Back in the Shang Family, it was a happy occasion as the 5 elders surrounded me and my father as they looked curiously and tried to play with the twins. The servant who held my sister had already passed her to me and she hurriedly returned into the bedroom as my mother still required some assistance. The males were not allowed into the room used for the delivery and we all had to wait outside. Only the midwife and the servants assisting in the delivery could freely enter and exit the room.
The twins were not very responsive as seemed to be exhausted, their eyes were hardly open and it looked like they were repeatedly falling back into sleep and waking up due to my father and the elders constantly trying to grab their attention by poking them lightly in jest and making baby sounds.
About 10 minutes later, the midwife came out from the room and slowly walked up to my father with a slight bow, she greeted my father and the elders around him.
“Lord Shang, the madam had a safe delivery! Congratulations on the birth of twins! They will surely bring great fortune to the family! Everything is cleaned and sorted out in madam’s bedroom and you may enter now, however, please bear in mind that madam just had an extremely tiring delivery and would need a lot of rest!”
“This lowly midwife has finished her work and requests to be granted leave by the lord.”
My father is elated by the news and gives the midwife his heartfelt thanks.
“Thank you for your hard work in assisting in the delivery of my children. Award her with 200 gold coins! I wish you safe travel on your way back, I should go and attend to my wife now and I seek your understanding.”
After saying that, the midwife thanked my father and quickly leaves with a big smile on her face. From what I have learnt, although it isn’t very accurate since I have never left the house once and never really interacted with anyone else aside from the servants in the house and my parents, I believe that an ordinary family only requires about 3 gold coins a month to live and eat well. 200 gold coins would last such a family for more than 5 years!
That is a lot of money earned by just standing near a woman who is in pain and shouting “Push! Push!” for the entire duration of the delivery and providing her with some emotional support since they can’t really do anything else as the science in this world is primitive.
That said, these 200 gold coins aren’t really worth a lot in the Shang family. As one of the most powerful families in the empire, we have so much gold that we can throw it around until our hands hurt and not finish spending all of the gold we have. Almost every adult in the Shang family is working for the government and therefore, the commoners have to address us as “lord” and themselves as “lowly something” according to the rules of etiquette.
Watching my father and the elders start walking into the bedroom, I follow them as i am concerned about my mother as well.
…
In the room, my father sits on the side of the bed and shows his concern for her. He also shows her my brother and tells her about the names of my brother and sister.
“How are you feeling right now?” my father holds my mother’s hands with concern. “I’m fine, just tired. Let me see my children. Have you named them?”
Watching my father being so gentle gives me goosebumps as I never knew he could be so soft. I guess it’s true that even the most wicked person in the world will become the nicest person in the world when the other person is his beloved. My father lowered his arms so my mother could see my brother. “This is Jin Long. I was going to name him Shang Er but the family elders arrived and suggested to name him Jin Long instead.”
My father waved to me and gestured for me to come close and show my mother my sister. “Shi er is carrying Qing Shan. It is the name you always wanted to give our daughter if we ever had one. Look, aren’t they adorable?”
“tsk, all your children are adorable to you. I remember you had wanted to call Shi er Shang Yi as well. While it wasn’t a bad name, it isn’t a good one as well and thankfully I decided called him Shang Shi instead which is an auspicious name.”
(2nd. ED here:so i think yi means first…. prolly im not chines duh.)
I was going to be called Shang Yi? Was my father planning to name all his children without any thought at all and just name them the order of their birth?! Thankfully my mother changed my name!
My mother turned her head towards the elders who were standing behind my father and me, she then spoke softly.
“Zhi Rou gives thanks to the family elders for giving my child an auspicious name. Please pardon me being unable to get up and greet you normally, but for what reason have you come to our humble abode?”
The elders look flustered for some reason then sigh and said, “When you were giving birth to Jin Long and Qin Shan, all the birds in the vicinity flew in formation towards this house and caused a disturbance in the natural flow of Qi. We were having a meeting at the main house and decided to come to take a look. When we arrived, there were snakes and the birds were flying all around, dropping their poop on everyone causing a mess. There were also several other auspicious omens and they all seemed to be caused by the birth of these children so we decided to stay.”
My mother frowned and gave a stern look at my father and gave instructions “Husband, you need to tell everyone who was here not to spread news of what happened, family elders, you should already be aware of what this means for the family and should return to make plans. I require rest and give my thanks to the elders for the concern they have shown my family.”
The elders’ brows furrowed and they nodded at each other, “We shall leave now. If you require anything, please feel free to approach us. We shall return to discuss the future plans for the twins another day.”
The elders then walked out of the room and flew away once they reached the courtyard. I wonder when I will be able to soar in the sky as well. It looks like my mother’s status is higher than I thought. Watching her give instructions to my father and talk to the elders as if she was an equal was something I did not expect, not to mention that I have never seen these 5 old men before in my life.
Thinking back, I should have found it weird, we’ve never had any relatives from my mother’s side of the family come to visit and even at my thirteenth month birthday, only my father’s subordinates came to join the celebration.
My father made a soft sigh and spoke to my mother “Dear, I understand that you have no good feelings towards the elders, but the birth of the twins have caused trouble for the family, you did not need to be so stern when facing them, moreover they did not make things difficult for us.”
My mother turned her head to face the wall and said “I’m tired. They have never visited once and they only came because this concerns the future of the family. Go instruct the servants to make dinner for yourself and Shi er, make sure to remember to remind everyone that it was a normal birth and nothing extraordinary happened.”
I could see a sad face on my father as he pulled me away, leaving the servants and my two siblings with my mother.
…
Outside the room, in the courtyard, my father told me to a servant to visit the main hall tomorrow and get the hundred spirits stones for myself. He also told me I should head to the library and pick out a movement technique that I like and left.
I feel lost right now, standing alone in the courtyard. I feel like I should follow my father but I also want to return to the room and keep my mother company.
