Chapter 99: Do You Want a Daughter?
In the early morning, Bai Wei carried a neatly packed breakfast back home.
There have been Chinese-style steamed bun shops in Yingzhou for a long time, and their business is also quite prosperous.
If it weren't for the pressures of life, who would enjoy waking up early every day to make breakfast? He only wants to go to the breakfast shop, where they serve delicious oily doughsticks, soy milk, steamed buns, spicy soup, fresh noodles, hand-pulled pancakes, egg-filled pancakes, soup dumplings, and rice porridge.
After Yagyū Simozi finished her simple morning training, she looked at her return elder brother with a sense of wonder. Little did she know that Bai Wei had actually not returned home all night.
Bai Wei rarely stayed out all night, so he felt a strange sense of guilt. It was as if he had been at an internet cafe from late at night until the early morning, but pretended to have gone out to buy breakfast and then came back home, just like a high school student would do.
However, Yagyū Simozi was a kind and understanding young girl. She wouldn't pry into her elder brother's little secrets, even if she had a sense that something was amiss. Even though they were as close as family, she understood the importance of respecting each other's privacy.
It's like, even if she knew where Bai Wei, in his teenage years, kept his notebooks and DVDs, and what kind of action movies he preferred, she would pretend to know nothing about it. But secretly, she would make some of the DVDs and comics that didn't match her taste disappear mysteriously.
Every mealtime was a time for the siblings to communicate, but today's conversation was a little awkward.
Both of them had something on their minds.
Yagyū Simozi's main worries were caused by Hokusinn Kichyō, as well as the strange dreams she had about RashoMon and the old man Saizō.
Bai Wei's worries stemmed from the exclamation point above Yagyū Simozi's head, Sakurai Shiru's Blood Moon Disease, and not knowing how to confess.
To take in Sakurai Shiru, a series of formal procedures must be followed. In a place like Yingzhou, where she is an orphan with a terminal illness, she has no social value. The best outcome would be to send her to a sanatorium or welfare home, where she would become a case used by certain charitable organizations for publicity. The worst outcome, most likely, would be to die in a hallway bed of a public hospital.
Yingzhou is a small country with limited resources. Its development heavily relies on international trade and the global market. It imports a large amount of resources and, as a result, people who are deemed useless are considered to be of no value and are abandoned by mainstream society.
So, there wasn't much resistance to taking in Sakurai Shiru, and Yingzhou didn't have a law yet that required a certain age difference for adopting children. Bai Wei had the intention, and the authorities and official institutions wouldn't stop him. Instead, they would easily agree, just like getting rid of a burden.
So the problem still originated from within the family, and whether Yagyū Simozi could accept this little girl was the biggest question.
Bai Wei could do things his own way, but he couldn't ignore his sister's wishes. While he could take care of Sakurai Shiru, Yagyū Simozi, as a woman herself, would also face the pressures of life.
And so, Bai Wei spoke up, saying, "Simozi, I have a question for you, and I want you to answer truthfully."
Yagyū Simozi looked up and took a bite of a dumpling, then said, "What's the matter, brother? Why suddenly so serious?"
Bai Wei looked serious and asked, "Do you feel comfortable staying in Yingzhou these days?"
Yagyū Simozi's fingertips froze for a moment, and she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She nodded and said, "I'm very used to it. I am from Yingzhou, so the surroundings are familiar to me. I'm still going to school, and everything is going well. It's just that…"
"Just what?"
"Brother, do you feel like you're not used to it yet? Or would it be better for us to stay in Ming Country?" she asked nervously, anxiously clutching the dumpling wrapper.
"……" Bai Wei shook his head silently. "You misunderstood. What I wanted to ask was, since it's just the two of us at home, are you still comfortable with your life?"
"Hasn't it always been just me and my brother staying together? It's always been just the two of us at home," Yagyū Simozi said, feeling confused.
Bai Wei's expression slightly changed. He opened his mouth, scratched his head, feeling troubled about how to say it.
After carefully choosing his words and thinking for a moment, he finally sighed and bravely asked.
"I won't beat around the bush anymore," he said straightforwardly.
He looked at Yagyū Simozi, and he asked her with a serious tone, "Would you be willing to have one more person in our home?"
The atmosphere became very tense.
Yagyū Simozi's dumpling fell onto her plate, and she absentmindedly took a bite, unintentionally biting her own lip.
The girl's calm expression froze like a sculpture. After a while, she suddenly widened her eyes. Her brain briefly froze due to an overwhelming amount of calculations. It finally started working again, but it kept jumping back and forth between a blue screen and shutting down.
"Have one more…"
Her voice turned sharp as she exclaimed, "One more person?!"
A family of two, and now there's going to be one more person?
What does this mean?
What on Earth does this mean?
What other meaning could there possibly be?
Lonely man and woman, about to become a bigger family, what else could this possibly mean?!
…giving birth, giving birth, having a baby?
Yagyū Simozi's mind didn't listen to commands at all. Her advanced understanding instantly skipped the surface meaning of this sentence, avoiding any complicated possibilities and went straight to a specific answer that matched her expectations.
So she became very nervous, extremely agitated.
After all, she was only eighteen years old, not yet an adult. Even though she could already bear children, isn't it still a bit too soon?
There were still many things she wanted to do herself, becoming a family so early would affect…
Yagyū Simozi held her hot face, and just the thought of an intimate encounter made steam rise from her head.
"Big brother, are you sure?" Yagyū Simozi stuttered uncertainly. "Do we really want to add a new member to our family?"
Bai Wei anticipated that her reaction would be big, but he didn't expect it to be quite so intense.
The young man nodded and said, "Yes… I think it will be a girl."
"Girl?" Yagyū Simozi exclaimed, blushing and covering her face, her ears turning bright red.
Oh no, my brother is serious!
He even wished for a daughter!
Perhaps he had even decided on a name.
"Yes, but… it's not impossible…" Yagyū Simozi stammered.
She couldn't refuse, and she didn't want to refuse at all.
Bai Wei breathed a sigh of relief. Having a sister who was understanding and reasonable was better than anything.
"That's great!" he exclaimed happily. "Then we have to quickly start preparing," he said, filled with joy.
"Prepare? For what?" Simozi asked in surprise. "Brother, do you mean… right now?"
"Yes, although not immediately, I hope it can happen as soon as possible," Bai Wei nodded. "Let's say within the next two weeks."
"This is too fast!" Yagyū Simozi's head started to spin even more, and she shook her head repeatedly. "It's too soon, brother, how can you be in such a hurry? After all, even two weeks is…!"
The usual preparation period for pregnancy is usually measured in years. Two weeks…
"It's a bit fast," Bai Wei admitted. "That's why I came to talk to you about it."
"But, but…" Yagyū Simozi crossed her legs, lowered her hands, and stuttered, "I, I'm not mentally prepared yet… We're still very young, there's really no rush, right? In another four or five years, we'll even have to consult with our uncle and aunt…"
"It has nothing to do with them, and those two people can't be relied upon," Bai Wei sighed and criticized, "They are always out and about… Besides, they are not part of the Bai family. Now, I am the only one left from the Bai family."
"This is a lifelong matter of adding a family member, so I need to discuss it with them," Yagyū Simozi tightly clenched her fingertips, feeling shy and unable to express herself. She had a million desires in her heart, but she still needed to go through the motions.
At the command of her parents and the words of the matchmaker, she still held onto the dreams of love that every young girl has. They made vows of eternal love and celebrated with a cup of wine, as they entered the bridal chamber adorned with red candles and a veil.
Even when you play Azur Lane, the Commander should give a ring of commitment before setting sail, right? How can one expect to board the ship without these?
Bai Wei had a different opinion about this.
"It's not too late to report back later. I suspect that the two of them might be reluctant to agree because of the trouble. So let's make it a fait accompli first. Once we have accomplished it, even if they don't agree, they will have to reluctantly accept it… as long as it's done, we can bring the person back to the Ming Country."
"As long as it's done?!"
Yagyū Simozi, filled with embarrassment and anger, slapped the table and said, "Brother, even someone like me would get upset!"
How could you say it so straightforwardly!
What's wrong with waiting a few more years? Can't I run away then?
The girl has very thin skin and can't bear to hear such vulgar words!
"I, I won't talk to you anymore!" she exclaimed.
"I disagree! It seems too hasty, and I absolutely refuse!" she exclaimed firmly.
"The necessary steps must be followed, not a single one can be skipped!"
Yagyū Simozi slammed the table and ran away, her cheeks turning red as she covered her face. She hurried all the way from the dining room back to her bedroom and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.
She leaned against the door, her hand pressed against her racing heart, breathing heavily.
Bai Wei sat in front of the dining table and couldn't help but fall into deep thoughts.
"Simozi, she…"
"Could it be…"
"Did my words just now create certain related thoughts and unnecessary misunderstandings?"
