The baby was well-behaved. She didn’t cry at all after hatching, just opened her big eyes and gazed at her surroundings.

Lu Yuan whispered to his wife, "Our daughter is so beautiful. She takes after you more."

Seeing the baby who had hatched from the egg, Lu Yuan was ecstatic. He hurriedly scooped her into his arms, rocking her back and forth and patting her gently, cooing, "Aww, aww, aww..."

Su Liyan didn’t rush to take the baby from Lu Yuan. She just sat nearby, watching quietly.

The baby in Lu Yuan’s arms glanced sideways at her father, her little expression clearly showing she didn’t like being held by him.

The baby turned her head to the side and kept staring at her mother with a happy smile.

Then, the little baby looked at her mother and put her tiny hand in her mouth, sucking on it.

She was hungry.

Only then did Su Liyan take the child from Lu Yuan’s arms, lift her clothes, and guide her breast into the baby’s mouth.

Watching his child nurse, Lu Yuan said, "Oh, my sweet baby, you’re finally out. Do you have any idea what I’ve been through these past seven days?"

As it happened, Su Liyan’s milk had come in abundantly after the baby hatched.

Lu Yuan, afraid her milk would dry up if it backed up, had been helping her clear it out every day.

After all, for a baby, mother’s milk is the most nutritious food.

Drinking breast milk also helps a baby’s immune system.

In the days prior, to keep his wife’s milk from backing up, Lu Yuan had drunk so much that he constantly smelled faintly of milk.

While the baby was eating, Lu Yuan took a peek.

It was a little girl.

’Judging from the way she was looking at me earlier, so much for being a doting daughter. She’s already playing favorites.’

Lu Yuan got up and said, "Honey, you keep feeding her. I’m going to go tell Mom."

Holding the baby, Su Liyan stopped him. "Honey, don’t go. It’s so late, let’s not disturb Mom and everyone else."

Lu Yuan thought about it and agreed. The news could wait until tomorrow.

Lu Yuan slipped back into bed, snuggling up next to his daughter.

Watching the baby eat, Lu Yuan poked her mouth with his finger, teasing her.

Su Liyan looked at him. "Honey, you’re touching me. You’re going to distract the baby from eating."

Lu Yuan had no choice but to scoot back sheepishly and watch the mother-daughter pair.

At this very moment, he was overcome with happiness.

「The next day, early in the morning.」

Lu Yuan told everyone that the baby had hatched.

A huge crowd gathered around Su Liyan and her child.

After a night’s rest, the little baby looked even more bright and lovely.

Zhao Qiao’Er was right at the front. "Let me see! Our Liyan’s baby is seventy percent her mother and thirty percent her father."

Song Meiqin stood to the side, extremely envious.

She was now the only one who had yet to conceive a child with Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan could, of course, read Aunt Song’s mind. He patted her shoulder and whispered in her ear, "Aunt Song, don’t rush it. What’s meant to be will be."

Hearing her nephew’s words, Song Meiqin nodded. She quickly composed herself, her eyes filling with sincere blessings for the new mother.

Su Liyan’s mother gently pinched her little granddaughter’s hand. "Oh, my dear granddaughter, you’ve finally hatched! Your grandma’s heart was in a panic waiting for you. Why did you take so long to come out?"

Gu Ziye said, "Oh, right! What’s the baby’s name?"

Only then did Lu Yuan and the others realize they had forgotten to name the child.

Lu Yuan couldn’t decide on one right away.

Zhao Qiao’Er smoothed things over, saying, "You can’t rush naming a baby! You should get a Daoist from the mountain to do a proper divination."

"But we can give her a nickname for now. It doesn’t have to be too pretty. A humble name makes for a healthy child, right?"

Song Meiqin gave Zhao Qiao’Er a light smack. "Oh, cut it out! With a family and business this big, it’s not like we can’t afford to raise a child. Why give her a humble name? If we’re giving her a name, it should be a beautiful one."

Zhao Qiao’Er tilted her head and shot Song Meiqin a look. "Fine, a beautiful name. How about we call her Piaopiao?"

Song Meiqin was exasperated. "Stop messing around. You can name your own baby Piaopiao when she gets here."

Zhao Qiao’Er shifted her tall frame. "Forget it, then. I can’t think of any good names. If not, let’s just find a Daoist on the mountain to do a reading."

Gu Ziye, ever the precocious one, looked at the little baby girl on the bed.

Her eyes darted, and she said, "I hope she can grow up to be free and unrestrained, a righteous person who roams the martial world."

"Why not call her Youxia? Lu Youxia!"

The moment Gu Ziye said this, everyone was stunned. What kind of name was that?

Lu Youxia? That wasn’t much better than Lu Piaopiao.

Besides, it sounded like a boy’s name.

Hearing Yue’Er’s words, Lu Yuan thought of the name ’Lu Youqi.’ ’Not just a Ranger, but one with the air of a king.’

However, Lu Yuan didn’t say it out loud. He figured they would just laugh at that name, too.

Everyone chattered away, each offering their own opinion.

Seeing that they weren’t getting anywhere, Song Meiqin interrupted. "How about this? Let’s let the baby’s mother, Liyan, name her own daughter."

Everyone agreed.

Su Liyan thought for a moment and said, "We could use Aunt Zhao’s idea of a repeating name. And like Yue’Er said, I hope she can be free, lively, and cheerful."

"I think we can call her Bengbeng for now. We can decide on a formal name later."

"Bengbeng!" Lu Yuan repeated. ’Lu Bengbeng wouldn’t be a bad formal name either,’ he thought. ’It’s full of energy and joy.’

Zhao Qiao’Er chimed in, "I think the name Liyan chose is great. Let’s call her Bengbeng!"

Su Liyan’s mother cooed at the baby, "Bengbeng, Bengbeng..."

The little baby seemed to understand, as she started gurgling and cooing as if trying to respond.

Seeing Bengbeng’s reaction, everyone praised her for being so clever and bright.

Bengbeng was a very well-behaved baby; she never cried or fussed.

When she was hungry, she would just suck on her fingers, and Su Liyan would feed her.

When Lu Yuan teased her with a rattle drum, Bengbeng would giggle happily.

Lu Yuan and his wife absolutely adored their little Bengbeng.

Aside from his daily cultivation and handling business matters, Lu Yuan had been spending all his time recently with his wife and child.

Gu Ziye now went to the factory with Song Meiqin during the day.

She wasn’t there to help Song Meiqin run the business, though. She just went down to the workshop to learn from the workers, finding the things they made there interesting.

Every day after returning from the factory, Gu Ziye and Song Meiqin would go to Su Liyan’s room to see if they could help with anything.

Lu Yuan would still visit Aunt Song’s room every few nights to check in, but he rarely stayed over anymore.

Song Meiqin, naturally, understood.

When Lu Yuan didn’t visit Song Meiqin at night, he would sleep in the same room as his "sis," Zhao Qiao’Er.

Zhao Qiao’Er’s belly was getting bigger and bigger, but at six-foot-two, her baby bump didn’t look particularly large on her frame.

If a pregnant woman who was five-foot-three had a belly that big, her family would have probably been terrified.

As for Zhao Qiao’Er, she spent her days napping leisurely on a lounge chair under the eaves in the courtyard.

At this stage, with her big belly, it was already inconvenient for Zhao Qiao’Er to "do anything" at night.

After all, her belly got in the way, and over time, she lost the desire.

As the peaceful days passed one by one, Zhao Qiao’Er’s due date drew ever closer.

One day, Lu Yuan was in his study, looking over the financial statements from his various businesses, which showed the cash flow for the last three months.

The output of the Zhao Family’s Spirit Stone Mine was gradually decreasing, and the shop’s business was still decent, but the factory managed by Song Meiqin was booming.

The total income from all businesses added up to nearly two hundred thousand taels of silver.

The current revenue had long since covered the initial investment, and they were now seeing a net profit every month.

In all of Taiping City, the Zhao Mansion was, without a doubt, filthy rich. Who could possibly be wealthier than the Zhao Mansion?

Looking at the report, Lu Yuan thought about that kid Gu Gaoxu. He’d been back in Yandu for over a month, so why hadn’t he called?

Gu Gaoxu was building a factory in Yandu, and Lu Yuan had a technology-for-equity stake in it.

Moreover, he had even transferred many core technical personnel from the factory here in Taiping City to fill key technical positions in the Yandu factory.

This batch of technical experts had all been selected by Lu Yuan using the system’s Multiplication Factor identification function to find reliable people loyal to him.

Lu Yuan wasn’t one to make selfless contributions.

He always kept an ace up his sleeve.

Lu Yuan picked up the phone on his desk. It was time to give Gu Gaoxu a call and see how he was doing.

Lu Yuan pressed "000002" and made the call.

RING... RING... RING...