The Grand Secretary's Child-Raising Diary

Lu Youning: Yes, yes, he misses Lao Deng.

The eight-month-old baby could already control his hands and feet, and Lu Youning was not afraid of being discovered to be an imposter. He grabbed his cheap father's fingers and started to pull hard.

Humans often instinctively feel protective towards babies, and Lu Shiyan was no exception. He subconsciously followed Lu Youning's lead and gently supported her. And so, Lu Youning, holding onto her adoptive father's hand, leaned against the edge of the cradle.

After several hours without food or water, her little hands and legs were weak and trembling like leaves, but Lu Youning didn't care at all. After all, what was a little hardship compared to framing her cheap old man?

He looked up, flashed a toothless smile at his cheap old man, then let go and fell out of the scooter.

Before Lu Shiyan could recover from his son's laughter, he reached out and scooped the boneless little man into his arms.

Although he entered officialdom through the imperial examination, in order to cater to the emperor's preference for martial arts, the sons of noble families in the capital would hire martial arts masters to teach them martial arts from a young age, and Lu Shiyan was no exception.

It was thanks to his agility that a storm of rumors arose that "the Second Master disliked his youngest son and wanted to kill him by hitting his head on the ground."

Lu Youning was gently scooped into his father's arms, but instead of being scared, he giggled. The wet nurse was quite frightened, but still forced herself to say, "The Third Young Master likes the Second Young Master."

Lu Youning: Oh right, he loves it to death.

Seeing that Lu Shiyan did not blame him, the young master tugged at the second master's clothes without crying. The two wet nurses exchanged a glance, turned around and went to the inner room. When they came out, Zhang wet nurse was carrying a bowl of milk.

Lu Shiyan's attention was entirely focused on the finger being held; the soft touch made him somewhat dazed. He had never liked close contact with others since childhood, and after marriage, he and Qin Shi maintained a respectful but distant relationship, their occasional physical intimacy merely for the sake of maintaining harmony within the household…

The two wet nurses didn't forget their duties. They tried countless ways to get the young master to drink milk that afternoon, but to no avail. The Earl's mansion had strict rules; they had been punished with a beating for just a few words of protest. If the young master were to suffer from hunger, they would likely be half-dead.

It was still Zhang the wet nurse who spoke up first: "Second Master, the Third Young Master hasn't eaten all afternoon. Madam called a doctor to examine him, but he couldn't find anything wrong. What do you think?"

Lu Youning turned his face away from his cheap father's arms, deciding that if Lao Deng dared to bring that thing over, he would reluctantly reach out and let the bowl spill on Lao Deng, to make Lao Deng furious.

Fortunately, Lu Shiyan didn't give Lu Youning a chance to cause trouble, waving his hand to signal the wet nurse to take the things away. Looking at the listless and dispirited child she had nursed, the wet nurse was about to say a few more words of comfort when Huai Yan's voice rang out from outside:

"Master, the goat milk has been delivered."

Upon hearing the words "goat milk," Lu Youning's eyes lit up. After a whole afternoon of fussing, he was starving. Although goat milk wasn't as good as food, it was still better than his wet nurse's milk.

When Huaiyan brought in the goat milk, he was so surprised to see that the Second Master was holding the young master in his arms that he almost tripped over his own foot. Fortunately, he was agile and steadily delivered the goat milk, which was at the perfect temperature, to the wet nurse.

Lu Shiyan got up to send Lu Youning back to the cradle so that the wet nurse could feed him goat milk, but the little one in his arms seemed to know that he was about to leave his father, and one hand tightly gripped his collar and wouldn't let go.

Huaiyan and Shouyan had served Lu Shiyan since they were young, and they knew best how their master treated this young master. In order to prevent their master from being too rough and causing rumors that would affect his official career, Huaiyan hurriedly stepped forward to help carry Lu Youning out of Lu Shiyan's arms.

It was strange, though. Just a moment ago everything was fine, but when he approached, the little master seemed to dislike him very much and burst into tears.

Even if he was not favored by the Second Master, there was still a difference in rank, and a master was a master. Huaiyan immediately dared not touch him.

At this time of day, Lu Shiyan would have already finished bathing and was sitting in his study reading.

Today, Lu Shiyan was held back by Lu Youning. Although he was a little impatient, he couldn't lose his temper with a baby who didn't understand anything. He picked up Lu Youning and sat down. The wet nurse handed the goat milk to Huaiyan.

Even after boiling, the goat milk still had a faint goaty smell, but Lu Youning accepted it well. He could die, but he absolutely couldn't be a starving ghost. Temporarily abandoning his plan to torment his adoptive father, Lu Shiyan fed him spoonful by spoonful, and he drank obediently, spoonful by spoonful.

The bowl of goat milk was quickly emptied, and Lu Youning licked her lips, still wanting more.

Seeing his satisfied little face, Huaiyan couldn't help but say, "Second Master, you were right. Young Master wants to try something different. I heard from Mama Qian that you also only drank goat's milk when you were eight or nine months old."

Madam Qian was Lu Shiyan's wet nurse. She took care of Lu Shiyan as he grew up and only left the mansion to return to her hometown after Lu Shiyan got married.

Lu Youning hadn't eaten or drunk anything all afternoon, and was now savoring the taste of the goat milk when he heard Huaiyan's words. He was immediately annoyed. It was truly an unexpected coincidence that he and Lao Deng had such a connection.

He muttered to himself, "Tsk, what a clever copycat." He didn't even consider that without this coincidence, who would have guessed he'd suddenly changed his tastes?

Although the little master suddenly refused to drink their milk, Zhang, the wet nurse, was still very happy to see that he was finally eating properly and not sick.

She mustered her courage and suggested to Lu Shiyan, "Second Master, since the young master has stopped breastfeeding, drinking only goat's milk may not be enough. Why not add some easily digestible dairy products to his three meals?"

In ordinary households, babies around six months old are usually fed rice porridge. Children from wealthy families, however, are pampered and typically don't start eating solid food until they are over seven months old.

There's a reason why Lu Youning was still only drinking milk at eight months old. Babies born through difficult labor have weak digestive systems. When Lu Youning was six months old, he was fed a mouthful of rice gruel and had diarrhea for several days. At that time, many servants in Songtao Courtyard were talking privately that the child probably wouldn't survive.

Finally, thanks to the Second Master's invitation to a royal physician skilled in pediatrics, who prescribed some medicine for them to drink before feeding the young master, he slowly recovered. From then on, they continued to feed him only breast milk and did not add any other food.

Hearing the wet nurse's suggestion, Lu Youning was happy again. If he wasn't afraid of being treated as some kind of monster, he would have given the wet nurse a thumbs up.

That evening, Lu Youning successfully drank a bowl of slightly thin rice porridge, but he was quite satisfied. After all, everything has to be done step by step, right? Just like messing with his cheap old man.

The father and son lived in the same courtyard but in different rooms. Lu Youning was well-fed and had no illnesses, so he slept soundly, while Lu Shiyan suffered from insomnia.