roccoschili Chapter 136, "Robin's Mansion on August 2, 1764"
Chapter 136, "Robin's Mansion on August 2, 1764"
Chapter 136, "Robin's Mansion on August 2, 1764"
"—William, my little William, what a lovely child!"
Inside the delivery room, Robert carefully held his grandson in his arms, looking down at his brown eyes and black hair, a smile involuntarily spreading across his face.
In Europe, people with black hair and brown eyes are generally considered to be descendants of the Romans.
Robert himself had brown hair, while Diana's mother came from the Scott family of Hesse and had Germanic ancestry, so Diana's hair was dark blonde.
His grandson William clearly inherited his father's bloodline, with brown eyes and black hair, and will surely grow up to be a handsome gentleman.
"Alright! Show me, your time's up!"
Edward Scott, seeing that he was getting carried away with the hug, snorted and took his grand-nephew from the cold-faced Robert.
Looking at the adorable baby in his arms, his thoughts differed from Robert's.
Since his niece gave birth to a male heir for Chen Wenbin, and this child would become the king's godson, the relationship between the Scott family and the Robin Chen family became even closer.
He has decided to send his son, Sean Scott, to North America with Chen Wenbin. There, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and with enough strength, anything is possible. Only there will the Scott family have the chance to become true aristocrats!
Chen Wenbin ignored the two of them and was sitting by Diana's bedside, explaining the meaning of his son's Chinese name, "Chen Mingren."
According to Chen Wenbin's grandfather, Chen Jianguo, their family's generational names since the late Ming Dynasty are "Ji Feng Yu Jia, Xiu He Jing Fa, Xian Liang Wen Ming, Ying Mao Xian Da". He was of the "Wen" generation, so his son should be of the "Ming" generation.
The reason it's called Mingren is simply because Chen Wenbin was lazy and wanted to use the phrase "仁义礼智信道德恪勇严".
To name my son.
For a daughter, we'll name her after the Book of Songs and the Chu Ci, whichever page we turn to.
As for his eldest son's English name, William Robin Chen, it wasn't chosen by him; rather, it was something King George III asked him about when they last met.
It is said that the children have not yet been officially named or had a godfather appointed. The young king simply offered to be the children's godfather, and the boy would be named William, just like him, while the girl would be named Wilhelma.
Chen Wenbin didn't care at all. He had originally planned to use his father-in-law's name, Robert, for his son's English name. Of course, William was also fine, and it was common for the British aristocracy to recognize the king as their godfather.
Despite being only twenty-six years old, George III already had more than thirty godchildren, not counting those who had died young.
Lord Chen gave him so many pounds; adopting him as a godson was not about winning him over, but simply a gesture of closeness.
Does "Ren" mean compassion and justice? I think it's good! Darling, let's use this name!
After hearing her husband's explanation, Diana agreed, and she also hoped that her son would have the virtues of compassion and justice in the future.
"Okay, then our son will be named Chen Mingren!" Chen Wenbin nodded, feeling relieved.
He's not really good at naming things, but using generational names plus the characters for benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness to name someone shouldn't be too bad.
Fifteen minutes later.
Chen Wenbin carried his son out of the house to meet the people in the living room and receive their blessings and pledges of loyalty.
Shortly thereafter, Joshua Reynolds, the chief portrait painter of the British Royal Family, was invited to Robin House.
The painter returned from studying in Italy ten years ago and opened his own studio in London. He quickly gained a good reputation among the nobility and wealthy merchants, and now he and his apprentices have almost monopolized the British aristocratic portrait painting market.
Chen Wenbin had seen many portraits of Joshua Reynolds on the walls of aristocratic homes such as the Russell family. His style was to make people resemble mythological figures while taking into account both realistic portraiture and classical composition. They looked really good, so he agreed to let him paint them.
Thus, a family heirloom oil painting, later permanently preserved in the Robin Chan Family Museum, titled "1764," was created.
"Robin's Mansion on August 2nd" was born.
In the oil painting, Chen Wenbin sits in the main seat of the living room, holding his newborn son in one arm, his eyes fixed on the painter.
His relatives, friends, and subordinates, sitting or standing around him, included Robert, Edward Scott, Franklin and David Jones who had returned from France, Lieutenant Commander Charles House, the John and Samuel Adams brothers, Henry Hopkins, the butler Richard, and other company managers who rushed over upon hearing the news, as well as Chen Wenbin's friends in London.
Because Lord Chen had too many subordinates and friends, the painting went through several revisions, with nine people who were not present at the time being added, until it was finally finalized eleven years later.
Of course, Chen Wenbin paid a painting fee of up to £300 for it, and naturally, this oil painting became Joshua Reynolds' classic masterpiece.
According to later historians, this painting, "Robin House, August 2, 1764," should actually be called "The Eve of the Birth of America," because most of the people in the painting later became key figures and important individuals in American independence.
The date is March 3st.
With King George III officially appointing Lord Robin Chan as Royal Governor of the British Mississippi Territory a week ago, it is time for Lord Chan to leave Britain and take up his post in North America.
Because their son had just been born, his wife Diana naturally couldn't go with him on the ship to North America.
So this week, he gathered three doctors and four nurses from Robin Hospital, divided them into two groups, and developed a detailed maternal and infant health care plan. He assigned them, along with Betty, to take care of the health of Diana and her child, as well as Mary and her daughter. They would also be responsible for taking care of Catherine and Tina's child when they were born.
That's right, Mary also gave birth to a daughter in late September. Chen Wenbin named her Chen Zhiting, and her English name is Julie. He likes his daughter very much, so he often goes next door to talk to Mary and her daughter and Catherine these days.
During those two months, he was accompanied by Tina, a French maid whose eyes and lips resembled Sophie Marceau's, and Catherine, who had long legs. Before long, Tina also became pregnant.
Diana had become numb to it all; since men were simply uncontrollable, she decided to manage the risks herself.
Before Lord Chen left, she instructed her butler Richard and her uncle Edward to find more than fifty clean and pretty girls for Chen Wenbin, so that her husband could choose a maid from among them to take to North America.
Since these women pose no threat to her position, she'd rather arrange everything herself than let her husband find other women randomly.
These girls came from all over the world. Some were descendants of impoverished English nobles, some were red-haired Irish girls, some were daughters of North German knights, daughters of Dutch merchants, brown-haired Iberian girls, daughters of Huguenots exiled in France, and even a few Slavic female slaves bought from the Ottoman Empire.
Faced with his wife's kind offer, Lord Chen had no choice but to agree and pick out the twelve he found most pleasing to the eye.
He didn't send the rest away either. Half of them were sent to study nursing at Robin University Medical School, and the other half were prepared to be taken to North America to work as nurses in hospitals.
The New World is in dire need of people, especially young, fertile women, and Lord Chen is happy to introduce them to his followers.