Chapter 238: Envy
Only two jars of wine were left; the rest would be distilled into alcohol.
Xie Chong returned early today, and several people were shamelessly following behind him.
They were all his confidants and subordinates.
He had brought a canteen of wine with him when he went to work today.
He took a couple of sips when he had nothing to do, and then the deputy general, who happened to be nearby, caught the scent with his keen nose and insisted on having some.
He still had quite a bit at home, so he wasn’t stingy, but he didn’t expect this one to come, and then countless others followed.
The wine in his canteen was quickly finished, and not feeling satisfied, a group of them agreed to leave work early and followed him back to the General’s Mansion.
“That’s right, it’s this smell, it smells so good.”
The several tall and strong men’s mouths watered just smelling the wine, and they immediately pushed open the door impatiently and walked in.
“Wanwan, Uncle is here to see you.”
“Wanwan, your Uncle Zhao is here. Do you still have any of that wine?”
After entering, they all started shouting with their loud voices.
In the military camp, they had a superior-subordinate relationship with the general and had to be more serious in their demeanor.
However, they were also brothers who had fought together and could entrust their backs to each other.
After work, their interactions were more casual.
As long as they didn’t cross Xie Chong’s bottom line, he was easy to talk to.
Qin Wanwan was hanging down from the tree by a thick black tail.
She suddenly dropped down, making a funny face and letting out a little squeaky sound.
“Hee hee hee… Uncles, looking for me~”
The brave ones among them were all startled by Qin Wanwan suddenly dangling from above, and by that large snake.
“You… why are you here?”
“My goodness, every time I see the general’s snake, I feel creeped out. What does it eat to grow so big?”
Xiao Hei’s tail hooked onto Qin Wanwan, and its head rested lazily on a branch as it glanced at them.
Qin Wanwan opened her little arms, wanting to be held.
The weather had gotten hot again, and Qin Wanwan was wearing a beautiful little skirt with loose sleeves. When she stretched out her arms, her plump, white, arm-like limbs were exposed.
She was even fairer than milk, like a sticky rice ball, and so delicate and beautiful that anyone who saw her would naturally like her.
“Daddy, hold me.”
Xie Chong didn’t hesitate to take her.
Xiao Hei’s tail reluctantly let go of her.
It’s okay, play again next time. Now that it has found a way to play with Big Treasure, it will definitely be a good and flexible swing!
Qin Wanwan leaned against her daddy’s chest, a soft little bundle that made those watching quite envious.
They also had daughters at home.
But none of them were as good-looking, cute, and able to act spoiled.
Perhaps it was because the local customs here were rather tough, but their daughters were influenced from a young age, running out with a small wooden sword every day, not only fighting with boys but also getting tanned and black. Most crucially, when they spoke, their voices were rough and they even cursed, showing none of the demeanor a young lady should have.
They were both at the border pass, so why did Wanwan look so fair and soft, with such a sweet and gentle voice, as if she were a completely different breed from their daughters!
Envious, so very envious.
“General, why don’t you lend Wanwan to my family to raise for a while? My Jing’er is like a tomboy now, she can climb trees, jump over walls, fight, and tear up the roof tiles, and her way of speaking, oh, I don’t even want to mention it. If you lend Wanwan to my Jing’er for a couple of days, I’ll see if I can make her more ladylike.”
They didn’t expect her to be like Wanwan, but at least not like a boy who would ride on another boy’s neck and beat him up.
“My Nan Jie’er is the same. Which girl would run from behind and kick a boy in the buttocks while he’s peeing? I’m too embarrassed to even talk about it. She almost caused a problem with the boy’s vital parts, and her mother and I had to apologize profusely and appease the boy’s family. Of course, that boy was also being verbally abusive to my Nan Jie’er first.”
They were worried. If this continued, how would they ever get married when they grew up?
Although people here didn’t care much about reputation, a girl still needed to have one.
As they spoke, those pairs of resentful eyes once again turned to Xie Chong.
Envious, so very envious.
Xie Chong’s mouth turned up, and holding Qin Wanwan, he was in an exceptionally good mood.
Qin Wanwan, however, was curiously listening to the uncles talk about their daughters while resting on her daddy’s shoulder.
Xie Chong looked down and asked, “Do you want to go play with them?”
He suddenly realized that because there were no women in his backyard, no one took Wanwan to any banquets for women.
Even at the border pass, the wives of officials or the backyards of wealthy families would occasionally hold banquets to maintain contact.
The purpose was to strengthen their relationships, maintain connections, and also to see each other’s children.
Everyone would have a general idea of who had marriageable children, making it easier to arrange marriages.
At Qin Wanwan’s age, if there were female relatives in the family, they would also take her to banquets among the ladies to play with playmates of the same age.
But his daughter’s playmates were only the animals at home.
Xie Chong frowned slightly.
In the past, he wouldn’t have considered these things. He was solely focused on his career and never even thought about his domestic life.
But raising Wanwan required more consideration.
He couldn’t let her continue to have so few playmates.
Xie Chong looked at his deputy general, Jiang Chen.
“You only have one wife, and a daughter who is a bit older than Wanwan, right?”
Jiang Chen didn’t understand why General Xie was suddenly bringing this up and nodded.
“Yes, your subordinate has two sons and two daughters. My eldest daughter is already married, and my youngest daughter is five years older than Wanwan.”
Xie Chong said, “Have your wife bring your daughter to find Wanwan to play with sometime. She doesn’t have many playmates her age here.”
Jiang Chen replied, “That can be arranged, but my wife is a bit timid.”
He glanced at the various animals in the Xie household and said tactfully.
His wife and he were childhood sweethearts. She was the daughter of a sixth-rank official in Shangjing.
She had been doted on at home.
However, she had a resilient personality, as evidenced by her ability to endure hardship with him at the border pass.
Because of this, he felt guilty and grateful towards his wife, and coupled with their good relationship, he had only one woman in his backyard to this day.
Xie Chong said, “Then let Wanwan go to your house to play when she has time.”
“General, you can’t show favoritism. Our family can also visit.”
They also liked Wanwan very much.
“Wanwan will go to Uncle Zhao’s house to play tomorrow. Your sister Nan will definitely like you, and my wife will definitely like you too. She has always wanted a well-behaved daughter. Nan’er was also as fair and small as a tiny ball when she was one or two years old, but I don’t know why she grew up to look more and more like a boy.”
For this reason, his wife often complained to him at home, even blaming him for corrupting Nan’er by practicing martial arts at home.
What a completely unfair accusation!
