Chapter 125: Men’s Clothing

Chapter 125: Chapter 125: Men’s Clothing

Looking closely at Tuantuan’s small face, her forehead was smudged with dirt, and a faint bruise showed through—clearly the masterpiece of her recent attempt to teach the Shi Tou a lesson.

Wei Shu was so angry he almost passed out. Starting tomorrow—no, starting today—he was going to teach Tuantuan some basic safety rules. How could he have such a worry-inducing younger sister? She still hadn’t realized her mistake! He made her step out of the rockery and sit nicely on a smooth stone slab. He then ran and shouted, calling over the adults who were still eating.

In the past, Wei Shu rarely spoke. Even when he occasionally communicated with his family, his words were laced with thorns. He hated solitude and quietness, yet he also hated having people around him. Contradiction and agitation plagued his mind every single day.

That was until he started playing with Tuantuan. The mischievous little cub always had all sorts of whimsical ideas. She didn’t look at him with weird eyes, nor did she go out of her way to coddle him, but she quietly cared for him nonetheless—not as an older brother with a mental illness, but as an ordinary friend. Gradually, he began talking more nonsense himself. He would get jealous like a normal child and play with her. Things that once seemed utterly meaningless to him now held their own unique joy.

But Wei Shu ground his teeth. Aunt Deng was truly too incompetent, especially considering how much Tuantuan liked her! How could a little fool bump her own head against the Shi Tou!

The adults rushed over. Seeing Tuantuan sitting on the ground and looking up at them in ignorance, they turned pale with fright. They picked her up to treat her wounds, carefully asking if it hurt. They were both heartbroken for the little baby and entirely unsure of how to explain this to Deng Yuyuan when she arrived later.

Tuantuan, on the other hand, was the calmest person present. Wei’s mother covered her eyes to prevent her from seeing the gruesome wound. She obediently stayed still and even comforted them. "It hurt a lot when I first fell! My knee felt like it grew chili peppers, and my eyes got wet too. But Tuantuan is a strong little baby. Once the pain passed, I challenged the Shi Tou to a duel!"

Stop, stop, stop. She really shouldn’t mention challenging the Shi Tou to a duel. It was enough to make the adults want to faint just hearing it.

Wei’s mother also felt a bit of remorse. Since she had let Tuantuan wear a little skirt, she should have had the nanny keep a closer eye on her. Previously, when Deng Yuyuan brought Tuantuan over to play, the child mostly wore long sleeves and pants. Even if she took a tumble on the ground, she generally never got hurt.

After the wound on her knee was cleaned up, Wei’s mother took out her faux-tortoiseshell plastic hair clip, pinned back the loose hair on Tuantuan’s forehead, and applied some medicinal oil to her brow.

"Don’t touch the injured area with your little hands. If you accidentally touch it, find an adult immediately to help wash them clean. You’re not allowed to touch your eyes or mouth with dirty hands," Wei Shu said. He grabbed Tuantuan’s two small hands to stop her from moving around, fiercely supervising her as she obediently nodded along to Wei’s mother’s instructions.

"And Little Shu," Wei’s mother paused for a moment, her voice trembling slightly as she spoke, "you shouldn’t use such a fierce expression with your sister either. She’ll get scared."

This was the first time since that incident that she had offered a contrasting opinion to Wei Shu.

Wei Shu frowned but showed no other extreme reaction. He glanced at Tuantuan, whose eyes were covered, and impatiently muttered that he understood.

"It’s okay. Tuantuan is very brave," Tuantuan said.

After the simple first aid, the Wei Family couldn’t quite decide whether to send her to the hospital or wait for Deng Yuyuan to arrive.

It was normal for children to get bumps and scrapes, but since she wasn’t their own child, they couldn’t just brush it off carelessly. Taking her to the hospital sounded like an overreaction, but it would show their responsible attitude. Unfortunately, Tuantuan neither wanted to stay indoors nor go to the hospital; she just wanted to continue playing at the front door.

Just as the Wei Family was in a dilemma, the doorbell suddenly rang.

The nanny hurried over to open the door. Unexpectedly, standing outside was a man so bewitchingly beautiful that his gender seemed somewhat ambiguous.

"He" had a tall, slender build, standing at about 1.75 meters, like a stalk of bamboo soaked in moonlight. "He" had slightly curly, somewhat messy black hair, with a few strands constantly falling over his forehead and cheeks. The slightly longer hair was different from the meticulous hairstyles people typically wore in this era; instead, it possessed a natural, wild, and lazy aesthetic, bearing a striking resemblance to Deng Yuyuan’s usual hairstyle.

"He" wore an indigo work shirt with the top button left undone, revealing a distinct collarbone. The thin, soft fabric of the shirt clung slightly to "his" body in the wind blowing from outside the window, outlining a shoulder line that wasn’t at all frail. With broad shoulders and narrow hips, the subtle transparency of the shirt hinted at the underlying muscular strength. Over this, a camel-colored, chunky cable-knit wool cardigan was casually draped. The loose sleeves were rolled up to "his" elbows, exposing slender but by no means weak forearms that were dazzlingly white. A black silk scarf was wrapped around "his" neck, adding a touch of artistic flair.

"His" lower half clearly sported a different trouser cut than what ordinary people wore: a pair of dark gray corduroy pants of similar texture. The hems were a bit long, flaring out like morning glories and pooling loosely over a pair of brown, lace-up combat boots speckled with a bit of mud. The cuffs were so wide that only the sharp-eyed nanny could make out the style of the boots.

With thick eyebrows and large eyes, "his" facial features naturally carried a heroic spirit. Yet, "his" appearance was exceptionally beautiful, with a lingering melancholy between "his" brows that somehow didn’t seem feminine or effeminate. In just a few brief glances of eye contact, the nanny couldn’t help but feel her heart flutter and her mind sway.

Even the rest of the Wei Family stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at "his" face. Wei Yin’s heart wavered even more; her original infatuation with Zhao Mingzhao seemed to instantly clear up like clouds parting to reveal the sky, making her doubt her own taste for the very first time.

Only Tuantuan widened her eyes. A burning title rolled around the tip of her tongue a few times before she finally blurted it out: "Daddy, Daddy! Tuantuan hurts so much, BOOHOO!"

Goodbye to the old daddy in the village. From now on, Tuantuan wanted this new daddy.

Daddy?! The Wei Family was so shocked by this address that they lost all reaction. Was this Deng Yuyuan’s rugged ex-husband from the countryside?

She exposed her knee, tears streaming down freely. "Tuantuan’s knee needs a BLOW-BLOW! Tuantuan is in so much pain, I want a hug."

Deng Yuyuan walked briskly into the courtyard. Only when the door closed did she speak up: "What, scared silly by me?"

Tuantuan couldn’t wait for Deng Yuyuan to come over anymore. She trotted over herself, hugged her mother’s calf, and was successfully scooped up into her mother’s arms.

The moment Deng Yuyuan spoke, the others finally realized that it was actually her cross-dressing as a man. Observing her attire more closely, while not completely flawless, if one didn’t have the preconceived notion that she was a woman dressed as a man, there really were no glaring flaws. Moreover, Deng Yuyuan’s movements as she walked in were bold and expansive, her expression calm, without a trace of coyness.

Although there were many minor flaws, the average person wouldn’t suspect that "he" was a woman. Not to mention, Deng Yuyuan was pretending to be an artist boyfriend who was both a painter and a photographer; an androgynous style of dressing was perfectly normal and only added an air of mystery.