Blissful Days After Widowhood

Ever since she got up that day, Mrs. Xu had been smelling food.

Thinking of Mrs. Wang’s empty-handed and assertive appearance, she was even more angry, and went to knock on her door shortly after dawn.

The door was opened, and it was not Mrs. Wang who opened the door, but Xiao Wu’an.

Xiao Wu’an rubbed his eyes and asked Mrs Xu in a cute voice, “Is aunt looking for my mother? She and my sister-in-law went out to the pier to do business.”

“This jerk can’t change even though she’s old. She asked me yesterday, and just did it today. Is doing business so easy? Don’t come back and blame me for losing money,” Mrs. Xu muttered. After saying a few words to Mrs. Wang, she saw Xiao Wu’an pulling his shoes. He opened the door for her as he got dressed. Her heart softened and she asked, “My dear boy, I woke you up, are you angry?”

Xiao Wu’an smiled shyly, “It’s okay auntie, I usually wake up early. It’s just that my mother and sister-in-law are not at home today. It’s too quiet at home, so I slept too much.”

While talking, the little kid opened the two door panels to the maximum, then took out a broom that was taller than him from the door, and skillfully began to clean the yard.

Mrs. Xu looked at him lovingly, and the little figure in front of her somehow overlapped with the figure of her son in memory.

Xu Qingchuan was a genial and courteous person, but when he was as old as Xiao Wu’an, he was a ten-percent arrogant child.

Mrs. Xu’s parents regarded this grandson as more important than life and wanted to give him stars if not the moon. At that time, he said that he wanted to play with slingshots, and the elder took the heirloom jade from the storehouse and polished him into a jade slingshot, and the glazed agate beads were used for him as projectile. They made him lawless.

But when Xu Qingchuan was five years old, the Xu family offended the powerful in the business field.

In fact, it was a bit biased to say that he was a powerful person. The other party was just one of the many Godsons of the eunuch.

But even with such an identity, it was an offense of ordinary people like them.

The Xu parents were taken into prison, and they lost their money before they recovered.

That prison was not good for ordinary people, let alone the elderly Xu family. Not long after returning home, the two old people died one after another.

Mrs. Xu’s husband also became depressed at that time due to a change in his family. He was already weak, and he was emptied of his energy and spirit because he failed to perform in the imperial examination for many years and left in vain.

Mrs. Xu was a beautiful daughter of heaven, and she had a smooth sailing all her life, and she had never experienced any storms.

She lost her family business, her parents, and her husband all of a sudden, and she was heartbroken, wishing she could go with them.

At that time, the son seemed to have grown up overnight. He was no longer naughty and noisy, and he didn’t need anyone to take care of him.

“Mother, don’t worry. When I grow up and get a job, I will give you back everything that our family has lost,” six-year-old Xiao Qingchuan assured her earnestly and stubbornly.

“Why are you crying?” Xiao Wu’an put the broom forward, took out a coarse handkerchief from his sleeves and handed it to her.

Mrs. Xu shook her head, no longer thinking about the pain in the past, and only asked him with a smile, “Have you eaten breakfast? Come and eat at my house, I will give you noodles.”

Xiao Wuan shook his head and refused. A day before, Mrs. Xu gave him a piece of candy, and he was very happy.

But in the end, Xiao Wu’an was led to the next yard by Mrs. Xu.

At that time, Xu Qingchuan had already read the book for half the morning, and the three gathered together to eat a bowl of plain noodles.

At the dinner table, Xu Qingchuan also kept the book in his hands. Xiao Wu’an felt fascinating, so he couldn’t help but take a second glance.

Xu Qingchuan also liked the sensible and quiet Xiao Wu’an, so he asked him how many words he had read.

Xiao Wu’an lowered his head even lower, and said in a somber voice, “No, I haven’t read a book.”

Half an hour after the meal was Xu Qingchuan’s rest time, so he brought Xiao Wu’an into his study room, pulled out a copy of “A Thousand Characters”, and read it to him.

After Xiao Wu’an listened quietly, Xu Qingchuan gave him the book, asked him to go to the side to memorize the characters, and gave him a small charcoal pen and a piece of cut paper.

“Can I become as good as Brother Qingchuan by learning this?”

Xiao Wu’an still didn’t know how good he was, but Mrs. Wang often said a few words in private in the past two days, saying that Mrs. Xu didn’t know what kind of sh*t luck she had, that she got a talented son in her early twenties. He knew that Xu Qingchuan, who could read, was very powerful.

Xu Qingchuan had already picked up his book, and when he heard that, he could not help but curl his lips and smiled. But he did not fool him because he was young, and explained, “When you read this ‘Thousand Characters’, you would be able to read and write. If you recite it, you can learn other things, and then you will become more powerful.”

Xiao Wu’an nodded, and then stopped bothering him.

Xu Qingchuan was always serious about his studies, and he forgot about the kid.

When he was so immersed in his studies, his mother’s voice came from the yard, “Your Wu’an is in my house. It’s not a problem.”

Another clear and tactful female voice said, “Thank you auntie. This is the fish soup I just made, I hope you’ll like it.”

His mother laughed and said, “Neighbors live in the neighborhood, so we’re supposed to help each other out. Why are you so polite?”

Only then did Xu Qingchuan remember that there was another person in the study room, and when he looked up again, Xiao Wu’an was burying his head and scribbling on the lower table.

He blamed himself. He should have given this child a drawing book. How could he forget about him after giving “Thousand Characters” to an illiterate child? It was estimated that this little guy was suffocated.

On the other side, Xiao Wu’an stood up after hearing Gu Yin’s voice, said goodbye to Xu Qingchuan politely, and then ran out of the study room with short legs.

After a while, Mrs. Xu leaned in and said, “Son, come and eat fish soup. It won’t taste good if it’s cold!”

The white fish soup was dotted with tender white tofu and green onions. The fragrance was rich and not fishy. 

Xu Qingchuan felt hungry after smelling it.

“I don’t know what kind of shit luck Wang Baoyun had. Her cooking is so unpalatable, but she has such a daughter-in-law with extraordinary cooking skills,” Mrs. Xu was sour.

Xu Qingchuan smiled helplessly and shook his head.

After lunch, Xu Qingchuan went back to the study room again, put the “Thousand Characters” back in the bookcase, and then went to take the pen and paper that he had given to Xiao Wuan.

After a long while, his eyes widened in disbelief as he saw that both sides of the rice paper were full of writing. Although the handwriting was crooked and the fonts were large and small, it was indeed the whole book!