Two Ex-Husbands On One Stage

Chapter 14: Lantern Festival Dumpling? Merged Blood?

“Congratulations Miss Shen! A Little Master is born!” The midwife’s face still had traces of blood, yet it could not conceal her happiness. She carefully carried the Dumpling that was as small and soft as cotton and stood in front of me.

I made an effort to stretch out my fingers to stroke his face. I was charmed by his fluffiness so I touched some more. Unexpectedly, the Dumpling with closed eyes moved and I coincidentally saw the birthmark behind his ear…

“Carry him out so my dad can see him.” I coughed. My hoarse voice gave even me a scare.

“Yes, yes. This old one will go. Miss Shen must recover your postnatal body.” She then cheerfully left the room with the little Dumpling, as ordered.

“Both mother and child are safe and sound! Congratulations to Master Shen and aunts!”

My aunts were in high spirits, chattering all at once. Then Daddy’s booming voice silenced everyone, “Look at this little guy! Why he is as small as a dumpling with no fillings!”

The midwife smiled, “Don’t be anxious, Master Shen. The Little Master was born in his eighth month and naturally will not be as big as a full term baby. There is a saying among the people of ‘Alive at seven months, not alive at eight.’ This old one originally thought it was inauspicious, yet heaven helps the worthy. Miss Shen was blessed and even had a smoother birth than those in their full terms. The Little Master is definitely a lucky star reincarnated. With attentive care, he will definitely not lose to anyone else.”

“Good!” After hearing the midwife’s honeyed words, he was extremely happy and said, “Reward! Today, everyone will receive a bonus! Midwife Chen will get an extra bonus!”

Many thanks to Master Shen!” The midwife hurriedly gave her thanks.

Immediately after, there were sounds of thunder. Presumably, my aunts had people set off firecrackers outside the main gates to celebrate. I was really tired and only felt the continuous crackling noises of the firecrackers sounded like my mom’s lullabies when I was little. Needless to say, in a little while, I was in a daze. Unable to open my eyes, I fell into a deep sleep.

It didn’t seem like I had fallen asleep for long when I dreamt of someone in the darkness. Just like when I was sick, that person stayed by my side the whole night, and from time to time, stroked my cheek as if that caress could disperse my illness. “You have suffered… From now on, I will take care of everything for you, alright?” That voice that was neither loud nor soft, neither hurried nor slow, gently entered my dreams, as if it was real yet also not…

When I slept enough and woke up to a starving stomach, the sun was already high up in the sky. Lu Ying was standing on tiptoes to hang the curtain that blocks out the sunlight.

I cleared my throat and said, “Stop hanging that. I’m hungry. Go get me something to eat.”

Lu Ying turned to see I was awake and happily said, “Miss, you’re finally awake. You’ve been sleeping for two days. Eldest Aunt was just saying to pinch you awake if you didn’t wake up soon, lest you starve. As a matter of fact, the food on the table was just served and is still hot.”

I turned around and happened to see the little Dumpling that’s not even as big as the pillow next to him. Small face, small hands, small arms, small legs. His lips were delicately pursed and his sleeping face was refined. My heart couldn’t help but itch and I wanted to scratch him. However, I also thought that was a little too mischievous. I sat there battling it out for a while. Then I heard Lu Ying let out a laugh, “The Little Master slept as much as Miss. If Miss wants to hold him, then eat first so you have the strength to hold him up.”

I thought about it and she was right. I sat up a little while Lu Ying set the food on a little table on the bed. Since I had never starved for so long, I ate with relish. I even enjoyed the greasy pork shoulder that I usually dislike.

While I ate, Lu Ying chatted by my ear and handed me a bowl of soup. Something about how the Third Young Master came in a carriage that night in spite of being sick himself, or how Lord Uncle didn’t even use a carriage and rode a horse to get there. She lamented how Third Young Master caught an ailment, had a pale face, and couldn’t even walk straight. She also mentioned how Lord Uncle rode his horse like a hero rushing into battle, as fast as the wind. It was a pity that Daddy didn’t let either of them in the inner court. He blocked them at the reception pavilion and sent them off after a cup of tea.

I listened with only half an ear and treated it as a side dish that filled my stomach.

I nursed my body for a few days, only eating and sleeping all day.  If the Dumpling didn’t wake up occasionally so I could tease him a little, I would have become moldy tofu from boredom. I urged my Little Aunt to support me on a walk around the courtyard today since the weather was nice and there was no wind.

On the road with the scent of early spring, I slowly shifted past while responding to Little Aunt’s overflowing gossip with, “Oh.” “Eh?” “Ah!” Behind me, Lu Ying carried the Dumpling while following us.

I already said the spring scenery in the Shen courtyard was fantastic. The Shen family poured in a lot of money into the courtyard and hired many skilled craftsmen to create it so how could it not be beautiful? Of course, I believed our Shen courtyard’s beauty had nothing to do with the flowers. I was most pleased with the garden stones scattered irregularly around the yard. There was a tranquil feeling of walking into a secluded area while passing between the large rocks.

And so, unexpectedly, the path today not only led into a “secluded area,” but it also passed through a dragon vein.

Right when I was turning into a rocky passageway, I directly ran face first into the respected Emperor. The eunuch on the side scolded, “How audacious! Who dared to disturb His Majesty?”

Aunt and Lu Ying were already frightened into kneeling. I was about to kneel too when I heard His Majesty said with a kind smile, “Isn’t it Miss Shen? You may dispense with formality. Stand up.”

“This commoner is wrong for provoking Your Majesty. May Your Majesty please forgive me.” I bowed.

“Haha. We saw the weather today was good and decided to tour the Shen courtyard. We had just arrived so Miss Shen could not be blamed.” The Emperor smiled with a benevolent face, completely different from that day by the lake.

I couldn’t help but to raise my head to see and saw a group of people behind him, including Daddy, and Song and Pei. Oh, and also a delicate young lady. She was none other than the charming young lady I had two fateful encounters with at the temple.  Her two perfectly round eyes were staring right at me.

“That child is…?” The Emperor’s gaze swept past me and landed on the Dumpling in Lu Ying’s embrace. He turned toward Daddy to ask in a fake manner.

“He is this commoner’s newly born grandson. His Majesty has seen a laughable scene,” Daddy answered.

The Emperor said, suddenly realizing, “Oh, then congratulations to Commoner Shen.”

“I dare not accept. Thanks to Your Majesty.” If it was the usual Daddy, he would have burst out in laughter. This act of standing on ceremony in front of the dragon must have made Daddy sullen.

“Carry him over so We can see.”

Song Xiyuan lifted his eyes and Pei Yanzhen knitted his brows.

“Yes.” Lu Ying hastened to carry the dumpling over. The Emperor lifted his brow in askance and coldly said, “What a good jade-like infant.” That gaze, that tone, why did it appear disdainful? I pondered over it. Right, it must be envy! Don’t just look at the Emperor’s large harem, but rumors said he only had five cute princesses and no shadow of a male heir. Although I thought girls were better, the palace couldn’t be compared to a commoner family. Now that he saw a commoner with an heir, he naturally would feel a bit envious.

“Your Majesty has praised wrongly,” Daddy responded.

“Does he have a name?” Seeing His Majesty about to bestow a name, I rushed to say, “The little one is named Shen Xiao.”

“Shen… Xiao?” The Emperor dragged out the two words and contemplated, “Wait for the thunderstorm to take the skies. What a lofty name, yes~?”

Uh…

“Your Majesty has misunderstood. It’s not the Xiao in heaven, Yunxiao, but the Xiao in the Lantern Festival, Yuanxiao.” Daddy calmly explained. Actually, with Daddy’s nature of not bothering with trifles, he probably would have named him “Shen Yuan” for the Yuan in rice dumpling, Tangyuan, since the baby was as small and white as a dumpling. Luckily, I gave it a bit of a twist. Another name for dumpling was the name of the Lantern Festival, Yuanxiao. Daddy agreed right away and named him “Shen Xiao.”

汤圆 (TangYuan) boiled balls of glutinous rice flour, this is the baby’s nickname
元宵 (YuanXiao) another name for the rice dumplings and also what the Lantern Festival was named after
云霄 (YunXiao) the skies, 云 = clouds 霄 = heavens

After hearing that, the Emperor relaxed and said, “Lantern Festival? A good name, very harmonious.” I didn’t know if it was the Dumpling’s calm sleeping face that raised his interest, but he stretched out his fingers to touch the Dumpling’s face. The originally well-behaved sleeping Dumpling suddenly opened his eyes and gnawed on the dragon claw by his mouth, quick and accurate, like a dog.

The people at the scene were startled, then, everyone disorderly plopped down on their knees.

“What a brazen child! To have the cheek to bite the Emperor!” The accompanying young lady rushed over and scolded the Dumpling with a righteous statement. The Dumpling fluttered his long eyelashes, then once again peacefully fell asleep. That young lady’s face turned green. She turned around to fish out a handkerchief and handed it to the Emperor, “Imperial Brother, did you shed blood?”

I paused. Imperial Brother? Then wasn’t she the Ninth Princess? She was shut in the inner palace for so long so no wonder she had never seen the world. The Dumpling was just born a few days ago so he didn’t even have a single trace of a tooth. Not to mention “shedding blood,” that didn’t even count as a “bite.” It was at most taking that claw as food to be sucked on.

“My son was rude and provoked Your Majesty! May Your Majesty please forgive the sin!” I put on a terrified face, kneeled, and repeatedly bowed.

“Stop.” The Emperor leisurely took the handkerchief and wipe the saliva off his finger. He said, “There was no harm. Ninth Sister need not worry, there was no blood.” Suddenly, his eyes shined bright and with a demonic smile, he said, “Speaking of blood, We have heard of a method of using blood for a paternity test. Imperial Physician Jiang, is this true?”

In the group of people, an old man with graying hair came out with a bow and replied, “Correct. To verify blood relatives, just take two drops of blood from both people and put them together. If the blood merges together, then the two are blood-related, and if they repel each other and condense together, then the two people are not related.”

My heart skipped a beat. To think the Emperor brought an imperial doctor with him on a stroll. He clearly came prepared.

The Emperor then slowly said, “Oh, this sounds reasonable. Why don’t we try it, what do beloved Official Pei and Third Young Master think?

Pei Yanzhen looked the same as ever and Song Xiyuan had a faint smile on, silently agreeing to his command.

The Emperor decisively led the group to the front courtyard. Evidently, he would not put down the matter of finding out who the Dumpling’s father was. His strong attachment was incomprehensible and his intentions unknown.

I held onto the delicate Dumpling while staring at the imperial physician’s shining needle for taking blood. I was a little reluctant to continue, but on second thought, I would hate for my son be unable to repel the dragon, so I clenched my teeth and turned around so I couldn’t see. With that turn, I saw Pei and Song both tenderly staring at the Dumpling, as if they were competing on who could burn my eyes more. The Ninth Princess was also curiously looking over, so close she was practically leaning on Pei Yanzhen’s arm.

“Who will go first, Master Pei or Young Master Song?” Imperial Physician Jiang politely asked while holding a porcelain bowl.

“I’ll go first.” Song Xiyuan pulled up his sleeve, exposing his arm. His other hand grabbed the knife and made a cut on his arm. Drops of blood immediately fell down. I closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes again, Imperial Physician Jiang was putting Song Xiyuan’s and the Dumpling’s blood in a small dish. The surroundings were silent. Everyone was staring a hole into that dish, watching the blood in it.

In a moment, the two drops of blood slowly touched and finally merged together.

“Congratulations Young Master Song. The child should be yours.” Imperial Physician Jiang held up the blood and said to Song Xiyuan.

I carried Dumpling when my hand trembled. Song Xiyuan’s eyes changed into crescent moons and his hand staunching the blood flow loosened, dropping his handkerchief without realizing. Pei Yanzhen brushed away his sleeves, remaining calm. The Emperor’s brows pinched together.

At that moment, Pei Yanzhen stood up, gave himself a cut with the knife, and imitating the steps before, placed his blood and the Dumpling’s blood together.

Like lightning flashes and thunder strikes! Everyone stared once again as the two drops of blood swayed together and also melted into one bead, with no signs of it condensing.

“Ah!” Imperial Physician Jiang was stunned, Song Xiyuan stared blankly, Daddy smacked his head, Pei Yanzhen smiled faintly, the Emperor opened his eyes wide, and the Ninth Princess pursed her lips.

I looked at the Dumpling’s birthmark behind his ear and my interest suddenly lifted. “Why don’t I try as well.”

Before anyone reacted, I put my and the Dumpling’s blood together. The two drops of blood lightly touched then neatly condensed into a brown red.

“Imperial Physician Jiang, what kind of interpretation is this?” I raised my head, humbly asking for advice.

“This… This… This…” The imperial physician’s eyebrows and beard trembled. He was in a terrible mess, turning purple and green.

The Emperor looked as if someone trampled on his face, immediately turning black. He gripped his sleeves as he slammed the table, most likely forgetting that it was his idea to test the blood. He tore apart the imperial physician, scolding, “Preposterous!”

The method of using blood as a paternity test resulted in an unknown conclusion.

AN: Please pay respects to the modern DNA paternity test for this chapter!

The basic principle of the ancient blood test is actually related to blood type, not blood relation. Blood with the same blood type will merge together while different blood types will not. But blood type O can also merge with other blood types. Furthermore, A and B blood types were said to also be able to merge together.

In this chapter, the Dumpling’s blood can mix with Song and Pei but not with Miaomiao. This roughly means the three have similar blood types while Miaomiao has a different blood type.

So, the ancient blood paternity test lacks scientific support!

*****

My “Ashes of Love” autographed book is on Taobao for preorder!

The drama for this was aired last year~

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A little note: I’ve previously used rice dumplings before during the Dragon Boat Festival, but that and the one here are different.

The one from the Dragon Boat Festival is zongzi which is more of a meal while the one here for the Lantern Festival is tangyuan which is more of a dessert.

zongzi

tangyuan