Fengyue Tower is fully booked for weddings for the past two months. Children coming to collect wedding candy are all smiles; it's even more festive than the Lunar New Year. The vibrant red of the wedding favors has dispelled sadness and brought the unique pink hue of spring.
Huo Xiaocheng had been getting impatient waiting at home these past few days. The marshal hadn't yet distributed the rewards, and seeing Mantuo and Zhihua with their lovers, the young general Huo couldn't sit still any longer. He went straight to the prefectural government office to find Xiao Lanyi and ask him about it.
"Marshal, when will our reward be announced?"
"His Majesty should have already received the memorial. Don't worry, he won't try anything underhanded with it, and he won't mess things up when it comes to pacifying the army."
The young man frowned and said
"I need the money right now."
"What do you need the money for? If you're in a hurry, I can give you some first."
Huo Xiaocheng looked up at the sky and shook his head. It wasn't about money; he wanted Chunying to become an official's wife, and that was a completely different matter.
"No need, I'll wait a bit longer."
Xiao Lanyi had been feeling a little itchy these past few days, and the somewhat embarrassed young man asked...
Were all your sisters on the city wall that day?
"They're the kind people who adopted my sister, so what?"
He had learned over the past few days that without the people from Fengyuelou, Pingyang County would have been impossible to defend. If Pingyang fell, his army's morale would be low, and victory might be uncertain. Therefore, he wondered if he could transfer all the girls to the army…
"What do you think about me appointing them all to official positions and having your sisters help me lead troops?"
Huo Xiaocheng glanced at him sideways. It wasn't that the young man thought Xiao Lanyi's idea was bad, but rather that the girls from the brothel weren't being taken along at all.
There are no younger sisters in the military camp. Those girls open their eyes every day, and when they close them, they must feel a little reluctant to leave.
"I think your idea is excellent, Marshal. We should give it a try."
What the young man meant was, if you want to recruit someone, go ahead and ask; don't expect me to.
Inside the brothel, Aunt Wang brought gifts and asked Manager Zhao to give Da Ni'er a good name. The little girl was overjoyed, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons with laughter.
"Thank you for your trouble, Manager Zhao. The main problem is that this child plays with our two daughters every day, and it doesn't sound very nice to keep calling her 'Da Ni'er' and 'Da Ni'er'."
Zhao Kai nodded and said
"I understand your loving motherly heart. You just said that Da Ni'er is a gift from heaven, so why not call her Tianci (Heavenly Gift)?"
Outside the door, three little girls huddled together, listening to the adults talking inside.
A gift from heaven.
Huo Xiaolong laughed so hard he couldn't stand up straight, and he had to cover his mouth so the people in the room wouldn't hear.
Hou Xiangxiang whispered in Da Ni'er's ear
"Your and Long'er's names are so powerful! I want one like that too."
"Which one do you want? Tianci-jie? Hahahaha, no problem. From now on, you'll be the little kid sister, and she'll be the chuunibyou sister!"
"What does 'chuunibyou' mean?" Dani asked.
Little Tuanzi remembered those scenes of "Don't underestimate a young man's poverty" and didn't know how to explain it to her sisters, so she pulled them by the hand and climbed up the wall to watch Er Gouzi next door foolishly playing around with a wooden stick.
In Er Gouzi's imagination, he was a chivalrous hero who would help those in need. Huo Xiaolong pointed at Er Gouzi and said...
"See that? That's what you call being a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur).
"..."
"..."
Hou Xiangxiang patted Da Ni'er's hand and said
"I think 'Little Girl Sister' sounds nice, like 'Chuunibyou Sister'."
"Hou Xiangxiang!"
Inside the courtyard, chickens and dogs ran wild; outside, affection lingered.
Man Tuo knew that Lu Wangji couldn't handle spicy food very well. Ever since the man agreed to live with her at the brothel, the young lady couldn't help but take extra care of him.
"Why have you been eating chili peppers these past few days? If you can't eat them, eat less. Your face is all red from the spiciness." Mando poured him a glass of water and patted his back a few times.
A few days ago, Dr. Gu took Mantuo's pulse and said that she had fully recovered and could have children in the future.
The groom was overjoyed upon hearing this. If their little family were to have another child, Mando would feel even more at peace and would value him even more.
Lu Wangji had just finished eating chili peppers during his meal, and afterwards he ate a few hawthorns.
He wanted a son and a daughter, and hoped to hold Huo Xiaolong more often. He prayed that heaven would grant his child some of the little dumpling's abilities, but as he always said, without brains, things wouldn't be good.
"Why are you eating hawthorn again?"
The man looked at his wife, who had styled her hair into a traditional Chinese updo. The beauty smiled slightly and lowered her head. Even after so many days of marriage, he still couldn't get used to the way his beloved styled his hair. Every time he saw it, his heart would flutter.
"Sour for a boy, spicy for a girl."
When the beauty said that, Mando's eyebrows practically shot up to the sky, and then she burst out laughing.
"That's for women, what are you talking about, sour for a boy and spicy for a girl? Besides, that's something pregnant people use to guess whether they're carrying a boy or a girl based on their cravings. You actually believe in that stuff?"
Lu Wangji nodded and popped another hawthorn into his mouth.
He believes it, he's not in a hurry, but he needs to prepare for it in case the child comes one day.
"So, you've been holding Long'er so much these past few days, is it because of this too...?"
"Yes, she's pretty."
The man placed the plum blossom bracelet that Huo Xiaolong had made on Mantuo's wrist, adding some clever touches. The woman raised her hand, looking at the mantuo flower carved from a layer of gold leaf against the sunlight, and squeezed the man's hand, saying...
"You really are..."
Some things don't need to be said; as long as their eyes meet, they already understand each other's feelings.
“Da Ni’er, you can’t cause trouble like that in the future, you know?” The three little girls were sitting on the wall, swinging their little feet. Huo Xiaolong suddenly remembered the idea that Wang Dani’er had given her on the city wall, and quickly said to her.
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