Xu Jinxin glanced at Su Xian, then waved to Duoduo.
Duoduo ran over to Xu Jinxin and tilted up her little face.
Xu Jinxin cupped Duoduo’s cheeks and gave her two hearty kisses.
“Oh, Duoduo, how can you be so adorable?”
“No, I absolutely have to whisk you away to Aunt Xu’s house!”
Duoduo was already used to Aunt Xu doing this from time to time.
Even so, her little face still turned red.
She did not push Xu Jinxin away, though.
She could feel that Aunt Xu truly liked her.
It had nothing to do with money!
After saying that, Xu Jinxin put an arm around Duoduo and raised her eyebrows at Su Xian.
“I’m really taking Duoduo with me this time. You can have one of your own later.”
Su Xian froze for a moment.
Then she immediately came to her senses and reached out to pull Duoduo away.
“How could you? She’s my daughter!”
“You already have Yingniang. Why are you trying to steal mine?”
Xu Jinxin refused to let go of Duoduo.
“I’m not having any more children anyway! Duoduo and Yingniang can keep each other company!”
“You still have a chance. Hurry up and think of a way to have one!”
The smile vanished from Su Xian’s face at once.
What did Xu Jinxin mean by that?
The Prince’s health had recovered, but apart from her and Duoduo, no one knew about it.
Could it be that The Prince had told Li Jin?
No!
The Prince was not the sort of person who would be so careless!
Then was Xu Jinxin testing her?
When Xu Jinxin saw that Su Xian had suddenly fallen silent and that her expression had become unreadable, she released Duoduo.
“Ah, Duoduo, your mother has something on her mind!”
“Look, she can’t even take a joke anymore!”
“Go on, go to your mother!”
“Put in a good word for Aunt Xu!”
Duoduo obediently nestled into Su Xian’s arms and blinked at Xu Jinxin.
“Aunt Xu, I won’t leave my mother.”
“If you can bear to, you can leave Big Sister here at the palace!”
Su Xian came back to herself. After hearing Duoduo’s words, she immediately nodded in agreement.
“Exactly!”
“Duoduo is right!”
“Leave Yingniang with me. You can go home and have another child with Li Jin!”
“Oh, right. I remember someone once said that she would handle the giving birth while I handled the raising.”
“How come it’s been so long, yet I still haven’t seen a child?”
Xu Jinxin pointed at Su Xian. “I was only saying it casually. You actually took me seriously?”
Su Xian nodded.
“That’s right. Hurry home and get pregnant so you can keep your promise!”
“Otherwise, I’ll keep Yingniang here!”
As she spoke, Su Xian pulled Yingniang over and hugged both girls in her arms.
Xu Jinxin blinked.
Yingniang knew that her mother and Aunt Su were close and often joked around like this.
So she obediently leaned against Su Xian without struggling.
Xu Jinxin clapped both hands.
“Well, this is just perfect! I tried to steal a chicken and ended up losing the rice—now even my daughter has betrayed me!”
Duoduo smiled and hugged Yingniang.
“Aunt Xu, why don’t you have another little brother?”
“I can take care of him for you!”
The moment Yingniang heard this, she chimed in as well. “I can help take care of him too.”
Xu Jinxin and Su Xian were both amused by the girls’ words.
“Do you think having a child is that easy?”
“And you want a little brother too! It’s not like shopping for vegetables at the market, where you can just pick whichever one you like and buy it!”
Duoduo proudly lifted her smiling face toward Xu Jinxin.
“Aunt Xu, if you want a little brother, I can help you!”
Surprise flashed through Xu Jinxin’s eyes.
Su Xian gently patted Duoduo on the head.
“Don’t talk nonsense! What will you do if your Aunt Xu can’t give birth to a son?”
Duoduo was unconvinced.
“The pills I made work really well!”
Xu Jinxin’s eyes flickered.
“Duoduo, when did you start researching pills like this?”
“By the way, how effective are they?”
While Xu Jinxin was curious, she also caught the scent of a business opportunity.
In this era, sons represented the continuation of the family line.
Countless people dreamed of having one.
If these pills really had the effect Duoduo claimed…
Xu Jinxin could already imagine the gates of the Prince’s manor being trampled flat by visitors!
Su Xian was all too familiar with the light in Xu Jinxin’s eyes.
“No one has tried them. How would you know whether they work?”
“Duoduo was just saying it offhand. You actually believed her?”
Duoduo turned to look at Su Xian, her face filled with indignation.
Any pill she made was sure to be effective.
However, Duoduo noticed the disapproval in her mother’s eyes.
She pouted and did not argue.
The silent exchange between mother and daughter did not escape Xu Jinxin’s notice.
After thinking for a moment, she reached a hand toward Duoduo.
“How about this? Aunt Xu will be the first little white mouse.”
Duoduo’s eyes widened curiously.
“Aunt Xu, why do you want to be a mouse everyone beats?”
Xu Jinxin drew her hand back and explained to Duoduo.
“In my hometown, whenever we need to test the effects of a medicine, we try it on little white mice first.”
“If the mice show an effect after taking it, that means the medicine can be promoted.”
“If you want to know whether your pills work, Aunt Xu can be the first test subject.”
“However, Aunt Xu has one condition.”
Su Xian shook her head disapprovingly at Xu Jinxin.
“No!”
Xu Jinxin winked at her.
“Su Xian, you don’t get a say in this.”
“The medicine belongs to Duoduo. Only Duoduo can make the decision!”
Duoduo was very curious.
“Aunt Xu, what’s your condition? I’m listening.”
Xu Jinxin nodded.
“Well, what Aunt Xu means is this: if the pills work, you’ll give the prescription to Aunt Xu.”
“I’ll have people manufacture them and handle the sales, just like before.”
“We’ll split the profits fifty-fifty.”
Duoduo tilted her little head.
She only had to provide a prescription and could sit back and wait for the money to come in?
That sounded pretty good!
“But, Aunt Xu, what if they don’t work?” Duoduo asked.
“Aunt Xu believes in you!”
“Don’t worry. Before we put them on the market, Aunt Xu will find a few more people to test them.”
Xu Jinxin could already foresee that these pills would be in extremely high demand!
And if she imposed a purchase limit on top of that…
Goodness, she would surely make a fortune!
Xu Jinxin assumed that Duoduo would happily agree.
She had already begun thinking about what to do next.
But Duoduo shook her head instead.
“I need to think about it!”
Xu Jinxin froze. She had not expected Duoduo to hesitate.
“Why?”
“Aunt Xu, if everyone wants them, then there won’t be any more girls!”
Duoduo remembered how Li Jin had once explained to her why there had been struggles for imperial power since ancient times.
It was because there were too many sons, and everyone wanted to fight over territory, status, wealth, and that supreme position!
“Then the whole world will fall into chaos!”
Xu Jinxin was amused by Duoduo’s solemn expression.
“Duoduo, do you know that you look exactly like one of those ancient people from the story of the man from Qi who worried that the sky would fall?”
“If you’re so worried about it, why did you spend all that effort developing these pills in the first place?”
