“Tomorrow is the young master and young miss’s birthday. The mistress has instructed us to make preparations for a banquet tomorrow,” the little maid replied.
“Yuan’er and Yao’er’s birthday?” Lu Changqing suddenly realized, tightening his grip on the bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts in his hands. Thankfully, he hadn’t come empty-handed today. “Understood. I’ll go in to see the mistress and the children. No need to announce me.”
A few days ago, Lady Fang had sent someone to mention celebrating the children’s birthdays, but he had dismissed it as extravagant and wasteful, and had since forgotten about it.
“Brother stole my ball!”
“No… I didn’t steal it! Sister hit me!”
Lu Qingyao’s chubby little hand had already reached Lu Qingyuan’s face. Lu Qingyuan held the wool ball behind his back with one hand while firmly gripping Lu Qingyao’s plump hand with the other.
Everyone in the room was amused by the scene.
“You two little ancestors, don’t hurt each other!” Suiqiong hurriedly pulled them apart.
Braziers were lit in all four corners of the room. Against the wall stood a luohan bed covered with thick quilts and soft pillows. Lu Qingyuan and Lu Qingyao, both dressed in sleeping robes, were sitting on the luohan bed playing with a wool ball. Before long, they were tussling again.
Fang Qianxue was also half-reclining on the luohan bed, her robe slightly open, watching the children’s playful fight with a smile.
Lu Qingyao, being the older sister, was sturdier than her younger brother. She finally managed to snatch the ball back and then kicked the wool ball right into her brother’s stomach.
“Thump! Roll, roll!” The ball bounced off Lu Qingyuan’s belly and rolled a couple of times.
Just as everyone was about to laugh, they saw a large, well-defined hand pick up the bright red wool ball.
“Second Master!” The maids and servants’ expressions changed instantly as they bowed in greeting.
The surprised looks from everyone made Lu Changqing feel somewhat uncomfortable. In the past, when he returned from court, everyone would greet him with warm smiles. But today, they looked at him as if they had seen a ghost—frightened and uneasy.
Fang Qianxue also wiped the smile from her face, and the two children stared at him as if he were a stranger.
The man frowned. Were they treating him like an outsider? “All of you may leave. I’ll stay here with the mistress.”
If he didn’t come to see them soon, he really would become a stranger to the children.
“Yes,” the servants quietly withdrew.
“I came to see the children and bought some sugar-roasted chestnuts you like on the way,” Lu Changqing said as he sat down on the luohan bed, placing the wool ball aside and pulling out an oil-paper bag from his robe. He opened it himself. “Try some.”
The golden-red, split-open chestnuts emitted an enticing aroma. The man was as handsome as a painting, but Fang Qianxue felt no appetite. “Leave them there. I pricked my finger with a needle a few days ago and can’t peel these.”
That day, she had been making tiger hats for the children when she heard from the maid that Lu Changqing had spent the night in Xu Miaoyan’s courtyard. Somehow, the embroidery needle didn’t pierce the fabric but instead plunged deep into her finger.
The man took her bandaged finger and glanced at it, then said eagerly, “I’ll peel them for you.”
With that, he began peeling the chestnuts, tossing the shells into the brazier.
The brazier crackled and popped, the firelight illuminating their faces.
“Yao’er and Yuan’er act as if they don’t recognize me, treating me like an outsider,” Lu Changqing said, glancing back at the children before handing Fang Qianxue a peeled chestnut on his personal handkerchief.
“Call him Father,” Fang Qianxue said, taking the handkerchief, her heart aching.
She had already decided to cut ties with Lu Changqing, but the children didn’t know what had happened and often asked the nanny where their father had gone.
The servants of Plum Blossom Pride had already been instructed to say only that Lu Changqing had gone away on business and had not yet returned.
Her plan to divorce her husband would have to be explained slowly to the two children.
“Daddy!” The two innocent children clung to Lu Changqing’s arms, one on each side, calling out in their sweet, childish voices.
“Daddy, you’re back. Will you leave again?” Lu Qingyao, who was already able to speak many words, nestled in her father’s embrace, acting coquettishly.
Lu Changqing felt a sudden warmth in the corners of his eyes, overwhelmed by a sense of guilt.
He reached out and ruffled her soft hair. “Daddy has been busy with official duties lately, but I will come to see you often. When Yao’er grows up, you must help your mother take care of your little brother.”
“Daddy, sister bull… bullied me.” Lu Qingyuan seized the opportunity to tattle.
“I didn’t bully him!” Lu Qingyao pushed him away and declared earnestly, “Yao’er will definitely take good care of Mother and little brother!”
“Good children.” Lu Changqing hugged both children tightly in his arms. For a moment, he suddenly felt that having these two children in his lifetime was enough.
But in the end, he had to give Miaoyan a son to rely on in her old age, otherwise, she would have no support when she grew old.
He quickly came to his senses.
Yes, these days he had been lingering in Madam Xu’s courtyard not because he craved her body, but only because he wanted to give her a child. In the future, when Madam Xu also had a child, he would treat the children of both Madam Xu and Lady Fang equally, maintaining fairness between the two households.