"Madam, wake up, wake up quickly!" Hearing the call in her ear, Jane Ning opened her eyes and saw Ding Youtian with long, ink-black hair, leaning over and looking at her anxiously.
After a moment of hesitation, she suddenly pulled his arm, turned over and sat up, threw herself into his arms, hugged his waist tightly with both hands, buried her face in his chest and cried.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Ding Youtian pressed her shoulders gently. When he woke up, he saw Jian Ning curled up in a ball, her face full of pain. The incident with the witch in his dream last time still frightened him, so he hurried to wake her up.
Jian Ning rubbed her forehead against his chest, then punched him on the back a few times. She was terrified. It was just a false alarm, she thought. How could it be a dream? In this time and space, she had parents, a husband, children, half-sisters, half-brothers, and disciples, as well as good sisters like Mei Niang and Tian Shi.
All of these people were real people in her life. The heart-wrenching pain in her dream was instantly ripped away the moment she embraced Ding Youtian. She held him like she was holding everything she had lost and regained, but it was only a moment later that she let go. She pushed him away and punched him on the shoulder. "It must be you rolling over and pressing on my chest that gave me this nightmare. Don't you mind? Get away."
She got out of bed, put on her embroidered shoes, and walked towards the door.
"Where are you going? You don't even comb your hair." Ding Youtian asked.
As she walked, Jian Ning straightened her messy hair and said, "I'm going to see my son. I'll wash up later."
Ding Qian was already awake, jumping up and down on his bed. He had been weaned two months earlier, and still slept with his wet nurse. Jian Ning tiptoed out of the room and came to his window. Through the perforated panes, she saw him leaping and hopping on the bed, hopping back and forth, giggling to avoid being caught by his wet nurse.
"Xuan'er, stop making noise, or you might catch a cold." Jian Ning shouted through the window. Ding Youtian gave names to Dabao and Ding Qian. Dabao was named Xiaorui and Ding Qian was named Xiaoxuan. One symbolizes good luck and the other symbolizes dignity.
"Mother!" Hearing her voice, Ding Qian jumped up and shouted excitedly, "I want my mother to dress me, not my wet nurse, mother!"
"Let me do it." Jane Ning pushed the door open and he jumped up into her arms. Jane Ning picked him up and used one hand to clamp his little nose. He immediately imitated the cow sounds taught by Erniu and Sanniu.
"My dear little brother, you are such a sweetheart." The wet nurse stood beside the couch and said with a smile.
"Mom, don't spoil him too much. If he doesn't listen, just beat him." Jane Ning said as she took the small clothes handed to her by the wet nurse. She pulled off Ding Qian's right arm that was on her shoulder and put it on him with the help of the wet nurse. Then he put his arms around Jane Ning's neck, stood on tiptoes and jumped on her legs, refusing to let them put the other arm on.
His arms and legs were so tender, and Jane Ning was afraid that she would hurt him with her heavy hands, so she didn't dare to use much force. After a while of fussing, she finally coaxed and tricked him into putting his clothes on.
"Mom, after breakfast, can you take me to see the circus?" He stayed on Jane Ning's legs and refused to get down. One hand was on Jane Ning's chest, and the other hand was trying to unbutton her clothes, but was slapped by Jane Ning.
"Are you ashamed? How old are you?" Jian Ning was also breastfed, but he drank from his wet nurse because it was not enough for him. Even though the little guy was weaned, he still craved milk from time to time.
"Hehe." He didn't cry even after being beaten. He didn't care at all. He kicked his short legs and pulled a strand of Jian Ning's hair and looked up and said, "Mom, after breakfast, let's go to the street to watch the acrobatics, okay?"
"No. Mom has to go to your aunt's house. I have something important to do today and can't take you with me. Also, Qiu Ge and Guo Guo are out helping me with something. They won't be back for a while. You stay home and play with your brothers. Be good and listen to your wet nurse. When I get home, I'll tell you stories and put you to sleep in the evening. Okay?"
Ding Qian loved listening to Jian Ning telling stories and liked her to put him to sleep, so he immediately clapped his hands and cheered.
Jian Ning secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was just trying to coax a child, there was nothing he could do. If Ding Qian knew that Brother Qiu and the others were gone, he would start howling and rolling on the ground, and he really wouldn't be able to handle it.
I can only keep it a secret for now. It won't be too late to tell him when he's older and can reason with me.
After breakfast, Jian Ning introduced bicycles. Nowadays, bicycles can be seen everywhere in the streets of Beijing. Most of them are still made of wood, and only a small number are half-wood and half-iron. They were developed and improved by Wu Yanxu and craftsmen. There are also bicycles for young boys from rich families to ride. Duan Xinyan bought one for Dabao and his friends.
When Jian Ning left, he took Erniu and Sanniu with him. They had been studying with Ah Man in the private school of the Taifu Mansion. Today, the teacher of the private school had to go out for a day off for something, so Jian Ning took them with him.
The three of them, mother and daughter, were chatting and laughing as they pedaled their bicycles. As soon as they turned into the long alley south of Prince Wu's mansion, they heard Tian's angry curses coming from the courtyard. Then the back door of the mansion opened, and Ma Xiaodou ran out in a panic. Seeing this, Erniu pedaled hard and rushed straight towards him, shouting, "Aunt, come quickly! I'll stop him for you!"
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" Ma Xiaodou turned left and she turned the car left, then right, and she followed suit. He was so angry that he grabbed the steering wheel with both hands and shook it hard from side to side.
Erniu screamed "Ouch" and the bicycle fell over. She jumped away and was fine. Ma Xiaodou couldn't control his strength and fell on the bicycle. Tian came up with a bamboo stick, grabbed one of his arms and started beating him.
On this side, Ma Xiaodou was beaten so hard that he cried like a wolf, and on the other side, Ding Qian was rolling on the ground crying loudly. Ding Youtian was going to teach the little prince, and he wanted to follow him. If he was not allowed to follow, he would roll on the ground and refuse.
Ding Youtian kicked him twice, and he cried even louder. He even rolled off the corridor into the yard, hitting his head with a loud thud on the blue brick floor. Ding Youtian was so frightened that he hurried forward to pull him up. After confirming that he was okay, he said with a stern face, "I can take you with me. We agreed in advance that you will go with Grandpa Wei and not run around in the palace. Can you do that?"
When he heard that he was being taken there, the little fellow stopped crying. With tears still glittering on his eyelashes, he grinned. With both hands, he grabbed Ding Youtian's official uniform on his chest and hurriedly headed towards the gate, "Daddy, let's go, let's go quickly."
"Change your clothes and wash your face before going. See what you've done. If you keep on being a scoundrel, I'll break your legs." Ding Youtian handed him over to the wet nurse. He was overjoyed to be able to go out and cooperated very well. After a while, he came back dressed in new clothes.
"I want to ride a big horse." He rushed forward, hugged Ding Youtian's thighs and was about to climb on him, but Ding Youtian pulled him up and put him on his neck. He was so happy that he shook his legs and butt and shouted loudly, "Go! Go faster, Daddy, go faster, run, run!"
Ding Youtian was aroused by the shouting and started running. However, just as he reached the gate, he felt a heat on his neck and a stream of hot urine flowed down his neck.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
