Chapter 10: Calling Mother

Shao Diandian said nonchalantly, "It’s just a piece of clothing, there’s no need to be so emotional..."

Shao Kang felt a lump in his throat, his nose stinging as he said, "This is the first time you’ve bought clothes for your father..."

"I bought them..."

"It’s all the same."

But I feel like this is very special.

Shao Diandian looked at Old Man Shao, momentarily at a loss for words.

The overlord of Apricot Blossom Village was actually this moved by a cotton-padded jacket from his daughter—what was she supposed to do with that!

Shao Kang’s heart was filled with gratification, his eyes sparkling with tears: "My daughter is married, truly grown up now. Don't worry, I will treat my son-in-law well."

No way, what does this have to do with Wei Ting?

She was the one who bought the clothes!

That guy didn't even lift a finger!

Why would you be nice to him? You should be teaching him a lesson instead!

"Daya, it’s getting late, go and get some rest," Shao Kang said to Shao Diandian.

"All right," Shao Diandian said. "You should get some rest early, too."

Shao Kang nodded.

Shao Diandian turned and left.

The moment the door closed, a loud wail erupted from inside the room!

—It turned out that Old Man Shao was hugging the cotton-padded jacket his daughter had given him... sobbing bitterly inside the room!

Shao Diandian’s body trembled slightly!

This body’s tendency to cry easily... it couldn't have been inherited from Old Man Shao, could it?

Do the villagers know you are such a bully, Old Man Shao?

Shao Diandian went to find Shao Erdan.

Shao Erdan was in the backyard taking a cold shower. This was something Shao Kang had taught him, claiming that bathing in cold water during winter would strengthen one’s constitution.

Shao Erdan hadn't bathed in hot water since he was eight, and his physique was indeed impressive!

—Shao Diandian strongly suspected that Shao Kang was simply too lazy to boil bathwater for him.

"Erdan."

"Sister?"

Shao Erdan had just poured a bucket of cold water over himself when he saw Shao Diandian arrive.

In the biting wind, he was wearing nothing but a pair of soaked shorts.

Shao Diandian felt cold just looking at him.

"I bought you a cotton-padded jacket. It’s in your room. Try it on after you shower; if it doesn't fit, let me know, and I’ll go to town to have it altered."

"Got it!"

Shao Erdan agreed readily and continued to splash himself with water from the wooden basin.

Seeing that Shao Diandian hadn't left and was still staring at him, he asked, "Sister, is there anything else?"

Shao Diandian examined him carefully: "Do you... want to cry?"

"Huh?" Shao Erdan was stunned and shook his head. "No, why would I want to cry?"

Shao Diandian waved her hand: "Never mind then. Hurry up and finish washing and go inside; don't catch a cold."

It seemed that Shao Erdan was the only one in the family who didn't cry easily. Ignorance is bliss, indeed.

Shao Diandian went to Shao Erdan’s room.

The three children were sitting on the bed playing with wooden blocks.

These were the ones the original owner and Shao Erdan had played with as children. Today, Shao Kang had gone to great lengths to dig them out of a chest. They were a bit like tangrams, though not as standardized.

The children weren't crying or making a fuss; they could play on their own, making them much easier to care for than the Niudan next door.

Shao Diandian walked over, carrying the clothes.

The three little ones looked up at her, their eyes filled with shyness and charm.

Shao Diandian’s heart nearly melted.

Despite having a rather unreliable father, these three little ones were truly adorable!

They were even cuter than the dolls she had seen in shop windows in her previous life!

Shao Diandian placed the stack of new clothes at the edge of the bed and picked out three small sets for them to change into.

She had already dressed them in the morning, so she had a rough idea of their sizes, and the cotton-padded clothes fit them perfectly.

"Stand up and let me see," she said.

The three children obediently stood up and jumped around the edge of the bed.

The pants were just right—neither dragging on the floor nor slipping down.

"Alright, that’s enough playing for today; it’s time to sleep."

Shao Diandian tidied up the toys on the bed, spread out the quilts, helped them take off their clothes, and tucked them into bed one by one.

She wasn't sure if the three little ones were afraid of the dark, but she had been when she was a child.

So, she left an oil lamp on the table and checked everyone’s quilt.

Just as she was about to leave, one of the children suddenly called out, "Mother."

Shao Diandian nearly tripped!

"Who said that?"

She looked at the three children in the bed in surprise.

The three children looked back at her innocently.

She corrected them sternly: "You mustn't call people names randomly, remember? I am not your mother."

The three children just stared at her.

She sighed. Never mind, they were still young; she had heard that children often called out randomly when they were first learning to speak.

In her previous life, many preschoolers would call any strange woman "mom."

They were probably doing the same thing.

Shao Diandian finally went to Wei Ting’s room.

She wasn't nearly as gentle with him; she simply threw the clothes at him.

Wei Ting was just about to fall asleep, and the sudden toss jolted him awake.

"You—"

"Hmph!"

Shao Diandian turned her head away proudly and walked off without looking back.

The next day, Shao Diandian woke up early as usual.

She removed the dressing from the back of her hand.

The dressing was close to her skin tone and difficult to notice unless one looked closely, so no one in the family had discovered her injury.

"The new medication from the research building is incredibly effective. Such a deep wound, and it healed in just one night."

"It looks like I’ll be fully recovered in another two days, and there won't even be a scar."

This was an unexpected surprise.

She applied a fresh dressing and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

To her surprise, everyone except the patient, Wei Ting, was already up, and they were all wearing the clothes she had bought.

It wasn't strange for the children to be up early, but didn't Old Man Shao and Shao Erdan usually sleep until noon?

Yesterday, she had had such a hard time waking Shao Erdan up!

"The weather is nice today, let's go for a walk!" Shao Kang said.

"Father is right!" Shao Erdan chimed in.

The three little ones nodded in agreement.

Shao Diandian said, "We haven't had breakfast yet."

"We'll eat when we get back!"

With that, Shao Kang led Shao Erdan and the three little ones out the door, full of high spirits.

The first villager they encountered was Aunt Zhou, who was heading to the fields to dig up radishes.

Aunt Zhou gripped her basket tightly and shouted, "I don't have any money!"

Shao Kang walked up triumphantly and patted his sleeves: "New clothes."

Aunt Zhou looked confused.

Shao Kang: "My daughter bought them."

Shao Erdan: "My sister bought them."

The three little ones: Mother bought them.

Aunt Zhou: "..."

In a medical clinic in town, the doctor finished dressing the last of Zhang Dao’s wounds.

The injuries caused by Shao Diandian were not light; he had three broken ribs!

If not for his years of martial arts training and his robust physique, he might have been crippled by now!

"Big Brother!"

Of the other two henchmen, one had a crippled leg and the other was unconscious.

It was the former who spoke.