Chapter 84

Mother Chen didn't end up staying the full month.

Chen Jue got out of bed the very next day. Since he didn't have a C-section, he recovered faster. Even though he'd had an episiotomy, it didn't slow him down much.

Imperial Physician He agreed, telling him not to stay in bed all day and to get some light exercise instead.

So by day three, Chen Jue was already writing medical notes.

And after three days of frantic practice, Huo Jilin had gotten the hang of changing diapers and feeding the baby. He could even hold the baby in one arm and feed him with a spoon in the other.

With Uncle Liu and his daughter-in-law Xiu Er coming by daily to help wash diapers and cook, Mother Chen realized Huo Jilin and Chen Jue could handle the baby on their own.

So Mother Chen headed home after ten days. By then, the baby could stare at her with wide, unblinking eyes for a good long while. Which made it that much harder for her to leave.

Cradling the baby, she said, "Little Yu, Grandma will come back to see you soon."

The baby's name ended up being Huo Yu. They'd come up with so many names—even medical ones—that Chen Jue couldn't decide, so Huo Yu picked it himself by drawing lots.

Chen Jue held his tiny hand and said, "You chose this name yourself, so no backing out later."

Mother Chen scolded him, "Honestly, you don't act like a father at all."

Either way, Huo Yu finally had a name.

And it was a solid, impressive name—fitting, since both Huo Jilin and Chen Jue had picked out grand ones.

Mother Chen was about to leave, heartbroken. Even at the last moment, she couldn't bear to put the baby down.

Chen Jue took the baby from her and smiled. "Mother, you can come visit Xiaoyu anytime."

After ten days, he'd gotten comfortable enough to call her "Mother" without it feeling weird.

Mother Chen kissed the baby's forehead and tiny fingers one last time before climbing into the carriage. Huo Jilin and Chen Jue waved goodbye, and Huo Jilin personally escorted his mother-in-law home.

Even though his father-in-law sent herbs every ten days or so and could easily bring her back, Huo Jilin still wanted to escort her himself. These ten days had been tough on her, and more importantly, she'd been a mother to Chen Jue—the birth mother of his body.

The weather was beautiful—no wind, warm sunshine. Chen Jue stood outside a little longer, holding the baby and watching the carriage until it disappeared.

When the baby let out a big yawn, Zhang Yan urged him inside: "Go lie on the kang for a bit. You need to move around, but my mother-in-law said you can't stand on your heels too long. You have to finish your confinement month, and since it's winter, you can't catch any wind."

Zhang Yan, who used to be shy, could now talk your ear off.

Chen Jue listened and carried the baby onto the kang. There was a table there anyway, and he'd written most of his notes on it.

He'd already finished the childbirth section and written everything he could about the postpartum period.

Seeing Chen Jue was recovering well, Imperial Physician He went back to Wanchun Hall, leaving behind his prized acupuncture classic, "Zhongjing's Needle Methods." He told Chen Jue to study it, and once his confinement was over, he'd come back to teach him.

Chen Jue didn't let him leave empty-handed—he sent him off with some transcribed medical notes to organize.

Medicine thrives on shared knowledge.

Chen Jue didn't read all day—childbirth had drained him.

He couldn't strain his eyes.

He only read during the day when the baby was lying around playing. The rest of the time, he followed Zhang Yan's advice—when the baby slept, he slept. He could sleep for hours—a depleted body takes a long time to bounce back. Even with a bit of the thousand-year ginseng Imperial Physician He left behind every day, his body still needed time to recover.

After his mother-in-law left, Uncle Liu and the others helped during the day, but at night it was just Huo Jilin and Chen Jue—well, mostly just Huo Jilin.

Huo Jilin wanted Chen Jue to sleep more, so he stayed extra alert.

When his mother-in-law was around, she'd shared the load. Now that she was gone, the little one had all his energy focused on tormenting Huo Jilin.

The baby had grown too—over ten days old now, no longer in the eat-poop-sleep cycle. He could stay awake and play, but he needed an audience. If no one was watching, he'd whimper and fuss.

And he'd often whimper in the middle of the night, demanding Huo Jilin play with him.

Huo Jilin couldn't figure out how such a tiny baby could be so high-maintenance.

He really didn't like kids—maybe it was just in his bones. When people said a baby's cooing was soothing, he felt nothing. So he liked their crying even less.

But this kid was his now, and Chen Jue had given birth to him, so he had no choice but to take care of him.

So he held the baby and tried to negotiate: "Shh, don't cry. If you don't cry, we can do whatever you want. Just don't wake your dad."

Chen Jue had lost both qi and blood, so sleep was the best medicine. That's why Huo Jilin took on the heavy responsibility, even though he had zero clue how to soothe a baby.

The little guy had probably come out of the womb into a strange world and felt insecure, so he'd whimper after a bit, wanting to be patted back to sleep.

At first, Huo Jilin patted him properly, but when he got too sleepy, his patting got sloppy, and the baby would whimper and cry.

Huo Jilin jolted awake, picked up the baby, and—weirdly—the whimpering stopped the second he was held.

Huo Jilin held him with one arm and fumbled to light the lamp with the other. In the light, the baby's eyes were bright and black—not a tear in sight.

The diaper was dry too, so he hadn't peed.

Huo Jilin stared down at him blankly, and the baby stared back. When he decided Huo Jilin wasn't as interesting as the lamp, he turned to look at the candle.

This kid was playing games with him, huh?

In the womb, it was "besiege Wei to rescue Zhao." Now it was "feint east, attack west."

All bark, no bite.

Huo Jilin didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he couldn't do anything about it. After putting the baby down, he threw on his clothes and went to the kitchen to get the warm goat's milk.

He'd had a door put in between the main room and the kitchen so he could grab the milk without freezing in winter.

In the kitchen, since Chen Jue was in confinement, charcoal was always smoldering under the stove—just enough to keep the kang and the goat's milk warm. After drinking, Huo Yu finally got drowsy and fell asleep on Huo Jilin's lap with a yawn.

Huo Jilin had learned his lesson. He checked Huo Yu's little hand, and when it hung limp, he knew the baby was out cold before putting him down.

A few more days passed like this, and the baby got more and more energetic. He woke up less at night, but when he did, he'd play for ages.

And his demands had gone up. At first, he was happy lying on Huo Jilin's lap, face to face, watching him spin a little pinwheel. But once he could lift his neck, lying still wasn't enough—he had to be carried around to look at stuff.

Huo Jilin, up with him in the middle of the night, would think about making money to hire a wet nurse.

Hurry up and hire one—was he going to be up playing every night from now on?

The kid was sleeping too much during the day.

Huo Jilin smiled helplessly at the baby with eyes like black grapes. During the day, the kid would sleep for hours. Uncle Liu had warned him not to let the baby sleep that long, but Chen Jue was always asleep too, so Huo Jilin didn't wake him. The result? The kid had flipped his day and night cycle and was wide awake at night.

Huo Jilin usually paced the outer room with the baby, so Chen Jue had no idea. It wasn't until Chen Jue had recovered for another half month and wasn't so exhausted that he finally caught Huo Jilin walking the baby around in the middle of the night.

He yawned as he strolled along, looking pretty pitiful.

Chen Jue told him that during the day, he definitely wouldn't let the kid sleep too much. When people came over to visit, they'd mess with him and keep him from dozing off.

Huo Jilin looked at the still energetic child and smiled, saying to let him do as he pleased—the postpartum month was almost up, and things would get better once that was done.

The winter afternoon was warm and cozy, with ample light streaming through the windows Chen Jue had improved, spilling across the heated brick bed.

The two babies lay side by side on the bed, waving their arms and kicking their legs, looking seriously cute.

Zhang Yan's favorite thing now was bringing his kid over to see Chen Jue. He genuinely loved kids, and found it easier to handle both at once—warming goat's milk, changing diapers, and talking about how to raise them made the time go by fast.

As he sewed a tiger hat for the baby, he said to Chen Jue, "I'm definitely having another one. Your kid is so gorgeous. I've never seen such a good-looking baby."

Chen Jue no longer bothered telling him to wait three years before having another. He'd emphasized it many times already—talking to Zhang Yan was pointless; better to talk to Zhou Dajiang.

Zhang Yan was the type to forget the pain once the wound healed—he'd forgotten how he'd grabbed him two months ago, begging him to save the baby.

He'd forgotten, but Chen Jue hadn't.

If only there were someone like Jiang Xinhe in this world...

Chen Jue snapped out of it, watching Zhang Yan messing around with the kids. He was truly patient, waving a rainbow feather in front of both babies, and the two little ones were totally mesmerized by the colorful toy.

Both pairs of eyes went wide, like black grapes.

Some people are just born loving kids, and some just aren't.

Nothing more to say about that.

"If you're planning to get back to having sex, don't forget to take the meds I gave you. Take them every day—not just after sex, but every single day." Chen Jue told him.

He'd made birth control pills for Zhang Yan, not the harmful abortion potions they use in this era. The pills were similar to modern ones, with fewer side effects, but they needed to be taken regularly.

Zhang Yan was a special case—he'd had a C-section, and getting pregnant again too soon was super risky. Chen Jue wanted to completely rule out that risk for him.

Zhang Yan's face went bright red, and he said awkwardly, "What are you talking about? There's no sex happening!"

Chen Jue just looked at him—he'd already had a kid, why was he still too shy to talk about sex?

Chen Jue let out an "oh" and said, "I'm just telling you in advance, so you don't end up pregnant again."

Many couples resumed sex after the postpartum month, but Zhang Yan was a special case. He'd already told Zhou Dajiang to wait a few months, and he was letting Zhang Yan know in advance too.

Zhang Yan was still very embarrassed, making a move to swat him but missing. Then, blushing, he leaned close to Chen Jue's ear and whispered, "Let me ask you—how long after childbirth is it good to have sex again? I feel like something's off down there."

Chen Jue leaned back—Zhang Yan really didn't treat him like a man.

Actually, it wasn't that Zhang Yan didn't see him as a man; he saw him as a close girlfriend.

Sharing such private stuff with him was no small thing.

Chen Jue told him, "That's normal. It's been almost a year since you've had sex—of course it feels strange. You'll get used to it with time. And don't forget to take your meds."

He just wouldn't stop reminding him about the meds!

Zhang Yan looked at Chen Jue's expressionless face, devoid of any hint of shyness, coughed, and couldn't help asking, "You and Dalin—are you two... very... compatible?"

He stammered for a moment before finding the right word.

Those two must do it all the time, otherwise why wouldn't their faces even blush?

After all, Chen Jue had married even later than he had.

Chen Jue raised an eyebrow—Zhang Yan's words carried a hidden meaning. Asking if he was compatible meant he and Zhou Dajiang weren't?

Chen Jue naturally had no idea whether the original owner had been compatible with that Huo Lin, so he just latched onto Zhang Yan and Zhou Dajiang.

It turned out his months in the gossip circle hadn't been wasted—his ability to grasp key points had sharpened instantly. His curiosity also surged.

"You two... not compatible in bed?" Chen Jue cut straight to the point.