“What’s the matter? Did something happen? Why is my lovely sweetheart crying? Let grandma have a look…”
Qin Shi rushed into the study room when she heard the commotion and lifted the girl who was lying on the floor to pacify her.
As soon as her eyes swept across the broken chair on the floor, she instantly understood the reason. This was a recurring scene that happened every few days, and there was no proper solution for it.
“It’s alright now, don’t cry. Just be more careful in the future so that nothing gets broken again.”
She looked at these three bright and adorable children. It was beyond her imagination that her daughter would give birth to triplets at once. The memory of that moment would still leave her with feelings of concern and reverence.
Producing triplets was something that was unheard of in the entire history of the Great Yuan Dynasty. Even bearing twins was already a rare occurrence. At times, Qin Shi couldn’t help but question if she was still within a dream.
Even the midwife who assisted with the delivery on that day was astonished to the point where her hands and feet were quivering in excitement, claiming it as a miracle.
Indeed, it truly deserved the label of a miracle. Although they had not even passed the age of three, these three children had already demonstrated exceptional talents surpassing those of the average person. All of them were bright and had distinct strength in their own area. At the age of two, the old gentleman decided to take them under his care, educating and imparting the young children a diverse repertoire of knowledge such as literature, arts, music and even tactics.
In particular, Erbao possessed the phenomenal ability of photographic memory, enabling him to learn everything effortlessly. His talent was so outstanding that even the old man praised him daily.
Despite being the sole female child, Guaibao did not receive any preferential treatment. On the contrary, due to her gender, Su Jin held stricter expectations from her. In her mother’s perspective, female offspring are meant to become the head of the family when they grow up!
Guaibao could be described as a pretty, smart and spirited little girl, but she lacked interest in studying. She had inherited some of Su Jin’s traits, particularly her boundless strength. In the past, she had frequently cajoled her two brothers into playing truant and skipping classes, so she ended up receiving spankings quite often.
Dabao had a pleasant and chubby physique, and exhibited an extremely likeable personality. He always wore a smile on his face and was adored by everyone, regardless of age and gender. As an added bonus, hugging and kneading him was a delightful experience, as he was soft to the touch like a little dumpling.
Despite his amiable character, no one had to worry about him being turned into a victim of bullying. Although he was average in every aspect, he possessed incredible fortune as if he had been personally favoured by the god of luck.
Every time he left the house, he would effortlessly spot ownerless bags of money lying around here and there. Even if he was nowhere near a genius, he could simply rely on his outrageous luck to guess the answers blindly. It always worked!
At this moment, the sounds of footsteps could be heard from the outside. Su Jin leisurely entered the room, adorned in a simple, long gown. She possessed a slender waist and maintained a straight upright posture. Her bare face was refreshing and elegant, exhibiting a youthful look with a touch of gracefulness through her eyes.
An intense gaze scanned across the room, eventually settling on Guaibao who was embraced within Qin Shi’s arms.
Guaibao shuddered slightly and quickly stopped sobbing, putting on a façade as though the earlier scene was a lie. She waddled towards Su Jin with her small legs and spoke coquettishly, “Mommy, Guaibao wasn’t crying. I… I am practicing various ways to express laughter.”
She pushed up the edges of her lips with her index fingers…
Su Jin placed her palm on her forehead: “…”
Dabao and Erbao promptly scurried over one after another with their petite figures. They affectionately called Su Jin “Mommy”, and displayed a strong sense of attachment to their mother.
Su Jin tenderly caressed each of their heads.
System#2250 once again took out its everlasting handkerchief to wipe its tears, before letting out a heartfelt sigh, “It’s hard to believe that these three little brats have grown up so quickly in just a blink of an eye. Time truly waits for no man… and system.”
“A toast to you, my Host. Your ability to give birth is unparalleled! Despite being indifferent to celebrity worshipping, I couldn’t help but revere your abilities in that respect. Here’s a cigarette for you, boss.”
Su Jin rolled her eyes skeptically at the system’s remarks. She could not figure out the reason behind her exceptional ability to deliver babies either. At the moment, she leaned towards the conjecture that it could be the effects of the great shaman’s blessings from her previous life.
After all, there are numerous phenomena and existences in the universe that could not be explained through common sense, other than attributing them to mysterious powers, such as the system and her transmigration.
Hearing no reply from Su Jin, the system then switched to a serious topic, “Have you considered searching for the children’s father? Judging from their exceptional abilities, it is unlikely that their father is an ordinary person…”
“I’ll postpone it to a more suitable time. For now, I do not have the time to spare for that. It is not too late for me to start searching after the restaurant chain had expanded to the capital. Let’s leave it up to fate,” replied Su Jin casually. She had almost forgotten about him anyway.
“That’s still a far stretch with how you have been lying flat1TL note: 躺平 (pinyin: Tang Ping), a Chinese slang that describes adverse attitude to overwork and over-achieving everyday! If it wasn’t for housekeeper Xiao pushing you from behind, I fear your business would have never expanded outside of Fengyuan County. Even now, your shops have only reached the area of Jiangnan region. With that laid back attitude, when will you ever reach the capital? At this rate, the prospect of the search feels bleak and unreachable…” The system admonished Su Jin with hands behind its back, looking at its host as someone who was beyond saving.
A sudden realization struck the system then, as it recognized that the statement could easily apply to its own situation. It fell silent as its ego completely deflated…
During that period, the system had given up on itself and had no qualms with breaking the rules to provide Su Jin with the recipe. It did not expect Su Jin to pull through and successfully develop the product. Fully utilizing her connection with the magistrate, everything went smoothly and her business expanded from just a single store to more than a dozen now.
The system could not decide whether to feel joy for Su Jin’s success or be apprehensive of the consequences it might face when its violation of rules gets revealed in the future.
When System#2250 imagined the prejudice and discrimination it might receive from the other systems when it eventually returned, it started to feel dejected…
“Is Mr. Xuanyuan around?”
“He has not shown up today but I have finished my self-study for today, Mom.” Erbao replied proudly. Despite his efforts to appear stoic, he couldn’t resist stealing glimpses of Su Jin with his cute beady eyes.
“Our Erbao is truly amazing…” praised Su Jin while she held back her amusement. She was helpless against this adorable little child who acted like an adult, and she leaned down to peck his cheeks and showered him with compliments, before shifting her focus to her two other children.
Dabao smiled sheepishly in an attempt to muddle through his mother’s inspection…
On the other hand, Guaibao maintained a proper posture while seated at her desk, holding a brush with a solemn expression that exuded a focused and studious attitude, seemingly signalling a message of ‘please refrain from interrupting’.
“Uh…” If only her booklet was not held upside down, Su Jin might have fallen for it!
One was a genius, the other was a slacker, and the remaining could not even maintain a proper facade of working hard!
Meanwhile, in a tightly shut room located at the western side of the estate, the white-haired old man, Xuanyuan Fu, woke up abruptly and stood up to look at his pallid moon coloured robe. He was suddenly filled with a sense of revulsion.
Creasing his eyebrow, he reflected on the past three years of his life. Veins popped up on his forehead and a turbulent wave of raging emotions surged from within.
“Curse you, Xuanyuan Chun!” he exclaimed with anger as he opened the door to leave.
However, for some reason, images of the three kids flashed across his mind. His feet hesitated for a moment, accompanied by a sense of reluctance…
Xuanyuan Fu began to tighten his grip on the door. He was aware that his memories of Xuanyuan Chun were the source of his negative emotions. After inhaling deeply to compose himself, a wicked grin appeared on his face.
“At least, something positive did result from the actions of that fool this time. That child… has great potential!”
Shifting his gaze to the table, he picked up the brush and started writing fervently before slamming the brush with a heavy clap. Without any hesitation lingering in his heart, he turned around and departed promptly.
Back to the side of Su Jin, she had just finished reprimanding two of her kids and was on her way to visit the old man’s room. She was slightly concerned. Even though old man Xuanyuan was usually quiet, socially withdrawn and kept everything to himself, he placed great importance on punctuality and was a man of rigid principles, especially when it came to educating her kids, Erbao in particular. She could tell that Erbao’s lesson was much more intricate and complex compared to the other two kids, showing how highly the old man regarded Erbao.
Since Erbao seemed to be enjoying the lessons a lot, she did not probe much into it.
Soon, Su Jin arrived at her destination, only to find the doors wide open and an empty room. Feeling startled, she strode into the room and scanned around but nothing unusual could be found.
Inadvertently, her eyes fell on the message “Return after a month” on the table. The bold strokes exuded a domineering impression as though the words were about to leap out of the paper. She approached the table with a surprised look and picked up the paper. When did the old man’s style of writing change?
Creases formed between her eyebrows, as she stared intently at those words, feeling perplexed. Although she knew the old man’s name was Xuanyuan Fu, she had minimal knowledge about his background and everything else. It did not matter to her whether the old man was truly suffering from amnesia or had some unspeakable circumstances. After living under the same roof for these few years, she has already considered him as a family member.
She couldn’t shake off the gnawing concern that something might have happened for his sudden departure. Su Jin exited the room and ordered a subordinate to investigate the matter.
TL Corner: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Do let me know in the comments or discord if there are any errors or mistakes.
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