Chapter 295: Discharge
“Has everything been alright at the hospital these past few days?” Grandma Sheng asked, leaning closer to the bed.
“Yes, Grandma, everything was fine,” Sheng Wanyan replied softly. She didn’t want to worry the old lady, so she deliberately kept quiet about the unsettling event with Dahua from the night before.
But Grandma Sheng had raised Wanyan herself; she could tell whether her granddaughter was hiding something with a single glance. Since Wanyan chose to keep it to herself, however, the old lady didn’t pry. If her granddaughter said it was fine, it meant the situation had already been thoroughly resolved. She silently credited her own foresight for sending Sheng Wanze to keep watch at the hospital just in case.
“I’m just glad you’re home safe,” Grandma Sheng said, smoothing the quilt. “Now, you must be incredibly careful during your confinement. Watch out for drafts. If you catch a chill now, you’ll trigger a postpartum illness that will plague you for the rest of your life.”
Sheng Wanyan nodded dutifully. She was well aware of the severe physical toll a poorly managed confinement could take on a woman. In milder cases, it resulted in chronic hair loss, while in worse scenarios, it led to a permanently swollen abdomen and debilitating internal ailments.
“I know, Grandma. Don’t worry.”
“It helps that your husband is on leave, and your mother-in-law is here to anchor the household,” Grandma Sheng added, her expression relaxing slightly. “With them around, I can finally breathe easy.”
Sheng Wanyan smiled warmly. Having Gu Tingxiao tightly bound to her side during this fragile recovery period brought her immense joy.
“I already mailed a letter to your parents,” Grandma Sheng continued, her eyes bright with satisfaction. “The moment they find out they have a granddaughter, they’ll be over the moon.”
She laughed softly, remembering Father Sheng’s antics before Pan Yue had given birth. He had been so convinced he was getting a granddaughter that he eagerly bought a beautiful doll. When Pan Yue delivered a boy instead, the doll was left forgotten, and a disappointed Father Sheng had to carry it right back to the Capital.
Grandma Sheng’s smile faded slightly, a flicker of traditional worry crossing her features. “Wanyan… tell me honestly, did your mother-in-law say anything when the baby arrived?”
The old lady couldn’t help but fret. Among the three married Gu brothers, only Gu Tingxiao had failed to produce a son. In this traditional era, bearing a male heir was a woman’s ultimate shield and source of pride within her husband’s family. She was deeply terrified that her granddaughter would face subtle coldness or disdain from her in-laws.
“Grandma, she didn’t say a single negative thing,” Sheng Wanyan reassured her, her tone firm and earnest. “Mother Gu is absolutely thrilled. You saw yourself how dotingly she treats me.”
Despite the reassurance, Grandma Sheng had lived long enough to view the world with a pragmatic lens. She knew that even if Mother Gu maintained a flawless, loving exterior, deep down she undoubtedly harbored a traditional yearning for Gu Tingxiao to have a son—if only to ensure he had a male heir to carry the name and care for him in his twilight years. After all, when little Yi Yi grew up and married out, custom dictated she would anchor herself to her husband’s household, making it highly unlikely she could cohabitate with her aging parents.
Still, this was only Wanyan’s first pregnancy. Even a traditional family wouldn’t openly condemn a daughter-in-law for a firstborn girl. But if her second pregnancy yielded another daughter, the family dynamics would almost certainly shift.
“Grandma, you truly don’t need to stress over this,” Sheng Wanyan said, reaching out to pat her hand. “Tingxiao and I are both highly capable individuals, and the Gu estate has already been legally divided into separate branches. Children arrive entirely by fate, and I will cherish mine fiercely regardless of whether they are boys or girls.”
Sheng Wanyan understood the older woman’s generational anxieties perfectly. In this era, a woman who couldn’t deliver a son was automatically marginalized and looked down upon by society. Even decades later in the modern world of her past life, the deeply rooted bias favoring boys over girls remained a persistent shadow. She had no grand illusions of single-handedly altering a centuries-old cultural mindset. She didn’t care a fraction about what the extended family whispered; her only ambition was to be an unshakeable, competent mother to her child.
Grandma Sheng let out a long sigh. “It’s wonderful that you hold such an open-minded perspective, sweetheart. I’m just worried about how much your fourth brother’s wife will look down her nose at you when you eventually return to the Capital.”
Although Grandma Sheng had strictly limited her interactions with Wang Chunmei, she was well aware of the woman’s toxic, covetous nature. Back when the young couple married, Wang Chunmei had practically thrown a public tantrum out of pure envy over the beautiful new residence Mother Gu had secured for Gu Tingxiao. Wang Chunmei was notorious for instigating loud, dramatic scenes over the microscopic issues, which was the sole reason Mother Sheng had treated her so icily in front of Mother Gu. Now that her granddaughter had delivered a girl while Wang Chunmei had successfully produced a son, it didn’t take a genius to anticipate the sheer level of smug contempt that would be directed at Wanyan.
“Grandma, I couldn’t care less about what she thinks of me,” Sheng Wanyan countered, her eyes narrowing slightly. “She doesn’t finance my life, so her opinion carries zero weight. However, I will never tolerate anyone bullying or marginalizing Yi Yi.”
Wang Chunmei could sling whatever passive-aggressive insults she wanted at her, but the exact second she attempted to target her daughter or inflict a psychological trauma that made Yi Yi doubt her own self-worth, Sheng Wanyan would destroy her. As a mother, she was anything but a pushover.
Grandma Sheng’s shoulders finally dropped, a look of relief smoothing her wrinkled face. “Hearing you speak with such fierce resolve sets my mind at peace. The conflicts between adults should never be allowed to bleed onto an innocent child.”
The old lady had been genuinely terrified that once they returned to the capital, Wang Chunmei would weaponize her son to make malicious comments in front of little Yi Yi, leaving the girl permanently traumatized.
“Of course, Grandma. That goes without saying.”
Sheng Wanyan smiled reassuringly. If she were a narrow-minded person who blamed children for their parents’ flaws, she would never have shown such genuine care and affection toward little Gu Jingjing back in the Capital. As long as a child was innocent of wrongdoing, she would never dream of targeting them. If she had an issue with an adult, she would settle the score directly with that specific person.
Seeing that her granddaughter possessed a clear, unshakeable grasp of the situation, Grandma Sheng desisted from further advice. She spent a few more doting minutes hovering over her sleeping great-granddaughter before heading back across the lane with a happy heart.
The moment Grandma Sheng departed, Gu Tingxiao conducted a thorough hygiene routine, thoroughly scrubbing his hands and face before stepping back into the bedroom to protect the newborn from any external bacteria.
“Sweetheart, are you feeling hungry?” he murmured, sitting on the edge of the mattress.
Sheng Wanyan shook her head listlessly. For a solid week at the hospital, Mother Gu had fed her a strict recovery diet completely devoid of oil, salt, and spices. Her palate felt so entirely numb and tasteless that she felt as though she were constantly chewing on cardboard.
Wanting to shift her focus away from her bland rations, she looked toward the window. “While the autumn weather remains clear, you should utilize your free hours to head down to the supply and marketing cooperative. We need to systematically purchase and store a massive surplus of winter provisions.”
It was currently early September, and within four to six weeks, the harsh northern climate of Bing City would unleash heavy blizzards, rendering public travel incredibly treacherous. Although their current pantry was technically stocked well enough to survive the frost, she preferred to build an ironclad reserve.
“Alright, I still have nearly two full months of convalescent leave left,” Gu Tingxiao agreed, checking her blankets. “I’ll ensure our winter storage is completely fortified long before the first snowflake hits.”
He was well aware that his wife despised venturing out into the freezing cold; during the previous winter, she had practically hibernating inside the heated courtyard, only stepping past the threshold for her mandatory prenatal appointments. “For now, just focus entirely on your rest, Wanyan. Don’t stress over the household logistics. I’m right here to handle everything.”
Sheng Wanyan nodded gratefully. She asked him to retrieve a textbook from her study so she could read while remaining horizontal. She had zero intention of taking on any external translation commissions during this crucial recovery month, having already dispatched a formal letter to the Capital newspaper offices to request a temporary suspension of her duties. Furthermore, she intended to permanently scale back her professional output moving forward; following an intense negotiation with the editorial board, they had mutually agreed to cap her workload at a strict limit of three volumes per month once her confinement concluded.
The high-level administrators in the capital had been profoundly reluctant to authorize the reduction, given the nation’s catastrophic shortage of elite linguistic talent. Finding an intellectual possessing Sheng Wanyan’s staggering vocabulary and flawless accuracy was a near-impossible task, and the state departments had been desperate to flood her desk with documents.
Fortunately, the leadership ultimately recognized that she had just endured a grueling childbirth and required an uninterrupted window to care for her child. More importantly, she was the legally wedded granddaughter-in-law of the formidable General Gu. Even if certain ambitious bureaucrats internally disapproved of her lightened schedule, not a single one of them possessed the suicidal bravery required to voice their complaints out loud. If anyone dared to actively stress his granddaughter-in-law during her recovery, General Gu would likely march his troops directly onto their front lawns.
Left with no alternative, the high command resolved to route only the most complex, highly sensitive strategic documents directly to Sheng Wanyan’s desk. Since her hours were limited, they would prioritize absolute elite excellence over sheer volume.
With the external world firmly locked outside the courtyard, Sheng Wanyan officially settled into the rhythm of her postpartum confinement, her days melting into a steady rotation of long rests and nursing sessions.
However, infant care proved to be an exhausting reality. In the quiet, dark hours of the midnight shift, little Yi Yi would frequently wake up, letting out sharp cries to demand a feeding or protesting a soiled diaper. Because Sheng Wanyan’s sleep was broken into fragmented intervals, her physical reserves began to fray, leaving her exhausted as she dragged herself awake night after night.
Gu Tingxiao woke alongside her every single time, massaging his aching temples as he watched her wear down. If this grueling schedule persisted, how on earth was his wife supposed to properly heal her postpartum body?
“Wanyan… what if we transition her to imported milk powder for the nighttime feedings?” he suggested one evening, gently rubbing her shoulders as she sat up. He couldn’t bear to watch her suffer through such severe sleep deprivation night after night.
“She’s still far too tiny, Tingxiao,” Sheng Wanyan whispered, her eyelids heavy as she cradled the fussing infant. “Her digestive system and stomach are entirely too fragile at this stage to process heavy formula without cramping. Since my natural milk supply is abundant, there’s absolutely no reason to make our daughter suffer through digestive pain just so I can sleep.”
Recognizing the fierce maternal devotion in her words, Gu Tingxiao ceased his arguments. Instead, he shifted his position against the headboard, pulling her back so she could lean her full weight comfortably against his chest while she nursed, minimizing the strain on her lower back. The moment the baby finished her meal, Gu Tingxiao smoothly scooped the infant up, letting Sheng Wanyan slide back down into the warm blankets to rest while he patiently paced the floorboards, rocking their daughter back to sleep.
