Chapter 76 - 75 Foster Brother
Chapter 76: Chapter 75 Foster Brother
“Young Master, be careful, the little girl has a small knife in her hand,” a middle-aged man among the guards quickly scooped Tang Shunyan into his arms.
“Mrs. Li, have your daughter put down the knife, she must not hurt our family’s Young Master.” Jufeng was one of the maids sent by the young madam to protect the Young Master.
The Young Master, hearing Mrs. Li say she wanted to go home for a family visit and insisting to the Madam that she must come to the Li Family’s home to see her daughter, seized the opportunity to go out and play, to experience rural life.
The Madam and the Old Master told the Young Master to ask his mother.
The Young Master, crying to the young madam, insisted on following Mrs. Li home for the visit.
The young madam, heart aching from her son’s tears, was also worried that her son might get hurt in a poor rural area.
The young Master dispatched the housekeeper and guards, ordering them to accompany the Young Master for protection.
Having no alternative, the young madam sent her trusted attendants, including Jufeng, Xiu Zhi, and the maid Mei Zhi. The Madam also sent Mrs. Pan.
With so many people accompanying Tang Shunyan to the Li Family, of course, the Madam would not let her grandson go without bringing gifts.
She also had the housekeeper prepare generous gifts and arranged for servants to deliver meals from a town’s restaurant at noon for Tang Shunyan and the group, making sure they would not have to trouble the Li Family for a meal.
Another point was that the grandson’s visit was meant to expose him to the outside world, ensuring he wouldn’t stay long at the Li Family, and that they must head back after lunch.
Mrs. Li, too, was concerned that her young daughter, with a knife in her hands, might hurt herself, so she snatched the knife and held it, lifting her daughter and planting a kiss on her face.
“Wuwa, you’re not being good, why are you playing with knives with elder sister? Have you been getting naughtier when mom is not home?”
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Ye Shiqi, feeling her mother’s kiss, blinked her cute eyes dumbly, her heart yearning for maternal love. Perhaps due to the lack of maternal love in her past life, and in this life, her mother went to another family to be a wet nurse when she was so little. If her mindset weren’t so grown-up.
When she was only a month old, her mother went out to be a wet nurse and only came back once, by then she had forgotten her own mother.
“What? My baby doesn’t recognize her mother anymore? It’s been only two months since I last saw Wuwa, don’t you remember your mother? It’s my fault, I should’ve come back more often.”
Mrs. Li’s tears started dripping from her eyes as she spoke.
“Oh oh,”
Ye Shiqi reached out with her little hand to wipe tears from Mrs. Li’s eyes. It was right for her mother to go out and be a wet nurse; perhaps she was eating and living well, her face seemed whiter and tenderer than before, and she had grown a bit, which was much better than exhausting work at home.
“Wuwa is such a good girl, and you’re already sympathetic to your mother.”
Mrs. Li, looking at Wuwa, felt much at ease seeing her grow better than her elder sisters.
“Mother, I want a hug too,” Siwa ran over, vying for affection.
Mrs. Li, holding Wuwa, squatted down and embraced Siwa in her arms, cradling a child on each side.
“Mother, I’ve missed you…”
Mrs. Li kissed Siwa’s face, saying, “Mother missed Siwa too.”
Tang Shunyan watched intently from the housekeeper’s arms, observing the two daughters in Mrs. Li’s embrace.
“Wet nurse, are these my Ru Mei?”
Mrs. Li turned and nodded at Tang Shunyan, saying, “Hmm, they don’t have names yet; this one is the fourth, Siwa, and the youngest here is Wuwa.”
“Wet nurse, where are my elder sisters? Why don’t they have names yet?”
“Hmm, they have not been named yet.”
“Shunyan already has a name, it was given by his grandfather.”
“Hmm, Young Master’s grandfather is learned.”
“Wet nurse, do my elder sister and younger sisters’ grandfathers not have knowledge? When Shunyan grows up a bit, and can name things, I will give my elder sister and younger sisters a beautiful name.”
“That will require Shunyan to grow up a bit, and also the agreement of your elder sister and younger sisters’ grandfathers.”
Mrs. Li always spoke to Tang Shunyan with a smile, and when she looked up, she saw the expression in her father-in-law’s eyes and said to the Young Master with understanding.
“Which one is my sisters’ grandfather?”
Tang Shunyan shifted his small body to the side, looking around the courtyard at the maids, the old women, the guards, and the housekeeper, then his gaze fell on the two other men present.
The little one also thought to himself that the younger of the two must surely be his sisters’ father, and the older one must be their grandfather.
As Hongji’s father spoke with his daughter-in-law about what he wanted to say, he felt uneasy, because the young master from a rich family hadn’t asked him. When Tang Shunyan looked his way, he broke into a gratified smile and said:
“The little one is indeed the grandfather of the ‘Ru sisters’ that Young Master mentioned. It’s their fortune that Young Master is willing to grace them with names, and I wholeheartedly agree.”
Hearing what Hongji’s father said, Tang Shunyan laughed joyfully and proudly told Ye Shiqi:
“Little sister, when your brother grows up a bit, shall I give you a lovely name, okay?”
Siwa was also in Mrs. Li’s arms, and when Tang Shunyan’s gaze fell on her, she thought he was addressing her and giggled, “Yes, yes! Siwa will have a name now.”
“Uh…” Tang Shunyan was actually asking Wuwa, but seeing Siwa so happy and not seeing Wuwa nod, he thought she was too young to understand what he was saying.
The Tang Family’s servants and guards in the courtyard did not at all prevent the Young Master’s playful ideas. It was an honor for these poor people to be named by the Young Master; who would dare to say otherwise?
Even if the Young Master could not name well and chose names as unpleasant as ‘Cat’ or ‘Dog,’ they had to accept them. Just like their current names in the Tang Family weren’t the ones they were born with; they were all given by their masters.
At this moment, Ye Shiqi shook her head, waving her small hands, saying, “Mmm mmm mmm.”
“Ah! You don’t like the name brother is going to give you?” Tang Shunyan was startled, not expecting such a small little sister to understand; she wasn’t too slow-witted after all.
The rumors were indeed wrong—they said that children from poor families were unclear in their speech even at several years old, and they didn’t understand adults’ words. Girls several years old didn’t go to school and couldn’t recognize a single character.
“Mmm mmm mmm,” Ye Shiqi’s words were unclear; she was actually saying no, no, no.
She almost blurted out a foreign language that, in her previous life abroad, she always had on the tip of her tongue.
“Do you like the name Wuwa then? Isn’t that name too ugly?” was the only way Tang Shunyan could understand her.
Ye Shiqi looked at Tang Shunyan with difficulty; she couldn’t make herself clear when she spoke, and others didn’t understand her. Anxiously, she forgot that she was currently just a mere babe, one who had not yet learned to read and write.
Ye Shiqi let go of her mother, sat down on the ground, and was about to start writing in the dirt of the courtyard with her finger.
“Little sister, the ground is dirty; you can’t sit on the ground!” Tang Shunyan rapidly spoke.
Mrs. Li originally thought to let her little daughter do as she wished—what child from a farmer family doesn’t sit on the ground? Hearing the Young Master’s words, she was about to pick up her child.
Ye Shiqi waved her little hands at Tang Shunyan and shook her head at her mother. Her small hands began to write very neat characters on the ground.