bestfiction Chapter 201 One child, three treasures
Chapter 201 One child, three treasures
Nangong Wenrui traveled all over the continent with Wen Yuxia. Ten years later, Nangong Wenrui returned to the capital of Great Xia with his wife and children, only to receive news that Wen Yuxia had returned.
Wen Yunhong, Xia Yichen, Zhang Jinxuan, An Chiyu, Li Jiating, Chu Xiaoyi, and Li Jiarui, who was returning to the capital to report on his duties, were all waiting at the city gate.
Wen Yuxia said to the children with a smile, "When you're at the city gate later, don't peek out. You can only come out when you get home."
"Why?" Nangong Youcheng asked curiously.
Wen Yuxia said with a faint smile, "Your uncles and aunts don't know you exist. Your sudden appearance at the city gate will frighten them..."
Nangong Youcheng, Nangong Youqi, Nangong Youyu, and Nangong Youling are quadruplets, seven years old this year. Wen Yuxia has never told Wen Yunhong and the others about their existence, waiting to give them a surprise when she returns to the capital one day.
Wen Yunhong said that her friends were all coming to pick her up at the city gate, but she was afraid that the children's sudden appearance would frighten Wen Yunhong and the others and disrupt the order at the city gate. She planned to go back to the princess's residence and let Wen Yunhong and the others see the quadruplets later.
The carriage slowly entered the city gate. Wen Yuxia heard Wen Yunhong calling him "brother-in-law" and Nangong Wenrui calling Xia Yichen "brother-in-law." She lifted a corner of the curtain...
Seeing Wen Yunhong's expectant and excited face, Xia Yichen looked at her with a slight smile, while Zhang Jinxuan and the others also smiled broadly.
After the carriage came to a stop, Wen Yuxia quickly opened the window and climbed out. With Nangong Wenrui's help, she alighted from the carriage, and everyone immediately surrounded her, offering words of comfort and concern.
Xia Yichen said, "Stop crowding around. Mu Hua is tired from traveling for days. Let's talk about it after they return to the manor."
"Yes, yes, Brother Yichen is right. Let's go back to the manor first, let's go back to the manor first," Wen Yunhong quickly took a few steps back, gesturing for Wen Yuxia to return to the carriage.
At the Princess's residence, Steward Tang, who knew Wen Yuxia's itinerary, had already opened the gates and was quietly waiting at the entrance with the servants.
The carriage carrying Wen Yuxia and the quadruplets drove directly into Wen Yuxia's courtyard. Wen Yuxia and the quadruplets washed and changed in their room, while Nangong Wenrui led Xia Yichen and the others to the reception room.
The four sisters from the north went to find Nan Yi and the others. Having not seen each other for ten years, they had much to say to one another. After Nangong Wenrui's four guards escorted them to the princess's residence, they immediately went to Jin Yu Man Tang.
After washing up and changing, Wen Yuxia came to the reception room to chat with everyone over tea, recounting her experiences over the past ten years. Just as everyone was having a lively conversation, Wen Yuxia suddenly clapped her hands.
The four little ones, who had been waiting outside the reception room, came out hand in hand and called out in unison, "Hello, Uncle, Uncle, Uncle Jinxuan, Uncle Xiaoyi, Uncle Chiyu, Uncle Jiating, and Uncle Jiarui!"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then their eyes widened. Wen Yunhong even stood up abruptly, pointing at them with trembling fingers and saying, "This...this is my nephew?"
"Quadruplets," Xia Yichen said with certainty, looking at the four identical-looking children.
Wen Yuxia, beaming with joy, recounted the whole story. Everyone then understood, followed by a burst of laughter and chatter.
"Eldest brother Youcheng, second brother Youqi, third brother Youyu, fourth brother Youling," Wen Yuxia introduced the children to everyone.
The two older children were sons, and the two younger ones were daughters. He had given birth to four children in one pregnancy, two boys and two girls. Xia Yichen gazed at the four children with great interest.
The children were clever, well-behaved, and adorable, instantly winning everyone's hearts, especially Wen Yunhong, who couldn't stop smiling as he held his nephew and niece.
He kept saying, "My uncle missed seven years; he must stay in the capital so he can take good care of me."
Xia Yichen nodded slightly: "Yun Hong is right. Staying in the capital, I will make up for the seven years I missed."
Seeing everyone fussing over the four little ones, Nangong Wenrui suddenly asked, "Yunhong, why didn't you bring the children with you?"
"Hehe, I forgot, I'll bring them over another day," Wen Yunhong said, slightly embarrassed.
Over the course of ten years, the couple had two sons, Xia Yichen's wives and concubines gave birth to a son and a daughter, and Zhang Jinxuan and others also had their own children.
Because Wen Yuxia had never mentioned the quadruplets, Wen Yunhong and the others assumed that Wen Yuxia had no children, so they didn't bring the children along, fearing that seeing them would upset Wen Yuxia.
If they had known that Wen Yuxia was having quadruplets, they would definitely have brought their own children to join in the fun.
Wen Yuxia suggested, "We haven't seen each other for a long time, so let's hold a banquet at the mansion today, so everyone can get together and chat, and we can also invite the children to get to know them."
Nangong Wenrui nodded and said, "Okay." Xia Yichen also nodded in agreement. Wen Yunhong directly asked, "May we bring Madam?" Zhang Jinxuan and the others also looked at Wen Yuxia, awaiting her reply.
"Bring them all," Wen Yuxia said with a smile, then instructed Steward Tang to prepare the ingredients and send someone to Xia Yichen and the others' residence to inform their wives and children to come over for a gathering.
The servants of the princess's mansion were all busy preparing ingredients and setting up the venue, while the cooks in the kitchen sharpened their knives, ready to prepare chickens and lambs.
After everything was ready, Xie Qianlian, Lin Xiaoxiao, and the others brought the children to the Princess's residence. Wen Yuxia knew how many children each family had, and she had specially prepared gifts for the children on her way back.
After distributing the gifts, Wen Yuxia gave the remaining two gifts to Xie Qianlian. Xia Yichen's eldest son and daughter were unable to attend, so Wen Yuxia asked Xie Qianlian to take the gifts back to them.
Wen Yuxia had a barbecue prepared. The men sat around the fire, chatting and grilling chicken and lamb, occasionally taking a sip of wine. The women sat nearby, chatting and watching the children playing and laughing.
The children played while glancing at the servants grilling meat skewers. As soon as they saw the servants putting meat on the plates, they would swarm forward and snatch all the meat from the plates.
Looking at the children's lively, cheerful faces filled with laughter, Xie Qianlian remarked with emotion, "Wenting and Wenwu have never laughed like this at home."
Xia Wenting had to learn etiquette, embroidery, and housekeeping, leaving her no time to play with her friends. Xia Wenwu had to study, learn kung fu, and study military strategy with Xia Yichen; his daily schedule was packed.
As time went by, Xie Qianlian had forgotten that one of them was ten years old and the other had just turned eight this year, and she had also forgotten how long it had been since they had laughed so heartily.
Wen Yuxia said with a faint smile, "You've been keeping the children too cooped up. A balance between work and rest is essential for their healthy growth. In the future, take the children out to play more often."
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded in agreement and said in a sweet voice, "Hong'er takes time every month to take the children to Fancheng to visit the elders and ride horses at the racetrack. The three of them have been in excellent health since they were little, and they've never even taken a single herbal medicine, no, a single pill."
She had two sons and a daughter. Her eldest son and youngest daughter took Wen Yunhong's surname, while her second son took her surname, Lin. All three children learned kung fu from Wen Yunhong.
They weren't very good at kung fu, but their personalities became increasingly cheerful and they were also very active. If you couldn't find them in the mansion, you could always find the three of them by looking at the walls or trees.
The women's conversations revolved around clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, their children, and their husbands. Wen Yuxia kept them company as they talked about their children and then their husbands.
Finally, seeing that they had run out of things to talk about, Wen Yuxia took the initiative to tell them about her experiences traveling abroad over the years.
The men drank and ate meat while sharing amusing anecdotes. Xia Yichen recounted some changes in the court, and Nangong Wenrui listened attentively.
After being away for many years, the Marquis of Zhennan's salary had been sent to Princess Muhua's residence in full every year. Now that he has returned, it's time for him to learn about the affairs of the court.
Wen Yunhong asked Nangong Wenrui curiously if he had encountered any danger during his travels, and Nangong Wenrui replied without hesitation, "Yes."
He is the master of the small world, and Wen Yuxia is the master of the space. They can enter the small world and the space to hide from any danger at any time.
But in order to restore the small world to life and double its size, the couple did indeed risk their lives for the first few years to help people in various places rid themselves of bandits and kill wild beasts.
After the small world regained its vitality and its spatial area doubled, the two of them no longer worked as hard as before. In their daily lives, if they encountered people in trouble, they would help if they had the ability, but they would never risk their lives to rush in if they didn't have the ability to help.
Nangong Wenrui slowly began to recount the dangers he had encountered on the road. As they were talking, a servant rushed in to report, "My lord, a traveling merchant surnamed Gu has arrived. He claims to be your friend."
Upon hearing this, Nangong Wenrui's face lit up with joy, and he said loudly, "Quickly, invite him in!" Then he turned and called out to Wen Yuxia, "Mu Hua, Brother Gu is here!"
They met the traveling merchant Gu Chengxiao in Gaoyang Kingdom. At the time, Gu Chengxiao was surrounded by several thugs in an alley. Nangong Wenrui intervened, dealt with the thugs, and rescued Gu Chengxiao.
During their conversation, Nangong Wenrui learned that Gu Chengxiao's hometown had mangosteens, durians, and coconuts that Wen Yuxia wanted. He then asked Gu Chengxiao to go back to his hometown and help him buy these three fruit trees.
He instructed Gu Chengxiao to inform the local Jinyu Mantang Jewelry Store after the acquisition, so he could come and collect the goods. Unexpectedly, Gu Chengxiao actually came to their door.
"Brother Wenrui, please forgive me for coming uninvited," Gu Chengxiao said with a chuckle as he stood up, clasping his hands in a gesture of apology.
Gu Chengxiao's younger brother brought back a lot of strange and unusual gadgets from overseas. He came to Daxia to sell them, and delivering goods for Nangong Wenrui was just a side job.
Upon hearing that there were some unusual items, the children became very interested. Nangong Wenrui then had Gu Chengxiao bring out one of each item for the children to choose from.
The various exquisite trinkets that Gu Chengxiao displayed were very ordinary to Wen Yuxia, but they were quite rare to Xia Yichen and the children.
Xia Wenwu pointed to a seemingly ordinary wooden box and asked curiously, "What's inside the box?" Gu Chengxiao smiled and said, "Nothing there, just the box."
After saying that, Gu Chengxiao picked up the box, wound it up, and explained to Xia Wenwu, "When fully wound up, the box will play beautiful music."
A girl's voice murmured along with the music, and the children all gathered around to watch. The adults couldn't help but marvel. Wen Yunhong asked in a low voice, "What kind of music is this?"
Xia Yichen and the others exchanged glances, then shook their heads in unison, indicating they didn't know. Nangong Wenrui said with great interest, "English, the language of a country far away from us."
Nangong Wenrui learned about English from watching English movies on Wen Yuxia's virtual computer. At that time, Wen Yuxia also explained to him the differences between modern English and Old English.
Xia Yichen knew there was English but had never heard anyone speak it, so he didn't know that the sound coming from the music box was English. He widened his eyes in surprise and asked excitedly, "Wenrui, you can speak English?"
Nangong Wenrui's lips curled slightly upward, and he said in a rather good mood, "I know a little bit." He couldn't understand what the English in the movie was saying because there were no subtitles.
He kept pestering Wen Yuxia to teach him English. He only spoke a little bit as a modest way of speaking; in reality, Nangong Wenrui learned very quickly and could already communicate normally with Wen Yuxia and their four children in English.
Xia Yichen said seriously, "Three months from now, an envoy from across the sea will come to Great Xia to purchase recipes. Wenrui, would you be in charge of the translation?"
“I learned English from Mu Hua, so let Mu Hua be the translator. I'll stay with Mu Hua the whole time,” Nangong Wenrui said, startled. His English wasn't even as good as his four children's; how could he possibly be a translator?
“Brother, English is easy to learn. If you want to learn, I can teach you,” Wen Yuxia agreed to act as translator, and she also strongly encouraged Xia Yichen to learn English.
Xia Yichen thought for a moment and then said, "Mu Hua, I'm getting old, and it will probably take me a long time to learn. Could you teach the children first, and then they can teach me at home?"
Xia Yichen's words piqued the interest of Wen Yunhong and the others, who all asked Wen Yuxia to teach their children English. Wen Yuxia readily agreed, "Yes, I will. Starting tomorrow, anyone interested in learning English can come to my residence after dinner to learn with me."
The children eagerly picked out the trinkets from Gu Chengxiao's hands, completely unaware that their father had already enrolled them in evening study classes with Wen Yuxia.
Xia Wenwu, carrying four trinkets and followed by several children, ran happily towards Xie Qianlian, shouting, "Mother, these four items together cost one hundred and forty taels of silver!"
Gu Chengxiao's original selling price was two hundred taels of silver for four items, but out of respect for Nangong Wenrui, he made fifteen taels less profit on each item.
All the children, including Wen Yuxia's quadruplets, bought what they liked. Gu Chengxiao took out four jade pendants from his bag and said to Nangong Wenrui:
"My younger brother brought back a large piece of warm jade from Haiyuan, which was then polished into jade pendants. These four jade pendants are gifts for the young master and young lady; I hope Brother Wenrui will not find them offensive."
Nangong Wenrui was his savior, and he had never known how to repay his kindness. Coincidentally, his younger brother brought back a rare piece of warm jade.
Nangong Wenrui thanked him with a smile, and then went to the warehouse with Gu Chengxiao to check the fruit trees. Xia Yichen and the others saw that the night was getting dark, so they got up to say goodbye and left.