BYBOTE Chapter 58: The Drama King Little Glutton

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Luo Fei was truly scared out of his wits. He had a vague idea of how gers (males who could give birth) delivered babies. It was said—yes, said—that when a ger was about to give birth, the skin below his navel would become thinner and thinner, but not to the point of actually breaking. This was supposed to help reduce pain and speed up recovery when the baby was surgically removed. Knowing this, he had always felt somewhat at ease during the pregnancy.

Yes! If he really had to give birth through that place, he would have never agreed to have a little tiger in the first place! That scene would be way too gruesome and bloody, okay?!

But now, he realized that this method seemed pretty terrifying too. Otherwise, why would Han Xu be screaming so loudly?!

His screams were practically piercing Luo Fei’s nerves!

“Sister-in-law, what’s wrong with Han Xu?” Luo Fei stood at the doorway, not daring to step inside. Even Mu Ling and Han Xu’s father were waiting outside.

“The baby might be coming early,” Mu Ling said. “Your Brother Han went to find Doctor Liang. It’s really nerve-wracking.”

“But isn’t there still nearly a month to go? How did this suddenly…” Xi Yanqing recalled that Chen Huazhang had said there was still a month left.

“Yeah, but no one expected Han Xu to take a fall.” Mu Ling stood at the entrance, anxiously looking in the direction of Doctor Liang’s house. “They’re coming, they’re coming!”

“Hot— cough cough—is the hot water ready?” Doctor Liang, despite his old age, had rushed over with his wife, nearly out of breath from half-running all the way.

“It’s ready, it’s ready! We’ve been waiting for you both,” Mu Ling quickly ushered them inside and then went off to prepare clean towels and more hot water.

Seeing this, Xi Yanqing suddenly felt uncertain. “Maybe… you should move back to your parents’ house later?”

If something happened to Luo Fei, Xi Yanqing would have to go out and find help, leaving Luo Fei alone at home. That would be too worrying!

Luo Fei also felt that staying at the Luo family’s house would be safer, but living there wouldn’t be convenient. After thinking it over, he said, “No, I’ll stay at home. Besides, by the time Little Tiger is ready to come out, the weather will be warmer, and the snow will have melted. I won’t have to worry about slipping outside. I’ll just be careful myself.”

Xi Yanqing said, “Let’s talk about it when the time comes.”

The couple waited outside for a while. Not long after Doctor Liang entered the room, Han Xu’s screams became much quieter. Now, he only let out muffled groans, as if he was forcibly suppressing his pain.

Han Yang noticed Luo Fei standing there shivering and said to Xi Yanqing, “Brother Xi, why don’t you take Luo Fei to my room for a bit? Don’t let him catch a cold.”

Xi Yanqing had been hesitating about how to convince Luo Fei to go back inside. Hearing this, he said, “That sounds good. Otherwise, he won’t be able to relax without hearing any updates on Han Xu.”

Just then, Zhuangzhuang woke up and ran out looking for his mother. So, Xi Yanqing and Luo Fei took the opportunity to soothe Zhuangzhuang while waiting in Han Yang’s room for a while.

“Are you still nervous?” Xi Yanqing noticed that Luo Fei hadn’t spoken for a while. It was obvious that he was tense—his fingers were being rubbed so hard they were nearly peeling.

“It’s just that Han Xu’s screams were way too scary,” Luo Fei said. “I hope he’s okay… Amitabha… No, wait, maybe God bless would be better!”

“What God? Amitabha is more reliable, don’t you think?”

“Reliable, what?!”

Luo Fei stared, “When I came here, I recited Amitabha Buddha, hoping you didn’t come along with me. But when I turned around, I got slapped in the face!”

“Huh? Is it bad that I came?” Xi Yanqing grabbed Luo Fei’s hand. “Wife, what you said makes me a little sad.”

“Sad? Well, it’s true. Then let’s just recite Amitabha Buddha! Amitabha Buddha, may Han Xu be safe and sound.”

“Uncle…” At this moment, Zhuangzhuang gently tugged on Luo Fei’s sleeve, calling out to him quietly, “I want my mom.”

“Zhuangzhuang, your mom is busy. She’ll be back soon, okay? Your second uncle is going to have a little brother or sister for you. If you go find your mom now, no one will be able to help your second uncle.” Luo Fei tried to comfort little Zhuangzhuang in a soft voice. “How about I play with you?”

“Wet.” Zhuangzhuang tugged at his pants.

Luo Fei looked, and sure enough, the little one had wet his pants.

At this time, Xi Yanqing said, “That’s a big map.”

Luo Fei turned around and saw that, indeed, Zhuangzhuang’s bed was covered in various maps, probably from all over the world. Fortunately, there were clean pants on the stove, so Luo Fei decided to use those to change Zhuangzhuang.

They didn’t have disposable diapers, which was quite a headache.

He wasn’t sure if they had enough cloth diapers either.

Luo Fei thought it would be best to get two more small blankets. He had already prepared straps, clothes, and diapers, but had forgotten about the little blankets. In Yuqing country, there was a custom that the grandmother should make the swaddling blanket, and at the time, he thought someone else would make it, so he didn’t have to. But now, it seemed one blanket wouldn’t be enough. At least a few more for changing would be necessary.

Time passed quietly as Luo Fei pondered, and about two moments later, a baby’s cry suddenly came from Han Xu’s room.

The cry wasn’t very strong. Luo Fei and Xi Yanqing hadn’t heard it initially. If Zhuangzhuang hadn’t heard it with his sharp ears, Luo Fei and Xi Yanqing still wouldn’t have known.

“Wife, let’s go see.” Xi Yanqing picked up Zhuangzhuang with one hand and took Luo Fei’s hand with the other. They went to Han Xu’s place, but they couldn’t enter the room yet. Inside, Chen Huazhang was with Han Xu, and the two doctors, Liang and his wife, were busy.

“Aunt, how is Han Xu?” Luo Fei asked Han Liushi.

“Pretty good. It’s a little boy. Although he was born prematurely, Doctor Liang said he seems fine,” Han Liushi wiped her sweat. “Erbao, you and Xi Yanqing go sit in the other room. Don’t just stand here.”

“No, Aunt. We’re fine knowing Han Xu and the baby are safe. We’ll leave now. I’ll visit again in a few days. I didn’t expect him to give birth so suddenly. I didn’t even bring a gift for my little nephew. I’ll bring it next time,” Luo Fei said with a smile.

“Just knowing you can visit him will make him really happy. Alright then, I won’t keep you. The house is too busy today. I’ll call you over for a meal later.” Han Liushi called for Han Yang, “Yang, go send them off.”

“Where’s Daya?!” Han Liushi couldn’t find him.

“Mom, Zhuangzhuang’s dad is talking to Huazhang. Huazhang was so scared, his hands are still shaking,” Mu Ling said, half laughing and half crying. “I’ll go send them off.”

“No need to send them, sister-in-law. They’re not outsiders,” Luo Fei said with a smile. “We’ll come back later.” As for Huazhang trembling, he was a big fool!

At first, Chen Huazhang was asked by Doctor Liang to wait outside, but he couldn’t rest easy and kept holding Han Xu’s hand. He had already been sweating bullets with worry. He never expected something even more terrifying would happen. Doctor Liang’s scalpel cut Han Xu’s abdomen, and blood suddenly splattered everywhere. That really scared him…

He’d never seen Han Xu bleed so much! Although Doctor Liang said this was normal for premature births, the cut was deeper, and more blood was lost. But it was still very frightening!

When the baby was pulled out, Chen Huazhang was in a daze.

“Qing Ge, don’t be like the carpenter brother. I’m depending on you. If you’re nervous, then I’m finished.”

“Don’t worry,” Xi Yanqing said. “I have good mental fortitude. I’ll make sure to take good care of you and the baby.”

Xi Yanqing only later realized that he had spoken too confidently, and his face was slapped with reality. But that’s a story for another time.

A couple of days later, Xi Yanqing went to town again. After eating at home, he took Luo Fei to visit the Han family. The plan was to check on the little carpenter and see if Chen Huazhang had time to make some molds—Shi Shi’s side had already found a team, and they were about to start making ice cream. This meant they would need more molds. It was a good job to do, and he wouldn’t have to run around, so Xi Yanqing thought if Chen Huazhang could do it, he could earn some money while staying at home with Han Xu and the baby, which was also good. But when he got to the Han family, he saw that Chen Huazhang’s hands were still trembling, which made him unsure whether to bring it up.

“If you have something to say, just say it.” Chen Huazhang pressed his hands down. “Don’t you treat me like a brother?”

“I’m treating you like a brother by coming here,” Xi Yanqing said, pulling up a chair. “It’s about the molds. Can you still do it? If so, make five hundred more. The pay will be the same as usual. Don’t worry about the ice cream sticks. There’s probably no limit on those in the future. Five hundred a day is probably the minimum.”

“Of course I can do it. What can’t I do? If I can’t, I’ll have the guys under me do it. And once I start working, it’s fine,” Chen Huazhang said, helplessly. “It’s just that I get the shakes when I see the baby. But Doctor Liang’s acupuncture has helped a lot these past couple of days.”

“That’s good. I’ll bring the plans over soon,” Xi Yanqing said, then continued discussing the furniture matters. He and Jingrong were building a house, so they would need furniture, which meant they couldn’t use the old ones. And there weren’t many decent pieces to begin with. Making furniture in this era was time-consuming, so they had to plan ahead.

“Alright, that works. In the future, if you have any molding work, just send it my way. I’ll charge you eighty percent of the normal rate for labor. As for furniture, just pay me for the labor, and I won’t charge for the wood,” Chen Huazhang said. “Anyway, I’m not planning to go out this year. The baby’s so small, I’m not at ease. You don’t know, I feel like something’s off every time I leave the room with the big one and the little one.”

“That’s about right. But now you can rest easy. At least both the big and small ones are safe,” Xi Yanqing said, looking at the baby in Luo Fei’s arms. Luo Fei was holding the little carpenter, who still didn’t have a name. He was so small that Luo Fei could hold him with just one arm, so he didn’t stop him.

“Hey, look! Look! He’s yawning! So cute!” Luo Fei said. “He’s so tiny, I could just melt.”

“Melt, melt?” Han Xu was stunned. “What does that mean?”

“Ah, it just means he’s so cute, too cute to handle,” Luo Fei gently touched the little carpenter’s face. “So soft, so adorable.”

“Then take him home and raise him,” Han Xu said. “I won’t charge you.”

“Stop joking. If I really take him, you’ll be the one crying.”

“I won’t cry. Really. Wait until you give birth, and you’ll know. It’s better when they’re still in the belly.”

“I think it’s better to meet him. How cute he is,” Luo Fei said, noticing the little carpenter had fallen asleep. He was so quiet, it almost melted Luo Fei’s heart. “Oh, by the way, what is he eating now?” He didn’t see any milk goats around the Han family.

“Qiao’s wife brings the baby over during the day to feed him. But it’s hard to trouble her at night, so the baby cries a lot at night. I was just thinking of asking you, Erbao, could you give me one of the two sheep in your yard?”

“Sure, no problem. I’m not in a rush to use them,” Luo Fei said cheerfully. “One of the sheep is about to give birth. Once it does, I’ll send it over to you. We don’t have much experience with lambing anyway. The sheep are at Jing Rong’s place right now.”

"Alright, it's settled then. I won't trouble Carpenter Brother to keep looking. He’s already asked around in many places but couldn’t find any. The main issue is that the child doesn’t get enough to eat at night and keeps crying. I feel anxious but don’t know what to do."

"Got it. I'll make sure to bring it over to you later."

Luo Fei liked drinking goat's milk, but as an adult, he had plenty of other options. The priority was the little one. Besides, Jing Rong's sheep had successfully bred again, so by the time the "little tiger" arrived, there would be more milk-producing sheep.

These past two days, Luo Fei had been experimenting with making dried mutton, but the results were far from ideal. He would marinate the mutton with seasonings, dry-fry it, and then hang it up to air-dry. But the final product was so tough it was practically inedible—so hard that if he made more, he could probably use it as a weapon!

He was completely clueless...

Meanwhile, Xi Yanqing was making good progress. He and Luo Yong had already cleared all the weeds from the new homestead and figured out the size of the house to be built. Xi Yanqing decided on a four-room, two-hall layout, covering about 110 square meters based on modern measurements. Following a modern floor plan, the four rooms were divided into two "yang" (sun-facing) and two "yin" (shaded) rooms. The two south-facing rooms would be bedrooms, while on the north side, one would also be a bedroom, and the other a storage room.

Since the north was cold, people slept on heated brick beds (kang) instead of regular beds. So, the north room adjacent to the master bedroom was designed to share a stove, meaning one fire could heat the brick beds in both rooms.

This setup had the advantage of keeping the shaded rooms cooler in summer while also saving resources.

Jing Rong, being a lone wolf, initially planned to build a two-room, one-hall house. But after seeing Xi Yanqing’s blueprint, he liked the design and wanted a four-room, two-hall house as well. Luo Yong thought, "If you two are building identical houses, it would look odd if mine were smaller! I’ll build a four-room, two-hall house too!" Besides, as they said, it wouldn’t require much more material than a two-room house.

From the blueprint, the layout was as follows: Jing Rong's house was next to the old house, then Xi Yanqing's house next to Jing Rong’s new house, and finally, Luo Yong's house next to Xi Yanqing’s.

As Luo Yong put it, "Xi-ge, you're going to be sandwiched between me and Jing Rong!"

Xi Yanqing ignored him. "Sandwiched? Ha! A plate of pork dumplings is all I need to fight back!"

“Dad, do you think these stones are enough?” Xi Yanqing asked Luo Tian. Since the farming season hadn’t started yet, they had come to gather stones for construction. Not far from Huaping Village was a large quarry where villagers from nearby villages would come to collect stones for building. Apart from him and Luo Yong, Luo Ji, Jing Rong, and his father-in-law Luo Tian were also helping out.

"After delivering this cartload, we’ll need one more, and that should be about right," Luo Tian said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "We should prepare everything we can before laying the foundation. That’ll save us time later."

"Building houses is really troubling you," Luo Yong said with a goofy smile, though his hands didn’t stop working. This guy was truly a strong laborer. However, Xi Yanqing suspected he was putting in extra effort to impress his future father-in-law.

"How’s the timber situation?" Luo Ji asked.

"After replacing some old timber with the batch we cut last year, we're still short by half. But I don’t plan on cutting more trees. It's dangerous in the mountains at this time of year, and any accident wouldn’t be worth it. So, we’ll just buy the rest. I’ve already spoken to a supplier—we can collect it whenever we need it," Xi Yanqing said. "Tomorrow, I’ll look into the adhesive situation." Since cement wasn’t available, they had to rely on alternatives like sticky rice paste and lime powder.

"That’s easy to handle, but your father is worried we won’t have enough manpower when the time comes. It’s clear your houses won’t all go up at the same time," Luo Tian said. It had been years since anyone in the village had built a house, let alone three at once. Usually, people only patched up their roofs. Finding enough workers would mean looking beyond the village, especially since construction season coincided with the busy farming season when most able-bodied men were working the fields.

"It’s fine if there’s an order. Let’s start with... Jing Rong’s," Xi Yanqing said with a smirk. "Luo Yong won’t mind, right?" He shot a glance at Jing Rong.

"It should be Xi-ge's first. Qi-ge is expecting in a few months, and their house still has leaks. It’d be best if they moved into a new place sooner," Jing Rong immediately understood Xi Yanqing’s hint.

Luo Yong panicked. "Hey! I won’t fight with Qi-ge since he’s having a baby, but Jing Rong, you can’t compete with me! I need my house done first—I’m getting married!"

Xi Yanqing and Jing Rong pretended not to hear and kept gathering stones.

Luo Tian saw what they were up to, but he played along, finding it amusing to see Luo Yong all flustered while working.

Frustrated, Luo Yong chiseled at the stones. After a while, he couldn’t hold it in anymore. "Jing Rong! I won’t argue about Qi-ge, but you better not get in my way! I need to get married!"

Jing Rong chuckled. "Noted. But do you dare say that at home?"

Luo Yong paused before realizing, "Oh, you two are messing with me, huh? Just wait till I get my hands on you!"

He rolled up his sleeves and chased after Jing Rong. Jing Rong dodged but tripped over a stone and stumbled into someone’s arms.

Luo Ji laughed. "Be careful."

Jing Rong quickly steadied himself, grabbed a rock, and tossed it at Luo Yong. "Damn you, bear! Stay put, or I’ll make sure your house is last!"

Luo Yong burst into hearty laughter, his voice so loud it scared the birds away.

As the lunar calendar moved into the second month, the winds grew stronger. The phrase "February's spring wind is like scissors" wasn’t just for show—it was freezing outside! But while the cold still affected people, some hardy plants had already begun sprouting fresh green shoots.

Xi Yanqing walked through the grass and arrived home. "Wife, I’m back!"

Luo Fei was about to secretly taste his latest creation when he heard the voice. He quickly put the popsicle back into the mold.

Luo Fei had quite the imagination when it came to food. While Xi Yanqing had been thinking about making mung bean popsicles on his way home, Luo Fei had already made red bean milk popsicles.

With the help of Chen Huazhang, Luo Fei had made small heart-shaped and star-shaped molds, as well as molds with the Chinese character for "fortune" (福). He filled these molds with red bean paste, froze them, then unmolded and placed them into a larger mold before pouring milk around them for a second freezing. The result was a beautiful popsicle with milk on the outside and red bean paste in the center—both visually appealing and delicious!

"I think I should just be your assistant when it comes to making popsicles," Xi Yanqing said, watching Luo Fei unmold them. "Whatever you make always turns out better than mine."

"Well, I am a foodie." Luo Fei took a big bite. "Hey! Qing-ge, why’d you steal mine?!"

"You can’t eat too much," Xi Yanqing shamelessly took the popsicle. "We still have two Laba congees. If you eat this now, will you still have room for that?"

"Good point. Fine, you can have them." Luo Fei sat down, staring longingly.

Suddenly, he clutched his stomach. "Ow!"

Xi Yanqing panicked. "What’s wrong?"

"The little tiger is craving it! Give me back my popsicle!" Luo Fei clung to Xi Yanqing’s sleeve, looking pitiful.

Xi Yanqing smirked. "Oh, my son is craving it, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then, you can have it. Wait a moment." Xi Yanqing went to get a bowl, scraped all the ice cream into it, and placed it on the stove. After a while, the ice cream in the bowl melted, and he handed it to Luo Fei. "Here, it's warm now."

"...Qing-ge, do you know something?" Luo Fei held the bowl with both hands and looked up at Xiyanqing. "If it were someone else living with you, they would've beaten you to death already!"

"Mm, if it were someone else, I wouldn't be with them in the first place." Xi Yanqing scooped a spoonful and fed it to Luofei. "Tell me, where else would I find such a mischievous, dramatic, and gluttonous little cutie like you?"

"Screw you! You're the mischievous one! You're the drama king!" Luo Fei complained while being fed. Suddenly, he perked up, "Oh, oh, oh! Wait a second! We can make milk pudding too! You know, the kind that's served in little bowls and eaten with a spoon!"

Luo Fei got so excited that he immediately went off to draw up a design.

Xi Yanqing was left standing there, still holding the bowl: "..."

Was this really a sudden stroke of inspiration, or was he just pretending?

Luo Fei: This is disgusting! Trying to make me eat melted ice cream? No way!

Of course, the idea of targeting the high-end market was actually pretty good!

Luo Fei figured that if they were selling to nobles and officials, they could package everything elegantly. Since they would be producing ice in large quantities in the future, they could even offer delivery with ice boxes for pre-orders!

So let that rock-hard, inedible dried mutton go to hell! As for Jing Rong's sheep—let’s just sell lamb skewers instead!

T/N: Please give support on my ko-fi page, it's a big help, thank you🌰🌰🌰