The bouncy and chubby little dumplings grew up very fast, and in the blink of an eye, they were already three months old.
When Wen Mingyu came to check on them, he found that Little Rice Cake and Little Chilli were contently stuffing their soft, white fingers into their mouths in the crib, sucking their hands with relish.
In the first two months, since they were still too small to stretch their fingers, they occasionally stuffed their plump little fists into their mouths instead, and drools would naturally follow, sending transparent streams down their mouths.
Wen Mingyu would be overwhelmed by their cuteness every time he saw it. He thought then that it would be nice if there was a camera to capture.
Because it was normal for babies to suck their hands, Wen Mingyu didn’t stop them and would only help wipe their hands clean from time to time. When he wasn’t around, he let the palace servants keep an eye on it.
He brought over some new toys. He had initially made clay rattleballs, but he was concerned that the little dumplings may attempt to chew on them, which would be dangerous because the material was hard. He therefore swapped it out for ones made of soft fabric in vivid hues that were appropriate for their current developmental stage.
Wen Mingyu put the two cloth balls in their hands, and sure enough, the balls immediately grabbed their attention. Their originally favorite tiger ragdolls were tossed aside as they spread their five small fingers and grabbed the colorful cloth balls, the corners of their mouths curling up. They grinned broadly and let out happy noises.
Then Wen Mingyu sat on his knees on the plush carpet, his chin resting on his pillow and his arms resting on the crib’s wooden railing, watching them play. Every now and then, he would reach out and give the wind chime by the crib a light tap.
Little Rice Cake was drawn to the crisp sound. He glanced over and inadvertently made eye contact with Wen Mingyu. Then, as if he wanted to be complimented for playing so well, he shook his little cloth ball and let out a soft and childish squeal. Petting his little head, Wen Mingyu urged, “Little Rice Cake is amazing.”
Although Little Rice Cake couldn’t understand words yet, he still grinned happily and made a cheerfulblu-blusound. His chubby small hands had tiny dimples beneath each finger, making people want to pinch them. He opened his hands in Wen Mingyu’s direction, curling his fingers in a scratching motion.
Little Chilli seemed to feel abandoned next to him. Unwilling to be ignored, she turned over and crept forward, waving her small hands and then pushing her ball towards Little Rice Cake. Her mouth unconsciously blew spit bubbles like a little crab as she lay sideways and overbearingly hammered her brother, who was older than herself by one teatime, twice, forbidding him from monopolizing her daddy.
Little Rice Cake ignored her, so she grabbed her brother’s finger and stuffed it into her own mouth to eat.
For a moment, Little Rice Cake looked very bewildered. He didn’t seem to understand why he was not eating his hand, yet it was bitten and wet.
Wen Mingyu laughed amusedly as he gently poked Little Chilli’s cheek. “Don’t bully your brother.”
Little Chilli kept chewing her brother’s hand and even looked at Wen Mingyu with a smug grin, clearly wanting to be praised too for competing with her brother for his attention.
Wen Mingyu laughed and praised her as well.
Just at this time, Mu Zhan arrived. Nowadays, whenever he couldn’t find Wen Mingyu, he no longer bothered searching and would head straight to the side hall where the crib was. Sure enough, Wen Mingyu was there.
As soon as Wen Mingyu saw him, he excitedly beckoned him to come over.
Mu Zhan strode over in a few quick steps, leaned over, and took in the silliness of the cute scene, too.
“How silly.”
Hearing this, he unhesitatingly elbowed Mu Zhan.
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Wen Mingyu went quiet for a moment. Okay, maybe it was indeed a little silly, but how could the silliness of a little baby count as genuine silliness? That was what you calledso cute it makes you spit bloodsilliness.
He could spend the whole day watching them suck their hands andjiojioand never get bored.
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Wen Mingyu laughed once again. Clearly, the little dumplings didn’t know anything yet, but somehow they were always so good at making people laugh.
When it was time to bathe, the palace servants came over to take the little masters.
Wen Mingyu stopped them, “No need. You can step back first.”
The servants understood right away that His Majesty and the Empress were going to personally wash the little masters. When they first heard this order, they were taken aback; after all, nobles of high status would not condescend to these acts that only servants do. On the other hand, given how much the emperor and empress loved each other and how much they adored the little prince and princess, it actually made perfect sense.
The palace servants would prepare things for the bath in advance and would stand outside, waiting for instructions at any time.
Back when Wen Mingyu was still pregnant, Mu Zhan had already ordered many essential baby items for their heirs, and baby bathtubs were among them. The babies were so tiny, using an adult’s pool or bathtub was obviously inappropriate.
One soft, plump little dumpling was in each of Wen Mingyu’s and Mu Zhan’s arms. After undressing them, they didn’t rush to place them in the tub. They cupped the warm water and lightly splashed it over Little Rice Cake and Little Chilli, letting them adapt to the water temperature. Only then did they slowly lower them into the water, taking care to support the backs of their heads and necks. Naturally, they didn’t simply take over the baby-washing duty right away, but they first learnt from the wet nurse how to do it properly before attempting to do it themselves.
Mu Zhan had not originally thought of bathing the children himself, since tasks like this had always been handled by the servants. But Wen Mingyu brought it up and as he had some spare time, he agreed.
It was only when he bathed them that he realized how different it felt when he was the one doing it.
Touching the babies’ soft, delicate skin with his own hands—so small and barely the size of his two palms—so delicate that he didn’t even dare use even an ounce of his strength for fear of hurting them.
The two young daddies were cautious and gentle, but the two little ancestors lying in the baby bathtub were the complete opposite. With no care whatsoever, they stretched out their tiny arms and slapped the water’s surface. Hearing the splash of water, they shrieked delightedly, their small faces beaming with joy.
Mu Zhan’s and Wen Mingyu’s clothes were wet by the splattering water, clinging damply to their skin.
Both of them were helpless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
The little dumplings didn’t feel the slightest bit that they had caused trouble, though, and were still ecstatic, continuing to babble and shriek in delight like playful little cubs.
By the time they were done, Wen Mingyu and Mu Zhan appeared to have had a bath themselves. Their clothing was soaked and dripping with water. If it hadn’t been for the floor heating in the hall, they might have caught a chill.
Wen Mingyu took a clean cloth and wrapped it around Little Chilli, drying her off. Reaching her clothes, he looked up and happened to see Little Rice Cake and was startled to find two little bulges on the top of his head. He unblinkingly stared and blurted out, “That…”
Hearing him, Mu Zhan tilted his head and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Wen Mingyu subconsciously tugged on his sleeve and was just about to point it out when he saw that Little Rice Cake had already gone back to his normal look, with his soft, fine hair appearing the same as always. Nothing at all. As if what he had just witnessed a moment ago had just been a trick of the eye.
Mu Zhan followed his gaze and didn’t see anything different. Wen Mingyu was flustered and exclaimed, “Just now! I saw Little Rice Cake has horns growing on his head, just like a mini version of yours. Short and tiny, and very cute!”
As he spoke, he felt a bit regretful that Mu Zhan hadn’t seen it. Seeing each little change in their children was a priceless experience.
“But they are gone now…”
Mu Zhan didn’t see it and didn’t dwell too much on it, saying, “No rush. If they show once, they will eventually show up again, so we will see them sooner or later.”
Wen Mingyu thought that made sense. He gently lifted Little Chilli’s arms, slowly helped her into her clothes, and dried her little hair. After making sure they were clean and dressed, he laid them back down in the crib.
Mu Zhan got to his feet and looked towards Wen Mingyu, whose damp clothes clung to his body. He said with a smile, “Now, it’s my turn to clean you.”
Wen Mingyu blushed, saying he didn’t have to. In the end, he was still half-embraced and led to the pool.
It was a long time before they emerged. The team had caused Wen Mingyu’s cheeks to flush pink, and his long eyelashes with beads of water fluttered, ready to fall at any second. His eyes showed a dazed look.
After all that tossing and turning, it was already time for bed. Wen Mingyu was towelling his damp hair when Mu Zhan, still wanting to tease him, reached out again. He finally couldn’t resist kicking to get him to settle down.
Wen Mingyu didn’t apply much force. Mu Zhan didn’t feel any pain, but he was still in the mood to tease him and stayed nearby, smiling mischievously. “Didn’t you just say you wanted to…”
Wen Mingyu instantly looked like he had been poked with a stick and bristled, desperately blocking Mu Zhan’s mouth. He snapped, flustered, “Shut up!”
Mu Zhan’s mouth was covered by his hand, but his eyes were tinted with laughter, growing thicker and thicker, almost overflowing.
Wen Mingyu stated firmly, “I didn’t.”
With his mouth covered, Mu Zhan couldn’t even argue even if he wanted to. He could only nod obediently and let out a muffled, “Mhm.”
The warm breath from his lips touched Wen Mingyu’s palm, tickling it and making his fingers curl instinctively. His hand violently jerked back, dodging away as though he had been electrocuted.
But Mu Zhan caught his hand and lowered his head to softly kiss it.
Wen Mingyu then bit back with a bite and went to the side hall to see how the little dumplings were doing.
He had been away throughout the day, after all. Not that it was almost dark, he wanted to spend more time with his babies.
He also enjoyed lulling them to sleep before turning in for the night.
Mu Zhan also followed suit to the side hall. He hugged Little Chilli, intending to play with her for a bit to deplete her energy so that she would go to sleep obediently.
They had learnt by now that Little Chilli was the more energetic and active of the two dumplings. Whenever Little Rice Cake was awake, she would be swinging her fist and kicking her legs, and when the other was asleep, she could still amuse herself by grabbing her dolls andooh-ingandaah-ingloudly. So unless they wore her out first, even if Little Rice Cake fell asleep, he would still be woken up by her. Then they would both wail.
Though this time, after Mu Zhan picked her up, the situation was a bit special.
Little Chilli stretched out her chubby small hands and clutched his lapel with a deathly grip, attempting to pull it down. She also buried her face into his chest, and when her two hands weren’t enough, she brought her mouth into the team, opening wide, and went to bite it, smearing his robes with shiny drool all over it.
That determined little action, like she was trying to dig a hole, was really very cute, but after slowly realizing the intention behind it, Mu Zhan’s face darkened. The little one was hungry and searching for milk. And he obviously didn’t have the capability.
Mu Zhan lightly squeezed Little Chilli’s chin and rescued his clothes from her mouth. He pulled the lapel back to conceal the large area of his chest muscles that were exposed.
At that moment, Wen Mingyu was very unforgiving and directly snorted out a laugh.
Mu Zhan’s face turned even darker.
Wen Mingyu deliberately mocked him. “Father is really heartless, ah. See how she’s about to cry and still didn’t feed her.”
Although Little Chilli couldn’t understand the adult’s conversation, when Mu Zhan gathered the lapels of his robe and covered the spot she knew had “tasty” food, she could vaguely understand she wouldn’t be receiving any good. Her tiny mouth quivered, her eyes welled up with tears, her mouth wow-ed, and she burst into a pitiful wail.
Mu Zhan said with a blank face, “I don’t have any.”
Wen Mingyu continued, “Well, I don’t have any either, ah. You took them all, and now that I don’t have any left, you are going to feed and soothe them.”
He had just warned Mu Zhan not to hog the milk, but the man refused to listen. Wen Mingyu was genuinely tempted to smack him.
Mu Zhan paused, bowed his head, and admitted his mistake. But Wen Mingyu didn’t believe him, even suspecting that he would do it again.
After all, in a palace this huge, there would never be a shortage of food for the heirs. In the end, the two dumplings were still fed to their fullest and were held in their daddies’ arms. Their backs were patted gently, and they burped with a satisfied face. Lying in their crib now, they wore unconscious smiles, with both small hands curled loosely into fists close to their cheeks.
Wen Mingyu placed their cherished tiger ragdolls by their sides, sat by the crib, and watched them again.
Mu Zhan had recovered from his earlier emotions and was now gazing down at them as well. The more the two little dumplings grew, the more he could see the resemblance to Wen Mingyu in his eyebrows and eyes, causing his heart to soften.
ChiFu: gaa, aren’t babies the cutest existence of them all?!