Seeing that Mr. Xu had changed his expression faster than flipping a book, Mrs. Xu gave him a kick and said, "In the future, watch your mouth! You should feel fortunate that third son's wife has a docile temperament. If you had said that to me when I was young, see if I'd rush over and scratch up your face!"
Mr. Xu was in a good mood, so why would he be bothered by Mrs. Xu's nagging?
Youngest Xu would soon have a child and he was going to be a grandfather once again. This was a huge blessing. All these other things were too trivial to worry over, and absolutely did not affect the old man's good mood.
...
The next morning, Mr. Xu got up early and called out to Eldest Xu and Second Xu.
"Father, why did you get up so early today?"
Looking at the sun, which was just about to rise from the east, Second Xu let out a large yawn.
"Today, the two of you will follow me into the mountains to cut trees," Mr. Xu stated, waving his hand in a domineering manner.
"Father, why are we cutting the tree?" Eldest Xu asked, dumbfounded.
Even if they were preparing firewood for winter, they didn't need to cut down trees!
"We need to get ready to build a house!" Mr. Xu gave his two sons a sideways glance. "Your mother is about to give birth and our house is not big enough."
Hearing what Mr. Xu said, Eldest Xu and Second Xu were shocked.
"But father, Mother hasn't given birth yet!"
"Furthermore, even if Mother had given birth, whether it is a younger brother or a younger sister, don't they have to live with the two of you in the beginning? Even if we do need to build a house, we don't have to worry about that yet!"
The two brothers spoke one after another, both disagreeing with their father's inexplicable decision to cut down trees and build a house.
"Cut the crap!" Mr. Xu pointed at his two sons. "We have to think in the long-term. Big Baby and Second Baby are slowly going to grow bigger. Do the two of you still want them sleeping with you later on?"
As soon as he said this, Eldest Xu and Second Xu immediately shook their heads in denial.
Even now, they no longer wanted to sleep with their sons. When they wanted to hug their wives and kiss them at night, they had to be careful, fearing being seen by those little bastards.
"So you have to prepare early and build the house!" Mr. Xu raised his head very proudly, "When I was young, I built the house early. How would there be three of you otherwise?"
"Father, you've made an excellent decision!" Eldest Xu exclaimed, showering flattery upon his father.
Second Xu was still smirking foolishly until he was slapped on the head by the old man, the smile finally dropping off of his face.
...
And so, the father-son trio hurried to the mountain.
Cutting down trees was not an easy task, especially cutting down the big ones used to build houses. It required a particular method.
First, they had to choose the right tree. This alone forced them to run a great deal in the forest on the mountain, searching for the right tree.
After they had determined that a tree was suitable, they could start their work, which was not directly cutting up the tree but cutting and peeling off its bark.
If they were to cut down the tree as it was, who knew when the trunk would be dry?
By the time it dried, it might have already been dragged away by others.
The usual procedures for cutting a tree were to first peel off the bark, wait until the tree dried to a certain extent, then cut the tree down and bring it home.
The trio went around the mountains until midday, picking and peeling the trees they needed.
On the way back home, Mr. Xu managed to catch a pheasant and Eldest Xu picked up a hare that had hit a tree. And probably because fortune favors fools, Second Xu fell, unexpectedly finding an old wild ginseng.