Ahhh, I knew it, I’m so sick, the sweetest guy in the world!
The enthusiasm of the brother-con who was touched in the heart is unimaginable.
He poked involuntarily again, and Huo Qubing cooperated with his movements with a smile. They were having a great time, but unfortunately Wei Shaoer came out with the washed red dates.
"Qubing, Ah Yan, come and eat some dates."
Wei Shaoer called out from the threshold in front of the house.
Huo Qubing ran to his side holding Huo Yan's hand. Wei Shaoer remembered his family's instructions and paid more attention to Huo Yan. He wiped the sweat from Huo Yan's forehead with his sleeve, and then gently fed him red dates.
Huo Qubing's eyes suddenly darkened.
Huo Yan turned his head and saw his face, and some bad memories came to his mind.
He subconsciously felt uncomfortable and turned his head away, refusing Wei Shaoer's offer to feed him. He reached for the dried red dates in Wei Shaoer's ceramic jar and silently took a bite without saying a word, revealing the core of the date.
Wei Shaoer picked out a big one for him and handed it to him attentively.
But Huo Yan didn't eat anymore. He looked at Wei Shaoer who was handing him the dried dates, feeling confused and sad.
He can take it himself like his brother, so why give it to him alone?
My mother is really weird and so annoying.
Huo Qubing waited for a while, and seeing that Wei Shaoer did not give A Yan the food after he had served him like Wei Qing did, he reached out and grabbed a handful himself. His hands were small, so he could only grab one or two, and he ate by himself.
From Huo Yan's perspective, he lowered his head, looking a little lost.
Huo Yan suddenly felt indignant.
He doesn't like this.
He doesn't like this!
Bingbing also wants to be fed, why doesn’t mother feed him too?
Every time, my uncle would take a bite from him and his brother.
He doesn't like this!
He and Bingbing are the same, we cannot favor one over the other.
They are brothers and sisters, and he should not ignore the pain of his illness.
He didn't want Bingbing to be like the one he remembered, always being criticized by his closest people.
Huo Yan's heart beat again, and he seemed to suddenly connect all his broken memories. The tug at his heart made him frown almost immediately.
He placed the half-eaten date in front of Huo Qubing and said, "Be careful, Bingbing, be careful with the core."
Huo Qubing nodded, spat out the date pit, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
Wei Shaoer saw that after the two of them finished interacting, Huo Yan still didn't eat or speak, so he touched him gently, smiled gently, and spoke gently.
"Why isn't Ah Yan eating? Does he want his mother to feed him?"
"Red dates have pits, and I'm still young, so I can't eat a lot of them."
Huo Yan sat by the bed. Upon hearing this, he looked up at Wei Shaoer, his eyes dark as he spoke, "Why did Mother feed me and not Bingbing? We are all Mother's children. None of us should be forced to accept unfair treatment just because we are too young or because of Mother's favoritism."
His articulation was still as fluent as ever, unlike that of a child under one and a half years old.
The stream flows into the sea, and the long pain is reduced to a question.
Just like he had said to those bastards who abandoned him.
All he wanted in his life was fairness. Injustice was the source of his dissatisfaction.
He didn't want Bingbing to be as broken because of him as he was back then.
So he's going to say it.
If he didn't say it, he would be sorry for his past self and sorry for his illness.
Once Wei Shao'er was reminded, he immediately turned around and looked at Huo Qubing, whose eyes were red.
She vaguely realized her mistake, bent down, touched Huo Qubing's head, and kissed him twice.
When Huo Qubing was kissed, the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously, his smile was very bright, and his eyes were frighteningly bright.
He seemed to know that everything was caused by Huo Yan, and he imitated Wei Shaoer and kissed his two younger brothers.
"Kiss."
Huo Yan felt very itchy from his kiss, but he still smiled and leaned his other half of his face towards him to let his little piggy dig the soil.
After the kiss, Huo Qubing tugged at Wei Shaoer's clothes, signaling her to kiss Huo Yan.
He has it, and Ayan wants it too.
Huo Yan was very excited, his eyes were full of light, and he even stretched out his hand in advance, wanting to hug Wei Shaoer.
But Wei Shaoer hesitated.
Seeing her hesitation, Huo Yan suddenly dropped his hands weakly, subconsciously covering his heart to stop himself from crying.
That's what mothers are like, and your mother is like that too! You're just disgusting. Look at your open hands, how ridiculous.
You should have kept silent, kept silent!
Isn’t it good to be favored?
Wouldn't it be nice to be a blind person?
You're about to be left behind again.
Wuming's voice was strange, and the memories he subconsciously sealed away were ferocious and threatening.
Huo Yan's face suddenly turned pale. He gasped hard, suppressing the dizziness, and forced a smile at Wei Shaoer with all his strength.
Get out! I want to save myself! I deserve it, I won't be silent, I can't let myself be strangled!
"Can you please give me a hug?"
Consider it a plea from me, please help me, my head is about to split open.
But Wei Shaoer was frightened by his suddenly pale face.
"Ayan, Ayan, what's wrong?"
Huo Yan's heart was pierced again, and bitter liquid flowed out, so bitter that his heart and lungs were chilled.
Is Huo Yan unworthy? Is it because I look too scary now? If my almost pale face scared you, I'm sorry, sorry.
I'm sorry for having expectations of myself.
Put your hands down, put your hands down, and quietly be a child that everyone hates. Don't beg for this meaningless affection, don't go out into the light, they don't belong to you. No one wants you! All your attempts are failures! You can't escape the fate of being hated and abandoned!
Huo Yan's eyes were filled with black fog, and he was overwhelmed by self-loathing and self-abandonment.
"I'm a monster, are you going to throw me away?"
His hands were trembling slightly, and his vision went dark, but he was suddenly held by a small fleshy hand, and the child's head was placed on his knees. He saw the child opened his arms and hugged him tightly, his big black eyes flashing with almost pure concern, so strong that it could not be dissolved.
"Yanyan, Bingbing, hug?"
A corner of the black fog opened up, and a warm light spread from around Huo Qubing.
Then came a warm embrace, and his mother's loud voice exploded in his ears.
"Ah Yan, if you want to eat dates, just eat them. Mother didn't say anything. You can't look at me like a butcher looking at a pig! That's too scary. It's just a date, if you don't want to eat it, then don't eat it." She was almost crying. "My son, if you want mother to hug you, just tell me. Don't tell me, your little Wen is so arrogant, he really looks like an official!"
Huo Yan felt a pain in his chest because of her thick nerves, and his breath was stuck there, unable to go up or down.
Well, the stubborn one has become blocked at both ends.
There was a black mist in front of his eyes, and Wei Shaoer kissed him twice on the forehead.
"Okay, okay, you have it too. Don't be jealous of your brother anymore!"
Huo Yan wants to die.
Who is angry because of your kiss?
He had a gloomy face.
Seeing his horrible appearance, Wei Shaoer felt like crying but had no tears.
"My son, what have I done to you?"
Huo Yan lay straight on the bed, rolled inward twice, leaving Wei Shaoer with a sulking back.
see a visitor out!
Huo Qubing chuckled.
Wei Shaoer also laughed out loud and poked Huo Yan's little butt.
Huo Yan moved a little inside.
Huo Qubing's eyebrows were curved into crescents as he lay beside him. Huo Yan couldn't help but move closer to him and called softly, "Brother."
This was the first time he called me brother.
This wasn't the only time he called me brother.
【Author’s words】
① "Records of the Grand Historian", Volume 111, "Biographies of General Wei and Cavalrymen": Shao'er had an affair with Chen Zhang, and the emperor summoned Gui Zhang. Shao'er of Wei had an affair with Chen Zhang, the great-grandson of Chen Ping, the Marquis of Quni.
② "Records of the Grand Historian," Volume 111, "Biographies of General Wei and General Huoqi": "General Wei Qing was a native of Pingyang. His father, Zheng Ji, was an official serving in the household of the Marquis of Pingyang. He had an affair with the Marquis' concubine, Wei Ai, and gave birth to Qing. … Qing was a member of the Marquis' household. When he was young, he returned to his father, who had him tend sheep. His mother's sons were all treated as slaves and not counted as brothers."
Wei Ai had an affair with Zheng Ji, a county official working for Cao Shou, the Marquis of Pingyang, and gave birth to Wei Qing. Due to financial hardship, Wei Qing was sent to his biological father, Zheng Ji's, home. However, Zheng Ji made Wei Qing herd sheep, and the Zheng family's sons treated him as a slave, not a brother. When Wei Qing grew older, unwilling to continue his servitude, he returned to his mother and became a riding slave for Princess Pingyang, the daughter of Emperor Jing of Han.
I have to say, my uncle is awesome but also a little pitiful.
Pingyang to Chang'an, more than 1,000 kilometers, a child less than ten years old.
Hey, Zheng Ji, you bastard, you abused a child.
Yanyan’s past was quite miserable, alas, it was really miserable.
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