The two little ones were laughing, which made Wang An even happier. He spoke to them with great affection
"Did you miss Daddy? Hmm? Hahahaha!"
As he spoke, Wang An gave each of the two little ones a kiss on their cheeks.
Watching the intimate interaction between Wang An and the children, a smile full of happiness appeared on Mu Xueqing's face.
After Wang An had doted on the two little ones for a while, their eyelids began to droop.
Thus, Wang An said with a face full of smiles
"Aiyoyo, you two are sleepy already? Play with Daddy for a little longer, come on?"
Wang An intended to let the two little ones sleep in his arms, but Mu Xueqing immediately stopped him
"You can't sleep while holding the children. If they get used to being held to sleep, they won't be able to sleep on their own in the future."
Wang An looked at Mu Xueqing, then at the two little ones, and placed them back on the kang with a look of frustration.
There was no helping it; children love to be held by adults when they sleep, likely because it gives them a sense of security.
However, this tied the adults down; because they were always holding them to sleep, the adults couldn't get anything done. Moreover, constantly holding a child was exhausting.
Therefore, Mu Xueqing's point was that when children sleep, they must be placed on the kang to sleep by themselves; one must never let them develop the habit of needing to be held.
Carefully placing the two little treasures on the kang, Wang An muttered gloomily
"These two little things... I haven't doted on them enough yet and they've already fallen asleep. This is way too disrespectful."
Mu Xueqing gave Wang An a beaming, playful glance and said
"This is plenty of respect. Before you all came back, I coaxed them to sleep not long ago. Normally, they wouldn't even wake up; and even if they did, it would be a fit of crying."
Hearing this, Wang An nodded happily
"Alright, not bad. As expected of my own daughter and son, they actually knew to play with their father for a bit, hahahaha!"
Mu Xueqing tidied the corners of the blankets for the children and asked
"I heard Xueli shouting at the door just now, saying you guys killed a big bear today?"
Wang An looked at the sleeping children with a face full of happiness and said
"Yup, killed a bear that must have been over a thousand jin. It even had a large golden gall; that gall weighed over half a jin dried. Today's trip into the mountains was truly a good one."
Hearing this, Mu Xueqing thought for a moment before tentatively saying
"If you ask me, next time you go into the mountains, if you wander around a couple of times and don't find anything, just come back early."
As she spoke, Mu Xueqing watched Wang An's expression. Seeing that his face hadn't changed, she continued
"Our life is good now; we aren't short on money or grain. Besides, my natal family and Second Uncle's family are all doing quite well. You guys can just do enough. How much is too much to earn? Don't you agree, Xiao An?"
It is said that "a woman is weak by nature but strong as a mother." Wang An never expected that after having children, Mu Xueqing would actually develop the demeanor of a pampered young girl.
However, Wang An didn't go into the mountains because he absolutely had to hunt big game; rather, he genuinely loved the feeling of driving the sled and leading a pack of dogs through the mountain forests.
One had to realize that in a few years, once the prices of antiques and gold rose, Wang An would definitely liquidate a portion of the family's collection.
Therefore, the Wang family would not lack money; at the very least, the generation of the siblings Xingfu and Kuaile would absolutely never lack spending money.
As for the next generation after Xingfu and Kuaile, Wang An didn't care that much. If they had money, they'd spend more; if they didn't, they'd spend less. Whether they had money or not was for Xingfu and Kuaile to worry about; Wang An was only responsible for making sure Xingfu and Kuaile became "rich second-generation" children in name and reality.
So, after Mu Xueqing finished asking, Wang An said to her with a grin
"You're right, I must listen to you, hahahaha!"
Hearing Wang An say this, Mu Xueqing immediately broke into a happy smile and sighed
"Our life is so good; there's no need to risk your lives playing with those mountain beasts anymore."
Wang An simply nodded perfunctorily
"Yup, exactly."
After listening to Mu Xueqing chatter for a few more sentences, Wang An found an opportunity to say
"Anyway, wifey, we haven't had lunch yet. I'm starving to death. You stay and soothe the kids; I'll go eat some sliced meat with Xueli and the others."
For some reason, Mu Xueqing had become more and more talkative lately, quite different from how she was before having children.
However, since everything Mu Xueqing talked about was related to living a good life, Wang An wasn't unwilling to listen; in fact, he quite liked it. It was just that he was truly too hungry at the moment, which is why he interrupted.
Hearing this, Mu Xueqing hurriedly said
"How can you not eat? You haven't even had lunch. You people... how about I go roll some noodles first to tide you over?"
Wang An stopped Mu Xueqing as she tried to go to the outer room and said
"What noodles? Stop fussing and just stay put. The few of us can handle it."
By the time Wang An dressed and went outside, Wang Dazhu and the others had finished unloading the cart, and the three horses had been led into the stable to be fed fodder.
Seeing Wang An come out, Mu Xueli and Wang Li hurried over. Mu Xueli asked
"How are my big nephew and big niece? Are they asleep? Can I go in the room now?"
As Mu Xueli spoke, Wang Li also looked at Wang An expectantly.
Unfortunately, Wang An gave the two of them a glance and said
"You're covered in cold air, what 'go in the room'? What if you freeze the two of them? Check tomorrow. Old Fifth, go light the charcoal fire. Xueli, go get a piece of mutton from the jar and slice it. Xiao Zhong, go get a cabbage and a few potatoes, and scoop out some pickled vegetables. We'll have some wine and eat sliced meat."
Hearing Wang An barking orders, Liu Guilan said
"Oh, why make them do it? Xiao Li and I will prepare it for you."
Wang An waved his hand and said
"Oh, no need. Xiao Li, you go roll some noodles for us; eating just meat won't fill us up."
After Wang An finished, Wang Li suddenly asked weakly
"Fourth Brother, we all have chores now, so what are you doing?"
Wang An turned around and gave Wang Li a kick
"What do you think I'm doing? Do you think the sliced meat just boils in plain water? I have to prepare the old broth and fry some base seasonings!"
After speaking, Wang An felt he hadn't vented enough, so he kicked Wang Li again.
Having been kicked twice, Wang Li immediately complained to Liu Guilan
"Auntie, look, your eldest son is kicking me again!"
Just as Liu Guilan was about to react, Mu Xueli said with a face full of schadenfreude
"You just have a head that begs to be kicked; it's only right to kick you. Just do what you're told; why are you talking so much? Hahahaha!"
(End of Chapter)