Chapter 423: Giving Birth

The child didn't look particularly fat, but he had long limbs and was full of energy. He opened his eyes just two hours after he was born, and Song Mo shouted curiously, "Look, look, he's looking at me!"

Jiang Yan immediately went over and looked at the child's eyes that looked like black grapes and couldn't help but say happily: "He is so handsome!"

Dou Zhao, who was leaning on the big pillow and eating the wine lees egg, couldn't help but smile. Ji Shi, who was sitting beside the bed and serving Dou Zhao the wine lees egg, laughed out loud and said, "My Lord, the delivery room is dirty, and you didn't sleep all night yesterday. Why don't you go out and have a rest first? This is to announce the good news to each family, send red eggs... There are still a lot of things waiting for my Lord to make a decision!"

Song Mo, who was so clever, smiled foolishly at this time and said, "It's okay, it's okay, I'm not sleepy yet. I drafted the names of the families to send the good news to last night and gave them to Liao Bifeng. As for other matters, my family will naturally take care of them. I don't have much to do." Then he asked, "Who do you think this child looks like? To me, he looks like me!"

The Fifth Madam and Han were not sure how to approach him, but Jiang Yan had no scruples. He looked at the child and said, "I think he looks more like my sister-in-law. Look at his little mouth, so rosy, and his hair, so shiny..."

Song Mo said rather unhappily: "My hair is also very black, and my lips were also very red when I was a child."

Jiang Yan was about to say something, but clever Cai had already heard what he was saying. Before Jiang Yan could open his mouth, she laughed and interrupted, "When the child was just born, I thought he looked a lot like the prince. Look at his fingers, so thin and long; his skin is red, and he will definitely be very white when he grows up; and his eyebrows, our fourth aunt had long eyebrows, but the prince's eyebrows are thicker."

Song Mo smiled happily.

The child yawned and closed his eyes.

Song Mo said excitedly: "Look, look, he yawned!"

No matter how he looked at it, he found it interesting.

All the women in the room laughed.

Dou Zhao had been tormented all night, and although he was in good spirits, he could not stand Song Mo's surprise and shouting while holding the child, "Did you tell the government? The child's third-day bath will be in two days, and you can ask your aunt to help with the arrangements then; for the child's full-month banquet, you may have to take a day off..."

Her words reminded Song Mo, and Song Mo instructed Gan Lu: "Go and tell Wu Yi to go to the government office and ask for leave for me. I won't go to the government office these few days."

Is this even possible?

Dou Zhao looked confused.

Song Mo didn't care at all, and said calmly: "I usually respect Gao Yuanhua as my superior and treat him with great courtesy. Now I have something to do at home and need to take a leave. If he refuses to give in and insists on blocking me, don't blame me for not taking him seriously. I will have to ask him to go somewhere else to show off his commanding power!"

Gao Yuanhua was the commander-in-chief of the Jinwu Guard, Song Mo's superior, a second-rank military general, and a close minister to the emperor.

Ji and others were used to Song Mo's gentleness and modesty, so they couldn't help but smack their lips when they heard this. Only then did they feel that the person in front of them was not only the fourth aunt of the Dou family, but also the eldest son of the Duke of Ying's Mansion.

Cai said without disguising, "Fourth Aunt is so impressive! No wonder others envy our Fourth Aunt for marrying well."

Such a shallow compliment, because it involved Dou Zhao, Song Mo actually showed a bit of joy between his brows.

Ji and the Fifth Madam couldn't help but exchange glances.

A servant loudly reported through the curtain: "My Lord, the eunuch Pang from the East Palace came over and said that the Crown Princess gave birth to another grandson last night. The Crown Prince specially asked him to come and ask whether our wife had given birth."

The women of the Dou family couldn't help but gasp.

I've heard for a long time that the Duke of England's Mansion enjoys great favor from the Emperor, but I never thought it would reach this extent - the Crown Prince and Song Mo have no reservations at all, they are just like brothers.

Song Mo did not notice the expressions of the women of the Dou family. He was still immersed in the joy of being a father for the first time. He said proudly, "Go and tell that eunuch Pang that his wife has also given birth to a son, weighing 2.5 pounds, and that both mother and child are safe. Tell him not to worry."

I had no intention of meeting that eunuch Pang.

However, Dou Zhao knew that this eunuch named Pang Lizhong was also a senior eunuch serving the crown prince, with more seniority than Cui Bianyi. It was said that he had served Empress Shen before and was always respected by the crown prince. Now he was serving the crown princess, responsible for taking care of her two grandchildren.

She hurriedly said, "You should go and take a look! Since the Crown Prince has sent someone to ask me, and the Crown Princess has just given birth to a son, it is only right that you meet Eunuch Pang in person and ask about the Crown Princess and the little grandson's situation."

Song Mo patted his forehead and said, "Look at me, I was only concerned about my own happiness, and forgot to ask what the situation was with the Crown Princess."

He gave the servant another instruction before carefully handing the child over to the wet nurse. He said goodbye to Ji and the others and left the delivery room.

Everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The doctor came forward to take Dou Zhao's pulse, the pregnant woman hurried forward to congratulate and ask for reward, the wet nurse held the child and patted him gently to comfort him, the woman on the stove boiled hot water, and the maids made brown sugar water to entertain the women of the Dou family.

The whole delivery room came alive.

Dou Zhao asked the nurse to put the child next to her pillow and said, "It's better to let him get used to sleeping in a bed. You always hold him like this, don't let him get used to it."

The wet nurse smiled and flattered, "The young master was born into a family like yours. Even if he doesn't sleep in a bed, there are people who take turns holding him day and night. What's the big deal?" She put the child next to Dou Zhao's pillow as she was told.

Dou Zhao looked at the red monkey-like child, and his heart finally settled down.

She told the hospital: "Don't boil malt water for me, just prescribe some milk-inducing prescriptions for me."

Everyone in the room was stunned.

The nurse was so frightened that she trembled and immediately knelt down in front of Dou Zhao's bed: "Madam, do you think I am rude? If I have done anything wrong, Madam, just tell me and I will change immediately..."

"You're fine." Dou Zhao asked Jiang Yan to help the wet nurse up, and said, "This is the first child of the prince and I. We have already discussed it and are ready to breastfeed ourselves. Don't worry. I asked you to come to my house to prevent me from having no milk or not enough milk. Otherwise, I would not have asked someone to bring your child to my house in advance - to avoid cutting off my milk supply."

The wet nurses were all introduced by the wet nurse's mansion. They had clean backgrounds and were one in a thousand. How could they be bad? However, Dou Zhao had few children in her previous life. In this life, she would never let anyone else raise her children.

Ji advised her: "Don't think that the child is sleeping soundly now. In a few days, he will grow up and need to eat and defecate. It will disturb you and I am afraid that your body will not be able to bear it."

"It's okay!" Dou Zhao said with a smile, "I've already made preparations." Then he assured Ji, "If I feel tired, it won't be too late to let them take over."

The attitude is very firm.

Ji thought that Dou Zhao was upset because she lost her mother when she was young, so she sighed softly and stopped trying to persuade her. Instead, she told her some things to pay attention to during the confinement period.

The Song family got the good news, and the eldest wife and others came to visit Dou Zhao.

The women of the Dou family took the opportunity to resign.

Dou Zhao asked Jiang Yan to help see the guests off.

Since Song Maochun and others depended on the Duke of Ying's Mansion for their livelihood, any movement in the Duke of Ying's Mansion would naturally not escape the attention of these people who were always keeping an eye on the Duke of Ying's Mansion. Song Mo did not publicize Jiang Yan's affairs, but he did not deliberately conceal them. Although Mrs. Song heard the maids of the Duke of Ying's Mansion spread rumors with details, saying that Song Yichun secretly sent the daughter born by Mrs. Jiang to the Jiang family to be raised in order to raise the son born by his concubine as the legitimate son under the name of Mrs. Jiang. Now that the Jiang family has fallen, the Song family has taken the daughter back... But who would do such a thing? She couldn't help but sneer, laughing at those maids who had nothing to do after eating and made up rumors full of loopholes. But when she met Jiang Yan at this moment, she was stunned.

Mrs. Song San was furious when she saw the house full of women from the Dou family.

No matter how close Mrs. Jiang was to the Jiang family, she never dared to completely ignore the Song family like Mrs. Dou did!

She lowered her head and whispered to Mrs. Song Si, not noticing Jiang Yan at all: "Why didn't you inform us aunts and uncles when your nephew's wife gave birth? Instead, you invited everyone from her mother's family. Are you not going to hold the third-day bathing ceremony?"

Who knew that after hearing this, Mrs. Song Si pulled her sleeve and then pointed to the door.

Mrs. Song San looked over and saw only the door curtain swaying. The women of the Dou family and Jiang Yan were no longer there, and naturally she did not see Jiang Yan either.

Just as she was confused, Jiang Yan turned back.

Mrs. Song San was startled and pointed at Jiang Yan and said "you". She suddenly realized that she had lost her composure, and quickly put down her arms, retracted her gaze, and returned to her previous cold and arrogant expression.

Dou Zhao looked at them with a smile, and introduced Jiang Yan to the three Song wives. Then, he sent Jiang Yan out on the pretext of asking her to check whether the old hen on the stove was ready, and said to the third Song wife with a smile, "I wonder what the third aunt thought of when she saw Sister Yan?"

Mrs. Song's face turned red and white, and she said awkwardly, "I just feel that this cousin of the Jiang family looks so much like my second sister-in-law!"

"Is it just because they look alike?" Dou Zhao, contrary to her usual silence, said aggressively, "It is said that when my mother-in-law gave birth to the second master, it was the midwife recommended by my aunt. But now the young master can't find that midwife. Don't you think it's strange?" As she spoke, her eyes fell sharply on Mrs. Song.

Mrs. Song almost jumped up.

"I, I also have good intentions." She hastily defended herself, beads of sweat already appearing on her forehead. "That old woman Wen is also quite famous in Kyoto. When I gave birth to Song Qin and Song Duo, I asked her to deliver the babies. How could she just disappear without a trace? Maybe that old woman has made enough money and doesn't want to do this anymore? I heard that the old woman only has one daughter, who married far away to Jinan Prefecture, or maybe she went to Jinan Prefecture."

"Maybe." Dou Zhao said with a smile, and ordered the maids to serve tea to the three Mrs. Song. He also said that the child had fallen asleep, so he would not hold the child in front of them. On the day of the third-day bath ceremony, he asked them to come early.

After the commotion just now, the three Mrs. Songs were in no mood to talk to her any more. They exchanged a few pleasantries and then left when Dou Zhao brought them tea.

Dou Zhao was also a little tired, so he said a few words and then lay down to sleep.

When Song Mo came back and heard that Dou Zhao had gone to bed, he walked into the delivery room with light steps. He stood beside the bed and stared at Dou Zhao and the child for a long time. Then he left the delivery room with a smile and went to write wedding invitations to his friends.