The next day, after getting up, the Zhou family would first visit Li Mai and the two children before going about their business.

Zhou Quan arrived early to keep Li Mai company, while he told his mother and Xu Changhuan to go back and rest.

The two children were very well-behaved all night, without crying or fussing. They woke up once to poop and pee once, were fed half a spoonful of warm water, smacked their lips, and then went back to sleep.

Both Zhao and Xu Changhuan laughed and said that these two children were too easy to raise.

Zhou Quan glanced at the water in the kettle and smiled.

Easy to raise?

He guessed that the two kids were picky eaters; the water was from a spiritual spring, and if they had been given ordinary water, they definitely wouldn't have reacted the same way.

Li Mai woke up instantly when Zhou Quan quietly lay down next to her; she could feel his presence in her sleep.

He buried his head beside her pillow and closed his eyes to rest.

Li Mai asked in a low voice, "You didn't sleep all night?"

"Hmm, I can't sleep!" Zhou Quan whispered. Hearing that she was awake, he reached out and pulled her into his arms, then lowered his head and kissed her forehead.

"Then close your eyes and sleep for a while. I'll wake you when the children wake up," Li Mai said softly.

Maybe because they slept together every day, and he was suddenly kicked out last night, he couldn't sleep alone?

No, with the older brother there, the two of them might have been talking about things all night.

Li Mai wondered to herself.

“No, my elder brother went back in the middle of the night. He named the children and went back to write the betrothal letters,” Zhou Quan said in a low voice.

"What's your name?"

"Daughter Zhou Mengyan, son Zhou Mengyu."

“Mengyan, Mengyu? Very down-to-earth names,” Li Mai said aptly.

“Yes, my brother said you dreamed about two children before. They are our family’s eldest grandchildren. For this generation, we will use the character ‘dream’ as their generation name. Yan’er is a fire element, so the character ‘smoke’ is suitable. Yu’er is a water element, so the character ‘rain’ is also suitable. I think it’s good, so I agreed to these two names,” Zhou Quan continued.

"Moreover, my elder brother said that the two children, whether from their birth charts or their status as spiritual practitioners from birth, will not be ordinary in the future. Since they are still young, it is better to give them more ordinary names. He said that when the children grow up, they can be given elegant and refined courtesy names."

“Hmm, that makes sense. You can take a nap. Our daughter’s nickname will be Yan’er, or Yan Yan. Our son’s nickname will be Xiao Yu, Yu Yu, or Yu’er. It’s up to the family to call him whatever they like!” Li Mai felt that since they had given him a formal name, it was easy to choose a nickname.

"Mmm!" Zhou Quan responded softly and then fell asleep.

When Zhou Tao brought Li Mai some porridge and eggs, she was startled to see her older brother talking next to her sister-in-law. Her mother had just told her not to let her older brother go to her sister-in-law's bed when she went back to rest. What should she do?

Is she going to pull her older brother out of bed?

"It's alright, move the small table over to the inside of the bed, I'll eat there," Li Mai said with a low laugh. "Your brother was so happy he didn't sleep all night."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tao immediately abandoned her thoughts. Well, her older brother had it tough too; he didn't get married until he was over twenty, became a father at twenty-four, and had twins at once. It's normal for him to be so excited he can't sleep.

After Li Mai finished eating, the two children woke up one after another.

Zhou Tao took turns changing the diapers, then wrapped them up and handed them to Li Mai to feed the baby.

First, feed Yan Yan. After Yan Yan is full, she is put back to sleep. Li Mai then feeds Yu Er.

Zhou Tao was playing with Yan Yan by the crib when a big head suddenly popped up next to Li Mai.

Li Mai quickly pushed him away, "Go eat breakfast now that you're awake."

"Oh!" Zhou Quan stretched on the ground and went over to look at their daughter with Zhou Tao.

Now the two children are easy to recognize. One is covered with a pink blanket, a pink pillow, and a pink mattress. Even the swaddle blanket and pillowcase are pink.

Yu'er's were all blue, and the siblings lay side by side.

"Xiao Tao, this is Yan'er, Zhou Mengyan, and her younger brother is Zhou Mengyu." Zhou Quan introduced his daughter's name to his sister.

"Yeah, I know, my sister-in-law just told me." Zhou Tao grinned. "I'll call her Yanbao and Yubao from now on, hehe."

"Yanbao" or "Yubao"? They sound better, don't they?

"Okay, then call her that." Zhou Quan smiled and gently placed his finger in his daughter's hand. The little one immediately grabbed her father's finger.

Zhou Quan exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, Yan Bao's grip is quite strong! She's holding on so tightly!"

Zhou Tao said with a smile, "That's why people usually say 'use all your strength' when they say they're exerting force, right? Babies have a lot of strength!"

"Heh, you know quite a lot!" Zhou Quan glanced at his sister.

Zhou Tao nodded, "Of course it was Mom who said it. Mom said you had a strong sucking strength when you were little, and you even..."

"I'm going to have breakfast!" Zhou Quan said, then ran away.

He was afraid his sister would bring up embarrassing stories about him being breastfed as a child. He didn't remember any of those things, and he didn't want his sister to bring them up.

"Hahaha!" came the low laughter of Li Mai and Zhou Tao from inside the house.

Zhou Tao felt that she had found a way to deal with her older brother.

Li Mai, on the other hand, found the interaction between the brother and sister quite interesting.

Li Mai had just finished feeding Yu Bao when Zhu Zhu came back after breakfast. She had taken the day off from Dr. Niu's to stay home with her mother, younger brother, and younger sister.

On the third day, Zhou Quan held a grand celebration for the two babies' third-day celebration.

According to the etiquette of the time, the third-day-after-birth ceremony began after lunch.

After the luncheon, everyone gradually went to Li Mai's room.

At this time, the two midwives who delivered Li Mai had already made preparations for the third-day-old ceremony.

The person presiding over the third-day-after-birth ceremony is not the child's elder or close relative, but must be the midwife who brought the child into the world.

A midwife is someone who delivers babies.

The third-day bath is the first bath a child receives after coming into this world, and it is of great significance. First, it washes away the impurities from the child's body, and second, it allows the child to receive the blessings of relatives and elders, and to grow up safely.

As everyone walked inside, they greeted each other with, "Have you eaten noodles?"

The other person would reply that they had eaten, specifically the three-course noodles, which were a must-have for lunch.

Zhu Zhu overheard the adults' conversation and realized how important the noodles the magpie had given her were. She turned around and ran back to continue eating the noodles she hadn't touched yet.

Inside the room, the midwives had already set up the ritual on the table beside Li Mai's bed.

The rooster and hen, their legs bound, sat steadily on the table, receiving Li Mai's incense offerings and kneeling worship.

Li Mai didn't understand why they were doing this. The midwife only said that they were worshipping the bed god and bed goddess. After she finished worshipping, they took the rooster and hen away. Then there were the spirit tablets of the Goddess of Childbirth, the Goddess of Fertility, Guanyin, and a series of other deities who grant children. Li Mai also burned incense and worshipped them.

It seems there are quite a few procedures. After worshipping the gods and thanking them for giving her a pair of healthy children, the spirit tablet is taken away, the table is cleared, and then it's time to bathe the children.