Chapter 337: Nurturing Pearls

Chapter 337: Nurturing Pearls

Mapo County wasn’t very big, and most of the girls had socialized with each other before getting married. They all knew that Fan Pingfang had gotten married the year before. It had only been about two years, and she had only given birth to her daughter Lingling the previous year. So, where did this three or four-year-old son come from?!

Seeing everyone’s reactions, Fan Pingfang couldn’t help but laugh.

By this time, Lingling seemed to have felt her mother’s warmth and was softly whimpering as she lay on Fan Pingfang’s shoulder.

Fan Pingfang continued to gently pat Lingling’s back and replied calmly, "This is Yang Zheming’s son. I am Yang Zheming’s wife, so isn’t this my son?"

The crowd looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

It was Bai Runiang who spoke up, frowning as she scrutinized the little boy closely and lowered her voice, "How old is he?"

A mocking look flashed in Fan Pingfang’s eyes, "He just turned four earlier this month."

Bai Runiang’s frown deepened, "That doesn’t make sense. You got married in May two years ago... This child is four years old, which means Yang Zheming already had this child before you married him?"

Fan Pingfang smiled faintly, "Exactly right. The child’s mother was a maid who helped Yang Zheming with his writing. When we got engaged, the maid was close to giving birth... Later, the Yang family sent the maid to a farm estate, where she gave birth to the child and has been raising him there since."

At this point, everyone was staring at each other in disbelief.

While every family has its problems and there were often sons born to concubines, in a truly respectable family, would they let a concubine’s son be born before the wife’s?

And to have a son born even before the marriage!

Isn’t this marriage deceit?

In Bai Runiang’s family, after she had her precious son, the concubines stopped taking contraceptive medicine. Within three years, the concubines had given birth to two girls and another son.

But Bai Runiang didn’t care. A well-educated son of a concubine could be a great help to the legitimate son.

Every family went through this.

However!

There wasn’t a family like the Yang family!

"What does Yang Zheming have to say about this?" The more Bai Runiang thought about it, the more upset she became, and she asked Fan Pingfang.

The mockery in Fan Pingfang’s eyes deepened, "What can he say? Every time his academy has a ten-day break, he first goes to the farm estate to enjoy a family reunion with them. This time, the child was brought back because the maid is pregnant again. They say it’s twins, and the pregnancy is unstable, so they were brought back. That’s when I found out that I have a four-year-old son."

All the ladies present couldn’t help but show their displeasure.

Bai Runiang was so angry she wanted to curse, but when her eyes fell on the four-year-old child, she forced herself to calm down.

After all, the child was innocent.

Xingxing had been silent the whole time but couldn’t help stepping forward to hug Fan Pingfang when she heard this.

Fan Pingfang, who had been holding onto her pride with great effort, almost broke down from Xingxing’s silent embrace.

Holding back her teary eyes, she gave a bright smile to Xingxing and Bai Runiang, "Look at me, I came here to see Xingxing off. Why am I talking about such unpleasant things? Did you all wait long for me? Before I left, Yang Zheming suddenly asked me to bring the child out to see the world, which delayed me a bit. Come, let’s take our seats quickly."

Everyone felt a fire burning in their hearts.

Fan Pingfang had always been known for her good temper and pleasant personality among their group, and her family background was quite good too. She had always been one of the central figures.

At the time of her marriage to Yang Zheming, everyone thought it was a perfect match of talents and beauty.

Who would have thought it would end in such a way?

However, seeing Fan Pingfang's evident reluctance to speak further, and with the child present, it wasn't appropriate for everyone to openly rebuke Yang Zheming in front of the crowd, so they could only sit there, sulking in anger.

Young children often can't sit still for long. While the adults sat at the banquet, eating and chatting, the wet nurses were holding a few children in a side room, separated by a display shelf filled with curios.

Many of the young ladies, since marrying, had their own household responsibilities and families to attend to, and rarely gathered in such full numbers as they had today.

If not for the fact that the Yujia family had become a newly influential and powerful family, and their husbands' families were eager to curry favor, they might not have been able to come today.

Furthermore, this gathering was to bid farewell to Xingxing, so as they drank and chatted, everyone became a bit melancholic.

Although they were drinking a low-proof pomegranate wine, as they drank more, perhaps a bit too much, or the atmosphere was making everyone feel intoxicated, everyone became a little tipsy.

"What are you doing!"

Xingxing's sudden yell startled everyone, bringing the drowsy, intoxicated atmosphere in the hall to a halt!

Xingxing suddenly stood up from her seat.

She was young, and even though the pomegranate wine had low alcohol content, she had been drinking tea all along, so her movements were quick and nimble, unaffected in the slightest.

Everyone watched as Xingxing got up and ran straight to the adjoining room.

Ling Jier and two other younger children were sitting on a daybed in the adjoining room, playing.

Xingxing ran over and immediately thrust two fingers into Ling Jier's mouth!

She drew out a perfectly round pearl!

Xingxing's forehead was covered in sweat.

It was actually a pearl!

Thankfully, Ling Jier hadn't swallowed it!

Fan Pingfang was instantly sobered up considerably, a fine layer of white sweat breaking out on her back. She pushed away from the table and rushed over, “Ling Jier!”

Ling Jier, having been poked in the throat, felt quite uncomfortable, her eyes red and on the verge of tears.

The wet nurse was scared out of her wits!

She had just placed the young miss on the bed and turned to exchange a few words with another wet nurse—how could such a thing have happened?

Fan Pingfang was frightened, holding Ling Jier and checking her mouth again, “Sweet baby, let mama have a look!”

Ling Jier struggled a bit and burst into tears.

“Fan sister, don’t panic. I’ve checked; there’s just this one pearl.” Xingxing took a handkerchief, wiped her hands, and placed the pearl inside the handkerchief.

Fan Pingfang, holding Ling Jier, was too shocked to speak.

Bai Runiang and the other ladies with children were also frightened and hurriedly checked their own children.

Thankfully, it seemed none of them had any issues.

“What... what just happened? How did Ling Jier end up with a pearl in her mouth?”

Fan Pingfang couldn't stop trembling, her voice quivering as she asked, fear still gripping her.

These kids today don’t have any pearl accessories on them!

And once they become moms, they’ll be even less likely to carry around little things like that!

Xingxing looked silently at Fan Pingfang's four-year-old child.

He had somehow slipped into the corner, head lowered, looking scared.

If Xingxing hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have dared imagine that this child would secretly stuff a pearl into the mouth of a one-year-old!

“…I saw it happen just now,” Xingxing said after a moment of silence, truthfully informing Fan Pingfang, “He secretly tried to feed something to Ling Jier. I thought it was weird and luckily managed to get it out in time.”