Chapter 712: Its All the Babys Fault (1/2)

“Let’s have a lobster fishing competition then! I’ll use the lobsters we catch to make lobster broiled with minced garlic. There’s a lot of seafood that I like to eat and my favorite is crabs. At this time of year, the crabs are fat and full of flavor. It’s a pity I have a little one inside me, so I can’t eat too many.”

Yu Xiaocao rubbed at her small belly and silently spoke to her unborn child, ‘Sweetie, for your sake, your mother has made many sacrifices. In the future, you must be a filial child to me ah!’

Ever since she found out she was pregnant, her husband had abruptly transformed into an old nagging nanny. She wasn’t allowed to eat many things or do many things. He was very strict with her. Crabs were a cold-natured food, so Xiaocao, who was pregnant, wasn’t allowed to eat much and could only pathetically watch as other people ate the in-season delectable and fat crabs. She wasn’t even allowed to eat her favorite crab roe soup dumplings, so she thought that she lived quite a pitiful life now.

Although they were said to be deep sea fishing, it was mostly an excuse to pass the time. Since they were on a fast moving ship, how stupid would the fish and other sea creatures have to be to get caught ah? Consequently, by the time it was lunch, the group of them had nothing to show for their efforts. Although Xiaocao was quite hungry, she had no appetite as she saw that they had caught no seafood to add to her table. The little divine stone sighed and then changed into a swimsuit. Despite the fact that other people tried to stop it, it jumped off the ship and into the water.

“Uh...Younger Sister Xiaocao, does this younger adopted brother of yours have good swimming skills? Will he be alright ah? Should we have the ship stop for a bit and wait for him?” Zhao Han asked with a bit of worry.

Ever since the little divine stone decided to stay in its human youth form, Xiaocao proclaimed to everyone else that it was her adopted younger brother. She also said that ‘he’ was her savior. If it weren’t for the fact that he had appeared in the nick of time and prevented the traitor from the previous dynasty from killing her, she might not have lasted long enough for Imperial Prince Xu to save her. Thus, everyone around her treated this youth named ‘Yuan Zi’[1] with great respect and gratitude. Wutong was especially deferential to this youth and almost was at the point where she was burning incense to him every day.

As someone who loved the crow because he loved the house, Zhao Han was worried about the little divine stone because it was the savior of Xiaocao.

Yu Xiaocao held onto the deck rails and stared out into the sea. Her expression, however, belied that she wasn’t the least bit worried. In fact, she had a somewhat excited look instead. Oh ho, when the little divine stone decided to go out, he absolutely wouldn't come back empty-handed. Her mouth was in luck today. Giant lobster, crab, sea fish...once they were cleaned, they were just waiting to be sent to her table!

Ever since she discovered she was pregnant with her baby, Yu Xiaocao felt like she had become incredibly picky. In the past, even if she encountered a dish she wasn’t fond of, she was able to stomach a few bites. Now, she didn’t even want a whiff of the not favored dish. If someone tried to use the excuse that it would be good for her body and unborn child to eat the food, she would even throw a temper tantrum. At the same time, if she craved something and wasn’t able to eat it, she immediately lost her appetite. Even if her stomach flipped and she was weak from hunger, she wouldn’t even move her chopsticks one iota.

She also refused to admit that she was the one being picky and difficult. In fact, she complained to her husband and claimed that the reason why she was so picky now was all related to the baby inside her tummy and that it was the baby’s fault. The poor little fellow had already been used as a scapegoat for his mother before he (she) was even born.

And just who was the little divine stone? He didn’t have her wait for long before he came back with a basket full of top-notch seafood. Other than a giant lobster that was more than a foot long, he also brought back the best quality sea cucumber, abalone, and other types of tasty seafood that were appropriate for pregnant women to eat.

Both Zhao Han and Su Ran were stupefied by the incredibly varied haul the youth came back with in so little time. However, they only thought that he had good swimming skills and had taken advantage of the good conditions in the sea. Even if someone else had other doubts, they wouldn’t investigate much given that this youth had the identity of the younger adopted brother of the princess consort.

Although they had missed lunchtime, Yu Xiaocao was very pleased with this table full of seafood. She ate with great relish. There was lobster broiled with minced garlic, steamed turbot in a light broth, sea cucumber bone soup, abalone cooked in oyster broth, salted egg and crab meat rice, broiled cod steaks…

After inquiring a bit, Zhu Junyang found out that, other than the crab meat, the rest of the seafood was safe for pregnant women to eat without limits. Thus, he allowed her to eat until her belly turned round.

However, Yu Xiaocao’s tastes changed constantly. After eating seafood for a few days in a row, she suddenly wanted to eat fresh vegetables. It was already the winter season, and the ships were traveling from south to the north. Not all of the prefectures along the way had shops that were supplied with greenhouse grown vegetables. Consequently, the fact that Xiaocao was keen on eating vegetables became a big headache for everyone else on the ship. It was harder to find fresh vegetables in winter than seafood, alright?

Fortunately, the child within Xiaocao’s womb wasn’t picky about what type of vegetable she ate (she insisted that it was the baby that was picky, so everyone could only hold their noses and assent). The relatively in-season spinach, Chinese chives, daikon, cabbage, and potatoes were all eaten by her with relish as long as they were cooked properly.

With the Jinwei Navy’s ships, which had the best ships in the Great Ming Dynasty, it ordinarily should have only taken them seven to eight days to arrive at Tanggu Harbor. However, it took them half a month for them to complete the journey despite the speed of the ships. There was nothing they could do. After all, in order to satisfy Yu Xiaocao’s incredibly hard to please palate, they needed to supply the ships with a vast variety of foodstuffs every time they went to shore. This was to avoid being out at sea and having nothing to satisfy the little ancestor that was Yu Xiaocao.

Just as the men were about to become exhausted from figuring out the food situation, the Tanggu Harbor could be seen in the distance. Zhu Junyang, Su Ran, and Zhao Han all let out a sigh of relief in their hearts.

Perhaps it was because the Jinwei Navy was known to be tough fighters with excellent warships on their side, their journey to the north had been very smooth other than the fact that they had to deal with a certain person’s changing appetites. When the warships reached shore, Liuzi got the news immediately and brought a few of his capable subordinates along to welcome them. He personally helped Xiaoaco and the others to transport their luggage to land.

Among the people there was Yu Heizi, who could be technically considered to be Xiaocao’s older paternal cousin. Ever since Madam Zhang had left to go to the prefectural city with her youngest son, her eldest son’s family, who had been ‘abandoned’, were left to their own devices. Madam Li was greedy and lazy, so she always tried to find ways to slack off at work. Yu Dashan, on the other hand, was slow and incompetent. Thus, the family now relied entirely on Yu Heizi to support them.