Letting the two children get into the bed, Shao Yunan kept rubbing Wang Shijing’s chest, whose body was so tense that it seemed like it would explode at any moment. His appearance frightened Wang Nizi and Wang Qing, so the two children cried as they hid behind their little father’s back. “Shijing take a deep breath, don’t hold it in. Don’t hold it in.” Shao Yunan was also a bit scared. Despite the fact that the children were nearby, he hugged Wang Shijing, kissed him on the face, kissed his chin, kissed his neck, and rubbed his chest with his hands. “Shijing exhale, breathe in, breathe out…”

“Father, father…” Wang Shijing suddenly, vigorously hugged Shao Yunan. Shao Yunan gritted his teeth to hold back a cry. Wang Shijing was so strong that his ribs were about to be broken. As he slowly exhaled, Shao Yunan kissed Wang Shijing’s chin. “Shijing, don’t be angry. Your anger will only hurt me and the children. It is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge after ten years, so we can afford to wait. What they owe you, sooner or later we will get it back with interest.”

Wang Qing swore, “Dad, I will study hard. In the future, I will take the top spot and become a high-ranking official, so they will never dare to bully us again.” Wang Shijing reached out and hugged the two children together with Shao Yunan. Calming down, he did not speak for a long time. Shao Yunan kept rubbing his chest, while also vowing in his heart.

In the evening, Shao Yunan cooked a big meal to make up to the wronged children and the angry Wang Shijing. Stewed chicken with chestnut, egg cake with jam, fried meat mushrooms, fried mushrooms, and for dessert sweet-scented osmanthus soup. The two children’s moods recovered after eating the delicious meal they had never eaten before. Wang Shijing also ate a lot, but he was still obviously in a bad mood.

After crying, Wang Nizi and her little father grew closer, so after the meal she licked her lips and said, “Daddy, will you teach me how to cook? Daddy’s cooking is really delicious and the jam is also delicious.” Shao Yunan smiled and said, “Your father has bought land for a new house. When our new house is built, little father will ask your father to get us a baking oven. Little father will then teach you how to make many delicious snacks. When Nizi grows up and meets someone she likes, she will make snacks for him to eat.” Nizi blushed and threw herself into her father’s arms. Wang Qing also smiled and said, “Little Father’s cooking is the best I’ve ever eaten.”

“Little father will cook for you every day, as long as he is not busy. Tomorrow, little father and your father will go to the county town and I don’t know when we will return, so you will go to Zhao Lizheng’s house.”

“Alright.” After holding Nizi and rocking her for a while, Shao Yunan let her go. Wang Shijing silently cleaned up the dishes with Wang Qing’s help. Shao Yunan watched Wang Shijing enter the kitchen and exhaled a sigh of relief. The Wang family was insulting them like they were beasts. When they finished cleaning up, Shao Yunan started teaching Wang Qing and Nizi how to read and write. He then read them a short, easy-to-understand story, and left them to study on their own. The two children would wash up and go to bed by themselves at the end of the day.

In the courtyard, Wang Shijing was washing his family of four’s clothes, his expression tense. Shao Yunan didn’t wash the clothes, since Wang Shijing would not let him touch cold water. Shao Yunan moved a stool to sit next to Wang Shijing, while he dealt with the rest of the chestnuts and said, “Well, if your heart is still not comfortable, tomorrow when I see Lord Jiang I will let him sentence Wang Tianyan and Wang Guo for a few more months. Wasn’t Wang Zhisong going to take an exam next year? I can find a few people to kidnap him. Let’s see how he would take the exam then. We have plenty of ways to let them not be able to live in peace. There’s no need to sulk by yourself.”

Wang Shijing opened his mouth, his voice muted… “I blame myself. If I had separated earlier, Qing and Nizi would have suffered less.” Shao Yunan said, “If you separated earlier, how could you separate? Wang Wenhe is biased. Would he support you? If the old woman puts down a card of filial piety, you wouldn’t have had a chance to say anything. It’s not too late, Qing and Nizi suffered and it hurt me to hear it, but because they have suffered, they will be more promising than other children in the future.”

“When Heaven is about to place great responsibility on a great man, it always first frustrates his spirit and will, exhausts his muscles and bones, exposes him to starvation and poverty, and harasses him with troubles and setbacks to stimulate his spirit, toughen his nature, and enhance his abilities.” Wang Shijing bowed his head and rubbed Shao Yunan’s hair. “Yunan… Yunan…” Shao Yunan raised his head, letting Wang Shijing take possession of it, licking him gently as he kissed him. Wang Qing covered his sister’s eyes and closed the door quietly. He heard what his little father said, although he didn’t quite understand what it meant, he still seemed to understand a little.

At night, the passion continued. The naked bodies entangled to their fullest. Wang Shijing still did not do it till the end, but used his hands, lips, and tongue to completely and utterly imprint his presence on Shao Yunan’s body. He cried ‘wife’ over and over again, crying out for the wife he reluctantly, but happily married. “It’s much better indeed. The corner of your eyes look much cleaner than the first day I saw them. The blindfold should also be changed every day to keep the eye clean.”

“Mm-hmm.” Wang Shijing sat on the bed and let Shao Yunan wipe his eyes. The resentment of the previous night dissipated after a passionate night. Wang Shijing buried his hatred in the depths of his heart, not letting it go, but allowing it to reawaken every time he remembered it. When Shao Yunan put down the cloth towel, Wang Shijing got up and hugged him. He then picked up the basin with one hand and led Shao Yunan out of the room with the other.

Wang Qing had already cooked the porridge. After the separation of the family, Wang Qing and Nizi ate the fragrant white rice porridge almost every day,which was almost impossible to eat before. Both children liked to eat it and Shao Yunan was also used to drinking congee in the morning. Now that the family didn’t have a problem with money, together with this white rice congee there were also many other dishes. One by one, fried eggs and jam with fried steamed buns were eaten. Wang Qing said hesitantly, “Little father, can you write down the words you said to father last night?”

“What words?” Shao Yunan didn’t respond for a moment. Wang Qing said, “About responsibility placed by heaven or something.”

“Oh.” Shao Yunan smiled. “Of course, these words were  incomplete. Little father will write them down for you and explain them to you. This is a very sensible passage for you to write down.”

“Well! I just thought it was awesome!”

“Daddy, I’ll write it down, too.”

“Nizi is such a good child, little daddy will buy Nizi a snack when he comes back.” Nizi shook her head. “Little daddy makes delicious jam and sweet-scented osmanthus which are much better than dim sum.” Shao Yunan was very proud. Wang Shijing’s one eye was also warm and happy. Instead of letting Shao Yunan clean up, Wang Shijing went to wash the plates, while Shao Yunan went to write the paragraph for Wang Qing. This passage comes from ‘Mencius’, one of the four great books. But because history was different here, they didn’t have ‘Mencius’ here either.

Yao Shun Yu and other ancient figures still existed in the history of the Great Yan and the opening paragraph of this passage mentions several famous figures in history. So Shao Yunan did not change these characters, but described the characters who did not appear in the history of the Great Yan as capable scholars in ancient mythology. When Shao Yunan wrote down the passage and carefully explained the full meaning of the passage to Wang Qing and Wang Nizi, the two children looked at their little daddy with starry eyes, their little father was really good!

Wang Shijing was also listening from the kitchen. He quickly washed the dishes as he listened attentively. After the explanation, Shao Yunan silently touched Wang Qing’s head and said, “Qing you have to remember. Studying is not to gain fame, but to make us learn and analyze. Only when people can think, can our country progress, which makes the history of mankind progress. You have to learn to observe the people and things around you, then think about them. It’s also okay to ask yourself why and ask others why.”

Edited by: Jaisland

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