Translated and given permission by MissQ to post on Puretl.com
Edited by Pure

Chapter 81: Caring for the Womb

That afternoon, Lin Si Yao grilled a crucian carp with scallion. However, before he could present it on the table, he saw Su Shuilian who had just put away the sewing needle to come into the kitchen covering her mouth, as if wanting to vomit. 

“Shuilian...” Seeing this scene, Lin Si Yao stepped forward to help her. “Are you alright?”

“I don’t know. I just find the smell of fish very disgusting…” Su Shuilian vomited out a few mouthfuls of saliva. It was only after drinking a cup of warm water from Lin Si Yao, did she feel better.

“Disgusting?” Lin Si Yao frowned as he went and felt the pulse on her wrist.

After a long time, he gently let go of Su Shuilian’s wrist and smiled joyfully at her. “Shuilian, we have a child.”

“Ah?” Hearing this, Su Shuilian was stunned, before happily embracing his strong waist. “You say I’m pregnant? Really?” Then the goddess, Guan Yin, in Qing Yu Temple really make a miracle? She was so taken off guard by the sudden surge of happiness that she could only think of this explanation in her busy mind.

“Yup.” Lin Si Yao laughed as he pinched Su Shuilian’s nose. “Now that you’re a mother, are you happy?”

“But of course.” Su Shuilian couldn’t help but to glare at him. He is a man, he wouldn’t understand the pressure of being born as a woman. But this is good as she had really wanted to be pregnant. Not even a year later, she will give birth to a child that is both their biological child. How could she not be happy?”

“Okay. Then, O’ great mother, please be careful. Let this husband carry you to your room for you to rest. As for lunch, let this husband prepare you fragrant chicken egg millet porridge?” When Lin Si Yao saw Su Shuilian’s happiness, he couldn’t suppress the throbbing of his heart and carried her into the bedroom for her to rest. Even the teasing tone that he would only use at night leaked out in his voice. He, Lin Si Yao, was also a father now. In this world, he now has his second closest family; his own child.

“Be good, drink more water.”

“Take a break, but don’t just sit….”

“Are you hungry, eat some snacks?”

“You’re pregnant yet you’re still so careless!”

Since that day when they received the good news, what could be often heard was the constant hen-like nagging of Lin Si Yao.

Su Shuilian didn’t know whether to laugh of to cry as she adhered to Lin Si Yao’s instructions to drink water (Since tea was also banned by him as he was unsure if it would have negative effects on the unborn child), eat snacks (3 meals a day along with a snack in the later afternoon as he was scared that Su Shuilian was not strong enough to give birth to child) and rest ( Lin Si Yao confiscated her work on “ picture of goddess of mercy blesses with a child” to stop her from working on it. Luckily she had 3 months to finish it.)

As such, Su Shuilian’s days of caring for the womb went by peacefully under Lin Si Yao’s careful supervision.

As now an experienced mother, Xiao Xue would lead her puppies to various locations to play.  Xiao Xue also took up the role of watching over Su Shuilian during this period of caring for the womb. If ever she saw Su Shuilian become tired from embroidery, the Xiao Xue would lead her wolf cubs into the room and force her to stop.

In order to prevent the three playful cubs who only cared about having fun from destroying anything in her embroidery room, Su Shuilian had no choice but to keep track of the time. Once she hits the allocated time that Lin Si Yao had set for her, she would get up and move around, getting food, water, and sometimes even taking a tour of the kitchen to confirm what she wanted to eat for dinner. 

Ever since she got pregnant, she would be very sensitive to oil and smoke. As of recently, the foods that she had previously enjoyed caused her to become nauseous even before putting it into her mouth.

For example, there are some dishes that require to be stir-fried with oil. Those dishes are dishes she cannot consume and even a whiff of the smell of the oil will cause her to nauseate. If it’s serious, she could even vomit out everything that’s in her stomach because of it.

Especially fried fish, the smell of fish alongside the smell of oil is very effective in making her nauseous.

Therefore, over these past few days, other than conducting the daily examinations of Dabao’s homework in the morning, removing grass, catching insects and the occasional adding of fertilizer and other farming related work in the afternoon, the remainder of his time was spent on comparing the different recipes to develop meals which were light, nutritious, refreshing and appetizing, as well as a few desserts that were suitable for Su Shuilian. These snacks were to be enjoyed while she’s resting and drinking tea, like sesame biscuits and jujube paste stuffed rice cakes…. It can’t be said that he didn’t do all this with her in mind.

This continued for a month or so and Lin Si Yao’s culinary skills have increased quite a bit, especially in his stewing. It was so good that even the number one cook, Shui House’s poniang*, would show a thumbs up in approval. She had come to their house with Aunt Lao the other day and had tasted a bowl of fresh mushroom chicken stew that Lin Si Yao made for Su Shuilian.

(婆娘/Poniang -  peasant woman that is married // a wife)

“Girl, you really are very lucky.” Shui House’s poniang gently patted the back of Su Shuilian’s hand and smiled in approval: “Take a quick look at everyone in Fan Hua Town. Tell me which man in one of the families would treat the wife with this level of care? Looks like even if you took the entire nation into consideration, a good man like A Yao can be considered very rare.”

“I told them this the moment they got married!” Aunt Lao chuckled as she added praise to Lin Si Yao’s actions.

“That’s why when you’re choosing to marry in, the most important part is the husband. No matter how good their family is, if matched with a husband that is insensitive, everything would be wasted.” Aunt Lao said as she with an unexplained conviction.

When originally negotiating a marriage for Xi Cui, there were 2 families that came over to the Lao family to discuss about the matchmaking. One family is a farmer from Luo Shui town, while the other is a distant relative of the Fang Family, who after settling in the city, opened a tofu store. 

At the start, Uncle Lao instantly thought the family settled in the city would be the best choice. This is because after suffering through the pains of being a farmer, he believed that life in the city must be absolute bliss. However, after a few negotiations, alongside Aunt Lao who secretly went to speak with the neighbors of the candidate families, eventually she settled with the boy  from Luo Shui Town.

Even though that rascal is a farmer, Aunt Lao liked him after meeting him a couple of times. She especially took into consideration how he is the pillar of support for his family, and the care and concern he showed to her daughter. There was also a time when she had seen them go out together; he would walk by her side and was conscious of her surroundings. This kind of man, even if he has a mediocre background, he still wouldn’t treat her Xi Cui badly in any way, so she would not suffer much with him. 

Whereas as expected, that rascal from the family that started a tofu business was actually married earlier this year. But half a year later, his now ex-wife had run back to her immediate family. The mother-in-law was harsh and her husband wasn’t sensible at the least. Not only did he not help her, but also ganged up with his mother in beating and berating her.

If Xi Cui had married to him, would there be happiness for her to enjoy? Aunt Lao couldn’t stop thanking her lucky stars for this outcome. On the other hand, taking a look at Xi Cui who had married to the man from Luo Shui Town for two months already, Xi Cui had only returned home twice. Whenever she returned, although Aunt Lao wouldn’t ask her if she was doing well or if the son-in-law had been nice to her or not, she already knew the answer from the intimate actions of the two of them and the emotions conveyed from Xi Cui’s eyes. With this, the worries that she had in her were now settled.

Su Shuilian finally rushed to the Embroidery Floor to hand in the <Guanyin Blessing with a Child> peice right before the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. In addition, under the pressuring gaze of Lin Si Yao, she had notified Jiang Yingyue and Jiang Yingyun that for a short amount of time, she would be taking a break from taking anymore embroidery work. 

This is because she started to have a series of strong vomiting as it was her first trimester.

Feeling lethargic when sitting and aches when lying down, Su Shuilian would be hit with morning sickness everyday. This went on for a full month, causing her already petite stature to become even more thin. Seeing this caused Lin Si Yao to feel distress and self blame. He already knew her body was delicate, but he still wished for her to bear his child as soon as possible. 

However, since the matter has already reached this point, other than doing his best to make whatever Su Shuilian wants to eat, accompanying her for more walks to improve her body strength, Lin Si Yao can’t really do anything else. Could he not as a man replace and go through this process for her?

“Are you tired of eating bean paste and jujube paste?” Lin Si Yao picked out the ingredients to make zòngzi*, which were entailed with red beans, red dates, and other stuffing materials.

(粽子/zongzi - a traditional Chinese rice dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves.)

“A Yao, why don’t we make a meat stuffed one.” Having the sudden urge to eat savory zòngzi, Su Shuilian unexpectedly recalled back to her previous Su House’s big kitchen, where during the Dragon Boat Festival would have salted egg yolk and meat zongzi on the tables, the smell of which was incredibly fragrant and delicious..

“Meat stuffed? Zongzi can be made with a salty taste?” Coming across Lin Si Yao who basically spent most of his time studying the recipe book, his eyes were full of suspicion towards the idea of zòngzi having a savory stuffing.

“Mhm, I roughly know the method. Let’s buy back some meat and give it a try, is that okay?” Su Shuilian smiled sweetly as she suggested.

“Ok.” Lin Si Yao himself couldn’t have refused. On the contrary, as of now, she is pregnant. For any of her requests, he would happily oblige. 

“Tired?” Su Shuilian, who hadn’t entered the city for a long time strongly wanted to take a walk through the various streets and shops, while Lin Si Yao had no choice but to follow her. Of course, Lin Si Yao would support her, infusing her with some of his Qi from time to time, to add to her physical strength.

“I’m still good. Aren’t you the one who’s always helping me?” Su Shuilian smiled sweetly as she raised her head to look at him. Even though she doesn’t know any martial arts, everytime when she would feel very lethargic, she would feel a continuous surge of strength enter her body, she could feel it herself.

“Mhm. If you can’t take it anymore, why don’t we go home.” He still was anxious. However, looking at her elated expression, he did not want to dampen her enthusiasm. What’s more, there wasn’t even a chance for her to come back to visit the shops anymore until after their baby’s first month. Better to let her enjoy everything to her heart’s content now

“A Yao, let's go to the cloth shop to choose a few thick cotton cloths. I’m thinking of taking advantage of not doing any embroidery work to prepare some clothes for our baby.” Su Shuilian caressed her not very obvious abdomen and proposed in a soft voice.

“Okay. But you must promise me, the time spent everyday sewing cannot be too long.” Lin Si Yao was really scared that she would harm her eyes and exhausted herself. However, if he suggested that they buy a few pieces of children's clothing straight from the clothing store, Su Shuilian definitely will not approve. As such, he gave up on this suggestion. He could only once again stress for her not to spend too long sewing from today onwards.

“I understand” Su Shuilian had no choice but to nod her head. Ever since she got pregnant, Lin Si Yao with an icy demeanor who would only say a few words over half a day, was nowhere to be found. As for the earliest version of Lin Si Yao back in the wolf cave with that extremely cold and unfriendly attitude, has all but slowly vanished away.

This must be the power of family. Su Shuilian silently guessed in her heart. Once we have children, will he act more like a loving father? The only issue was, she couldn’t fathom how Lin Si Yao will be when the word “benevolent” will be used to describe him.

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