Chapter 383: Pregnant Development |
Winter began early this year. Before the month could even settle, people already had snow on their doorsteps. Outside the Spring Array around my house, a thin dusting of snow covered the rest of Blazing Sun Sect’s mountain and the nearby regions.
I watched the vegetables boiling in the pot as I adjusted the heating arrays so the soup wouldn’t burn.
From the corner of my eye, I spotted Fu Yating reading a historical novel while sitting on a new piece of furniture I had made for her, something that could best be described as a couch. It was covered in bear fur and stuffed with the feathers of some monstrous beast.
The signs of pregnancy were now clearly visible on Fu Yating’s body. Her belly had begun to curve.
So, due to my insistence, she no longer did chores around the house. I had rearranged my schedule to cook and clean for her instead.
As for hiring someone else to help, I trusted no one with my child.
And sadly, most of the people I trusted were not exactly inclined toward household chores. Just imagining someone like Song Song cooking and cleaning sounded like a bad joke.
“Okay, now lunch is ready, my dear wife,” I told Fu Yating as I turned off the heating arrays of the makeshift stove, drained the water from the boiled vegetables, and prepared the final dish before plating everything.
As I placed the last plate on the table filled with fish, meats, and other healthy foods, I smiled at what was clearly a work of art.
Another dish was steamed river fish. It was high in protein and light on the stomach while strengthening blood and bones. On top of that, the fish here were usually raised in rivers whose beds were lined with spirit stones, making them something like half-monstrous beasts.
There were also simpler dishes, like my last one, Stoneleaf Greens boiled until soft. The dark green leaves were wilted down until tender. They were rich in iron, strengthened blood circulation, and improved vitality over time.
I had even balanced the fats in the meal to help with Omega-3 absorption, while ensuring there was no magnesium or calcium in the same meal, since those minerals have antagonistic interactions.
Fu Yating had woken up a bit late today, so I may plan a meal richer in vitamin D, like eggs.
“Whoa, you worked hard,” Fu Yating said as she walked to the table and sat down.
She picked up her chopsticks, tried one of the greens that looked delicious, and the moment it entered her mouth her face scrunched up like she had swallowed dirt.
“This food is all healthy,” I told her.
“Perhaps it is healthy for the body,” she sighed, “but it kills the spirit.”
She was killing my spirit with those comments, I thought, but didn’t say out loud.
Usually, I would have jumped at the chance to dash into a battle of words, but I didn’t want to do that with my pregnant wife.
Before I could continue whining internally, I sensed a strange flicker in the arrays placed around my house. Since there was no resistance, it meant whoever was entering had access to the key for my arrays.
Normally, that would have been worrying. But I knew only one person rude enough to come here without releasing their Qi to reveal who they were. That was basic courtesy.
Their presence was completely null.
Song Song opened the front door with a loud creak and walked into the kitchen with a confident strut like she owned the place.
“Yo,” she said, waving at us.
Song Song hadn’t been around the house for a while, though I still saw her fairly often at the library.
“How have you been, Liu Feng, and–”
She turned toward Fu Yating to properly greet her.
But the words got stuck in her throat as she looked at my wife, someone she had met many times by now, her expression turning confused as she tried to remember her name.
“…Liu Feng’s wife…” Song Song finally said, clearly failing to recall it.
Fu Yating frowned, though she was already used to this.
Most of the time she didn’t exist in Song Song’s mind at all, only becoming noticeable when she was physically present.
Then Song Song finally noticed the elephant in the room. Her gaze drifted toward Fu Yating’s bulging belly. She raised a questioning brow, glanced at Fu Yating, and then looked back at me.
“Gross,” Song Song declared, like a child who had suddenly realized how their parents created siblings.
“Get your mind out of the gutter and come eat something,” I told her.
Song Song shrugged and sat down on one of the empty chairs, though she hadn’t touched the food yet.
“I didn’t know your wife was pregnant,” she said.
I had actually told her about it. But she clearly didn’t see me becoming a father as something important enough to remember, and here I was planning to name her the future godmother of my child.
“I have a name,” my wife intervened calmly. “It’s Fu Yating.”
Song Song nodded and turned toward me without missing a beat. “So, have you tried sensing whether you’re having a boy or a girl? It should be easy for someone like you to use Qi to perceive that.”
I shook my head.
“Sensing it like that should theoretically be harmless. But I don’t want to test it on my own child. Or any unborn baby for that matter.”
Song Song nodded.
Then she closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, she looked at me.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Well, at least the thing growing inside her is really your kid,” she declared without any tact or awareness of how that might sound.
She had a foundation technique that allowed her to track someone’s bloodline with just a drop of blood.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Fu Yating frowned, clearly offended.
“Nothing,” Song Song replied casually. “Just that the kid is really Liu Feng’s kid.”
She shrugged as if the statement were completely normal, and continued.
“One of my so-called brothers from one of my father’s concubines turned out not to be my brother at all. It caused quite a scandal back in the day. So you can never be too sure about these things.”
“Hey now, Song Song, don’t stress out or annoy my wife,” I reminded her. “It could be harmful to the baby.”
“Really?” Song Song asked.
As a woman who was about as interested in motherhood as she was in embroidery, Song Song knew almost nothing about childbirth or pregnancy. So she simply took my words at face value.
“Sorry, I didn’t know that,” she said, turning to Fu Yating. “Though I also don’t see why you’re so angry. Clearly, you’ve been faithful so far.”
Jesus.
Song Song really needed a filter instead of blurting out whatever crossed her mind.
When we were alone, that was fine. I actually enjoyed hearing her raw thoughts since I rarely took offense.
But this…
Fu Yating turned toward me.
“Also, you’ve been so nice and meek all these months,” she said. “You haven’t even argued back.”
Wait. Why the hell was I catching stray shots here?
“And things like that never happen,” she continued. “One argument doesn’t suddenly cause complications in childbirth.”
“Of course,” I agreed immediately.
Either way, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Fu Yating narrowed her eyes, and it felt like she could see straight through me, knowing I was only agreeing verbally.
“You’re so annoying,” she grumbled.
Song Song watched the entire exchange from the sidelines. Her gaze slowly drifted toward the table, where half a dozen plates of delicious-looking food had been laid out.
There was quite a variety.
While Fu Yating and I were talking, Song Song picked up a pair of chopsticks and tried one of the fish dishes.
“Ugh.”
She immediately spat the food back onto the plate, ruining the dish completely.
“Oh, come on,” I protested. “My food isn’t that bad. I tasted it myself.”
“No,” Song Song said with a grimace. “But I’m used to the delicious food your wife makes. Tasting something this bland with a fishy taste shocked my system.”
“It’s fish,” I countered. “Of course it has a fishy taste.”
“One thing is certain,” Song Song said. “You would make a terrible housewife.”
This time, it was Fu Yating who stared at the entire interaction with a strange expression.
I immediately noticed the shift in her mood and moved to sit beside her.
Her jealousy could be annoying sometimes.
But as long as it didn’t interfere with anything important, I didn’t mind placating it. If this were a more modern world, Fu Yating would probably be the type to constantly check my phone.
And now that she was pregnant, her fear that I might leave her for another woman might temporarily grow stronger.
But logically, she knew that was unrealistic. It was simply her heart playing tricks on her.
I put an arm around Fu Yating’s shoulders, and she leaned her head against me while watching the unbothered Song Song, who was testing the food again. She tasted another dish and cringed, though this time she forced herself to swallow it.
“Ew,” she coughed, before turning to look at me as if my wife wasn’t even there. “Anyway, there have been fewer and fewer beast sightings lately. To a worrying degree. What are your thoughts on it?”
The question came out of nowhere, but that was simply how Song Song’s mind worked.
“The conflict between humans and beasts will likely escalate,” I said with a shrug. “But I won’t participate in this war. I don’t want to worry my wife.”
Fu Yating smiled in approval, like a newly married wife who had just won her first argument.
To be honest, what I said was only half the truth. The other half was that there was no longer much for me to gain from the war.
Song Song nodded, not caring either way. She had only asked for my opinion, valuing my ideas more than my raw strength.
“Either way, you should prepare an escape route just in case,” Song Song said. “I have a very bad feeling about this.”
I frowned.
Before she said that, this was just another battle in the endless chasm of what had felt like a never-ending war. I had always moved from one war to another, from conflicts between my clan and its neighbors, to this.
But even if Song Song mentioned it offhandedly and probably didn’t expect me to take it too seriously, her instincts were correct most of the time.
After trying another bland dish and failing to find the delicious taste she expected, Song Song stood up.
“I just lost my motivation to stay here,” she complained. “All the food is bland, and when it isn’t, the flavors are too strong. See you later. I’ll leave you two to spend time together.”
“My name is Fu Yating,” my wife reminded her. “And don’t just store me in your mind as his faceless and nameless wife.”
Song Song nodded and walked out the front door.
She activated her Sky Grade technique, and her presence vanished completely, so thoroughly that even my arrays couldn’t sense her.
She went off to do who knew what.
Though she was technically supposed to be leading the war, I knew Song Song spent most of her time cultivating. More than once, I had seen her send a blood clone to attend meetings in her place.
I only knew that because I had trained with those clones so often.
The clones were somewhat dull, but Song Song rarely spoke during meetings anyway. She simply let others do their work, and when she reabsorbed the clone, she would gain all the memories from the meeting.
Perhaps this was the natural development of things I had once tried to suppress by forcing her to behave more politely.
Ironically, after killing some of the early people who annoyed her, Song Song had taken control of the situation in all but name, and now she no longer seemed interested in killing anyone else.
With her father no longer an immediate concern, both of us were free to do whatever we wanted, and her talents were beginning to bloom fully.
She was growing as a person, in her own way.
Perhaps she wasn’t becoming a better person. But she was growing.
Fu Yating stopped leaning against me and frowned.
I smiled, already guessing what she was thinking.
“So you were acting all intimate just to test Song Song’s intentions?” I asked, phrasing it as a question to give her some room to deny it.
“Yep,” Fu Yating nodded, accepting the accusation without hesitation. “I never expected Song Song to have absolutely no romantic feelings toward you. There wasn’t even a hint of jealousy.”
My lips twitched. Every logical thought in my body rejected what I was about to say next. But after suppressing myself for months, I couldn’t resist.
“Actually,” I said casually, “Song Song once mentioned that if she ever had children, she would have them with me.”
Fu Yating looked at me carefully, immediately seeing through my attempt to make her jealous.
Ironically, when I acted normally she became anxious. But when I said something ridiculous outright, she saw straight through it.
“Did she actually say that?” she asked.
“More like she implied it,” I replied vaguely. “So… yes.”
“Then I forbid you from doing that with her,” she said, crossing her arms and pouting.
Despite the words, she didn’t seem particularly worried about it happening. After spending so much time around Song Song, she understood exactly what kind of person that woman was.
“I was just joking,” I reassured her, just in case.
“That wasn’t funny,” she snorted.
“It sounded funnier in my head,” I said.