The two returned home at dusk, and the children had prepared birthday gifts for Changning.
Hutu prepared needles and thread that she had made herself. She embroidered a sachet with a magpie perched on a branch for Changning, who praised it repeatedly.
"Wow! My eldest daughter is amazing! Look at the needlework, the patterns, not just anyone could embroider like this. You're incredible!"
Seeing that her mother liked it, Hutu was secretly delighted, but said modestly, "Oh, it's not that good. Mother, if you like it, I'll embroider another one for you."
Hongzhao presented Changning with a large calligraphy piece he had written himself. He held it up high in front of Changning and exclaimed, "Mother, Mother, look at what I wrote, and there's also a painting!"
"Wow! Our Fiyana can draw now!"
Changning was overjoyed. When did their family develop this gene? So Fei Yang'a inherited it from Yinzhen?
When I opened it, well, it was another stick figure that looked very familiar.
A big head, thin arms and legs, and a few strands of hair—it looks like it's me.
"Yes, my sister taught me this." Hongzhao blinked his big eyes, waiting for his mother to praise him.
Well, Changning was both amused and exasperated; it turned out that the mother and her two children were all of the same lineage.
However, it must be said that Hongzhao's calligraphy is exceptionally well-written, bearing some resemblance to Yinzhen's style. The calligraphy books he practiced from childhood were all handwritten by Yinzhen, character by character.
So Changning patted his little head and said with a smile, "That's great! Fei Yang'a has made great progress. These characters have the spirit of your father. Keep up the good work!"
Hongzhao was also very moved. Mother is so good! Mother's words are so gentle! Mother's hands are so warm!
Yierha was also a little shy and handed over a handkerchief embroidered with jade hairpin flowers.
"Mother Chun, this is what I made. Wishing you a happy birthday."
Changning was pleasantly surprised and touched Yierha's little face. She had been sincere towards this child, and now that she could reciprocate, she knew that he was a kind person.
"I really appreciate Yierha's thoughtfulness. Thank you."
Yierha smiled sweetly upon hearing this.
Then the family gathered together to prepare for dinner.
Honghui and Hongyan are still in the palace. Hongmin, Hongchen, and Hongyang had a blast all day and are now sleeping in the same bed with the Tuantuan and Yuanyuan family.
Today we're having crabs. The kitchen sent over two large steamers filled with steaming hot crabs, served with ginger and vinegar. Changning was enjoying her meal immensely, but Yinzhen saw that she had eaten seven or eight and still hadn't stopped, so he quickly stopped her.
"Crabs are considered to be cold in nature, so it's not good for women to eat too many."
Changning pouted, but ultimately didn't insist; eating too much could indeed easily cause diarrhea.
"Tell them to make a spicy crab tomorrow." Changning was craving crab stew again and was thinking of telling Eunuch Ma how to make it.
Hongzhao disliked the hassle of eating crabs; he preferred simple and convenient options, such as crab meat dumplings, which he ate one bite at a time, and rice mixed with a rich, orange-yellow crab sauce.
Seeing him enjoying the crab sauce, Changning smiled and asked, "Should we ask them to make you crab roe noodles tomorrow morning?"
Hongzhao grinned widely, "Great! I love crab roe the most! Thank you, Mother!"
Like Yinzhen, Hutuli also had a bowl of crab soup. This soup was made by cooking plump, live crabs in boiling water, then removing the crab meat, roe, and paste, and adding some side dishes, tender bamboo shoots, and shredded shiitake mushrooms to freshly simmered chicken broth. It tasted both light and fresh.
Changning didn't like it; she thought it was tasteless.
Her favorite Northeastern Chinese dishes had several characteristics: they were dark, sticky, and extremely salty, which Yinzhen jokingly called "Pigsy eating ginseng fruit."
Yierha was weak and couldn't eat crab; he only managed to eat half a piece of crab roe pastry before it was all gone.
After the meal, Changning distributed some trinkets she had bought at the market to the children.
Hutuli took a liking to the osmanthus hairpin, which was of average workmanship but brightly colored. She put one in Yierha's hair and one in her own, asking Changning, "Father, Mother, does it look good?"
"It looks good." The two said in unison.
Besides that, she also really liked the vanity case filled with the sweet fragrance of osmanthus, and planned to hold it next to her mirror and put her favorite jewelry inside.
Hongzhao wasn't interested in his sisters' jewelry or his brothers' cloth tigers. He pouted, but then he saw Changning take out a set of twelve inkstones, and his eyes lit up.
He liked the one with the monkey trying to catch the moon, and also picked out a bamboo and bird one for his brother. In the picture, he immediately took a liking to the tourmaline one, which was crystal clear and very beautiful.
Even Yinzhen chose a mountain crane and cloud motif, intending to place it on his desk for his own use.
Hongzhao peeked inside, afraid his sister would hit him, but he couldn't help asking, "Sister, is this inkstone usable? Won't it get scratched?"
Hutu rolled her eyes at him: "What do you know? As long as she looks good. Don't try to guess what a girl is thinking; you'll never figure it out."
Changning almost spat out his tea and even wanted to pinch his daughter's ear.
"Did you peek at my storybook again?"
Hutu cried out in protest, "No, Mother! It was Fei Yang! He found it!"
Hutu quickly betrayed his younger brother, and Hongzhao was so frightened that he stammered, "It wasn't me either! It was Hongchen! He found it!"
Changning pouted: "Make it up! Keep making it up!"
Hutu chuckled and put his arm around Changning's arm: "Mother, the stories you write are so interesting! You're so talented!"
"Don't try to flatter me, it won't work!"
"Really, Mother, you're not lying!" Hutuli quickly gave Hongzhao a wink, and Hongzhao also came over and squatted down to massage Changning's legs, being particularly attentive.
“I agree! Sister is right! Mother’s talent is unparalleled! She’s even more amazing than Father! Father can’t write storybooks.”
Changning quietly watched the children fooling around, while Yinzhen was innocently caught in the crossfire.
In the end, Changning, who was showered with compliments by the children, completely forgot to warn them not to read these storybooks.
Actually, Changning wasn't worried about their studies being affected. After all, her children were all incredibly smart, and she had no worries about their studies. If there were an IQ test, Changning thought they could all score 120.
That's right. They are still young and do not have the ability to fully distinguish right from wrong. They are still in the stage of exploring the world and are easily imitated.
If her children turned into greasy, domineering CEOs because of reading these storybooks, she would really cry her eyes out!
Because when she was in junior high school, she would slack off in class every day by reading novels, which damaged her brain!
However, Yinzhen was not worried at all; he had a mysterious confidence in his genes.
"Oh no," Changning thought, "the 'domineering CEO virus' has already infected people."
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