Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
“Yeah. And I’m a father,” said Rick.
Xixi smiled sweetly…
“Where’s our baby? How come they’re not back yet?”
“Don’t worry. The baby has your parents and sister to take care of her. They said they’d clean the sticky stuff from her body and would come back soon.”
“I’m not worried. My mom and dad must be exhilarated. But I’ve got to tell you our daughter is very filthy… Haha. The doctor showed her to me and let me kiss her; I thought she was a dirty little thing.”
Remembering her reaction in the OR, Xixi chuckled.
“What kind of mom are you? She’s just been born, and you are disgusted by her already?”
“But she was dirty… Besides, Hon, I think she looks like a little monkey… Do you think she’d grow into a sharp faced girl? My goodness… I can’t imagine it,” said Xixi in a small voice.
Rick: “…”
“She looks like a hairy monkey with tiny hair on her ears. What shall we do? Will she be like this when she grows up? Who’d want to marry her?”
Rick: “…”
“Stop it… The baby will not be happy when she hears it,” Rick said solemnly.
“Hahaha. She’s just been born. How can she understand our words? You overestimate your daughter.”
Xixi found Rick’s reaction was super funny and adorable.
“Are you in pain?”
Rick held Xixi’s hand tightly.
Men couldn’t give birth to children and thus didn’t know the pain of going through labor.
A doctor once compared the pain during labor with the pain of getting 12 ribs broken at the same time. Few people could bear the pain with ease.
With better living standards, people ate better and thus had bigger babies which were usually over 4,000 grams. It wasn’t easy to have natural births, which is why more and more young mothers chose to do C Sections.
This method means no labor pain but leaves an ugly scar in the belly. It wasn’t easy to be a mother.
Rick wasn’t a talker, but he knew Xixi had suffered a lot in the process.
“No. Maybe the effect of the anesthetic is still there, so I’m fine right now…”
Xixi smiled and looked much better after the childbirth.
Then she thought of something and said, “Give me my cellphone. I want to post the news on my Moments.”
“No. It’s bad for your eyes.”
“Just one minute. I’ll put the phone down after posting it.”
“No. You tell me what to say and I’ll post it for you.”
Rick was extra careful with Xixi since her mother had told him it was a big deal to take good care of Chinese women during the one month after the baby was born. If the mother wasn’t careful, she’d suffer from lots of illnesses later in her life.
Rick took it seriously and was quite strict with Xixi.
Seeing his tough attitude, Xixi gave in. “Fine. Post it for me. Did you take a picture of the baby?”
“I did.”
“Okay. Post a picture with the words, ‘My daughter weighs 3,400 grams. Mother and daughter are both in good health.”
“That’s all?”
“Yep.”
Rick: “…”
“What’s the look on your face?”
“Nothing. I’ll post it now.” Rick picked up Xixi’s cell phone.
“Hon, don’t forget to edit the picture…” Xixi instructed.
“She’s just been born. Is it necessary to edit her picture?” Rick didn’t know if he should cry or laugh.
“Of course. I want our little princess to look pretty from the first day of her life. Haha…”
Then a thought struck her.
“I wish Sister Mian hadn’t lost her baby. She’d deliver her son almost at the same time as I did give birth to our baby. Then we may arrange our daughter to marry their son.”
Chapter 4234: Eternal Legend (4)Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
“Qin Chu was with me a moment ago and just left. He’s not in a good mood. Don’t mention the baby in front of them. It would be like adding insult to injury.”
“I know. I won’t mention it before them. I just talked about it with you.”
“Chu didn’t say it but I know he is sad.”
They felt heavy-hearted when they talked about Qin Chu and Huo Mian.
At this moment, the door opened and Xixi’s mother walked in with the baby in her arms.
Xixi’s sister and father filed in after her with stuff in their hands.
“Xuan, make formula milk for the baby.”
“How much?”
“The doctor said 30 ml is enough.”
“Do we have water? Dad, didn’t I tell you to boil water?”
Inexperienced, Nie Lingxuan scrambled to do the task.
“I did. The water is kept warm at a fixed temperature. You can use it now.”
Xixi’s mom walked to the bed with the baby.
“Mom, let me have a look at her.”
“You can see her every day. The most important thing for you is getting good rest…”
Her mother cherished her and wanted her to sleep.
“But I’m not sleepy. Haha. Come on, let me see her.”
Xixi’s mother brought the baby to Xixi.
“Is she asleep?” Xixi asked in a whisper.
“Yeah. She’s very good. She fell asleep after washing twice… She didn’t cry even during the bath.” Xixi’s mother couldn’t bear to put the baby down.
“By the way, have you two named the baby?”
Xixi’s father asked.
Xixi glanced at Rick. “You tell them.”
Rick said slowly, “Her English name is Christine. But we want to give her a Chinese name, too. We’ll give her mother’s family name Nie to her.”
Hearing his words, Xixi’s family were all surprised…
“This…” Xixi’s father felt flattered.
“She’ll have our family name? Great.” Nie Lingxuan smiled.
“Dad, say something. Are you happy?”
Xixi stuck out her tongue playfully.
“I’m so happy… It’s our fortune that our granddaughter is taking our family name.” Xixi’s father grinned with honest joy.
Then Rick continued, “I heard there’s a naming tradition in the north. If the parents have three-character names, then the children will have two-character names.”
“Right. My name is Nie Tao which has two characters, so my daughters’ names have three characters—Nie Lingxuan and Nie Lingxi.”
To illustrate the tradition, Xixi’s father even used his own name as an example. It was adorable of him.
Rick said with a smile, “So I plan to give our child a two-character name with the family name of Nie.”
“Have you decided on the name?” Nie Lingxuan asked eagerly.
Lying in bed, Xixi looked smug. “Rick gave this important task to me. We decided to name the baby Nie Chen if it’s a boy and Nie Jin if it’s a girl.”
“Jin?” Xixi’s sister was surprised.
“Yeah. The words came from a Chinese idiom ‘Liang Chen Si Jin,’” said Xixi proudly. （Note: the idiom means good moments of life are as beautiful as brocades.）
“Wow. A great name… I like it.” Xixi’s father laughed happily.
“I see our Xixi didn’t waste her time when she was in school. Great name.” Xixi’s mother praised.
Nie Lingxuan said with a chuckle, “Sis, so you don’t waste the other name, you should have a son, too. That way, you can name him Nie Chen. Haha…”
“No. Right now, I don’t have plans to have another baby… Pregnancy is hard work. Mom, did you suffer so much when you had my sister and me?”
Like a spoilt child, she leaned her head into her mother’s arms.
“In my time, the medical conditions were crude, and we ate poorly, too… You each weighed about 1,500 grams when you were born. I thought you’d die…”
Xixi’s mother was emotional when she recalled the past.
“Hon, her formal name is Nie Jin. How about a nickname?” Xixi looked at Rick.
“Dad, you give the nickname to the baby.” To show his respect to his father-in-law, Rick gave the honor to the older man.