"If Ah Xun knew you were praising him like that, he'd be secretly laughing in his sleep," Song Zhuiyan teased.
“I often praise him to his face, but he’s thick-skinned and doesn’t feel anything, really.”
Song Tantan considers herself generous with praise, but this person claims to be so outstanding that he takes it for granted when others praise him.
I wasn't surprised; I took it all in stride.
After giving the two children a bath, I wrapped them in a towel, put them on the bed, dressed them in onesies, and let them play on the bed with all sorts of modern toys.
While they're still young and don't know any better, they should play as much as they can while they can. They won't be able to play anymore when they grow up. Poor thing, it would be so much better if we lived in modern times.
"I'll have Ah Xun draw up some blueprints later, and then find a carpenter to make two wooden bicycles and a toy car. We can always play with something made of wood, right?" Song Tantan sighed, feeling sorry for the babies.
Three months passed quickly, and the twins were already one year old. In ancient times, wealthy families with the means would hold a first birthday banquet and then let the children choose their first birthday presents.
Ye Moxun and Song Tantan prepared a lot of things for the baby's first birthday celebration. They didn't invite too many people on the day, only those from Songlin Village.
When Zhu Xiu came, she brought Zhao Zhongnian with her. Well, I don't know when these two got together, but they've been together for almost half a year now.
Before Song Tantan and the others returned from their trip, Zhu Xiu and Zhao Zhongnian had already taken a liking to each other and planned to get engaged in the fall and get married at the end of the year.
The two are both quite old, and they got together on their own, so a matchmaker will be needed to go through the motions.
Everyone else was happy for the two of them. Zhu Xiu had a hard life; she was abandoned by her husband's family during their escape and had been alone for many years.
Zhao Zhongnian used to be a bodyguard for the Zhang family, risking his life in the process. He never thought of getting married, fearing he would implicate the family. Unexpectedly, he found a wife in his early forties.
The two knew each other in Songlin Village, but never thought about it in this way. However, they unknowingly fell for each other in Fengcheng.
So fate is truly amazing. When fate hasn't brought you together, even if you've known each other for years, you'll still feel like familiar strangers. But when fate brings you together, you'll soon be able to talk about marriage.
"It's time for your first birthday celebration, Heng'er and Shuang'er. Look at all these things on the table. Which one do you like the most? Pick whichever one you like," Song Zhuiyan gently guided from the side.
The twins were dressed in bright red silk robes, with two small buns in their hair, and they were chubby and fair-skinned, like they had stepped out of a New Year's painting.
Song Tantan deliberately placed several jade pendants and jewels in front of the twins, hoping they would be rich and powerful in the future. Oh, and then there were also writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.
Not only do you need wealth, you also need knowledge.
In the end, the twins grabbed the same thing. Since they were twins, the items were prepared in duplicate, and they ended up grabbing the same thing twice.
They each had a wooden sword, a jade pendant, and a pen.
Song Zhuiyan, Song Tantan, and Ye Moxun were all very satisfied with this; they had martial arts skills, status, and knowledge—perfect.
Zhong Jingheng was able to walk when he was eleven months old, but he still couldn't speak much until after his first birthday. Now he can only say simple words like "mother," "sister," and "brother."
Zhong Shuang'er, however, was one year old but still couldn't walk, though she could already speak in a complete sentence. For example, when she was full, she would wave her hand and say, "No, no, I'm full, I don't want to eat anymore."
In the evening she would say, "I want to take a bath, and the pot needs to take a bath too, and wear pretty clothes."
There's something about these two kids that's always a bit worrying: one's a late talker and the other's a late walker.
Song Zhuiyan wondered if she should give Shuang'er calcium supplements, and then she would bend over every day and hold her arms to teach her to walk. Heng'er spoke slowly, so she often asked Song Tantan and Ye Moxun to teach him to speak.
Zhong Jingheng was very annoyed, so he didn't learn to say anything else, but when asked to sit and patiently learn to speak, he would scrunch up his little face and say in a childish voice, "Annoying, annoying."
This often left Song Tantan and Ye Moxun both amused and exasperated.
In the autumn, Zhu Xiu and Zhao Zhongnian got engaged, and by winter they had quickly tied the knot. After marrying Zhu Xiu, Zhao Zhongnian no longer lived with Zhang Shen and Zhang Qingling.
The house he had bought earlier came in handy, but he would still frequently visit the Zhang family to take care of Zhang Shen and Zhang Hui.
Zhang Shen basically doesn't need anyone to worry about him, and with maids and servants at home, his daily life is well taken care of. The main problem is that Zhang Hui needs someone to take care of him.
Zhu Xiu had never had children, but she loved children very much, so she was happy to help take care of Zhang Hui and would visit him at the Zhang family whenever she had free time.
The little guy is quite perceptive; he knows who treats him well and who doesn't. Every time Zhu Xiu visits, he's very happy, waddling over like a little duck to get a hug.
Seeing Zhang Hui and Zhu Xiu being close made Zhang Qingling uncomfortable. She would often say sarcastically, "If you like children, have one yourself. Uncle Zhao is getting old and it's not easy for him. You have to leave him an heir."
Ever since Uncle Zhao married this woman, he has become much stingier with her, halving her monthly allowance and reducing her daily expenses, which has made her very dissatisfied.
But she dared not tell Zhao Zhongnian that he used to be the Zhang family's guard and had to respect her, but after the Zhang family fell into poverty, she and her two siblings had relied on him for many years.
It's inevitable to feel a bit intimidated; you can't refuse someone who gives you money, and you can't refuse someone who feeds you.
However, she didn't take Zhu Xiu seriously. For a woman of low status who had been abandoned by her husband's family, marrying Zhao Zhongnian was a blessing she had earned in her previous life.
Uncle Zhao has quite a bit of silver on him.
Zhu Xiu: I've also saved quite a bit of silver. Don't underestimate me. I've saved over two hundred taels of silver over the years.
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