The two daughter-in-laws were so generous and understanding that Old Lady Hu was very pleased, "The third daughter-in-law is good and you two are also extremely good. It's my three sons' blessing and also my old Jiang family's blessing that they married you when you entered the door."
"Mother..." Lu and Chen were both delighted to get a word of praise from their mother-in-law and both were a little embarrassed.
After the mother-in-law and two daughter-in-laws tidied up, they ladled another bowl of thick chicken soup and took it to Lu's room.
Lu had slept all day and wasn't sleepy at this time except for being a little tired.
Her silly husband Jiang Wenyuan was lying next to her at the moment, watching the soft little daughter with a silly smile.
Seeing her mother and two sister-in-laws coming, he hurriedly came up to take the tray.
Old Lady Hu quickly stopped her third daughter-in-law who wanted to get out of bed, "Take good care of yourself, don't move around, don't startle my precious good granddaughter."
Lu handed the sleeping child to her mother-in-law, "She's asleep now, mother can hold her."
Old Lady Hu carefully took over and looked at the child affectionately, then let the two daughter-in-laws take a look before gently putting her back next to Lu.
She lowered her voice, "Let her sleep well for now. Hurry up and drink the chicken soup while it's hot, it's good for producing milk. You have to raise our precious little dumpling well anyway."
"Thank you, mother!" Lu sincerely appreciated her mother-in-law.
Her own father was a private school teacher. Her family ran a private school. Her brother was a clerk in the yamen. Her maternal family was quite well off and she had been pampered since she was a child without suffering any hardships.
Later she married into the Jiang family. The Jiangs had little land but many children so conditions were not good. Even so, her mother-in-law and two sister-in-laws never let her suffer. They always rushed to do the tiring chores, leaving her to just take care of the children and embroider every day, much more relaxed than the two sister-in-laws.
Luckily she was good at embroidery and could earn quite a lot of silver each month selling her work, otherwise she would have felt too guilty.
Old Lady Hu pulled her third son over, "Son, be more alert at night, don't sleep too heavily. If anything happens, go to the east room and call me."
"Okay, I’ve noted it down. It's late, you and the two sister-in-laws have been busy all day, go back and rest soon."
Old Lady Hu gave her son more instructions before looking at the child again. Only then did she leave with the two daughter-in-laws.
The Jiang family decided to hold a one-month-old celebration for the child and skip the three-month celebration.
Just a family celebration would be enough.
When Lu’s maternal family heard that their daughter had given birth to a little granddaughter, on the third day Lu’s mother Guo came with her daughter-in-law Chen, bringing lots of packages in a mule cart.
In addition, several prestigious elders of the Jiang clan also came, making it very lively.
The copper coins thrown into the child's baptismal basin filled the entire bottom, and there were even two broken silver corners, making Old Lady Hu beam with joy.
The more things thrown into the basin, the more blessings the child would receive.
Lu’s maternal family ran a private school and her brother also worked in the yamen, so they lived quite comfortably.
Therefore, the gifts prepared by the maternal family for this newborn granddaughter were extremely generous.
There was a longevity lock necklace studded with auspicious patterns, a pair of silver flower bell bracelets with matching ankle bracelets,
as well as a very meaningful and cute tiger head hat, one for spring and one for winter. Two pairs of tiger head shoes.
A pink quilt, a big red cape trimmed with snowy rabbit fur, and other items for the baby and the lying-in woman to use.
This showed how much Lu’s maternal family doted on this daughter and newborn granddaughter.
After the lively third day celebration, the little girl finally got her name.
She was born with a lotus mark on her forehead, so her given name was Jiang Yuqing. Qing means clear water gives rise to lotus.
Yu was the generation name for their generation. This was agreed upon by the clan.
Usually according to the rules at that time, when a daughter married out, she would not continue the family line or clan and could not be entered into the clan genealogy. Naturally she could not take the generation name like the males who continued the clan line and genealogy.
Many rural girls didn’t even have proper names in their whole lifetime.
But her father doted on her and thought it would be great if his daughter could take the male generation name.
Thinking this, Jiang Wenyuan boldly brought it up slightly to the clan elder, and the clan elder thought for a bit before agreeing.
This girl was the first in hundreds of years and over a dozen generations that the Jiang clan of Xijin ferry had been waiting for nearly two hundred years, so she was extraordinary. It was just taking the generation name, no big deal.
She had her given name and also accumulated a pile of nicknames.
Things like Qingqing, Little Good Girl, Good Baby, Sweetheart, and more that Jiang Little Dumpling Yuqing was too embarrassed to say.
After Jiang Yuqing was born, the spring rains officially started.
There is a saying, the plan for the year lies in spring. Farmers rely on the heavens for food, and race against time.
During the busy spring plowing, the fields were full of clamor and busyness, with farmers wearing conical hats and rain capes everywhere sowing seedlings and transplanting rice.
The Jiangs also had over ten mu of paddy fields, so except for Old Lady Hu, Lu who was sitting the month, and little baby Jiang Yuqing, everyone in the Jiang family including Jiang Wenyuan the scholar went to work in the fields.
No matter how busy or tired, when they returned home every day the old and young of the Jiang family would come to see and play with her.
As a baby she had the desire but not the ability to help even if she wanted to.
Drinking milk well, sleeping soundly, not crying or fussing, trying not to pee her pants, and causing as little trouble as possible for the adults was all she could do.
Of course, when the elders and brothers played with her, she would also try her best to control her facial muscles and give them a gummy sweet smile.
Two days later, the Jiangs' grain seeds were sown in the seedbeds.
These precious sprouts would spend their seedling stage in the seedbeds. When they grew to over half a foot tall they would be transplanted into the fields.
The day after the third day celebration, Jiang Wenyuan reluctantly kissed his precious wife and daughter goodbye, took his belongings and a basket of boiled red eggs, and returned to the county seat.
Next time he came back would be his daughter's one month celebration.
He was currently studying at the county school in preparation for the autumn exam this year.
Usually he was busy with schoolwork and could only come home once every half month. He had specially asked for leave this time because he expected his wife to give birth soon.
It just so happened that his wife gave birth as soon as he returned home, and it was a daughter, which made him overjoyed.
Returning to the county school, his classmates congratulated him one after another and wished him congratulations on gaining a precious daughter. Jiang Wenyuan was surprised, "How did you know I had a daughter?"
The classmate said, "How rare! The whole Qingzhou County has spread the news that the Jiang clan of Xijin ferry who never had a daughter was born with an extraordinary daughter some days ago, and the father is a scholar. There's only you as a scholar from Xijin ferry, and you asked for leave just because your wife was about to give birth, so I figured it must be your family."
Jiang Wenyuan happily said, "That's right, it's my family's, thank you so much!" He also gave each person two red eggs to share the joy.
He also specially gave some to the teachers. Arriving at the teachers' place, he couldn't avoid another round of questions.
This matter was truly too strange, even the usually serious teachers couldn't help gossiping a bit.
So Jiang Wenyuan talked about some presentable things about when the child was born to satisfy the teachers' curiosity before taking his leave.
The tiny baby grew rapidly with time.
As time passed day by day, the little girl became more and more beautiful. Her vision also gradually became clear as she slowly recognized everyone in the family.
Grandpa Jiang Jingan was a cheerful old man with a goatee and head of gray hair. He looked slender and smiled at everyone.
No matter how busy or tired, the first thing when he got home was to wash his hands and tidy up before going to the west chamber to see her.
As a baby she spent most of her time sleeping.
When Grandpa Jiang came, if she was sleeping he would happily hold her for a while. Then he would carefully hand the child back to his wife for his wife to place back into the daughter-in-law's arms.
If the child happened to be awake he would play with her, calling "Good baby" sentence by sentence.
If she responded with a few "Ah wos", he would smile so wide that his wrinkled face became like a sunflower. He was an extremely lovable, happy, and doting grandfather.
Of course if the boys in the family did something wrong, he would also put on a stern face and discipline them with punishment as the family patriarch without indulgence.
Old Lady Hu was a sharp-tongued yet soft-hearted old lady. She embodied all the virtues of traditional women from the feudal era.
For decades, she had dutifully and tirelessly maintained this large family.
The children she raised were all well-behaved, and one even became a successful scholar, bringing great esteem to the Jiang family.
Elder brother Jiang Wenkang was tall and composed. In his youth, he had worked as an escort and learned some rudimentary martial arts.
He was skilled at hunting and farming, and commanded respect in the family.
Whenever he furrowed his brows, the younger ones feared him.
However, there were few occasions for Elder Brother to hold her. The two times they interacted, she could feel he was very nervous each time.
In Jiang Wenkang's own words, cradling such a soft darling made him afraid of accidentally hurting her with his clumsiness.
Elder Brother's wife, Lin, came from a family that operated escort services.
It was said that in her youth, she had accompanied her father on escort missions.
That was how she met Elder Brother Jiang, and fell in love at first sight, beseeching her father to betroth her to him.
Lin had a bold and forthright personality, and was skilled at managing household affairs.
Second Elder Brother Jiang Wenxi took after their father in personality. He had an ever-present smile, and doted on the children. The children all loved him.
To describe him in the words of her previous life, he had "innate likeability".
Jiang Wenxi was skilled at carpentry. The furniture in the house was all made by him.
During the farming off-season, he would also go out to find carpentry work, or fetch wood from the mountains to make small wares to sell for extra income.
His wife Zhu was the niece of the master who taught him carpentry.
Zhu lost her parents at a young age and was raised by her elder brother. After her brother married, his wife disliked having her around as a freeloader, and often beat and scolded her.
When she finally came of age, she was promptly married off. Her elder brother and his wife pocketed the 50 taels of silver for her bride price, but did not even provide her with decent clothes.
Fortunately, the Jiang family did not fuss over such details. As long as the daughter-in-law was willing to live properly, that was enough.
Having grown up in that kind of environment shaped Zhu's prudent and self-effacing personality.
She may not be as capable and opinionated as Sister-in-law Lin and younger sister-in-law Lu, but she was attentive and hardworking, content with her station in life.
In her own words, to have met such a reasonable mother-in-law and kindly sisters-in-law was a blessing she had cultivated in her previous life.
Next was her father in this life, Jiang Wenyuan.
Jiang Wenyuan took after Old Lady Hu in looks, quite handsome. Having read books since childhood, he had the aura of a scholar, refined and cultivated.
When he was studying at the village school, his teacher took notice of him, believing he was destined for great things. So the teacher married his best disciple to him.
This teacher was Lu's father, Jiang Yuqing's father-in-law.
True to expectations, Jiang Wenyuan passed the county-level imperial exam to become a scholar at 20, three years after getting married. This greatly enhanced his teacher's prestige.
After becoming a scholar, Jiang Wenyuan knew he was not ready to immediately attempt the provincial exam. He said he would focus on studying for a few more years, and prepare to take the exam this autumn.
The autumn exam was a big deal, but even though he was reluctant to leave his newborn daughter, Jiang Wenyuan still returned to school to study diligently.
Her birth mother in this life, Lu, had the given name Yuwan. She was fair-skinned and beautiful, with arched brows and eyes like autumn water, exuding the fragrance of books and learning.
While not a peerless beauty, she was famed as a great beauty for miles around.
Since both parents were good-looking, her elder brother, the seventh-born Jiang Yuchuan, was also a handsome young lad.
It seems she could look forward to her own looks in this life.
