The Daily Life of a Female Esper in Ancient Times

"No grabbing," Zhou Heng turned his head, not letting Lu Liucheng grab him. Lu Liucheng thought Zhou Heng was playing with him and grabbed more enthusiastically.

Li Xia stood to the side with an expression of watching a show, wondering how Zhou Heng would handle it.

Zhou Heng raised both hands and tossed Lu Liucheng into the air. Floating in the air, Lu Liucheng was not only unafraid but laughed even more joyfully. After falling back into Zhou Heng's arms, he raised his hands, gesturing for Zhou Heng to do it again.

Lu XuanNing walked in to see Li Xia drinking tea on the side while Zhou Heng was somewhat disheveled, trying to appease Lu Liucheng. Seeing Lu XuanNing arrive, Zhou Heng sighed in relief and handed the child to him. This child had too much energy. He poured himself a cup of tea and drank it in one gulp.

Lu XuanNing held Lu Liucheng. Lu Liucheng was also tired from playing and quickly fell asleep in his father's arms.

Zhou Heng took out a jade vial from his pocket. "A welcome gift for the child. Antidote pills that can counteract a hundred poisons."

This was a valuable item. Lu XuanNing thanked him and accepted it.

As Zhou Heng prepared to leave, Li Xia called out to him, "Zhou Heng, how much longer do you need?"

"Two months," Zhou Heng gave a precise timeframe.

Lu XuanNing looked at Li Xia, "Zhou Heng will be fine. Don't worry about him."

"Who says I'm worried about him?" Li Xia wore an expression that said she couldn't possibly be concerned, picked up Lu Liucheng, and went downstairs.

Lu XuanNing followed behind with the medicine bottle, returning home.

Back at home, Li Xia suddenly realized that two months later would be the Lantern Festival.

She couldn't understand why everything important seemed to happen on the Lantern Festival.

Poking Lu Liucheng's chubby cheeks, Li Xia thought gloomily, did this holiday have a grudge against her?

Last year, when she was pregnant, Lu XuanNing had handled most of the New Year's affairs at the Mansion of Marquis of Pacifying the South. This year, with Lu XuanNing busy with work, Li Xia had to manage everything on her own. Thanks to the careful teachings of Mrs. Lu and Ms. Liu before her marriage, and the guidance of Old Madam Lu, Li Xia handled everything with ease.

Taking advantage of Lu XuanNing's day off, the family of three brought New Year's gifts to Qingyue Street. Seeing Lu Liucheng, Chang'an happily came forward to hold him. She had heard that it was Lu Liucheng who had brought good luck for Li Xin's pregnancy.

Chang'an wanted to hold Lu Liucheng more, hoping it would bring her a child as well.

After leaving the Li family, Lu XuanNing and Li Xia, carrying Lu Liucheng, paid a visit to the Wang family. Xu Xinyue held Lu Liucheng and wouldn't let go. Wang Hong also liked his little nephew and reached out to hold him. But he was still young, and Xu Xinyue didn't trust him to hold the baby.

Lu XuanNing stood up and took Wang Hong outside to play, leaving Xu Xinyue and Li Xia space to talk.

"I don't lack anything here, you didn't need to bring all these gifts. Now that you have your own family, you should think more about your own household," Xu Xinyue was delighted with the generous New Year's gifts Li Xia had brought but worried about her spending money.

"Of these things I've brought to the Wang family, only the food items were purchased. The rest are from our storerooms. They would just gather dust at the Marquis' mansion. I've sent them to you; use what you can, discard what you can't," Li Xia explained, counting off the gifts, showing that she hadn't spent much money.

"Everything is in good condition, how could they not be used?" Xu Xinyue rolled her eyes at Li Xia, wondering how the child could talk like that.

As they were talking, they heard Wang Dong's voice from outside, "My lord has come to the Wang family, and I failed to welcome you. Please forgive me." Wang Dong's posture was very humble.

Li Xia leaned close to Xu Xinyue, "Mother, how are things between you and Uncle Wang now?"

"He now knows to care for this family," Xu Xinyue currently looked down on Wang Dong. But he was still her son's father, so she had to leave him some face.

"Mother, you have me," Li Xia gripped Xu Xinyue's hand, promising to always stand by her side.

Returning to the Mansion of Marquis of Pacifying the South as dusk fell, a servant at the door informed them that Old Marquis Lu and Old Madam Lu had arrived. Why would the two elders come at this time? Was something the matter? Lu XuanNing and Li Xia exchanged a glance.

Carrying the sleeping Lu Liucheng into the room, they saw joy radiating from the faces of Old Marquis Lu and Old Madam Lu.

"Grandfather, you look so happy. Has something good happened?" Lu XuanNing asked as he entered the room.

"Good news, wonderful news. Your parents are coming back," Old Marquis Lu said, his voice somewhat hoarse. It had been over a decade since he'd seen his son.

"Really? When will they return?" Lu XuanNing hadn't seen his parents for several years either. When he left the border region, his younger brother hadn't even been born yet.

"For the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration in the second month. Your father and the others will return for the celebration and then go back to the border," Old Madam Lu replied.

Lu XuanNing calculated that Marquis Lu would be able to stay for three to four months this time. It was wonderful news.

"They should come back to see their great-grandson too," Old Madam Lu said, looking lovingly at the sleeping Lu Liucheng who was blowing bubbles. She told Li Xia, "Quickly, go to bed."

"Alright," Li Xia responded, carrying Lu Liucheng back to their room to sleep.

That night, Old Marquis Lu opened a jar of wine and drank with Lu XuanNing. Because they were in high spirits, Old Madam Lu didn't stop Old Marquis Lu from drinking.

The news spread that Marquis Beining would be returning to the capital with his wife and young son to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday. Li Xia would also have to face her mother-in-law.

Xu Xinyue was worried that Li Xia wouldn't handle it well. She specifically went to Qingyue Street to invite Mrs. Lu to the Mansion of Marquis of Pacifying the South to instruct Li Xia.

Li Xia listened very attentively to both mothers' words, though how much she would actually follow was her own business. Her mind was currently preoccupied with what Qiu Ling had told her.

The matter of Zhou Luoer had passed for Li Xia. But with Sun Yiliu's case preceding it, Qiu Ling hadn't let it go and had arranged for people to privately keep an eye on the Zhou family. They discovered that the engagement between the Zhou family and the Jiang family had been called off.

Wondering how a seemingly good engagement could suddenly be broken, Qiu Ling went to Tian Yi Pavilion to have Luo Shan arrange for people to investigate further. It turned out that Jiang Qingyu couldn't restrain himself during the mourning period and took a beautiful concubine. He even got the concubine pregnant, and by the time the Jiang family found out, the concubine's child was already two months old.

The Jiang family wanted to get rid of the concubine and keep the child. Jiang Qingyu didn't want to clash with his family, so he simply went to the Zhou family to break off the engagement.

Only then did the Zhou family learn of Jiang Qingyu's misdeeds. The head of the Jiang family personally came to offer heavy gifts and apologize, hoping the Zhou family wouldn't cancel the engagement.

Given the Jiang family's sincerity, the Zhou family carefully considered and agreed not to break off the engagement. However, they demanded that Jiang Qingyu's concubine and child be dealt with. Any child of the Jiang family could only come from Zhou Luoer's womb.

Jiang Qingyu disagreed, declaring that the concubine was the woman he loved. Without his loved one and child, he would die. To prove his point, he even slit his wrists, determined to die for his cause. As Jiang Qingyu was the Jiang family's only heir, his threat made the Jiang family afraid to take any further action.

Thus, the engagement between the Zhou and Jiang families naturally came to an end. Zhou Luoer returned to her single, unmarried status.

Zhou Luoer wasn't too upset about it. Instead, she sent her personal maid to inquire about Lu XuanNing's daily whereabouts.

Lu XuanNing spent each day either working at the Ministry of War or returning home to look after Li Xia and Lu Liucheng. When Zhou Luoer's maid tried to approach Lu XuanNing, she was immediately treated as a suspect by Lu XuanNing's people and sent to prison.

"My lady, that Zhou Luoer has designs on the Marquis," Qiu Ling said, expressing her contempt for Zhou Luoer.

Previously, out of consideration for the Zhou family being Lu XuanNing's maternal relatives, Li Xia had pretended not to notice some of the Zhou family's minor schemes. But now Zhou Luoer dared to set her sights on Li Xia's husband.

"Qiu Ling, investigate if the Zhou family has any secrets they can't afford to reveal," Li Xia instructed Qiu Ling to conduct a thorough investigation into the Zhou family.