The next morning, He Yuan stepped out of Han Tao's family wing to find a brand new Han mansion. The entire floor was covered with soft fluffy rugs and every single edge in the house had been baby proofed.
He had a bland expression on his face as he walked down the two flight of stairs that led to the living room and then walked over to the dining room.
The dining table had a total of fourteen seats. Six on the right, six on the left and then one on each end of the table. The seating arrangents of the Hans during als was like this; The Han Madam sat at one end of the table whilst Han Yuanjun, as the current male head, sat on the other end with his wife seated on his left.
On the Han Madam's left were Han Rong, Gu Longwei and the triplets. On her right were Min Yanyu, Han Tao -being Min Yanyu's first son- sat right after, the next spot was of course ant for Han Tao's wife, Xu Lifen and since Han Jinhai was dead, Chen ili just took up the spot after Xu Lifen.
This left two seats empty. These were the spot after Chen ili's spot and the seat on the right of Han Yuanjun.
To others, these seats were just two empty seats but to He Yuan, these seats ant that Chen ili had a lot of options to chose from as to where to sit but did she choose any of those? Of course not. The special one had chosen to comfortably sit next to Han Tao... Right in Xu Lifen's spot.
Worse, the Hans were all conversing like it was perfectly normal. The absolute disregard.
Chen ili caught sight of He Yuan walking into the hall at that mont. "Ah sister-in-law? Sorry for taking your seat. I was a little carried away with the conversation and randomly sat here." And then she made a big show of painstakingly standing up.
Han Tao was the first to react. He gently placed a hand on Chen ili's shoulder to hold her back. "It's a simple mistake, just let it go. You're pregnant and shouldn't move around too much."
Chen ili still looked a little hesitant and Han Rong joined in. "ili, you really shouldn't stress yourself, even the father of the babies is this concerned." She turned to He Yuan. "Xu Lifen you should understand, right. It isn't as if ili sat there on purpose."
Min Yanyu eyed He Yuan. "What's the fuss for?" Then she turned her head sideways and adjusted a bit to look at Chen ili. "Just sit wherever you want, you're pregnant, it's no big deal."
He Yuan barely spared each of them a glance and just camly walked over to the empty seat on Han Yuanjun's right and sat down.
Whatever the Hans were expecting, they did not get, rather Xu Lifen camly brought a bowl closer to herself and began filling it up with food.
This situation made it seem like they were the ones making a fuss for no reason. Han Tao eyed his wife. For so reason, he felt guilty. He slowly frowned. It wasn't as if he did anything wrong. Chen ili was carrying him and Xu Lifen's babies. It was right of him to be a little cautious. He lifted his hand from Chen ili's shoulder and turned his attention to his food.
At her end of the table, the elderly Han Madam eyed Xu Lifen. She was a bit irked by the fact that this granddaughter-in-law of hers did not offer any form of greeting but there was a more pressing issue. She took a sip of her glass of water and cleared her throat. "Xu girl."
He Yuan did not lift his head from his food as he answered, "Hm?"
Han Yuanjun eyed He Yuan briefly whilst the Han Madam narrowed her eyes. "The banquet yesterday was mainly for the reveal of the pregnancy was it not? Why were you absent?"
Every single person turned to He Yuan then.
Min Yanyu had a disappointed sneer, Chen ili lowered her head in guilt, Han Rong and her family all had varying expressions that ranged from satisfaction to interest, Han Yuanjun and Gu Lan were mostly curious whilst Han Tao paid rapt attention.
Honestly, he had no idea that Xu Lifen would not return after she left them the evening before.
He'd initially thought she was just going to vent for a bit and attend the banquet but soti during the banquet, a few elites had politely asked of his wife and that was when he realized she never returned.
After the banquet, he'd planned to confront her but Chen ili had gotten sick due to all the movent and he'd stayed behind with a servant to watch over her.
With all the attention on him, He Yuan chewed up the food in his mouth, drank so water and neatly dabbed his mouth with a paper towel before answering, "I was not in the mood."
The expressions of every single person shifted and the Han Madam stamped her walking stick three tis on the ground. She couldn't believe the nerve of Xu Lifen. "So whether or not to attend an important family banquet now depends on your mood?" She turned to her grandson in anger, "A'Tao, this is what you married?"
Han Tao frowned at He Yuan and Han Rong tsked in disappointnt. "Xu Lifen, that had been very irresponsible of you. No matter what goes on between you and your husband, in the end, the children are yours too. You shouldn't take your anger out on them like this."
He Yuan completely ignored them once more. He'd already said his piece. It wasn't as if they were going to take Xu Lifen's complaint seriously anyways so why bother? He went back to eating his food.
BAM!
The Han Madam slamd her walking stick with a bit more force this ti. This was the reason she disliked this Xu girl so much. Not a single shred of respect in her bones! She was just about to heatedly chastise the unruly woman when,
"Grandmother!" Chen ili called out in distress. "You shouldn't get too angry lest your illness flares up. This is a happy period for us. Why not focus on only the good instead? The banquet was wonderful and I'm very glad that you all took out your ti to plan it.
-I hadn't had a good ti as much as I did last night." She looked from one person to the other with her beautiful large eyes overflowing with warmth and added with touching emotion, "Thank you."
Just like that, the tense atmosphere was expertly diffused. The Hans all looked at Chen ili with bright smiles. Knowing that their efforts were appreciated made them so happy. On the other hand, Han Tao eyes -full of gratitude, appreciation and goodwill- were glued to the woman by his side.
This was the power of a woman with a great personality. Whilst his own wife caused problems wherever she went, ili brought life, joy and happiness. Confliction crossed his eyes and the grip on his chopsticks tightened in heartache. If only...
Light conversations resud in the dining hall with Chen ili being the centre of it all. Things were going great and He Yuan was just about ready to finish up and leave when Han Jiao opened her mouth.
"Cousin Tao," Han Jiao began with a thoughtful expression, "Now that Cousin ili is carrying your babies, it wouldn't do for her to remain in late cousin Jinhai's family wing all alone. What if sothing happens and no one is there to watch over her?"
Han Jiao's words had everyone thinking about this matter. Her words made sense, it was truly dangerous to have not just a pregnant woman but the pregnant woman carrying their heirs to be all alone.
Seeing the thoughtful looks on everyone, Han Jiao smiled. "How about she moves into cousin Taocs family wing instead? The two family wings are right next to each other and it would be easy for the servants to move cousin ili's stuff.
-Not just that, whenever Cousin ili misses late cousin Jinhai and wishes to rember him, she could easily go over to her family wing to reminisce."
By now, a couple of them were slowly nodding in agreent and anticipation filled Chen ili's heart, she discreetly glanced at Han Tao. If she was truly able to move into Han Tao's family wing... How nice that would be.
Han Tao glanced at his side and locked eyes with Chen ili, who was already looking at him. Both persons blushed slightly and looked away.
The Han Madam cleared her throat then. "This idea is not so bad. With Chen ili close, Han Tao and his wife could get fully imrsed in the process and we could send assign a couple of servants to her so we wouldn't have to bother about any accident occuring."
Han Rong nodded that's true. "ili what do you think."
Chen ili lowered her head shyly. "I have no thoughts on this. Anywhere is fine for ."
Han Yi rolled her eyes. "What do you an by anywhere is fine? Look here, I read sowhere that babies in the womb need not just the nourishnt from the mother but the father is important too. If you're in close proximity with cousin Tao, I'm sure the babies would like that very much."
Chen ili's eyes widened and everyone laughed. Min Yanyu raised her hands to clap softly. "It's settled then, after breakfast, we'd have the servants move your things to A'Tao's fami-"
"Ahem!" He Yuan cleared his throat then. He absolutely could not believe these clowns. He locked eyes with Min Yanyu. "Says who?"
Fu Lan eyed He Yuan opposite her and and whispered softly, "Lifen not now." She liked Chen ili a lot but she also felt a little uncomfortable with the idea. At the sa ti, Xu Lifen had been getting into a lot of trouble lately with everyone and she didn't like the fact that Han Tao's relationship with his wife appeared to be rapidly deteriorating.
He Yuan glanced briefly at Fu Lan before turning to Min Yanyu. "It's better if a room far away from the family wings was arranged for Chen ili. Preferably downstairs."
Alard flashed in Chen ili's eyes. "No!" She looked to Min Yanyu pleadingly. "Mother, I don't care if I stay in brother Tao's wing or not but I can't move far away from my family wing." Tears welled up in her eyes. "Everything in there is what I once shared with Jinhai. I can't... I can't..." She began hiccupping as tears burst forth.
He Yuan sneered. So now that it's ti to move downstairs, she suddenly rembered that she had a late husband?
Everyone beca distressed. Min Yanyu stood up and walked closer to half hug Chen ili. "ili don't cry, Xu Lifen can't force you to do what you don't want to do. No one can!"
Han Jiao turned to He Yuan angrily. "Xu Lifen, why do you always have sothing to complain about? There's lots of room in Cousin Tao's family wing and it's the closest one to Cousin Jinhai's family wing. Why can't Cousin ili stay there?!"
He Yuan relaxed back with a smile. "I'm rely concerned about the babies. My husband has already said it, Chen ili is pregnant so she shouldn't stress herself by moving around too much.
-If a simple act of vacating the seat that belongs to others is too much of a burden for her then I'm afraid that we shouldn't be letting her move up and down two flight of stairs to get to any of the family wings everyday."
His eyes slowly moved to Han Tao's. "What if she accidentally slips again, hm? Rember, we have to think about our babies."
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