Chapter 246: The Prodigal Sheng Wanyan
If she refused to accept it, she would be completely wasting Mother Gu’s sincere kindness. Mother Sheng quietly resolved that when she returned to Chengdu, she would head out to the countryside to trade for some high-quality wild game and ship it back to the Capital as a proper return gesture.
What Mother Sheng didn’t realize, however, was that Mother Gu was far from this generous to just any relative. Ever since Sheng Wanyan had married Gu Tingxiao, Sheng’s mother and father had always kept their in-laws at the forefront of their minds, consistently shipping premium regional specialties down to the capital. Relationships were a two-way street; if you actively cherish us, we will naturally cherish you in return. When two families truly merge into one, a beautiful cycle of mutual care naturally takes root.
Mother Sheng accepted the heavy tote bag, taking it upon herself to handle the distribution after formally presenting the treasures to the senior grandparents. The three canisters of fortified baby milk powder were naturally reserved to support the health of the elderly couple. Out of the five tins of premium malted milk powder, Mother Sheng pulled two for the grandparents as well, before trying to hand the remaining three back to her daughter.
“Take these three tins back to your courtyard to drink, Wanyan,” Mother Sheng insisted. “Your mother-in-law explicitly prepared them to support your health.”
“I don’t need them, Mom,” Wanyan replied, shaking her head. “My mother-in-law already hoarded an entirely separate stash for me. Save these for Dad to drink, and for Sister-in-law—she just completed her confinement and desperately needs to replenish her body.”
“But your mother-in-law specifically destined these for you,” Mother Sheng countered, her parental stubbornness flaring. “This is a direct gift from her to you, and now it’s a gift from me to you.”
Overwhelmed by her mother’s persistence, Wanyan turned a humorous, pleading look toward Gu Tingxiao. She physically couldn’t consume that volume of malted milk by herself.
Catching his wife’s silent distress signal, Gu Tingxiao immediately stepped into the fray to assist. “Mom, please keep them here for Dad and Sister-in-law. Wanyan truly has more than enough back at our place.”
Since her son-in-law had formally vocalized the request, Mother Sheng felt it would be genuinely bad manners to push back any further; continuing to refuse would make them look ungrateful for the family’s generosity.
“Alright, then,” Mother Sheng relented, a warm smile returning to her face. “Ensure you draft a beautiful letter to thank your mother-in-law on our behalf.”
Sheng Wanyan smiled and nodded, finally focusing her attention on her dinner.
Tonight’s spread was exceptionally rich and comforting. Grandma Sheng and Mother Sheng had poured their entire hearts into the cooking, deeply sympathetic to the physical toll a long transit took on a pregnant body. Terrified that Wanyan might be struggling with a suppressed gestational appetite, they had explicitly dug into their premium stores to prepare fine grains for her.
Once the feast concluded, Wanyan and Gu Tingxiao bid the family goodnight to return to their own small courtyard to rest. Before walking out the door, Mother Sheng handed the house keys back to them.
During their month-long absence, Mother Sheng had routinely crossed over to clean their rooms and feed their chickens. She had even systematically archived a staggering sixty fresh eggs for Wanyan, carefully lining them up along the kitchen pantry shelves. Furthermore, knowing their train arrived today, she had spent the previous afternoon thoroughly scrubbing their quarters from top to bottom. Thanks to her relentless care, the young couple didn’t have to spend their evening frantically packing away the heavy gear they had hauled back from the Capital.
As she began unpacking their luggage, Wanyan suddenly paused, a look of comical realization crossing her face. She had completely forgotten to extract the luxury clothing items she had purchased for her family! Her pregnancy brain was truly giving her a terrible memory lately.
Oh well, I’ll just carry them over tomorrow morning, she thought. Fortunately, their small courtyards sat side by side, so delivering the parcels wouldn’t be a hassle at all.
Wanyan looked over the separate mountain of provisions Mother Gu had crammed into their personal luggage, counting an additional five canisters of milk powder and five tins of malted milk. Every single item was explicitly intended to optimize her maternal health. There was also a massive cache of infant cloth diapers, alongside the glass bottles, hand-knit baby clothes, tiny socks, and miniature leather shoes they had secured at the Overseas Chinese Store. To round out the luxury hoard, Mother Gu had packed a massive, heavy slab of cured meat to guarantee they never ran short of protein.
Wanyan directed Gu Tingxiao to carry the heavy meat stores down to their private root cellar and initiate the fires to boil water for a hot bath, while she took charge of archiving the garments into the wardrobes. Once the chores were cleared, the two of them indulged in a steaming wash and crawled beneath the thick quilts, instantly falling into a deep, restorative sleep.
Truthfully, returning to the isolated military base required a bit of a mental adjustment for Wanyan. Back in the capital, her mornings were packed with elegant family excursions, neighborhood dramas, and luxury shopping trips to keep her thoroughly entertained. But out here at the base, her social circle narrowed instantly, leaving her with very few avenues of entertainment beyond sitting by the window and daydreaming.
Yet, life in the military unit possessed one massive, undeniable advantage: it granted her an absolute wealth of uninterrupted, quiet time to focus on her own thoughts and projects.
By the time she blinked her eyes open the following morning, Gu Tingxiao had already prepared a beautiful breakfast spread; after all, his official military leave still extended for a few more glorious days.
The young couple had just finalized their morning meal when the front courtyard gate rattled, and Mother Sheng walked through the door. She was gripping a substantial, heavily sealed paper parcel containing the technical translation materials and the substantial royalties the capital newspaper had disbursed the previous month.
Because the shipment had arrived at the base ahead of schedule, Mother Sheng had quietly intercepted the mail, securely hiding it away in her own quarters. This fortune comprised the direct intellectual earnings of her brilliant daughter, and she was determined to safeguard it flawlessly. Rather than marching into the main Sheng house with the cash exposed to the extended family, she had covertly slipped it into a highly classified hiding spot, ensuring absolutely no one under her roof could track its location. Even Father Sheng remained entirely oblivious to the fact that she had retrieved the fortune.
Wanyan carried the secret parcel into her bedroom, before returning to the living room holding the luxury items she had explicitly bought for her mother at the high-end department store.
“Go ahead and take these back to your house, Mom,” she smiled, placing the heavy containers into her hands.
“My goodness, why on earth are there so many items?” Mother Sheng gasped, her eyes widening as she stared at the sophisticated packaging. Had her daughter literally plundered the entire inventory of the capital store?
“I bought these premium skincare sets specifically for you at the Overseas Chinese Store,” Wanyan explained. “They are specialized topical creams formulated explicitly for your face.”
Wanyan patiently demonstrated the sequential steps of the modern skincare routine, firmly instructing her mother to prioritize pampering her skin the exact same way Grandma Gu did. The brutal winter drafts of the northern base were notorious for drying out the skin, demanding an advanced level of protection. Wanyan had meticulously scrutinized the chemical formulations of these imported creams beforehand; the ingredients were beautifully clean, non-toxic, and entirely safe for regular use. In fact, their intensive moisturizing capabilities effortlessly rivaled the high-end products of future generations—without any of the synthetic fillers or harsh additives that plagued later cosmetics.
“This… this must have cost an absolute fortune, Wanyan,” Mother Sheng murmured, her hands trembling slightly as she held the glass jars.
“It wasn’t expensive at all, Mom. Opportunities to secure these imported formulations are incredibly rare, so I had to strike while the vouchers were in my hand.”
Wanyan began unboxing the remaining parcels. “This elegant structured coat is a gift for you and Grandma, and this fluid, crimson skirt is destined for Sister-in-law. This tailored Zhongshan suit belongs to Grandpa, and these high-quality base layers are for Dad.”
Wanyan had naturally never forgotten to include Pan Yue in her calculations; after all, back when her sister-in-law resided in the Capital, she routinely shipped luxury provisions down to Chengdu for Wanyan’s comfort. Pan Yue had frequently expended her own capital to pamper her with expensive embroidered blouses, leather footwear, and tailored wool coats.
Mother Sheng stared at the display of pure luxury, utterly dumbfounded. Exactly how many hundreds of yuan had her daughter liquidated to secure this mountain of dry goods?!
This girl was supposed to be hoarding her capital to build a secure nest egg for herself. With the baby’s arrival looming on the horizon, the avenues requiring intense financial investment would multiply instantly.
“Tell me the absolute truth, Wanyan… did the senior Gu elders voice any dissatisfaction when they witnessed you squandering capital on this scale?” Mother Sheng pulled her daughter into a quiet corner, her voice dropping into an anxious whisper. The sheer velocity at which her daughter spent money was enough to bankrupt even the most affluent household!
“Not at all, Mom,” Wanyan laughed, soothing her panic. “I purchased an identical, premium spread of gifts for every single elder in the Gu lineage as well. You can completely put your heart at ease.”
Hearing this, Mother Sheng finally let out a breath, her intense maternal anxiety settling. She had been terrified that her daughter’s fierce loyalty to her maiden family might provoke an underlying resentment within the Gu clan, making her domestic life difficult.
“Did Xiao Gu voice any objections?”
“Mom, what on earth are you imagining?” Wanyan teased, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “I executed these purchases utilizing my own independent intellectual earnings. I command my own capital through my translation contracts; why shouldn’t I utilize my own wealth to honor and elevate my parents? Besides, Tingxiao isn’t the type of small-minded man to obsess over such metrics. He supports my independence completely.”
Mother Sheng shot her a sharp, playful glare. Was she merely letting her imagination run wild? It was blindingly obvious that her daughter’s baseline lifestyle was far too extravagant! Even though she took immense pride in Wanyan’s unparalleled earning capacity, her daughter’s terrifying talent for spending money left her deeply anxious.
However, Mother Wang had completely underestimated the true scale of Sheng Wanyan’s consumer philosophy. In the years that followed, Wanyan’s extravagant, unapologetic purchasing power would reach such astronomical heights that simply reading the household ledgers would cause her mother’s blood pressure to skyrocket.
Mother Sheng patted her chest, exhaling softly. “Well, as long as your husband is aligned, that’s what matters most.”
“When your due date arrives and you enter your formal confinement period, how exactly does the Gu family intend to manage the childcare logistics?” Mother Sheng asked, shifting to her primary concern. Every single member of the Gu lineage occupied an exceptionally high-ranking, demanding position within the national infrastructure, and Mother Gu was a heavily decorated state official. Securing a gap in their grueling calendars was no simple feat. “If your mother-in-law’s professional responsibilities prevent her from traveling down, you inform me immediately, and I will formally request a leave of absence from my unit. Although my career is vital, in a mother’s heart, absolutely nothing eclipses the safety of her child.”
“My mother-in-law has already explicitly finalized her travel blueprints,” Wanyan smiled warmly, touched by her fierce protection. “She has officially secured a three-month leave of absence from her bureau specifically to manage my postpartum confinement.”
Hearing this, Mother Sheng nodded in absolute relief. Since the high-ranking matriarch had cleared her schedule to anchor the nursery, she could finally lay her anxieties to rest. “That is spectacular. I will simply coordinate with your father to secure a shorter window of leave around that time so we can journey over to visit you.”
“Perfect.”
Wanyan was well aware that her father had recently secured a major promotion within the regional command, meaning executing an extended leave of absence right now could provoke unwanted scrutiny from rival political factions. Following his return to the base this season, it was imperative he dedicate himself fully to his command to avoid giving his detractors any leverage to trap him.
“Your father and I will actually be initiating our formal relocation back to the Rongcheng headquarters at the start of next month,” Mother Sheng announced quietly.
“So soon?” Wanyan blinked, surprised. Hadn’t her parents originally finalized blueprints to delay their departure until the middle of April, safely past Gu Tingxiao’s return to active duty?
“Your father’s new executive promotion was fast-tracked,” Mother Sheng explained, her expression serious. “Securing his physical presence at the primary headquarters ahead of schedule is the safest tactical play to solidify his authority.”
