Xu Lingyi was sitting on the brick bed, holding his son’s little hand, and asked him with a smile: “So you went rowing as well — aren’t you quite the bold one!”

Jin Ge’er pursed his lips and smiled.

Xu Lingyi looked around the room.

Shi’yiniang had never liked having many people to attend her, and in the inner chamber at night when it was time to sleep, only the maid on duty, Fangxi, was there helping her make the bed.

Xu Lingyi stroked his son’s head and said quietly: “Jin Ge’er, say ‘Father’ once more for me.” His expression was earnest, his gaze holding undisguisable anticipation.

Jin Ge’er tilted his little head and looked at Xu Lingyi, as if he didn’t quite understand what Xu Lingyi was saying.

Xu Lingyi looked around again.

Shi’yiniang was quietly giving Fangxi some instructions.

Somewhat reassured, Xu Lingyi turned back to look at his son, wanting to coax him into calling out to him. He had barely called “Jin Ge’er” when he saw his son squirm about and crawl to the corner where he usually hid things, rummaging about noisily until he produced a rattle and handed it to Xu Lingyi. Xu Lingyi took the rattle with a somewhat rueful expression — when Jin Ge’er was very small and unhappy, Shi’yiniang would take out a rattle to amuse him, and now that he was a bit older, whenever he saw someone wearing a frown, he would bring out his own rattle to give to them.

“You little rascal!” He cradled his son in his arms with loving tenderness.

Shi’yiniang came over: “It’s getting late — won’t the Marquis also rest?”

Rather reluctant to part with his son, Xu Lingyi smiled and said: “Let Jin Ge’er sleep with us tonight!”

Seeing how eager Xu Lingyi was, Shi’yiniang sent Fangxi to inform Nanny Gu, then lowered the gauze bed curtains and helped Jin Ge’er undress.

Once the padded jacket was off, his body lighter and his limbs free, Jin Ge’er grew immediately excited. He crawled straight to the corner of the bed and grabbed the book Xu Lingyi had left on the pillow.

Though the room had floor heating, Shi’yiniang still worried he would catch a chill. She took the book from his hands and quickly tucked him under the covers.

Jin Ge’er had barely lain still for two breaths before he rolled right back up to sitting.

“This child — he’s like a little monkey.”

Shi’yiniang laughed and tucked him back under the covers again.

Jin Ge’er had slept with Xu Lingyi once before, when he was very small. Xu Lingyi watched this with great amusement, laughed, and got into bed, lying down beside Jin Ge’er and patting him gently.

But Jin Ge’er immediately tumbled over and launched himself onto Shi’yiniang’s back, just as she was climbing into bed.

Shi’yiniang lurched, nearly toppling off the edge of the bed.

“Who on earth does this child take after?” she laughed, pulling Jin Ge’er into her arms and quickly tugging the covers over both of them. “Always such a reckless little thing.”

“Certainly not me!” The covers had been pulled away, leaving Xu Lingyi half exposed. He shifted over and pressed close to Shi’yiniang and son. “I was told from a young age that I was wise beyond my years!”

“Is that so?” Shi’yiniang raised her long, graceful, ink-dark brows and shot him a sidelong glance. “And yet I’ve heard that someone once knocked down all the bird nests in Empress Wu’s palace…”

“I was only a son of the noble houses — I wouldn’t have had the audacity,” Xu Lingyi said with perfect composure and not a trace of embarrassment. “That was done by Prince Shun. I was merely the one who took the blame. How can you believe such stories?”

“Oh!” Shi’yiniang’s brows and eyes were all radiant laughter. “So the Marquis was also in Empress Wu’s palace when Prince Shun knocked down the bird nests. I thought you’d only gotten up to that sort of thing with Zhou Shi Zheng!”

Xu Lingyi was momentarily at a loss for words.

He had swallowed his own bait — and Shi’yiniang’s eyes and corners of her lips were all flowing with happy amusement.

Xu Lingyi watched her, and the corners of his mouth gradually curved into a content arc.

Getting no attention from anyone, Jin Ge’er wriggled and made little sounds of complaint in Shi’yiniang’s arms.

Shi’yiniang laughed and pressed a kiss to Jin Ge’er’s little cheek, slipped off her padded jacket, and nestled down into the covers with her son.

With Father on his left and Mother on his right, Jin Ge’er looked from Xu Lingyi to Shi’yiniang, then back again — he was clearly very happy.

Shi’yiniang let Jin Ge’er rest on her arm, and said softly: “Jin Ge’er, what story shall we have tonight?” Out of habit she didn’t wait for Jin Ge’er to answer, and continued: “Yesterday we told the story of Nüwa Mending the Sky. Tonight let’s tell the story of Jingwei Filling the Sea.” Then she tapped his little nose and asked with a smile: “All right?”

Jin Ge’er nodded repeatedly and lay obediently in his mother’s embrace.

“Long ago, there was a little girl. Her name was Jingwei…” Shi’yiniang’s expression was gentle, her voice bright and melodious, and in the soft glow of the lamp she spoke on, unhurried. Xu Lingyi felt himself slowly relax, body and mind, and his eyelids began to droop of their own accord.

He startled awake and forced his eyes open. He noticed that Jin Ge’er, who had been lying quietly between them listening to the story, was squirming from time to time, as if something were poking at him.

“What’s the matter?” Shi’yiniang had also noticed. She paused and asked her son quietly: “Is something uncomfortable?”

Jin Ge’er, hearing her, squirmed even more vigorously.

Shi’yiniang had made up the bed herself — there couldn’t possibly be anything on it.

Xu Lingyi reached over and felt his son’s forehead: “What is going on?” Before the words were out of his mouth, he felt his hand was damp — with sweat. He immediately reached a conclusion: “He sleeps on his own normally. But now he’s sandwiched between us, and the room has floor heating and the bed was warmed with a hot water bottle — no wonder he feels hot.” He then felt Jin Ge’er’s back, which was also damp with sweat, and quickly told Shi’yiniang: “Hurry, call Fangxi to wring out a hot cloth, and send for Nanny Gu to bring a change of clothes.”

Shi’yiniang went to do so immediately.

Fangxi, Yumei, Nanny Gu, and A’jin all came streaming in. Some wrung out a cloth, some wiped down Jin Ge’er’s back, some helped with changing his clothes — it was a bustle that lasted nearly the time it takes to burn a cup of tea before the room finally settled into quiet again.

They rearranged the sleeping arrangement — Xu Lingyi on the outer side, Jin Ge’er on the inner side.

Jin Ge’er immediately rolled into his mother’s arms and made little sounds at Shi’yiniang, as if urging her to quickly continue the story.

Shi’yiniang was thoughtful.

She didn’t continue the story but instead patted Jin Ge’er gently: “Jin Ge’er, time to sleep!”

Jin Ge’er squirmed and fussed in her arms.

Shi’yiniang kept asking him: “What is it?”

Xu Lingyi’s lips parted slightly, just about to say something — but he quickly showed an expression of sudden understanding, pressed his lips closed, and watched over Shi’yiniang and son with cautious care from the side.

Jin Ge’er, seeing his demands go unanswered, let out a “wah” and started crying.

Shi’yiniang patted his back gently and coaxed him: “What is it? What’s wrong with Jin Ge’er?”

Jin Ge’er cried for a long while, but Shi’yiniang kept asking only the same question.

Xu Lingyi saw his son’s face streaked with tears and could not bear to look — he turned his face away.

From outside came Nanny Gu’s trembling voice: “My lord, my lady — the Sixth Young Master may not be accustomed to this…”

“It’s all right, you go rest,” Shi’yiniang called back loudly before she had even finished speaking. “The Sixth Young Master is here with us — we’ll coax him.”

Nanny Gu thought of how the Marquis had been the one to look after Jin Ge’er when he was very small… She quietly answered “Yes” and returned to the warm side chamber.

In the stillness of the night, Jin Ge’er’s crying was enough to unsettle one’s heart. A flicker of hesitation crossed Shi’yiniang’s eyes, but her gaze quickly steadied again into composure. She kept asking Jin Ge’er what was the matter.

The two of them — mother and son — remained in this standoff for nearly the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Xu Lingyi finally could bear it no longer, and said quietly: “Perhaps let it go for tonight… Some children don’t speak until they’re four or five years old, and when they do finally open their mouths, their words come out fully formed and perfectly articulate…” But even as he said it, he knew it wasn’t right, and his voice carried traces of uncertainty.

“It’s not that he can’t speak — it’s that he’s never had any need to speak.” Shi’yiniang gritted her teeth and shook her head. “If we give in now, I’m afraid he’ll miss the window for learning to talk, and won’t be able to articulate clearly when he’s grown. Besides, if he cries and we surrender every time there’s something that displeases him, in the future when something frustrates him, he’ll cry even harder. My lord may not know this yet, but today after you left with Zhun Ge’er, Yu Ge’er took Jin Ge’er out to the garden to play — and young as he is, he cried for nearly an hour. If he keeps this up as he grows older, what will we do then?”

Xu Lingyi said nothing more.

Shi’yiniang continued to pat Jin Ge’er’s back gently and coax him: “Why are you crying? Tell Mother. If you don’t tell Mother, how is Mother to know why you’re crying?”

Jin Ge’er cried and looked toward Xu Lingyi.

Those eyes, washed clean by tears, were like black agate.

Xu Lingyi could not bear to look directly at them and simply turned over to face away — what he couldn’t see could not torment him.

Only then did Jin Ge’er relent. He cried a little longer, then said through his hiccups and sobs: “Tell story, tell story.”

Shi’yiniang let out a long, deep breath — she felt more exhausted than if she had run a ten-li race.

She kissed her son’s cheek, helped him wipe his face with a handkerchief, and said quietly: “All right, let’s tell a story. Where did we stop? Let me think!”

She had already been making it a habit to talk as much as possible in front of Jin Ge’er, in order to encourage him to speak.

Shi’yiniang’s words had barely fallen when she heard Jin Ge’er say in his small, pouty voice: “Jingwei is a little bird!”

Shi’yiniang stared at her son in astonishment: “Jin Ge’er!” She had just reached the part of the story where Jingwei transformed into a little bird. “You remember what Mother just told you?”

Jin Ge’er looked at Shi’yiniang with timid, aggrieved eyes.

Xu Lingyi broke into laughter and gathered Jin Ge’er into his arms: “You clever thing — you understand everything!”

Jin Ge’er, who was eagerly awaiting the continuation of Shi’yiniang’s story, was not at all pleased with Xu Lingyi’s behavior, and while making little sounds of protest, dove back toward Shi’yiniang’s arms.

Xu Lingyi laughed and was about to pass Jin Ge’er back to Shi’yiniang, when Shi’yiniang reminded him: “Let him speak, let him speak.” Xu Lingyi pulled his hand back and asked Jin Ge’er: “What do you want to do?”

Jin Ge’er then looked toward Shi’yiniang.

Shi’yiniang asked him with a smile: “What does Jin Ge’er want?”

“I want Mother!” he said, and threw himself toward Shi’yiniang.

This time, Shi’yiniang hugged her son to her with a heart full of joy.

“He finally calls for Mother, and it had to be under these circumstances!” She felt a small, quiet surge of emotion and said to Xu Lingyi with a laugh.

Xu Lingyi tousled his son’s thick black hair and said with easy contentment: “At any rate, he has finally opened his mouth and started talking!” And with that, he gave Shi’yiniang a smile.

Shi’yiniang happened to be looking over at him just then.

Their gazes met in mid-air.

One wore a lovely, smiling face; the other had brows eased and open.

Thinking of their persistence just now… both Xu Lingyi and Shi’yiniang felt the delight that comes after completing a difficult task together.

Without any agreement between them, they both broke into laughter at the same moment.

As if something had settled into the heart… there was a faint, lingering sweetness…

The next morning, when they went to pay their respects to the Grand Madam, she had some freshly made buckwheat flatbreads and gave one to Jin Ge’er. She asked Xu Lingyi with mild displeasure: “What happened yesterday? Jin Ge’er was crying fit to rattle the heavens.”

No one had expected the Grand Madam to bring this up specifically.

Shi’yiniang was still turning over how to respond, when she heard Jin Ge’er, chewing his flatbread, mumble indistinctly: “Tell story — Mother tells story!”

“Good heavens!” The Grand Madam forgot entirely about asking Shi’yiniang, and with joyful delight scooped Jin Ge’er into her arms. “Our Jin Ge’er can talk!”