The little thing in the cradle, with wide-open eyes, looked at the person casting a large shadow over his bed. In her clear eyes was a purity as transparent as crystal, like a mirror.
Zhou Gu thought to himself that she had a pair of nice eyes, like Su Rong’s. Through these eyes, she could barely be considered cute.
He tentatively stretched out his finger to touch her face, gently closing in. The little one did not move, allowing the pad of his finger to rest on her cheek. A marvelous feeling rose in Zhou Gu’s heart, and he instantly felt extreme love for this little thing.
This was the child Yuewan had struggled to bring into the world; she had scared him half to death. She was the combination of their shared bloodline. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞
"How is it? Cute, right?" the Lady of the Duke asked with a smile.
Zhou Gu nodded involuntarily. She was indeed quite cute.
The lady laughed, "We all thought she was cute too. Originally, her nickname was Chouchou, but seeing her this adorable, how could we continue calling her Chouchou?"
Zhou Gu held back for a moment, then couldn’t resist asking, "Mother, isn’t it said that a humble name makes for easier raising?"
The lady laughed, "Our Little Princess is precious and esteemed; any nickname would suffice for raising her well. It doesn’t matter. Cute sounds the best."
Zhou Gu nodded, "That makes sense."
He too found Chouchou distasteful; ’Little Cutie’ was better. They all loved her, and she would surely grow up healthy and happy amidst the expectations of all the elders.
She was his daughter, his and Yuewan’s daughter.
Joy flooded his heart, and he bent down, lowering his head to kiss the little girl’s face.
The Lady of the Duke pushed him away with a slap, "Get away, you’re not allowed to kiss her. She’s too small. You’re only allowed to touch."
Zhou Gu, feeling helpless, looked at his mother and could only touch his daughter’s cheek, smiling, "Mother, she really is well-behaved."
"Indeed, very well-behaved." The Lady of the Duke was overjoyed, "She’s more well-behaved than you were at that age. I still remember when your grandfather came to see you when you were born. You had only been born for a day and grabbed straight for your grandfather’s beard. At that time, your grandmother said you would surely be mischievous, and indeed, later on, you were difficult to manage, always making your grandfather pick up a stick."
Zhou Gu huffed, "He was just stubborn."
The Lady of the Duke laughed, "Yuewan hasn’t woken up yet?"
"Not yet." Zhou Gu looked at his daughter, unable to turn his gaze away, "She’s exhausted, sleeping so deeply; I don’t know how long she’ll sleep."
"You go keep her company! We’ll take care of things here. You just relax." the Lady of the Duke shooed him away.
Zhou Gu muttered, "With you looking after things, what do I have to worry about?"
He had intended just to have a look, but now that he had, he wanted to leave. So, he stood up, greeted everyone, and then left the side hall.
After he left, the Lady of the Duke said with a laugh, "See his demeanor. He’s going to be a doting father."
The Lady of the Duke was happy, "Our Little Princess deserves to be doted on by everyone."
Zhou Gu returned to his room to find Su Rong awake, being fed by Nanny Zhao. He tiptoed and pushed the door open, laughing instantly when he saw her, "Awake, huh? Nanny Zhao, why didn’t you call me?"
"Aren’t you visiting the Little Princess? I thought to let you spend more time there." Nanny Zhao aired the spoonful of porridge while feeding Su Rong and responding to him.
Zhou Gu stepped closer, reaching out his hand, "You go, I’ll take over."
Nanny Zhao sighed. Ever since the mistress had become pregnant, she had been pushed to the sidelines concerning her mistress’s affairs. Not only she, but even Nanny Zhao privately complained about being sidelined. If it weren’t for their duties in the Palace, they both felt they could retire.
She handed what she was holding to Zhou Gu, retreated out of habit, closed the door behind her, refrained from commenting any further, and, unable to resist, ran off to see Little Cutie.
Zhou Gu sat by the bed, feeding Su Rong and meanwhile asking her, "Still feeling discomfort?"
"Not much now." Su Rong shook her head.
Zhou Gu smiled at her, "You’ve worked hard."
Su Rong also smiled, "It’s been harder on you, right? Today, your face was paler than mine."
Zhou Gu denied it, "You haven’t looked in the mirror, how do you know your face is less pale than mine?"
"Mother mentioned it."
Zhou Gu was momentarily speechless, "She saw wrong."
Su Rong laughed.
Zhou Gu slowly and calmly finished feeding Su Rong a bowl of porridge, "Do you want another bowl?"
Su Rong shook her head, "No thanks, it’s tasteless."
Zhou Gu sighed, "Bear with it, you’re sitting the month, you can’t eat too salty." After a pause, he added, "I’ll eat with you."
"You wish, what if you get fat? This is a medicinal meal specially made for me by Doctor Zhang to nourish my body," Su Rong disagreed and shooed him away, "Go eat your meal, you’re not allowed to eat what was made specially for me."
Zhou Gu clicked his tongue, "Alright."
He stood up, walked to the table, first placed down the bowl, poured a cup of warm water, and brought it over to Su Rong to drink.
Su Rong sipped the water from his hand, appreciating his proficiency and thorough care. She had gotten used to it because this past year, that was how he had been serving her, to the point where she almost did not move a limb anymore.
After Su Rong finished drinking the water, Zhou Gu opened the bedroom door and instructed someone to bring his dinner.
Soon, someone came with the dinner, and after thinking, Zhou Gu left the inner room and went to the outer room to eat by himself.
He ate quickly, almost wolfing down the food. After getting about seventy to eighty percent full, he put down the chopsticks and rinsed his mouth with tea before returning to keep Su Rong company.
When Su Rong saw him come in, she realized, "What’s the rush? You ate too fast, that’s not good for the stomach."
"I wanted to be with you," Zhou Gu leaned by the bed and kissed her gently, "Do you want to sleep a bit more?"
Although still tired, Su Rong didn’t feel much like sleeping, "Where’s the little one?"
"It’s the little darling," Zhou Gu corrected.
Su Rong looked at him, "Darling?"
"Yes, the grandmothers and mother named her that," Zhou Gu explained.
Su Rong was surprised, "Wasn’t it Chouchou? Hadn’t they all agreed on that early in the morning? Why the change of mind?"
Zhou Gu replied, "They said after seeing the little one so adorable at birth, they decided to change it."
Su Rong clicked her tongue, "Women really are fickle."
Zhou Gu laughed, "She is quite adorable. I just went to look at her, and she was looking at me with her eyes open, almost melted my heart."
Su Rong suddenly felt jealous, "What about me? Doesn’t your heart melt when I look at you?"
"How could it not?" Zhou Gu looked at her amusingly, leaned close to her ear, and whispered, "It’s different. When you look at me, I just want to devour you."
Su Rong: "..."
She had just started sitting the month, and he was already flirting with her.
She pushed him away with her hand, pushing and laughing at the same time, "Stop teasing me, go away."
Zhou Gu stepped back a bit, sighing, "Ah, Grandmother said you need to sit the full forty days of the month, and I will have two more months of monk-like days. How torturous."
Su Rong endured, "Isn’t that the case for everyone?"
Zhou Gu laughed, moved closer again, and wrapped his arms around her, "Let’s just have this one!"
"No."
Zhou Gu sighed, "You want to scare me again?"
"Grandmother and mother said the first birth is harder, the second and third are easier. Nanchu has a low birth rate; we need to set an example," Su Rong felt having more siblings was not a bad thing, as she grew up having fun bullying them.
Seeing her not afraid of the hard work, what could Zhou Gu say? He could only agree and lay beside her to chat, "I’ve thought of our daughter’s name. Let’s call her Chu An."
Su Rong looked at him, "Wasn’t it agreed that the first child would have the Zhou surname?"
Zhou Gu shook his head, "It’s Chu, she will inherit your throne. Aren’t you going to have more? Since she’s the eldest daughter, she deserves to bear some hardship."
Su Rong laughed, "Alright then! Just like my big brother, being the eldest brother, he always had greater responsibilities, and being the eldest daughter, she should too."
In a few words, the future of Chu An was settled between them, without asking the opinion of the newborn, who even struggled to breathe while nursing.
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