Peach blossoms filled the large courtyard with their sweet and magical fragrance as a man in lavish blue and purple silk robes paced worriedly. The mid spring breeze made the trees dance and sway creating a perfect fantasy scene but all this was lost on the handsome man. Chi Xue Qiao paused to look at the closed doors of the South courtyard's main room. This room was where his fifth child was being brought into the world, a child that may or may not have to live in secret for 16 years.
Chi Xue Qiao's one and only wife, Lan Jia Ling, was a quiet but supportive woman and one of the great beauties in the Kingdom. For not only was she beautiful, she was wise, talented, compassionate and bore the grace and air of the noble woman she was. Jia Ling was the youngest daughter of the Minister of the Left, Lan Bik Chung. Xue Qiao and Jia Ling had fallen in love with each other without the other knowing. They had met when the then 16 year old Lan Jia Ling had tried to run away from her arranged marriage to the unknown Chi Xue Qiao. He had rescued her when she and her maid had unfortunately caught the attention of an unscrupulous duo during her flight. 20 year old Chi Xue Qiao had been out wandering the streets in the late evening trying to clear his head from the news his father and grandfather had just given him on his arrival back to the capital from the east border's military camp. They had arranged his wedding and it was scheduled to take place in two month's time. Her eyes, beautiful and shining with intelligence but with a hint of lingering fear had made him have the urge to protect her. She had been respectful, graceful in her movements and had thanked him graciously. Afterward he had convinced her to return to her home as she seemed to be running away and no problem in life warranted her putting her and her maid's life in danger. He had then watched her leave with a new resolution; he would marry Minister Lan's daughter but only because of his family and he would help make the streets safer for women, especially this one who had stolen his heart in so short a time.
Even with the lecture, Jia ling had fallen deeply for the chivalrous and handsome stranger. Only after they had parted ways did they both realise that they didn't introduce themselves to each other. Xue Qiao had thought of the beautiful girl for weeks and had a secret wish that she would be his bride instead of the spoiled daughter of Court Minister Lan. What a shock it had been when the two had finally met on their wedding day, seeing the person they had longed to meet and finding out that they had been so wrong about each other and had almost made a huge mistake in nearly derailing the marriage. Xue Qiao had fallen deeply and made a personal vow that he would love and marry only one woman so unlike most of the men in Wen Kingdom, he only had one wife, Lan Jia Ling.
In these past 10 years of marriage, his wife had already given him four children; his eldest son, Li Shan (9), his eldest daughter, Mei Xiu (8) and twins, second son Fang Hu and second daughter Fang Hua (6).
The children were currently in the study room of the school on the east side of the Chi Family's estate. The school had been added to the estate 100 years prior by Xue Qiao's great grandfather, Chi Chueng, who had been the Minister of Education, because he wanted the servants and their children to be able to read, write and know basic mathematics. This not only educated the servants but also helped the Chi Family grow their business exponentially because Chi store clerks and errand boys were not tricked by merchants. These servants could also secretly conduct small business transactions and tell their master which merchants would make good and honest business deals. Seeing how successful the Chi family had become a lot of wealthy families in Wen Kingdom had adopted the same principle of having an additional room in which their servants can take limited lessons. Such family schools or study rooms were necessary to these noble and wealthy families as their children couldn't enter the Wen Kingdom's Royal Academy before a certain age. For boys it was at 10 years old and for girls it was at 12 years old.
A baby's cry broke the silence of the spring morning and stopped Xue Qiao's pacing. Without waiting for another moment he rushed up the steps and into the room where his wife was, along with the attending midwife and a few female servants. There bundled in soft linen in his wife's arms was the most beautiful baby he had ever seen. Of course he thought all his children were beautiful at birth and still were. Lan Jia Ling looked up when her husband entered the room and smiled with a hint of worry in her eyes.
"Congratulations my husband, you have another son. What will you call him?"
Xue Qiao looked from the angel to his beautiful wife and returned her smile to re-assure her.
A son? Then there was only one name that came to mind...
"Meili Tiān."
~Beautiful Angel~