The door opened softly, then steady footsteps approached the bed. Đường Tông Thanh stood in front of the bed, gently looking down at his beautiful wife who was holding the baby, the unshaven black beard still could not hide his handsome young face.

He smiled, took off his coat and hung it on the wooden folding screen behind him. A maid came in to pick up the leftovers that he had took off and also brought warm water and fresh towels for him to clean his face and hands.

“Have you eaten anything yet?” - Ninh Lan asked in a soft and sweet voice.

“When I heard the news from the butler that you had given birth, I immediately returned home as soon as I finished the work. Let me dry my hands, then give me my baby, I'll see how much her weight is that makes your belly so big.” - He made fun of his wife. - “Have you given the baby a name yet?”

“You, go down and cook some hot soup for the master to drink. Take your things and leave.” - Ninh Lan gave an order to the maid, then gently handed the baby to her husband's embrace. - “Take it easy, don't wake her up. Your mother set her milk name* is Nguyet Nhi. Our baby is still waiting for papa to nominate her.”

(*Milk name or false name is a way to call a baby at home and confuse the evil.)

“Haha, a fat duck is born in the autumn, let’s call her Thu Nguyet.” - Tong Thanh carefully hugged his daughter to estimate her weight, used his eyes to memorize the image of the baby, and then looked at his wife's belly - “I see that she is much smaller than your belly was, maybe the rest is fat huh?”

“That is what I wanna tell.” - Ninh Lan said with a serious face even though she knew that her husband's words were just a joke. - “Mother has something to hide from me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Although I fainted a while after I gave birth, I know there were two babies. Hardly understand why mother and A Thien insist that there is only one. The midwives and a few other maids went missing” - Ninh Lan looked at her husband's foolish face, then stopped, knowing he didn't understand, she said directly - “I have thought a lot, maybe one baby could miscarry, mother was afraid I was sad, so she hid it. Darling, you know that I am not a weak person, I just want to meet her once and give her a proper burial. But till now, I couldn’t ask much from mother.”

Hearing this, Đường Tông Thanh could only remain silent, he could not fully accept the fact that he might have lost a child. When Ninh Lan saw his reaction, she halted, just pursed her lips and waited for her husband to think it through by himself. After a while, he returned the baby to her hand, said with a heavy tone and left:

“You play with her, I'll go see my mother for a while.”

His footsteps stopped in front of his mother's complex, Tong Thanh standing and looking up at the sign named Thanh Tam gate. His whole body was feeling heavy from inside out, his mind was in agitation. Through Ninh Lan's words, he knew that there was something hidden in this matter. Originally, the butler had reported twins, but now there is only one left.

If it simply miscarried, then why would his mother have to hide like that, but this is his biological mother, there's no reason for her to harm her nieces. So what was the reason?

“Master? Why didn't you come in?” - The maid name Thuy Điep had a basin of hand sanitizer in her hand, and it seemed that she had just come back from the kitchen, caught him standing in a daze, and asked - “Madame is in the bedroom, lemme announce.”

He was a little startled, looked at the maid, then followed her in. At the main door, he stopped to wait for Thuy Điep to announce his appearance. The maid quicky come back, hurriedly said:

“Madame said you can come in. Master, allow me to leave”

He just nodded slightly and went in, straight through the main hall to his mother's bedroom. The old lady had changed her clothes, sat cross-legged on a Vietnamese rattan daybed, next to her was a low tea table with two cups of hot tea. Seeing him, she patted the empty space next to her.

“I know what you want to ask, sit down.” - Looking at his balking expression, she speaks with a cold voice - “The priest said Phoenix would reincarnate into our house, but Ninh Lan was pregnant with identical twins. For the future of the Đường family, it is better to make a mistake than to miss it. Do you understand?”

“Mother!” - Unexpectedly hearing the truth from his mother, Đường Tông Thanh could only gasp in fear.

“Haven’t you gone through all the tears and blood to get to this position, why be so surprised?” - The old lady gently pushed the teacup towards him, sighed softly, and seemed to sink into a vast space, her hand waving a rattan fan.

“So… where's the baby?” He took a sip of tea to soften his dry lips and asked.

“Nguyet Nhi’s elements lack The Wood, so I buried her under the yellow Apricot tree right next to Lineage hall. While cultivating the Phoenix spirit for Nguyet Nhi, keeping vigil of her ancestors, enjoying the scent of smoke, considered that she was not in vain reincarnated. That's the best for her!”

“But… what if she is…” - He stammered, unable to say all the words in his mind.

“She has a birthmark on her temple. Have you ever seen a queen have a defect on her face?” - Seeing her son's confused face, the old lady chided - “How can a man be able to revive the family if he acts like a woman. Finish this, go back to your yard. What needs to be done must be done decisively. As for Ninh Lan, do you know what to say?”

“Yes. I was clear.” - He raised his teacup, drank it, and left.

The old lady narrowed her eyes as she followed her son's figure and sighed. She threw the rattan fan aside, called the maid into her room to help her fan, and lay down on the rattan daybed, her hand resting on her forehead, and thought vaguely.

Leaving Thanh Tam gate, Tong Thanh felt like walking in a daze, not knowing where to go, lowering his head to look at the ground at his feet, hesitated for a moment, but after a while he seemed to have made a decision.

He stopped under the yellow Apricot tree. Gently lifting his back shirt, he squatted down and looked at the loose ground around him, his bare hands lightly stroking each layer of soil. Until he couldn't get anything, he sat down on the tree stump, looking up at the sky, his hands hanging helplessly.

“Please rest in peace.” - After a moment he whispered softly and then stood up, brushed his dirty hands and hid them under the hem of his shirt, and slowly left that place.

***

At the same time at Thanh Tam gate, a beautiful maid who wearing a sky blue shirt with a plum blossom brooch on her head rushed in and reported:

“Madame, indeed, Master has stopped at that place and dug around the tree for a while.”

“Well, he's my son, I always know what he'll do. That silly son!” - Listening to the maid's report, the old lady gently put down her arm that was resting on her forehead, blinking at the top of the ceiling. - “Thuy Diem, did you clean up the debris well enough?”

“Madame, rest assured, all the bones of those people have been put together and buried in another place. The lady's part, as the shaman said, I specially kept on the beams from the roof, surrounded by "wood element" to store. Till we find that Daoist priest and use it for the ceremony.”

“Good, I always feel satisfied when you do the work. Thuy Diem, if Tong Thanh had listened to me and accepted you, I would have been less miserable.” - The old lady turned her head to look at the direction where she was sitting and said faintly - "That Ninh Lan is stubborn and stupid, what is “a couple for a lifetime”? Without the Marquis’s power, she wouldn't survive for long. She is a good girl, just too simple for this complicated world”

“Lady Lan is blessed and prosperous. Madame, how dare a slave like me dream of being a concubine for Master? I will ruin the bloodline.”

Hearing her maid unobtrusively, the old lady also stopped complaining and waved her hand to the maid to retreat. Just continued to lie and staring at the ceiling for a while and then closed her eyes to sleep.