Chapter 248: First Birthday Present
Editor: Atlas Studios
Qi Haoran and Mu Yangling returned to Xingzhou Prefecture at full speed. When Qi Haoran’s horse stopped in front of the General’s Residence, he said to Mu Yangling, “I’ll get a personal guard to send you back.”
“It’s only an hour’s journey. Do I need someone to send me back?”
“It’s better to let them send you back.” Although he felt that no one would know about his actions that night, it was better to be careful.
Mu Yangling could only bring Qi Haoran’s four personal guards home.
She was riding an army horse, but beside her was Blackie. Blackie was still young, so it was not a problem to ride it for a few hours. However, the journey from Hanzhong Prefecture to Xingzhou Prefecture was still too strenuous, so Mu Yangling only held it as she rode another horse.
It was already dark when they returned to Chenggu Garrison. After getting off the horse, Mu Yangling handed it to the four guards. “No need to follow me further. You’ll cause too much of a commotion if you go in.”
The four personal guards cupped their fists and said, “Then we’ll take our leave first. Take care, Miss Mu.”
Mu Yangling nodded and led Blackie home.
When Mu Bowen heard the commotion in the house, he jumped off the brick bed and ran out. Through the moonlight, he could vaguely see his sister outside the door. Mu Bowen jumped up happily and shouted, “Sister is back! Sister is back!”
“Shh!” Mu Yangling placed her finger on her lips to signal him to lower his voice. She said in a low voice, “Don’t disturb other people.”
Great-aunt, Shu Wanniang, and the others in the house all opened the door and came out. When they saw Mu Yangling return, they heaved a huge sigh of relief.
“Child, I thought you wouldn’t make it in time.”
When Xiuhong saw the horse behind Mu Yangling, her eyes lit up and she asked, “Cousin, what is this?”
Mu Yangling touched Blackie’s neck and said, “This is our horse.”
The three children opened their mouths wide and surrounded Blackie. Bowen carefully stroked Blackie’s fur and asked softly, “Sister, is this really our horse? How much does it cost?”
“It’s free. Qi Haoran gave it to me.” Mu Yangling arranged for Blackie to stay in the shed and fed it the grass for the rabbit. She smoothed its fur as she said, “We’ll make do with this first. I’ll buy you high-grade grass tomorrow.”
As grass, hay, and wheat straw were all coarse materials, it was naturally impossible to feed horses with just these. Otherwise, Qi Haoran wouldn’t have complained that raising horses cost a lot. Every day, other than coarse materials, he also had to feed them with fine ingredients, such as soybeans, peas, wheat, and wheat bran. Sometimes, he even had to pour some vegetable oil into the wheat bran. And this was only how they treated ordinary horses. Thousand-mile horses ate even more exquisitely.
Of course, with corn, there was another variety added to the horse’s menu. The advantage was that corn had a higher yield than any of the above.
Since Mu Yangling had decided to treat Blackie well, she naturally had to feed it these things.
However, the most important thing now was the gifts for her twin siblings. “Mother, have you prepared the things for Bosi and Kejia’s zhuazhou1?”
“It’s all ready.” Shu Wanniang looked at Blackie and said, “Considering it’d be chaotic tomorrow, is it inappropriate to leave the horse at home? Might startle it.”
“It’s fine. I’ll bring it to the backyard of the new house tomorrow morning and lock it up. No one will know that there’s a horse inside.”
“Then you have to wake up early tomorrow. Your aunt and the rest will come over early in the morning to help cook.”
“Mother, don’t worry. I still have to go into the city to buy fodder for it.” Mu Yangling couldn’t bear to mistreat her little friend.
Great-aunt tugged at Shu Wanniang’s sleeve and asked her to ask Mu Yangling what she had been doing for the past few days. Shu Wanniang only smiled and said, “Alright, it’s getting late. Go back and sleep. Ah Ling, there’s still hot water in the kitchen. Hurry up and take a shower. I will fetch you some hot water.”
Mu Yangling heaved a sigh of relief. She had naturally seen Great-aunt’s actions, and was very glad that her mother did not ask anything.
Seeing that Shu Wanniang didn’t ask, Great-aunt found it even more difficult to ask. Seeing that even the mother was so indulgent towards Mu Yangling, she could only sigh slightly and wave at the children. “Alright, alright. Go back to sleep. No one is allowed to slack off tomorrow. Everyone has to wake up early to help with work.”
The first birthday celebration was very grand. Although they had already made preparations the day before, it still took a lot of time to cook the next day.
Fortunately, with Madam Liu-Zhang and the others’ help, although there were few people in the Mu family, everything proceeded smoothly.
Mu Yangling fed Blackie some fine ingredients. When she returned, she happened to see Madam Liu-Zhao bending down to wash the vegetables. She quickly went forward and took over the work from her. “Aunt Ting, didn’t I tell you to rest? Why are you helping out?”
Smiling, Madam Liu-Zhao said, “Do you really think I’m made of clay? I’m in good health. It’s not like I’m doing heavy work in the fields. No matter how much housework I do, I won’t be tired.”
“You’ll be tired as long as you work.” Mu Yangling pulled her back and pressed her onto the chair. Looking at her stomach, she said, “Alright, even if you’re not tired, just sit here to put me at ease. I can’t stand to see a pregnant person work hard.”
When Madam Liu-Zhang heard this in the kitchen, she laughed out loud and said, “Ah Ling doesn’t look like someone who came from our village at all. Who doesn’t work in the fields when they’re pregnant? Back then, I also entered the fields when I was seven or eight months pregnant. Your Aunt Ting didn’t rest when she was pregnant with Ah Lang. Wanniang is so lucky to be doted on when she’s pregnant. In the past, Rocky doted on her, and now, her daughter dotes on her. Geez, I wonder every day, why didn’t I give birth to a daughter who dotes on me so much?”
With a smile, Madam Liu-Ma said, “In your next life, perhaps. I’ve never seen a daughter like Ah Ling who’s so capable and dotes on her family so much. It’s Wanniang’s fortune to have such a daughter.”
“Next life is fine too. This means that I’m also accumulating blessings in this life.” Madam Liu-Zhang smiled smugly.
“Dream on. You really took it for real, huh,” Madam Liu-Ma teased her. Everyone laughed when they heard that.
Guests arrived one after another. Mu Yangling brought Xiuhong to set up the tables while Liu Lang and the others helped to serve the dishes.
Although they drooled at the food on the table, no one picked up their chopsticks. Instead, they looked at the table in the middle, which was filled with things for zhuazhou1.
This was the first time they had seen such a neat zhuazhou ceremony.
When the auspicious time arrived, Mu Yangling stood in front of the stage and cupped her hands. “Everyone, today is my younger brother and sister’s first birthday. Thank you for coming to give them blessings. Now that the auspicious time has arrived, let’s start directly.”
Bosi and Kejia, who were wearing bright red clothes bearing the character ‘auspicious’, were carried up. Mu Yangling and Mu Bowen took them and placed them on the stage.
This action should have been done by Mu Shi, but Mu Shi was not around. According to the rules, as the eldest brother, Bowen should do it. Now that Mu Yangling and Bowen were doing it together, the people sitting below did not have any objections, as if it was only right.
Placed on the stage, the two toddlers’ eyes darted around. This being the first time they were surrounded by so many people, they looked around with interest and ignored the things on the stage.