04

"How do you want to name our daughter, wife?" The man asked the woman holding Huayan in her arms as if she was a precious jewel like no other.

"...Huayan, she will be Huayan Ye. Little one, do you like your name?" Her tender, gentle eyes gazed at her daughter's swollen red face. She laughed a bit at her newborn's appearance.

"Our baby is ugly." She laughed and looked at her husband who smiled too. "Indeed, she is truly your daughter, wife." He lovingly answered.

Huayan opened her eyes wide at the comment. -Excuse me???!!- She could never have expected such words to come out of her own newly mother, one who embraced with so much love. And that her father would agree so fast. Aren't you supposed to find you baby cute even if it's not? Wasn't parents supposed to feign ignorance at such an important event!?

She mouthed something before crying out loud, crying  so hard as if she was the most wronged person on earth. The mother panicked and tried to appease her with caresses but nothing worked.

-The damage is done! Mother!-

Huayan cried so much. To be honest she was not crying because her new parents found her ugly. She just let out the pain that weighed on her heart all her life.

Because she was the type to swallow back every tears, anger. She felt that she didn't have the right to express strong feelings. She couldn't cry, every nights her heart ached she only stared at the stars. She hated pain above all too and refused to let it consume her but little did she know, it was eating her alive from inside. Leaving behind only a rotten, struggling human being.

Now she was a child, a baby, she could allow herself to express her discomfort.

She could be egoist and petty.

She was born on a snowy night and cried herself to sleep. The weather outside seemed to respond to her cries as the snow flakes were bigger and fell faster.

*

*

While Huayan was asleep the midwife who was also an old maid reassured her mistress. Children crying on their birth was a good thing, it showed that they were healthy.

"Maybe she understood our conversation, what do you think husband?" An Duo Ye, the mistress of the Ye household asked her  spouse Xie Ye.

"Don't be silly, of course not." He paused. "The baby was born healthy..."He said while sitting next to her.

"This General thanks you An Duo for gifting our family such a wonderful baby. Now you only need to take care of yourself." He grabbed a wet clothe on the table and softly wiped off the sweat on her forehead. "Do not overwhelm yourself with worry, for the time being you should only focus on your recovery. Huayan, our beloved, will be taken care of by Fen Da for some weeks." He told her with firmness but also warmth.

"Giving birth is not an easy task so there won't be-"

"Hushh." An Duo interrupted him.

"I know. I was here." She laughed. "You should go back too, I'll be patient."

-This man could speak six hours straight if no one stopped him.- She thought jokingly.

Xie looked at his dear wife, the mother of his first child. The one who made him a dad.

"...I won't go until you fall asleep, my love."

*

*

-They all forgot about me those rascals.-

-It's the morning and the baby is hungry!

What am I supposed to do? Cry??-

"..."

Huayan was sleeping in her room, on an expensive cradle, horned with various soft silks. Some wooden toys were hanging on top of her face. She was wrapped in a clothe like a burrito. It felt really uncomfortable but she guessed they did that to prevent her to move too much.

Just as she was about to cry to alert some people outside she smelled something weird.

Huayan  wriggled again and realized she shat her pants in her sleep!

How could she call for someone now? How can she face the world in such a ridiculous state?

She was so frustrated, she felt hot, couldn't move and on top smelled her own poop. Could it be any worst?

Soon the whole residence echoed with her loud cries.