Chapter 1096 Mothers are always so suspicious
Xiao Zhan lowered his eyes and looked at the baby in the cradle, whose eyes and brows resembled his mother's, and secretly vowed to protect the last bloodline of the Lan family.
The stone lions outside the mansion gate were covered with a thin layer of frost. Lan Feng was about to mount his horse when he suddenly heard the crisp sound of silver bells colliding behind him.
Jiang Xiaoan hurried after him, carrying a medicine box. The morning mist left dark marks on the hem of his bamboo-green clothes.
"then!"
The white jade porcelain bottle drew an arc in the air: "The Nine Revolutions Pure Heart Pill specially made by my master can cure all kinds of poisons."
Seeing that Lan Feng was about to refuse, the heir of the Medical Saint directly opened his palm and stuffed the medicine bottle into it: "Snakes and insects are rampant at the border. Don't you want your father to pour wine at Xiao Zheng'er's first birthday party?"
The bluestone bricks reflected the overlapping shadows of the two people. Jiang Xiaoan suddenly patted him on the shoulder and said, "I will take Zheng'er to the old house to see the old general on the seventh day of every month. You can rest assured."
Lan Feng's Adam's apple rolled slightly, and his eyelashes wet with morning mist trembled slightly - since Xiao Wei left, this was the first time someone treated him as an ordinary person who needed care.
The neighing of horses broke the silence. Jiang Xiaoan looked at the figure disappearing in the smoke and dust, took out a candied plum from his sleeve and put it in his mouth.
As the sweet and sour taste spread, he seemed to see again the young man who protected his sister behind him and said he wanted to be a general.
Before the morning mist dissipated, Jiang Xiaoan handed the reins to Lan Feng, and his fingertips unconsciously stroked the calluses on the other's palms: "The wind and sand are strong at the border, remember to draw a small portrait of Zheng'er every month."
He looked at the dewdrops condensed on the other's armor, and vaguely recalled the scene at the farewell banquet that year, when Xiao Wei used a silver hairpin to pick up the glass wick and chatted with Lan Feng. Now, only the lonely copper bell under the eaves was left spinning in the wind.
Lan Feng's action of climbing onto the horse caused the iron armor to clang. Before leaving, he suddenly turned back and stuffed a warm oil-paper bag into Jiang Xiaoan's arms.
As the sound of horse hooves faded away, Jiang Xiaoan realized that it was the osmanthus candy that they often secretly bought when they were young. The icing on the sugar had long been melted into amber tears by body temperature.
"Jiang Xiaoan!"
When Fu Dong came over with a lantern, he saw the man looking up at the flocks of geese flying south. The moonlight made the shadows cast by his eyelashes look very long.
The little woman tiptoed to put the cloak on his shoulders, and was suddenly embraced in an embrace with the scent of pine and ink: "Fudong must grow taller than the city wall, so that he can watch the moon of the entire capital for me."
Thousands of miles away in the northern border palace, Huangfu Shang paused as he was dipping his brush into ink. The ink dripping from the tip of the wolf hair brush spread across the secret report, just covering the words "Jiang Xue gave birth prematurely".
He pushed open the carved wooden window and let the cold wind blow the fine snow onto his face:
"Send a message to the secret agents in the southern border to check the family tree of the officials of the Eastern Palace for three generations back."
Before he could finish his words, the candle on the desk suddenly sparkled, making the dim light in his eyes even brighter.
In the late dewy night in the imperial palace, Jiang Xue stepped barefoot on the gilded carpet, her fingertips hovering over the crib, not daring to put them down.
When Xiao Zhan chased after her with a candlestick in hand, he saw the moonlight outlining her paper-thin silhouette.
"Xiaoxue heard it wrong, it was the night owl crying."
He wrapped her cold feet in his palms, but heard her mumbling to herself: "Just now in my dream, there was a little boy wearing a tiger hat, chasing me and calling me mother..."
There was no sound in the night, not even the slightest sob. Xiao Zhan tucked his wife's hair behind her ears and said, "Xiaoxue must have heard it wrong."
Jiang Xue looked at the swaying shadows of the trees outside the window, feeling a pang of worry in her heart: "Let me go check on the children so I can feel at ease."
She leaned on the edge of the bed and tried to get up, but her husband's broad palm covered her shoulders.
"Would you please let me be your sedan chair again?"
Xiao Zhan grabbed his wife's slender waist and held her horizontally in his arms. When he lowered his head, the tip of his nose almost touched her pale cheek: "This saves energy and keeps us warm."
Jiang Xue took the opportunity to wrap her arms around her husband's neck, her sleeves slipping down to reveal her incredibly thin wrist bones: "Yun Che always says that I'm as light as a kite, but when you hold me, it's like you're holding the entire spring."
As he walked through the corridor, the lanterns swayed in the wind, making the furrows between Xiao Zhan's brows even deeper.
He tightened his arms as if he was holding a fragile glass cup, and his voice was muffled in his throat: "I'll ask the kitchen to stew some medicinal food tomorrow. You have to grow longer..."
The baby's face was red as he slept in the swaddling clothes with blue brocade patterns.
The nurse held up a candlestick and shone clearly: "The prince drank the goat's milk at 12:00 pm and fell asleep without even turning over."
Jiang Xue stroked her son's bulging cheeks with her fingertips, turned to her husband and smiled softly: "Maybe he misheard the sound of snow falling on the window frame."
After seeing her daughter who was also sleeping soundly in the west wing, Jiang Xue leaned on her husband's shoulder and laughed at herself: "Mothers are always so suspicious."
Outside the corridor, the north wind blew snowflakes onto the window paper. Xiao Zhan wrapped his cloak tightly around the person in his arms: "I mistook the sound of the wind for a baby crying, which is more reassuring than hearing the actual crying."
The moonlight was as bright as a silk thread, shining through the carved window lattices onto the baby's silver silk swaddling clothes.
Jiang Xue's fingertips stroked Yaoyao's pearly cheeks. The soft touch made her smile. "It's much rounder than when it was a full moon. I feel it's heavy in my hands these past two days."
Xiao Zhan placed the warmed goat milk on the table and glanced at his daughter's wrist, which looked like a lotus root knot. "The day before yesterday, she weighed as much as a full-term baby. It can be seen that Aunt Zhang and the others have taken good care of her."
He stretched out his hand to test the temperature of the copper stove, and wrapped the swaddling clothes a little tighter: "As for you, you should drink the medicine to replenish your qi and blood at ease."
As the candlelight flickered, Jiang Xue suddenly grabbed her husband's sleeve and said, "If I hadn't been weak from premature birth that day..."
The words stopped abruptly as Xiao Zhan handed her the candied fruit. The man covered her slightly cold hand with his broad palm: "The west wing is only a few steps away, why are you so upset?"
"You don't understand."
She buried her face in Yaoyao's clothes that smelled of milk: "If I could fall asleep every night listening to this heartbeat, maybe I wouldn't..."
The unfinished words turned into a sigh. The gilded candlestick burst into sparkles, reflecting the sparkling water in her eyes.
Xiao Zhan calmly changed the subject: "Zheng'er broke the jade abacus again during the one-year-old celebration today."
Sure enough, he saw his wife burst into laughter and asked Zheng'er about interesting things.
He embraced his wife and daughter and let her talk about parenting when he suddenly felt his sleeve being pulled.
"If we wait until the children are half a year old..."
Jiang Xue's eyes were filled with hope: "The wet nurse said that we don't have to get up at night to feed then, we..."
“No.”
Xiao Zhan interrupted the conversation and twirled his daughter's hair with his fingertips: "She will be frightened and cry at night if she suddenly changes her environment."
In fact, he was thinking about the steamed sugar-coated yogurt that was neglected yesterday. It had been more than a month since he and his wife were alone to appreciate the moon since the twins were born.
Jiang Xue was about to argue when she saw the clock pointing to midnight. She hurriedly pushed her husband to the inner room and said, "We still have to assist in government affairs tomorrow, so please get some rest early."
As Xiao Zhan's breathing gradually became heavier, she stared at the intricate winding branch patterns on the ceiling of the tent in a trance.
Suddenly, a warm hand covered my eyes: "You are not even half as good as Zheng Er in pretending to sleep."
The night breeze blew through the corridor, carrying the scent of jasmine that soaked the gauze curtains.
Xiao Zhan tucked his wife's loose black hair behind her ears and listened to her chattering about her worries about her children. He was suddenly glad that the candle was out.
If she saw the smile on his lips, she would definitely blame him for not knowing how to be sad.
When the morning light climbed up the window frame, Jiang Xue's eyelashes trembled slightly, meeting the pair of pupils like deep pools within reach.
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