Chapter 1438 - 1401: Home of the Cannon Fodder 9
Chapter 1438: Chapter 1401: Home of the Cannon Fodder 9
Anning hugged Zhao Xiaomeng and sighed, "Xiaomeng, do you know how old I am now?"
Zhao Xiaomeng actually knew, "Mom is forty years old."
"Yes, I am forty. If I live to be eighty, I’ve only walked half of my life. I still have forty years to go. In those forty years, would you be heartless enough to let me walk alone? Don’t tell me you’ll always be with me. You and your brother have to study, work, and eventually start your own families. You’ll have your own children; it’s impossible to be with me all the time. What am I supposed to do then?"
When Anning said this, her eyes were slightly red, "Xiaomeng, try to get along with Uncle Xiao. He really is a good person."
Zhao Xiaomeng cried even harder after hearing this from Anning.
The door was pushed open, and Zhao Xiaocong came in from outside.
As soon as he entered the room, he said, "Mom, since you’ve made up your mind, we’ll support you."
Anning looked at Zhao Xiaocong, who managed a forced smile, "Just like Mom said, Mom has moments of vulnerability and needs someone to accompany her, needs someone to rely on. My sister and I can’t be Mom’s reliance, so Uncle Xiao needs to help out. Mom is already forty, has experienced more than us, and is better at judging people. If you think Uncle Xiao is good, then he must be a good person."
Zhao Xiaocong pulled Zhao Xiaomeng up, "Mom, we support you."
Zhao Xiaomeng wiped her tears, "I, I also support you."
The siblings walked out of Anning’s bedroom and returned to their rooms.
Zhao Xiaomeng entered Zhao Xiaocong’s room.
She asked confusedly, "Brother, you agreed so easily?"
Zhao Xiaocong smiled, "Can we really oppose it? Are you truly willing to see Mom lonely?"
Zhao Xiaomeng said nothing.
Zhao Xiaocong continued, "Zhao Dahai has already remarried. Why can he remarry but Mom can’t? Moreover, even if Mom remarries, we don’t need to be afraid. Mom is our real mom; she definitely won’t treat us badly. If Uncle Xiao is good, we’ll get along well. If he’s not, we’ll endure four years, and when we go to college, we’ll be free."
That was indeed true.
Suddenly, Zhao Xiaomeng didn’t feel so sad.
After all, it’s not like they are being given to another family; Mom is still Mom, the real mom. Could she let them suffer?
In fact, it should be the Xiao sisters who are worried.
With this thought, Zhao Xiaomeng’s mindset miraculously balanced.
Zhao Xiaocong patted Zhao Xiaomeng’s head, "Alright, don’t think too much, hurry back to sleep."
At the same time, Xiao Yuan was also talking to Xiao Yilin and Xiao Yishan.
He told his two daughters about his desire to marry Anning.
After listening, Xiao Yilin pursed her lips, "Dad has already decided, why ask us?"
Xiao Yishan thought for a while and timidly said, "As long as Dad is happy, I think Teacher Qin is nice and will definitely be good to Dad."
Since both children had no objections, Xiao Yuan happily made a decision, "Alright, tomorrow I’ll go get the marriage certificate with Anning. From now on, we’ll be a family."
Xiao Yilin got up and went back to her room, throwing the door shut loudly.
Xiao Yishan stood up, "I’ll go check on sister."
Xiao Yuan looked at the bedroom door with a sharp eye.
Xiao Yilin lay on her bed and complained, "Marriage, what to marry with? A pauper dreaming of marrying, wishful thinking."
Xiao Yishan lay on the bed too, "Sister, you can’t say that. Dad can’t stay single forever; he needs someone to care for him too."
"Aren’t you afraid of bringing back a stepmom to mistreat you?"
Xiao Yilin sneered.
"I’m already this grown-up; what do I have to be afraid of."
Xiao Yishan thought openly, "I’m not a helpless child who can’t do anything. I can walk and talk, do chores around the house. How could she mistreat me? At best, she’ll ignore me. With Dad around, would she dare not feed me or let me go to school?"
"That’s all you aspire to have."
Xiao Yilin covered herself with the blanket, "You and Dad are both naive, not even considering realistic issues. Once married, where do we live? Teacher Qin’s house or ours? Look at the house sizes of both families; can you live comfortably?"
This did pose a real problem, which also worried Xiao Yishan.
Xiao Yuan got up early the next day.
He didn’t cook but went out to buy breakfast.
After the kids finished eating and went to school, Xiao Yuan went to pick up Anning.
The two took the bus straight to the city. Once there, Xiao Yuan skillfully found a jade shop, looked for a long time, and selected a jade stone with not-so-good quality. He then asked the shop assistant to help cut it into jade pieces.
After finishing this, Xiao Yuan bought some cinnabar and other things.
Later, he and Anning returned to the county to get their marriage certificate at the civil affairs bureau.
With the certificate in hand, Xiao Yuan bought some items and visited the Qin home, thus meeting Mr. Qin and Mrs. Qin.
Even though they held a certificate, due to the small size of both families’ houses, Xiao Yuan and Anning still couldn’t live together, which made Xiao Yuan rather upset.
Anning laughed to comfort him, "Why worry, a house will come, and so will bread."
Like usual, dinner was at Anning’s place, and afterward, Xiao Yishan stayed to catch up on lessons.
That evening, Lv Zhiguo saw Bao Bufen.
He relayed Xiao Yuan’s story to Bao Bufen.
Bao Bufen, desperate, hurriedly called Liu San and urged him to invite Xiao Yuan over to check the Feng Shui or something.
Liu San then called Xiao Yuan, "Master, here’s the thing, do you know Bao Bufen?"
Xiao Yuan replied with a hum, "Heard of him."
Liu San continued, "There’s something troubling Bao Bufen’s family, and he heard of your skills. So he asked me to inquire about you, hoping you could come and have a look."
Xiao Yuan kept fiddling with the jade piece, "I said before, I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s only because of our many years of friendship that I’ll make an exception for you. You say you..."
Liu San also felt anxious, "Master, Bao Bufen really is desperate. Please, could you be kind enough to help them out?"
Xiao Yuan finished carving a jade piece, "Not going."
Liu San pleaded some more, but Xiao Yuan firmly refused.
After hanging up, Liu San felt deflated.
Liu San’s wife came over, "You say, what kind of business did you handle? No wonder the master refused to go. Bao Bufen’s issue—why should you beg this way? He himself should have gone to invite the master. If he truly cared, he should personally visit. Who is Master Xiao? He’s a capable expert. How can such experts be easily invited? Even Zhuge Liang needed three visits from Liu Bei to be persuaded. Oh, dare to ask one sentence, and the master would rush over to check Feng Shui, huh?"
"How did I not think of that?"
Liu San patted his head, "Wife, you are smart."
By ten at night, the Xiao sisters were asleep. Anning came over.
She came to help Xiao Yuan arrange a formation.
The two sat waiting until midnight; today was a full moon night, making formation setup easier. When the two hours arrived, Anning and Xiao Yuan each took some jade pieces to set up the formation.
Now both were suppressed, setting up even one formation took a long time. It was nearly dawn before the formation was considered done.
Once the formation was set up, Anning was nearly exhausted.
Xiao Yuan supported her, "Are you okay?"
Anning shook her head, "Nothing much, just tired."