Chapter 90: Brother-in-Law Translator: Antonia
When Mo Qianxue arrived, Tong Zijing’s courtyard was in unusual quiet.
Her heart leaped!
At this stage of treatment, the most worrying thing was not that he cried and yelled, but that he stopped crying and became entirely quiet, which meant that he locked himself up in his inner world again, then her previous effort would be go down the drain.
As expected, when she looked into the room through the window, Tong Zijing was sitting there numbly, eyes focusing on nowhere and full of daze and a little agitation.
Since the first day when Tong Zijing chose to open his heart to outside world, his eyes had taken off turbidity to become bright but not sharp.
Mo Qianxue’s heart plummeted as she quickly walked to the door.
Seeing her, the young servants was relieved and said, overjoyed, “Lord, lord. Mrs. Ning is here.”
“Liar! Liar! You’re all liars!” Tong Zijing didn’t move but shouted ferociously.
“Zijing.” Mo Qianxue wasn’t sure whether Tong Zijing would talk to her but still tried, “I’m here.”
Only when hearing the familiar voice did Tong Zijing loo up. The moment he confirmed that Mo Qianxue was really here, his pupils momentarily enlarged, as if Mo Qianxue had a layer of brilliance which could illuminate Tong Zijing’s eyes.
Tears flooded out, he hurriedly stood up, opening his arms and rushing over.
Ning Shaoqing followed behind Mo Qianxue, and, at the sight of this, he frowned and stepped forward.
In a flash, he stood in front of Mo Qianxue.
After giving a big hug, Tong Zijing looked up excitedly, only to find that the person he was hugging was a man that he didn’t know.
He thought his eyes had a problem and quickly rubbed them.
Ning Shaoqing shot out chill from over all his body. Did they always hug like this before?
He looked back at Mo Qianxue and met with her begging eyes.
He got soft-hearted again and, with a snort, glared back, which said that we would talk over this later.
Once he had decided to come here, he would tolerate what was going on, at least for the time being.
Moreover, he also found something wrong with Tong Zijing.
This boy rubbed his eyes and made a hearty grin when he saw Mo Qianxue was behind the man he was hugging.
Releasing the man, Tong Zijing pushed Ning Shaoqing away as if he was some obstacle.
Ning Shaoqing’s almost turned into swords. But for the fact that Mo Qianxue kept pulling his hands as begging, and that Tong Zijing was a patient, he would have screwed the stupid boy’s head off.
“Sister Qianxue. They are all liars. They said that you wouldn’t come any more. I’m so scared!” Indeed, he was scared. The happiest days in his life were given by Mo Qianxue. He feared staying alone. He feared that Mo Qianxue would never come again and that the old man would forbid him from going out again…
Awu said that? What she had meant was that she couldn’t come only for these two days. When did she say that she would never come again? Mo Qianxue squinted at Ning Shaoqing.
Ning Shaoqing pretended not to see her, satisfied how Awu had sent the message.
Yet, this good start only turned out to be a stone falling on his own feet.
Mo Qianxue pondered that when she got back, she should well discipline Asan and Awu, otherwise she couldn’t always tolerate their ostensible obedience. However, at a right time, she would definitely buy a few satisfying girl servants.
“Zijing, I’m really busy these days. I planned to come in a few days, but I heard that you missed me so much, so I’m thinking about taking you to live in my house so that you can stay with me. What do you think?”
Mo Qianxue didn’t a bit find it funny seeing Tong Zijing, an adult, crying like a baby.
Only because of Ning Shaoqing’s presence, she didn’t help Zijing wipe out the tears.
“Great! Great!” Tong Zijing’s face was still wet and immediately agreed, but meanwhile he unconsciously stole a glance at Ning Shaoqing.
There was both curiosity and fear in his eyes. Mo Qianxue laughed, “This is your brother-in-law. He’s a nice person and the most important man to me. He also likes you very much.”
Hearing this, Ning Shaoqing finally looked less upset.
“Brother-in-law?” Tong Zijing asked in confusion.
Although Ning Shaoqing didn’t like Tong Zijing, he somehow got less defensive on hearing the brother-in-law.
“Brother-in-law is the person lives with me.”
“I want to live with you too.”
Originally, he intended to ask: would I become brother-in-law if I live with sister? But an epiphany flashed in his mind and he remembered what Mo Qianxue had told him about the difference between men and women. Therefore, he seemed to understand more of what was brother-in-law and swallowed the question back to his belly.
Appeasing Tong Zijing for a while, Mo Qianxue ordered the two servants packed clothes for their lord.
Hearing that they would take lord away, the two servants stood there frightened and motionless in a loss.
How matter how bold they were, they didn’t dare to let lord go with other people without the permission of master and butler.
Tong Zijing turned back and said, “What my sister says is what I say. If you don’t listen, I’ll punish or even kill you.”
Though this sentence coming from his mouth didn’t form a deterrence, it was still effective.
The two servants had been warned and lectured by Mr. Tong and butler Tong not long before that as long as lord was a little dissatisfied about them, they would get punishment.
They remembered that butler Tong had told him that once they serve lord, lord was their master whose command must be carried out. Even if he let you go to hell, prepare to die.
Anyway, there were no escape from death.
Therefore, the two, like on drug, quickly packed everything that Tong Jijing would need.
Mo Qianxue stayed in the room to play with Tong Zijing. Ning Shaoqing was a little impatient, so he decided to take a walk.
The yard was very quiet. Ning Shaoqing stood still, hands behind his body, and looked up to feel the heavy snow. He stood there for long, but not a piece of snowflake fell on him.
He was also in an ambivalence. On one hand, he didn’t want to make things difficult for Mo Qianxue, and on the other hand, he didn’t want Tong Jingzi followed around Mo Qianxue all the time like a baby.
When they were ready to leave, butler, puffing heavily, just made his way back to Tong mansion. Mr. Tong didn’t show up but let the butler bring the title deed of the valley. Mo Qianxue didn’t pretentiously refused and directly took it over and handed to Ning Shaoqing.
The Wang village was closer to Tong mansion than the dock. By the time it took him to get back, butler Tong must have run all the way back.
Following him was an honest-looking youth who was around sixteen years old and acted in a proper well-disciplined manner. Mo Qianxue beckoned that he must have received a few years of education.
After quiet some effort, butler Tong finally managed to restore his normal breath, and he pulled the youth over, “This is my grandson, Tong Zhan. He, as well as Tong Ping and Tong An, will go with lord to serve him. They will also be at your command.”
Butler Tong carefully told his grandson how to serve lord properly, while Tong Zijing impatiently urged Mo Qianxue to set off quickly.
Butler Tong aimed at Tong Zhan building a good relationship with lord so that he could help lord improve himself. It seemed that this time butler Tong had decided to go all out to safeguard his lord at any cost.
In addition to the previous carriage, he arranged another carriage.
Mo Qianxue, Ning Shaoqing and Tong Zijing took the first one, and Tong Zhan and other servants took the other one.
Tong Zijing sat in the carriage, happily enjoying his fresh experience and curiously looking outside from time to time. When he found something amusing, he would laugh and wave his limbs with excitement and invited Mo Qianxue to have fun together with him. Yet, still, he would steal glances at Ning Shaoqing to check his reaction at the same time.
Ning Shaoqing sat between the two, closing his eyes and pretending to take a nap, in order to avoid witnessing the annoying scene.
At this moment, there wasn’t any ghost of gloom in his eyes. They were filled with pure joy. Mo Qianxue smiled and encouraged him to explore. She also lifted the curtain on her side and looked out.
After a short while, the carriage arrived at the Wang village.
The carriage drove to Ning house, and no villagers came out to check inquiringly because they had used to it. If a horse carriage came, they would be curious if it didn’t head for Ning house. They would get out to watch it like the first time Baiyunju’s carriage had come.
Accommodating Tong Zijing to live in the wing room, Mo Qianxue had to admit that Ning Shaoqing’s suggestion of taking Tong Zijing home would be best either to her or the poor boy.
If Tong Zijing lived here, she wouldn’t need to take the trouble of shuttle back and forth. The time saved on road could be utilized to do more things.
As for Tong Zijing, he could live in a fresh new environment while receive attentive care of Mo Qianxue to help stabilize his condition. The treatment of his condition was a gradual process required continuous caring and patience.
Nevertheless, it was indeed a problem if Tong Zijing stuck around her every second.
For a day, when Mo Qianxue went to the kitchen, Tong Zijing followed to the kitchen; and when she took a look at the workshop, he followed there too; when she went back to her room, he followed as well…
Ning Shaoqing didn’t move his body, but his eyes didn’t stay idle. They closely followed them like a sharp shadow.
He would feel embarrassed to follow around like Tong Zijing, so his ears had to suffer. When he couldn’t see them, he closed his eyes and deployed his ears to hear their position and conversation.
In secrecy, he planned that when he went to school tomorrow, he should tell Asan and Awu to keep an eye on Tong Zijing in advance. As long as something wrong happened, they must stand before to protect Mo Qianxue and ban him to approach her.
The three servants of Tong Zijing also followed around like shadow.
In total, there were four tails behind Mo Qianxue.
Tong Zijing didn’t think that Ning house was too small or plain. For him, here was a paradise where he stayed with Mo Qianxue asking this or that excitedly.
To his naïve questions, Mo Qianxue needed to answer with great patient.
She had to admit that this was the most tiring day.
When Tong Zijing finally fell into quiet asleep, Mo Qianxue was exhausted.
At night, Mo Qinaxue caressed her slightly bent waist and complained to Ning Shaoqing. Tomorrow she must have to take Tong Zijing to the root sculpture class. If had the interest, she could then leave him to Wang Tiansong to attend to. She really couldn’t stand it.
The reason why Tong Zijing’s symptoms had recurred in the morning was due to Awu’s fake message that she wouldn’t come any more.
This was like a sudden psychological bomb which was too hard for Tong Zijing to accept at once.
However, if there was a psychological transition, he wouldn’t necessarily have to stick around her all day long.
Root carving would be the best choice, through which he could both learn and play. It was a process that required deployment of eyes, hands and brain, and finally the coordination of these parts.
Certainly, Ning Shaoqing couldn’t agree more. If this situation continued, even if Mo Qianxue didn’t bring it up, he would find another way to distract Tong Zijing away from her.
On hearing her words, Ning Shaoqing cracked a smile and massaged her waist in a good mood. As he rubbed, his eyes turned reddish again.
Exhausted, Mo Qianxue fell asleep quickly to the beat of his massage.
Ning Shaoqing sighed and took her into his arms.
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