It was a pleasant surprise that Xu Lanting could come. He had grown taller and was more well-mannered.
Not to mention Xu Lanyin holding his face and laughing, even Min Jia and Xu Lanyue each held one of his hands and told him their farewell feelings.
Min Jia and Xu Lanyue knew that Qin would come in the next few days, so they came to Zhao's house after school every day.
Being surrounded by three beauties made Xu Lanting extremely happy, his eyes narrowed with smiles. He said, "I miss Jiajia and my sister, and even more so my eldest sister and nephew. I promised my father that I would write five large characters and recite them for an hour every day, so he let me come..."
Qin looked at Xu Lanyin's belly and smiled, "It's not too big, so it should be easy to give birth."
Xu Lanyin hugged her arm and said coquettishly, "I always remember what my mother said. I exercise every day and control my diet."
She looked Qin up and down. She had gained some weight and her eyes were calm. She must be living a good life in the capital.
Qin glared at her, sent the three children to the living room, and told them about life in the capital.
Although Xu Qingyan was in the capital, she wasn't often at home. Besides managing the household and her son, she would occasionally visit the Nanyang Princess's residence to keep the old lady company. Relatives from the third branch of the Chai family would occasionally visit, and the Beiyang Princess's residence and Wang Yi didn't cause any trouble... She was the head of the household, leading a leisurely and comfortable life without feeling lonely.
It was also said that the day before they left Beijing, Wen Zhuolin was accidentally beaten to death while competing with someone for a red card, and the red card player also died.
Ma Zi had already sent a letter about this matter, and Li Luo explained it in greater detail. The person vying for the red card was arranged by the Pu family, and the phoenix-headed hairpin in the red card's hand was also secretly taken away by the Pu family. It's unclear what they would think if they saw it was a counterfeit. They might think the real thing was still in the hands of the Wen family, which would be a lot of fun to watch. Li Luo also suspected that the Pu family was so concerned about the hairpin because its secret might be related to the Pu family's survival, and therefore to the imperial palace...
This further confirmed Su Qing's earlier claim that the Empress Dowager had worn this hairpin. Zhao Wu and Xu Lanyin shared this sentiment, and they paid closer attention to Nanny Yu, who had spent her early years in the palace in Ningzhou Prefecture. Although Zhao Wu's men hadn't seen Nanny Yu, they had tracked down her family. Nanny Yu had been a surrogate daughter of the Pu family, married into the palace with the Empress Dowager, and later expelled due to a misdeed. She had never married, her parents and brothers were all dead, and she had only a nephew who lived on the farm...
Xu Lanyin said that no one had lived next door for a long time and it was cold. So she let Qin live in the north room of the east wing, Xu Lanting live in the south room of the east wing, and the two little girls live in the west room of the main house. The west wing was used as a delivery room.
The house was cleaned up and Zhao Wu also came back.
Zhao Wu smiled brightly. He was worried about Xu Lanyin, but he couldn't always be there. Now that his mother-in-law had come, the midwife's house was just across the street. She came to visit every day, and he felt relieved.
The next day, the Qin and Min families were invited to spend the day together. On the third day, someone was sent to invite the old couple from the Xu family and the eldest family. Except for Old Man Xu, who did not dare to come, everyone else came.
On the afternoon of the ninth day of the first lunar month, the Ministry of Justice's reply regarding Fan Zhong's rape and murder case arrived. It stated that Fan Zhong's crimes were extremely heinous, and that his immediate death sentence had been commuted to death by slicing, to be carried out at three quarters past noon on the fifteenth day of the winter lunar month in the vegetable market on West Street in Ningzhou Prefecture.
Zhuzi read the notice outside and ran back to tell Xu Lanyin that she felt sick. Although she felt that Fan Zhong deserved death, she still felt extremely uncomfortable hearing those two words.
Qin scolded, "Don't bring up such things in the future. Young ladies are so timid."
Uncle Jia was so angry that he locked Zhuzi in the house and beat him severely.
Zhao Wu returned that evening and didn't mention Fan Zhong's retrial. He simply said that Min Hu credited him with the quick capture of Fan Zhong and would reward him, with the prospect of a promotion next year. He also said that the Minister of Justice had repeatedly tried to get Zhao Wu to the Ministry of Justice, but Min Hu had refused.
Qin was also happy that her son-in-law was capable. She smiled and said, "Not to mention the Ministry of Justice, even my eldest brother has mentioned many times that he wants to transfer you to the Imperial Guard. He said that if you go there, you will have a better future..."
The big brother she was referring to was Commander Chai Rong, not someone from the second branch of the Chai family.
That night, Xu Lanyin was sleeping soundly when she was suddenly awakened by severe stomach pain.
Hearing her cry of "ouch", Zhao Wu sat up and asked, "Are you going to give birth?"
Xu Lanyin said, "That should be the case. My stomach hurts."
Zhao Wuyi repeatedly called Lu into the house, and asked the maid to go to the front yard to tell He Dong to call a midwife.
Seeing Zhao Wu's face flushed with anxiety, Mrs. Lu comforted him, "Don't worry, Second Master. Second Madam has just started labor pains and it will take some time before she gives birth."
Qin also heard the noise, so she quickly put on her clothes and went into the house, helping Xu Lanyin to the west wing.
A quarter of an hour later, the midwife arrived. She felt Xu Lanyin's belly, looked at her lower body, and said it was still early and there was no rush. She then asked someone to cook her a bowl of egg noodles.
Qin Shi didn't enter the delivery room, but stayed in the west wing. Zhao Wulian didn't even let him in. He just stood under the window of the delivery room, and hadn't left since Xu Lanyin entered. He even ate breakfast standing here.
Xu Lanting, Xu Lanyue, and Min Jia didn't want to leave, pouting and insisting on waiting for their eldest sister (Aunt Xu) to give birth. Qin didn't know when Xu Lanyin would give birth, and fearing they would cause trouble, she had them sent to Min Mansion early in the morning.
Xu Lanyin's body is more resistant to pain. She endures it when it doesn't hurt much, and only screams when she really can't help it.
Zhao Wu thought Xu Lanyin was holding it in, and felt extremely distressed. He advised from outside the window, "Sister, if it hurts, just scream it out. Don't hold it in. It's painful to hold it in."
He got anxious and called out the old name again.
Xu Lanyin didn't think it hurt too much at first, but when she heard this, she felt a little pain and groaned a few more times.
Although this was her first child, the birth went very smoothly, and she was born at the beginning of the morning. From labor pains to birth, it took only a little over three hours.
The baby cried loudly, and Qin said happily, "Listen to this loud voice, the child must be healthy."
Then the midwife shouted, "Congratulations, Grandma Zhao, it's a boy."
The servants in the yard burst into congratulations again.
Zhao Wu wanted to rush into the house, but was stopped by Qin, "You can come in after the house is cleaned up." She then sent someone to the Xu and Qin families in the east of the city to announce the good news, and then went to Min Mansion to bring the children back.
Xu Lanyin was packed up and moved to the north room. She was in very good health, so giving birth to this child didn't seem too difficult.
She took the child from Qin's arms. It wasn't big, and looked red and wrinkled. Still, it was very pretty, with double eyelids, long eyelids, a straight nose, and a chubby, red mouth with sharp corners. This child looked nothing like Zhao Wu before her "plastic surgery," nor did she look much like herself.
The child opened one eye and closed the other, looking at Xu Lanyin quietly. Xu Lanyin loved him so much that she leaned over and kissed his tender little face twice.
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