Luckily, Xiaoyun guessed it right as he joined his three wives in the shower. It took much longer than any of them had intended.
By the time they were out of the restroom together, they had all lain down on Leyan's bed as they were too tired to go back to their room.
"Um, you guys are about to give birth, right?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked as the three cuddled onto Xiaoyun's arms.
"Yeah, within a week or so... That's why I had mom stay with us in the office," Yuqi replied.
"Do you guys want to just stay in the hospital? Just in case something goes wrong? I can work in the office myself."
Despite Xiaoyun's suggestion, all three of them rejected his offer. They sided with Yuqi, as they didn't want to be seen as a burden.
"It's fine, don't worry about it." Yuqi quietly murmured.
---
Two days had passed without any trouble until today.
Right in the middle of the night, Leyan suddenly woke up and felt an uncomfortable cramp, as well as a wet liquid discharge at her entrance.
Her movement instantly woke up Xiaoyun. He quickly realized what Leyan was having signs of.
With zero hesitation, he carried Leyan into a car he borrowed from the rescue team and drove her to the hospital.
There wasn't even the need for an explanation, as the nurses all recognized who the patient was and put Leyan into a room.
Several night-shift nurses were inside as Xiaoyun waited outside the emergency room. He walked back and forth with nervousness on his face.
Soon, the rest of his family finally showed up at the hospital. Even Lily was there as they quickly walked up to him.
"What's happening to Mom?" Yuqi worriedly asked first.
"Her water might have broken. I'm not sure... But the doctor is putting her under examination right now."
After waiting for a bit, a nurse finally came out of the emergency room.
"Mrs.Leyan is going through labor right now. Who's her relative?" A nurse asked as she looked over to the five of them.
"I'm her husband." Xiaoyun instantly answered.
"Oh, right, um, Mr. Mayor, you can follow me... Please do not enter the emergency room until we come out."
None of them spoke up again as they watched Xiaoyun follow the nurse inside, leaving them to wait as the door shut before their faces.
---
Just as the moon fell on the horizon, Leyan had given birth to a healthy boy. She was transported back to a normal room alongside the baby.
"Oh my god, the baby is so cute!"
All four of them immediately moved closer to see the baby for themselves, only to have Xiaoyun hold them back.
"Mom, c-can I hold it?" Yuqi asked.
"Sure, just be careful with it, okay?"
As Leyan handed the baby to Yuqi first, she was a little surprised by how big and cute the baby oddly looked.
"He looks just like you! The nose and the eyes and everything." Yuqi gently booped the baby's nose.
"Hey, it's my turn!" Yueyue protested.
"Fine, fine."
Yuqi quickly handed the baby over, allowing Yueyue to gently pat its head before noticing the baby smiling at her.
"Aww, I hope mine is just as cute as this." Yueyue quietly murmured.
"Me me! My turn!" Nami hurried.
"Mom, can Nami hold it?" Yueyue asked, her face looking a little hesitant to give the baby over to her younger sister.
"It's fine, Nami won't hurt it."
Seeing Leyan agreed to it, Yueyue reluctantly gave it to Nami to hold. Within seconds, Lily inched closer to see the baby for herself.
"Wow, the baby really does look like Xiaoyun."
As Nami commented out loud, Lily nodded in agreement. They both started poking the baby's belly as the baby stared back at them in silence.
"Am I the only one who doesn't see any resemblance? How can someone tell that already when the baby still looks like um... I don't know how to describe it."
Xiaoyun soon ran out of words. He didn't want to say the baby looked ugly, especially not in front of a mother who had just given birth.
"Whatever, you wouldn't understand."
Nami handed the baby back to Leyan, who gently swung her arms as the baby seemed to have yawned for the first time.
"You guys can go back home and sleep. I can stay here."
After a bit of hesitation, the four of them listened to Xiaoyun's order as they headed out of the room together.
"You don't have to stay here. The nurses can take care of me," Leyan quietly whispered as her eyes never moved away from the baby.
"Nah, I want to stay here with you... And the baby."
Seeing Xiaoyun take a seat next to the bed, Leyan didn't try to persuade him any further. The two sat in silence until she suddenly spoke up again.
"Honey, do you remember the name we gave him?"
"Wasn't it Yongyi for boy and Jingxiu for girl?"
"Yeah... I guess he is named Yongyi then."
As Leyan patted the baby's head, the two fell into silence until Xiaoyun suddenly brought something up.
"Is it just me, or is the baby a little bit quiet?"
"He did cry earlier when the doctor hit him on the butt. He's still breathing perfectly fine and everything..."
She paused for a second, then continued.
"Maybe it's a good child unlike the other three."
"Oh right, those three... I still remember how much they cried at night and everything. That was such a nightmare."
As Songming's memory flooded into Xiaoyun's mind, he couldn't help but smile as they thought back on the struggles together.
"Hey honey. I think I'm just going to be a full-time mom now."
"Wait, what? Why? You don't want to go back to your nurse job or anything?" Xiaoyun questioned, his face looking genuinely shocked by her decision.
"Someone has to take care of the baby. Maybe when Yongyi can go to kindergarten, I might go back to being a nurse."
Leyan paused again before bringing something up that instantly shut any attempt for Xiaoyun to change her mind.
"Besides, Qiqi and Yueyue's child is going to need a mother to take care of them. You know those two aren't going to be stay-at-home moms."
"You aren't wrong... But how about I stay at home with you?"
"Don't you still have the town to take care of? You can't spend too much time with me. I-I don't want to be seen as a selfish woman."
"Thank you, babe... I can never repay you for all the sacrifices you have made for me."
As Xiaoyun gave Leyan a warm hug, she suddenly moved one of her hands and gently patted him on the head.
"Remember what we said? No more saying thank you. Don't make it as if we owe it to each other, okay?
I'm doing this of my own free will. I wanted to have a baby and be a stay-at-home mom, not because of you, but because I want to."
"You're right."
As Xiaoyun looked at the baby, he felt something click inside of him. The baby started smiling toward him as they stared at each other.
"Hey, little buddy. You know what's one plus one?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked.
"What are you doing? How can Yongyi know what you are talking about?" Leyan questioned in confusion.
"If it is two, don't smile."
As soon as Xiaoyun said it, the smile on the baby disappeared.
"What?"
Leyan murmured in both shock and confusion, unable to understand how a baby could understand and change its face.
"If you think one plus two is three, smile."
As Xiaoyun tested it again, Yongyi smiled. This shocked the two of them even more, as Xiaoyun started encouraging her to do it instead.
"Wait, third time's the charm, babe, you do it."
Xiaoyun quickly took Yongyi into her arms, letting her face the baby directly as they stared into each other's faces.
"Two plus two is four, don't smile if you think it's true," Leyan spoke out.
The baby kept smiling, causing both of them to let out a small sigh of relief as they realized they had been bamboozled.
"Yeah, just a pure coincidence... Anyway, you can go home now. I really mean it. You still have work tomorrow."
As Leyan grabbed the baby back down to her arms, Xiaoyun had no choice but to accept her demands.
"Fine, fine."
Xiaoyun turned around one more time to look at the two, then left the room. As he walked to the front desk, a nurse stood there.
"Can I ask you for something?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Of course, Mr. Mayor. What question do you have?" The nurse questioned back.
"I want you to pay extra attention to Leyan, okay? If she needs anything, just give it to her. And if anything goes wrong, just call me."
As Xiaoyun gave her his phone number, the nurse looked a little shocked. Still, she accepted the notecard.
"That's already our job, sir. We'll take care of every patient we have." The nurse answered as she pinned the number onto the board.
Not another word was spoken as Xiaoyun turned around, with the sun rising on the horizon as he walked out of the hospital.
---
When Xiaoyun woke up after his morning nap at home, it was already two o'clock in the afternoon.
He made some food for himself and went to the office.
"Welcome back. How's Mom?"
Yuqi asked as she and Yueyue had already been working in the office alongside Nami, whose face looked a little bored.
"She's fine. She's resting at the hospital right now." Xiaoyun answered as he took a seat and started working.
As the clock slowly ticked closer and closer to the evening, all the workload that had been stacking up over a month was finally finished.
"Qiqi, you need to start giving some of the decisions to the workers. If you keep managing all these, you are going to break yourself over it." Xiaoyun suggested.
"Maybe you are right. I should rely on them more to make their own decisions and let them send summary reports.
But I feel like there might be rampant corruption if I let it go. Who's going to measure everything accurately?"
Seeing Yuqi still refused to budge, Xiaoyun looked over to Nami, who had been tirelessly walking in and out of the office for her sake.
"Yueyue, help me convince her," Xiaoyun asked for support.
"Sis, Xiaoyun is right. As more people move into the town, sooner or later there will be a point where you can't manage all these yourself.
It's time to drop the small things and focus on the bigger picture. We can't micromanage everything." Yueyue argued.
"You're right, I guess... I should let others deal with this."
With Yuqi folding, Nami gave a thumbs up to Xiaoyun before her phone alarm suddenly started ringing.
"Oh, time's up. Let's go home now." Nami pointed out as she took out her phone to shut off the alarm.
"You guys can go home first. I'll finish all these."
All of them left the office, leaving Xiaoyun all alone as he continued working on the pile of work in front of his desk.
As the sun slowly began to set, he was just about to be done.
But then, an idea popped up in his head. It was so good and interesting that he stayed even later to write out a new plan.
The plan for a brand new administrative division. To serve the people better and incorporate the existing system into a more standardized structure.
By the time he finished writing, it was already seven o'clock. The sun had already disappeared as the moon rose into the sky.
Xiaoyun had left the office. But rather than going home, he walked to the hospital first to visit Leyan.
After finishing checking up on her, Xiaoyun finally drove back home with the car he had left in the hospital parking lot last night.
"Welcome back! What took you so long?" Yuqi asked as she opened the door for him.
"Wrote a plan to lessen your workload. Tomorrow it's going to be implemented, and no argument about it.
It's not just for your sake. But for the entire town's future." Xiaoyun added the last part after seeing Yuqi wanting to speak up.
"Whatever, you're the mayor anyway..."