Chapter 73 Spending Time Together

After three months, little Cen An'an was able to roll over.

Zhuang Dongqing was on the bed at the time. He exclaimed "Eh!" and met the innocent eyes of the little boy lying crookedly on his side. Both father and son were surprised.

So Zhuang Dongqing turned Cen An'an back over.

Their eyes met, and after a moment, little An'an used all her strength and, with a thud, rolled over again, this time on the other side. She used too much force and landed belly-up on the bed.

Wow~

Zhuang Dongqing rubbed his eyes, confirming that he wasn't seeing things this time; his son really had been turned over.

Actually, Grandma had reminded her a few days ago that An'an should be able to roll over around this time, but Zhuang Dongqing didn't take it to heart, thinking it was too early and there was no rush.

I didn't expect his kid to be so talented; I gave him a performance today.

"Six blessings, six blessings~"

After calling the person in, Zhuang Dongqing turned little An'an back over.

A moment later, the master and servant both exclaimed in amazement at the little cub that had flipped over again.

Liu Fu: "He can roll over now!"

"Yes, yes, how amazing! Where is the prince?"

Zhuang Dongqing was preparing for her afternoon nap. Usually at this time, her grandmother would bring An'an over so that he could play with the little one on the bed for a while. When he was ready to sleep, Liufu would take him away to her so as not to disturb Zhuang Dongqing's rest.

Since the full moon banquet, Zhuang Dongqing has almost recovered, and Cen Yan has also started to carry out some salt inspection work with Li Yang. However, they only have a short time, so they still have to start by getting familiar with the situation. They also have to be cunning and avoid using salt reports from large provinces like Suzhou and Hangzhou. Instead, they chose a small county under Suzhou and used it as a benchmark. While the county magistrate was still confused, they ordered people to bring back all the documents related to salt affairs.

The documents in the box were divided in half between the two people. Li Yang had come with Cen Yan to gain experience, so Cen Yan told him to ask first if he didn't understand anything. Only if there were still mistakes would Cen Yan explain things to him in detail.

The good thing is that Li Yang takes it very seriously, making several trips to that small county town every month to inquire about everything, big or small. He can even ask Cen Yan to investigate any inconsistencies in the documents he has.

What made Cen Yan somewhat resentful was probably that Li Yang was too ambitious, often pulling him aside to ask questions, which disturbed his time after get off work when he was with Zhuang Dongqing and Cen An.

However, the salt administration was indeed a complex matter, and even a small county town could not sort it out in a short time. After lunch, Cen Yan went to his study, but recently, it had become common for him to go directly from his study to the government office, hence Zhuang Dongqing's question.

Liu Fu: "I was still in the study when I came in. Should I go and call the Prince over?"

Zhuang Dongqing looked at the little brat, then at Liu Fu, "Why don't you ask Liu Qi first? If he's busy, then forget it; if he's not, then have him come over."

Liu Fu went out as instructed.

Zhuang Dongqing then used a rattle to tease Cen An'an.

So, seeing Cen An'an trying to take the toy from his hand, Zhuang Dongqing wouldn't let her, and the two of them were having a great time playing together.

There's a famous saying that goes something like this: if you have a child but don't play with them, everything else is meaningless.

Zhuang Dongqing now has some understanding of this statement.

This was the scene that Cen Yan saw when he entered the inner room, leaving him both amused and exasperated.

"You let me in just so I could see how much fun you guys are having?"

"Huh?" Zhuang Dongqing quickly put down the rattle drum. "No, no, it's because your son can roll over now, so I wanted you to come and see."

After thinking for a moment, Zhuang Dongqing added, "Reading official documents for so long must be tiring, take a break."

Cen Yan was surprised for a moment, then sat down on the edge of the bed. "Okay."

Zhuang Dongqing pinched Xiao An'an's cheek. "Come on, flip it over for your dad. If you do, I'll give you the rattle drum, okay?"

Little Cen An'an can't speak, but she blew a bubble.

Zhuang Dongqing: "It's a deal!"

Cen Yan smiled faintly.

The third time Zhuang Dongqing rolled Cen An'an onto her back, Cen An'an yawned widely, whether from playing or from exhaustion, but she just wouldn't move.

The four eyes looked at little An'an for a while and could only tell that he seemed tired and sleepy.

Zhuang Dongqing: "..."

Cen Yan: "Or should I give him to Grandma?"

"No, I'll try another method."

Zhuang Dongqing shook the rattle drum, and the child opened his eyes again. Zhuang Dongqing then placed the rattle drum beside Cen An'an in front of him.

"Ah ah!" Cen An'an stretched out her chubby little hands and tried to grab it again.

Using that momentum, *snap*, he flipped over to the side and grabbed the rattle drum.

The little one giggled.

I don't know how to play; I just hold onto it and swing it left and right.

Zhuang Dongqing clapped, "Our An'an is so amazing, so great!"

Looking at the little boy's toothless smile, Cen Yan inexplicably smiled as well, praising, "Our An'an is so great."

After that, An'an performed the same routine for his grandmother and the nanny who took care of him.

According to her grandmother, after performing in turn and receiving praise, she slept soundly all afternoon and didn't wake up even once.

I don't know if it's because the energy was depleted.

*

When the baby was six months old, Zhuang Dongqing's health had fully recovered, and she was able to eat and sleep well again.

As previously agreed with Cen Yan, with nothing else to do, I began to learn medicine from Master Zhao's apprentice, starting with identifying medicinal herbs.

After several months, Cen Yan and Li Yang had figured out the key issues of salt administration, malpractices, and some systemic problems in the county town through this one county town. The salt administration problems in the county town were easy to handle and were not major issues, but from these small things, they could see the bigger picture. The problems existing in the salt administration in Jiangnan could not be eliminated overnight.

The good news is that the little one has learned to sit up.

And it sat very steadily.

After the Lunar New Year, the family of three spent the holiday at their house in Suzhou. On that day, the little boy was dressed up like a little lucky doll, wrapped up tightly, looking like a big red dumpling.

At eight months, the little one learned to crawl. The first word he uttered wasn't "father" or "mother," but rather "grandmother."

Zhuang Dongqing carried all sorts of herbs on his back, a task that was incredibly difficult for him.

Cen Yan and Li Yang also rectified the salt administration in two more places, preparing to gradually clean up the area from the local level.

When he turned one year old, it was another hot summer, and the little one could walk.

She can't walk steadily and keeps falling down. Every time she falls, she cries loudly.

They looked particularly pitiful, and on top of that, they were so cute that everyone in the Ren household would try to coax them.

The most fun part is the first birthday celebration, where the baby chooses an object to predict the future.

Many things were prepared: seals, scriptures, pens, ink, paper, inkstones, abacuses, gold ingots, food, and toy wooden knives and swords. The adults in the mansion all had their own ideas about what little Cen An'an wanted to grab.

As for Grandma, Liu Qi, Hao San, Xu Si, and Master Zhao, they naturally hoped that the little boy would seize the seal and become the next heir of the Dingxi Prince's Mansion (oh right, after requesting the title, Emperor Shengwu quickly agreed and sent someone to ask his birth mother, but of course, he couldn't find out anything).

Cen Yan hoped that his son would take a wooden sword and knife so that he could teach him all his martial arts skills in the future.

As for the wet nurses, there are many; some think it's better to have a pen, while others think it's better to have a gold ingot.

In short, before the baby's first birthday celebration, every adult was doing their best to tell little Cen An'an what to pick and what not to pick.

Grandma would wave a stamp in front of Cen An'an every day, trying to make him recognize it.

Liu Qi, Hao San, and Xu Si were no less formidable; Zhuang Dongqing had encountered them before.

Once inside, Cen Yan asked his son if he wanted to learn martial arts so that he could ride the tallest horse in the future.

Zhuang Dongqing didn't know if the little one could understand, but she felt that the child must have endured a lot, so much so that on the day of the formal first birthday celebration—

Cen An'an sat amidst a pile of things, glancing at each person as if she were struggling to grab something.

Cen An'an first climbed towards the wooden sword.

Before she could even reach out, Grandma coughed twice.

He turned and crawled toward the seal, but when he looked up, he noticed that his father didn't seem too happy.

Zhuang Dongqing only hoped that the child would be healthy and safe, so this biological father grabbed a handful of melon seeds and watched his son's drama unfold.

Then the most amazing scene unfolded. After careful consideration, little Cen An'an first kicked the scriptures and abacus down, then picked up the wooden sword with her left hand and the seal with her right hand, and placed them in the middle... It wasn't over yet.

Aside from the two things she kicked down, little Cen An'an piled the rest around herself, and was very happy after she finished piling them up, saying, "I want the medicine."

He even started learning the things that Cen Yan and his grandmother Liu Qi usually taught him.

Zhuang Dongqing: "..."

Could he really be a genius?!

Not only Zhuang Dongqing, but everyone in the room fell silent until Grandma cautiously asked An'an several times if she wanted all of these things. After An'an gave an affirmative answer, no one knows who started it, but laughter filled the room.

"It seems that the young master is a man of both literary and martial talents."

"Don't say that. The young master has always been intelligent, and the master is capable of everything. How could this be impossible?"

Hao San and Xu Si started boasting.

Zhuang Dongqing walked closer to the little boy, pinched his cheek, and muttered, "You little devil."

Unexpectedly, there was a surprise prepared for him today. The little brat suddenly said, "Daddy."

Zhuang Dongqing asked incredulously, "What did you call me?"

Little Cen An'an: "Baba, Daddy fell."

Zhuang Dongqing found it hard to describe the feeling at that moment. His eyes were a little hot. He picked up his son and brought him to Cen Yan. The little boy seemed to be able to distinguish who taught him the words. He called him "Dad" in front of Zhuang Dongqing, but when he was in front of Cen Yan, he repeated "Dad" in a different tone.

Cen Yan was naturally excited and immediately ignored the little brat's crazy first birthday celebration, kissing him several times.

Zhuang Dongqing could tell that this child knew how to make people happy.

Indeed, she's very clever.

*

At just over one year and two months old, Cen An'an was already walking very steadily.

But after Cen Yan and Li Yang finished dealing with the easy-to-manage areas around Suzhou, they had to head out to other places.

Since Li Yang was single, she simply settled down in a remote county. Cen Yan, on the other hand, would travel by boat, and even if he went on short business trips, he would usually return within seven days.

Little Cen An'an has slept with her grandmother since she was little. In this situation, some strange advantages also come into play. For example, Cen Yan and Zhuang Dongqing are so close that they don't have to worry about the little one.

But there are always awkward moments.

For example, while they were kissing, they both wanted to pull on each other's belts when Zhuang Dongqing suddenly saw a short, chubby figure standing by the inner curtain, and was instantly so frightened that he lost all interest in kissing.

"Baba, what are you and Daddy doing?"

Zhuang Dongqing: "..."

Society dies unexpectedly.

Fortunately, Cen Yan was thick-skinned and shamelessly said, "Daddy misses your father and is kissing him. Shouldn't we kiss An'an often too?"

The little one was confused: "It seems so."

In an awkward moment, the two quickly separated. Cen Yan picked up Cen An'an, while Zhuang Dongqing pretended to be dead.

"It's been a few days, has our An'an been a good girl?"

"Good boy!" the little brat exclaimed.

After coaxing her son for a while, Grandma came looking for her. Originally, Cen Yan planned to see Cen An after his afternoon nap, but Cen An probably came running over on his own after hearing that Cen Yan had returned. When Grandma saw that the little boy was not there, she went to the main house to look for him, and she found him every time.

"Let's come over after An'an falls asleep, okay? Sleeping helps you grow taller."

Okay.

The little brat has recently become inexplicably obsessed with growing taller. As soon as Cen Yan mentioned it, he was willing to go with his grandma.

She kept rubbing her eyes as she walked, which softened Cen Yan's heart.

She must have missed him, which is why she rushed over as soon as she heard the news.

Cen Yan followed her out and watched from the doorway as Grandma led Cen An'an away. Then, she slammed the main door shut.

Zhuang Dongqing: "..."

She wanted to say something, but as soon as he returned, a burning kiss landed on her, leaving Zhuang Dongqing completely disoriented.

As they rolled onto the bed, Zhuang Dongqing exhaled and said fiercely, "If you lock us up like this, everyone will know what we've been doing all day!"

Cen Yan: "Even if it's not closed, people who are meant to guess will still guess."

Zhuang Dongqing: "..."

His wrist was kissed, a gentle peck, and Cen Yan teased him, "You've been gone for so long, don't you miss me, Qingqing?"

"..."

Damn it, that's not how you think!

"Qingqing..."

Zhuang Dongqing couldn't stand it and took the initiative to shut Cen Yan's mouth.

Yes, the door is locked, so at least little Cen An'an won't be coming in anymore.