Tuoba Lie still preferred it when the little one was in a good mood, she would burst into laughter just from a tease, laughing so happily.
Tuoba Lie would be busy until late in the evening before ing back, and then he’d have dinner with Nan Feng. He no longer had the mind to have her serve him at night, just wanting her to stay quietly here was enough to make him very happy. He even specifically instructed the cooks to prepare more foods that were conducive to lactation, to prevent the little one from going hungry.
With Nan Feng well-fed, the baby naturally ate well too. After living here for a while, Xiaobao seemed to grow bigger by the day, and the little clothes tailored earlier quickly became too small. And it seemed she looked different every day, growing more and more like Nan Feng.
At first, Tuoba Lie went from disliking Xiaobao to liking her more and more. A child’s heart is the purest, they cling to whoever treats them well, and this little Xiaobao was particularly wary of strangers, always wanting either Nan Feng or Tuoba Lie to hold her.
As for the new wet nurses brought in, she wouldn’t let any of them hold her.
Tuoba Lie originally hired these wet nurses to reduce Nan Feng’s workload, but since Xiaobao refused to be held by them, the responsibility of caring for Xiaobao naturally fell entirely on Nan Feng.
Nan Feng, on the other hand, felt that time passed faster this way.
But unlike Xiaobao, who grew bigger every day, she was getting thinner by the day. Even though she no longer had to collect cow dung and her life was much easier now—she used to cook for herself, but now the meals were brought directly by the maids—her health was declining daily.
She seemed to be constantly enduring for the sake of her daughter and also enduring Tuoba Lie. Under such circumstances, even eating more was futile.
…
The Empress had recently noticed that Tuoba Lie’s life had bee especially regular.
Aside from his daily exercises, he would return to his tent to stay with Nan Feng and her daughter, which made the Empress very unhappy.
Wasn’t he supposed to be tormenting her properly?
When she had heard that Tuoba Lie had Nan Feng collect cow dung, she didn’t believe it at first and had even sent someone to verify it. To her surprise, they found Nan Feng really picking up cow dung. That’s when she believed that Tuoba Lie was indeed furious and had brought Nan Feng back to deal with her.
But later, when she heard that he had executed Huahua for Nan Feng’s sake, the Empress was confused again. If he wanted to torment Nan Feng, anyone could do it—why not let Huahua do the tormenting?
However, she later figured it out. It’s like a toy; I can leave it idle there, and I might smash it when I have time, but no one else can smash it. If someone else does, he would feel unfortable. It seems that her son had this mindset.
Now that she heard he was providing for Nan Feng and her daughter with good food and drink, the Empress couldn’t understand it. She felt that Tuoba Lie must have been affected by some love potion; he was actually tolerating Nan Feng to this extent.
If the child born to Nan Feng was his, that would be one thing, but Xiaobao wasn’t Tuoba Lie’s at all. How long was he going to remain obsessed?
The Empress could not hold back any longer, and on a sunny and breezy morning, she stopped Tuoba Lie.
“This son pays respect to mother,” said Tuoba Lie, giving a salute to the Empress before looking at her sulking face and asking, “Does Mother have something to find this son for?”
“Lielie, e with Mother,” said the Empress and turned around, walking towards the palace.
Inside the palace, the Empress handed an envelope to Tuoba Lie, “Lielie, look at this. What is it?”
“Mother, what is this? Why do you want your son to see this?” Tuoba Lie couldn’t help but ask.
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