Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Huai Zi was overjoyed and quickly added, "We have to have a son, too. If we only have daughters, they won’t have brothers to protect them. When they get married, they’ll have less support from their family and might get bullied."

Seeing him get carried away and plan so far ahead, Juhua couldn’t help but laugh. "Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself?" she teased. "Nothing’s even happened yet, and you’re already worried about our daughter getting married."

Huai Zi leaned closer to her and said in a suggestive tone, "It can happen very quickly—just look at your sister-in-law! Even if nothing’s started yet, we can still prepare. That way we won’t be scrambling when it happens."

Juhua asked in surprise, "Prepare for what? What is there to prepare?" ’There’s not the slightest sign of anything. What is there to prepare?’

Huai Zi quickly replied, "What do you mean, nothing to prepare? There are tons of things! For instance, we can pick out their names. Or we can start thinking about what to teach them. And, of course, we definitely need to save up more money..."

Juhua quickly cut him off. "We don’t even know if it’ll be a boy or a girl, so how can we pick a name? Unless you mean picking names for both. But there’s no need to be in such a hurry. It’s not like we won’t be able to find a name after the baby’s born."

Huai Zi looked as if he had it all planned out. "Juhua, for their formal names, we can look for them in books later. There’s no rush for that. I’m talking about their nicknames. I was thinking, since you love tending the vegetable garden so much, we should just find our children’s nicknames there. For instance, if we have a little girl like Qing’er, we could call her Little Pepper. If it’s a..."

"Wait, wait!"

Juhua looked at this eager father-to-be with exasperation, utterly speechless. She saw him still gazing at her with such anticipation that she couldn’t bring herself to say he was full of terrible ideas, fearing it would crush his spirits. But then she gave it a second thought. ’Little Pepper? Hmm, that’s actually not bad!’

She pictured a garden brimming with vibrant vegetables and fruits and suddenly realized it was an excellent idea. ’These things are simple, but they have so much character and flavor. People like to give their children humble names to make them easier to raise, but how can names like Gou Dan or Shi Tou ever compare to the vivacity of Pepper, Eggplant, or Scallion?’

Her expression softened into a smile as she said, "That’s quite an idea. Names like that are so down-to-earth. They’re things every family has and plants every year; they’re comforting to hear."

When Zhang Huai first saw her frown, his heart had sunk with anxiety. But now that she was smiling and praising his idea, he was so delighted he dropped the water bamboo shoots he was holding and beamed. "Exactly! If we have a chubby baby boy, we’ll call him Nangua! If it’s a chubby baby girl, we’ll call her Lotus Root. A quiet boy can be Hulu, and a quiet, gentle girl can be Eggplant..."

Juhua got into the spirit of it as well, adding with a laugh, "Eggplant isn’t quite right for a girl; she should be called Ziqie. A nimble, delicate girl could be called Cong. A graceful, poised girl could be Green Garlic. A sturdy, good-natured boy could be Shanyu. A simple, honest boy could be Banli. A quick-witted boy could be... could be..."

She couldn’t think of one on the spot, her eyes darting about as she mentally searched the vegetable garden and fields for something else to use.

Huai Zi clapped his hands and finished for her, "Huangdou! When soybeans are ripe, don’t they just roll and bounce all over the place?"

Juhua pictured the round, rolling soybeans, her eyes crinkling as she smiled and nodded again and again. She silently counted the names. They’d already picked out quite a few, but she wasn’t quite satisfied. She said to Huai Zi, "We’ve thought of so many we could never use them all—we don’t even know how many children we’ll have. But these names are so much fun. Why don’t we think of a few for my brother, too? Then Yangzi can use them when she has kids, and our two families can create a whole garden of fruits and vegetables together. How does that sound?"

Huai Zi was even more delighted and nodded again and again, but then he asked with some concern, "But they’ll get first pick. I hope they don’t take all the good ones later. Whatever else, I’m definitely saving ’Little Pepper’ for our daughter."

Juhua laughed and cheerfully reassured him, "The name has to fit the child to be charming. Otherwise, if our daughter turns out to be a quiet, gentle little girl, are you still going to call her ’Little Pepper’? And what if we have a lively, energetic boy who grows up to be a chatterbox? Would you still name him ’Hulu’? Even if my brother uses some of the names first, we can definitely find good replacements. We’re not limited to the fruits and vegetables in the garden. We can use the names of wild plants and fruit trees from the mountains and fields, too."

Huai Zi laughed. "Ah, you’re right. For instance, an especially clever and active boy could be called ’Peanut’ or ’Ni Qiu.’ By that logic, I don’t think Little Shitou should be called ’Little Shitou’ at all. ’Ni Qiu’ would have suited his temperament much better..."