Published at 2nd of September 2019 9:55 pm

Epilogue 2 — Childbirth

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

When the due date was drawing near, the two discussed for a long time where the babies should be born.

Whether it was Hong Kong or New Zealand, neither of these was somewhere she had actually lived. Yi Wenze had originally already made all the arrangements for the hospital, but at the last minute he changed his mind and they ultimately decided to have these two darlings in Beijing.

Because in the beginning Yi Wenze had fed and taken care of her like she was a little pig, the two little ones had actually become overweight, and at the end they had no choice but to control the quantity of food she consumed.

She fixed a woeful look on Yi Wenze, who was cooking. “Hubby, I want to eat lots and lots.”

Cringe. Her tone was so melodramatic.

But she couldn’t do anything about it. Since becoming pregnant, everything she said was melodramatic. If she opened her eyes after waking up and did not see Yi Wenze, she would feel that it was the end of the world. Even she felt that she was psycho, but this idol of the masses showed not even the slightest out-of-the-ordinary reaction.

He turned his head to glance at her. “I’ll make a small amount of everything for you. Just eat a little bit of everything.”

Content now, Jia He gave an “mm-hmm” and strolled back into the living room, where she waited to be fed.

Sure enough, as he had said he would, he cooked up a tableful of food.

The sour and spicy flavours were so appealing to her taste buds. But when she was still eating away with relish, her bowl and chopsticks were already being taken away from her, and the food in front of her was switched out for fruit. Fine, then… fruit it was… But did everything really have to have just enough for only one mouthful?

In silence, she turned her eyes onto Yi Wenze. This way of enticing out someone’s appetite but then not following through was just torture!

“You say,”—she first wordlessly destroyed the last little bits of food—“what if, when the kids are born, they aren’t very good-looking?”

He only smiled and did not say anything, clearing away all the things she had been holding.

“I’m being serious…” The closer she got to the due date, the more anxious she became about this particular matter.

In reality, regardless of whether the children had attractive appearances or not, they were her own and undoubtedly would be appealing to her eyes no matter how she looked at them. But with Yi Wenze being a source of such good genes, if they somehow took most of their appearance from her, it would truly be such a waste of Heaven-sent resources.

When she had asked this question for the Nth time, he finally somewhat resignedly gave in, and rubbing her swollen legs and feet for her while also turning his head slightly to the side to check an email that had just come in, he countered, “Honey, is this really important?”

Jia He’s eyes were nearly spilling over with tears. “Who doesn’t want to be born with better looks? Especially these two babies of yours. If they grow up and discover that their looks are nothing to speak of, they’ll definitely blame me.”

“You can think of it this way.” He closed his computer and gave her a smile. “No matter how good-looking they are, when they grow up, they’ll belong to someone else. In the end, the person who will be by your side every day is me. So, as long as you don’t find me hard on the eyes, that’s good enough.”

Chewing over this for a bit, she discovered that these words contained very profound connotations. Her heart at last feeling pleased and satisfied, she stood and continued walking around the home as her exercise.

She fussed about like this until the evening. Finally, when he was preparing dinner, Jia He started to feel contractions.

However, when she was actually in the hospital and the entire family was surrounding her, giving her their caring attention and thoughtfully inquiring about how she was doing, she actually felt no pain. She merely hugged all the food that her mom had brought and gave a sigh of great feeling. “My elaborate banquets of countless dishes have been traded out for quaint, simple village food.”

The corner of her mom’s lip gave a twitch, but she dared not cross Jia He right now. Instead, feeling very bad, she looked at Yi Wenze. “You’ve been put through a lot these last few months, Xiao Yi [Little Yi]. This child here didn’t used to be so picky about what she ate. She would eat whatever anyone gave her. Who would have thought that once she was pregnant, she’d become the Queen Mother of the West[1]?”

He smiled. “I’m just learning as I go and then putting it to use right away.”

Over these last several months, the thing they bought the most of for their home, other than parenting books, was cookbooks. But this “learn and immediately put to use” had now beat out Jia He’s favourite since she was little, “Mom’s food” …

Jia He ate a couple of cursory bites and then set the food off to the side. “Mom, you guys should all just go back. From the looks of things, this time is just another practical joke that my two babes are playing on us. Just come again tomorrow during daytime. If you guys leave here any later, I’ll be worried, too.”

Seeing that there really did not appear to be anything serious with her, her mom tidied things up and went home, leaving only the two of them in the hospital room.

As this was a VIP hospital suite, it actually resembled a downsized version of a hotel room. Since childhood, Jia He had never had any sort of major illness. According to her mom, she had only ever been hospitalized once, when she was the age of three, but the memory of that had long since faded. Hence, now that she for once was actually staying in a hospital, she was particularly excited. Even when it was very late, her eyes were still gleaming as they looked at him. “How about you let me play Plants vs. Zombiesagain?”

Since promising him last time that she would not play anymore, it had been almost four months in which she had not touched that game, and she had been yearning to play that last stage.

Drawing the curtains closed, Yi Wenze gave her a placid glance. “Sure. I’ll go get it for you. I’m going out to make a phone call.”

His one sentence successfully strangled away any desire in her to play.

Hospitals are the most frequently used setting for ghost stories. Even if you beat her to death, she still would not dare play a zombie game while alone in a hospital room. Inwardly bemoaning this, she watched as he turned off the lights. When he was about to lie down on the couch on the other side of the room, she spoke up quietly. “How about we squeeze onto the bed together?”

Yi Wenze paused in a rare moment of blank surprise. “You’re scared to sleep by yourself?”

There was merely a fifty-centimetre distance between them. He had not expected her to be so faint-hearted.

Jia He did not say anything for a lengthy time, too embarrassed to tell him that it was because she had grown used to him holding her as she slept. These last few months, her belly had grown bigger and bigger, and she in fact could not really sleep all that well. However, the instant she sensed him lying by her side, even if she was unable to have a good slumber, her heart would feel a little more settled.

Plus, this pre-birth and labour room was also going to be used as the delivery room. Once she thought about the fact that she would be having babies in this room, she did not have even the tiniest inclination to sleep and only felt nervous.

In the end, Yi Wenze still did get on the bed and lie down by her side, lightly setting his hand on her abdomen. “They’re asleep?”

“Mm-hmm,” Jia He answered. “They seem to be. But I feel like their sleep isn’t very sound either.”

He chuckled. “Why?”

“Probably because they’re not used to it here.” Jia He took a light inhale. “It’s not the smell of home. They need to adjust to it, too.”

The embrace that enfolded her from behind was so very warm. She closed her eyes. Some time passed, but still she was unable to fall asleep. Softly she asked, “Are you asleep?”

“No.” His voice was by her ear, carrying his warm breath on it.

“I keep having this feeling, like they’re going to be coming out tonight.” A slight, unexplainable sense of anxiety rose in her. “But why doesn’t it hurt right now?”

Smiling, Yi Wenze soothed, “Hurry and get some rest. They’re probably already asleep.”

She gave an “mm,” then said, “I suddenly thought of a question.”

“What’s that?”

“ ‘Aijia’ is better suited for a girl. But they’re boy-girl fraternal twins. Don’t you think the name ‘Aihe’ really isn’t suited for a boy?” Once she brought up this question, she inexplicably became enthused.

Yi Wenze was quiet for a short moment before replying, “There’s nothing we can do about it. My wife’s name is Jia He. There isn’t even one more word that I can work with.”

“Oh,” she uttered, the sweetness she was feeling causing a smile to spread across her face. “Then what are we going to do if we have another kid?”

“Jia Aiyi[2].” He stated this as if it was perfectly right and expected.

After silently repeating that name three times, Jia He calmly responded, “Yi Wenze, we’re considered well-educated people, and you’re a public figure, too. Would you be able to put some ingenuity and finesse into the names that you choose?”

He mused, “Jia Aiwen might sound a little nicer.”

Jia He cringed, speechless.

When she was drowsily about to drift off into sleep, contractions suddenly started up again. At first, she thought they were nothing to be concerned about, but eventually she realized that things weren’t quite right. Yanking on Yi Wenze’s arm, she stammered, “I think I’m a-about, about to give birth.”

This was the first, and also last, sentence she spoke before she delivered the babies.

Yi Wenze was with her throughout the entire labour and delivery. After the entire childbirth was done, she at last was transferred onto a hospital bed to recover and groggily receive everyone as they came on their sightseeing tour of her. There were plainly many people here, but in her eyes, only the image of him was real to her. The two of them locked gazes for a long while until finally she heard him, his voice low, ask, “Did it hurt?”

Seriously…

Laughing in annoyance, tears still brimming in her eyes, she retorted in a shaky voice, “What do you think?”

Due to this one sentence, the first thing Yi Wenze said to her when she woke again was, “We’re not going to have any more children in the future.”

Jia He, her tongue and mouth parched, allowed him to gently dab a wet cotton swab over her lips. After resting for a while, she spoke up lightly, “I’m not mad at you…” Actually, as she thought about it now, she realized that that question he asked had contained simply too much love, too many feelings in it. Merely thinking about it warmed her heart.

With a smile, he gently answered, “I know.”

As the two gazed upon one another, she tried with all her might to contain the tingle that she felt in her nose, and she asked him, “Where are Aijia and Aihe?”

“Sleeping.” He smiled. “They’re a lot like you. They like to smile when they sleep and their faces have a very contented look.”

Jia He wrinkled her nose. “You’re implying again that I’m a pig.”

“Have I implied that?” Yi Wenze tapped the pendant hanging from her neck. “I’ve already made it very clear.”

Jia He had no words to say to that. Fine. I don’t have any strength right now to say anything anyway. I might as well just outright be a gluttonous, lazy pig.

After she was discharged from the hospital, Xiao Yu and Qiao Qiao came to visit her, and it was only then that she learned just how much she had incited the indignation of both gods and man in that scene right after she came out from the delivery room.

“You’re just too awesome.” Qiao Qiao looked at her in great admiration. “That’s Yi Wenze we’re talking about. The man stayed there watching over you for a whole night. He gazed so lovingly and with such deep devotion at you and used a voice more stirring to people’s hearts than even in his movies to tenderly ask you, ‘Did it hurt?’” She shook her head and gave a sigh. “You, though, were just a letdown. You actually went and completely spoiled the whole beauty of the moment by acting like some sort of spiteful, vindictive woman and nastily asking him back, ‘What do you think?’ That’s just too unappreciative!”

Jia He was in the middle of taking a sip of soup, and she nearly sprayed it all back out.

“All right, that’s enough.” Xiao Yu was in fits of laughter as well. “Just look at Jia He’s face, all covered in remorse. And here you’re still stirring the pot of trouble with your embellishments?”

Her chin resting on her palm, Qiao Qiao grinned at Jia He. “You’ve now realized that you should be remorseful?”

Jia He buried her head down and drank her soup. She stayed silent for a long while before finally giving her a pitiful look. “You go give it a try. I honestly was going to die from the pain…”

Right after she spoke these words, however, even her mom joined in on stirring the trouble pot, shaking her head and sighing as well. “In the previous twenty years, aside from being your idol, the man didn’t commit any heinous acts. How did he end up getting a wife like you? …”

Saying this, her mom picked up the chicken soup and left, heaving a sigh every three steps.

The psychological scar from that one sentence of hers left her still awash with guilt when Yi Wenze returned home that evening.

Her mom was in the baby room soothing the two peacefully sleeping babes, while Jia He was in her own bedroom, slippers on her feet, walking around as exercise. She took about three or four steps, but each one was torment. She finally had personally experienced and could deeply relate to how woeful it had been for Cao Zhi to have had to compose a poem within seven paces[3].

Yi Wenze had just finished his shower and stepped back out. Walking over to her, he touched her face. “What are you thinking about?”

Jia He looked mournfully at him. “I’m going to get post-partum depression.”

His body still emitted the dampness that came from having just taken a shower. She was not sure whether it was because she was feeling guilty or he truly had once again become more handsome, but in any case, she was especially unable to take her gaze off of those eyes of his. Holding her gaze for a while, Yi Wenze gave a slight smile. “Honey, don’t look at me like that.”

She uttered an “okay” and blinked. Then, her face flushed.

“You’re not going to go have a look at them?” Jia He was beginning to grasp for things to talk about.

“They’re sleeping.” Yi Wenze took a seat on the couch and motioned for her to come over to him. “With time being limited, it’s better if I use it to look at the person who is awake.”

Unhurriedly, Jia He ambled over and settled into a snug and comfortable position on the couch. “You’ve started selecting the actors for the new film?”

He made a very mild “mm” in response. As if suddenly thinking of something, he looked at her with a smile. “A-Lun was asking about their one-month celebration banquet[4].”

Jia He gave an “oh.” After a long moment of rumination, she remarked, “Time’s flown. They were still just in my tummy and now it’s already the one-month celebration banquet.” With this topic, she suddenly thought of a breakthrough point that she could use to get to what she actually wanted to say. “It was nicer when I was pregnant. Every day, you stayed at home and made a ton of tasty food for me.”

Taking in the sparkle in her eyes, Yi Wenze told her calmly, “After another two years, I’ll free up most of my time to just keep you company.”

So that meant she truly would be keeping the beauty hidden away in her golden house?

With a very satisfied nod, Jia He continued guiding his thoughts along. “Actually, now that I think about it, having babies isn’t that bad. Maybe by the second time, I’ll be like an old pro. How about after a couple more years, we’ll have another two?”

Once she was done saying this, she scrutinized his face in the illumination of the lamplight. Yi Wenze had a contemplative expression that left her feeling very deflated. Could it be that he still minded the little temper tantrum she had thrown right after childbirth? But… if she really were to count, they had actually never had a real quarrel since becoming a couple. That time could be considered the snappiest she had ever been with him…

While her mind was still wandering off into blind conjectures, she felt him take her into his arms. Calmly, he asked, “What did Qiao Qiao say this time when she came today?”

Oh shoot. Qiao Qiao, I’ve done you wrong!

He took a sip of water, remaining silent for quite a while. At last, he stated, “I don’t want to wait for so long again, honey.”

Jia He continued putting in her efforts. “It’s just a few months where we can’t do it…”

“I don’t want to wait even a few hours…” Smiling, he tweaked the tip of her nose. “Trust me, it’s torture to get through.”

“Oh,” she answered. Then, gleefully, she climbed into bed.

[1]In Chinese mythology, 王母娘娘 the Queen Mother of the West, also known as the Heavenly Queen Mother, is the wife of the Jade Emperor, the ruler of Heaven.

[2]This theoretical third child, 佳艾易 Jia Aiyi, would be take Jia He’s surname while the given name would be homophonic with 爱易, which means “ love Yi.” Hence, this little one’s name would sound like “Jia loves Yi.” Similarly, the alternative Yi Wenze offers, 佳艾文 Jia Aiwen, sounds like “Jia loves Wen.”

[3]Cao Zhi was the third son of Cao Cao, the warlord and founder and first king of Wei. Cao Zhi was known for his literary talent. When Cao Cao died, his son Cao Pi succeeded him as king. Cao Pi distrusted his brother Cao Zhi, suspecting that he wanted to usurp the throne. The legend is that Cao Pi summoned Cao Zhi to court and ordered Cao Zhi to compose a poem within seven steps that would convince Cao Pi to spare his life. If he failed to do so, he would be executed.

[4]In Chinese culture, traditionally a feast is thrown to celebrate when a newborn baby turns one-month old.

This story was translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only. All forms of reproduction, redistribution, or re-posting are not authorized. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, the copy is unauthorized and has been taken without consent of the translator.

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