Chapter 185
As the sky grew dark, Jiang Mingzhe walked into the bridal chamber.
Ye Yunniang was having her meal. She glanced behind him.
"Where are Pan'er and Pingping?"
"They were tired, so they both went back to their rooms to rest."
Worried about Li Pan and Li Ping, Ye Yunniang put down her chopsticks and stood up to go check on them.
Jiang Mingzhe wrapped his arms around her.
"My wife, tonight is our wedding night. Don't think about your sons, just think about me, alright?"
"But,"
Jiang Mingzhe sealed her lips, swallowing the rest of her words.
"No buts. You are mine tonight. You can only think about me."
Ye Yunniang leaned her head back and put up a hand to block him.
"You've had too much to drink." The smell of alcohol was a bit strong, making her feel slightly uncomfortable.
"I'll go wash up," Jiang Mingzhe said, placing a light kiss on Ye Yunniang's hand before heading to the adjacent bathroom.
Ye Yunniang asked Qiushuang to clear the food from the table and bring a bowl of hangover soup from the kitchen.
Jiang Mingzhe soon returned.
"Drink the hangover soup."
"I won't. I'm not drunk." Hangover soup was Jiang Mingzhe's least favorite thing to drink.
Only a drunkard would claim not to be drunk.
Ye Yunniang picked up the bowl, scooped up a spoonful, and brought it to his lips.
"Drink the soup."
Even with the spoon right at his lips, Jiang Mingzhe just stared intently at Ye Yunniang.
"What are you looking at?"
"My wife is so beautiful."
"Even if you praise my looks, you still have to drink the hangover soup. My arm is getting tired from holding it up. Husband, drink the soup."
That single word, husband, completely dazed Jiang Mingzhe, and he obediently drank it down.
"Let's go to sleep."
"Sleep with me, my wife." Jiang Mingzhe swept Ye Yunniang into his arms.
Startled by his sudden movement, Ye Yunniang quickly wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
Jiang Mingzhe placed Ye Yunniang on the inner side of the bed, then lay down beside her, burying his face in the crook of her neck.
"We can't." Ye Yunniang stopped his movements; she was pregnant and couldn't be intimate.
"My wife, your husband is not such a beast." Jiang Mingzhe closed his eyes, breathing in the sweet scent of Ye Yunniang.
Ye Yunniang thought she would feel too uncomfortable to sleep, but surprisingly, she fell asleep very quickly.
She slept soundly until dawn.
When she opened her eyes, a broad, solid chest was right in front of her.
She wanted to say something, but her stomach protested first.
She scrambled up, rushed behind the folding screen, and leaned over the basin.
Retch.
Jiang Mingzhe patted Ye Yunniang's back and handed her some water.
Supported by Jiang Mingzhe, Ye Yunniang returned to the bed and lay down.
"Was it like this when you were pregnant with Pingping?"
"Pingping was very good. Except for when we were on the boat, I didn't have any reactions at all," Ye Yunniang said, recalling her pregnancy with Li Ping.
Hearing this, Jiang Mingzhe spoke to Ye Yunniang's belly.
"Be a good baby and don't bully your mother. Otherwise, when you come out, I'm going to spank your bottom."
Ye Yunniang lightly swatted Jiang Mingzhe. "You can't say that about our daughter."
"How do you know it's a daughter?"
"I dreamed about it last night." Ye Yunniang brought up her dream from the previous night.
In the dream, there was an adorable little girl reaching out for her to hold.
When Ye Yunniang picked her up, the little girl even said to someone, "This mother is good. I like her. I want to be her daughter."
"Our daughter came to me in a dream." Ye Yunniang further described to Jiang Mingzhe that the daughter in her dream had big round eyes and chubby little lips, looking exceptionally cute.
"What if it's a boy?"
"It must be a daughter. Do you not want a daughter?" Ye Yunniang looked displeased.
Already having three sons, Ye Yunniang especially wanted a daughter.
"Our daughter has round eyes. After she's born, let's call her Yuanyuan, alright?" Knowing better than to argue with Ye Yunniang at this moment, Jiang Mingzhe smoothly changed the subject.
Ye Yunniang murmured the name, "Yuanyuan, Yuanyuan. Good, our daughter will be named Yuanyuan."
"Yuanyuan, don't fuss with your mother anymore," Jiang Mingzhe instructed the belly once again.
"Yuanyuan can't understand what you're saying right now."
"I'll talk to her every day. If I say it enough, she'll understand."
"Aren't you afraid your daughter will find you annoying?"
"Even if she finds me annoying, I still have to tell her. She can't be allowed to torment my wife."
Ye Yunniang loved how protective Jiang Mingzhe was of her, and she leaned into his embrace.
"Yuanyuan is fine for a childhood nickname, but not for a formal name. You need to think of a beautiful name for her," Ye Yunniang reminded him.
Jiang Mingzhe promised that he would give their daughter a beautiful name.
"Mother, are you awake?" Li Ping's voice drifted into the room from outside the door.
"I'm awake," Ye Yunniang replied, picking up her clothes and putting them on. Her eyes urged Jiang Mingzhe to hurry up.
Once fully dressed, Ye Yunniang opened the door.
Li Pan and Li Ping were standing at the door, whispering about something.
"What are you talking about?"
"Mother, we're talking about the school."
The Jiang residence on Shilin Road was quite far from the Du Family School. It took two hours by carriage.
Spending four hours traveling back and forth every day took up way too much time.
Li Ping felt that Li Pan should transfer to a new school.
Li Pan couldn't bear to part with his teacher and classmates, and was considering moving back to Sunset Alley to live by himself.
"No." Ye Yunniang disagreed with Li Pan moving back there.
"I'll stay here during my days off." Li Pan thought this was a good arrangement.
"If you move back to Sunset Alley, I'll go back too." There was no way Ye Yunniang would let her eldest son live alone.
"Have you tried going through the back door?" Jiang Mingzhe spoke up.
When he bought the house, he had already taken Li Pan's schooling into consideration.
Leaving from the main entrance on Shilin Road and winding through several streets did indeed take two hours. But leaving from the back door of the Jiang residence, a carriage ride would only take fifteen minutes.
"Really?" Ye Yunniang was very surprised that there was such a huge time difference between the front and back doors.
"If you don't believe me, go try it."
"Alright, I'll go right now." Li Pan didn't want to be separated from his mother and brother either. Hearing this, he headed toward the back door.
"I'm going too," Li Ping chased after him.
"Come back here. Have breakfast before you go," Ye Yunniang stopped the two of them.
After breakfast, Ye Yunniang and Jiang Mingzhe also went to the back door together.
A carriage was already waiting at the back door. The family of four boarded the carriage and set off for the school.
When they arrived at the Du Family School, they timed it, and it had taken less than fifteen minutes.
"Big brother, you don't need to worry anymore."
"Yeah, I won't have to get up early anymore." Li Pan didn't want to wake up two hours early every day either.
"We're already at the school. Pingping, how about I enroll you?" Ye Yunniang's words made Li Ping's smile freeze.
"Mother, what kind of joke are you telling?" How could he, the dignified young master of the Yunhua Chamber of Commerce, come to a school just to learn how to read?
"You are seven years old. It's the perfect age to study."
Ye Yunniang hoped that Li Ping could meet more peers and make more friends.
"I don't want to."