The maids and old women working in the third room all knew that the madam hated the illegitimate children born from the concubines’ bellies, especially the eldest young master. Naturally, she was now finding all kinds of ways to talk about the Zheng family who were visiting today.

　　”Young lady from an official family, you are already four years old, and you don’t even have a maid with you.”

　　”Her mother doesn’t even have anyone to serve her, not to mention she’s so young. Unlike our miss, she grew up in luxury, with four personal maids around her, not to mention the maid who cleans the house…”

　　Tang Xian was jealous that her half-sister husband didn’t have a bitch concubine by his side. Unlike her, before she married into the Fan family, Fan En already had three maids by his side. When she got married and became pregnant with the eldest lady, the bitch became pregnant several months earlier than her. Later, she gave birth to the eldest lady, and the bitch gave birth to a son.

　　There wasn’t enough in the yard, not to mention that he spent all day hanging around in the dirty places outside.

　　Tang Xian was angry, but after so many years, her mother-in-law would criticize her from time to time, saying that she was narrow-minded and didn’t have the generosity of a wife. The maids around her advised her that all men were like this.

　　Then why is there no one around a concubine born’s man?

　　”It’s the manners of a small family. I’m afraid Mrs. Zheng has to do the laundry and cooking herself at home.” said the old woman.

　　Tang Xian listened to every word and the jealousy in her heart gradually faded. Yes, why should she care about the behavior of that small and poor family? They didn’t even have fashionable clothes and were shabby. The daughter they raised was also ignorant and had never seen a piece of cake.

　　When looking for in-laws in the future, she will look for common people, unlike her girl who only looks for high-ranking ones.

　　About a week later, the crib that Gu Zhao had ordered was delivered. Naturally, it was also delivered to the Yan family.

　　In the afternoon, when Gu Zhao got home from work, he went into the house to change his clothes first. He felt uncomfortable wearing official uniform all day and it was inconvenient everywhere. He preferred to wear short clothes to feel more comfortable.

　　As soon as Gu Zhaogang took off his clothes and entered the room, he saw the extra crib.

　　”Is it back? Let me take a look.” Fubao can sleep alone tonight. Fubao’s old father was very satisfied and went to the crib without changing his clothes.

　　Li Zhouzhou walked behind and took the crib and handed it to his husband, saying, “It arrived this afternoon. I couldn’t believe it when it was first delivered to me. This is our baby’s crib.”

　　Nothing more than extra luxurious.

　　Gu Zhao was already shocked, thinking back to the drawings he had drawn before, comparing them with the real thing, the real thing looked like a seller’s show, while his drawings were a buyer’s show. That couldn’t be said, except for the general appearance, they were really very different, like two different objects.

　　The wood was heavy solid wood, but Gu Zhao couldn’t recognize what it was. It was about 1.3 meters high and surrounded by fences. Each fence post was polished to be smooth, with auspicious cloud patterns carved on it, and the words “peace, health, smoothness, and good fortune” engraved on it.

　　The bed is 1.5 meters long and 1 meter wide. The bed board and fence are also adjustable in height – this is what Gu Zhao emphasized to the carpenter. When Fubao is two or three years old, the bed board can be adjusted a little higher, because of Fubao’s height, he will not fall down. If he grows up a little, the bed board can be lowered a little, so that the fence is much higher and he can sleep for a few more years.

　　The bed board is made of solid wood, and the lowest level is thirty centimeters above the ground.

　　Originally this place was hollow, but the master made it into a drawer.

　　”The delivery guy said that his master was afraid that the bed would be connected to the ground and the ground would be cold, which might harm the young master’s body.” Li Zhouzhou finished explaining, “I think it’s good.”

　　Gu Zhao: …

　　The delivery guy was so nice, as if he was afraid that they would make things difficult for him. He even said that if they didn’t like it anymore, the drawer could be removed and he could take it back.

　　Li Zhouzhou agreed immediately and even added some money.

　　There was originally nothing on top of the crib, but a mosquito net was built into it because people were afraid that the child might bump into it. The four pillars supporting the mosquito net are movable and can be lowered.

　　”They also gave me a drawer of wooden toys,” said Li Zhouzhou.

　　Gu Zhaoyi opened the drawer.

　　The wooden carved ponies, pigs, chickens and lambs have no sharp edges, are polished to a smooth surface and have a light pine scent.

　　”I was wondering why it takes longer to make a bed than when we were in the prefecture and county.” Gu Zhao said to himself. After standing up, he sighed and said, “This shop doesn’t have any backers.”

　　Li Zhouzhou first took off his husband’s official uniform, saying, “I don’t know. Anyway, it seems that people who go to buy furniture are all dressed like ordinary people.” He added, “When Xiaoshu and I were doing business, we were also nervous when we first attended a banquet, fearing that something would go wrong. We wanted to make it perfect. We wanted to complete everything that the host didn’t mention.”

　　The husband and wife looked at each other and both understood what it meant.

　　The furniture shop was probably a business based on family inherited craftsmanship. When making things for officials, they naturally put their heart and soul into it and made everything very fine.

　　Gu Zhao held Zhou Zhou’s hand. He changed his clothes and looked different.

　　”I gave them half a tael of silver. Thank you for your trouble.” Li Zhouzhou said.

　　Gu Zhao changed his clothes and nodded, “Of course, we have beds at home and there are still some at Second Brother Yan’s place, but there aren’t many.”

　　No amount of more would be appropriate.

　　That night, Fubao went to sleep in this luxurious crib. The crib was one meter away from the bed of the husband and his wife, and a new, soft, and fluffy mattress had been laid on it. After feeding Fubao before bed, Gu Zhao patted him and coaxed him to sleep, and Fubao fell asleep in a short while.

　　He carefully placed the baby in the crib.

　　Very good, my son didn’t wake up and slept soundly.

　　Gu Zhao felt thankful, because he had heard from Lan’s mother that some children are shy about strangers and may not be able to adapt to the new bed and may need to wait for a few days to get used to it.

　　My Fubao is not!

　　Then, before he had covered himself with the quilt and his hands had been taken away, Fubao started to whine and cry.

　　Gu Zhao: …

　　Son, are you here to slap your father in the face?

　　Gu Zhao picked him up again and continued to coax him.

　　It was like this every time, he would fall asleep quickly in my arms, but it was not the same in the crib. Gu Zhao held his son in his arms and said in a low voice: “It wasn’t like this before, it was fine for him to sleep between us.”

　　”We changed to a new bed, and Fubao is not used to it.” Li Zhouzhou took Fubao in, “Let me hold him for a while, husband, you should go to bed early. If you can’t, let Fubao sleep over here.”

　　Gu Zhao hung his face and looked at Zhou Zhou pitifully.

　　”Good Zhou Zhou, good Zhou Zhou, please feel sorry for me, your husband.”

　　”Since we moved to Beijing, we haven’t—”

　　Li Zhouzhou’s ears turned red. He knew what his husband meant and interrupted him, saying, “Then you need to get used to it slowly.”

　　”Yes, children should not be spoiled too much.” Gu Zhaoshi said confidently.

　　Children cannot be spoiled, but Zhou Zhou can spoil his little husband.

　　The couple lit an oil lamp and stayed up with Fubao. In the end, Fubao was too young and lacked sleep, so he couldn’t last as long as his “cruel” father. He lay in the new crib, whined a few times, and finally fell asleep because he was too sleepy.

　　Gu Zhao was so excited that he didn’t dare to speak loudly. He quickly blew out the oil lamp and climbed onto the bed.

　　Then Zhou Zhou was already drowsy. In fact, Gu Zhao was also a little sleepy. He couldn’t do anything tonight. Gu Zhao kissed his wife and said, “Go to sleep.” His hand finally touched the chest muscles he had not seen for a long time.

　　In the next few days, I adapted to this every night.

　　Gu Zhao got up early to go to the government office. He yawned every morning and could sleep for a while on the mule cart. When he arrived at the government office, he would drink a cup of strong tea to refresh himself. When the other three colleagues saw this, only Lord Zhao asked with a smile: “Lord Gu, you are very diligent in reading during the day. Do you light a candle to continue reading at night?”

　　”No, it would be more refreshing to read with a lamp.” Gu Zhao took a sip of tea, suppressed his sleepiness, and said, “You don’t know, Lord Zhao, my family just got a new bed for the child. The child is young and can’t adapt to it, so I took the trouble to keep him company. He used to sleep well when I just held him, but started crying as soon as I put him on the new bed. Oh, there’s nothing I can do about it.” He had a doting expression on his face.

　　The other two people listening in the office: …

　　Lord Zhao didn’t believe it at first, “Why? Lord Gu has gone back, so does he still need to look after the child?”

　　”My family only hired a coachman and a maid. My husband and father look after the child during the day. When I go home at night, my husband and I look after the child. How can we be like you adults, with servants and maids around at home, without any trouble?”

　　The others were in a daze, wondering if Gu Zhao had gone back to see the child?

　　But it doesn’t sound like a lie, and Gu Tanhua is a son-in-law who marries into the wife’s family. Even the emperor knows it. The plaques hanging on the doors of Lord Gu’s residences now all say the surname Li, not Gu.

　　Their faces were complicated and they sighed in their hearts. A grown man, even if he became an official, still had to go back to take care of his children. It was really, really –

　　No one had ever seen this scene before, so they really didn’t know how to describe it.

　　Even Lord Zhao showed more sympathy towards Lord Gu today, unlike before when he was always bullying him. Even if Gu Zhao was very talented and learned, and the emperor praised him, he was still a son-in-law of the Li family, and even his children could not have the surname Gu Zhao. Isn’t it a pity?

　　Time passed so quickly that it was October 6th in a blink of an eye. Yan Baichuan, the child of the Yan family, was one month old, and this day happened to be a day off.

　　Early in the morning, Li Zhouzhou changed Fubao into new clothes.

　　Gu Zhao wore an old robe. Now that the weather is getting colder, he still likes to wear a robe for comfort. He hugged Fubao and said, “Let’s go find a little brother to play with later. From now on, he will be our Fubao’s little brother.”

　　Fubao can now speak a few words and goes out in a hopping manner.

　　“Chichi.”

　　”It’s not Jiji, it’s brother.” Gu Zhao corrected his son.

　　Fubao: “Chie.”