My Taoist nun girlfriend is from the Republic of China era, 1942.

Chapter 156 The Birth of Lu Yang

When the delivery room door opened again, it was exactly noon.

Chen Xiaomiao lay on the bed, her hair soaked with sweat, strands of it clinging to her pale cheeks.

She looked as if she had just been pulled out of the water, so exhausted that she didn't even have the strength to open her eyes, but the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned with a faint smile.

Beside her, a tiny bundle wrapped in soft swaddling clothes was sleeping peacefully with its eyes closed.

"Congratulations, Mr. Lu, both mother and baby are safe and sound. It's a healthy baby boy weighing 6.6 pounds," the nurse announced with a smile.

Lu Yuan's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled back into place.

He came to the bedside, bent down, and took Chen Xiaomiao's hand.

"Xiao Miao, you've worked hard."

Chen Xiaomiao slowly opened her eyes, her eyelashes still damp.

She smiled sweetly at Lu Yuan, then turned her gaze to the tiny baby beside her, her eyes filled with unprecedented tenderness and love.

“Lu Yuan…” Her voice was soft and weak, filled with deep weariness: “I… I think I saw Master again just now.”

Lu Yuan was taken aback and helped Chen Xiaomiao tuck her stray hairs behind her ears: "What did Master say to you?"

"He didn't say anything..."

Chen Xiaomiao shook her head, her eyes glazed over: "It's as if I've returned to that winter when I was only six years old and was being raised in a brothel."

My master rescued me and brought me back to the mountain. For my first meal, he gave me a hard and dry steamed bun, which I couldn't chew, so he broke it into small pieces and soaked them in meat broth..."

As she spoke, a tear slid down her cheek.

“When I was giving birth, I was in so much pain that I almost lost consciousness. My mind was a mess and I couldn’t remember anything except the Tao Te Ching that my master first taught me to recite.”

Chen Xiaomiao began to murmur the incantation.

"In the beginning of all things, the Great Way is simple, yet it evolves into complexity... The Way gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things..."

Lu Yuan listened quietly, his gaze shifting to the little guy who was sleeping soundly.

His rosy, wrinkled little face looked like that of a little old man who hadn't fully grown up.

He had been struggling with the choice of names like Lu Chao, Lu Yaoling, and Lu Changming, always wanting to give his son a name that was cultured, meaningful, and unique.

As Lu Yuan listened to Chen Xiaomiao reciting the Tao Te Ching, he realized that he had fallen into the common trap of all new parents.

Thinking too much leads to clichés and ultimately results in something neither fish nor fowl.

Avenue to Jane.

"Xiao Miao." Lu Yuan interrupted Chen Xiaomiao's rambling, his tone gentle yet firm: "Let's name our son Lu Yang."

"Lu Yang?"

Chen Xiaomiao pondered for a moment.

Looking at his son sleeping soundly beside him, and then at Lu Yuan, he grinned as usual.

"It's working!"

……

In the afternoon, the ward began to liven up.

Visitors came in waves, with Zhao Qiang and Qi Lili arriving first and specially preparing cordyceps chicken soup for Chen Xiaomiao.

Zhao Qiang, with his loud voice, shouted as soon as he reached the door, "Where's my godson! Let your godfather take a look!"

Qi Lili held Jasmine and handed the chicken soup to Lu Yuan, asking him to feed Chen Xiaomiao while it was still hot.

Little Jasmine clung to the edge of the bed, staring curiously at her little brother in the cradle. She stretched out her little finger to poke him, but Qi Lili quickly stopped her.

The brothers Lü Lei and Lü Xin came together, presenting a set of gold locks and jade pendants that were supposedly custom-made, engraved with the words "peace and good fortune".

Even Song Jia specially put aside her case and made a special trip to visit him.

Chen Xiaomiao leaned against the headboard, watching the people coming and going in the room, feeling a warm glow in her heart.

As it approached 8 p.m., the last group of visitors were the child's great-grandmother and great-grandfather—Sun Yumei and Lu Jianguo.

Sun Yumei jogged in, her steps hurried, and headed straight for the cradle.

Lu Yuan led the two into the door and asked curiously, "Grandma, Grandpa, why are you so late?" "Your grandma's research group has made some progress and has been in meetings. They just finished."

"Oh dear... my wonderful great-grandson..."

Sun Yumei bent down and carefully reached out her hand, wanting to touch the child, but afraid of disturbing the child's sleep, she stopped in mid-air, her eyes filled with tenderness.

Lu Jianguo stood to the side, pushed up his reading glasses, and stared intently at the scene.

Lu Yuan gently picked up his son and handed him to his grandmother.

"Like, really like..."

Sun Yumei gazed at the little one in her arms and murmured in admiration, "These eyebrows, these noses, they're just like yours when you were little."

Lu Jianguo chuckled and replied, "Of course, you can tell at a glance that he's from the Lu family."

"By the way, have you named the child yet?" Sun Yumei asked, looking up.

“We’ve chosen his name, Lu Yang, the Yang of the sun.”

"Lu Yang?" Lu Jianguo read it aloud and nodded in satisfaction: "Very good, not flashy, simple, easy to remember, and impressive."

The two elderly people held little Lu Yang, unable to get enough of looking at him or kissing him.

One minute they're praising how well-shaped these little hands are, saying they're destined to be good writers; the next minute they're saying how loud and clear their cries are, implying they'll be healthy in the future.

Lu Yuan stayed until almost 11 o'clock, when he saw that the two elderly people's eyelids could not stay open any longer, so he had to persuade them: "You two should go back and rest first, you can come back to see us tomorrow."

Sun Yumei reluctantly handed the baby back to Lu Yuan, reminding him, "The baby is one thing, but Xiao Miao just gave birth, you need to give her some proper nourishment..."

The door closed, and the whole world finally fell completely silent.

Only a dim wall lamp was on in the room, its soft light enveloping this small space.

Lu Yuan put his son back in the cradle, tucked him in, and returned to the bedside to hold Chen Xiaomiao's hand again.

"Xiao Miao, thank you."

"Why are you bringing this up again? Don't be so polite."

Chen Xiaomiao felt embarrassed by Lu Yuan's repeated thanks, so she glared at him, pulled her hand back, and patted the spot next to her.

"I can't sleep, can you chat with me?"

Lu Yuan sat on the edge of the bed as instructed.

Chen Xiaomiao stared at him, hesitated for a long time, and then suddenly asked a question.

“Lu Yuan, tell me… when are we going to shave our baby’s first hair? Can we make a calligraphy brush from it? I heard my master say that a good baby hair brush makes the talismans more effective.”

Lu Yuan was both amused and exasperated: "What era are we living in? Who still uses a brush to write talismans... Besides, our son won't become a Taoist priest in the future."

"That's hard to say," Chen Xiaomiao muttered, then asked another question: "With his tiny hands and feet, when will he be able to walk?"

"It's still a long way off, at least a year from now."

"Why is he sleeping so much? He's not crying or making a fuss. Is he hungry?"

"I just fed him, and babies need to sleep a lot."

"Tell me... does he even know I'm his mother?"

"Of course I know."

Chen Xiaomiao asked one question, and Lu Yuan answered one question patiently, without showing the slightest impatience.

When asked the last question, Chen Xiaomiao realized she had talked too much nonsense, so she shrank further under the covers, leaving only her dark eyes showing.

Looking at her like this, and then at his son sleeping peacefully in the cradle, Lu Yuan's heart was filled with joy.

He leaned down and gently kissed Chen Xiaomiao's forehead.

"Thank you, Xiao Miao..."

A blush rose on Chen Xiaomiao's cheeks. She blinked and muttered to herself.

"This is the third time... Honey, you're so mushy."

(End of this chapter)