After the Third Young Master Lu’s wife became pregnant, the Second Young Mistress Liu Tang and the current Empress Zhou Yangling also became pregnant.

When the husbands of these three ladies occasionally gathered together to discuss their wives’ pregnancies, only the Third Young Master Lu maintained a calm demeanor, while the other two sighed constantly.

The Emperor was worried about the Empress’s weak constitution. After their marriage, he had wanted to spend two years helping the Empress improve her health before discussing pregnancy. At court, the Emperor willingly withstood the pressure. However, an unexpected pregnancy occurred, and due to his wife’s weak condition, they couldn’t terminate it and could only focus on maintaining the pregnancy. Sometimes when the Emperor saw Third Young Master Lu’s wife, Lady Luo, visiting the Empress in the palace—so vibrant and energetic despite her pregnancy—and compared her to Zhou Yangling’s haggard weakness, Liu Shu felt deeply envious.

Second Young Master Lu Xian felt similarly, though not because his wife was weak, but because he felt she was too young. Liu Tang was shy and innocent, still childlike herself, daily admiring the Third Young Mistress while worrying about the household management pressures from her mother-in-law, Madam Lu. How could such a little princess, who hadn’t yet adjusted to her role as the Second Young Mistress Lu, handle the responsibility of pregnancy and childbirth? Lu Xian secretly blamed himself for his carelessness, watching his happy wife with constant anxiety.

Both Liu Shu and Lu Xian worried about their wives miscarrying and damaging their health for different reasons.

Compared to them, the Third Young Master Lu had it easy.

Luo Lingyu was so healthy and quick-witted. After only experiencing initial discomfort for a month during pregnancy, she could still go boating with her husband, moon-gazing, and painting. Her waist remained slender, and her movements were still graceful. Both Liu Shu and Lu Xian had seen the Third Young Master Lu’s couple out together on different occasions—once when Lu Yun and Luo Lingyu went to visit a famous scholar, and another time at a lakeside pavilion in the rain, where the Third Young Master embraced his wife while teaching her to paint.

It truly inspired both envy and jealousy.

Third Young Master Lu carried himself with distinction, and whenever his friends and elder brother praised his easy marriage, he responded with outward modesty while secretly feeling proud.

However, this pride didn’t last long.

When Luo Lingyu began showing, both husband and wife were sensitive people, and since both had some medical knowledge in different areas, they quickly noticed that Luo Lingyu’s belly was growing too rapidly. It expanded like an inflating balloon, much larger than other ladies at the same stage of pregnancy. Luo Lingyu soon couldn’t move gracefully anymore, and her movements became restricted.

Given Luo Lingyu’s usually strict self-discipline and good figure, even during pregnancy, she shouldn’t have gained weight so much faster than other ladies. It was as if she had fallen seriously ill.

The Third Young Master’s couple became extremely worried and immediately requested a palace physician to examine her. The physician took her pulse for a long time, considered at length, and finally announced with joy: “Congratulations to the Third Young Master and Young Mistress, the Young Mistress is carrying twins! Naturally, her belly would be larger than others.”

Twins!

The Lu family was truly delighted—if they were twins, wouldn’t that increase the possibility of Luo Lingyu having a girl?

For this reason, the Lu family arranged for Lu Yun’s aunt and Luo Lingyu’s elder uncle’s wife to visit Luo Lingyu more frequently, mentioning that Lu Ying was the only girl of their generation, suggesting that Luo Lingyu spend more time with Lu Ying to possibly share in her good fortune. The Lu family simultaneously wrote to the Lu family’s eldest aunt, asking if Lu Qingyi, who had married into Hanzhong, had time to return to Jianye—firstly to let Luo Lingyu share in her good fortune, and secondly to help care for Luo Lingyu.

However, after hearing about Lu Qingyi’s situation from her husband, Luo Lingyu firmly opposed the idea. The Lu family’s girls were all spoiled by the family. Like her elder aunt Lu Ying, who lived freely and returned to her maternal family after her husband’s death, Lu Ying’s status remained exceptional, playing with others daily and occasionally challenging Madam Lu, while the Lu family continued to spoil her. Luo Lingyu habitually tried to please others, and usually, pleasing one aunt was already tiring enough—how could she, while pregnant, handle pleasing another Lu Qingyi?

So Lu Yun personally declined, telling his suspicious grandmother that the second branch of the family had enough people, and he alone was sufficient to care for his wife; there was no need for his elder sister Lu Qingyi to make the trip back.

Upon hearing about this matter, Lu Qingyi specifically wrote a letter cursing her third brother thoroughly.

Accompanying a pregnant wife was very difficult, especially when the wife was carrying twins and found movement much more inconvenient than other pregnant women.

Luo Lingyu was originally skilled at pleasing others, capable of maintaining an appearance of gentle virtue. But after becoming pregnant, her thoughts became more sensitive, and she often felt self-pity. Usually, she would cry, both genuinely and falsely, to gain favors from Lu Yun, but after becoming pregnant, her fake crying all turned real.

The lady whimpered daily, and even Lu Yun, who extremely loved seeing her act coy, began to feel alarmed when he saw her red eyes. Yet he didn’t dare scold her, keeping his voice soft for fear of making her more upset. The Third Young Master Lu’s limited patience and tenderness were all given to Luo Lingyu.

Those were difficult times.

Only after Luo Lingyu gradually adapted to her body being much heavier than others did she begin to understand Lu Yun’s perspective. Regarding the matter of the child in her womb, perhaps influenced by the Lu family elders’ frequent mentions, she too secretly hoped to have a girl. But when the lady turned to see the Third Young Master Lu solemnly hanging up the “Beauty Portrait” at his desk, her brows furrowed slightly.

Lu Yun’s every movement was noble and proud like a crane descending. Turning to speak with Luo Lingyu, his lips contained a hidden smile: “How is this painting your husband just completed?”

Luo Lingyu had always admired the Plum Blossom Hermit. Seeing the ink not yet dry, the vast landscape, and the beautiful woman worshipping the moon on the mountain peak… she concealed her many thoughts and praised with a smile: “The beauty is naturally charming.”

Lu Yun was immediately satisfied. He loved how she understood his meaning—when he asked about the painting, she knew he wasn’t asking about other aspects of the painting, but about the beauty within it. The world-famous Plum Blossom Hermit loved painting landscapes before marriage, but after marriage loved painting beautiful women. All the beautiful women in his paintings were based on Lady Luo, and those who appreciated the Plum Blossom Hermit’s paintings knew this well.

Lu Yun smiled: “The physician said looking at beautiful things is beneficial for the education of the child in your womb.”

After hanging the painting, Lu Yun turned to see Luo Lingyu looking at him thoughtfully with a slightly solemn expression.

Lu Yun raised an eyebrow.

Luo Lingyu spoke softly: “Brother Xuecen, there is one matter that I fear I may be overthinking, but if I don’t speak of it, I fear it might create rifts between us as husband and wife. I feel that Brother Xuecen spends all day either hanging beauty portraits or dangling hairpins and jade bracelets before me… I feel you are solely focused on girls, hoping I’m carrying a daughter. You don’t care about boys at all.”

“If I give birth to a boy… how shall I explain to him that his father didn’t look forward to him at all?”

Lu Yun was startled but understood.

Due to the abundance of males and the scarcity of females, the entire Lu family was obsessed with having girls, and Lu Yun was no exception. He indeed liked girls and truly felt that with so many boys in the family, one more or less didn’t matter. But his wife was carrying twins, and after all, Luo Lingyu wasn’t from the Lu family.

Lu Yun asked: “Does my dear wife prefer boys?”

If so, that would truly be a difference between them as husband and wife.

Luo Lingyu cleverly answered: “I would like to raise a boy like Brother Xuecen.”

She tried to stand up, but her hand on the armrest couldn’t gather strength for a long while. Lu Yun stepped forward to help, supporting her up, and she took the opportunity to wrap her arms around Lu Yun’s neck. The Third Young Master Lu bent down to embrace her, his thick long eyelashes black as crow’s feathers, brushing against her delicate cheek. His phoenix eyes slightly raised, pressing his forehead against hers, their breaths gently intertwining.

Luo Lingyu said: “I often regret not being able to see what Brother Xuecen looked like as a child. Given Brother Xuecen’s current appearance, I imagine you must have been as pure as frost and snow even in childhood, much more handsome than other children. Imagine such a beautiful little boy, seriously reading and writing. Before Brother Xuecen became famous throughout the world, you must have spent many long, hard years studying. Such a Brother Xuecen… I regret not having met you in childhood, and I want to have a child just like you.”

Lu Yun’s lips curved upward, pleased by her praise. He looked down at her teasingly, his lips smiling as he said: “My dear wife is truly obsessed with beauty.”

When Luo Lingyu raised her eyebrows, he lowered his head to kiss her once, his lips becoming stained with her rouge, brilliantly gorgeous and intensely red. Luo Lingyu’s heart raced violently at the sight, and he nuzzled her forehead, laughing softly: “Your husband also wants a daughter like you.”

“But don’t worry my dear, I understand your meaning.”

“Whether boy or girl, I will treat them equally, without bias.”

Though Lu Yun’s true thoughts weren’t clear, he did indeed show equal anticipation for both son and daughter.

The next day, Lu Yun not only hung beauty portraits in front of Luo Lingyu, but he and Luo Lingyu also took a book, and while busy with their tasks, they recited from it, providing both verbal and physical education for the twins in Luo Lingyu’s womb. As the maids planted flowers in the courtyard with curtains billowing, they looked up to see their master’s elegant figure pacing along the corridor, reading a book of go strategies, his robes flowing. Through the rolled-up bamboo blinds, they saw Luo Lingyu bent over her desk writing, her profile breathtakingly beautiful.

The couple took turns reciting from the book, speaking words the maids couldn’t understand:

“When people are happy, they become excited; when excited, they sing; when singing, they sway; when swaying, they dance.”

“When dancing leads to ardor, ardor to anxiety, anxiety to sighing, sighing to distant gazing, and distant gazing to jumping.”

“Hmm… what comes next?”

Lu Yun didn’t need to check the book, reciting without hesitation. Luo Lingyu picked up the book lying face-down on the desk, and after turning two pages, she admired Lu Yun’s photographic memory. Though she had always been studious, her learning couldn’t compare to Lu Yun’s excellent memory. According to him, he had read the Book of Rites when he was four years old and hadn’t looked at it since. He was now twenty-one or twenty-two, yet still remembered clearly the books he had memorized in his childhood.

The maid Jin Yue entered the room carrying a bunch of dewy flowers, bowing to her mistress: “My lady, are these the flowers you asked me to pick?”

Lu Yun glanced over, seeing that Luo Lingyu had asked the maid to pick different flowers to replace all the arrangements in the room. Lu Yun disapproved: “Your belly is already so big, why bother with such things?”

Luo Lingyu replied: “To keep things fresh daily, my lord. If everything stays the same each day, life becomes dull.”

Lu Yun remained unconvinced.

Luo Lingyu didn’t need to get up, as the maid had already brought scissors to her hand. As she trimmed the flower stems, Jin Yue watched curiously and asked the couple: “Just now when I entered the courtyard, I heard the master and mistress reciting books, different from yesterday. What are you doing?”

Lu Yun answered: “Choosing names for the babies in Lingyu’s womb.”

Jin Yue: “…Ah?”

She never expected this reason: “But, isn’t naming only done by the clan leader and the elder madam?”

Lu Yun smiled slightly.

Luo Lingyu teased: “Silly sister, how can you not believe in your master’s abilities? The names he chooses will naturally reach the elders’ desks and satisfy everyone.”

“It’s just that Brother Xuecen previously only thought about girls’ names, never considering boys’ names at all. To supervise Brother Xuecen, I had no choice but to recite books with him.”

Jin Yue clicked her tongue.

She thought to herself again that the Third Young Master was still so hard to please. Even choosing names required his wife to recite books with him.

The couple’s romantic interactions were too sophisticated and exhausting for the maids to comprehend.

After ten months of pregnancy, in late July of the following year, Luo Lingyu gave birth to twins—a boy and a girl—for Lu Yun.

When the newborns arrived, the girl was born first. The Lu clan leader, anxiously waiting in the courtyard, fainted from joy upon hearing it was a girl. One of the clan leader’s brothers, while sending someone to fetch a doctor for his elder brother, kept laughing wildly: “Excellent, excellent, excellent!”

In the “Clear Courtyard” of the second branch, some fainted while others celebrated. As soon as the swaddled girl was brought to the main hall, dozens of male and female family members rushed in, with Old Madam Lu taking the lead, overcome with joy. The clan leader, having just regained consciousness, took a sip of water, rolled up his sleeves, and charged into the main hall, demanding to see this generation’s girl of the Lu family.

Though the child was just born, the Lu family members unanimously praised: “Such clear features, so delicate and lovely. She’ll surely grow to be an incomparable beauty like Lingyu.”

“If only we could take her home to raise.”

The midwife standing beside Old Madam Lu trembled: “…”

Though they had long known about the Lu family’s unusual attitude, every time a Lu family lady gave birth and had a girl, the family’s wild excitement still frightened and dazed people.

“Waa, waa, waa…”

Compared to his elder sister who was born first, the boy in the midwife’s arms received only casual glances from the Lu family elders, who perfunctorily praised “not bad” before turning back to compete for a look at the girl. The boy was left alone, ignored. The midwife felt somewhat lost and looked pleadingly toward the children’s father, Third Young Master Lu Yun, who had finally managed to squeeze into the main hall.

Lu Yun’s expression wasn’t very good.

As the children’s father, he hadn’t gotten a single look at his swaddled babies before the elders snatched them away. On such a joyous day, he couldn’t show his displeasure, but the Third Young Master was very unhappy.

When the midwife tried to bring the boy for him to see, the Third Young Master righteously refused: “I must first check on my wife, then I’ll come to see both children.”

This became a lengthy battle over the children.

While no one paid attention to the boy, both Old Madam Lu and the clan leader’s family wracked their brains for excuses to adopt Lu Yun’s daughter. The Third Young Master stood neither humble nor arrogant before his elders, engaging in verbal combat against the group, refusing to let his daughter be taken away. Though scholars were known for their eloquence and skillful discourse, this was probably the first time a scholar had engaged in such debate to keep his child.

Luo Lingyu’s younger sister, Luo Yunwan, stood on tiptoe at the window watching them argue, then turned to look at the wailing boy in the wet nurse’s arms. Luo Yunwan felt deep sympathy: “Little nephew, your aunt can already imagine how you’ll be discriminated against in the future.”

Born as twins, the sister received all the attention while the brother was ignored.

How pitiful.

Feeling sorry for her little nephew who received no attention, and with her sister still unconscious and her brother-in-law still battling the elders with words, the young lady volunteered to care for the little nephew first.

Citing classics and presenting arguments, the Third Young Master debated for two hours, leaving the Lu family elders speechless and defeated, finally managing to preserve his right to keep his daughter by his side.

Luo Lingyu didn’t know any of this yet.

The Third Young Master was ever so considerate. When Luo Lingyu hazily awoke, the first person she saw was her husband sitting by her bed, watching her. He had stayed with her the whole time, not leaving her post-delivery care to the maids. When she asked about the babies’ gender and appearance, Lu Yun smiled and answered: “One boy and one girl, a perfect pair. But I don’t know their appearance, as I haven’t looked at them yet.”

Luo Lingyu was startled: “Why haven’t you looked?”

Lu Yun held her hand, kissing it lightly, smiling: “My dear Lingyu hasn’t awakened, so naturally I was more concerned about you. I wanted to share the joy with you, to look at them together.”

Luo Lingyu vaguely remembered hearing the elders in the courtyard noisily arguing about seeing the girl before she lost consciousness.

She questioned Lu Yun’s intentions: “Really? Isn’t it because you couldn’t compete with the others?”

Lu Yun’s expression froze for a moment, then he said: “How could that be? I told you before, that boy or girl makes no difference to me. I don’t mind. As long as they’re born from you, I’ll treat them equally.”

The Third Young Master’s words were so sweet that Luo Lingyu’s heart bloomed with joy. After eating a small bowl of porridge, she eagerly asked to see the two swaddled babies, wanting to share the moment with her husband. Just as the maids brought in the two bundles, before Luo Lingyu could react, her husband had already risen and gone to meet them, asking the crucial question: “Which one is the girl?”

The maid: “…”

Luo Lingyu: “…”

So much for “treating them equally.”

The twins were named Lu Siyong for the sister and Lu Sitao for the brother.

The siblings’ life of constant squabbling and competition began the very first time they were held in their parent’s arms while still in swaddling clothes.