347 Confinement

When her breathing became long and slow, Zhao Zhan finally shifted his gaze to the child.

He gestured with his arms a few times, not knowing how to start.

The baby wasn’t even as thick as his arm. He felt that the little guy would cry until the sky fell and the earth cracked if he put a finger down.

“You’re a little ugly.”

Zhao Zhan looked at him and couldn’t help but Mutter, “It’s a little noisy when you cry. You’ll disturb your mother’s peace if you do it.”

Seeing that the little fellow’s brows were tightly furrowed as if he was about to burst into tears, Zhao Zhan looked at Yue Jiaojiao worriedly. He recalled the way Madam Qin had carried the child just now, gritted his teeth, and picked the child up.

“Madam Qin.” Zhao Zhan didn’t dare to use any strength for fear of hurting him. “He isn’t opening his eyes, and he keeps wanting to cry.”

“All newborn children are like this. The louder they cry, the healthier they are. This child is very likable. When my lady wakes up, let her feed him. This child is not like an adult. As long as he is comfortable, he will not cry.”

Zhao Zhan’s lips curled up, but his words were full of disdain. “How spoiled.”

“Spoiled?” Madam Qin couldn’t help but laugh. She looked at Zhao Zhan’s teasing face. “Even if he’s spoiled, he’s still like his mother.”

“They’re not the same,” Zhao Zhan said in a dissatisfied tone. “Jiaojiao isn’t spoiled. She’s easy to take care of… But he’s different.” Zhao Zhan looked at the baby in his arms. “He’s a man, and men should take responsibility. When he can walk, I’ll take him up the mountain to hunt.”

Madam Qin gently took the child into her arms and glanced at Zhao Zhan.

“What are you saying? He’s not even two hours old, how could he be considered a man? He won’t even be as tall as a pheasant when he stands up. What are you going to do with him? Have you decided on the child’s name?”

The child in Madam Qin’s arms moved his mouth and spat out a blubber of saliva.

“Zhao Shouyue.”

Madam Qin couldn’t help but glare at him. “You have to put in more effort. This name will be with him for the rest of his life.”

“What’s wrong with this name?” Zhao Zhan’s face was serious, completely unaware of the problem.

Madam Qin shook her head helplessly and turned around, not wanting to talk to Zhao Zhan.

“Forget it, forget it. You’d better wait for your wife to wake up before deciding on the name.” Madam Qin protected the child away from Zhao Zhan. “If you choose this name, my lady will definitely be angry with you.”

Hearing that Yue Jiaojiao would get angry, Zhao Zhan finally reneged, “Jiaojiao said that she wanted to name the child after she wakes up. If she doesn’t want this, then…”

He muttered to himself for a moment.

“Zhao Nian.”

“I hope that he will forever be grateful for Jiaojiao’s presence.”

Madam Qin repeated it twice and hesitated. “This name… Doesn’t it sound like a girl’s name?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Zhao Zhan shook his head. “In the future, when he starts school, he will be given another name.”

Madam Qin could tell that Zhao Zhan’s tone was serious, so she simply nodded and agreed for the time being.

“Sure, we’ll ask her what she thinks when she wakes up.”

The sky had already turned dark.

“Madam Qin, you take care of him first. I’ll go to the kitchen and prepare something to eat. We’ll wait for Jiaojiao to wake up so she can fill her stomach.”

Zhao Zhan went to the kitchen.

There was a pot of porridge made of millet and red dates in the earthen jar. Zhao Zhan cracked some extra eggs and set them aside. Then, he took out the chicken from the stew and tore it into pieces.

After he was done, he returned to the bedroom to guard Yue Jiaojiao.

Yue Jiaojiao felt much better after waking up, but her throat was so dry that it was about to crack. “Zhao Zhan, I want to drink water.”

Zhao Zhan sat up and returned with a cup of warm water. He reached out to feel the temperature before pulling Yue Jiaojiao into his arms. “Drink up. I’ll walk around the room with you. When you need to go to the toilet, you can drink more hot water. You’ve just sweated so much, you must be very thirsty.”

Just moistening her lips was not enough to quench her thirst.

Yue Jiaojiao got up from Zhao Zhan’s embrace and said, “I’ll go down and take a walk. Zhao Zhan, where’s the child?”

Zhao Zhan helped her to her feet and nodded. “I’ll bring the child over now. I’ve already thought of a name. It’ll be Zhao Nian.”

Yue Jiaojiao cast him a sidelong glance.

“You decided on that?”

“Yes.” Zhao Zhan said with certainty. “It’s a good name and has a special meaning.”

“Since you’ve made up your mind, then I’ll listen to you.” Half of Yue Jiaojiao’s body weight was on Zhao Zhan’s body, and he moved with every step she did in his embrace.

“Not bad, it’s pretty good.”

Hearing that Yue Jiaojiao didn’t reject him, Zhao Zhan’s eyes lit up with joy, and he also became happy.

Seeing that he was still giggling, Yue Jiaojiao held onto the table and gave him a light push. “Why aren’t you looking for Madam Qin? Isn’t the baby hungry? Listen.” Yue Jiaojiao suddenly stopped, her ears perked up, “Can you hear him crying next door?”

Zhao Zhan looked at her and held her waist to make sure she was stable. Then, he hurriedly got up and went to the next room to pick up the child.

“Zhao Nian.”

Yue Jiaojiao took him into her arms. The child seemed to have smelled her scent long ago. His small head moved slightly, as if he was looking for something.

“He seems to be really hungry.”

Yue Jiaojiao lay back on the bed and held the child by her side. “I’ll feed him”.

The first breast feed was very painful.

Zhao Zhan heard her cry of pain and immediately walked up to her. His hands were clenched into fists and hung by his side. “How can I stop the pain?”

He just didn’t want his heart to hurt.

“It’s either I’m in pain, or he’s very hungry,” Yue Jiaojiao said as she breathed in with tears in her eyes, trying hard to think of something else be distracted. “Zhao Zhan, do you have any memories of your childhood?”

While she was sleeping, she had a dream. Yue Jiaojiao sighed. “It would be great if there were photos. I could see how you looked when you were young.”

The little boy in the dream had a cold expression like an adult, and he looked to be only four or five years old.

Yue Jiaojiao shook her head as she mumbled to herself, “I must’ve been so muddled up from my dream. I actually dreamed that I was here when I was three years old and not in my hometown.”

Zhao Zhan’s ears perked up to listen to his lover’s muttering.

“I can’t remember much. If you ask me now, I can’t remember anything before I was five years old.

“My father told me that it was because I had a high fever when I was a child that I had memory loss. When I grew up and asked me about my childhood, he realized that I didn’t remember, so he said that it might be because of the high fever.”

Yue Jiaojiao’s interest was piqued, and she felt that the pain in her chest had been reduced by quite a bit.

“I don’t have a clear memory of what happened before I was four years old. It’s just a little scattered, but I was too young then, so it’s normal to not remember.”