06 Children (I)
Time flies, and seven years have passed in the blink of an eye. Seven years is neither long nor short, but it is enough to change many people and many things. This dynasty is heading towards its peak period of prosperity, with clear government, peace and prosperity for the people. There may be small wars occasionally on the border, but the army is strong enough to quell them quickly. The people live and work in peace and contentment, and the imperial capital is prosperous and splendid.
On a sunny early autumn morning, the sun had just shone on the rose bushes in the courtyard, which were covered with dewdrops, when the Qinghua Courtyard of Weiyuan Marquis's mansion was in chaos. The family's own children, as well as those from outside the mansion, were a large group of chirping like late-returning birds, surrounding the stone table in the courtyard and making a lot of noise. Meimei was awakened in the bedroom upstairs, buried her head in Xu Junying's arms, frowned and muttered:
"Heng'er doesn't have to go to the palace today. Whose children are here again? The boys came so early and didn't go to the East Garden to play. They are so noisy!"
Xu Junying kissed her forehead and caressed her lovingly: "Lie down, I will go out and take a look."
He had just come back from outside. The couple had been separated for more than ten days. Last night they spent a lot of time together and stayed up all night. He wanted to sleep in with his wife, and he had instructed the old woman, the wet nurse and the maid to take good care of the children and not to disturb the young lady early. However, he forgot one thing. His own children had made many friends at a young age. He didn't know why, but the children loved to gather at the Weiyuan Marquis' Mansion to play. Such a group of little ancestors came early in the morning. Some of them were his own young masters, and some were children from the duke's mansion or the royal mansion outside. They were of noble status, and the servants did not dare to drive them away, so he had to go out himself.
Meimei sighed and climbed up from behind him: "Forget it, let's get up, take a shower and change clothes. Cheng'er and Meng'er will come crying soon!"
Xu Junying put her on the bed distressedly: "I'm here, I'll watch over them... You should sleep a little longer, you've only slept for less than two hours!"
Meimei glared at him, her eyes half angry and half happy, so tender and charming that Xu Junying's heart trembled, his whole body felt numb, and his lower abdomen felt hot and reacted, so he pressed down directly:
"Meimei!"
"Wake up, what do you want?"
"The door is bolted, ignore them... Let's, let's work harder and have a few more babies!"
Xu Junying kissed her soft red lips. Meimei resisted helplessly while panting and complaining: "Let me tell you... um... Xu Junying... I won't have any more children!"
"My dear Meimei, you promised me that you would give birth to ten children!"
"No! I definitely won't have another baby!"
Ever since giving birth to twin sisters Meiyi and Meijuan, Meimei couldn't stop. When the twins were just seven months old, she got pregnant again. After Xu Jikang, Xu Jixue, Xu Jicheng, and Xu Jimeng were born one after another. Meimei felt like she had become an efficient production tool. In seven years, she gave birth to two daughters and four sons for Xu Junying! The youngest is only nine months old now. Sometimes, when she looks at the group of children running and crawling around her knees, Meimei wants to cry but has no tears: family planning, Xu Junying doesn't have this concept!
Xu Junying kept kissing her, panting and sprinting, and whispered passionately in her ear: "Let's have ten children, okay?"
"Hmm..."
Meimei wanted to refuse, but what came out of her mouth was a scream. Before she could make a sound, Xu Junying held her lips and swallowed her into his stomach. After many years of marriage, he already knew how to make his wife happier and more satisfied. He brought her to the top of the wave again and again. The moment when the extreme stimulation and pleasure overwhelmed her was when he completely conquered her. She would cling to his body, kiss him passionately, and tremble as she said, "Junying, let's have children! We want to have many, many children..."
And every time this happens, it is also the most ecstatic moment for him. He roars and releases his deep love in his wife's body, sowing the seeds of life. He would not hesitate to be broken into pieces for the woman in his arms!
But this time Meimei refused to do it. She tried her best to control herself, feeling the electric shock-like pleasure passing through her body, but she did not respond. She held the bed sheet tightly with both hands. After the passion finally faded, Xu Junying let her go. Seeing her like this, he couldn't help but feel flustered:
"Meimei, why are you doing this?"
Meimei pouted: "I'm serious, I don't want to have a baby anymore!"
"But we are still so young, wouldn't it be good to have more children?"
Xu Junying caressed his wife's increasingly mature and beautiful body, her slender and plump thighs and arms. Having just experienced intense lovemaking, her snow-white and translucent skin was tinged with a bright and tender pink color. She looked like a ripe peach, extremely tempting. He lowered his head and kissed her between her plump and perky breasts in admiration:
"I love our children, I love every one of them, they make me proud and happy, Meimei, you love them so much too!"
"I think that's enough. I'm afraid I won't be able to love again!"
"Giving birth is painful... Oh, if only I could give birth and not let you feel the pain!"
Meimei snorted, "You say one thing and mean another! Everyone knows that men can't have children, but I don't care. I'm telling you today that I'm going to start taking contraceptive pills!"
Xu Junying hugged her tightly, reluctantly: "Don't, don't eat!"
Meimei said angrily: "Giving birth to a child is very harmful to my health. My body will be damaged. And you still say you love me. You don't care about me at all. You just want a son!"
"Meimei, don't talk like that! I swear to God, I love you so much..."
His big hands wandered over her body, her skin was as smooth as satin, and her body was obviously stronger than before. He patted her elastic buttocks with a little force: "What's wrong with you? It's so much better than when you gave birth to Meiyi and Meijuan!"
"Husband!"
Meimei twisted her body: "Can't you feel it? My waist is thicker, my butt is bigger... If this continues, I will become a fat woman in two years. Will you still want me then?"
Xu Junying chuckled and bit her ear: "Silly Meimei, you are the best and most charming like this... I don't worry if you become a fat woman, so that people won't stare at you and think about you when you show up!"
"Okay, so this is what you are planning! You want me to have more children, become ugly and become a yellow-faced woman so that I can be locked up at home, right? Tell me! Do you like a girl from a certain family? Do you want to take her as a concubine?"
"What's the point of taking a concubine? We have such a nice family, harmonious and happy. I don't know how many people envy me!"
Meimei's eyes rolled: "That's right, I won't have any more children. Take a concubine to replace me and give birth to a son for you!"
"Nonsense! Who can replace you? Only the one you give birth to is my son... You little devil, it's bad enough that you're lazy, but you're also bullying me and spanking me!"
Meimei wrapped her arms around his neck and begged for mercy: "Husband, please? We are not going to have a baby. If you want me to be in pain, please don't let me feel the pain. And don't you want to see me looking pretty? Do you have to make me sick before you stop? That's not love, it's harming me. I will hate you!"
"My dear, how could I hurt you? Every time you gave birth to me, you were fully prepared. When you gave birth to Meiyi and Meijuan, you even shamelessly invited Lingxuzi to come to Beijing. Because your belly was too big, mother-in-law said it was the same as when my eldest uncle and sister-in-law were pregnant with Shizhen and Shiyuan... I was just afraid that something would happen to you. If that happened, I would not be able to survive, don't you understand, little demon? Giving birth is actually a process of both of us giving birth, just like when you first got pregnant, you vomited and I vomited too, but you got better but I was still vomiting. It hurt when you gave birth, and it hurt me too!"
"Go! You're just talking nonsense. Where does it hurt? Anyway, I just don't want to have a baby! Hurry up and get up. I have to go find some pills to take!"
"Where can I find the pills?"
"I'll give you the prescription Jingyun gave me before, and Doctor Duan from Qiancaotang will prepare the pills for me. I just need to go get them back!"
Xu Junying sighed: "You can't just buy random medicine outside... Medicine is poisonous. Since you don't want to have a baby, you don't have to take the medicine, I'll take it!"
Meimei was stunned: "You want to eat? Stone ball powder?"
"Well, that medicine is not harmful to the body. It will last for several years. It saves trouble!"
"But if you eat too much..."
"I have five sons and two daughters. I'll listen to you. That's enough!"
He turned his eyes and said, "Meimei, can I take the medicine after this month?"
"Why?"
"Uh... I drank some medicinal wine when I was out, and I'm afraid it will conflict with the stone powder, and it will lose its medicinal effect!"
Meimei thought about it and agreed. A month passed quickly. She just needed to avoid him and have sex with him as little as possible. The matter was finally resolved satisfactorily. Xu Junying smiled and wrapped her in a robe and carried her into the clean room for a bath.
With the help of the maids, the couple dressed up and walked out of the upper room. A group of little boys, big and small, were still making noises and talking beside the stone table. Heng'er saw his parents coming out, and hurried forward to pay his respects, shouting with joy:
"Father, Mother!"
Xu Junying frowned: "Heng'er, didn't your father teach you? If your friends come, take them to your yard. If you want to practice martial arts or play ball, go to the east yard. Why are you arguing here?"
Heng'er lowered his head: "My child..."
"Marquis Weiyuan! Madam Weiyuan!"
Prince Zhao Yang ran up and said with a smile: "I asked him to bring us here. We want to find Madam Hou. But Ah Heng didn't let us make a loud noise. He said we can only talk to us after Madam Hou comes out!"
Meimei looked at Heng'er and her heart softened. He was only eleven years old, but he had been so sensible since he was a child. He was able to understand his parents and always considerate of them.
"So it's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who has arrived. Please forgive me for my ignorance!"
Xu Junying pulled the stunned Meimei to salute the prince, while scolding Heng'er: "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
The prince said hurriedly, "Don't blame Ah Heng. He didn't have to come to the palace today. I came here on my own. This is not the first time I've come to your house. I told you all not to be so formal. We're not in the court anymore. It's best to keep it like usual!"
A little girl in a purple embroidered gown came bouncing over, a string of pearls on her chest sparkling brightly in the sun. She stood beside Heng'er, saluted the two adults, and said in a crisp voice:
"Min'er pays respects to Lord Xu and mother!"
Xu Junying looked at the eight-year-old Zhao Min who looked like Zhao Bao, and felt helpless. Weiyuan Houfu could not get rid of the entanglement of King Qi in this life. He forced Heng'er to be a foster child. After giving birth to children, he would throw them to the Houfu every few days, saying that the children were easy to raise in a bunch, and he thought they were herding cattle! Zhao Min regarded Heng'er as her brother since she was a child. When she was still young, she came to the Houfu in the morning, and went home at night to take Heng'er back to the palace. If he didn't go back with her, he would cry loudly. It was not until she was four or five years old that she became more sensible. Heng'er called the Princess of Qi as mother, and Zhao Min also called Meimei as mother. At first, she called Xu Junying daddy, but Xu Junying was not used to it. He kindly reminded them not to call him randomly. As a result, Zhao Min learned it by herself and immediately changed her words to Xu Houye. But when she turned around, she still called Meimei mother, which made him very depressed. As the saying goes, like father, like daughter, the father and daughter are equally shameless.
Meimei reached out and pulled Zhao Min over, gently stroking her soft hair:
"Min'er, you brought Jie'er with you again. Can you tell your mother? Don't turn the palace upside down like you did last time!"
The child of Zhao Bao and Lin Runan is like her own child. She can teach and scold him as she pleases. It has been like this for many years. Zhao Min looks like Zhao Bao, but her temperament is a combination of the two. She is straightforward and naive, arrogant and willful, but still reasonable.
"Don't worry, mother. It was mother who asked Guard Shan to bring Min'er and my brother here!"
"Really? That's good. If I had known you were coming, I wouldn't have let Meiyi and the others go to the Qin residence yesterday. Be careful when playing with boys. Stay away from them. They are rude and sometimes they will hurt you accidentally. By the way, Your Highness, what did you say you wanted to talk to me about?" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.) (To be continued)