Transmigrated Genius: Fragile Heiress Reigns Supreme-Chapter 759 - 760: Passing Away (5)

"Fourth Master brought over the cup from the table, inside it had cooled water." Xiqiu pointed to Zhi’s cup on the table. Hearing this, Fourth Master Xiao went to fetch the cup, scooped water with a spoon to feed Zhi. Indeed, Zhi smacked his lips while sipping from the spoon, looking innocent. Fourth Master Xiao fed him a few more times, and Zhi seemingly content, turned his head and tightly closed his little mouth.

When Fourth Master Xiao took the spoon away, he opened his mouth wide for a yawn...

"Let me hold him." Not having seen him all day, Fourth Master Xiao, feeling very fond, took him from Xiqiu’s arms and paced the room, but Zhi seemed ungrateful, pursing his lips, while his little head kept burrowing into Fourth Master Xiao’s embrace.

Fourth Master Xiao furrowed his brows as Xiqiu watched the father and son, suppressing laughter. Every time Zhi burrowed in a little more, Fourth Master Xiao pushed the swaddle out a little more, Zhi burrowed again... This repeated until finally, Fourth Master Xiao simply stretched his arms, and Zhi, feeling less secure, burst into tears with a wail.

The silent contest between father and son ended with Zhi’s crying.

Fourth Master Xiao murmured, "Why does he cry so much?" yet couldn’t bear to put him down, continuing to pace the room.

"Fourth Master, let me hold him, he must be hungry." Fourth Master Xiao turned to Xiqiu and asked, "Shall I call Mrs. Zhou then?" He still wasn’t aware that Xiqiu had started producing milk.

Xiqiu, smiling brightly, said, "No need to call her." She gestured for Fourth Master Xiao to pass the baby to her, and upon receiving him, Xiqiu lifted her hand to draw the drapes, nursing Zhi inside. Instantly, the room echoed with the sound of Zhi contentedly sucking, interspersed with soft hums from his little nose.

Fourth Master Xiao looked at Xiqiu in surprise, somewhat awkwardly asked, "You..." Xiqiu smiled and said, "Nanny Cen found a remedy, I intend to feed him for a few months first, when there truly is no more milk, it’s not impossible to have Mrs. Zhou feed him then."

Fourth Master Xiao hesitated, nodded in agreement, and sat down at the round table without saying more.

Just then, the curtain was suddenly lifted from outside, and Min ran in, "Zhi, Zhi!" His little legs pitter-pattered as he rushed in.

Xiqiu was startled, looking at Fourth Master Xiao for help. Min was already quite big, memories now could stay with him for a lifetime. Xiqiu suddenly felt uneasy, wanting to cover up but afraid Zhi hadn’t had enough and would fuss...

Fourth Master Xiao understood the signal and coughed, "Min." Min halted his steps, looked at Fourth Master Xiao, immediately stood properly and saluted, "Father."

"Hmm." Fourth Master Xiao responded deeply, "I heard from Mr. Song that you started learning the Student Rules these past days? How’s the study going?"

Min stood properly, his little hands hanging at his sides, looking at the ground. When asked by Fourth Master Xiao, he quickly glanced up at him and replied, "The Student Rules, I can already recite the whole text by heart."

Hearing this, Fourth Master Xiao raised an eyebrow, "Hmm." He said no more, lowering his head to drink tea.

Min stood there feeling a bit at a loss, unsure whether to advance or retreat, looking at Fourth Master Xiao nervously.

Just then, a voice called, "Min." It was his mother’s voice. Min’s mouth turned up into a smile, his little legs quietly moved back a step, sneaked a glance at Fourth Master Xiao. Seeing no reaction from him, he stepped back again, sneaked another glance, and seeing Fourth Master Xiao still drinking tea as if he hadn’t noticed, he secretly let out a sigh of relief.

Xiqiu called again, "Min, come in."

Min responded quietly, "Yes!" and looked again at Fourth Master Xiao, seeing his relaxed and unoffended expression, immediately turned and slipped around the front screen and inside, "Mother!" He ran over to Zhi, touching his little face, "Zhi, were you good today? There were lots of people at home today, did you miss brother?"

Xiqiu smiled watching Min, whose big eyes were gazing at Zhi. Zhi, having just eaten and drunk, appeared utterly satisfied, even burped as if in response, leaving Min stunned. He looked up and asked Xiqiu, "Mother, what did he just eat?" He paused, leaned closer to Zhi’s face and sniffed, "Smells good!"

Xiqiu’s cheeks turned an almost imperceptible red, yet she still smiled and said, "He drank milk, he’s still so little, he can only drink milk now."

Min furrowed his brow, a look of half understanding, "Milk?" Xiqiu patiently explained what milk was. Outside, Fourth Master Xiao, unable to listen any longer, coughed and entered with arms behind him, "Don’t you need to practice calligraphy? Didn’t your teacher assign homework?"

Min glanced at Xiqiu. Whenever she was present, his courage seemed a bit bigger, so he replied to Fourth Master Xiao, "The teacher did assign homework, I’ll return to it later."

"Hmm." Fourth Master Xiao acknowledged, expressionlessly sitting down by the bed. In any case, the discussion on milk was finally diverted.

Xiqiu chuckled quietly to herself.

Zhi was wide-eyed, burping to the left and yawning to the right, yet still reluctant to go to sleep. Min patted his little face: "Are you very tired but can’t fall asleep?" Zhi politely yawned in response, and Min frowned: "Sometimes I can’t sleep either. Why don’t I tell you a story? What do you want to hear? How about the story of Kong Rong giving away pears, which Mr. Song just told me."

Xiqiu was leaning to one side, watching the boys "chat."

Fourth Master Xiao sat at the end of the bed, his eyebrows moving up and down. Xiqiu was afraid he might interrupt Min’s storytelling and dampen the child’s enthusiasm, so she winked at Fourth Master Xiao to signal him not to speak.

Min cleared his throat and began: "Once upon a time, there was a child named Kong Rong... He was four years old... Uh, just about my age..." He started to narrate the story of Kong Rong giving away pears, word by word. The room was quiet, with only Min’s tender voice echoing, not very clearly.

When the story ended, Xiqiu laughed and said, "Min, you told it wonderfully." Min placed a short finger on his lips and said, "Shh!" Then whispered, "Little brother is asleep."

Xiqiu looked and indeed saw that Zhi had fallen asleep.

She chuckled softly, exchanged a glance with Fourth Master Xiao, and saw his eyes full of tenderness as well.

Xiqiu rubbed Min’s little head, speaking gently: "Min, you’re such a good brother, you know how to lull your little brother to sleep now." Min blushed shyly and smiled, "Well... it’s not that. He was just about to fall asleep."

Whether he hadn’t been sleeping soundly or was awakened by the voices, Zhi suddenly opened his eyes again and started crying out loud...

Fourth Master Xiao furrowed his brows, picked up Zhi into his arms, and turned to ask Xiqiu: "Why is he crying when he’s full?" As soon as he finished speaking, the little one in his arms stopped crying and fell asleep again.

Xiqiu sighed, it seemed like Zhi had been spoiled by a house full of people these past couple of days and wanted to sleep in someone’s arms.

Just as she was about to speak, she noticed Min looking at Fourth Master Xiao with surprise. Xiqiu had a thought and called out: "Min, how about staying here to have dinner with mother tonight?"

Min quickly withdrew his gaze, and there was a look of disappointment in his eyes.

In his memory, his father had never held him, nor had he ever seen such a loving look and expression on his father’s face at this moment.

Xiqiu felt heartache for Min. This child is too sensitive, he must have seen Fourth Master Xiao holding Zhi and thought of his own relationship with Fourth Master Xiao. She didn’t want to leave a shadow in his young heart, making him feel that Fourth Master Xiao was unfair as a father, so she smiled and said, "Zhi is very naughty, only a couple of days and he’s already starting to misbehave." She paused and continued, "Unlike our Min, who was particularly well-behaved when he was little. Mother remembers that when you were just born, you didn’t cry or fuss. Your father held you, and you slept soundly in his arms."

Min’s eyes lit up at this, asking, "Mother, you’ve seen how I looked when I was little?" noting that his father had held him too.

Xiqiu nodded seriously and replied, "Yes, at that time you had just been born, very small, as small as Zhi, and lying in the arms like a little cat..." Min blushed: "Like a cat?" Xiqiu nodded and gestured with her hands to indicate the size: "Yeah, this big, weren’t you like a cat, round and very cute, even more endearing than Zhi, with especially big eyes!"

Fourth Master Xiao stopped in his tracks, looked back at the mother and son for a moment, his gaze moved to Zhi, and with a look of realization, he lifted the curtain and called Chunliu inside: "Call Mrs. Zhou to come and take Zhi to rest."

Chunliu answered and soon Mrs. Zhou came in to carry Zhi out. Min reluctantly watched the door, and Xiqiu discreetly breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed that in the future, when Min was present, it was best not to let Fourth Master Xiao hold Zhi.

In the evening, the three of them had dinner together in Xiqiu’s room. Fourth Master Xiao escorted Min back to the rear courtyard while Xiqiu leaned against the bed and chatted with Nanny Cen. Ruan Jingliu had been nowhere to see all day, even the medical clinic had no sign of her, and she still hadn’t returned by now, leaving everyone wondering where she had gone...

Somehow, Xiqiu felt like Ruan Jingliu was intentionally avoiding everyone.

The sky was growing dark and large red lanterns were lit in the courtyard. Nanny Cen had just left the room when she saw Nanny Qiu hurrying in. Nanny Cen noticed her uneasy expression, and with a knowing glance, she smiled and welcomed Nanny Qiu inside.

Nanny Qiu called out with slightly reddened eyes as soon as she entered: "Sixth Lady." Nanny Cen observed and silently stepped out. She had just reached the door when she heard the lady’s voice from inside.

"Passed away? When did it happen?"