Chapter 76 – Red Chamber Epilogue
After being married to Wen Tian Fang for two years, everything was good, but only one thing, Lin Yu Tong had not had any news of pregnancy.
The emperor wanted to give Wen Tian Fang some palace attendants who were likely to be good at having children, but Wen Tian Fang refused. Lin Yu Tong did not know what she felt. She wanted the two of them to live well, but she did not truly want to have a child. Once there was a child, even after death, she hoped to be reborn in this world.
Such a struggle caused Lin Yu Tong much sadness.
Lin Ru Hai saw his eldest daughter like this, and hurt for her first. He did not have a good face for Wen Tian Fang, and even implied the emperor was meddling in family matters when he went into the palace to chat. Lin Yu Yang pulled Wen Tian Fang to the training field, wanting to fight, and Wen Tian Fang was very exasperated.
During the night, Wen Tian Fang pulled Lin Yu Tong into his arms. “If there are no children, we will live together. It is my good fortune to have someone accompany me in my life. You do not know, I hope that you are pregnant, and I fear you are pregnant. Birthing a child is walking by death’s door. I have gotten this life for free, and do not care for much, just as long as you keep me company.”
Lin Yu Tong’s tears came down. This was very similar to her thoughts. After marrying, who did not have feeling? It was natural to want to have children. But when she thought of having children, she had all kinds of fears.
That autumn, when the fish was fat and the crab roe was yellow, Lin Yu Tong looked at the delicious food on the table and felt nausea. Her expression was very rich, happy and worried.
The entire residence was full of congratulations. Lin Ru Hai was so happy he could not sleep for two nights. Lin Dai Yu had to the make sleeping soup for him before he would rest.
Wen Tian Fang looked at Lin Yu Tong’s belly, shaking. He was excited and happy, but also afraid.
Lin Yu Tong became very anxious. She thought if she returned to the other world, she would no longer have any relation to the child, and her heart jerked in pain. But thinking of giving up and staying here, she would think of her parents, her friends and relatives, and did not bear to give them up too.
The feelings on both sides were about to tear her in two. She could not eat during the day or sleep during the night. Seeing her belly swell like a balloon, she looked even more thin. Lin Dai Yu took her pulse and said she was having twins.
Everyone was happy, only Lin Yu Tong and Wen Tian Fang were not happy.
Lin Yu Tong thought, if she had a deadly birth, what about the children she left behind? She would return to her own life, and her children would stay to be tormented by a stepmother. When she thought of her babies being harmed, she felt even worse, crying during the night like this had become reality.
Wen Tian Fang had no solution, and called for Lin Ru Hai and Lin Yu Yang to come. Lin Yu Yang swore, “I will treat the children like my own, I swear.”
Lin Yu Tong started to curse at Wen Tian Fang for not having good thoughts. “You do not know the feeling of having to live under another’s roof. I am not yet dead, and you want to send my children away.”
Wen Tian Fang thought, what did I do, who am I doing this for right now?
It is Lin Yu Yang, how come it is living under another’s roof? Am I this kind of person?
Before this side could be comforted, Lin Ru Hai had tears as well, maybe because of Lin Yu Tong’s words or he remembered how Lin Dai Yu had been sent to the Jia Family.
The unreasonable pregnancy finally ended at the start of summer in the second year. Lin Yu Tong only used four hours to successfully birth two sons. The two children were not large, about five pounds or so, but they were very strong and healthy.
Wen Tian Fang sighed in relief when he learned that the mother and children were safe. His legs gave out, and he sat down at the door to the labor room, unable to get up.
But even born, the previous year had been inhumane.
Before he could recover, a wet nurse came to report that the two children were crying and not eating milk.
This was very important. They called for the imperial physicians and even the physicians outside. No one could figure out what the problem was, and they almost went mad with worry.
Lin Yu Tong had fallen asleep due to tiredness after labor. When she woke up, she heard the children crying. Then she only learned what was happening after asking. She wanted to nurse her own child, but just after birth, where was the milk? She hugged the two children. They opened their eyes. Their gazes did not look like children. Her heart jumped. Ten months of pregnancy. But such a thing was occurring. It would be false to not say she felt sad.
But just like how she and Wen Tian Fang were exceptions, these two children were accidents, and so it was not strange.
No matter what, she would give them the love they deserved. Even if one day she had to leave, she would have one less thing to miss.
“Squeeze the milk to the bowl and give them to me,” Lin Yu Tong ordered.
Wen Tian Fang did not understand but had them do as Lin Yu Tong’s said. When the two babies ate well when spoon fed, Lin Yu Tong felt assured.
“What is it, is something wrong with the two wet nurses?” Wen Tian Fang asked nervously.
“No!” Lin Yu Tong was silent for a moment before saying, “Some people are sensitive to other people’s scent. These children are like that.” To be more convincing, she used Lin Yu Yang as an example. “When Yang-ge’er was young, we did not have good days, and would eat a meal, starve for a meal, we did not pick what we ate. Later, when conditions got better, he did not like to eat other people’s food, saying that there was a strange scent. When he grew up, this got better. The nephews likely are following their uncle, and sensitive to scent.”
Wen Tian Fang examined the two children seriously for a while and then put a hand on Lin Yu Tong’s back, as though to comfort or pacify her. He smiled and nodded, “Really? Such a thing occurred? Then it will be good for them to follow their uncles and rank third in the examination.”
Lin Yu Tong did not know if there was a flaw, but she felt that he had seen something.
These two children were just like Lin Yu Tong had hoped. They would make sound when they were hungry, had peed, or pooped. When it was the tenth month, the two children were able to walk holding onto the bed. When they saw Wen Tian Fang and Lin Yu Tong, they could say father and mother.
To disguise the strangeness of the two children, Lin Yu Tong would hold books all day, reciting to the children. She made many cards to teach them to recognize characters. Even if they slipped up, people would not find it strange.
Husband and wife cared for them carefully like they were normal children, keeping them company, and made sure they did not miss anything in this life.
They named the eldest son Wen Xiao, the second Wen Yao, hoping that the sons would be carefree in their life. It was the couple’s true hopes and good wishes for them.
Wen Xiao had an innate dignity, and did not smile, very proper. Wen Yao was opposite, and would give a smile to everyone he met.
Strangely, the two brothers were very close. Lin Yu Tong did not know if the two of them had a relationship in the past life, but she was very comforted that the two of them were close. Father and mother would leave their children in the end, and it was lucky they had someone to support and comfort.
When the two children were five, in a month, they would not spend more than ten days with their parents. Lin Ru Hai loved the two very much. At the time, he had started his school, and lived on the mountain most of the time. The two children spent most of the time keeping Lin Ru Hai company on the mountain, or living freely in Lin Dai Yu’s estate.
Lin Dai Yu did not mother, but she strangely loved children, almost to the point of spoiling them. She would give them everything they wanted, without even keeping it a secret. Luckily the two children were not true children, or they would have been very spoiled.
Lin Ru Hai was very grateful that Lin Yu Tong allowed the two children to be close to Lin Dai Yu. Everyone would have a day they grew old. The older he got, the more he worried for Lin Dai Yu’s future life, fearing that she would spent her old age in poverty. Now, seeing that she and Wen Xiao and Wen Yao were so good, how could he not be happy?
One time, Lin Dai Yu asked Lin Yu Tong, “The children are several years old now, Sister you do not plan to have some more?”
Lin Yu Tong truly did not plan to have more, but in reality, she did not get pregnant again. At night, she asked Wen Tian Fang, “Do you want to have a daughter?”
Wen Tian Fang was shocked and said, “How come you think of this? You want to have a daughter?”
“Not that I want, I just worry you want,” Lin Yu Tong whispered.
“Having you all is enough,” Wen Tian Fang said with a smile.
Later, Lin Yu Tong learned that after the two children were born, he had kept on eating birth control soup, fearing that she would get pregnant.
Lin Yu Tong’s tears came down immediately. She always feared loving this man, but how could she not love this man?
When the children were six and officially going to go to school, the emperor used an imperial edict to make the two children reading partners of the imperial sons. Lin Yu Tong was very worried about this. She did not hope that the children would end up in the matters of the imperial family.
The two children saw her worry and kept on promising her that nothing would happen. In reality, the other reading partners were punished, but they were not. They never were even punished on behalf of the imperial sons.
Lin Yu Tong felt that the two children seemed to understand how to take care of relationships and worldly matters better than her, so she no longer worried.
But occasionally, she would think, what kind of people these two were in their past life?
The two children became reading partners, and Wen Tian Fang slowly withdrew from the court. He gradually let go of his positions. When the two sons were ten, Wen Tian Fang had no positions. The two of them moved to the capital suburb’s courtyard to live together. There were people in the residence to take care of the children. When they were not going to school, they would come here.
They needed more freedom. Facing their parents who were so familiar with them, it was a hard matter for them wanting to hide.
Later, the emperor died, and the new emperor came to the throne. Wen Tian Fang inexplicably was elevated in title, becoming the Jinghai Marquis. Wen Xiao was titled the heir. Unexpectedly, Wen Yao became the Jingyuan Count.
Lin Yu Tong could remember, that night, Wen Tian Fang sat in his study for a long time by himself. The next day, he sent a memorandum, passing the title down to his son, and became the retired count.
That year, he was not yet forty.
Lin Yu Tong did not know what had happened to have Wen Tian Fang make such a decision. But from how he looked very light and free, she smartly did not ask a thing.
As a woman, sometimes, being a bit muddle headed was not a bad thing.
Translator Ramblings: Most of the stories do not get a one-chapter epilogue, but this one did. We are limited by Lin Yu Tong’s point of view here, but there obviously was a lot of politics going on.
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