Chapter 84: Father, the Great Demon King Awakens
Winter.
The cold wind was biting.
The house was slightly chilly.
Morning.
Jiang Mianmian woke up.
She discovered she had been sleeping on her stomach and had flipped herself over.
Then she saw Father sitting by the window, writing.
Suddenly, she thought of her time as a medical student, when her teacher taught them how to compliment someone.
“We have all dissected others; one must look from the appearance to the essence.”
Jiang Mianmian looked at Father carefully. His jawline was sharp but not wide, as his face was very thin, the skin clinging to the jawbone. The angle was perfect; there was no need for cutting or filling.
The transition where the bridge of Father’s nose met his forehead was distinct. When Father frowned slightly, the muscles of his face would gather, giving the impression of brows slightly knit, yet the emotion was profound, making one unable to help but care about him.
Father’s eyes had long, narrow corners with slightly red inner canthi; it was a classic peach blossom phoenix eye shape.
The inner corners were deep; there was no need for epicanthoplasty. He naturally gave the feeling of being a very affectionate and righteous person. When he pondered, his eyes would slightly narrow, appearing enchanting and subtle.
The whites of Father’s eyes were just a tiny bit more visible, so when he was silent, he looked very much like an overbearing, wild, and Alpha-like CEO. (Note 1)
Jiang Mianmian stared at Father in a daze, lingered in bed for a while longer, and unconsciously sucked on her finger, thinking to herself, “It’s over.”
Being a child now, sucking on her finger to drink some Spirit Spring water to wake up her brain was still justifiable.
Once she grew up, if she still sucked her finger, she would be treated like someone with a mental disability.
In the future, she still needed to be careful and restrain herself; she could only suck it when no one was around.
Hearing the movement, Jiang Changtian turned his head.
He saw his little daughter lying on the bed, seriously sucking her finger, and a smile naturally rippled across his face.
“Nannan is awake.” He stood up and walked over.
He reached out and picked his daughter up.
Jiang Mianmian fell into Father’s dry, comfortable embrace.
Very happy.
Handsome men are not just for looking at; they can also be hugged.
“Father will dress you.”
Jiang Changtian held the baby with one arm while rummaging through the small clothes at the head of the bed with the other.
Jiang Mianmian stretched out her finger and pointed at the small padded jacket, saying, “Father, I want to wear that one.”
It was an infant’s soft, glutinous voice; it felt like if she spoke any slower, she would drool, but she was very serious.
Jiang Changtian respected his daughter’s choice, took the small padded jacket, and changed her into it.
After changing into the small padded jacket, he put on a small, split-bottomed cotton robe. Sister Xia said Mianmian had gestured for it to be made herself. Perhaps she kept tripping while wearing small skirts, so she had asked Sister Xia to sew the bottom of the skirt shut, similar to an adult’s underpants, but it didn’t matter for a little baby.
After putting it on, her two legs could move apart, and there was no need to worry about tripping.
The only trouble was when pooping; she couldn’t squat directly and had to take off the cotton robe.
It wasn’t a big problem; his Mianmian had never pooped in her robe; she was very clean.
After dressing her, Jiang Changtian took out a small wooden comb to comb his little daughter’s hair.
In the past, he was busy and rushing about, rarely having time like this to spend with his child.
He was very patient. His little daughter’s hair was also good, not tangling, though he felt her forehead and the back of her head were slightly bald. However, Jiang Changtian didn’t say anything; although his daughter was very small, she seemed to be quite vain.
In the whole family, she was the only one who had to choose her own clothes. (Jiang Feng and Jiang Yu: “Did we have a choice back then? We just had one set of clothes.”)
Sister Xia said that even at such a young age, the little daughter knew how to ask her to embroider little pockets and flowers on her clothes.
Jiang Changtian tied his daughter’s hair into two pigtails sticking straight up, like wild onion flowers; it was very cute.
Then he took a wet cloth to wash her face and wipe her hands, wiping the finger his daughter had just sucked. While wiping, he urged, “Our Mianmian is a beautiful little girl; you can’t suck your fingers anymore, okay?”
Jiang Mianmian nodded solemnly: “Mm-hmm, won’t eat, won’t eat my hand.”
She blushed slightly.
Being reborn in the womb meant she had a tiny bit of adult memory, but memories always faded slowly.
And she was truly an infant, always unconsciously following her body’s instincts to act.
Because everything before her was vivid, existing, and real.
“Where is Mother?” Jiang Mianmian asked curiously.
“Mother took the village matrons to work; she will be back later,” Jiang Changtian said.
Sister Yu also went out with Sister Xia.
Brother Feng was taking the young men of the village to practice sword fighting.
Instead, he was left at home to take care of the baby.
He helped the baby dress and wash up, then carried her to brush the two little millet-like teeth that had just grown out, before taking her to eat.
There was egg custard warming in the pot, with minced meat and wild vegetables in it.
In the family, Sister Yu and Brother Feng both liked to eat meat, and Sister Xia also liked meat; yet Mianmian was surprisingly picky, eating a little meat but insisting on eating some vegetables.
Very much like him; he actually preferred eating vegetables too.
His daughter was easy to take care of. He brought out the egg custard and another bowl of boiled goat’s milk.
This milk goat had originally been sold to Master Liu, but now that Master Liu was dead, it had returned to their family.
Goat’s milk was gamey; even the gluttonous Sister Yu didn’t like it that much.
Sister Xia had been busy lately, and the little daughter didn’t want to drink breast milk either.
So goat’s milk became the little daughter’s food, four meals a day: a bowl in the morning, at noon, and before bed.
Qin Luoxia would let her husband drink the extra goat’s milk.
Anyway, this milk goat was feeding the two fairest people in the family.
Jiang Mianmian closed her eyes and finished the goat’s milk. She didn’t want to become a shorty. It felt like it was easy to have nutritional imbalances in ancient times, and people died early in this era; everyone who had a little money wanted to research immortality.
She had to start maintaining her health from a young age; drinking more milk every day could help her grow tall.
After finishing her breakfast and supervising Father to drink a bowl of goat’s milk, Jiang Mianmian tilted her head up, waiting for Father to take a handkerchief and wipe the milk stains from the corners of her mouth. Then she slid off the chair, wobbling, shaking her two legs.
The legs were hers, and the brain was hers, but she couldn’t control them very well.
If she wasn’t careful, she would still fall flat on her face.
She practiced walking and fell several times.
It really wasn’t easy for an infant to grow up; fortunately, it was winter, so she was dressed thickly and it didn’t hurt when she fell.
It was too cold, and it really wasn’t good to go outside to play.
After eating, Jiang Mianmian wobbled a few steps in front of Father, then sat down on her bottom and started playing with building blocks. She had asked her elder brother to make them, using his sword to cut the wood into identical blocks of various shapes, and then she killed time by herself.
Sometimes the wooden blocks were too far away, and she was too lazy to get them, and little ants would help her move them over.
After taking care of the child, Jiang Changtian continued to write.
Jiang Mianmian played for a while, felt bored, struggled to climb up, wobbled while touching the wall, and walked to Father’s side.
Jiang Changtian saw his little daughter come over, picked her up, and placed her in his arms.
“Does Nannan also want to learn to write?”
Jiang Mianmian shook her head: “Miss Father, don’t want to learn.”
Jiang Changtian laughed: “Then you sit obediently, and after Father finishes writing these things, I will play with you.”
Jiang Mianmian nodded.
Sitting in Father’s arms, she watched seriously as Father held the brush to write.
She was curious about what Father was writing.
Father couldn’t take the imperial examination; hmm, she knew her Father couldn’t take it.
The wish to be a second-generation official probably couldn’t be realized.
She saw the dense characters in front of her, most of them traditional Chinese characters. She wailed internally; there was a high probability she would still have to learn them.
She could only rely on guessing based on characters that looked half-similar, becoming illiterate all over again.
“The Art of Governing the People”
- Stupify the people: Unify thoughts, entice them with benefits, and promise them pledges.
- Weaken the people: Light rewards and heavy punishments.
- Exhaust the people: Find things for the people to do, keep them busy running around, so they have no time to attend to other matters.
- Humiliate the people: Deprive them of dignity, incite them to report and expose each other.
- Impoverish the people: Apart from the necessities of life, strip them of surplus silver and wealth.
- If these five do not work, kill them. (Note 2)
Jiang Mianmian was too surprised, so much so that her chubby hand slapped onto the paper.
The ink of “kill them” smeared, and her hand was stained with ink.
Father grabbed her little hand, carefully took a cloth to wipe it for her, and while wiping, said, “Does Nannan also want to learn to write? When your hand is steadier, Father will teach you to write, be good.”
After cleaning it, Father kissed her palm.
Jiang Mianmian looked up at Father in a daze.
She let out a goat’s milk burp: “F*ck!”
F*ck!
(Note 1: Sourced from an online post, a medical student’s analysis of a male celebrity’s description.)
(Note 2: Sourced from Shang Yang’s “The Book of Lord Shang”.)
Thank you for reading + listening 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
