Things Are Seriously F*cking Not Good
Xu Mei had gotten pregnant a month earlier than Su Jingyang, but she gave birth three days later than him, and she also had a son.
The two of them exchanged letters to share the good news, but because their babies were born so close together, both of them regretted that they couldn’t attend each other’s one-month banquet.
Su Jingyang had mentioned it before when Rong Hua and Ling Li came by, and Rong Hua said he already agreed with Xu Mei that he would visit Wangyue Manor when the time came.
Su Jingyang thought it was good for Rong Hua to go. He could also have him bring a gift over. He was just a little worried that Rong Hua would run into Hao Jiasheng again, then come back radiating that same violent, irritable energy like last time.
Rong Hua seemed to think of that too. He looked annoyed, but he didn’t say anything. When the departure day arrived, he still went.
Su Jingyang could only pray silently that Rong Hua wouldn’t bump into Hao Jiasheng again this time. To be honest, ever since Hao Jiasheng fell into the water that time, Su Jingyang had always felt there was something strange about him.
Early on the morning of Su Dafan and Su Xiaofan’s one-month day, Su Jingyang took advantage of the time when the two babies were feeding and speed-ran a hot shower.
He actually wanted to soak in a bath and wash away some of the exhaustion, but the thought spun around in his head once and he gave up. In the end, he just went fast and got it over with.
Now he’d learned that everything had to be fast. Eating had to be fast, bathing had to be fast, and even using the toilet had to be fast. If he left for even a little while, those two little ancestors would refuse to let him off the hook. Su Jingyang was truly terrified of them.
Once he got dressed, dried his hair, and returned to the room, he found Rong Ci holding Su Dafan and patting his back for a burp. The baby was obediently draped over Rong Ci’s shoulder and wasn’t even crying.
“!!!” Su Jingyang was shocked out of his mind. He naively thought the light had finally arrived and hope had finally come! In the next moment, before he could even cry tears of joy, Su Dafan seemed to sense that he was back. With that little head and a thick mop of spiky newborn hair, he slowly turned toward Su Jingyang.
The instant Su Jingyang saw Su Dafan’s lips start to pout, he hurried over in a few big steps and took him into his arms before he could drop any “golden beans.”
Even after Su Dafan was already in Su Jingyang’s embrace, he still squeezed hard and forced the tears he had been holding back to spill. Those bright little droplets slid down his cheeks as he pressed his chubby, milky face against Su Jingyang’s chest, like he had been wronged while with Rong Ci.
Su Jingyang thought the kid was hilarious. He even knew how to put on an act and commit to it. Seeing this, Rong Ci also laughed.
Su Xiaofan over there had finished feeding too. Milk was still smeared at the corner of his mouth, yet he was already craning his neck and trying hard to look toward Su Jingyang. Rong Ci intended to take him and pat out his burp too.
The moment he held him upright, Su Xiaofan’s mouth moved twice, then with a loud “wah,” he spat up all the milk he’d just drunk, generously donating it to Rong Ci’s clothes.
“...” The rejected “old father” calmly closed his eyes for a moment, handed the baby over to Su Jingyang, then got up to change clothes.
Su Xiaofan’s clothes were dirty too. Su Jingyang put him on the bed and was about to change him when Ling Li arrived at just that moment. Ling Li sat by the bed, smiling softly as he looked at Dafan and Xiaofan.
He clearly wanted to hold them and kiss them, but he didn’t dare. He was afraid he would provoke them into crying. So he could only stealthily touch Su Xiaofan’s little hand, then hold Su Dafan’s little hand, then quickly let go.
Ling Li’s clear, gentle eyes turned to Su Jingyang. “Jingyang, are you really planning to keep calling them Dafan and Xiaofan?”
“No, no,” Su Jingyang said with a laugh. “I’ve just gotten used to saying it these days.” He turned to Ling Li. “The older one’s named Rong Yu, and the younger one’s Rong Xi. Rong Ci picked them. I think they sound fine. Ah Li, what do you think?”
Ling Li asked which characters they were, and Su Jingyang told him. A faint ripple seemed to pass through Ling Li’s eyes. He stayed quiet for a moment, lips slightly curved, before he said softly, “They’re very good.”
The characters Yang, Yu, and Xi all carry meanings connected to brightness and light.
Su Jingyang didn’t seem to care much about that meaning, though. Ling Li thought that to him, a name probably only mattered in whether it rolled off the tongue or not.
After Su Jingyang finished changing the baby’s clothes, he plopped down too and squeezed in beside Ling Li. He blinked at him and said, “Last night I told Rong Ci we should name a kid Rong Yi, and the other Rong Bu. He’s Rong Ci, so when we go out later, we can introduce ourselves like, ‘Hello everyone, we are Yi Bu Rong Ci!’ How smooth is that? He kicked me straight into the bed.”
Even Ling Li couldn’t hold it in. He burst out laughing. Su Jingyang also snickered. “Ah Li, don’t you think he has no taste?”
Ling Li laughed until his face flushed, his eyes shining. In the end, he said, “It’s a good thing Rong Ci didn’t listen to you.”
Su Jingyang’s grin immediately collapsed. He huffed, sulking.
Rong Ci returned after changing. He nodded to Ling Li as a greeting. Su Jingyang was about to pick the baby up when Ling Li touched the baby’s clothes and hesitated. “Jingyang, did you put too many layers on them?”
Su Jingyang explained, “It seems windy outside. I was afraid they would get chilled.”
He’d just come back in from outside after showering and felt the temperature was lower, so he switched both babies into slightly thicker clothes.
Ling Li hesitated again, then still said, “Jingyang, actually, little children aren’t as afraid of cold as you think.”
Su Jingyang hesitated. In the end, he didn’t change them again. He said to Ling Li, “I’ll have them bring extra clothes. We’ll see how it goes later.”
The one-month banquet was held in the Chunhe Jingming Grand Hall up ahead. Inside and outside the hall, tables were packed with feasts. Cups clinked and toasts flew, lively beyond belief.
The elders, Shamans, and Dream Masters of Rongcheng were naturally all present, and the more high-ranking nobles of the city also came to offer congratulations. Even some common citizens of Rongcheng came on their own to pray for the two young lords who had brought fortune to the city, or to deliver fresh flower baskets.
Su Jingyang holding two babies by himself wasn’t simple. In the end, he only carried them out for a brief appearance, then moved to the side room. Rong Ci had to go out and host the guests, so Ling Li stayed behind to keep Su Jingyang company.
This was also Su Dafan and Su Xiaofan’s first time coming out for some air. They seemed excited. Their eyes were wide and proud as they lay in the little cradles, refusing to sleep.
Su Jingyang leaned over the cradle and happily kept muttering, “Don’t sleep, good, don’t sleep, good! That’ll make it easier to coax you to sleep tonight.”
Ling Li looked at the shadows under Su Jingyang’s eyes and truly felt sorry for him.
Su Jingyang studied the two babies’ faces and suddenly felt dazed. A month had passed. Dafan and Xiaofan’s features had opened up more. The pale blue little outfits made them look even more like carved jade and powdered snow, delicate and adorable. Yet it also gave him a feeling that was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. He even started to doubt, “Ah Li, are these really the babies I gave birth to back then?”
Ling Li laughed at him for being silly again. “Of course they are. Look, their eyes are the same as yours, so beautiful.”
Dafan and Xiaofan’s eyes were like Su Jingyang’s. Their pupils were round, black, and large, like a clear spring reflected inside, unbelievably clean and pretty.
Su Jingyang didn’t reply. He suddenly fell into a long, quiet train of thought.
If a baby could change this much in one month, then once he left later, he was destined to miss so many, many things. As he thought about it, his chest actually turned sour and tight.
That day, Su Jingyang ate in the side room with Ling Li. After they finished eating, he was chatting and laughing with Ling Li when Rong Xia suddenly started crying and screaming outside, insisting on coming in. The guards blocked him.
Ling Li quietly glanced at Su Jingyang. Su Jingyang’s expression didn’t change. “Ah Li, don’t bother.”
Rong Ci had already told Su Jingyang everything about Madam Ru. She didn’t know where she had heard it, but years ago she started firmly believing that after this wave of fluctuation, the energy of Wu Qun Mountain would surge. Even if Rong Xia wasn’t of the Rong bloodline, he wouldn’t need to “offer himself.” He could still sit firmly in the City Lord position.
She relied on the fact that Rong Ci had promised the old City Lord he wouldn’t lay hands on her, so she acted with unchecked arrogance. The moment she saw an opening that day, she couldn’t wait to arrange everything and trick Su Jingyang to Wu Qun Mountain, trying to eliminate Rong Ci and the babies in Su Jingyang’s belly in one move. Then with Rong Xia, the last remaining branch of the clan leader line, no matter how incapable he was, he could still sit steadily in that seat.
The abacus was calculated quite well, and the fantasy was beautiful. In the end, Rong Ci, furious beyond restraint, threw her into the dungeon, and she would never be released for the rest of her life.
For that woman, it was even crueler than killing her. With her former glory gone, all that remained was endless damp cold and darkness. If she lacked the courage to end herself, then this kind of torment would follow her through every moment of the rest of her life.
Previously, when Su Jingyang was busy caring for the babies every day, Rong Xia had tried several times to force his way in to see him. Su Jingyang only ever heard the noise. The people outside never let him in. Later, he didn’t even hear the noise anymore.
Su Jingyang had been set up by that mother and son pair. If Rong Ci hadn’t come down the mountain in time, Su Jingyang and the children would most likely have been killed by that woman. Su Jingyang couldn’t summon even a trace of sympathy, so he never bothered.
Today, Rong Xia probably caught the rare chance of Su Jingyang showing his face, so he rushed over to beg. Unfortunately, it was useless, because Su Jingyang had no intention of seeing him.
He already had enough to worry about. Su Jingyang had no time to manage other people.
Rong Xia’s breakdown cries carried in, “I’m not leaving! I won’t leave! You can’t stop me! Why are you treating me like this! Why are you treating my mother like this! What happened! What happened to everything! I don’t know anything! I’m begging you, someone tell me!”
Su Jingyang froze. Then he thought, maybe Rong Xia still didn’t know his real background. Or maybe when he came running to deliver the news in a panic, he didn’t understand that woman’s intent at all. Maybe he truly was only worried about his older brother. From a child’s perspective, it really was pitiful.
Still, this was something Rong Ci had decided. Su Jingyang didn’t want to interfere. After struggling for a moment, he still ignored it.
Not long after, Rong Xia’s crying faded into the distance.
Sleepiness came over Su Jingyang. He propped his cheek with his hand and wanted to seize the chance to doze for a bit. Just as he was drifting, he heard Ling Li make a surprised sound. “Jingyang, look at the babies!”
The little cradles were placed beside the table. Su Jingyang hurriedly turned his head to look. The two babies who had been sleeping quietly were both kicking and flailing restlessly. Many tiny bumps had risen across their flushed faces!
Su Jingyang had no experience. Seeing that, he sucked in a cold breath, thinking something serious had broken out on them.
Both babies started crying in discomfort. Su Jingyang panicked and picked one up, lifted the baby’s clothes, and checked. There were similar bumps on the body too. He was instantly terrified out of his mind and was about to order someone to fetch Li Yin, when Ling Li picked up the other baby. As Ling Li undid the baby’s clothes, he told Su Jingyang, “Don’t panic, don’t panic. It’s heat rash. Loosen their clothes quickly.”
Su Jingyang hurriedly did as told. The babies were soaked with sweat, so it really was heat.
Only then did Su Jingyang recover enough to let out a long breath. Then he immediately felt annoyed at himself. If he hadn’t stubbornly insisted earlier and had listened to Ah Li, this wouldn’t have happened.
Ling Li didn’t care anymore about whether the babies would cry. He rushed to help. The two of them quickly wiped the sweat off both babies, changed them into thinner clothes, and the babies who had been smothered until they could barely breathe finally looked a little more comfortable.
Su Jingyang slowly straightened up. He stood there blankly for a long time, staring at the babies’ watery, tear-filled eyes. A strange, unclear emotion lingered in his heart, making him unable to stop feeling miserable.
Ling Li touched the baby’s little face and blamed himself painfully. “It’s my fault, it’s my fault. If I’d noticed sooner, then...”
“It’s not your fault.” Su Jingyang sighed weakly. “How could it be your fault? If anyone’s at fault, it’s me for not listening to you. I got lazy just now and didn’t watch them.”
Su Jingyang didn’t even wait for Rong Ci to come over. He carried the babies back himself and called Li Yin to check them. Li Yin said it was nothing serious and gave him a jar of ointment that smelled cool and soothing. Su Jingyang immediately rolled up his sleeves, bathed both babies, then rubbed ointment all over their bodies and faces.
Rong Ci returned quickly. Ling Li, who had been with Su Jingyang the whole time, got up and quietly left the moment he saw Rong Ci come back.
Su Jingyang sat cross-legged on the soft rug by the cradle, staring at the babies in a daze. It was unclear what he was thinking. Rong Ci came up to speak to him, and Su Jingyang lazily refused to respond.
Even when it was time to sleep at night, Su Jingyang still didn’t talk much. His brows were tightly knit.
The babies had slept less during the day, yet that night, coaxing them was easier than ever. Once Su Jingyang got them to sleep, he lay down too, eyes closed, and silent.
Rong Ci held him from behind and comforted him in a low voice. “It was only heat rash. Our sons aren’t that delicate. Don’t keep hurting over it.”
Su Jingyang jabbed him away with an elbow, pulled the blanket over his head, and slowly opened his eyes in the dark. His breathing trembled a little.
He knew heat rash wasn’t a big deal. That was exactly why he felt so chaotic and upset. Yes, it was only heat rash! Yet back then, seeing the two babies uneasy and miserable, their faces streaked with tears, his heart had been stung with sudden pain, like something had viciously jabbed him!!!
So it really was blood and bone after all. No matter how he once wanted to cast them aside, no matter how annoying he found them these days, even a tiny ache or illness could throw his emotions into huge turmoil. Su Jingyang hated and feared that feeling!
“Don’t hide under there. Come out and breathe,” Rong Ci called to him from outside the blanket.
Su Jingyang stubbornly tightened the blanket and shouted, “Stop bothering me! Go away, go away!”
One endlessly annoying person blocking his path to leaving was already more than enough. Now there were two little brats too, yanking his heart around until he couldn’t stop worrying. Su Jingyang felt more and more that his situation was seriously f*cking not good!
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