The next day, Wen Jiajia woke up in the ward. The sun was bright, shining directly above her.

“Are you awake? Are you hungry? Do you need to go to the bathroom?” Wei Dai, who was lying by the edge of the bed, woke up immediately at her movement.

Wen Jiajia blinked twice in the light, and Wei Dai understood she needed to go to the toilet.

He helped Wen Jiajia up and escorted her to the bathroom.

Just as she stood up, Wen Jiajia was startled. “Where’s the baby?”

She had come to give birth.

Wei Dai smiled and said, “The nurse took the baby away.”

Wen Jiajia’s eyes widened in excitement. “You should have watched! The baby swap happened right before our eyes. Have you forgotten?”

Her breathing quickened. Wei Dai hurriedly reassured her, “Auntie is watching. I told her not to take her eyes off the baby.”

Wen Jiajia sighed in relief.

After a difficult trip to the bathroom, she felt very hungry.

Wei Dai opened the lunch box he had brought in the morning and warmed it up in the cafeteria every hour. The food was still hot.

“I’ll go get the chicken soup,” he added. The soup was also in the cafeteria and should be ready by now.

He ran downstairs to get it. When he returned with the chicken soup, Zhong Huisheng arrived with the baby in her arms.

Most newborns are darker when they are born, and Wen Jiajia and Wei Dai’s child was no exception.

The baby, dressed in a bag with a white background and green floral patterns, looked even darker. Wen Jiajia couldn’t wait to see her daughter but was unable to even say the word “cute.”

“Why… is she so dark? She wasn’t this dark when I saw her last night,” Wen Jiajia said, her face wrinkled in shock.

It was probably due to the dim lighting at that time; no matter how dark she was, it was hard to see clearly.

Wei Dai walked into the room and said, “She’s not dark. Our daughter will lighten up. The darker a baby is at birth, the lighter she will become in the future.”

Wen Jiajia asked, “Where did you hear that nonsense?”

“That’s just experience! I’ve seen it happen with other family members’ children,” Wei Dai replied.

He placed the chicken soup on the bedside table and eagerly took the child in his arms. The baby felt so light, and it made his heart soften.

No wonder comrades-in-arms always thought about their children while on a mission, talked about them in their free time, and rushed home as soon as the mission was complete. Wei Dai felt he could give his life for this child.

Wen Jiajia asked the aunt, “How were Chun’er and Xuanxuan last night? Did they make a fuss?”

Zhong Huisheng said, “No, they were very obedient. I’m more worried about you. I brought them to see you this morning before going to school. Now…” 

She glanced at the sky and added, “It’s almost time for school to end. The food is warming up at home. I told them about it before they left for school this morning.”

Wen Jiajia looked at her watch and nodded in relief.

She needed to eat light food during the confinement period and drink chicken soup after meals. After satisfying her hunger, she could finally take a closer look at her daughter.

The baby was sleeping peacefully in her arms, and Wen Jiajia’s heart was bubbling with joy.

The slits between her eyes were long and narrow, suggesting that her eyes weren’t small. Since both Wei Dai and Wen Jiajia had double eyelids and large eyes, it made sense that her eyes were not small either.

Her nose was straight and delicate. Wen Jiajia couldn’t resist gently touching it with her fingers.

Further down, her lips were light pink, moist, shiny, and nicely shaped… Everything about her was beautiful.

Wen Jiajia thought babies were truly magical and felt that the little one in her arms was incredibly cute.

“I didn’t pay attention to the time last night. It was already past midnight when I came out, wasn’t it?” Wen Jiajia asked Wei Dai.

Wei Dai shook his head. “It was indeed after midnight, but I asked the nurse. She said our little fat girl was born at 11:48 p.m. on the 9th.”

Wen Jiajia said, “That’s pretty fast. I thought it would take at least a whole night for the baby to be born. Wait, why are you calling her a fat girl?”

Wei Dai smiled and said, “The doctors and nurses kept calling her a little fat girl. After hearing it so many times, I accidentally started calling her that too.” 

He added, “But I won’t keep calling her that. She’s a good girl. I don’t want to use that nickname all the time. What if she dislikes it when she grows up?” Wei Dai decided he would put an end to this nickname in the hospital.

Just then, the nurse came in and said it was time to feed the baby.

“Remember, you need to feed the baby every two to three hours. Even if she’s asleep, you must wake her up to feed her. Skipping feedings could lead to the baby fainting from hunger,” the nurse advised. 

Seeing that the young couple had elders with them, the nurse didn’t say much more. It was better to have elders watching over them.

Wen Jiajia had only fed the baby colostrum before falling into a deep sleep. The baby drank milk powder.

Now that she was awake, it was time to start breastfeeding.

The nutrition of milk powder at this time wasn’t as comprehensive as it would be decades later. Just the milk powder alone wasn’t sufficient.

The little girl opened her eyes briefly while drinking milk. Her eyes were clear and bright, like black glass beads under the sun.

After drinking, she closed her eyes and fell asleep without even crying.

Soon, Wen Chun and Wen Xuan came running over with their small schoolbags on their backs.

Wen Jiajia was surprised and hurriedly said, “Come here quickly. Didn’t you go home for dinner? The food is in the pot.”

Wen Chun rushed to Wen Jiajia’s side, his breathing still hurried. “We want to see our sister first.”

Wen Jiajia touched their autumn clothes and was relieved to see that they weren’t sweating much. She said, “Okay, you can see her now. We’ll go home with the aunt later.”

Wen Xuan pushed Wei Dai aside and sat on the bed. The two children stared at the baby without blinking. After a while, Wen Xuan suddenly asked, “Why isn’t our sister like Bai Mantou?”

Wen Jiajia laughed so hard that it made her lower body ache. “Whose sister looks like a big steamed bun?”

Wen Xuan replied, “Fei Fei’s sister is like that. I’ve seen her. Her sister is so white and soft.”

Wen Jiajia gave Wen Xuan a gentle tap on the head and said, “Our sister will also become fairer over time. And when you go to Fei Fei’s house to play, don’t hug her sister. You have thin arms and legs. What if you hug her and she falls?”

The child, only five or six months old, was being well taken care of.

Wen Xuan pouted, “I won’t hug her. I only want to hug my own sister.”

Wen Jiajia rubbed her face until it turned red.

Wen Chun looked at her for a long time and then asked Wen Jiajia, “Aunt, what’s our sister’s name? Fei Fei’s sister is called Keke. What’s our sister’s name?”

Wen Jiajia paused and looked at Wei Dai.

Wei Dai was also scratching his head. He had thought of several names but hadn’t been satisfied with any of them when he saw his daughter.

“Wait a bit, and I’ll tell you in a few days,” Wei Dai said.

Zhong Huisheng smiled and added, “We need to take our time choosing a name. It’s an important decision that will stay with the child for life.”

Wen Jiajia and Wei Dai both fell into deep thought.

The result of their contemplation was that they picked one name and discarded another, and they hadn’t chosen a final name by the time Wen Jiajia was about to be discharged from the hospital.

Wen Jiajia placed the child in the cart, and Wei Dai took both mother and daughter home.

The house had already been cleaned and was waiting for Wen Jiajia’s return.

Fish soup was simmering on the stove, a hand warmer was on the bed, and even the bedding and quilts had been dried in the sun by Zhong Huisheng during the past few days of good weather. A cotton craftsman had also made them. They were extremely fluffy and felt like lying on new quilts.

Wen Jiajia was relieved when she got home. The hospital was nice, but it couldn’t compare to her own home.

Wei Dai made sure she didn’t catch a draft and wheeled the cart directly to the living room door.

Wen Jiajia carried the child to the room. The crib was placed next to her bed. She felt the cushion was warm and placed the baby in the crib.

Then she went to change clothes. After staying in the hospital for so long, her clothes smelled of disinfectant.

After changing, Wei Dai opened the door and whispered, “Come and have some fish soup.”

When Wen Jiajia heard it was fish soup, she hurried out.

She had been drinking too much chicken soup recently and felt nauseated at the sight of it. Even though she usually finds local chicken soup delicious, it was hard to drink now.

There was also chicken in the house. She suspected she had eaten chicken from four different chickens and wondered where Wei Dai had found so many.

Now, after drinking the thick, white fish soup, Wen Jiajia felt her taste buds were revived.

She wondered how many days she would be able to drink fish soup.