Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 555 - 546: Understanding

Chapter 555: Chapter 546: Understanding

Afu was quite gloomy. Getting a palace doctor to take her pulse in the middle of the night and being ordered to rest in bed for a month was a bummer. The timing was all wrong—it happened the night before Chu Lingxuan returned. Everyone was assuming things, looking at her with somewhat playful eyes.

Mrs. Wang was downright furious, being humiliated by Chu Lingxuan for the first time. She even quietly complained to her, "This is your third pregnancy, isn’t it? If your son-in-law doesn’t know his limits, why do you let him?"

The third Madam gave her a teasing glance and said, "I’ll let your Uncle Chen have a word with Lingxuan. A daughter-in-law needs to be cherished at this time, he can’t be messing around. Plus, what if he scares my granddaughter away ..." even the word "nephew" was missing this time.

Mrs. Jiang blushed as she advised her, "Afu, you should abstain from consummating with your husband during this time, try to persuade your son-in-law..."

Chu Hua shared her own experiences, "If my elder brother really cannot control himself, let him take a cold shower ..."

Catching Afu off guard, her little sister-in-law didn’t quite seem like an ancient person. Then again, considering she was raised by the Third Madam, her eccentricity made sense.

Mrs. Li somehow found out, bringing Mrs. Shen with her to visit Afu. She lectured Afu, "Daughter-in-law of Lingxuan, though we are separate families now, I’m still your elder. I’d take it upon myself to guide you. You should arrange a concubine for Lingxuan, to show off your magnanimity and share your load..."

Mrs. Shen got scared, her husband had to convince the mother-in-law for a long time before coming, then she started saying inappropriate things again. She quickly stopped her mother-in-law, "Madam, didn’t father-in-law and third master ask us to help brother-in-law..."

Chu Zhen was getting married in half a month, so the second household wanted Chu Lingxuan to secure a better official post for Chu Zhen’s future husband.

Mrs. Li first suggested Chu Lingxuan sleep elsewhere, but he ignored her. So she had to sleep next door every night. Whenever there was a slight movement in the room, she would cough loudly.

The children didn’t know about their mother’s sickness. They only knew it was severe and kept her bedridden, reducing them all to tears. Both Yu and Yu’er stationed themselves by the door crying loudly, Chu Hanyan silently wiping away her tears. Later, when Prince He and Li Xuan found out, they too ran over crying.

After Afu showed signs of improvement, Chu Lingxuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He even complained to her quietly, "I didn’t go overboard that day, but they acted like I’ve abused you. All four of my parents-in-law are cross with me. Uncle Chen is blaming me for not knowing better. Especially Father-in-law Chen, he even went to my Yamen to rebuke me. It’s infuriating!"

To distinguish between Chen Shiying and Chen Ming, Chu Lingxuan referred to Chen Ming as "father-in-law" and Chen Shiying as "Father-in-law Chen".

Afu laughed and said, "If Grandfather and father-in-law were home, you’d likely get a beating."

Chu Lingxuan replied, "Not likely, definitely."

Afu found her family’s reactions both touching and satisfactory. Aside from Mrs. Li who had caused some trouble, none had asked her to be gracious and accommodating by finding a concubine for Chu Lingxuan. Chu Lingxuan had no such thoughts either. Such a thing was already quite extraordinary in ancient times.

By the end of August, Afu was finally able to get out of bed. In reality, she had been using her space for therapy almost every day and had recovered quite some time ago. But because of the palace doctor’s orders, she had been watched closely and was not permitted to get up early.

Since it was a twin pregnancy, combined with less physical activity and good nutrition, her belly was already very large just five months into the pregnancy, resembling that of a woman seven to eight months pregnant.

This sight worried Chu Lingxuan, Mrs. Wang and others even more, urging her to move around more when there was nothing else to do.

In mid-August, Chu Zhen got married. They gave a grand send-off but Afu didn’t attend. Not just because she was bedridden, but also because she was pregnant. According to local customs, pregnant women were not allowed to attend weddings.

Furthermore, in late September, Chen Ayu would be wed, and in mid-October, Chen Yuqing would. These two, one was Afu’s favorite cousin, the other her favorite sister, she regretted not being able to attend their weddings.

On the eighth of September, both Chen Shi’s and Chen Ye’s families came to the Capital.

The Chen Shi family stayed at Chen Ayu’s house whereas the Chen Ye family stayed with Chen Ming, allowing Mrs. Wang and Chen Ming to move out of the Marquis’ Mansion and back home.

With all the members of the Chen family gathered in the capital, Chen Ming was thrilled. On the tenth day, Chen Ming threw a lavish party and invited everyone, even Prince He.

That day, Chu Lingxuan and Afu, along with their kids, had just had breakfast when Prince He arrived with Chang Chang, Duan Duan, Chou Chou, Gun Gun as well as Qi Qi and Hui Hui. He said, "I haven’t seen the relatives back home for a long time, I kind of miss them." He added another sentence, "Except for Mrs. Hu."

He still held a grudge against Mrs. Hu. When he was a child, she caused him the most trouble, often threatening to sell him and leaving him in constant fear.

After they dressed the children, Afu led them back to their grandparents’. Chu Lingxuan wanted to go later, as he wasn’t really able to have a comfortable conversation with the folks there.

Before leaving, Chu Lingxuan instructed Mrs. Li and several maids to keep an eye on Afu. They were not to allow her to be bumped by the children and neither could she be overly excited.

By the time they arrived, everyone else was already there. The people from the Great Chen family, Mrs. Chen, Chen Ye, Mrs. Hu, Chen Agu, Mrs. Gao, Dahu, Daya, Dalong, and from the third household, Chen Shi, Mrs. Zhang, Chen Ayu, Chen Atang, were all there. Yang Mingyuan and Chen Aman also arrived, bringing along Yang Chao, Yang Qian.

Seeing Prince He, they were all terrified and knelt down to bow their heads.

Prince He hurried to lift Mrs. Chen and said, "Get up, we are all family, no need for formalities."

Hearing Prince He still calling them family, Mrs. Chen, Chen Shi, Chen Ye, and others felt extremely moved. Only Mrs. Hu was shaking uncontrollably, unable to stand up, Mrs. Gao had to help her up. Mrs. Hu retreated to a side chamber and never dared to appear before Prince He again, eating her meals alone.

Prince He had a great time playing with the children.

Mrs. Chen and Chen Ye were also very pleased with their visit. Although they saw that the second and third households lived much more comfortably than they did and even had such large houses in the capital, their shares in the Xinglong Grand Restaurant were also much less. But, Chen Shi had already promised to let Dahu assist him in Dingzhou as soon as he turned fourteen. Once he grew old, he would come live in the capital with his son, leaving Dingzhou’s Xinglong Wine Shop to Dah.

Chen Ming also promised to send Dalong to the private school in Shui Village. If Dalong had a talent for learning, then he would find him a better teacher in the future. If he passed the exam, he would also help secure a good public office. If Dalong did not have the talent for studying, he would support him based on the boy’s wishes.

Mrs. Chen and Chen Ye finally realized that begging for money and personal items would not make their family wealthy and could also corrupt their descendants. Only when their descendants succeeded could their family truly prosper.

Mrs. Chen chatted happily with Afu, saying, "The name Afu is well chosen, you really are fortunate. Marrying a good son-in-law, out of three pregnancies two are twins. This fortune, others don’t have it."