Chapter 45
By the second day, Ye Jiao woke up early.
She yawned and heard Little Black's high-spirited crowing, which made her smile.
Not long ago, Little Black had been so dejected it wouldn't make a sound, and even its morning crowing was listless. Now it seemed that the little vest Little Su had made pleased Little Black greatly, covering its bald tail feathers. Little Black was once again the most handsome rooster in the coop.
But after Ye Jiao finished smiling, she felt her waist was somewhat sore.
Not only her waist, but her back also ached. Her body, which hadn't experienced such vigorous activity for a long time, was obviously somewhat unaccustomed to it.
She was always a bit dazed when first waking up, and this slight soreness made Ye Jiao somewhat come to her senses.
She reached out and gently pressed on her waist. These days of studying medicine had allowed her to properly manipulate pressure points. After adjusting the force slightly, she felt relief, and soon felt comfortable.
But after feeling comfortable, she became hungry.
Ye Jiao reached out to touch her soft little belly, then raised her head to look at Qi Yun's still-sleeping profile. She felt a bit reluctant to get up just like this.
She reached out to gently touch the man's eyelashes. Little Ginseng smiled softly and said quietly: "Husband is amazing."
But Qi Yun, who was currently sleeping, obviously had no way to respond to Ye Jiao's praise.
Little Ginseng didn't mind and continued playing with his eyelashes, only to discover that Qi Yun was still sleeping deeply.
This made Ye Jiao's heart sink, wondering if she had tired out Qi Yun. She reached out to gently feel Qi Yun's wrist.
Then Ye Jiao's eyes widened in surprise.
If her husband's condition before could be said to have temporarily escaped the edge of life and death, then now it had stabilized.
Although still much weaker than an ordinary person, being able to stabilize now was truly remarkable.
Ye Jiao didn't delve deeply into the reasons, but her face already showed a smile.
However, her smile wasn't just because Qi Yun seemed to have improved somewhat, but also because last night had indeed been very comfortable.
Little Ginseng always spoke honestly about everything. Since doing this wouldn't harm him but instead had benefits, could they perhaps do it more often in the future?
But Ye Jiao could also see that yesterday she had been comfortable, but for Qi Yun it was somewhat too nourishing.
She didn't know why, but previously when he had been over-nourished, this person had developed a high fever that nearly scared her to death. Now, being over-nourished only made him sleep deeply without any other abnormalities, and from his pulse, there didn't seem to be anything strange.
Perhaps her husband's foundation had become more stable and he could digest it himself?
Ye Jiao was somewhat confused and couldn't make up her mind for the moment, so she didn't get up. She just slightly turned on her side to lie beside Qi Yun, carefully moving the arms and legs that had been draped over the man to the side to avoid pressing on him.
Little Black's crowing gradually stopped, and the surroundings returned to complete quiet.
Ye Jiao lay quietly beside Qi Yun, keeping her eyes open to watch him while holding his hand and carefully observing changes in his pulse.
Perhaps because it was too quiet, or perhaps because Qi Yun's pulse remained unchanged, Ye Jiao became somewhat lost in thought while watching.
She had experienced both her husband's cold indifference toward outsiders and his gentle warmth toward herself.
But what hadn't changed was that whenever this person was awake, regardless of who he was facing, he always seemed to be contemplating something. He was always quiet, with wisdom in his mind and brilliance in his heart. Little Ginseng instinctively relied on him as support, but had never carefully observed how he looked when sleeping.
Looking now, even while sleeping, this person maintained a proper sleeping posture, but his face was relaxed.
That face showed peaceful and tranquil expression, the dark circles under his eyes were gone, and though there wasn't much color in his pale face, it didn't look gloomy. Ye Jiao propped herself up to look and felt she could never see enough.
Her husband was just so handsome.
Feeling the cold air outside the bedding, Ye Jiao lay back down, but this movement made her stomach feel even hungrier.
Although she felt in her heart that Qi Yun wouldn't have any serious problems, Ye Jiao still didn't want to just get up and leave Qi Yun alone in bed. She always felt uneasy about that.
After thinking, Little Ginseng's eyes turned, and she reached her hand under the inner bedding.
She felt around and then grabbed a handful of dried fruits from inside.
Ye Jiao secretly looked under the covers and saw red dates and longans.
They were all things she could eat.
If it were normally, Ye Jiao definitely wouldn't want to eat in bed, as it was hard to clean up. But now circumstances forced her, so she carefully pulled over a handkerchief, then pulled over a bed table, spread the handkerchief on the bed table, and carefully held the dried fruits while eating.
Biting them in her mouth with crunching sounds, the taste wasn't bad either.
Just as she was eating halfway, Ye Jiao saw Qi Yun's eyelashes move, as if he was about to wake up.
She immediately covered her mouth and leaned toward Qi Yun, feeling that the man only moved slightly but didn't wake up, then she breathed a sigh of relief.
But this also put Ye Jiao much more at ease. Since he wasn't sleeping heavily, it proved his body was fine.
She no longer stared at him in bed, let go of her hand, sat up, pulled over her outer clothes to put on, then carefully cleaned up the bed table and fruit shells before getting out of bed.
But Little Ginseng stood in front of the bed, thinking carefully about why things needed to be stuffed under the bedding. Qi Yun hadn't explained much, but Ye Jiao guessed it should be some rule or custom.
Blinking her eyes, she gently stuffed the handkerchief wrapped with fruit shells back under the mattress.
She let down the bed curtains, lit the charcoal fire, and when the room was warm as spring, Ye Jiao went to dress and groom herself. She put on her cloak and headed toward Mother Liu's courtyard.
It was already not early. When Ye Jiao arrived, she happened to catch Mother Liu worshipping Buddha.
She didn't want to disturb her, so she first went to find Nanny Liu to learn about applying rouge. Now Ye Jiao could clearly distinguish various rouge materials and could also make some flower ornaments to stick on her face. She learned everything meticulously.
When Mother Liu came out, Ye Jiao was holding a flower ornament and placing it between her eyebrows. Mother Liu glanced at it and couldn't help saying: "This one suits you very well."
Only when she heard this did Ye Jiao realize Mother Liu had come out. She smiled brightly as she stood up, walked over to help Mother Liu sit down, her voice cheerful: "Mother, could you teach me how to cut this?"
Mother Liu had her sit across from her but didn't answer immediately. Instead, she first said to Nanny Liu: "Go to the tea room. I had someone keep some pastries warm, bring them over." Then Mother Liu said to Ye Jiao: "These flower ornaments are delicate and small. If you cut them yourself, it would inevitably be taxing. Whatever pattern you want, just buy them. If you can't buy them, just describe the design and someone can naturally make them. If that doesn't work, drawing them with vermillion is just the same."
Ye Jiao carefully memorized this in her heart and nodded with a smile in agreement.
Mother Liu also smiled and chatted with her about household matters.
When Nanny Liu returned with pastries, Ye Jiao was asking Mother Liu: "Mother, why do you need to stuff things like dates and longans under the mattress?"
Hearing this, Mother Liu instinctively raised her handkerchief to cover the corners of her lips, then said gently: "This is a custom, taking an auspicious saying to bless the days to be prosperous and sweet, and also symbolizing having a precious child soon."
Ye Jiao blinked: "Having a precious child soon?"
"Yes, red dates, peanuts, longans, lotus seeds, doesn't that mean having a precious child soon?" Nanny Liu explained with a smile.
But Ye Jiao remembered that Qi Yun had only put red dates and longans, and she hadn't seen peanuts or lotus seeds.
However, Ye Jiao didn't ask more questions. Since she knew it was a custom, she would go back while Qi Yun was still asleep and secretly replace what she had eaten to make up for it.
But after Ye Jiao left, Mother Liu got up and returned to the small Buddha hall, kneeling properly on the prayer mat with an unstoppable smile on her face, softly murmuring: "Buddha bless, Buddha bless."
Nanny Liu beside her was somewhat puzzled: "Madam, is there some good news?"
Mother Liu glanced at her: "Did Second Young Master get up late today?"
Nanny Liu responded: "Looking at Second Young Mistress's eyebrows, they weren't carefully drawn, so Second Young Master probably hasn't gotten up yet."
Now, the fact that Second Young Master Qi liked to draw his wife's eyebrows was no longer a secret. After all, this was a beautiful tale with nothing to be secretive about. Mentioning it would only earn praise for the harmonious relationship between Second Young Master Qi and his wife.
Second Young Master getting up late, and his own second daughter-in-law asking about these matters, didn't that make it clear when the two combined?
Mother Liu's face showed a smile as she looked again at the Buddha statue and gently turned the prayer beads in her hand.
But as she thought about it, Mother Liu also shed tears, though the smile never left her face.
This time last year, she was still worrying daily about whether her second son would wake up one morning and be gone. She had lived through so many years of constantly worrying, never having peace of mind.
Now her second son's health was stable, Jiao Niang was gentle and obedient. What more could she ask for?
Turning the prayer beads in her hand again, Mother Liu slowly closed her eyes and said no more.
On the other side, when Qi Yun woke up, the first thing he did was reach toward the other side of the bed.
Usually he woke up earlier than Ye Jiao. The first thing he did in the morning was to see if his Jiao Niang had been well-behaved while sleeping. Several times he had seen Ye Jiao kick off her blanket at night, then fearfully pull it back because of the cold, or burrow into his arms. Qi Yun was almost getting used to holding her.
When getting up in the morning, Second Young Master Qi also liked to see if Ye Jiao was properly covered with her blanket. If not, he would help her tuck in the corners.
But today, he felt nothing.
Qi Yun immediately became alert. He half-propped up his body and turned to look to the side.
The room had already been warmed by the charcoal fire. Even leaving the blanket didn't feel cold, but Qi Yun still recalled everything from yesterday.
Last night the beauty first shared the bed with him, as their love deepened they gradually moved closer, and the mandarin duck quilt showed red waves in folds.
Qi Yun's face immediately turned red, but then he quickly calmed down, wondering if he had been dreaming again.
Since sharing a bed with Jiao Niang, he had had quite a few such dreams.
But Qi Yun soon felt something under the bedding.
He reached his hand in and pulled out a handkerchief. Opening it, he saw a bundle of fruit shells inside.
Qi Yun: ...
For a moment, Qi Yun didn't know what expression to make, but finally his lips curved upward.
Placing the handkerchief on the bed table, Qi Yun got up and lifted the curtain, just in time to see Ye Jiao pushing the door open.
Originally Ye Jiao had been holding something in her hand, planning to stuff it back while Qi Yun was still asleep, but who knew she would run right into him.
She quickly put her hands behind her back. Little Ginseng looked left and right: "Husband, you're awake. Are you hungry? I'll have someone bring breakfast right away."
But before Ye Jiao could finish speaking, she saw Qi Yun beckon to her.
Ye Jiao slowly moved over and sat sideways on the edge of the bed. Qi Yun reached out to gently press her back and waist, saying with a smile: "Are you tired?"
Little Ginseng obediently nodded, then shook her head: "I was tired in the morning, but I'm not tired now. Husband, how did you know I was tired?"
Because Qi Yun's back and waist were also somewhat sore now, especially thinking about how his Jiao Niang had clung to him for two rounds yesterday...
But Qi Yun would absolutely never say this, absolutely not.
The man straightened up and looked at what Ye Jiao was holding, raising an eyebrow slightly.
It looked somewhat familiar. Hadn't he just pulled out something wrapped in a handkerchief like this from under the mattress?
He couldn't help but smile as he looked at Ye Jiao and asked softly: "Jiao Niang, what are you holding?"
Seeing she couldn't hide it anymore, Ye Jiao slowly handed the thing to Qi Yun to see.
Qi Yun opened it and saw four things inside.
Red dates, longans, peanuts, lotus seeds.
This made Qi Yun pause, then he looked at Ye Jiao and heard her say softly: "I heard from Mother that these need to be put in. I was very hungry this morning and ate quite a lot, so I thought I'd replace them..."
Qi Yun didn't know what to feel for a moment. He wanted to laugh, since he'd never heard of being able to replace what you'd secretly eaten. But he also had some inexplicable emotions brewing.
After all, he hadn't put in the latter two items.
The man reached out and gently grasped Ye Jiao's fingertips, asking hoarsely: "Do you know what this means?"
Ye Jiao nodded: "I asked Mother about it."
At this moment, Qi Yun felt moved but had no expectations.
What he possessed now was already far more than he had anticipated. Qi Yun had never hoped for other things.
Qi Yun said nothing more and just reached out to pull Ye Jiao into his arms.
Ye Jiao let him hold her and conveniently grasped his wrist to check his pulse. Feeling that he was fine, she obediently lay in Qi Yun's embrace.
But soon, Ye Jiao came to her senses.
That's right, previously the little fox had done that thing, and not long after, she had a baby.
Having a baby should be quite interesting. Little Shi Tou looked very well-behaved, and she thought having one would be quite nice too.
But...
Little Ginseng had actually verified countless times that she was now human and no longer the ginseng spirit she used to be, but she couldn't help muttering to herself.
If she really had a baby, what if grass grew on its head?