144 – Gifted Ingenious Children

Two years later…

It was sunny for two days before it began to rain. At first, it was only a fine drizzle, but it soon became heavy rain. Rainwater fell from the roof, like a natural bead curtain. The raindrops pitter-pattered on the green leaves, and soon there were more pools of water on the wet ground. Although it was the 3rd lunar month, it was still very cold because of the rain. Qin Mian got up and went to the bedroom to get Yuanyuan and Manman’s cotton-padded coats.

The two boys, who were a month short of three-year-old, sat on two adjustable-height dining chairs while leaning forward on the table as they obediently scooped rice in their small bowls to eat with spoons. They also wore a blue bib around their necks.

“Aih, can’t play happily in rainy weather.” Manman propped his chin and sighed like a small adult as he looked at the misty rain outside with melancholy.

The corner of Lei Tie’s mouth curled up; he wiped the steamed egg custard on the corner of Manman’s mouth with a handkerchief.

When Qin Mian came in with the two little boys’ coats, he heard Manman’s words and was simmered with laughter. A small kid also knows to sigh.

Then, he heard Yuanyuan said, “Didi, rainy weather has arrived, is sunny weather still far away?”

Qin Mian palmed his forehead. He was wrong. He shouldn’t have replaced a storybook with an essay textbook last night.

He went over and rubbed Yuanyuan’s head. “Alright, you two little boys. If you don’t eat quickly, the food will be cold.”

Lei Tie took the coats in his wife’s hand, “Wife, you eat.”

Qin Mian saw two shelled salty eggs on his plate and softly laughed. Needless to say, Lei Tie must have helped him peel them.

“A-Tie, you’ve finished eating?”

“En.” Lei Tie took off the bibs on the sons’ necks before putting on the thick coats for them, and then tied the bibs again. With his cultivation, he didn’t need to eat grains anymore, but he didn’t want to miss any of his wife’s cooking.

Manman held up his bowl with two hands and said in a clear and loud voice, “Old Dad, Manman still wants to eat egg custard.”

“Manman is awesome today,” praised Lei Tie promptly as he followed Qin Mian’s teaching. He carried the remaining half-bowl of steamed egg custard and added to Manman’s bowl until half full with a big spoon. Then, he looked at Yuanyuan, “Yuanyuan.”

Yuanyuan nodded his head, “Yuanyuan also wants.”

Qin Mian sat next to Yuanyuan and picked some tender and soft leaves from the stir-fried amaranth and put them into Yuanyuan and Manman’s bowls.

Their Dad said that they couldn’t be picky about food. So, the two little boys ate the vegetables obediently.

Lei Tie sat back on his original seat and clipped dishes for Qin Mian. “Wife, you eat. I’ll do it. ”

“En.” Qin Mian took a bite of the salted egg and the oil seeped out. Elated, he took another bite with the corners of his eyes raised into a charming smile.

It’s merely a salted egg with oil seeping out and he is so contented. The bottom of Lei Tie’s heart turned into a piece of cotton.

Manman smiled as he approached Yuanyuan’s ear and whispered, “Gege, Old Dad looks at Dad in a trance.”

Yuanyuan nodded, “En.”

The corner of Qin Mian’s mouth twitched. He said with a straight face, “Eat properly.”

At once, Yuanyuan and Manman sat upright in a well-behaved manner and ate the dishes in the bowl with single-hearted devotion.

After Qin Mian finished two salted eggs, his eyes drifted to the plate containing the salted eggs.

Wordlessly, Lei Tie picked up one and shelled it before handing it to Qin Mian.

Qin Mian received it with a smile and bit half of it. The remaining half was put into his man’s mouth.

When the fathers and sons had eaten well, Qin Mian wiped the boys’ mouths and washed their faces and hands. Lei Tie put the dirty tableware in the kitchen, kept the unfinished dishes in the cupboard, cleaned his hands, and went back to the living room. After the meal, it was playtime for the two sons.

As soon as Lei Tie appeared, Yuanyuan immediately ran and held his hand.

“Alright.” Qin Mian clapped his hands. “Let’s go and see if the bird ate the fruit last night.”

After that, he held Manman’s hand.

“Let’s go!” Manman strode forward into a run.

The fathers and sons came into the corridor.

On each step of the stairs, a card was posted on the corresponding railing pillars. On the card were all kinds of fruits pictures, including pears, peaches, sweet oranges, cherries, strawberries, watermelon, and so on.

Yuanyuan and Manman let go of their fathers’ hands and ran forward.

Qin Mian called them to stop in a disapproving voice, “Yuanyuan, Manman, what did Dad say?”

Yuanyuan and Manman halted for a moment before speaking in concert, “Can’t run after eating!”

Qin Mian nodded approvingly, “Excellent!”

The two little boys went to the stairs in a well-behaved manner and climbed up step by step with their small legs as they counted in a crisp voice, “One, two, three…”

The pigtails on the top of their heads were like two young seedlings swaying; so adorable.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie slowly followed after them.

Arriving at the room on the second floor, there were also cards of various fruits on the wooden floor.

After Yuanyuan Manman finished counting, they rushed to Qin Mian to report.

“Dad, there are twenty-two fruits!” Yuanyuan rushed first and gave no time for his Didi.

Manman was not at all offended when his Gege rushed first. He smiled at his Gege and turned to look at his Dad, knowing that his Dad would ask questions.

“Yuanyuan and Manman remember how many fruits were there last night?” asked Qin Mian with a smile as he squatted down.

This time, Manman said it first, “Thirty.”

Qin Mian motioned to Lei Tie to ask next.

Lei Tie gently spoke, “A total of thirty fruits, only twenty-two left. How many fruits did the bird eat?”

Once again, Manman took the lead. With two small hands behind his back and head raised, he said in a somewhat proud manner, “Eight oh!”

“Manman is excellent!” Qin Mian kissed once on his cheek, “Dad asks you two again, which fruits are eaten by the bird?”

Manman touched his chin. Just now, he was only focused on counting.

Yuanyuan, with a calm appearance, answered, “Dad, the bird ate two apples, three strawberries, and three peaches.”

“Yuanyuan is also excellent!” Qin Mian also kissed him. He was very proud.

The game they played today was something he had figured out. The purpose was to let the children play indoors when the weather was bad and couldn’t play outdoors. They could also learn while walking to help digestion after eating a meal.

When Yuanyuan and Manman were one and a half years old, Qin Mian and Lei Tie found that they were more intelligent than ordinary children, and began to cultivate them after they turned two years old. The two children were excellent. The most prominent advantage of Yuanyuan was that he was careful and observant; meanwhile, the most prominent advantage of Manman was that he had an agile mind and quick reaction. Up to now, the three-year-old children in other families couldn’t count from one to ten, but Yuanyuan and Manman could skillfully calculate addition and subtraction within thirty.

Lei Tie then took them to play, “Yuanyuan, Manman, let’s put all the fruits [cards] into the basket.”

“Alright, Old Dad.”

On the bottom layer of the storage rack next to the wardrobe were two identical baskets made of bamboo in the size that could almost fit a basketball; each baskets’ handle hung with either Yuanyuan or Manman’s nametags. Yuanyuan and Manman could already recognize their names (couldn’t write it yet). After they found their names, they carried the baskets and picked up the cards on the floor with their small buttocks perked up. Once they had finished here, they would clean up the cards on the stair railing.

Qin Mian quietly went ahead.

After the two children had picked up the cards from the top to the bottom steps, Qin Mian said, “Alright, sons, let’s go up to put the cards away and place them in the drawer.”

“Yes.” Yuanyuan and Manman enthusiastically climbed up to the second floor while not realizing that their Dad ‘’cheated’’ them.

Upstairs, Qin Mian asked the two children to sort out the picture cards and count them separately. ‘Surprisingly’, they found that several cards were missing. Of course, Qin Mian had stealthily taken the few missing pieces. He asked the children what fruits they had lost. The two babies answered it correctly.

After learning mathematics, Lei Tie led two little boys to practice a set of fighting techniques: arms stretching and split kick. And that concluded the aiding digestion activity.

Next, the fathers taught their children how to write. At present, they used pencils. First, they learned Arabic numerals and some simple characters such as 天 (sky), 地 (ground), 风 (wind), 雨 (rain), 日 (sun), and so on.

The two boys yawned after learning for less than an hour. The two fathers coaxed them to sleep and put them in the crib. Only then they had their own free time.

Qin Mian lay down lazily on the bed, a little listless. “It’s no wonder that Manman doesn’t like rainy days, I don’t like it either. We can only coop up in the house, very boring.”

Lei Tie watched him quietly for a long time, and then suddenly closed the curtain, which made the room darker.

Qin Mian did not understand, “What are you doing?”

Lei Tie returned to the side of the bed, sat down on the edge of the bed, and raised his right hand. An orange spark suddenly appeared in his hand. Then, the spark grew bigger and bigger and gradually became round. It was like a rising sun floating upward. Finally, it stayed two chi¹ away from the roof. In the room, the table, chairs, wardrobe, bookshelf, and so on cast dark shadows on the walls and floor; silence yet lively.

Qin Mian quietly looked at Lei Tie and smiled. Then, he sat up, rested his body on the man’s back, and slowly wrote three words on his back with his index finger. At the last stroke, his finger was caught by a big palm.

Lei Tie kissed the slender finger and put it into his mouth. The tip of his tongue glided up and down on the pad of the finger as he licked it.

Qin Mian felt numb all over his body, just like an electric current spreading from his fingertips to his whole body. He dodged, “No, in case the children wake up…” With a wave of Lei Tie’s left hand, the curtain hanging in the middle of the room slowly unfolded into a cloth wall, separating the crib and the big bed into two small worlds.

Lei Tie made this curtain the next day when Yuanyuan and Manman saw Qin Mian and Lei Tie were intimate by chance. Every time Qin Mian saw it, he involuntarily recalled that scene and glared at Lei Tie fiercely but it had no deterrent force, only because he was looking forward to this.

A flash of a smile seemed to have passed by in Lei Tie’s eyes.

Qin Mian became angry. He exerted a force, pressed the man under his body, and triumphantly looked at him, “Give in or not?”

Lei Tie touched his face, softly called him “fool”, and fiercely kissed him…

Outside the window, the rain babbled and the wind was as cold as winter. Inside the house, however, was a scene of spring². Worried that they would wake up Yuanyuan and Manman, Qin Mian didn’t dare to make a sound. Therefore, his five senses seemed to be ten times sensitive than usual. At the happiest peak, he bit Lei Tie’s shoulder. Unable to suppress it, he let out a muffled yet provocative whimper.

Lei Tie hugged Qin Mian tightly, his shoulders sank as he achieved physical and mental connection with Qin Mian.

Weak and soft, Qin Mian lay on the man’s body with his head rubbed against his neck and cheek plastered on his skin.

The ‘’sun’’ above was gone at an unknown time.

Qin Mian pulled up the quilt to cover them both and mumbled, “It’s too dark. Don’t scare the children.”

Lei Tie exerted his spiritual energy to make the curtain slide to one side. His hands returned into the quilt and caressed the place he liked to fondle admiringly.

“Wife.”

“Hm,” answered Qin Mian lazily with his eyes closed.

“After our sons’ three-year-old birthday, our family is going to the Capital for a month,” said Lei Tie.

Qin Mian suddenly raised his head, looked at him in surprise, and happily counted the days, “Great! The boys’ birthday is on the 10th day of the 4th month, which is a warm spring day. It takes more than half a month to go to the Capital and then visit the Capital for a month, so when we come back, the weather won’t be too hot. Perfect! Also, this is our family’s first trip together!”

Lei Tie propped up his chin, kissed his lips, and put his arm back in his arms. “Sleep while the children aren’t awake.” He remembered that his wife planned to continue to expand the family business when the children reached the age of three; there would be fewer opportunities to go out and play in the future. Hence, now was a good time.

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