The morning mist in Hong Kong hadn't yet dissipated when He Jiayuan was awakened by the scent of white magnolias outside her window. On the bedside table sat the thermos Guo Huiru had left behind the previous night. On the note, in neat regular script, was the inscription: "Snow Pear and Lily Soup. Remember to drink two bowls."
She had just picked up the porcelain bowl when the familiar roar of a sports car suddenly rang out from downstairs. Xiao Zhenbei rushed in, wrapped in a damp sea breeze, dew still condensing on the shoulders of his suit, and in his hands, he was holding, comically, two boxes of Maxim's tea cakes.
"I saw this at the duty-free shop at the airport..." He suddenly stopped talking, his eyes falling on the girl's flat belly. The normally powerful and influential Young Master Zhenbei was breathing even more lightly at this moment.
He Jiayuan burst out laughing and scooped up a spoonful of sugar water and handed it over: "My sister-in-law said these are twins."
The porcelain spoon clanged into the bowl, and Zhenbei's hands shook like a sieve. The man who had once forced a Middle Eastern oil tycoon to retreat at the negotiating table suddenly squatted down, put his ear to her waist, and muttered a prayer in Portuguese.
"You're poking my ribs." He Jiayuan poked at the crown of his hair, only to find her hand wet. The young man looked up, his eyes reddening as he fished out a velvet box from his pocket. Inside was an antique longevity lock, its carved twin lotus flowers already oxidized and blackened.
"This was given to me by my aunt when I went to her house one time..." Zhenbei's throat tightened.
As the morning light drifted across Victoria Harbour, the aroma of scallop congee wafted from the kitchen at Taiping Peak. Wen Yunshu was directing the Filipino maid to stack shrimp dumplings in a three-tiered steamer when her eldest daughter-in-law suddenly tugged at her sleeve.
"Mom, look!" Guo Huiru smiled and pointed toward the garden. In the morning mist, Zhenbei was clumsily helping He Jiayuan learn Ba Duan Jin. Every time the young man bent down, it was like he was defusing a time bomb, making the girl laugh so hard she couldn't straighten up.
Xiao Zhengtang walked to the French window, holding a cup of Pu'er tea, his eyes curved into crescents behind his glasses. "This kid is just like when you were pregnant with him, and when Ivanka was pregnant with them, Xiao Zhen followed the midwife and tried to imitate the foolish way of holding a baby."
"It does look a bit like it!" Wen Yunshu smiled and slapped her husband's hand away from secretly kneading the rice noodle rolls. She turned and shouted to the housekeeper, "Aying, turn on the floor heating in the west wing's nursery!"
As they were talking, twins Sheng Yi and Sheng Wei ran in, holding windmills, their little leather shoes making a cheerful drumming sound on the floor. Two-year-old Sheng Yi suddenly grabbed his grandfather's trouser leg and said, "When are our little sisters coming? I'll give them my Lego castle!"
Amidst the laughter in the room, Xiao Zhen appeared in the hallway, briefcase in hand. He stared at the steam rising from the kitchen, stunned. His Patek Philippe, which he hadn't changed in twenty years, suddenly felt scorching hot. Back when Ivanka was pregnant with Zhennan and Zhenbei, her mother had been watching over the casserole pot and simmering soup like this.
"Xiao Zhen, come quickly!" Ivanka waved the ultrasound photo. "You're going to be a grandfather!"
As dusk fell, He Jiayuan rested her head on Zhenbei's lap, flipping through her papers. The young man carefully wiped the longevity lock and suddenly whispered, "I've contacted the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, and they've agreed to let you take your research project to the Maternal and Child Research Center."
Seeing the girl's eyes widen, he smiled and scratched her nose: "Mrs. Xiao can collect pregnancy data while writing a paper. Does this count as integrating industry, academia and research?"
Outside the window, the night lights of Taipingshan gradually lit up. Xiao Zhenbei took out his phone and took a picture of the girl's dozing profile. He then posted it to his Weibo account, which had been silent for a year. "Zhenbei Gongzi" wrote, "Applying to upgrade the group name to 'Four Generations Under One Roof.'"
Three seconds later, Zhennan sent a design via WeChat: "I've reserved a stargazing cabin for my niece." Old Odin, the fifth child, who was watching a fashion show in Paris, immediately flashed his bank statement: "I've booked the Repulse Bay Children's Park!"
Waves gently lapped against the rocks. Wen Yunshu gently draped the modified quilt over the sleeping mother-to-be. Moonlight streamed across the bricks and tiles of the century-old house, flowing like a galaxy over the block castle on the terrace.
In a time-honored tailor shop on Fulongxin Street in Macau, He Jiayuan was being measured by her six aunts. A table covered in bright red brocade was spread across it. Her ninety-year-old grandmother, wearing reading glasses, shakily tied a copper coin around her waist, saying, "The Xiao family's little girl is about to step on the wealth of our He family before she goes out."
"Grandma, it's not fashionable to hang weights on the scales these days." He Jiayuan tried to avoid her third aunt who was stuffing tangerine peel plums into her sleeves, but her fourth aunt grabbed her shoulders and said, "Nonsense! Your grandfather hung three pounds of bacon on me back then!"
Meanwhile, at the Xiao residence in Deep Water Bay, a brutal lesson was unfolding. Wen Yunshu slapped Zhenbei's hand away for the thirteenth time: "Comb against the grain! Are you brushing a racehorse?" Seven broken combs were arranged in a fan shape in the sandalwood box. The Filipino maid hid in the corridor, covering her mouth with her hands and laughing.
"Back then, your grandfather broke the Eighteen Swords..." Wen Yunshu suddenly fell silent. The mirror reflected Xiao Zhengtang, carrying a brown paper bag, with half of a faded red hairband peeking out of the bag—the one they had used at their wedding over forty years ago.
Xiao Zhenbei took the opportunity to grab the last boxwood comb and ran away: "I'm going to find my sister-in-law for special training!"
Guo Huiru came to the rescue just in time. In the nursery, she nursed and coached her twins, Sheng Yi and Sheng Wei, who were clinging to Zhen Bei's legs like a swing. "Use your wrist like you're holding a scalpel," she said, thrusting the bottle into her husband, Zhen Nan. "The skills I learned from braiding centipede braids..."
Before he could finish his words, a video invitation popped up from the third brother, Osa. With the Eiffel Tower in the background, he shouted, "Brother! I found the oldest dragon and phoenix candle maker in Macau!" The camera panned to reveal 70-year-old Uncle Chen, carving a knife in hand and glaring at him, "Youngster, you're using me as a GPS!"
On the eve of the wedding, the courtyard of the He family's old house was bathed in moonlight. Xiao Zhenbei squatted on the bluestone slabs, polishing his father-in-law's shoes, listening to intermittent sobs from the second floor. He's mother, clutching her wedding dress, sobbed, "Back then, I also lay on this windowsill, watching your father drive up to pick me up in his Ferrari..."
"Mom, this is the third time you've cried and wet your veil." He Jiayuan held the hair dryer helplessly and caught a glimpse of her fiancé mouthing downstairs: The paper passed the plagiarism check with a rate of 7.2%!
As midnight approached, Granny Quanfu pushed the door open, singing "Hair Combing Song," only to find Zhenbei already standing before the mirror, combing his hair. Moonlight streamed across his stiff knuckles, and the jasmine in He Jiayuan's hair was wet with night dew.
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