The Han Madam and everyone else were having a light conversation in the living room when,
"MEILI IS IN LABOUR!"
In alarm, they all looked up to find Gu Longwei supporting the woman in question down the stairs. Everyone took action immediately and a call was put out to Han Tao in the police station.
On the way to the hospital, Chen Meili's heart rate was very unsteady. Contrary to what the Hans believed, she wasn't 8 but 7 months pregnant. Were the babies going to survive?
Her eyes trailed to Gu Longwei seated on the passenger seat of the car and she sighed in regret. They might have overdone it this time.
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When Han Tao arrived at the hospital, Chen Meili had already been in the labour room for over an hour. Without saying a single word to his family, he entered the ward.
In another four hours, the triplets were born one after another.
Excitement filled the hearts of everyone and even the Chen parents had decided to come out of their semi-seclusion for their precious daughter. For the first time in so many months, they all had something big to be happy about.
From that moment on, it was banquet after banquets for the Hans. A congratulatory banquet for Han Tao and Chen Meili, a welcoming banquet for the babies, a one month banquet for the babies and another banquet just because they could.
They practically used every opportunity to inform the other elites that they now had eligible heirs. Although most of these elites noticed the absence of the twins, etiquette required them to keep their mouths shut and turn a blind eye.
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Three months later, City Y:
He Yuan finished setting up the ballons and turned to the live-in help, Yin Xin. "Where are the cakes?"
Yin Xin looked around. "Ah, they're in the fridge." And then she rushed off to the kitchen.
At the side, 888 watched as his host put finishing touches to the decoration for the first birthday of the twins. He had no idea what He Yuan had in mind but the theme looked to be an outer space setting.
There were rocket shaped ballons and dark blue wallpapers with stars on them and other decorations of the sort. His eyes moved back to the balloons that He Yuan had tied and his lips twitched... It was a good thing there was a Yin Xin in this house.
Yin Xin soon returned with the cakes and set them on the decorated table. One was in the shape of a moon and the other was in the shape of a star. It had cost He Yuan an arm and a leg to buy this but it looked too beautiful to pass up.
"It's all done." Yin Xin said with a smile and a little clap. "Should I get the boys, Miss Xu?"
He Yuan waved and moved towards the stairs. "It's alright, I'll do it."
888 tugged on the sleeve of the shirt he was wearing and calmly followed after his host.
As they both walked next to each other, He Yuan side eyed his System with a smile. "Nice shirt."
ραпdαn૦νel 888 turned to his host. He looked at the bright smile on Xu Lifen's lips but his face remained expressionless. When his eyes trailed up to He Yuan's eyes though...
The corners of his lips twitched as a smile threatened to burst through so he turned his head and looked straight. "It's just a random shirt."
...That, for some reason, he had spent a lot of time considering.
A quick glance showed that his host's eyes were still on him so he lifted his hand to his lips and cleared his throat. "When do you plan to take care of Chen Meili?"
He Yuan looked away from his System then. These past months he'd been staying low-key because he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention to Xu Lifen and the twins after what he'd done to those thugs and Chen Bai.
He had no idea if they were more in the gang of thugs and he was aware of the investigation being carried by the police so he had to be cautious. Three months ago, he'd seen news of Chen Meili giving birth but there wasn't any opportunity to do anything so he planned to wait a while more.
He already had an idea of the perfect time to tear down Chen Mask so till then, he'd just spend time with the twins and make sure both them and the leaser would be truly safe after he left the realm.
When He Yuan opened the door to the boys' room, he found the twins seated on the floor and shoving stuffed toys in each other's face as they made unintelligible babbles.
888 walked in to stand at the side whilst his host stood in front of the door -arms crossed as he watched the babies.
Xu Cai was the first to notice He Yuan. The baby's eyes widened and he clapped happily. "Ma- Ma- Ma." Then he clumsily tried to stand up... Only to fall on his own butt.
Tears welled up in his eyes and he looked up at He Yuan with quivering lips.
He Yuan held in his laughter, knelt down and held out his arms to the boy with a smile. "Come on."
Xu Cai pursed his lips and stood up successfully this time. Slowly, he walked over to He Yuan and when he was a few inches away, he tried to speed up only to end up clumsily hopping until he dived into He Yuan's arms. "Ma..ma!"
He Yuan carried Xu Cai on one hand and beckoned at Xu Xiaoli with the other.
Xu Xiaoli used both hands to push himself off the ground and also clumsily walked over to He Yuan. Halfway through, he tripped and was about to land facedown on the ground.
He Yuan's eyes widened but before Xu Xiaoli could face plant, a clothed leg extended and broke the baby's fall. He quickly let out a sigh of relief and looked up at his System with a smile. "Tha-"
He suddenly froze and the relief in his eyes turned to shock. 888 was also surprised. He quickly withdrew his leg but when Xu Xiaoli started falling again, he lowered himself and kept the child upright with his hands. Next, he looked back at his host.
He Yuan blinked. 888 was a soul so without manifesting a physical body, he shouldn't be able to interact with anything in a task realm. That meant that Xu Xiaoli should have fallen right through 888's leg intead of getting caught.
Xu Xiaoli lifted his head to stare at 888 then and a smile split his little lips. "Ba! Ba! Ba! Ba! Ba! Ba!"
Seeing his brother having so much fun, Xu Cai twisted himself out of He Yuan's arms and clumsily walked over to 888. "Ba! Ba! Ba! Ba!"
He Yuan and 888 raised their brows in surprise. Although 888 seldom came out of the mindspace in this realm, he'd done so a few times. As the boys kept on calling out 'Ba' repeatedly, both host and System wondered for how long the twins had been able to see 888?
After the initial shock wore off, 888 relaxed. Actually he'd heard other systems mention that a few children had been able to see them in a task realm. This could be because babies were actually the purest of souls and had bodies brimming full of untainted Source qi until they turned 2.
Now, that wasn't saying that they became tainted at 2 years. Rather, it just meant that that was the amount of time it took the task realm to weave the life essence of new borns to suit the realm they were created in.
888 gave a quick explanation to his host and with an understanding nod, He Yuan scooped up both boys and went downstairs to celebrate their first birthday.
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Chen Meili was living her best life.
Despite her fears, she'd managed to give birth to three healthy boys months ago and from then on, she became the queen of the Han mansion.
She was pampered by everyone -both male and female alike. Even Han Yuanjun, who had held a grudge against her for so long, finally softened his stance in the face of the beautiful tripplets.
Han Tao had taken an extended leave from work and spent every waking moment either fussing over his wife or taking care of the triplets with her.
He was such a loving husband and father that Chen Meili felt overwhelmed whilst Han Yi and Han Jiao looked on with wistful eyes -wishing for someone who would treat them the way their cousin Tao treated their sister Meili.
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It is said that time flew when one was happy and for the Hans, time indeed flew by quickly and before they knew it, the triplets were about to turn one year old.
Three days before the birthday banquet, Chen Meili walked into the dining hall carrying the third triplet. As for the other two... the second was being coddled by Min Yanyu whilst Han Tao was feeding the first.
"Good morning everyone," She greeted with a smile and when they all turned to smile at her warmly in return, she happily walked over to seat next to Han Tao.
After shyly glancing at everyone, she leaned forward and gave him a peck on his cheek. "Good morning brother Tao."
The others cleared their throats loudly with teasing smiles whilst Han Tao laughed. "We woke up in the same bed and have already said good morning to each other, was there any need for this?"
Chen Meili pouted. "Of course! The bedroom is the bedroom. This is the dining room. if I should later meet you in the kitchen or the garden then you'd also receive a good morning kiss until afternoon comes!"
Han Yi and Han Jiao cooed as Han Tao leaned forward to gently kiss Chen Meili on her forehead.
After that passed, breakfast officially began.
Once breakfast was done, Min Yanyu reached for a file she'd placed on the table and turned to Chen Meili. "I have the guest list ready for the birthday banquet of the babies, would you like to look at it?"
Chen Meili raised a brow and smiled. "Yes please." She took a casual look through the names and was about to give it back when she suddenly thought of something... Or rather someone.
Xu Lifen.
She hadn't heard anything about the woman since she left the Han home. Thinking of the fact that her brother had promised to handle Xu Lifen but had ended up in the state he was in two days after, she wondered if Xu Lifen was dead or alive.
Her mind started to wander. If Xu Lifen saw her now, would the woman regret leaving brother Tao? Xu Lifen had been so arrogant because she had the twins, now though, could Xu Lifen even dare to show her face in front of her, Chen Meili?
With that thought, Chen Meili eyed Han Tao briefly before looking at Min Yanyu. "Mother, the list is wonderful but I was wondering if it's possible to... invite Xu Lifen?"