Chapter 71

Chapter 71

The baby was crying and fussing again today. Since he couldn't talk yet, he could only make little squeaky sounds.

"Mm ah..."

"Did he go poop?"

Pei Qingji heard the commotion and quickly opened his eyes. He got up, lifted the baby from the crib, and leaned down to sniff the baby's bottom.

It didn't smell too bad. He pulled open the diaper to check.

Sure enough, the baby had gone poop.

He didn't mind the stink at all. He grabbed a fresh diaper from the cabinet and changed the baby.

Then he tossed the dirty diaper in the bathroom trash.

He put a fresh one on the baby.

Cheng Yuan heard the commotion and woke up too.

"Did he poop again?"

Pei Qingji changed the baby's diaper with practiced ease, then laid him on the bed to play with him.

His voice was soft: "Baby, this is your little daddy."

Cheng Yuan stood at the foot of the bed.

The baby seemed to pause for a moment. In Pei Qingji's arms, he reached out with his little hands, babbling and stretching toward Cheng Yuan as if calling for him.

Cheng Yuan hesitated, then took the baby's hand. A hint of tenderness softened his eyes.

The baby's hand was so soft—pale, delicate, and smooth.

The baby was still fragile after birth, only able to wiggle his little feet. He couldn't even roll over yet.

Pei Qingji reached out and gently touched the baby's face, saying, "Baby, I'm your big daddy."

The baby wiggled his round, diaper-wrapped bottom.

"Ahh..."

The baby reached out again and placed his chubby little hand on Cheng Yuan's.

Then he looked at Cheng Yuan with those big, grape-like eyes and reached out again.

Pei Qingji laughed. "Looks like the baby really likes you."

Cheng Yuan was a bit surprised. After all, he was the one who mostly took care of the baby, so he thought the baby would prefer Pei Qingji.

"Haha..."

At that thought, Cheng Yuan smiled too and reached out to tickle the baby.

The baby giggled happily.

A smile crept into his eyes, and he couldn't help but laugh too.

Cheng Yuan held the baby in his arms and took the little one's chubby fingers in his hand.

He noticed the baby's face looked a little yellow.

The two of them started to worry.

"What's wrong with his face? Why's it so yellow?"

Could it be jaundice?

Cheng Yuan felt uneasy. "Let's call the nurse..."

Pei Qingji immediately pressed the call button to get the nurse to come check.

The color did look a bit yellow. Newborns are prone to jaundice shortly after birth, and if it doesn't fade, it could be dangerous.

Hearing the nurse's words, Cheng Yuan glanced at the baby in his arms, his heart clenching.

The baby didn't seem uncomfortable at all—he was even giggling at Cheng Yuan.

If it really turned out to be jaundice...

"Newborns get sick easily, so don't worry."

Jaundice can be either pathological or physiological.

Physiological jaundice usually shows up two to three days after birth and goes away within about a week.

If it's physiological, then there's nothing to worry about.

While they waited nervously, the nurse pressed an instrument against the baby's skin. All the readings were normal.

The baby seemed a little scared and squirmed around.

Cheng Yuan immediately tried to soothe him.

"Baby, don't be scared. It doesn't hurt. It'll be done in a second."

"Oh my, what a good baby. He's not scared at all."

"It's fine. It's just physiological."

If it were pathological, the baby might need blue light therapy or something, and they'd be apart for a long time.

Hearing the nurse's words, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"This condition doesn't need special treatment. Just let him eat and poop more. The more bilirubin he gets rid of, the better."

"No need for blue light therapy. Just take the baby out in the sun."

"But when you take him out, avoid times when the UV rays are strong. A baby's skin is delicate and can easily get sunburned."

Around what time should we do it?

"Between nine and ten in the morning and four to five in the afternoon. The sunlight isn't too strong then. You can take the baby out for some sun, but don't keep him out too long—about twenty minutes or so."

"Okay. If anything comes up, just press the button and call me." The nurse nodded.

The two of them carried the baby back to the room.

Pei Qingji's phone rang.

Cheng Yu'an gave him a nod, gesturing for him to pick it up.

It was Pei's mom on the line.

"How's the little one? Want me to come over? Is everything okay?"

There was a hint of worry in Pei's mom's voice.

"It's nothing serious, you don't need to come over. It's just regular newborn jaundice. They said he just needs to eat and poop more and he'll be fine."

Hearing this, Pei's mom finally let out a sigh of relief.

Next to her, Pei's dad's tense heart finally relaxed too.

Pei Qingji asked Cheng Yu'an, "Can I show them the baby on video?"

When he nodded, Pei Qingji agreed to video call them.

"Aww, whose little cutie is this?"

When they'd come to see the baby before, he was asleep, so of course they'd never seen him awake.

They'd originally planned to stay at the hospital these past few days, but Pei Qingji told them to go home.

"He's so adorable."

"I'm your grandma."

"This is your grandpa. Say hi to grandpa."

The baby, held in his arms, stared at the two strangers in front of him, looking dazed, as if he wasn't sure what to make of them.

Once he snapped out of it, he wasn't shy at all. He even reached out his chubby little hand and giggled at them.

On the other end, Pei's mom and dad seemed to be eating, with other voices in the background.

When they saw them on the video call, they all leaned in to look.

"Aww, so this is Qingji's kid! He's so cute and such a good baby!"

"Baby, I'm your... grandma's sister."

"The baby's only a few days old, how could he talk?"

"This is... this must be Xiao An, isn't it?"

Cheng Yu'an was slightly taken aback.

"Hi, Auntie."

Cheng Yu'an seemed a bit awkward and somewhat distant.

After all, he'd never been to any of Pei Qingji's family gatherings before, so of course he didn't know any of them.

Not to mention, he rarely even saw Pei's parents on a regular basis.

"Oh, have you named the baby yet? What's his name?"

Pei's mom said, "Cheng Yan."

The aunt looked surprised when she heard this. She frowned, looking like she didn't approve.

"This... doesn't seem right, does it?"

"What's wrong with it? What does it matter whose surname he takes? No matter what last name the baby has, he's still my most precious grandson."

Pei's mom suddenly turned serious and said coldly.

"Don't let me hear that kind of talk again, ever."

The woman looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, sis."

The mood got awkward, and the man quickly jumped in to smooth things over.

"Yeah, these days it doesn't matter whose last name the kid takes. Right, big brother?"

He'd originally thought the big brother would definitely object, since it was about who'd be the heir.

But to his surprise, the big brother just nodded.

"Your sister's right. She was out of line."

The woman looked even more embarrassed. She couldn't believe they weren't taking her side, but were siding with an outsider instead!

She blurted out without thinking.

"What's all this 'outsider' talk?"

"He's the son-in-law our Pei family has accepted. Don't ever say stuff like that again."

Otherwise, you'll have nothing to do with the Pei family anymore.

Seeing the woman still seemed to want to argue, still not convinced, the man pulled her aside and whispered.

"Don't you know your sister's temper? If she says she's gonna do something, she does it."

Brother Zhou heard about what happened and called.

"How's everything? Is the baby okay?"

"Nothing serious, just regular newborn jaundice."

"They said just let him get some sun and move around a bit more, and he'll be fine..."

Hearing that, Brother Zhou finally relaxed.

"Have you called Grandma?"

"I'm planning to call tonight."

Brother Zhou said, "I accidentally let it slip. She already knows the baby's been born."

"Make sure to call Grandma later."

Since he couldn't hide it anymore, Cheng Yu'an had no choice but to call.

"Grandma."

"How could you not tell me about something as big as giving birth?"

"If it weren't for Xiao Zhou accidentally letting it slip, I wouldn't have known."

"I was afraid you'd worry."

Grandma sighed. "Oh, you..."

"Where's the baby? I want to see the baby."

Cheng Yuan turned on the camera and aimed it at the baby.

Grandma saw the baby on the screen and couldn't help but remark,

"This kid looks exactly like you when you were little—a chip off the old block."

"Where's Xiao Pei?"

Cheng Yuan replied, "He's right here."

"I need to say something to him."

Pei Qingji took the phone and said, "Grandma."

Grandma said, "Xiao Pei, as the saying goes, giving birth is like walking through the gates of hell."

"Childbirth takes a huge toll on the body, and it takes a long time to bounce back."

"I'll be blunt—during this time, buy plenty of nourishing pigeon soup to help him recover."

"I know you've got money, but this little bit is just my way of showing I care."

Cheng Yuan was a little taken aback when he heard that.

Pei Qingji smiled. "I will, Grandma."

The doctor said they could go home tomorrow.

They put the baby in a spot where the sunlight could reach, and the sun at this time of day was perfect.

So the baby could get some sun.

To get the baby's attention, Cheng Yuan pointed toward the window.

"Baby, look—what's that?"

"That's a little bird."

He held the baby's hand and pointed it toward the bird sitting outside the window.

"Baby, look, it can fly."

The baby had been fussing, but suddenly caught sight of it, stopped, and stared curiously.

"That's a little flower."

Even though he knew the baby couldn't understand yet, Cheng Yuan still tried to teach him what things were.

The baby seemed curious too, blinking his big, grape-like eyes, and whenever they pointed at something, he'd giggle.

The two of them were busy taking care of the baby every day, barely having a moment to rest. Although they could have hired professional help, they didn't feel comfortable with it—it was best to raise their own baby themselves.

Since the baby was just born, they ran into a lot of problems they didn't understand, so they were constantly running to the doctor.

They barely dared to sleep at night. Sometimes the baby was playful and wouldn't fall asleep until eleven or twelve at night, then would wake up crying in the middle of the night, needing to be soothed and fed.

They couldn't get proper sleep, and calls from the company kept coming one after another, while the online drama kept escalating.

At night, when the baby woke up, Cheng Yuan didn't even realize it, because Pei Qingji would always be the first to go soothe the baby.

They stayed in the hospital room for a few more days, and today was the day they were finally discharged.

Author's note: N/A