Chapter 2679: Childbirth Again

Chapter 2679: Chapter 2613: Childbirth Again

Manbao opened the child’s mouth, and after confirming there was nothing dirty inside, she carefully supported the child’s head and placed him into the water.

Upon the first contact with water, his little legs instinctively kicked, his eyes tightly shut, and his small fists clenched and moved slightly.

Manbao gave him a simple wash, and immediately servants spread open a swaddle, and together with her, they dried the child with a soft towel and wrapped him up.

Manbao had just wrapped him when she remembered he hadn’t cried yet, so she picked him up again and gave his bottom a gentle slap.

The child obviously didn’t expect to be spanked, felt a sudden pain, and couldn’t help but cry out twice.

Hearing the cry, Manbao was satisfied and tucked him into the swaddle.

The midwife and Junior Ms.Qian also finished tidying up Zhou Lijun. Manbao went over to check, saw she was doing well, and then brought the child to her. “Look, it’s a boy.”

Zhou Lijun turned her head to look at him and couldn’t help but smile, “He looks really ugly, just like Liulang and the others when they were little.”

Junior Ms.Qian said, “Children are like this when they’re little, don’t worry, it won’t be long before he grows into his looks.”

She laughed and said, “Our family’s children don’t turn out too badly. You look good, and Second Brother-in-law also looks good, it won’t be any worse.”

Manbao said, “That’s all thanks to my dad.”

Junior Ms.Qian pursed her lips and smiled, “Not exactly, if you trace it back, it should be thanks to Great Grandmother.”

Manbao’s eyes sparkled, unable to figure out who that was exactly.

Zhou Lijun was very curious, asking, “Was Great Grandmother very good-looking?”

“Very good-looking, according to the elders, she was the prettiest in the whole area back then.”

Manbao: “Our family was so poor, how did we manage to marry Great Grandmother?”

“There was a war back then, everything was chaotic. Your Great Grandmother’s family suffered from a military disaster and wandered to the town of White Horse Pass. Your Great-Great Grandmother bought her with half a sack of wheat to be a daughter-in-law,” Junior Ms.Qian said softly. “And she gave birth to your grandfather, who was very good-looking, and later married your grandmother, who was also very pretty.”

Manbao: “What about my grandmother? She didn’t marry my grandfather just because he was handsome, right?”

“No,” Junior Ms.Qian said with an indescribable expression, “they were well-matched.”

As younger people, it’s not appropriate to speak poorly of elders, but in fact, the relationship between the Qian Family and Zhou Family in the previous generation wasn’t very good, because Ms.Qian really suffered a lot after marrying into the Zhou Family.

When Junior Ms.Qian was young, and after she got married and returned to her mother’s home, her mother often talked to her about the old stories of the previous generation.

Simply put, the laziness of the Zhou Family was inherited, and if you discuss diligence, out of this generation’s seven children, Manbao included as the eighth, only Zhou Dalang, Zhou Sanlang, Zhou Liulang, and Manbao were truly diligent like Ms.Qian. The rest had a deep-rooted laziness that couldn’t be washed away.

This was because Grandpa Zhou was lazy, and Grandma Zhou was lazier than him. Back in the day, the Zhang Family chose the Zhou Family firstly because the Zhou Family’s financial situation was still decent, and secondly because their daughter was really very lazy and had no other advantages apart from her looks.

It just so happened that she and Grandpa Zhou liked each other, so the Zhang Family sent someone to convey the message to the Zhou Family.

Back in the day, Grandpa Zhou was even lazier than Zhou SiLang, although he looked very handsome, it couldn’t guarantee a marriage proposal.

In fact, Zhou Jin also couldn’t discuss marriage easily. If it weren’t for Ms.Qian liking his face, who would want to marry someone so lazy?

Junior Ms.Qian remembered her uncle getting beaten by her father when she was a child and couldn’t help but smile, telling Zhou Lijun lying down, “Now times are better, even if there are lazy people in the family, they don’t have to be forced into diligence.”

Zhou Jin later improved, managing farm work all by himself, because life left him no choice.

Who would want to go against their nature and become diligently progressive, if they could always live lazily?

Manbao obviously didn’t have much exposure to this aspect and was still pondering how extraordinarily beautiful her Great Grandmother had to be for her descendants to remain so good-looking.

Manbao reached out and touched her little face.

The people outside were still waiting; Xiang Mingxue had heard the child’s cry long ago, but it had remained quiet inside for a long time, with only the sounds of soft whispers.

He lay against the window, unable to hear what they were saying, and didn’t dare to ask or call out, for fear of disturbing those inside.

But there was no movement for so long…

Xiang Mingxue couldn’t help wiping the sweat from his forehead, feeling a bit anxious.

Bai Shan perked up his ears to listen for a moment, and then thoughtfully, after a pause, he couldn’t help shouting inside, “Manbao, are mother and child safe?”

The three, who had gathered to gossip about ancestors, suddenly realized, “Oh dear, we forgot to share the good news.”

And the midwife had just sent out the soiled sheets and such to be taken out, washed her hands, and seeing they had not yet taken the child out, immediately got excited, running forward, “Let me hold, let me hold…”

The midwife happily took the child out, only showing them a glimpse at the door, and then received a red envelope.

She quietly touched it, finding it quite thick.

Manbao told Xiang Mingxue, “Mother and child are safe.”

Xiang Mingxue let out a sigh of relief, standing on tiptoe to take a look at the child in the swaddle.

Red and wrinkled, it seemed rather ugly, but Xiang Mingxue’s heart softened like water, looking at him with reddened eyes, unable to speak for quite a while.

The good news traveled from the back courtyard to the front. Hearing that the young master had a son, Xiang Chao was so happy he slapped his thigh, laughing heartily.

After laughing, he couldn’t help but cry. There are so few members left in the Xiang Family now; the young master is the only legitimate descendant, and now the next generation has been born, surely this means the Xiang clan will prosper?

Xiang Chao held his head and cried bitterly for a moment, then wiped away his tears and decided to go buy meat, so the kitchen could add some dishes.

After congratulating Xiang Mingxue, Old Madam Liu and the others left one after another, leaving the space and time to the couple.

Xiang Mingxue changed into a new outfit and went in, holding the baby and sitting next to Zhou Lijun. He said to her softly, “I’ve picked twelve names for the child, both boys’ and girls’. You can choose one later.”

Zhou Lijun said, “Didn’t we already choose before?”

“I thought they weren’t good enough, so I added a few more. Let’s choose again…”

Manbao and Bai Shan held hands on their way back. The sun had already set, and the sky was visibly darkening. The two of them exchanged a glance, and Bai Shan said, “Let’s go out and admire the moon tonight.”

There won’t be a chance to admire the moon tomorrow night.

Manbao nodded.

Then they didn’t have the chance to admire the moon that night either. Perhaps it was due to being spurred by Zhou Lijun giving birth today, or maybe their days were naturally close; just as night fell, Liu Sanniang also went into labor.

Manbao was startled, and quickly had someone bring back the departing midwife, and then she joined her in delivering Liu Sanniang’s baby.

Liu Sanniang’s first birth was what they were accustomed to calling ‘a typical delivery,’ and after laboring through half the night, she finally gave birth to a little girl at dawn, as the sky began to brighten.

Junior Ms.Qian held her granddaughter, overjoyed, “In this generation, they finally have a girl.”

Zhou Lichong was the happiest, his eyes shining brightly, “I wonder if she’ll be half as smart as Little Aunt.”