"Doc! Doc! Is her life in danger? There's still another half a month to her estimated date of delivery!" Zhang Mi ran alongside the surgical bed. On the bed, a terrified Xin Qing was clutching Zhang Mi's hand, screaming in pain as she sobbed.
The doctor had been summoned - seemingly out of nowhere - by Young Master Shen who had called the doctor on his way here. Naturally, the doctor knew who Xin Qing really was. The doctor touched Xin Qing belly. "There's a slight abnormality in the fetal position. Premature birth is very common, and it's not that big of a deal. You guys don't have to worry."
"Do I have to undergo surgery, then?" Xin Qing was starting to panic. She had the sudden thought that if Ying Qingcang was not beside her and she somehow died on the operating table, he would not be able to see her when he returned. What would he do if things came to that?
That question startled Zhang Mi so much that she began crying. Young Master Shen was left floundering about the place as he tried to placate the two women. The doctor smiled at them and said, "Please, you guys. Calm down, alright? Performing a C-section is very normal for cases like this."
After Xin Qing was pushed into the surgical theatre, Monica tugged at Ah Nan's sleeve. "God, she looked so scared. Will she, you know..."
"Stop blabbering nonsense," Ah Che barked out, shooting a glare at Monica.
Warmth lingered in the early autumn weather. Sometime later, a light drizzle began to form outside the window as if a drape had been hung meticulously over the sky, slowly moistening the dry air. The light from the sign outside the operating theater dimmed. A nurse walked out happily with a baby cradled in her arms.
"Congratulations to all of you! The mother and child are both safe. May I know which one of you is the father?"
Before anyone could come up with a response, Young Master Shen ran over to the nurse. "Ah, me! I am the father!"
"Some of you should follow me to the hospital room first. Someone needs to watch over the child."
"You and Young Master Shen should go," Monica told Zhang Mi. "Ah Nan and I will wait for Xin Qing. Ah Che, can you see if Aunt Tian is here yet?"
The first thing Xin Qing saw when she woke was the gawking faces of Zhang Mi and Monica, both of whom were grinning from ear to ear.
"She's awake! She's awake!" Zhang Mi yelled.
For a moment, Xin Qing went into a daze. After a moment, everything came flooding back. "I've... delivered?"
"A plump, eight-pound boy!" Monica pushed the cot closer to Xin Qing's bed. "He looks so much like you! You're practically the same!"
Zhang Mi rolled her eyes. "Why don't you pick him up and let her have a closer look? She still has to breastfeed him, you know!"
"You do it," Monica said, stepping aside. Zhang Mi stretched out her hand and then paused for a moment as a look of hesitation formed on her face. Then, she decided to just press the call button beside the headboard.
In the end, it was a nurse who had carried the baby to Xin Qing. The nurse fed the baby with some milk and then spent a long while teaching both Zhang Mi and Monica the right way to hold a baby. Due to the fact that Xin Qing had just undergone a C-section, she was not yet allowed to move or eat. The chicken noodles that Aunt Tian had brought for her was, therefore, devoured by Young Master Shen.
Turning her head aside, Xin Qing gazed at the baby lying beside her. The little guy's skin was dark and filled with wrinkles, which made him look like a rat.
"I remember that Ah Sha was born, her skin was all white. Why is his skin so dark?" Xin Qing was starting to worry. "He won't look like this in the future, right?"
Zhang Mi glared at her. "He looks so much better now after he was bathed. You should've seen how he looked like when he was first carried out. He even had some kind of gooey thing stuck to his face."
"I've already asked about it. The doctor said that it's a normal look for a baby that is just born. Ah Sha's case is special. Some even claimed that the darker the baby look at the time of birth, the fairer they'll be when they grow up!" Monica kept staring at the little baby. What Monica really wanted to say was that the baby looked a lot like Ying Qingcang. Still, she dared not say it...
Around 10PM that night, Xin Qing successfully passed gas. After that, Aunt Tian immediately fed her with chicken soup and two poached eggs. Xin Qing had not been lactating well, which was why she ate all the food she had been given without any complaints in the hopes that she could start producing more breastmilk soon.
Young Master Shen and the others came by the next morning. Ah Che and Ah Nan were practically in tears the moment they laid eyes on the baby. They followed the nurse around while the latter bathed the baby, recording the entire process with a camcorder.
"Xin Qing, there's something that I should tell you, just as a heads up," Young Master Shen said in a serious tone. "Ying Qingcang's grandfather wants to see you."
"Huh?" Xin Qing went into a daze. Suddenly, the image of a proud, stubborn, old man came to mind. "He probably wants to see the baby!"
Young Master Shen nodded. Then, in a tone of mild suspicion, he said, "I'm worried that he might try to take the baby away."
"Bullshit!" Zhang Mi tossed away the apple in her hand. "Xin Qing had gone through hell to deliver the baby. What right does he have to take him away? Who does he think he is?"
Xin Qing waved her hand. "Hey, calm down. The earl isn't that kind of person."
"It's just a guess," Young Master Shen said, pausing in thought. "Well, I suppose we should quit guessing. Let's just see how it goes when he's here tomorrow!"
The earl was extremely delighted to see the baby, cradling it in his arms and peppering its face with endless kisses. When he spoke to Xin Qing, his expression was still stiff and formal, though the smile contained in his eyes had betrayed his true emotions.
"You've worked hard, girl!" The earl coughed twice. "Ah Cang-"
"Grandfather!" Xin Qing said, cutting off the old man. "I'll wait for his return!"
The earl stared wordlessly at her for a long time. Then, he retrieved a box from the hands of his bodyguard and handed it to Xin Qing. "I've prepared this a long time ago. It's for my great grandchild." Xin Qing took the box and opened it. It was some kind of badge, an insignia of the earl's family. With its surface lined with gemstones, the badge seemed highly valuable.
"If..." The earl sighed. "Hypothetically speaking, of course. If Ah Cang never return, the child can inherit the position as the earl of our family when he turns 16."
"But grandfather, surely that's not right?" Xin Qing said in shock. The tradition of the British nobility was that the title of an earl should only be passed to the direct descendant, or in other words, the grandchild of the previous earl.
The earl did not allow her to finish. "By right, this should belong to Ah Cang." The old man's eyes turned stormy. Xin Qing still had things to say, though she could not bring herself to open her mouth. She knew the earl cared deeply for his grandson. Right now, the old man must be devastated deep down.
"Then, I thank you on behalf of my son, grandfather." Xin Qing paused for a brief moment, then her eyes sparkled as an idea came to her. "By the way, grandfather, why don't you name the child!"
"You're asking me to give the boy his name?" the earl said, touched by the sentiment.
"Mm. You're our elder. It's only right that you get to name him!" Xin Qing said.
"Then I need some time to think about it. This is a serious matter! I'll come back tomorrow. I need to think carefully about this!" The earl stood up excitedly and walked to the door. At the door, he suddenly turned around. "One more thing," he said. "After Ah Cang and Ying Hao went missing, my people have run into Rong Siman at the old mansion of the Ying family. But they didn't manage to apprehend her."
Rong Siman? Xin Qing had nearly forgotten all about that woman. Still, when Young Master Shen came over to visit that night, Xin Qing mentioned it to him.
"I'd like you to take a trip to England," Xin Qing said.
Young Master Shen stared at her. "To look for Rong Siman?"
"Not her," Xin Qing said, shaking her head. "I'm asking you to bring back the Ancestral Behest."
"The Ying family's Ancestral Behest?" Young Master Shen paused in thought. "If there's anything wrong with the behest, then I suppose it would explain Rong Siman's appearance at the house."
Xin Qing nodded. "I know. That's why I'm planning to find out its secrets once and for all."
"Alright, then!" Young Master Shen said. "I'll take Ah Che with me and leave tomorrow."
Young Master Shen worked fast and managed to return before the night was out. Meanwhile, the earl had already named the baby and had gone back to England. The baby's name was Ying Zhe. Xin Qing herself had given the baby a nickname: Wangwang, which meant "anticipation" in Chinese. However, that nickname would later on become the subject of a pun since "Wangwang" is also the equivalent to "woof" in the Chinese language. In other words, the name could be interpreted as an onomatopoeia used to describe the sound of a dog barking. Unfortunately, that interpretation would last through Ying Zhe's entire childhood. Ying Zhe's only response to those kids who had made fun of his nickname was to secretly give the other kids monikers as well: Xiao Jiji. In doing so, he was able to keep the darkness in his heart concealed.
Xin Qing was finally allowed to get out of bed. Right now, she was walking around in her hospital room with Monica's help. Young Master Shen unrolled the Ancestral Behest and lay it down gently on the bed. Zhang Mi stared at it curiously. "Wow! It's like it was made from gold!"
Zhang Mi pointed at the lines which were separated into paragraphs. "Did these really just appear out of nowhere?"
Xin Qing walked over and glanced at the bottom of the parchment, which contained the line stating that she could never give birth to the descendants of the Ying family. "I've always been curious about what this thing really is," Xin Qing said as her fingers travelled along the surface of the parchment. "What's your take on it?" she asked Young Master Shen.
Young Master Shen shook his head. "I've got nothing. I suggest we bring this to Boss Wan and let him examine it."
"Okay," Xin Qing said. "As soon as you can!"
Young Master Shen's men presented the Ancestral Behest to Boss Wan the following day. News did not come soon this time. They did not hear back from Boss Wan even until the day of Xin Qing's discharge from the hospital. Then, on the day when Wangwang was officially one month old, Boss Wan personally came to them.
Little Wangwang's jaundice had already subsided. Right now, his tiny body looked plump and fair. Even the flesh on his body came in sections, just like lotus roots! The little guy also had huge eyes. Overall, his features resembled Xin Qing greatly, though if one were to look closely at anywhere above his eyebrows, one could see that the kid was practically a miniature version of Ying Qingcang. In fact, the kid's eyes had that same look of aloofness and iciness whenever he stared at others. Every time Zhang Mi tried to hug or carry him, he would turn on the waterworks before he finally relented.
Xin Qing did not announce Wangwang's one month baby shower to the public. Instead, they had a private gathering at Ying's residence where they shared a meal between family and close friends. After the meal, Boss Wan took out the Ancestral Behest.
"Other than the opening lines, as in the ones compelling the union between the Ying and the Gui family, the rest were all added onto it via human means."
Boss Wan's words took everyone by shock.
"You mean something like this... Can actually be faked?" Xin Qing said in mild disbelief.
"Isn't the Ancestral Behest some kind of high-end product?" Zhang Mi's eyes went wide. "Well, there goes the 3Ls, then."
Boss Wan pointed at the wordings on the parchment. "What you're looking at right now is just an overlay that had been integrated with the original parchment through high tech means. You won't be able to tell the difference with naked eyes alone. Otherwise, we wouldn't have spent so many days to work it out."
Boss Wan pulled out a bottle containing some kind of liquid chemical, which he then poured on top of the Ancestral Behest. Everyone stared in wonder as, in just a few seconds' time, a golden layer of substance formed on the surface of the parchment. The material did not seem like paper and was extremely light, which was evident from the way it had been floating in mid-air ever since it appeared.
Boss Wan reached out and took the floating material and then placed it into a small box. He passed the box to Xin Qing. "Keep it as evidence," he said.
"There are still words underneath it!" Young Master Shen shouted. "But... They all look like ancient characters!"
Boss Wan produced another piece of paper. "The words had their origins in the Han Dynasty. This sheet contains the result of our translation. Have a look."
"I'll read it! I'll read it!" Zhang Mi said, handing the now asleep Wangwang over to Young Master Shen.
Long story short, the whole thing was about a beautiful and yet revolting love story. During the end of the Han Dynasty, a scholar from the Ying family had gone into the city to take his imperial examinations. He had managed to achieve the highest distinction in the examination and had caught the eye of a princess, who wanted him as her husband. However, the scholar already had a fiance back home, a woman by the name of Gui whom he had known since his childhood.
When the scholar rejected the princess, the princess ordered her people to track down the woman named Gui. The princess then threatened Gui with the lives of her people as well as the lives everyone from the Ying's family. Gui had no choice but to yield to the princess' threat and in doing so, she married a young man in her tribe. When the scholar returned home, nobody told him the truth about what happened. Thus, driven by the hatred of seeing the woman he loved married to another man, he married the princess' and later on found an excuse to execute all the members of the Gui family.