After Transmigration, I Snag a Stunning Bigwig as My Husband

Chapter 1169: Side Story 3: The First Birthday Banquet (Part 3)

After several days of rain, the skies cleared.The sky was as clear as if washed, extending endlessly.

This day was the day of the first birthday banquet at the Marquis Beining Mansion.

Upon waking up and seeing the clear sky, a sigh of relief was breathed.

Heaven was kind, and the birthday banquet wasn’t disrupted by rain, which would have been quite inconvenient.

The addition of three granddaughters brought joy to the Marquis Beining Mansion.

The Duke Chong’s Mansion and Prince NanAn’s Mansion had already held lively birthday banquets, so naturally, the Marquis Beining Mansion could not fall short.

However, given the busy schedules of Mrs. Tang and Princess NanAn, the Marquis Beining Mansion decided to send invitations to the usual guests.

Though the number of guests was halved, the event was no less lively.

Su Jin and the Princess were all in attendance.

Three exquisitely cute little girls, carved out of the same mold, who wouldn’t like or envy them?

Some people even wished to take them home.

The smile on Marchioness Beining’s face was so bright it was beyond words.

Not only because the granddaughters turned one but also because Miss Zhou Qi was pregnant again, having just been diagnosed with happy news a few days prior.

Joy reinvigorates the spirit.

The Heir of Marquis Beining was radiant and spirited.

Among so many brothers, he was the only one to have daughters, and he had three at once.

He envied those who had sons.

They envied him for having daughters.

Especially Prince NanAn, who had been vexed by his son too many times and desired a daughter even more.

Seeing the Heir of Marquis Beining happy, Chu Shun laughed and said, "Are you really that happy?"

The Heir of Marquis Beining couldn’t help but brag about his daughters, "This morning, my three daughters clung to my leg, one after the other, calling me dad. It melted my heart."

Whoosh.

A sharp blade directly pierced into Prince NanAn’s chest.

Already deeply wounded, the Heir of Marquis Beining twisted the knife handle hard, almost making Prince NanAn spit blood from internal injuries.

It’s no wonder Prince NanAn might get internal injuries.

It’s unclear how many times Princess NanAn and the maids, and wet nurse taught Young Prince Xun to call for his dad, and Young Prince Xun took it as a term of address for Prince NanAn.

Hearing it once, he might bear it, but hearing it countless times, even an immortal would find it unbearable.

He picked up his son to spank him, only to be firmly stopped by Princess NanAn, who argued that Yiyi was still young and didn’t understand things. His mistake was due to their inadequate teaching, not him.

The Dongxiang Marquis Mansion would wait until children turned three before spanking.

If he dared make Yiyi cry, it would definitely not end well with him.

What could Prince NanAn do?

He hadn’t even hit his son yet, and he had already angered the entire Prince NanAn Mansion.

It was as if if he dared lay a finger on his son, everyone from Princess NanAn on down to the maid and servants would resist him fiercely.

An insignificant and outdated Commandery Prince attempting to compare with the newly established Young Prince Xun with full status?

That would indeed be courting humiliation.

Prince NanAn found a ledger to record his anger against his son.

When his son grew up, he would settle the score with interest.

Knowing that Prince NanAn was angry, Princess NanAn and others were trying hard to correct Young Prince Xun, not daring to let the father and son meet until it was corrected.

Hmph.

Prince NanAn hadn’t seen his son in half a month.

Actually, today wasn’t just the first birthday of the Heir of Marquis Beining’s three daughters; it was also the birthday of the Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo and Right Minister’s daughter Zhou Jingyi’s son.

The children of the two families were born on the same day, only an hour apart.

Both the Marquis Beining Mansion and the Duke Dingguo Mansion had to host a birthday banquet, but guests arriving at one meant missing the other, causing a rush.

Marchioness Beining and Duchess Dingguo were on good terms, getting along harmoniously, so the Marquis Beining Mansion hosted first, while Duke Dingguo Mansion extended the event by a day.

Visitors came and went in an endless stream. It was about time to see what the three daughters would choose during the birthday ritual.

After witnessing the embarrassment of Prince NanAn, the Heir of Marquis Beining was satisfied no matter what was chosen.

A son eating his toes might be acceptable, but a daughter cannot lack decorum like this.

As he turned, a servant approached and said, "Young Master, your father-in-law has arrived."

His father-in-law had arrived?

The Heir of Marquis Beining hurried to the gate to greet him.

Old Master Zhou was busy with his business, but he tried to attend his grandchildren’s birthday banquets whenever possible.

If he couldn’t attend, he would send gifts.

Previously, Old Master Zhou had written in a family letter to Miss Zhou Qi that if nothing urgent was tying him up, he would definitely come to the granddaughters’ birthday banquet.

Until yesterday, there was no news of Old Master Zhou arriving in the Capital, making the Heir of Marquis Beining think he wouldn’t make it.

Meeting him at the door, Old Master Zhou asked, "Am I late?"

"You’ve arrived at the perfect hour, Father-in-law," the Heir of Marquis Beining respectfully replied.

He quickly escorted Old Master Zhou into the mansion.

Just after welcoming Old Master Zhou into the main hall, another servant came to report that Third Young Master Zheng had arrived.

The Heir of Marquis Beining was momentarily confused but then remembered who Third Young Master Zheng was.

The fifth brother-in-law of the Zhou family.

His brother-in-law.

Miss Zhou Qi’s fifth brother-in-law had come to give his congratulations, requiring him to head out to greet him.

But upon reaching the main gate, the Heir of Marquis Beining was truly startled.

Not only did Third Young Master Zheng come to offer congratulations, but also Old Master Zhou’s other five sons-in-law were present.

When visiting the Zhou family, the Heir of Marquis Beining had met them before, and on the wedding day, he faced quite some challenges from them. On that day, he couldn’t tell who was who, and considering it had been a long time since they met, the faces felt very unfamiliar.

It was just his daughter’s first birthday banquet after all. Old Master Zhou’s presence was to show importance to his granddaughter, but the arrival of these few others left the Heir of Marquis Beining a bit puzzled.

However, since they were guests, the Heir of Marquis Beining smiled and said, "I didn’t know you brothers-in-law would come, I apologize for not welcoming you earlier. Please, come in."

The Heir of Marquis Beining led them into the mansion.

Seeing their arrival, Old Master Zhou’s eyebrows furrowed momentarily; among his sons-in-law, each was more shrewd than the last.

The Heir of Marquis Beining’s advantage lay in his noble status, compared to them, he was considered quite simple.

The Marquis Beining Mansion’s banquet was attended by people of high status, and Old Master Zhou felt quite restrained among them, not fitting in at all.

Scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants — with merchants being the least respected.

Although the Zhou family was extremely wealthy, there were indeed few who respected them.

What he relied on was his close friendship with Marquis Dongxiang and his family ties with the Beining Marquis Mansion; thus, those who looked down on the Zhou family could only hide their disdain.

Old Master Zhou feared that his sons-in-law prioritized self-interests and would use the occasion of offering birthday gifts at the Beining Marquis Mansion to make connections with the powerful.

Those influential people might reluctantly entertain them out of respect for their relation to the Heir of Marquis Beining, resulting in an unpleasant first birthday banquet.

But since they came to deliver gifts, Old Master Zhou couldn’t stop them.

The only thing Old Master Zhou could do was to exert pressure as their father-in-law, casting a glance to warn them to restrain their inappropriate ambitions.

The Zhou family sons-in-law indeed dared not ignore Old Master Zhou’s stern gaze.

Old Master Zhou had no sons, nor had he adopted from any of the Zhou side branches; the substantial family fortune would eventually be inherited by one of the seven sons-in-law.

Although a will had been made and entrusted to Marquis Dongxiang for safekeeping, its authenticity was uncertain by others.

As long as the will wasn’t made public, everyone felt they still had a chance.

Deep down, they clearly knew that Old Master Zhou favored the Heir of Marquis Beining, and among the seven sons-in-law, only the Heir had the best relationship with Marquis Dongxiang.

Even if not, wouldn’t the fantastical wealth of the Zhou family be enough to tempt Marquis Dongxiang?

Forming connections with the influential and getting along with the Heir of Marquis Beining, coming to the Beining Marquis Mansion to deliver gifts was all profit and no loss for them.

Even if father-in-law objected, they still had to come.

Marchioness Beining glanced at her husband, sharing concern for their son.

Fortunately, everyone soon set aside this matter when the wet nurse brought the three little girls.

Miss Mu, Miss Mu, and Miss Mu.

Each of the three young girls wore new dresses, of similar styles, captivating everyone’s attention.

The Beining Marquis Mansion must have been blessed with great fortune, otherwise, how could they have married such a wonderful heir’s wife and given birth to three daughters?

Because the three granddaughters participated in the Zhua Zhou ceremony together, the round table was exceptionally large.

It was piled with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Since they were daughters, there were also embroidery frames and ornamental items.

There were so many things that the three little girls grabbed this and that, happily crawling on the round table.

All their attention was on the fun things, and they accidentally bumped into each other as they crawled.

Their heads collided, likely causing pain, and they cried out heartily from the discomfort.

Miss Zhou Qi hurriedly approached to comfort them, "Don’t cry, don’t cry..."

At first, only two cried, while another sat watching, her little face filled with bewilderment, completely unsure why the other two were crying.

Perhaps she was scared, she reached out to the Heir of Marquis Beining, "Daddy..."

The Heir of Marquis Beining was a real doting father.

Upon hearing the soft, sweet voice calling, he went over to hug his daughter immediately.

Miss Mu clung to her father’s neck, unwilling to let go.

When Miss Mu and Miss Mu saw this with tearful eyes, they also wanted the Heir of Marquis Beining to hug them.

The Heir of Marquis Beining, "..."

Hugging one was easy, two was also manageable, but how could he hug three at once?

The Heir of Marquis Beining tried to hug all three daughters at once.

Then all three daughters cried.

Marchioness Beining hurriedly instructed the wet nurse to soothe them and bring them over one by one.

Miss Mu chose a brush.

Miss Mu picked a book.

Miss Mu took a steamed bun, gnawing on it delightfully.

Even though the three little girls looked identical, Xingxing just found Miss Mu especially pleasing to the eye, small and immensely adorable.

Prince NanAn stood there, internally sighing repeatedly.

Others’ daughters knew to eat buns, but why was his son chewing on toes?

"I wonder what my son will choose tomorrow," the Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo asked, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Prince NanAn glanced at him and commented, "I once held such expectations too."

Having expectations was good, but reality often gave a harsh slap.

It’s best not to have expectations for sons.

The Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo, "..."

Patting Prince NanAn’s shoulder, the Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo laughed, "I’ve observed closely. My son doesn’t have any particular peculiarities."

Savoring his misfortune.

Prince NanAn nearly punched him.

But the next day, Prince NanAn scored a small victory.

With a table full of things, the Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo’s son wanted nothing but his father’s belt.

When refused, he cried.

The Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo was compelled to remove his belt and give it to him on the spot.