Exile

10

As soon as it was dark, Su Qingbai was so sleepy that he took off his clothes and went to the heated brick bed. He found that Su Chengjun had just woken up after a whole day of sleep.

Su Qingbai moved closer and gently pinched the little face; it was smooth, good-looking, and nice to touch. But Su Qingbai could not appreciate it at all. The older the little thing was, the more he looked like that pervert.

Su Caicai grinned at Su Qingbai as he approached, and his mouth opened. The pink gums were exposed. Su Qingbai, who had never seen it before felt it was strange. He scratched the baby's fleshy chin, and the baby's mouth opened wider. Then the shining saliva flowed out onto Su Qingbai's hands.

Su Qingbai rubbed his hands in disgust and stopped teasing him.

After blowing out the lamp, Su Qingbai went to bed.

"Ahh ahh ahh~" Su Caicai was still energetic. He slept all day and was talking to himself with his shiny little eyes opened in the darkness.

Su Qingbai ignored him. Perhaps because he was premature and weak, the child spent most of the day sleeping, and neither crying nor talking. When he was put there, in a short time he would surely fall asleep by himself.

Sure enough, Su Qingbai woke up in the middle of the night to find that Su Caicai had fallen asleep. Su Qingbai checked Su Caicai's pants with a pinched nose. After a look, he had peed.

Su Qingbai got up early the next day because he went to bed early the night before, and then saw his Lao Niang1 was tending the fire to cook.

When his Lao Niang came here, she would cook for every three or five times. They all thought that her cooking skill would come out with practice, but they didn't expect that it would not work out when it came to his Lao Niang.

At this moment, only Madam Su, Su Qingbai, and Su Caicai had woken up. The others were still asleep. Su Qingbai had nothing to do, so he robbed his Lao Niang of her work. "Niang, you go to rest, I'll cook today's meal."

Madam Su didn't like cooking very much of course, but Madam Su still asked Su Qingbai, "Don't you have to feed Caicai?"

Su Qingbai was not going to let his Lao Niang cook anyway. He thought about it and said, "Or else you'll go and feed Caicai, I'll cook."

These days since Su Caicai's birth, Su Qingbai was idle and bored. He held Su Caicai in his arms to watch his sisters-in-law and mother cook. If you had seen a lot, you would be able to cook. His craft was much better than his mother's. In addition, Su Qingbai was a good eater and his requirement was high. In a short time, he could be compared to the skills of his two sisters-in-law in the family.

However, Laozi felt that it was not proper for a big man to stay in the kitchen all day, so the meals were always cooked by several women in turn.

Madam Su agreed without thinking. The grandson was so beautiful and lovely. Her thought was not as complicated as Su Lingchuan's thought. She thought it was her son's baby, her grandson, who was beautiful and obedient, and she loved him like the normal grandmother.

After breakfast, Su Qingbai took the warm milk to the bedroom. Madam Su was sitting on the heated brick bed, entertaining Su Caicai. Su Qingbai passed over the milk to Madam Su for feeding.

Su Lingchuan woke up and found no one in the kitchen. He went to Su Qingbai's bedroom. He saw Madam Su feeding milk to Su Caicai in her arms, while Su Qingbai sat beside her with a silly laugh, and he suddenly got out of breath. "Your mother is busy feeding the baby. What are you sitting there looking at foolishly? Not hurrying to help yet?"

It's true that Su Qingbai used to be so bad and it's no wonder that Su Lingchuan was too strict with him. He always felt that his son was not a bit responsible. He was lazy in everything he did and never did anything from childhood to adulthood.

When Madam Su was feeding the baby, he thought Su Qingbai had thrown the baby to Madam Su and was being lazy.

After that, Madam Su was called away.

Su Qingbai held the baby that Madam Su passed over to him and wanted to cry without tears. His Dad always thought he was lazy and irresponsible and had the heart to grind with him. Since Su Caicai was born, he had been asked to take care of his baby personally and not let others help him. He had to face such a baby every moment. If it hadn't been for the baby's sleepiness, he might have been tired out to death.

After cooking and feeding Su Caicai with milk, he ate by himself. By the end of his busy schedule, there were only them, Su Qingbai father and son left at home.

Su Qingbai wrapped Su Caicai in a quilt and took him outside.

Seeing what his Laozi meant, every day he was forced to stand on his own feet. Su Qingbai had to make plans for their future.

Su Caicai was the most expensive person of his age. Not to mention anything else, he was only three months old and had grown a bit that his previous clothes could not be worn anymore.

Su Qingbai had no craftsmanship, and the only thing he could do was things that did not need much strength.

Some time ago, he took his child out for a walk and met a girl next door. The girl and her old mother depended on each other. Besides farming, she grew vegetables and sold them on weekdays. She didn't earn much, but the savings were enough for her mother and daughter to live.

The little girl, Su Ni, came here with her mother only after the drought in her hometown and happened to be surnamed, Su. When the people in the village saw her mother and daughter were pitiful, they let them settle down in the village.

Su Qingbai watched as the little girl teach him how to grow vegetables. The little girl told him all the things he would pay attention to and bought him some seeds.

Su Qingbai, with a hoe and Su Caicai in his arms, opened a small vegetable field in front of his door.

After putting Su Caicai in the bamboo basket that his Laozi weaved when he had nothing to do, Su Qingbai covered him with the quilt and put it in the ground not far from him.

The little girl helped Su Qingbai. Su Qingbai couldn't compete with the little girl in any way. So he and the little girl grew different kinds of vegetables.

The little girl grew white bok choi, and he grew green bok choi. There was also a circle of garlic seedlings on the edge.

Because Su Qingbai hadn't tried, he didn't dare to do too much. A small plot of land was soon ready.

It was still early, so Su Qingbai planted vegetables and put garlic cloves in place.

When Su Da-sao and Su Er-sao came back, Su Qingbai was watering with a bucket. When they saw Su Qingbai doing his work, they asked, "What is Qingbai doing?"

Su Qingbai wiped his sweat and laughed, "Nothing, just plant something to play with."

He dared not say that he was planting vegetables, for fear of being laughed at in case of failure.

Su Da-sao did not ask any more questions and went back to the house to cook while carrying Su Caicai's basket.

Su Qingbai watered diligently; the green bok choi sprouted quickly, and grew fast, while the garlic seedlings grew slowly.

Since planting vegetables, Su Qingbai had been carrying Su Caicai to see it every morning.

Su Family watched Su Qingbai so diligently and totally could not adapt it. Su Lingchuan frowned and sat outside watching Su Qingbai being busy. These days, Su Qingbai got up earlier than chicken, and so he had no reason to scold Su Qingbai.

At noon, in the absence of Su Qingbai, Su Lingchuan ran to the small plot of land to see, only to see that on some wet soil, there was a dense emergence of a little green with white seedlings.

The growth cycle of green bok choi was not long. It could be eaten in a month. If it grew any longer, it would be a little old, and it was not good to eat.

Usually, Su Family's people didn't have time to manage their vegetable fields. They ate all kinds of wild vegetables, which were everywhere. They didn't need to plant it, and they didn't have much trouble finding it either. Many people in the village also ate it.

Su Family's people hadn't eaten green and tender bok choi like those in front of the door for a long time.

Footnotes
1.Old Mother