The Luo Family's grounds were vast, yet its members were few.
Each generation was a single lineage.
At this moment, within the core family district of the Luo Family, only Luo Tiance and a middle-aged man sitting in a wheelchair lingered outside the door.
They anxiously eyed the closed door in front of them.
From inside the room came the sound of shuffling footsteps and the bustle of noise: the midwife was delivering a baby.
"Huff..."
"Huff—"
Luo Tiance cast a glance at the middle-aged man.
"You don't have asthma, what's with the heavy breathing?"
Luo Fan looked at his father with a wronged expression.
"Dad, my wife is suffering in there, and my child is about to be born, can I not be anxious?"
Luo Tiance shook his head.
"This temperament of yours? It lacks experience."
Luo Fan's gaze was fixed tensely on the door, not wanting to look away even for a moment.
Although he was somewhat afraid of his powerful father, he couldn't help but mutter:
"Your fist, it's clenched until it's blood-red."
"Hmph!"
Luo Tiance's expression changed, snorting:
"Do you believe that I'm clenching this tight because I want to hit you, but seeing my grandchild being born, I'll spare you this time."
"Really?" Luo Fan remained skeptical.
He inwardly mumbled that on the surface he appeared as steady as an old dog, but in reality, his heart was in complete turmoil. His old man was purely contradicting himself.
But he didn't dare to speak his mind; otherwise, he'd definitely get beaten, with no room for negotiation.
"Shut up!" Luo Tiance said, "Do you think your skin is itching for a beating, believing that this old man today won't beat your head into a handicap?"
Luo Fan shrank his neck, he knew the old man would never leave him disabled, but a harsh beating was certainly within the realm of possibility.
A wise man knows better than to speak out of turn; if it's time to shut up, then shut up.
As the child was delayed in being born, Luo Fan became increasingly anxious.
"Old man, why's it taking so long?"
"Why isn't the child born yet, could there be an accident?"
"Beat it!"
Luo Fan received a solid slap to the head, unable to dodge it.
He looked at his father with a wronged expression.
"Dad! Do you know how much harm a solid slap like that can do to an adult?"
Luo Tiance remained cold-faced.
"If you have an accident, my grandchild won't. Wait and see. You took your sweet time coming out of your mother's belly, how long have we been waiting here?"
"Poor Rou Rou," Luo Fan said with some distress.
Zhao Fengrou, Luo Fan's wife, was also one of the Nine Kings of Great Xia, the Eldest Princess of the Zhao Family.
Once a dazzling young woman blessed by the heavens, but ever since Luo Fan was injured and disabled while protecting the people of Great Xia, she had been superficially involved, staying at home accompanying Luo Fan.
Luo Fan looked towards his father whom he has always revered in his heart and said with furrowed brows:
"Dad, must we really make the child pretend to be God's Child?"
Luo Tiance sighed, a look of helplessness crossed his brows.
"You already know of the crisis Great Xia currently faces, we have no better choice."
Luo Fan's gaze was intense as he looked at his father, his fingers tightly clenched, before finally releasing and letting out a long sigh.
"Poor child, who hasn't even been born yet."
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"If only I, a father, wasn't disabled and could protect him from the wind and rain, but now..."
Luo Fan's eyes shifted to his blanket-covered, unfeeling legs, filled with desolation, regret, and helplessness...
Luo Tiance gently slapped his shoulder and scolded:
"You brat, the old man isn't dead yet."
"With me around, nobody will think of harming our family, nor will they dare to infringe upon Great Xia."
Suddenly, the urgent voice of the midwife echoed in the room.
"Push! Push harder! It's almost out!!"
"A little more effort, flex your lower abdomen, quickly——"
Luo Tiance produced a radiant pearl out of thin air, casting colorful lights throughout the courtyard.
"What are you doing!" Luo Fan asked.
"The Huanling Pearl, it can simulate all sorts of heavenly phenomena to feign that my grandson is receiving blessings from the gods." Luo Tiance was already prepared.
"Ah!!!"
In the room, a woman's scream of release filled the air.
The midwife conveyed her surprise and delight.
"It's out, it's out!"
"Congratulations, madam!"
"Good!"
Luo Tiance's eyes gleamed with joy, and subconsciously, he picked up his son by the nape and with a swift motion, dashed straight to the room's entrance.
Luo Fan: "???"
"Creak!"
The door was opened by a maid, and the midwife walked out holding the swaddled child.
"Mother and child are safe."
"It's a young master!"
Luo Tiance's stern face softened, his hands released, and with a thud.
And as if he hadn't heard, his trembling hands rose up.
"Give me, quickly give me..."
The midwife nodded, and Luo Tiance carefully took hold of the swaddle, eager to look inside.
Normally, newborn children are quite ugly, and it takes some time for them to start looking better, becoming more normal.
But the child in the swaddle, with eyes tightly closed, looked exquisitely chiseled, like a porcelain doll, not at all like a typical baby.
Very special indeed.
"Good, so very good." Luo Tiance's cheeks twitched, tears streaming down.
Luo Fan lay on the ground with a look of defeat.
Dad, you've forgotten about me on the floor.
Is this the legendary forgetting the son upon having a grandson?
I've been dethroned too quickly.
"Quick, help me up! I want to see my son too." Luo Fan shouted to the midwife.
No sooner had the midwife struggled to lift Luo Fan up than Luo Tiance, frowning, said:
"Shouldn't the baby be crying?"
The midwife quickly replied, "My lord, the young master has the making of a dragon and phoenix, incomparable to ordinary people. He is very stable in his breath now, surely there's nothing wrong."
"If he really isn't crying, why not... try patting his bottom?"
Luo Tiance furrowed his brows and asked the midwife seriously, "His eyes also haven't opened, are you certain there's no problem?"
"This..."
At that moment, Luo Fan extended his hand and gently tapped the baby's bottom through the swaddle.
Luo Tiance immediately glared sternly.
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