Chapter 83: This Is What a Family Should Be
Wen Xiuyi poked Wen Yao’s forehead helplessly. “What ‘flying person’? No one in this world can fly. I bet Datou just got lucky and met some martial arts expert or something.
And hey, our Datou is the second male lead after all—he’s got some plot armor.”
Though he sounded relaxed now, he had been terrified when he first saw Datou unconscious. Whether Datou was a character from a book or not didn’t matter—he was his son now. What father wouldn’t be heartbroken?
Looking at the sleeping child, Wen Xiuyi smiled softly. “You heard him, right? Datou called me ‘Dad.’ He can talk now.”
Wen Yao snorted and touched Datou’s forehead. “Ungrateful little thing. I was the one who carried you back and even hurt my foot. You didn’t even call me ‘Sister’ first.”
“Of course he should call Dad first,” Wen Xiuyi protested.
“No, Sister first! I take care of him every day!”
“Dad first.”
“Sister first!”
Wen Jun ignored the childish argument, checked Datou’s temperature again, tucked the blanket around him, and went to the kitchen to start boiling medicine before heading home to move their belongings.
By evening, Wen Nong pushed the handcart back himself. The buckets were empty, and Zheng the butcher had delivered pork and offal for the next day.
He went to Wen Xiuyi’s house first but found it locked, so he pushed the cart back to the old residence.
“Uncle, how’s Datou?” he asked.
“In your grandparents’ room,” Wen Xiuyi replied while unloading.
Wen Nong dusted himself off and hurried inside to peek quietly, afraid of waking the child. Instead, he saw Datou sitting up on the kang, eating porridge Wen Yao was feeding him, a cloth tied around his head.
“How’s Datou?” Wen Nong asked.
Wen Yao winked. Datou suddenly turned and called out, “Second Brother.”
“Yeah?” Wen Nong answered instinctively—then froze. His eyes widened as realization hit. He bolted outside shouting, “Grandpa! Grandma! Uncle! Datou can talk! He called me ‘Second Brother!’”
Everyone in the courtyard kept working as if nothing had happened.
“I said Datou can talk!” he insisted.
Li Shi kicked him lightly. “We know. Stop shouting and go help your uncle.”
Wen Nong sulked but helped unload the cart. He then reported how he had managed the fried rice stall alone that afternoon—apologizing to customers, slowly learning to cook more portions at once, and even giving free pickled vegetables to those who waited longer.
Wen Xiuyi patted his shoulder proudly. “Good job. Soon you’ll be able to run the stall yourself.”
Wen Nong panicked. “Uncle, don’t say that—I can’t!”
“We’ll see. Where’s the money?”
Wen Nong dug under the cart and pulled out a money pouch, explaining he had tied it underneath for safety. Inside were several strings of copper coins.
Wen Xiuyi took three strings and shoved them into his hands. “Your reward for today.”
“I can’t take this!”
“You earned it. Keep it.”
Luo Shi nodded in approval. Wen Nong finally felt rich—until Li Shi appeared and snatched the money away. “I’ll save it for your future wife,” she said happily and walked off counting the coins.
Wen Nong stared in despair and chased after her, begging for some back.
Inside the house, Wen Xiuyi and Wen Yao listened to the lively noise outside and couldn’t help smiling.
This was what a family should feel like.
