Chapter 99 - II
His face was black and white, and so was his hands.
Li Jiading left Li Jiafu’s palace and returned to his own.
After the fourth child finished applying the medicine, he was a little worried about how to deal with the evening greetings.
Although he had already moved to the outer palace, he still went to Kunning Palace every night to have dinner with his mother.
In the past, he would have had a meal, sat for a while, and then left, but today it was difficult to act as if nothing was wrong with his face. Li Jiading thought he would inevitably have to remove the medicine before going back to his palace to reapply it.
Evening arrived.
Li Jiading went to Kunning Palace and sat down, watching the maids and eunuchs bustling about. Only when the prince, the crown prince, and their little grandson arrived did everyone gather.
When the banquet was about to begin, Empress Shi Yiting appeared wearing Buddhist incense.
“Let’s serve,” the empress said as she sat down.
Her eyes fell on Li Jiading’s face. “Jiading, I heard you and Li Jiarui had a fight?”
Li Jiading hesitated for a moment and nodded. “Yes.”
“What happened?”
“There was a bit of an argument.”
“As long as no one is hurt, it’s quite rare for you to fight.” The empress smiled, picked up a small spoon, and scooped some custard for the little grandson. “I heard your father even rewarded you with something. That’s quite rare. You should talk more; I think you’re too quiet.”
It seemed that the empress mother didn’t know yet. Li Jiading muttered to himself and deliberately said, “Father said that the second brother should be sent to the military camp as a punishment.”
Those words shocked the empress’s heart, and the little silver spoon stopped in mid-air.
It had been a while, but the food hadn’t come down yet. The one-and-a-half-year-old little grandson shouted “Egg” and looked at the empress longingly.
The empress smiled when she heard this and put the spoonful of custard into the little grandson’s bowl.
“My dear grandson, you have the imperial grandmother who cares about you.”
Li Jiading pretended not to see anything and ate and drank when he should. Anyway, it wasn’t his son who was used for fighting favour.
Furthermore, it sounded like the situation had been won. There was no need for him to ripple the calm pond.
.
From March to April, Little Ah Deng had grown up quickly. Although he was still small compared to adults, he was white, tender, and very cute.
The eleventh day of April was one day away from Little Ah Deng’s full moon. The full moon was coming soon, so of course, preparations had to be made to cleanse and welcome the new anniversary.
Jing Xingzhi held Little Ah Deng down with one hand and took off the bellyband. “Little Ah Deng, I gave you a bath. Are you happy?”
Liu Fang was already moving freely. He touched the water and felt that the temperature was just right. He urged Jing Xingzhi, “I’ve adjusted the water temperature.”
“It’s coming, it’s coming,” Jing Xingzhi replied, immediately stripping off the little baby and putting him into the small wooden basin.
“Ah poof!”
Little Ah Deng looked very happy, shaking his hands and feet, causing small splashes of water.
“Hey, you’re quite happy. I’ll take you swimming in the summer!” Jing Xingzhi held his two little hands and teased Little Ah Deng.
Liu Fang watched the big one and the small one chatting nonsense like this and began to think about what summer would be like.
In the summer, they would find a big pool or a small stream and a small spring, and the whole family could take a cool bath to cool off when the heat became unbearable. It would be very comfortable just thinking about it.
When the time came… he’d leave the little one to the older one’s care, while he drank iced orange juice and ate iced watermelon.
Liu Fang thought, and suddenly realized that he had been led astray, and sighed helplessly.
“What’s wrong?” Jing Xingzhi asked in confusion. “Tired? I’ll do it.”
Jing Xingzhi stopped playing with Little Ah Deng, pushed him down and sat him down, took the soft towel from Liu Fang’s hand, and wiped Little Ah Deng’s body.
Liu Fang let go and sat on a small bench to watch Jing Xingzhi give Little Ah Deng a bath.
Maybe it wasn’t as comfortable anymore, so Little Ah Deng was not very cooperative and stubbornly tried to get up to avoid Jing Xingzhi’s big hand.
Unfortunately, his calves were weak, and he couldn’t stand up at all. He could only look at his mother and scream, “Ahhhh.”
This time it was Liu Fang’s turn to tease his son. Liu Fang taught Little Ah Deng how to speak: “Ah Deng, call me Amu.”
Little Ah Deng: “Ah!”
“Amu, Amu.”
Little Ah Deng kept up with the rhythm and suddenly became excited: “Ah! Ah!”
Liu Fang continued to work hard: “Ah ah ah, Amu.”
“Ahhhhhhh?” Little Ah Deng couldn’t count how many.
Jing Xingzhi laughed and said, “Teach him to call me daddy.”
“Teach it yourself, and let’s see who succeed first.” Liu Fang thought how meaningful it would be if the first person the child called was himself.
“Xiao Fangfang, you idiot,” Jing Xingzhi shook his head and explained to him, “Think about it, Ah Deng will call you first. From now on, if he wants to drink water at night, he will call: Amu.’ Or if he is hungry at night, he will call Amu. You won’t be able to sleep well. Don’t you think you’re stupid?”
After Jing Xingzhi finished speaking, he found there was no sound. When he looked up, he realized that Liu Fang was looking at him with a smile.
Seeing him looking up, Liu Fang hugged his head and gave him a kiss.
Above his head, Liu Fang’s voice sounded: “You are the fool!”
Jing Xingzhi covered Little Ah Deng’s eyes, thinking who could stand such a coquettish person.
Xiao Fangfang must have been confessing his love, and he had proof!
The next day, Little Ah Deng appeared white and tender, and received a bunch of gifts, even some from as far away as Hanbei Prefecture. He was much more popular than his father, Jing Xingzhi.
But they just had some fun with their family and let everyone have a good time.
The examination was over, and the next one would be three years later. During this period, everyone played in various ways, without any psychological burden, and they were happy every day.
Wu Mingrui and Hao Youcai were sitting together, discussing a new collection of poems.
Wang Zhuang was very surprised when his wife came to the capital. After lunch, he took the her out for a walk.
Jing Xingzhi’s family of three was together.
Liu Fang wiped Little Ah Deng’s mouth. At noon, Little Ah Deng had turned on the meat—he licked a mouthful of meat and drank a large bowl of goat’s milk, leaving him with a milky smell.
Jing Xingzhi said with some emotion, “The child is so good, and he also receive lots of gifts.”
Liu Fang laughed at him and smacked him in the face. “Don’t be jealous. You have your own birthday and it’s better than Ah Deng’s.”
In Liu Fang’s heart, Little Ah Deng was a small treasure, and Jing Xingzhi was a big treasure.
Jing Xingzhi smiled when he heard this, hugged Liu Fang from behind, and then said in a surprised tone, “There seems to be something hidden in Ah Deng’s clothes?”
Liu Fang was so frightened that he quickly rummaged through Xiao Ah Deng’s clothes.
Children were fragile. If they accidentally put something into their mouths, it would be very uncomfortable and they couldn’t speak yet.
Liu Fang put his hand into the quilt on Little Ah Deng, which made him giggle.
After feeling around, Liu Fang indeed touched something.
Sweat broke out on the tip of his nose as he nervously took the object out of Little Ah Deng’s clothes.
When he saw it was a box, Liu Fang breathed a sigh of relief.
“We didn’t notice any boxes.” Liu Fang breathed a sigh of relief and opened the box again to check. The box was also used to store things.
But after opening the box, Liu Fang was dumbfounded.
It wasn’t a novelty, just a set of four small wood carvings, but what was strange was that each wood carving looked particularly like Liu Fang.
From a slightly bulging belly, to a big belly that made him cover his mouth as if he were vomiting, to a big belly that made it difficult to move, to laying on the bed in the delivery room, dripping with sweat, gritting his teeth to endure the pain.
Each one was a scene that Jing Xingzhi remembered deeply.