TTLJDFL chapter 40

Qin Muwen was tidying up the yard, and he happened to see Li Jin smiling as he showed Chen Xiran the red paper with the dumpling’s name and birth date written on it.

Suddenly, his mind flashed back to a few nights ago, when Li Jin had written several names and, full of excitement, brought them back to the bedroom for him to choose. Qin Muwen could even imagine Ah Jin standing in the study, carefully writing each name stroke by stroke, the soft yellow candlelight falling on her face, highlighting a pair of thoughtful eyes that must have looked especially enchanting.

At that time, Qin Muwen took the paper with both hands and looked carefully at each name.

In the end, the choice was still left to Li Jin. After all, Ah Jin is the head of the family.

Li Jin decided on the character ‘Ruo’ and said, “I hope Li Ruo’s personality in the future will be like yours, as good and gentle as water.”

After that, Li Jin went to the study to practice writing the baby’s full name properly, leaving Qin Muwen sitting by the bed, feeling a bit at a loss. Was Ah Jin praising him?

But he wasn’t that great. Qin Muwen buried his face in the blanket until Li Jin came over to rest in the evening, still feeling his cheeks flushed.

But luckily the lights were out, so you couldn’t see the color.

=

As a scholar, Chen Xiran saw the name and immediately slapped the table and praised, “Good!”

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think a storyteller had reached a thrilling part, and the audience was applauding.

Although Li Zhuzi often looked out for Li Jin’s family, deep down he still held the traditional mindset of valuing boys over girls, and gers even less. He wasn’t as concerned about children’s names as Chen Xiran was.

Leaving the full-month gift he had brought for the child, he said, “Li Jin, I’m still up the mountain chopping firewood, so I’ll head back first.”

Zhou Gui had already learned that Li Zhuzi had some distant relation with Li Jin’s maternal family. Seeing Li Jin being held back by Chen Xiran, he personally sent Li Zhuzi to the door and said a few words.

Li Zhuzi, being such a rough guy, didn’t even know where to put his hands. He said, “Why are you being so polite to me? You’re on duty at the town’s clinic, after all.”

Zhou Gui was in charge of reception at Xinglin Hall, and over the years he hadn’t made a single mistake—he was really skilled in dealing with people.

He said, “Doctor Li is half my mentor, and since you’re his elder brother, I naturally have to be polite to you.”

Li Zhuzi was stunned.

On the way back, he nearly stepped on his own foot.

Of course, this was just a minor incident. After Chen Xiran finished speaking, she suddenly looked at Li Jin with eager eyes: “A-Jin, your handwriting is really getting better and better, I want to practice my writing too!”

His relationship with Chen Xiran was getting better and better; it was no longer like at first when he politely called him ‘Brother Li.’

Li Jin raised his eyebrows at him: “I thought you didn’t like using a brush? If you want your handwriting to be good, practicing diligently comes first.

Take the calligraphy master Wang Xizhi from back in the day—he practiced by the ink-washing pool, and eventually, he even turned the pool water black with ink. That’s how he created calligraphy that amazed the world.”

Chen Xiran widened his eyes: “I get the point. How about this: I don’t want to fall too far behind you, so however long you practice your writing each day, I’ll practice for the same amount of time.”

He thought, Li Jin is so busy every day that he probably doesn’t have much time to practice calligraphy. He didn’t aim to surpass Li Jin, so practicing for the same amount of time as Li Jin would be enough.

Li Jin smiled and said, “Really?”

Chen Xiran patted his chest, “Of course it’s true.”

Li Jin took out the rough sheets of paper he usually used for practicing calligraphy from under the desk and pointed to the characters on them.

“I haven’t actually counted the time, but I write at least ten large characters every day. You can practice like this when you go back.”

Chen Xiran: “…Ten, ten characters?”

Li Jin solemnly said, “You just patted your chest and promised.”

Chen Xiran finally forced a bitter smile and promised that he would practice his calligraphy the same way when he got home. A little hardship and fatigue now didn’t matter; he absolutely couldn’t slip up in the Tongsheng exam.

Xiao An helped Awen clean up the yard, while Zhou Gui helped put away the wine jars. These jars would have to be returned to the taverns in town tomorrow, and if any broke, they would have to pay for them.

Little Baozi looked especially festive on his full-month celebration, dressed in a brand-new outfit, with a little cinnabar mole on his forehead, and he was smiling so happily in Dad’s arms.

Xiao An finally waited until everyone had left, then hurriedly said to Qin Muwen, “Let me hold Baozi, he looks so adorable.”

Today, Baozi was especially cooperative for his two dads, not crying at all, but when he wasn’t in Dad’s arms, he looked so wronged, completely unable to smile.

And his eyes kept looking at Dad pitifully, as if hoping Dad would pick him up and hold him.

But his dad didn’t understand Baozi’s needs at all. Instead, he said to Xiao An, “You come to play often, so Baozi’s familiar with you.”

Luckily, Baozi didn’t understand, otherwise he’d really cry in front of his dad.

After all, Xiao An is someone else’s husband, and just now when he was talking to Qin Muwen, Chen Xiran and Zhou Gui were in the study. After he left, Chen Xiran urged Li Jin to bring Li Ruo out.

He’s the kind of person who gets close to others quickly; he just learned Baozi’s name and already invited him over.

Li Jin knew that Chen Xiran was bringing a full-month gift for the child, so he didn’t decline. After entering the room and saying a few words to the young man, he held Li Ruo in his arms.

Chen Xiran looked at the adorable Li Ruo, like a little porcelain doll, and really wished he could claim this kid as his own.

In the end, he could only give the gift and then, looking heartbroken, said, “This kid looks like you, so cute. I’m going to have to marry a beautiful wife and have beautiful kids in the future.”

Chen Xiran’s gift for Baozi was a small, delicate hat with a layer of snow-white fur trim, which looked especially warm.

It was already over July, and after the autumn equinox on September 23, it would gradually get cooler.

Chen Xiran’s consideration was, indeed, quite forward-looking.

He said, “This is a little trinket my dad brought back from the county a few days ago. I thought it would suit Li Ruo, so I brought it.'”

Li Jin thanked him, “Li Ruo seems to like it very much.”

Exactly, it was probably the first time the kid had seen something with fuzzy edges, and all their attention was drawn to it—it looked like they really wanted to have it for themselves.

Li Jin held the hat out in front of Li Ruo, and Li Ruo immediately started smiling.

Chen Xiran let out a sigh of relief and whispered, “My mom said kids all like this kind of stuff, she was right.”

The full-month gift Zhou Gui gave to Li Ruo was a hand-sewn tiger-headed doll, meant to ward off evil and keep peace, and Li Jin also thanked him.

He placed the tiger-headed doll on the other side of the hat, and Li Ruo kept looking back and forth, unsure which to choose. His reaction made everyone laugh.

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Jin accompanied Chen Xiran and Zhou Gui to the village entrance, so they could walk together for safety. “Alright, don’t see us off, Li Ruo will cry if he can’t see daddy.”

Li Jin smiled, “Then be careful on your way.”

Last time when Chen Xiran visited Li Jin’s house at the drying room, not many people knew about it.

Today, Chen Xiran helped Li Jin with entertaining guests, and the whole village found out. Moreover, it wasn’t just Chen Xiran who was entertaining; there were also the apprentices from Xinglin Hall.

Most people in the village might not know Chen Xiran’s identity, but just by looking at that set of brocade clothes, they could tell that he came from a wealthy or noble background.

The few gers who had bullied Qin Muwen before were aware of Chen Xiran’s identity. They originally planned to go have a drink and then apologize to Qin Muwen, hoping to put the previous incident behind them.

But when they saw Chen Xiran, they all backed off. —Is it a bit inappropriate to come and apologize empty-handed?

The few gers were considered hired helpers for that family. And the young master was drinking with the villagers. Until the end of the full moon ceremony, Qin Muwen still didn’t see those few gerrs.

He had almost forgotten about the previous matters, and even if he recalled them now, he could face them with a very calm mindset.

Actually, whether it’s him or Ah Jin, neither of them would care about their sarcasm and disdain now.

Life is something you live for yourself, and constantly watching others only takes away a lot of joy from your own life.

Qin Muwen thought that as long as he lived well, that was enough; he didn’t need anyone’s sympathy, let alone fake pity.

The full-month ceremony has three steps: holding a banquet, shaving the baby’s hair, and moving the nest.

Now the first two steps are done, and the last step, moving the nest, means having Dad take the baby to visit a close family or friend’s house, commonly known as dropping by.

Li Jin said, “I told Brother Zhuzi that we’d take Li Ruo to his place.”

Qin Muwen had already packed a basket of eggs as a thank-you gift. Since his sister-in-law helped out a lot today, he definitely needed to give something in return.

Before, he usually just followed Li Jin’s lead when it came to returning favors, but now he could handle it himself.

=

On Chen Xiran’s side, he was walking to town with Zhou Gui, patting his head as he went. “I can’t shake the feeling that something’s missing.”

Zhou Guiyi froze: “Brother Chen, you didn’t forget anything, huh.”

Chen Xiran: “It’s not that I forgot anything. I just wanted to talk to Li Jin about something, how did I manage to completely forget?”

Zhou Gui fell silent. He realized that this young master was actually very easy to get along with, and with Chen Xiran being a bit absent-minded at times, it made him feel even more approachable.

Suddenly Chen Xiran remembered and said, “I heard from my friends that the top courtesan at Piaoxiang Garden is sick. She hasn’t shown up all month, and I don’t know when she’ll get better.”

However, Zhou Gui, knowing the truth of the matter, became even more silent. It was nothing more than the fact that the top courtesan had accidentally become pregnant, and of course, that child was certainly gone by now.

Chen Xiran looked at Zhou Gui’s expression and said, “You’re still young and don’t care about these things. When you reach the age of me and Ah Jin, you’ll surely be thinking about tender pleasures every day.”

Zhou Gui was also a straightforward person, and he said, “I think Dr. Li is studying every day.”

How would he have time to think about such things?

Chen Xiran said seriously, “That’s because he has a handsome husband at home. Just look at Li Ruo, isn’t he beautiful because both dads are good-looking too?”

Zhou Gui thought, that’s true, both Doctor Li and his husband are really top-notch in looks and temperament.

Chen Xiran continued, “Before, I told Li Jin that if I passed the Tongsheng exam, we’d go to Piaoxiang Garden together, but he wouldn’t agree! But isn’t it normal for someone in town who passed the Tongsheng exam to do that?”

Zhou Gui, being someone from the medical hall, knew many of the secrets of Piaoxiang Garden, but for a moment he didn’t know how to bring them up to the young master. In the end, he could only mumble, “Doctor Li lives a life of purity.”

Chen Xiran completely agreed with this statement; Li Jin was indeed very different from the friends he had interacted with before. Li Jin had the perseverance of a scholar from a humble background, yet he was also more principled than others of the same origin.

That was why he was willing to sincerely befriend Li Jin.​

Kotha: I have an important exam coming in the December, so I will be going on hiatus till late December to early January 🫣🫣 I know it’s it’s a long hiatus, but this is a very important exam 🫠.Thanks for your understanding 🌸🌸 (please pray for me to pass this exam😭😭)​.