The day of the baby's third-day celebration had arrived. Early in the morning, the Princess Consort sent someone to deliver the necessary items to Yan Yu. The four wet nurses had also arrived long ago. At this moment, they were standing in front of Yan Yu's bed, holding the prince and princess.
Yan Yu, having lost a lot of blood during childbirth, was still lying in bed and hadn't gotten up. Madam Liu wanted to stay a few more days, but Yan Yu, concerned about the two midwives, let her leave.
"Your Highness, everything for the little prince and princess's third-day celebration has been prepared. The Fujin and the princesses from various places will also be arriving later." The speaker was one of the nannies under Li Mama's command.
"Thank you for your trouble, Granny. Fangyun, please give the gifts to the prince and the little princess." Yan Yu smiled faintly.
After seeing the nanny off, Yan Yu got up with Chun Tao's help. Zhui'er had prepared a light pink qipao for her, and a set of gilded gemstone headdresses was already prepared on the dressing table.
Zhui'er and Chun Tao helped Yan Yu get dressed and then helped her sit down in front of the dressing table.
Fangyun walked in and saw two maids combing Yanyu's hair. She went over and said, "Go and check the things for the baby's third-day celebration. See if anything is missing. I'll help the princess comb her hair."
The two maids exchanged a glance and then silently withdrew.
"Princess, let me style your hair into a 'draped-wing' style. Paired with these gilded and jeweled headdresses, it will surely be incredibly magnificent," Fangyun said ingratiatingly.
However, Yan Yu seemed to lack energy and only gave a faint "hmm".
"Princess, you seem to have something on your mind?" Fangyun carefully observed Yan Yu's expression while combing her hair.
"The Princess Consort has already sent out the news that I gave birth to twins, and the Master should have already replied. I wonder what his reaction was?" Yan Yu asked.
"Your Highness is extremely worried. You have already given birth to twins, so your promotion is certain," Fangyun said ingratiatingly.
"I wonder what the Princess Consort is thinking. We can try to find out later," Yan Yu said. She knew that her twins, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, had disrupted the Princess Consort's plans. At this moment, she certainly wasn't happy.
After Yan Yu finished getting ready, the Fujin (princess's wife) and the other princesses from the inner quarters arrived at her side. The head nanny followed behind her. The Fujin was somewhat surprised that she was asked to perform the third-day bath for Yu Gege's two children.
"This humble servant greets the Princess Consort and all the ladies!" Yan Yu stood at the door and greeted the Princess Consort and all the women as they entered.
"You just gave birth, what are you doing standing here? Come inside and sit down," the wife said reproachfully, a faint smile on her face.
Everyone entered the room, where a large round table in the center was laden with various items. A large copper basin sat in the center, filled with a grassy-green water, boiled with locust branches and mugwort leaves, believed to ward off evil spirits and insects. Around the basin were various items: a measuring cup, a lock, a scale, a small mirror, a toothbrush, a tongue scraper, a piece of blue cloth, green tea leaves, a new comb, a new cage, rouge powder, a soap ball made from pig pancreas, a new towel, a copper tea tray, ginger slices, scallions… Several maids following the head maid carried trays containing auspicious fruits such as longan, lychee, raw peanuts, and chestnuts; another tray held gold and silver ingots and copper coins.
This was the first time Lanqin had ever seen such an old-fashioned custom, and all of it dazzled her.
The head nanny stood in the middle of the copper basin, with two wet nurses standing to the side, each holding one of the basins.
The Fujin (principal wife) led Yan Yu, Wang Shi, and Wu Shi to stand on the left, while Song Shi, Geng Shi, and Lan Qin were on the right. Seven or eight people surrounded a round table.
The third-day bath is the beginning.
The head nanny, accompanied by an older woman behind her, held one child in each arm. Then, starting with the Fujin (principal wife), she first took a gold ingot from a tray filled with gold and silver ingots and copper coins and tossed it into the basin. Next came Song, Wu, Wang, Geng, and Lanqin, each taking something from the trays and throwing it into the water. Each time, the head nanny would mutter a blessing, usually an auspicious one. For example, when Song threw in a handful of dates, the head nanny would mutter, "May she have a son soon, and many more noble sons."
After everyone had thrown away their things, the old woman took a large mallet and stirred the mixture in the basin, chanting, "Stir, stir, stir three times, the older brother leads the younger brother to run. Seventy-year-old, eighty-year-old, crooked hair, naughty boy, they're all coming!"
And so, the proper bathing of the baby began.
The two children were stripped naked and put into the large copper basin.
The weather in May wasn't very cool yet, and the two naked children sat down in the water and started crying. However, the louder the crying, the better, which was called "loud crying".
The head nanny and the older nanny began to bathe the two children, chanting blessings as they did so.
Listening to them talking about these things, Lanqin found it quite interesting.
The saying goes, "Wash your hair first, and you'll become a king; wash your back, and each generation will rise higher than the last; wash your testicles, and you'll become a county magistrate; wash your ditch, and you'll become a prefect."
They all rhyme, don't they!
After the two nannies washed the children, they lit mugwort balls, placed them on ginger slices, and symbolically cauterized the babies' foreheads. The two children cried loudly at this startling action, but seeing that no one seemed to care, Lanqin had no choice but to continue watching.
The head nanny was combing the hair of the two babies, saying something like, "Three combs, two tufts, and you'll grow up to wear a red hat; draw your eyebrows on the left, style your sideburns on the right, and you'll find a wife (son-in-law) who will be famous throughout the village; brush your teeth, rinse your mouth, and you won't embarrass yourself when you talk to people."
It sounds like a common saying among village laborers, which shows that these folk customs also originated from the common people.
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