Chapter 706: Chapter 609: Homecoming

By the eighth and ninth day of the Lunar New Year, city workers had to end their holidays and return to their posts. Likewise, in the countryside, it was time to press on with preparations for the farming season.

After the seventh day, Grandpa and Mo Jiabao started to get busy, leaving early and returning late. However, their main focus was still on managing the herb plantation on White Hat Mountain. The work in the fields was set aside for now; if they couldn’t get to it in time, they could just hire some help later.

The children on vacation from school all went up the mountain to help. When Xiao Man saw how tightly guarded the mountain was, she couldn’t resist playing her old trick again. The reservoir built on the mountain stored spring water and rainwater for irrigation. She directly added her Spiritual Spring water to it. The weather had been dry recently, so the reservoir had to be emptied every few days to water the plantation. With the Spiritual Spring water mixed in, the herbs on this mountain were sure to be of the highest quality.

Gu Shaozhen dragged Gu Shaoqin to stay a night at Zheng Shaolian’s mountainside villa. The next day, they sheepishly followed everyone back to the village—it was too cold on the mountain, and the wind was strong. In the middle of the night, the wind howled through the trees and rocks, a sharp and eerie sound. Coupled with the howling of the wolfhounds, the two brothers couldn’t sleep well. It seemed they were fated not to be the kind of carefree "hermits" who could endure loneliness and cold.

On the tenth, Grandma, Yu Wumei, Fifth Auntie, and Eighth Aunt were busy all day, steaming and boiling several hundred New Year cakes, zongzi, and sticky rice cakes. The next day, Gu Shaozhen’s men drove two cars over. Xiao Man and Gu Shaoqin went with them to Wancheng to catch a flight. Qiuyan was teary-eyed, unwilling to part with Xiao Man. So, Grandpa and Grandma simply had Da Zhi and Dapeng take her along with Jiang Junlin and Xinghua to see them off in Wancheng. There was enough room in the cars, anyway. They would spend the night at their brother-in-law and sister’s place and take the bus back the next day.

Able to spend one more day together, the siblings were naturally overjoyed. Xiao Man put her arm around Qiuyan’s shoulder and said, "You refuse to go to Beijing to study with me, so what’s with all this crying?"

Qiuyan said, "I’m still little! I can’t bear to leave Mom and Dad or Grandpa and Grandma. When I’m older, I’ll definitely go."

"So when you’re older, you’ll be fine with leaving Mom and Dad?"

"That’s not what I mean! I’ll bring them with me!"

"Oh, our Qiuyan is so devoted."

Everyone laughed. Xiao Man said, "The new house at home is built now, and Grandpa and Uncle Jiaobao have their own system for managing the herb plantation. Things will only get better from now on. With ten or twenty mu of fields, you can finish the work quickly if you buy some machinery. You won’t have much work to do during your winter and summer breaks. If you want, you can all come to Beijing as a group. When the time comes, I’ll look into buying a courtyard house in a good location. Grandpa and Grandma, and Uncle Jiaobao and his wife can come stay whenever they have free time. It’ll be like establishing another Mo family home in Beijing. In the future, whether it’s the South or the North, you can study or work wherever you want."

"Oh, yeah!" Qiuyan liked to follow Xiao Man’s lead, copying her words and actions. She flashed a peace sign, her eyes curving into crescents as she smiled.

Dapeng was also very excited. "I-I want to go to Beijing! And to Brother Shaolian’s Tianjin City! And Shanghai, the one they talk about! And Brother-in-law Gu’s army base... Anyway, I want to travel all over the country, and then I want to see the whole world!"

Da Zhi patted his younger brother’s head. "I’ll go with you, okay? That way you won’t get lost."

"Get outta here! Brother-in-law Gu taught me how to find my way. He said he’ll take me to the military camp to learn when I’m a little older. I’ll bring a map, so I won’t get lost!" Dapeng gave Da Zhi a shove, and the car filled with laughter.

At the airport outside Wancheng, the siblings Jiang Junlin and Xinghua waved repeatedly at the sky until the military plane disappeared from view. Only then did they get into a jeep and leave.

A few hours later, the military plane carrying Xiao Man, Gu Shaozhen, and Gu Shaoqin landed smoothly at the Beijing airport. Tang Qingshan and Gu Qifan were there to pick them up personally. Surprisingly, Zheng Shaolian had come along too. The moment he saw them, he asked, "Where’s the wine and beef jerky that Grandpa and Grandma had you bring for me?"

The three of them rolled their eyes. ’This foodie.’

Gu Shaozhen shot back at him, "That thing you built, what do you call it? A ’mountainside villa’? I think you should call it a haunted house instead. It’s scary enough to kill someone. The location is bad, the feng shui is terrible, and you can’t live there with all the ghostly wailing and wolves howling outside in the middle of the night. If you have time to be thinking about food, you should hurry up and have someone tear that house down. Just looking at it is depressing."

Zheng Shaolian’s eyes widened. "The house I built? I haven’t even had a housewarming party yet, and you dared to stay in it first? You’ve probably ruined all the good feng shui! I’m telling you, you owe me a new one! A new villa!"

Gu Shaozhen: "..."

His attempt at mockery backfired into blackmail. Of course, he wasn’t having it. The two of them started bickering. Xiao Man and Gu Shaoqin each found their respective fathers, got into the cars, and left, not bothering to watch the two childish adults.

Back home, Xiao Man received a warm welcome. Her grandpa and grandma both came to hug their eldest granddaughter. Her twin younger brothers also rushed forward, squeezing past Tang Qingyun and Mrs. Hao. Each of them grabbed one side of their big sister and started kissing her nonstop with loud, slobbery sounds. One moment, Xiao Man was moved to tears by the two little ones’ enthusiasm; the next, she was on the verge of tears for a different reason, her face covered in sticky drool. Mrs. Hao quickly told the nanny to bring a warm towel for Xiao Man to wipe her face, laughing as she said, "It’s a good thing our big sister here doesn’t wear makeup. Otherwise, these two boys would turn into Jia Baoyu—there wouldn’t be enough rouge and powder in the world for them to eat."

"We should be careful. It’s best not to let them get close to people wearing makeup. The cosmetics sold in stores all contain some harmful substances," Xiao Man said.

"Don’t worry. These two little brothers of yours, and Hao Hao too, have been clever little devils since they were tiny. They only get close to family. It’s really hard for outsiders to kiss them. They’ll dodge, and if they can’t dodge, they’ll just push them away with their hands. Especially Little Three and Little Four, they’re surprisingly strong."

Xiao Man couldn’t agree with her grandma’s nicknames for the twins, "Little Three" and "Little Four." "Grandma, I’ve said it before, ’Little Three’ and ’Little Four’ don’t sound nice. Can we please change their nicknames?"

Grandma Tang chided, "What’s not nice about them? That’s their birth order. Your grandpa wanted to call them Da Bao and Xiao Bao, but your dad thought that was too common, saying the streets are full of Da Baos and Xiao Baos."

Tang Qingyun said, "Didn’t I already say? Little Bo and Xiao Fang are great names!"

Grandpa Tang chuckled as he looked at Grandma Tang. Little Bo was fine, but as for Xiao Fang... many people used to call Grandma Tang that when she was young. To this day, some of her older friends still greet her affectionately with, "Xiao Fang, Xiao Fang."

Grandma Tang waved her hand dismissively. "Whatever. They’re my precious grandsons. Call them what you want."

Tang Qingshan and Mrs. Hao exchanged a look, completely speechless. ’They were planning to wait for Tang Qingyun to remarry and have kids so they could steal the naming rights, but he’d unexpectedly found a loophole and renamed their own twins.’

After all, Tang Qingyun had been a father to two children before, so he had a knack for handling kids. You could say he was more experienced than his older brother. In addition, his build, appearance, and even his voice were quite similar to Tang Qingshan’s, so the twins were very willing to be close to him. Tang Qingyun was quite pleased with himself.

He hadn’t been able to come home for the Lunar New Year, only returning to Beijing the day before yesterday. He had saved up his leave specifically to wait for Xiao Man to return from the South. For the past two days, he hadn’t gone anywhere, just spending time and playing with the two little ones. As soon as Xiao Man came back, the two little ones wanted to cling to their big sister, but they were also unwilling to let go of their second uncle, pulling him along. Xiao Man was so overjoyed to see the adorable little treasures that she lost all track of time. They played together for quite a while before she realized that the person squeezed onto the long sofa with the three of them, patiently helping to pick up all sorts of toys, was actually Tang Qingyun. Looking at Tang Qingyun’s loving and cheerful expression, Xiao Man felt...

She felt nothing. Absolutely nothing

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