“I was in postpartum confinement at the time, and my husband kept a close eye on me. I couldn’t leave the house easily. I begged him for a long time, but he still wouldn’t let me attend your wedding.” Dou Akou was still a little angry when she mentioned this.
During her postpartum confinement period, she was practically under Fu Jiuxin's constant care. Mr. Fu had been incredibly worried when Dou Akou gave birth, and after hearing from her third aunt that postpartum care was crucial for women, potentially leading to health problems if not managed properly, he became even more anxious. Dou Akou, bored out of her mind, picked up a storybook, but Fu Jiuxin snatched it away, saying that pregnant women shouldn't read during their confinement, as it strained their eyes. Dou Akou was speechless and could only listen to Fu Jiuxin solemnly read the story from the storybook to her, turning a perfectly good, erotic novel about a handsome man and a beautiful woman into a serious historical treatise.
Dou Akou recalled that past event and couldn't help but shake her head with a smile. She then said, "Although I can't go out, I've heard about it. I heard that your dowry alone stretched for ten miles, truly a ten-mile-long red procession."
Tang Xunzhen waved her hand: "Don't mention it. So what if it's grand? It'll all be the same after the wedding. Little Gu, that guy..."
It's not that he doesn't love her, but compared to Fu Jiuxin's deep affection for Dou Akou, Gu Huaibi's love seems somewhat shallow. At the very least, he would never do something like rushing over ten miles in the middle of the night to pick lychees just because of a word his wife said.
Dou Akou noticed Tang Xunzhen's melancholy and shook her hand: "Senior sister, actually senior brother is a very good person. He's just a bit careless and doesn't think of some small things. Please be more tolerant of him. Besides, don't you two have a child together?"
"Yes, the child has been born." Tang Xunzhen sighed. She gave birth to a daughter the following spring, named Gu Pianruo, meaning "graceful as a startled swan." However, this little girl was very wild. She would climb trees, tear off tiles, tease cats and dogs, and do all sorts of things. She would cause chaos in Xilie Fort every few days. The five-year-old child had already escaped from Xilie Fort twice. She was never at peace and had to be watched every second to prevent any accidents.
Dou Akou's son, Fu Qingju, is a year older than Gu Pianruo. He bears a striking resemblance to his father, but their personalities are completely opposite. Gu Pianruo is active, while he is quiet. At six or seven years old, a boy should be a nuisance, but he is calm and peaceful, able to spend an entire afternoon engrossed in a book. He is so quiet that Dou Akou sometimes forgets his existence.
Fu Qingju had planned this spring outing perfectly. He intended to rest his head on his mother's lap and finish reading the strange tales he hadn't completed the day before—he wondered what kind of immortals might exist beyond the Northwest Sea and in the remote wilderness. But he never expected that the appearance of Gu Pianruo would disrupt all his plans.
Fu Qingju wrinkled his nose. He didn't like Gu Pianruo. She could find him no matter where he hid. If he hid under a tree to read, she would throw pebbles at him from the tree; if he picked peach blossoms for his mother, she would crush all the delicate blossoms. In short, she was always going against him. Wherever she was, there was no peace.
Thinking of this, Fu Qingju looked back at Dou Akou. His mother was chatting happily with Aunt Tang and seemed to be too busy to pay attention to him.
"Sigh." Fu Qingju sighed dramatically, sat down on the hillside, and decided to pretend that Gu Pianruo didn't exist.
Gu Pianruo brought her dirty face close to his and kept asking, "Qingju, why are you sighing? Why are you sighing? What are you sighing for? My mother said children shouldn't sigh..."
The two children were playing around, while the adults were talking animatedly. Tang Xunzhen's throat was dry from talking, so she drank a cup of tea. Suddenly, she remembered that her daughter, who was always stirring up trouble, had been silent for quite some time. She felt a pang of panic and looked around hastily.
Upon seeing this, she was immediately startled and shouted, "Gu Pianruo, what are you doing!"
Dou Akou looked over at the sound and witnessed a horrifying scene. Gu Pianruo pushed Fu Qingju from behind, and Fu Qingju tumbled down the hillside.
This was quite a shock. Tang Xunzhen and Dou Akou almost simultaneously leaped into the air and landed there in an instant.
Dou Akou hurried down the hillside and just in time to see Fu Qingju stop rolling. The soil on the hillside was soft and the slope was not steep, but rather very gentle, so Fu Qingju was not injured anywhere after rolling down.
The little boy jumped up from the ground, blinked his big eyes a few times, and didn't cry. He just dusted off his dirty clothes and looked at Dou Akou, saying in a serious tone, "Mom, Dad said you can't use your light-footed skills to run around while you're pregnant."
Tang Xunzhen, who arrived shortly after, overheard this and couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Akou, your young master is just like another Mr. Fu!"
Dou Akou was speechless, choked by her own son's words. Then she saw Fu Qingju turn to Gu Pianruo and say seriously, "Gu Pianruo, what you did was wrong. You must never do it again."
Despite his young age, he spoke with the maturity of an adult. Dou Akou pulled Fu Qingju to her side and examined him carefully before feeling at ease. She removed the grass from his head and touched his little face. Sometimes, Dou Akou almost thought Fu Qingju was a younger version of Fu Jiuxin; she could see traces of Fu Jiuxin's growth in this little boy.
Gu Pianruo had just been pestering Fu Qingju, but he completely ignored her. In a fit of anger, she accidentally pushed him off the cliff. Terrified, she thought she was going to die. She had even prepared to jump down and "die for love" with Fu Qingju. Now, she dared not say anything, hiding behind Tang Xunzhen, only peeking out with her eyes at the serious-looking Fu Qingju, and stammering, "I...I'll never do it again..."
Fu Qingju tilted his little head, seemingly lost in thought, when suddenly his eyes lit up. He broke free from Dou Akou's embrace and excitedly rushed in a certain direction, shouting, "Dad!"
The only thing that could excite him so much was his father, whom he revered like a god. Dou Akou turned around and saw a man slowly walking towards her from the blazing peach orchards covering the mountains. The man smiled, took Fu Qingju who rushed towards him, and, holding his son's hand, walked slowly toward her.
Dou Akou felt that the spring sunshine was so bright that she was a little dizzy, watching the two men, one big and one small, slowly approach against the light.
When Tang Xunzhen saw Fu Jiuxin arrive, she tactfully picked up Gu Pianruo and said with a smile, "Mr. Fu, I've been taking good care of your Akou. Now that you're here, I'll return her to you. I have to go now; Gu Huaibi is waiting for me to go back. Come on, Pianruo, say goodbye to Uncle Fu."
Gu Pianruo was unusually well-behaved, saying goodbye to Fu Jiuxin in a childish voice, and then focused on Fu Qingju, but unfortunately the latter didn't even look in her direction.
Tang Xunzhen took his leave, and Dou Akou and Fu Jiuxin led Fu Qingju back, one on each side of him, the setting sun casting long, slanted shadows of the three of them.
Dou Akou asked, "Sir, is the work at the embroidery workshop finished?"
"Okay, that's it. I can spend some quality time with you and Qingju these next few days."
Under the management of Dou Jincai and Fu Jiuxin, the Dou family's embroidery workshop had clearly grown quite large, employing many female workers and servants, so the concubines no longer needed to sew the embroidery themselves. It was springtime, and the workshop had received a new batch of fabric for spring clothes and new peony patterns from the palace. Fu Jiuxin was busy arranging for his subordinates to rush-produce these embroideries, working for several days straight. Today, he finally finished his work and had time to spend with Dou Akou.
Dou Akou was pregnant with his and Fu Jiuxin's second child. She walked slowly and with difficulty, her back bent. Fu Jiuxin felt sorry for her and said, "Akou, we won't have any more after this one." He recalled the scene when Dou Akou gave birth to Fu Qingju last time. Even though more than six years had passed, he still felt lingering fear and broke out in a cold sweat when he thought about it.
Dou Akou, on the other hand, seemed much calmer. This was a stage that every woman had to go through in her life, and once she had experienced it, there was nothing to be afraid of.
They walked back slowly. Dou Jincai and his aunts had prepared food and dishes for them. The third aunt brought a bowl of plum juice to Dou Akou and said with a smile, "Here, Akou, your plum juice. When you were pregnant with Qingju, you loved to eat lychees; but this time you like to drink plum juice. People say that sour is for boys and spicy is for girls. In my opinion, you are carrying another son."
As she spoke, she turned to Fu Qingju and asked, "Qingju, do you want a younger brother or a younger sister?"
Fu Qingju was quietly eating his meal when he heard this and asked, "May I choose?"
Third Aunt was speechless for a moment: "That can't be..."
So Fu Qingju stopped talking and continued eating.
Third Aunt was drenched in sweat. She felt that this child was even more remarkable than Fu Jiuxin when he was a child.
Dou Akou gave birth to her second child in the sweltering summer. Fu Jiuxin had the experience of waiting before, so this time he wasn't as panicked as he had been last time. He pretended to be calm, pacing around the yard, watching the blood being carried out basin by basin. By the time the baby's first cry was heard, the plum tree in the yard had been stripped bare and broken.
Having already given birth once, Dou Akou felt this time was much easier than when she gave birth to Fu Qingju, but she only had time to glance at him before everything went black and she decided to go to sleep first.
When she woke up, she was shocked to see two men, one big and one small, sitting upright in front of her bed. They had the same face, but the younger one was still quite young, while the older one was already handsome.
No matter how precocious Fu Qingju was, he was still a child. When he saw Dou Akou wake up, he immediately rushed over and cried, "Mother!"
Fu Jiuxin pulled Fu Qingju over: "Don't press down on your mother." Then he took a swaddled baby and said, "Akou, our child is a daughter."
“It’s a younger sister,” Fu Qingju emphasized, nodding with a serious expression.
Dou Akou was too weak to reach out and hug her daughter, so she could only poke her daughter's cheek. Then she looked at her husband and son and smiled, her face beaming with joy: "So sweet."
Author's Note: This is the penultimate chapter of the extra story~ There's also a final chapter of the extra story about Xu Liren. Girls who want to read it can check it out~ Those who don't can skip it = =
Here, Mr. Fu, along with his wife Dou Akou, son Fu Qingju, and daughter Fu ? ? (whose name hasn't been chosen yet), expresses his gratitude for everyone's support. It's been over two years since I started writing my first story, during which time I've experimented with different styles, from extremely cold and absurd writing to deliberately satirical, down-to-earth stories. I've written over 1.7 million words, and remain a relatively unknown writer. However, every time I start a new story and see familiar faces following me in the comments, or new accounts appearing, I'm always deeply grateful. I'm someone who can't stand being alone, and without your support, I probably wouldn't have been able to persevere this long. A formal bow, thank you!