As dawn was just over the horizon, a slight movement and whimpering sounds similar to a kitten awoke Feng Wei. Opening his eyes, the sight that welcomed him warmed his heart.
Lian Meilin was sitting upright carrying their newborn baby in her arms. The child was crying and whimpering but still it was barely loud enough to hear. Their entwined figures were illuminated by the faint rays of the rising sun. Her maternal love for the child overflowed out in this quiet moment.
Feng Wei's eyes twinkled with satisfaction as he sat up facing his wife.
"You're up, my dear? Look, our daughter is awake as well." Meilin said softly, turning to face him and showing him the child who had calmed down, the baby's cute wrinkled face with squinting eyes facing him, but in that moment all that registered on his face was shock. Being aware of his shock, Lian Meilin gave her foolish husband a small nudge on his shoulder.
"Hahahahaha!!! I know that you are surprised but still what's with that shellshocked foolish expression." She was honestly amused at this large yet foolish man who was her husband.
"My dear, is that really true?! Do I really have a daughter? It's really a baby GIRL, are you sure?!!" Feng Wei broke out from his shock and asked in amazement while staring at the baby in wonder.
"It's true. At first I was surprised as well that this really happened but now look at her. She's beautiful isn't she?" Meilin was very satisfied and happy to be able to hold her baby girl.
Hearing her affirmation, a wide smile appeared on Feng Wei's face. "HAHAHA!! I, Feng Wei, have a daughter!!!"
Yesterday, when the physician had been speaking about the except for the part that his baby was alive, he hadn't truly been able to pay attention to the rest with his exhausted mind thus left it to the steward to note the instructions thus the part where the physician had told him the baby's gender hadn't registered or mattered then.
Now that he was well rested, hearing the news he was exhilarated with this. He had thought that this was another son but this was unexpected news.
"Quick, we have to let everyone know, especially mother and father. They'll be elated when they find out that our Feng clan finally has a girl."
" You idiot, everyone in the family already knows, how could they not know when the physician and the midwife had already informed them. Everyone wanted to let us rest so they instructed the maids that they would visit in the morning. Besides, Mother and Father are older so naturally they must be tired, and Yawen meimei had left the twins alone for such a long time before she returned, so wait till morning before rushing out like that." She explained to her husband who was rushing out of bed in a hurry to announce this good news to the world.
"Oh, okay!" He said. He looked like a disappointed child who wasn't able to brag about the new toy he had.
"Would you like to hold her?"
"Can I really hold her? What if I drop her or hurt her?!!" Feng Wei asked. Excited again like he was injected by chicken blood.
"Why would you drop her, you've held our other two children so many times, haven't you, and besides do you think I would dare give my sweetheart to you if you weren't sitting down on the bed?"
"Wife, those two stinky brats aren't the same. They're sturdy boys, even if I'd hang them by their feet they would be fine." He said snickering recalling those to brats always interrupting his time with his wife, he should just ship them off to the military camp for training, he thought to himself.
"Who are you calling stinky brats and you dare to hang them by their feet they're still just children. Just see how I sort you out afterwards if you dare!" Lian Meilin declared glaring at her husband.
" I was wrong. I was wrong. Of course I wouldn't do that to our children. Forget about them, C..can I carry her now?" He asked, turning the conversation for fear of his wife's punishment.
"Come here, you were right about one thing though, you do have to be more careful with her than Hao'er and Ming'er. She is much smaller and weaker than they were when they had first been born." She said softly and carefully, handing the little bundle over to the outstretched hands of Feng Wei as she spoke, "Don't move around too much otherwise you might drop her, just sit still on the bed."
It was in that moment when Feng Wei held her that he realized just how small she really was. His newborn daughter was almost half the size his sons were when he had held them when they had been born. His daughter seemed so delicate and soft in that fluffy white blanket that he was worried he would crush or break her bone so he listened to his wife and stayed absolutely still. At the same time he felt his daughter was very pitiful and he worried if she would suffer misfortune because of the Feng family curse. He hadn't forgotten the physicians warning before he left saying that his daughter might not survive past this winter.
He looked at his daughter's soft baby cheeks and rosy lips and raised his head to look at his wife's glowing eyes and determination was instilled in his heart and mind.
No, no matter what happens he wouldn't let anything happen to his daughter. This daughter of his even before she was born, was almost killed by her own father and faced so many difficulties but still his wife persevered and managed to birth her, now it was his turn to protect her and he would do so under any cost.
He vowed to himself in his heart that his daughter would live to receive every happiness and no physician's words or family curse would ever be able to hurt her so long as her father was there.