Jinting Han people

It wasn't surprising that A-Die was pregnant. After all, when they got married, Liu Xian had promised Yang Maosou that, in order to maintain their marital relationship and the stability between the two factions, he would have a child with A-Die as soon as possible to leave an heir. Therefore, most nights after his marriage to Qiu Chi, Liu Xian even stopped his official duties and spent the night in A-Die's room.

Yang Hui'ai was still young, so she was exceptionally passionate. Every time the two lay together tenderly, she would hold Liu Xian tightly, without any shyness, staring intently at him with her bright, wild eyes. No matter what, she would never close her eyes; her gaze seemed to burn Liu Xian, so much so that Liu Xian thought she was deliberately trying to keep her eyes open.

But Yang Hui'ai said that she simply liked Liu Xian's eyes. Deep, round, with a hint of brown, they seemed to hold endless thoughts and ideas, always making her want to look more, to possess more, to understand what he was thinking. As she said this, she was still gazing at Liu Xian.

Perhaps it was this burning possessiveness that led Yang Hui'ai to be successfully diagnosed with pregnancy in just over a month.

This was undoubtedly a joyous occasion. Firstly, with a major battle imminent, this was seen as an auspicious omen by the soldiers, boosting morale. Secondly, Yang Nandi had previously clashed with Liu Xian, creating some friction, and this event could effectively mend the rift between them. Thirdly, the very conception of a child was a miracle. Especially now, Liu Xian's promise was widely known, and everyone knew that if the child born was a boy, he would be the true heir.

Therefore, the entire city of Hanzhong quickly entered a tense and festive atmosphere. Everyone was happy but dared not speak loudly, for fear of breaking the quiet environment and disturbing Yang Hui's focus on her pregnancy.

Although Yang Maosou had expressed concerns beforehand and requested that Liu Xian treat his daughter as he would his legal wife, there's a saying that goes, "A mother's status rises with her son." Everyone knew that Liu Xian was not one to break his promises lightly. If he truly had an heir, what did it matter whether the child's mother was his legal wife or not? Many people treated this as a major event, congratulating Liu Xian and sending many gifts to A-Die.

Currently, the Anle Duke's Mansion is in its initial stages, and everyone is facing difficulties. Many officials are not receiving their full salaries, especially high-ranking officials, who are receiving less than half of what they earned in Luoyang. However, even at this time, they still sent a variety of gifts: yellow wine from Jiangzuo, falcons from Xianbei, persimmons from Hedong... In short, these were all relatively rare but not particularly valuable items from Qiuchi.

A-Die was overjoyed to receive the gift; it was the simple joy of receiving a present. She was still too young to realize she was about to become a mother, and her pregnancy didn't change her at all. She continued her usual lifestyle, enjoying riding to the outskirts of the city or playing football with her maids within the city. Perhaps her only slightly more refined hobby was playing with her pets when she had some free time.

This naturally drew a reprimand from Yang Nandi. After receiving Liu Xian's letter bringing good news, he rode swiftly back to Hanzhong from Lucheng in four days. Seeing his younger sister still behaving this way, he immediately scolded her: "Adie, you're going to be a mother, how can you still be so immature? Remember, from now on, you're not alone!"

Then he turned to Liu Xian with a smile and said, "Huai Chong, don't spoil her too much. My master wants you to treat her well, not to be obedient to her. How can a dignified Han man be controlled by a woman?"

Liu Xian was speechless. He actually quite liked A-Die's vitality and didn't see anything wrong with it. In fact, she made him feel younger too. However, Yang Nandi then looked around and said something that made Liu Xian quite uncomfortable:

“Now that everything is settled, why are you still living separately? Huai Chong, you don’t have time to take care of A Die, so someone else can come instead.”

The implication was that they wanted Liu Xian to end their separation at home and have A Luo and Lü Zhu help take care of him.

Liu Xian initially didn't want to agree, but before he could utter a word of refusal, Yang Nandi cut him off with a single sentence: "A family, are we going to drag this out outside for the rest of our lives?"

Hearing this, Liu Xian's heart stirred: Yes, although he was always worried that something might go wrong, it was ultimately a family matter. Long-term separation wasn't a solution. A'Luo and Lü Zhu had both been through this before; perhaps his worries were unnecessary.

So before the army set off, he formally brought Yang Hui'ai into the Duke's mansion.

Although Nanzheng City was the seat of a prefecture, its jurisdiction was relatively small, so Liu Xian's Anle Duke's residence was not located in Nanzheng City, but at the foot of Dingjun Mountain. Liu Xian chose to settle here primarily for two reasons: firstly, its proximity to Yangping Pass allowed for rapid information reception and decision-making in the event of war; secondly, it was the decisive location in the battle for the establishment of the Shu Han dynasty, possessing immense political significance. Zhuge Liang also considered the same factors when launching his Northern Expeditions, using this location as the starting point for his campaigns.

Liu Xian's mansion was located on a plain between the foot of Dingjun Mountain and the south bank of the Han River, covering an area of ​​about three acres. Having only settled there a month prior, the mansion's decorations were extremely rough; there were no pavilions, terraces, or artificial hills and ponds, just some newly built halls. However, because it was newly established, the house still had a fresh, natural fragrance of grass and trees.

The mansion was arranged in five courtyards: one for receiving guests, one for handling official business, and the remaining three for the household staff. Upon entering, Yang Hui'ai curiously looked around. Knowing this was her new home, she showed no awkwardness and greeted everyone like a hostess. Her excessive enthusiasm made even the servants somewhat uncomfortable.

Yang Hui'ai quickly went to visit Cao Shangrou, and then grabbed Shangrou's hand and asked, "Sister, can you come with me to hunt rabbits? I usually go alone, it's so lonely!"

Shang Rou, being a woman from a scholarly family in Luoyang, was taken aback when she first heard the suggestion. She looked Yang Hui'ai up and down, but Hui'ai was dressed in a narrow-sleeved red and white wide skirt, with riding trousers underneath, looking quite dashing, like a deer in the forest, radiating healthy vitality. Shang Rou was also infected by her, and shook her head with a smile, saying, "I'm afraid that won't work, I can't do it!"

"It's alright if you don't know, I'll teach you!" Hui'ai quickly added, "If one day Huai Chong isn't at home and is out there fooling around, you can ride a horse with me, tie him up, and bring him back!"

These words made Shang Rou laugh. She was essentially a woman who was gentle on the outside but strong on the inside, and she really liked Hui'ai's open and honest personality. It also reminded her of her own aspirations when she was young. But she also understood that happiness in this world is never easy to come by, and the most important thing between husband and wife is to understand and support each other.

Therefore, she gently admonished Hui'ai, "Don't talk nonsense! Don't you know what kind of person Huai Chong is? He is a man who cares about the world. His war is also our war. We must be the pillar that helps him complete the war, not the one that holds him back."

Cao Shangrou didn't originally think that way. Of course, she was jealous of Yang Hui'ai, but she understood even more clearly that she was a wife, not her husband's plaything. She had to stand by her husband's side and be his pillar. She would comfort him when he was vulnerable, correct him when he was careless, and support him when he was lonely.

This was something Duke Juancheng had told her in her childhood: men often held women in contempt and insult, saying, "Women are truly unreasonable creatures." They were convinced that women's emotions overwhelmed their reason, preventing them from making the right choices. Cao Shangrou, however, was a woman who was gentle on the outside but strong on the inside; she absolutely did not want to suffer such insults herself one day.

In her love for Liu Xian, she also hoped that her husband would proudly call her "as worthy of being my A Luo." But Yang Hui'ai didn't understand this yet; she just thought Cao Shangrou was easy to talk to and should be easy to get along with, and probably the others felt the same way.

Then she visited Green Pearl. Green Pearl treated Yang Hui'ai with politeness, neither overly affectionate nor overly cold, just like a host entertaining a guest, and brewed a pot of tea for Hui'ai.

After sitting and chatting for a while, Yang Hui'ai was completely stunned. Faced with the other woman's quiet and elegant temperament, she felt ashamed and uneasy, and her speech became restrained.

Hui Ai thought: I've long heard that Luoyang's charm is unparalleled in the world. Could it be that this is true? But Sister Shang Rou is also from Luoyang. Why can't she see it? This made her a little confused, and she even had difficulty distinguishing between Green Pearl and Shang Rou, who was Liu Xian's real wife.

Green Pearl was deliberately putting on this act. She couldn't be a heartless, emotionless person, but she also didn't want to disrupt the peace of the family, so she simply maintained a deliberate distance. She herself had no real backing; all she could rely on were her child and Liu Xian's affection, and she had nothing to lose. Perhaps she was also trying to maintain her limited self-respect through this approach.

Yang Hui'ai was unaware of this, mainly because she was nearly sixteen years older than Lü Zhu, so she found it hard to mind. Moreover, she possessed some special skills, which made her very popular with the children.

When she had fully moved into the Duke's mansion, Bai Bi followed closely behind. When Hui Ai saw it, she placed bamboo leaves and oranges, which Bai Bi loved to eat, on the wall. The little fox leaped up in a flash, and its innocent and adorable appearance quickly caught the attention of Liu Lang and Liu Lingyou.

How could the children resist? They immediately approached curiously, standing on tiptoe to try and pinch the white feathers on Bai Mei's ears and red tail with their fingers. Bai Mei tried to run away, but Hui Ai whistled, and it stayed put. The two children, seeing this, admired Hui Ai greatly and soon became familiar with her.

Yang Hui'ai also liked the two children very much, so she gave them rock candy and walnuts. Then, on the first night after moving into the Duke's mansion, she said to Liu Xian, "If the girl we have looks like Lingyou and the boy looks like Fengyao, I think that would be very good."

Therefore, overall, after Yang Hui'ai moved into the Duke's mansion, harmony was maintained within the mansion. Under A'luo's management, the Di princess finally calmed down, no longer wandering around, but instead focusing on her pregnancy within the mansion.

At the same time, Zhang Guang had already mustered his troops and was about to officially head to Yinping.

At this time, Liu Xian was assigned to an army of 8,000 Zhaowu soldiers and 2,000 Mingwu chariot soldiers. In addition to Zhang Guang himself as the commander-in-chief, he had four subordinate generals, Guo Mo, Guo Song, Huan Yi, and Wei Jun, each leading 2,000 men. In addition, there were 2,000 Yinping soldiers from Yang Jian himself in Yinping as reinforcements.

The 5,000 Fenwu cavalrymen dispatched by Liu Xian were personally led by Liu Xian, with Zhuge Yan and Gongsun Gong each in command. As instructed by Liu Xian beforehand, they were to report any unexpected situations to Liu Xian and handle them accordingly.

The day before their departure, Liu Xian invited the many generals going into battle to his residence for a gathering. After all, the battle was scheduled for the fifteenth of the twelfth lunar month, and they would likely not return until after the New Year. Knowing that they were already exhausted, Liu Xian decided to have them all get together in advance as a way of celebrating the New Year ahead of time.

This was actually the first large-scale banquet held by Liu Xian after he took control of Hanzhong. The people present were extremely happy. Many of them drank too much and took off their shirts, began to recount the scars on their bodies, and boasted to each other about their military achievements and experiences over the years.

However, there are always exceptions. After toasting Zhang Guang and the others, Liu Xian felt something was missing. He turned around and saw Zhuge Yan sitting in the corner, drinking alone in a sullen mood.

"Still can't figure it out?" Liu Xian walked over with a smile and comforted him.

Zhuge Yan rolled his eyes when he saw Liu Xian and said, "You make it sound so easy. Would you be able to figure it out if you were in my shoes?"

After entering Hanzhong, Zhuge Yan finally learned about his origins. He had been planning to find Zhuge Jing to discuss his family lineage, but the busy war had prevented him from doing so. Once everything was over, he intended to stop hiding his identity and formally acknowledge his ancestors.

But the truth was not so simple. At this point, Geng Hui had no choice but to tell him the truth about his origins. Only then did Zhuge Yan realize that he was not a descendant of Prime Minister Zhuge, but merely the descendant of an unknown commoner. This was extremely difficult for the usually arrogant Zhuge Yan to accept, and he remains deeply resentful to this day.

Liu Xian also thought that if it were him, he probably wouldn't be able to accept it either. But he did remember that Zhuge Yan's father was a remarkable person. Although Liu Xian hadn't spoken many words to Wang Fu, his indifferent attitude towards life and death had always been firmly etched in Liu Xian's mind.

Liu Xian told Zhuge Yan about these memories, but Zhuge Yan didn't believe him at all. He said, "You don't need to comfort me. Since even his own name is fake, who knows if the others are fake too?"

"Your determination to persevere to the death must be genuine," Liu Xian sighed. "To accomplish something great, you don't necessarily have to be named Zhuge. Haven't you accomplished many great things yourself?"

Ultimately, surnames are meant to inspire people, not bind them. Blood ties are indeed important, but no one has any reason to feel discouraged. Zhuge Yan understood his meaning. Although still somewhat resentful, recalling his past experiences, which had indeed been a tumultuous life, there was nothing he couldn't let go of. The two clinked glasses and drank their wine in one gulp.

After finishing his drink, Liu Xian suddenly had an inspiration. If A Die gave birth to a boy, he would name him Liu Cheng. This was both an expectation for the child's future and a goal Liu Xian had set for himself. He hoped that nine months later, when the child was born, he would already be able to see the city of Chengdu. (End of Chapter)