Chapter 182

In the next few days, Xu Ran and Gao Quan went to the mountain to log the remaining trees. After weeding, they burned it directly, as a way to fertilize the soil.

Fifty mu was enough to keep him and Gao Quan busy for days.

On February 20th, Tangtang and Guoguo’s medicated bath officially started. Every night, they started the bath a little while after dinner.

Since the children were young, their tender skin turned red once they got into the boiling water.

It was difficult to even stick one finger into the water, let alone the whole body.

But Gao Quan said that this temperature had the best effect, so it was definitely impossible to decrease the temperature. The children couldn’t just give it up because they thought it was too hot after so much work had been done previously!

Xu Ran came up with an idea thinking of the story of boiling frog. He asked the two children to soak in the warm water first, and then slowly added the boiling water in. As long as it didn’t get too hot all of a sudden, they should be able to bear it.

As for the fact that their skin turned red, in their opinion, it was fine. Tangtang and Guoguo did not say anything about it themselves either.

The medicated bath was a very miserable process. The two children had to soak in it for a long time. Besides, it was the night time. The twins tended to fall asleep while in the bath. The bathtub was a little big. If they fell asleep, it would be easy for them to have an accident. Therefore, someone had to be around all the time.

Gao Quan had to help them dredge their bodily channels, so one person was not enough. Xu Ran stayed with them every day.

At first, they felt nothing else other than hot. But after a few days, when Gao Quan dredged their bodily channels gradually, the two children felt a stinging pain once they got into the water.

Sometimes they couldn’t help but cry out. Xu Ran asked Gao Quan what was going on. Gao Quan said that their bodies started to absorb the essence of the herbs, so they felt pain.

Xu Ran felt that this was like a human body modification.

Even so, Tangtang and Guoguo would at most cry, and didn’t say anything about giving up.

The lengthy speech that Xu Ran had prepared seemed useless.

To divert the attention of the two children, Xu Ran told them stories in “Journey to the West” and “A Dream in Red Mansions”. He also recited all the ancient poetry he could memorize.

This medicated bath had to last a month. During the daytime, the two children needed to go to school as usual. They spent most of their nighttime in the bathtub, and didn’t sleep well, but they were still very energetic.

The only one in low spirits was Xu Ran, who kept yawning all day long.

A dozen days passed in the blink of an eye. On the third of March, there were four days left before Baozi’s 100-day celebration.

In the past two days, in addition to watching Tangtang and Guoguo at night, Xu Ran had to go to town to buy stuff. By the way, he took the wooden shelf Xu An had made to Qin Shuwu and told him the shop name. In a word, Xu Ran had been hectic.

Xu Ran attached great importance to Little Baozi’s 100-day celebration, so he prepared many styles of dishes for that day, and the quantity was also enormous.

He didn’t have to hire people to cook for him. Just Wu Mei and the others would suffice.

As for the rest, he would leave it to Liu Tong and Shao Yu. Xu Ran only needed to buy the ingredients back.

On the sixth of March, Xu Ran received three more guests.

They were Lin Hua, Zhao Chen and Lin Xi coming from He Shui Town.

Xu Ran still got a little surprised when he saw them. He had just mentioned it to Lin Xi, and it didn’t occur to him that they really would come.

Lin Hua ignored Xu Ran after entering the door. Instead, he walked around the house.

Lin Xi also went to unload the carriage in a familiar way.

Only Zhao Chen stayed to talk to Xu Ran, “Although you live in the village, your house is better than the ones in town!”

Xu Ran smiled, “One needs a place to settle down! I don’t want to mistreat myself in the place I live in, right? Speaking of it, I didn’t really expect you guys to come.”

Zhao Chen said, “You said that to us. Can we not come? We are still counting on you to make money.”

“You guys have no idea what kind of person I am? I’m all about talking. You could only rely on yourselves if you want to make money. By the way, how did your father agree to let you come with them?” Xu Ran asked.

Zhao Chen smiled, and his smile was both bitter and sweet. He said, “I told father everything. During the Spring Festival, Lin Hua had knelt down at my door for three days and almost died. After that, my father finally agreed. Since Zhao family and the Lin family are old family friends, no matter how much he didn’t approve of our relationship, he wouldn’t take Lin Hua’s life carelessly.”

“That’s a good thing! You should be happy.” Xu Ran said.

Zhao Chen shook his head, “My father! He is an old stick-in-the-mud. He asked me to make my own choice. Either I would no longer see Lin Hua again or get out of the Zhao family.”

The answer was obvious, or else Xu Ran wouldn’t be able to see him now. Xu Ran said, “Then you really got out?”

Zhao Chen nodded. “Actually, I didn’t think so much back then. Lin Hua was kneeling outside. It was freezing and he had knelt down for three whole days. After my father said that, I ran out. When I saw him, he had fainted.”

Xu Ran frowned. “What happened afterwards?”

“Afterwards!” Zhao Chen sighed, “Lin Hua had been in bed for half a month and suffered a high fever. He almost lost his life. But fortunately, he pulled through, and I never went back home.”

That was a sad story to listen to. Xu Ran patted him on the shoulder, “Forget about what happened in the past! After all, your father is your father, and you are his only son. He has pinned all his hopes on you. He just hasn’t come round yet. When he does, and misses you, he will naturally let you go home. You! Since Lin Hua was willing to do that for you, settle down with him good. Work hard for your career and show it to your father.”

Zhao Chen nodded. “I know that. Actually, my father is just like that. He is my father. Don’t I know about his personality? After all, it was all my fault. If I were to marry a spouse and have a baby, he wouldn’t have had to worry about me so much.”

Xu Ran said, “Have you thought about Lin Hua when you said this? He is the same with you, but he is always the one who takes more responsibility between the two of you. Although he looks unreliable, he probably has done a lot of stupid things for you.”

Zhao Chen smiled bitterly, “Exactly! Just because of this, when my father asked me to make a choice, I rushed out without hesitation. I knew that the person I owed the most was him, Lin Hua! He is so kind. If it weren’t for me, how would he become an ignorant and incompetent playboy?”

Xu Ran didn’t answer him. He was afraid that the more he said, the more sad and guilty he would be. He took a step back and said, “Come on in! We can’t just stand at the door like this. Nobody knows where this lad Lin Hua is now. He didn’t even greet me.”

Hearing Xu Ran, Zhao Chen also smiled, “He’s just like that. He doesn’t pay attention to these minor details when he is with the people he knows well. Never mind.”

Xu Ran said, “Do I look like I mind? If I really minded, how would I say that to you?”

Zhao Chen nodded. “Exactly, let’s go! You have to take me on a great house tour. Just looking from the outside, this house is pretty big.”

Xu Ran let him in, then closed the door and told him, “Actually, it’s not that big. It’s just a big yard, with parts connected together, and is divided into four pieces.”

“You also built a second floor! It must have cost you so much!” Zhao Chen pointed at the second floor and asked.

Xu Ran nodded. “Indeed, it’s not cheap. When we built this house, we borrowed money from someone. At that time, we were short of money, and we bought the food we ate and the clothes we wore. We led a hand-to-mouth life.”

Zhao Chen said, “I didn’t see it at all. If you really led a hand-to-mouth life, how could you have built such a big and beautiful house? Although I’m ignorant, I can still see such obvious things.”

Even if the truth was revealed, Xu Ran didn’t feel awkward at all. “Alright, alright, don’t you ever mention that you are ignorant. You seemed so proud when you were talking about it. You could not even compare with my sons.”

Zhao Chen turned to look around and ignored Xu Ran. Although he himself knew the truth, he still felt embarrassed once Xu Ran said that!

In the living room, Lin Hua was already holding and teasing the two children.

When he had just entered the door, Liu Tong and the other two Ge’ers were talking. When they saw Lin Hua entering the door and that there was no pregnancy mole on his ear, the three Ge’ers were a little surprised. After all, they didn’t know this person. Why would he come to the living room all of a sudden?

When Lin Hua came in, he saw that there were only three Ge’ers, two of whom were still holding the children. He was also a little embarrassed. He scratched his head and introduced himself, “Well… Hello, I’m Lin Hua, Xu Ran’s friend. I come from He Shui Town.”

Shao Yu knew Lin Xi, but he didn’t really know such a person, Lin Hua. The only one who knew Lin Hua was Liu Tong. After all, Xu Ran had mentioned Lin Hua to him many times.

After all, Liu Tong was the host. He handed the child in his arms to Shao Yu, stood up and said, “I am Liu Tong, Xu Ran’s spouse. He mentioned you to me before.”

Finally, someone knew him. Now, Lin Hua felt less embarrassed now.