Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 397 - 396: Choice

Chapter 397: Chapter 396: Choice

"Mother, why are you crying again? Does your stomach still hurt?" Dabao asked loudly from the doorway.

Mrs. Wang, who had already stepped aside into the adjoining room, hurried over to lead Dabao away.

Chen Afu and Chu Lingxuan exchanged a smile, that little thing was definitely doing this on purpose.

Chen Afu felt sleepy again and lay down to rest. Chu Lingxuan covered her with the quilt and softly said, "You’ve been tired for such a long time, sleep a little more."

The image of the already fuming Jin Yanzi flashed across Chen Afu’s mind. It was going crazy, its clamoring voice coming in fits and starts, "Mommy, quickly bring brother into the space, I want to play... Hurry up, mommy, I’m in a rush! I want to bang my head against the wall, I want to curse... Oh, I want to play with my brother so much..."

Chen Afu was absolutely exhausted and sank into her dreams.

She was awakened by the children’s crying. It was already dark outside, the room was lit up, and the two crying children were being held by their wet nurses. Chu Lingxuan was looking at them anxiously.

Seeing Chen Afu awake, Mrs. Li said smilingly, "I don’t know what’s gotten into the boys, they had their wet nurse’s milk this morning, but after having Mrs. Wang’s milk, they won’t have theirs anymore."

Chen Afu sat up and, smiling, took the crying Yu from them. Strangely, Yu stopped crying immediately after he was taken into Chen Afu’s arms, and he hurriedly opened his little mouth in search of the bottle. As soon as the bottle was in his mouth, he started eating eagerly.

The children were still small, and the milk from one of Chen Afu’s breasts was enough to satiate them. She then brought over Ming, fed him till he was full, and the two brothers lay contentedly on the little bed, staring at the ceiling.

The two maids brought the dinner table to the bed which held chicken soup, pork knuckle soup, crucian carp soup, stewed pork liver, and seafood tofu. Chen Afu was hungry, and although these dishes didn’t have much salt, she ate a lot of them. Besides, she had to feed her two boys, so she had to eat more.

After she finished eating, she saw that Chu Lingxuan had not left yet, so she asked, "Aren’t you going to the Outer Court to rest?"

Chu Lingxuan replied unhappily, "Why would I go to the Outer Court when my wife and son are here?"

Chen Afu said, "The children are noisy. I’m afraid you won’t get a good sleep at night."

"It doesn’t matter," said Chu Lingxuan.

Mrs. Li initially thought she would spend the night in the room to take care of Mrs. Wang. But upon seeing this affectionate display between the young husband and wife, she couldn’t help smiling.

She thought to herself, she had always thought Mr. Chen and his wife were the most affectionate couple, treating each other as equals, with the utmost respect. But she had been mistaken; the most loving couple was their own master and Mrs. Wang.

On the third day of October, the Chus held a lively baby full moon party for their children. All influential families in Dingzhou came over.

Actually, inviting so many people wasn’t necessary for the baby full moon party, inviting a few close relatives and friends would suffice. But since the elder Chu had just become the grandfather of two healthy grandsons all at once, he felt an overwhelming joy and thus invited many guests. In the Capital City, he did have a grandchild, but that child was born of a concubine. He never held the second son in high regard, and moreover, the grandchild was the son of a minor son, there was no comparison with these twin grandsons born to his eldest son.

Since both Chen Ming and Mrs. Wang didn’t like being around Chen Shiying and preferred not to associate with official families, they chose not to attend today’s banquet. They planned to visit the children tomorrow.

Chen Ming had been feeling rather uneasy about the scene of Chen Shiying and Mrs. Wang weeping together under the window. To an outsider, they could be mistaken for husband and wife. Even though he knew that they were worried about Afu, and his eyes had welled up at the time, their intimacy made him profoundly uncomfortable. It was acceptable for a woman to cry so violently, but Chen Shiying was too soft; a man wasn’t supposed to cry like that...

Since there were no other adult female hosts in the Chu household, except for Chen Afu, Mrs. Jiang showed up early. She was responsible for hosting the female guests today. Everyone from the Chen’s came, including Old Madam Chen and all the others, even Chen Yuhui.

It was not only because Chen Yuhui was now mentally stable, but also because the He family was coming today. If the sister of the child who was having his full moon ceremony didn’t attend, people would condemn her.

Before coming over, Mrs. Jiang had called Chen Yuhui to her side and educated her that a girl from a good family should behave modestly and that an unwed daughter-in-law should keep her distance from her husband’s female relatives...

Mrs. Jiang couldn’t say it too bluntly. She was afraid that Chen Yuhui would shamelessly cozy up to them and consequently be looked down upon by the He family. Initially, the He family had intended to marry Chen Yuqing, the legitimate daughter, but was then beset by this illegitimate daughter, which made them very unhappy. The expressions of Mrs. He and He Linsheng during the engagement ceremony hadn’t been very good. If anything unpleasant occurred at the Chus’ residence, it would upset Chen Afu.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law from the Fu family, Mrs. Qin and Mrs. Liu who were close friends with Chen Afu, all went to her bedroom to visit her, while others chatted outside.

Chen Afu was uncomfortable because the three Chen sisters spent the whole time in her room, especially Chen Yuhui. If Mrs. Fu and others weren’t in the room, she would have kicked Chen Yuhui out directly.

Chen Afu was already annoyed at Chen Yuhui’s arrogance, and that annoying girl kept bringing up unwanted topics. She said things like, "My God, big sister’s belly is still so big, what will you do if it doesn’t shrink... These two children are so small, their little faces are wrinkled like old and they don’t look like sister and brother-in-law at all..."

"Second Sister!" Chen Yuqing didn’t like what she heard and tugged on her sleeve.

Chen Yuhui shrugged off Chen Yuqing’s hand. She was doing it on purpose. She wanted to provoke Chen Afu.

She had heard her father tell her mother how dangerous Chen Afu’s labor was and how it nearly claimed three lives. She’d heard about Chu Lingxuan’s distress and how he stood by the window shouting "Afu" and how he eventually started crying. Her father admired this son-in-law for his love and loyalty.

Even though she knew her father had also cried, she thought it was expected because he was a sensitive and emotional literate man. But how could Chu Lingxuan, the perennial iceberg, shed tears for Chen Afu? Her granny used to say that Chu Lingxuan wanted to marry her first. It appeared men were fickle, even the best of them could be easily tempted by a woman’s charm.

A small battle stirred in her heart. If Chen Afu had indeed died, should she marry He Linsheng as agreed or break off the engagement once again to marry Chu Lingxuan?

If she really had to choose someone to marry, her first choice would still be Chu Lingxuan. Even though marrying him would make her a second wife, she was willing to...

Chen Afu couldn’t bear it any longer when she saw Chen Yuhui’s "combative chicken" demeanor. She gave a cold smile and said, "Second little sister, even if my belly is still huge, if we walk together, I will still be much more beautiful than you."

Mrs. Liu laughed, pointing at Chen Afu and said, "People always talk about how Chen is a gentle and elegant scholar, always wearing a smile. His daughter is so different, she’s so direct. Even if you are ’more beautiful’ it’s still not something to be so forthright about."