Chapter 646: Extra: Childhood 3

Extra: Childhood 3

After the dragon-and-phoenix twins left the hospital, they lay side by side in a large cradle, surrounded by the brothers.

Besides the earlier brothers, Song Huaiyu, Song Huaixian, Song Yusui, Lu Yuchu, and Song Yan were brought over by their respective fathers as soon as school let out.

Five three- or four-year-old tots, tiptoeing, curiously sized up the newborn brother and sister they were seeing for the first time.

Mu Xin slept with his eyes closed, deeply, his little fist loosely clenched.

Mu Youyu was awake, her eyes rolling around.

Song Yusui squatted beside the soft cushion, extended a little finger, and lightly touched the sister's soft little fist, which immediately grabbed it.

He exclaimed in delight, 'She grabbed me! Is she most fond of me, this brother?'

The four-year-old twin brother Lu Yuchu crossed his arms, with the air of a little adult who had seen it all, 'She just grabbed casually; try moving your hand aside, she'll still grab it.'

Song Yusui refused to believe it, and after waiting for the sister to loosen her grip, he extended his finger again, and she indeed grabbed it once more.

He said, no longer disbelieving, 'Ah! This is fate!'

Mu Xianqi squatted on the other side, 'The sister is so well-behaved today; how is she still so thin after being raised for weeks?'

Just as he poked his head forward to get a closer look, Mu Yichi reached out, pressed his forehead, and pushed him back, 'Don't move my sister; if she cries, it's all your fault.'

'How can you be so overbearing?' Mu Xianqi objected, 'Grandma said, the sister belongs to everyone!'

Mu Yichen didn't take much liking to the person who often fought with his brother, and he stepped to the side to block in front of his brother.

Mu Xianqi recalled the scene of being beaten by the two of them a few days earlier, and silently stepped back one step.

Song Huaixian paid no attention to these people, merely moving closer to the sister, 'The sister is so tiny, even smaller than this little brother; when will she start speaking?'

Song Yan squeezed in from behind, 'Soon, the sister will definitely be the first to learn to call "big brother".'

'That's definitely me.' Song LuXiao puffed out his chest, 'She'll definitely call me first.'

Mu Nian mocked, 'What place are you in?'

'I'm first!'

'Where did you get first place from?'

'In class!'

Mu Nian too, 'What a coincidence, who isn't?'

Just as they were making a fuss, Mu Xi, who had been led by Aunt Qing, woke up.

Little Mu Xi stood on a low stool, tiptoed to touch the sister's face, and earnestly said, 'Sister, you need to learn to speak quickly.'

Mu Yichi was melted by the cuteness, his soul flying away, he waved, 'Little treasure, come over, big brother wants to talk to you~'

Mu Xi ignored him.

When Mu Youyu was five months old, she could roll over and already lie on her side to grab toys by herself.

That afternoon, Grandma Mu was holding her and humming a song.

She suddenly lifted her face, opened her little mouth, and uttered a syllable close to 'grandma': 'nai, nai.'

The whole living room fell silent.

Just coming down from upstairs and about to head out, Song Ningsheng's hand trembled, 'Mom, did she just call grandma?'

Grandma Mu stared, lowered her head to look at the little granddaughter in her arms, and, overjoyed, lifted her up and spun her around.

'Yes, yes!'

The next second, Grandma Mu's eyes reddened, she tightened her hold on the child, 'Oh, grandma is here! Our little treasure is so smart! She can call someone! Grandma's dear heart treasure!'

Aunt Qing also turned her head and smiled, 'Oh my, the young lady speaks so early—at five months she can already call someone, and the first person she called was you, the old lady! Truly a little genius.'

Grandma Mu, delighted, announced on the spot, 'Oh dear, quick! Quickly contact the lawyer and transfer all my assets to my precious granddaughter's name!'

Aunt Qing wore a smile, but inwardly she broke a sweat for Grandfather Mu and the several young masters; this young lady, just turned five months old, saw her wealth shoot up instantly.

Song Ningsheng laughed brightly, 'Oh, then let me first thank the grandma who loves the little treasure most on her behalf.'

Grandma Mu hugged the precious granddaughter and kissed her again and again, 'Our little treasure, whatever you want in the future, grandma will give you.'

At that time, Mu Youyu was still too young to understand, but she felt ticklish from Grandma's kisses and burst out laughing with her mouth open.

After Mu Xin learned to walk, the household's liveliness rose another notch.

Ten-month-old Mu Youyu held onto the sofa edge, wobbling as she stood, with knee pads on her knees and soft-soled shoes on her feet.

Several brothers stood a few steps away, forming an irregular encirclement.

Mu Yichi squatted in front, holding a milk bottle, and spread his hands, 'Little treasure, come over, big brother has something to eat.'

Mu Youyu glanced at the bottle, pursed her lips, and loosened one of the fingers gripping the sofa edge.

Mu Xi held the even younger Mu Xin in her arms, 'Sister, come to big brother's side.'

Mu Nian, with one hand pulling a toy, also smiled and opened both arms to her.

Mu Youyu's eyes swept among the brothers, and she finally released her grip on the sofa and stepped forward.

She alternated her feet, moving forward a few steps, knees slightly bent, as if about to fall at any moment.

The brothers' encirclement moved automatically with her steps.

Finally, when she stopped in front of Mu Yichi, she reached out and grabbed his finger.

Mu Yichi grinned, almost floating away, 'Wow, our little treasure is amazing!'

Song LuXiao clapped beside her, 'Amazing!'

Mu Nian laughed and praised, 'Our little treasure is impressive, she's taken the first steps of life.'

He stroked her hair and stuffed the plush toy from his arms into her embrace.

Mu Youyu hugged a plush toy bigger than half her body, and showed the brothers a toothless grin.

The Zhuazhou ceremony was set up in the main hall of the Mu family's old residence, a fresh red silk cloth spread in the center of the carpet, filled with various items arranged haphazardly.

Small abacus, brush, wooden sword, seal, paintbrush, water gun, admission notice from a certain prestigious school, golden key……

Everything was arranged neatly according to the elders' wishes, each with a different meaning.

Little Mu Xin grabbed a small electric water gun, studied it for a moment, then raised it and squirted at Mu Yunshuo.

The elders, without missing a beat, began to praise: "Mu Xinbao is really smart, even knows how to play with a small water gun."

"Exactly! At just one year old, he knows to aim before shooting—such focus, he'll definitely have a bright future when he grows up!"

"Right, right, right, little Jing just presses toys randomly when he gets them, but our Xinbao knows to aim and shoot at just one year old—what does that show?"

"It shows he has strategy! He has a sense of purpose!"

"A sharpshooter! This is a sharpshooter!"

Upon hearing everyone's encouragement, little Mu Xin grew more excited, holding the water gun, he spun around and shot at the head of the loudest-speaking Mu Ye Ye.

The whole venue fell silent.

Mu Xin blinked his eyes, hid the water gun behind his back, and in a babyish voice said, "Eh," "Grandfather."

Mu Ye Ye laughed loudly, "Great! He knows how to shift blame—my grandson's IQ is off the charts, so our Youbao must be smart too!"

"……"

Mu Yunshuo placed little Mu Xin in his arms properly, then Song Ningsheng put Mu Youyu at the edge of the red silk cloth.

The little girl had her hair tied into two playful buns, wore a red dress with two large embroidered butterflies at the collar, wore a big gold necklace given by her grandmother on her neck, and had red cloth shoes on her feet, looking especially endearing.

Song Ningsheng reached out to her, gently coaxing, "Youbao, go pick something you like, pick it up and show it to Mom."

Mu Youyu propped herself up with her little hands, shook her head, and crawled forward half a step.

Her little hand waved in midair, first touching the paintbrush, then pulling back.

A gentle, good-natured laugh came from the crowd.

Behind Mu Yunshuo, Jiang Su held in his arms the not-yet-walking Jiang Liangjin, while Shen Ningmu stood at his side, clutching her phone, ready to record at any moment.

Grandma Jiang pulled Grandma Mu's arm, smiling, "This kid is quite picky—maybe she thinks this paintbrush isn't bright enough?"

Grandma Mu smiled and replied, "Youbao and Xibao both have minds of their own—they want to feel everything first, and toss it aside if they don't like it."

Some people: being picky can be called having a mind of one's own.

Mu Youyu's attention was suddenly drawn to something.

She tilted her head, her gaze sweeping past the carefully arranged items to land on Jiang Liangjin.

Fourteen-month-old Jiang Liangjin held Shen Ningmu's hand, still a distance from the rug.

He too wore a red outfit today, his hair soft and short, gazing out with a pair of clear, brown eyes.

Mu Youyu let out an "Ee-yah," crawled forward quickly using hands and feet, then slowly rose to her feet, her goal clear.

Everyone followed her direction with varying expressions.

Mu Ye Ye's brow twitched slightly, "Youbao, where are you crawling off to?"

Song Ningsheng also tilted her head in puzzlement.

Mu Youyu crawled all the way to the edge of the red silk cloth, stopped, lifted her head, and stretched out her two little hands toward Jiang Liangjin.

Shen Ningmu reacted first, squatting down, she nudged Jiang Liangjin forward, saying with a smile, "A Jin, A Yu wants you."

Jiang Liangjin, guided by his mother forward, lowered his head to look at the little girl whose face was upturned and hands reaching for him, instinctively stepped forward and extended his own hand.

Having thought the little treasure would pull him in, who knew Mu Youyu's little hand shot out straight to grab the bracelet he was holding.

Mu Ye Ye and Mu Yunshuo's smiles froze simultaneously.

Jiang Nainai and Jiang Ye Ye's eyes lit up.

Who doesn't know that bracelet is a Jiang family heirloom, passed only to the wife recognized as the head of each Jiang family generation!

Shen Ningmu incredulously covered her mouth, this bracelet had rarely been taken off her wrist, it was pulled off by Jiang Liangjin this morning when he came to the Mu family's old residence.

"Husband, our son will surely have a bright future—after all, he's Song Ningsheng's daughter!"

That Mu Yunshuo fellow constantly boasts in front of me about how great his daughter is; seeing this, Jiang Su also laughed, "Our son has a bright future!"

"Son, keep it up—someday you'll definitely win over Mu Yunshuo's precious daughter!"

The brothers wore strange expressions, not understanding why the sister would like a bracelet.

Mu Xi directly asked: "Shouldn't a sister be grabbing her brother's hand? Why grab someone else's?"

The adults burst into laughter.

Mu Nian bent down and patted his head, magnanimously, "It's fine, Youbao has her own ideas, he's also her brother."

Mu Xi frowned, stared at the two clasped hands for a good while, then muttered softly, "I'm her brother."

Mu Yunshuo watched his daughter clutch the bracelet unwilling to let go, a vague premonition suddenly welled up in his heart.

Grandma Mu smiled indulgently, "Our Youbao's hands are quick—she got exactly what she wanted in one try."

Mu Ye Ye only glanced toward Jiang Ye Ye's side, gritted his teeth: "That Jiang family brat is also a sly one!"

"……"

After the banquet dispersed, Song Ningsheng took back the bracelet from her daughter's hand.

Mu Youyu waved her little hands, protesting in baby talk: "Mom..."

Shen Ningmu laughed while coaxing: "Song Ningsheng, why not let her wear it to play?"

"That won't work, she can't even wear it now." Song Ningsheng passed the bracelet back, "If you want to give it, wait until your A Jin grows up and presents it himself."

That works too, Shen Ningmu lifted the bracelet before her son's eyes and shook it, "Hear that? This is for A Yu someday—you'll have to give it to her yourself."

She likes to call her female friends' daughters "A Yu," feeling it pairs with her own "A Jin."

Mu Youyu didn't quite understand, but knew this shiny thing could never be hers, she tugged at her little mouth: "Want brother."

Song Ningsheng laughed as she set her down in front of Mu Xin, letting the two play.

The brothers squatted in a circle, began a serious discussion.

Mu Yichi: "How do we make an identical bracelet for our sister?"

Song Huaixian raised his hand, "I can take one from Mom."

Mu Xianqi interjected, "I can give her my gold lock."

Mu Yichen's glare silenced him.

"……"

After she turned one, Mu Youyu's interactions with Jiang Liangjin also increased.

The elders of the Jiang and Shen families, intentionally or not, let the two children have more contact; the frequency of visiting each other's homes was much higher than before.

The Mu and Song brothers didn't stop them, but every time Jiang Liangjin was brought to the Mu residence by Shen Ningmu, they would stare a little longer.

Mu Yichi complained, "Why does he keep running over to my sister every day?"

Mu Yichen chimed in, "Exactly, and he keeps staring at my sister."

"Stop fussing, he's just here to play." Mu Nian sighed, already hoping these two brothers would hurry off to make up lessons.

These two not only like to abduct brothers, but also sisters.

Mu Xi sat silently at the side, his gaze continually following the small figure beside Shen Ningmu.

Jiang Liangjin's bright brown eyes swept past the brothers and landed precisely on the baby held by Song Ningsheng.

Mu Youyu lay on her mother's shoulder, her little face facing the doorway; meeting that gaze, she tilted her head.

Jiang Liangjin also tilted his head.

Mu Xi noticed, tugged at Shen Ningmu's sleeve, and she tilted her head, "What's up, Xiao Xi?"

Mu Xi is a well-liked little boy in both the Mu and Song families, especially the inseparable Mu Yichi and Mu Yichen brothers, who often snatch him from Mu Nian's arms to play with, yet refuse to return him to Mu Nian ahead of time.

Mu Xi said, "Aunt Shen, Grandma Shen misses you."

"Ah?" Shen Ningmu didn't understand at first, then realized and laughed, "Xiao Xi is telling me to hurry home."

She pushed her son forward, "My A Jin will play with you; Xiao Xi, you still remember saying you liked little brothers, right? He's your little brother too, coming especially to play with you."

Song Ningsheng was helpless, letting her friend fool her.

Mu Xi began to waver, "Why did you come to find me?"

Shen Ningmu fumbled, "Because he's been missing Mu Xi brother these past days, right, A Jin?"

Jiang Liangjin remained silent.

Mu Xi scrunched her face and took his little hand, "Alright then, I'll bring him to play today."

"Yes, truly obedient."