Chapter 74: Welcoming Gifts

Chapter 74

Welcoming Gifts

The grandfather sat happily watching the triplets play. Bao Bao glanced over at him, thinking that this new servant was still useless—clumsy, awkward, and doing everything in a way that displeased him. He suddenly remembered the previous servant, who was also male, younger, and much more handsome. That one had indulged Bao Bao’s every whim, but just as Bao Bao had opened his heart to him, he left. Remembering this made Bao Bao sad.

Xiao Hua Hua, seeing her brother pouting as if he were about to cry while holding a toy, crawled over. She happened to notice the shiny green jade lying nearby and picked it up, delighted. Bao Bao, seeing this, let out a loud cry and tried to snatch it back from his sister. However, Xiao Hua Hua refused to give it up. The situation escalated into what seemed like an impending battle between the eldest brother and the little sister, forcing the Hou to step in and mediate.

“Now, now, Xiao Hua Hua, that jade belongs to your brother. Be a good girl and give it back. Grandpa will find you a pretty new one later,”

The Hou gently coaxed her, holding out his hand to take the jade back. Xiao Hua Hua looked up at the old man with teary eyes, as if she were being wronged. Her lips trembled as she was on the verge of crying. The Hou, not knowing what else to do, turned to Bao Bao.

“Bao Bao, my dear, your sister likes it. Let her play with it for a little while, and she’ll give it back when she’s done.”

But Bao Bao wasn’t about to agree. This was the first treasure he had earned by himself, and there was no way his little sister would take it away from him so easily.

Bei Bei, noticing the commotion, crawled over to check out what was happening. When he saw Xiao Hua Hua holding the shiny green jade, he became interested and reached out to grab it too. This caused Xiao Hua Hua to start crying in protest. The Hou looked at the three children—there was only one piece of jade, and he didn’t know what to do. He could only pat the children’s heads and backs, his hands fumbling awkwardly.

These little ones were so cute when they played, but who would’ve thought they could be such a handful when they fought?

He turned to the wet nurses and called out,

“Hurry! They’re crying! Do something.”

The wet nurses, having been on standby, quickly rushed over and skillfully picked up the children. Each child was taken aside to be comforted and soothed. Xiao Tong carried Bao Bao over to the window to watch the view outside, seeing the sunset and a flock of birds flying home. Another wet nurse distracted Xiao Hua Hua with a toy, and soon enough, the little girl was laughing again. Bei Bei, seeing his siblings gone, gripped the jade tightly. Noticing the Hou watching him, Bei Bei quickly hid the jade up his sleeve and pretended nothing had happened.

The Hou didn’t know what to feel, but he couldn’t hold back and burst into loud laughter. Goodness! How long had it been since he laughed like this? Bei Bei, the quiet middle child, was so sly. Even at such a young age, he knew how to take advantage of the chaos to seize the opportunity and hide the jade right in front of his grandfather. He was completely charmed by his clever little grandson.

Nie Shuang, hearing the children’s cries, entered the room. Seeing that Xiao Tong and the wet nurses had already calmed them down, she instructed them to take the children for dinner. She then turned to the Hou and said,

“It’s getting late, and the children need to eat and bathe. The Hou, please come visit again another time.”

In the Hou’s heart, a deep sadness lingered, but he knew it wasn’t appropriate to stay any longer. So, he stood up, feeling slightly weak in the legs after sitting on the floor for too long. Xiao San quickly grabbed the cane leaning against the table and handed it to him, knowing exactly what he needed. Oddly enough, despite the long hours that had passed, the Hou didn’t feel the usual leg pain that often irritated him. Once he steadied himself, he turned toward his daughter-in-law, his voice softening and his expression becoming much friendlier.

“I’ll head back to rest at the inn. Would it be convenient if I came to visit the grandchildren again tomorrow?”

He cleared his throat slightly, feeling a bit awkward as he almost seemed to be requesting permission from the daughter-in-law he once disliked. Nie Shuang, seeing no reason to refuse, agreed.

Before leaving, the Hou turned and added,

“You’re living in this city alone. It’s better if you visit Kang Wang less often. If you run into any issues, just send word to me. I’ll take care of it.”

Nie Shuang knew that this wasn’t a criticism but a genuine offer of help. The Hou wasn’t the type to please anyone, so his words often came off a bit blunt.

“Thank you for your offer, but Kang Wang and I are just good friends, nothing more. Please rest assured, both of us are very careful about such matters. There’s no cause for any rumors.”

Even after hearing her reassurance, the Hou didn’t seem entirely at ease. However, there wasn’t much he could do. This daughter-in-law no longer considered herself part of the Song family, so what authority did he have to order her around? It pained him to think that in the past, when she called him father-in-law, he had been displeased. Now, no matter what, she referred to him distantly as the Hou. At least she allowed the grandchildren to recognize him as their grandfather. As the Hou walked away alone in the twilight, the sound of his cane tapping the ground slowly faded. Nie Shuang waited until he was out of sight before going to join the children in the other room.

The next morning, before Nie Shuang even had a chance to wash her face and dress, Xiao San came in to report,

“The Hou arrived at the mansion first thing this morning, bringing Boss Hong from the jade shop with him. As soon as the young masters and young miss woke up, he had them brought out to select jade in the sitting room...”

Hearing this, Nie Shuang immediately snapped out of her drowsiness. Had that old man lost his mind!? Boss Hong wasn’t just anyone! He was the owner of the largest jade shop in the Nan Fang province! Some of the most valuable jade pieces in the land could only be purchased from his Fu Yu Shop. The jade from his store was worth enough to buy a building, yet the Hou had dragged him here to let babies, not even a year old, pick out jade! Nie Shuang felt dizzy just thinking about it...

She quickly washed her face, got dressed, and rushed out to see the Hou. Upon entering the sitting room, she was greeted by the sight of jade trays laid out across the floor like common trinkets. The three little rascals were crawling around, sweeping their hands through the trays, completely fascinated. Nie Shuang nearly fainted on the spot.

What was going on here!? She had known that the Hou Manor was wealthy, but letting children play with such priceless treasures—wasn’t that going too far?

Boss Hong, who was sitting not far away, wore a difficult-to-describe expression. He had been dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn by this old man and told to bring the finest jade from his shop for the grandchildren to choose from. He thought that Lady Boss would be the one making the selections. Who could have guessed that the old man would let the grandchildren themselves pick? Look at this. They were treating his precious jade as if it were worthless stones.

The Hou clapped Boss Hong on the back, laughing heartily.

“Don’t worry. Whichever pieces my grandchildren like, I’ll buy them all. Consider today a profitable day for you. Why the long face?”

Boss Hong could only give a strained smile, chuckling awkwardly while thanking the Hou. Just then, the old man spotted his daughter-in-law entering the room, and he waved her over with a kind smile.

“Come over here. You should pick some jade too. Whatever you like, I’ll buy it for you.”

Nie Shuang raised her hand to her forehead in exasperation. Why was this old man acting like such a senseless tycoon? She knew he doted on his grandchildren, but did he really have to go this far? Heaven helped me! She had never seen anyone buy jade just for children to play with. If he weren’t older than her, she might have scolded him until he cried.

“The Hou, they’re still so young. These things aren’t necessary for them yet,”

Nie Shuang said reasonably, though her tone was restrained. The Hou waved his hand dismissively, laughing again.

“No worries, no worries. We’ll buy them now and keep them for later. When they grow up, they’ll know how much their grandpa loves them.”

Love, my foot! Nie Shuang cursed internally.

But she relented. Old habits die hard, after all. If the old man wanted to do this, so be it, as long as it wasn’t harmful to the children. Nie Shuang was too lazy to go against him, so she let the grand jade selection process continue while she returned to her work.No one knew how much the Hou spent that day. They only knew that Boss Hong was beaming when he left the mansion...