In the bedroom, Feng Yuan, crying as he ran back, had already been caught in Li Sheng’s arms after he sat up.
Li Sheng held the tearful little one in his embrace and bent his head to ask, “What’s wrong? Did you fall?”
Children loved to tumble, and the bump on Feng Yuan’s head had only just disappeared after several days. The marks from all the bumps and scrapes on his little face were also still recent.
As he asked, Li Sheng checked his little face and his small body.
His little cow pajamas were a short set, leaving a lot of skin exposed.
Li Sheng carefully checked him all over and didn’t find any marks.
Feng Yuan, cradled by Big Daddy and holding up his little face, was forced to tilt his head back.
He hiccuped through his crying: “The mirror… the mirror has a ghost! The ghost scared Yuan Yuan!”
Feng Yuan only saw a ghostly shadow in the mirror and didn’t clearly see what the ghost looked like.
No matter what it looked like, seeing it in the mirror in the middle of the night was definitely scary for a little one.
As soon as Feng Qi heard there was a ghost in the mirror, he immediately got up and went to the bathroom.
When he went, the bathroom was clean and tidy, and everything was gone.
Feng Qi, still uneasy, after leaving the bathroom, looked around in other places as well.
He searched for quite a while but found nothing at all.
“Yuan Yuan.”
Finding nothing, Feng Qi came back and comforted Feng Yuan: “Daddy has checked. There’s no ghost in the house now.”
Feng Qi’s comforting words, along with Li Sheng holding him and coaxing him, were all useless.
Feng Yuan still couldn’t stop crying.
In the end, he only fell asleep after crying himself utterly exhausted.
After his crying, neither Li Sheng nor Feng Qi could sleep.
The two of them laid Feng Yuan down, tucked him in properly, and held his little hands, lying beside him to keep him company.
In the darkness.
Li Sheng asked a puzzled question: “Feng Yuan is still afraid of ghosts?”
Feng Qi had long revealed his identity and also explained his responsibilities.
A phoenix is born powerful. From birth, it carries the responsibility of bringing light and auspiciousness to the human world.
Eradicating evil and demons, restoring clarity to the world—this is the mission passed down through every generation of phoenixes.
But this little phoenix, Feng Yuan, is afraid of the dark and even afraid of ghosts.
“Logically speaking, he shouldn’t be afraid.”
Feng Qi replied slowly, “But there’s no helping it. Who said Feng Yuan has more than one father?”
“I don’t even know what the identity of Yuan Yuan’s other father is, and it has made my Yuan Yuan scared of ghosts.”
Li Sheng, who was clearly being blamed, looked somewhat helpless on his strikingly handsome face.
“Feng Qi, I really am just a normal person.”
At this moment, his identity truly was just that of an ordinary person.
Feng Qi didn’t respond.
Seeing this, Li Sheng simply went on and asked, “After all your hard work exorcising demons, do you get any benefits?”
Li Sheng’s question carried a hint of practicality.
But deep down, he really wanted to know the answer.
He wanted to know whether Feng Qi, by doing things beneficial to the human world, could receive a form of blessing in return.
The blessing Li Sheng hoped for had nothing to do with fame, wealth, or material possessions.
The blessing he wished to see was simply for Feng Qi’s health to improve a little.
The meaning behind Li Sheng’s words, clever as Feng Qi was, he naturally understood.
Feng Qi smiled: “There might be some benefit. In the future, if Yuan Yuan wants to fight evil and promote good, you should try not to stop him.”
“If he does a lot of these good deeds, the Way of Heaven will certainly record his merits.”
“By then, Yuan Yuan will definitely be able to grow up smoothly and steadily.”
As for Feng Qi himself, he had lived too long and experienced too much.
He could feel that the Way of Heaven was no longer merciful to him.
But that wasn’t entirely correct.
The Way of Heaven still left him a thread of life. But this thread of life was worse than having none at all.
“Have you heard of the Classic of Mountains and Seas?”
“Yes, I have.”
“There are many monsters in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and some of them are extremely vicious. When the World of Mountains and Seas collapsed, they escaped. If I can find them, the Way of Heaven might grant me a small favor.”
This small favor was roughly his thread of life.
Feng Qi could sense it.
But he also knew clearly that he seemed to have neither the time nor the energy to accomplish this task.
“How many monsters escaped from the Classic of Mountains and Seas? What kind of monsters are they, and what are their characteristics? I’ll help you find them.”
As Feng Qi said this, Li Sheng, who had originally been just a listener, suddenly raised his hand and turned on the small night lamp.
In the dim light of the night lamp, Li Sheng picked up his phone and, while asking Feng Qi questions, carefully recorded everything.
He was noting down the key monsters that Feng Qi wanted to find.
The first was Yazi.
This creature was extremely dangerous. It had once held a grudge against a human emperor. That grudge had yet to be resolved when it was imprisoned.
The seas change and the mulberry fields turn; times and circumstances shift.
He had escaped during this recent turmoil, and the emperor he once held a grudge against was surely no longer around.
But Yazi had once declared that he would turn the emperor’s territory into a river of blood.
“You mean, even if the emperor is gone, Yazi would still wreak havoc and destroy the world?”
“Yes, that’s right. Right now, he’s probably hiding somewhere, preparing to cause trouble.”
As Feng Qi spoke, he mentioned the second ferocious beast:
Qiongqi.
This one would eat people.
Feng Qi’s relationship with Qiongqi wasn’t particularly hostile; back in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the two of them could even talk calmly and reasonably.
But placing this creature in the human world made Feng Qi uneasy.
Third, fourth, fifth…
Feng Qi listed them one by one in detail.
He listed a total of ten monsters: “Find these, and you don’t need to look for the others.”
“Why?”
“Once they behave, the rest will stay in line too.”
“Mm.”
Li Sheng listened patiently and carefully recorded everything Feng Qi had just said, neatly and thoroughly.
After finishing all this, Li Sheng ended the topic.
He put his phone away, lay down in the quilt, and placed his arm across Feng Qi’s front, in a position that held him close.
Feng Qi: “……”
Feng Qi glanced at him. Li Sheng had his eyes closed, pretending not to notice.
Before, Li Sheng would only hold him like this once he was asleep.
Now, this person was no longer pretending at all.
The two adults had been talking for quite some time. Feng Yuan, lying beside them, could hear with his little ears.
But for the little one who had just been frightened, at this moment, the voices of his two fathers were like a calming balm.
With the two dads talking nearby, he slept even more soundly.
The next day.
Li Sheng woke up at six thirty. When he woke, Feng Yuan was still fast asleep.
Feng Yuan liked to kick off his covers while sleeping. Now, the blanket had been kicked off again.
Li Sheng stared at his sleeping posture for a moment.
Children’s sleeping positions were like acrobatics. Feng Yuan slept kneeling on the bed, his chubby little bottom sticking up, his cheek pressed sideways against the pillow, and the right side of his face was slightly red from the pressure.
Li Sheng took a photo of him sleeping like that, then got up to make breakfast.
By the time he finished, it was seven o’clock.
When he returned to the bedroom, he picked up the little one who was still sticking his bottom up while sleeping.
While tidying Feng Yuan, Feng Qi squinted his eyes and slowly woke up.
When children go to school, the busiest and most stressed are often not the children themselves, but the adults at home.
Feng Qi and Li Sheng had already agreed that they would go together to take Feng Yuan to school.
Just as they stepped out the door, another parent, Li Ting, arrived.
He squeezed into the car as well, intending to take Feng Yuan.
Once seated in the back, Feng Qi and Li Ting were meeting properly for the first time.
Li Ting studied Feng Qi’s face up close.
Indeed, this face was a hundred times more beautiful than in the photos.
“Yuan Yuan looks a lot like you,” he said.
Li Ting suddenly added, “You and Li Sheng are both men. How did you… make a child?”
No sooner had Li Ting asked the question than Li Sheng shot him a cold glance, the warning in his eyes unmistakable.
Li Ting didn’t care about the warning at all.
With Feng Yuan present, Li Sheng had to act like a proper father and didn’t dare to get angry.
Feng Qi casually answered Li Ting’s question: “Yuan Yuan is my child. If you’re interested in having children, I can show you a way, too.”
Li Ting: “……”
Li Ting: “No need.”
He wasn’t interested in having children.
The adults chatted casually, while Feng Yuan, sitting in his seat, looked a little droopy.
He still hadn’t fully recovered from the fright of last night’s ghost scare.
The car sped steadily along.
Soon, they arrived at the kindergarten.
Qin Xun, who had left a little earlier, was waiting at the entrance.
Seeing them arrive, Qin Xun quickly guided the way: “Yuan Yuan is in the Green Leaf class. I already went ahead and saved a desk and chair for him.”
Qin Xun thoughtfully reserved a spot for Feng Yuan and even wiped down the desk and chair again.
This kindergarten had a very good environment, and the facilities were complete.
Li Sheng and Feng Qi had inspected it beforehand. They were both very satisfied with the place.
The children arrived one after another.
The teachers came out as well, signaling that it was time for the parents to leave.
Feng Yuan, sitting on his little stool, had a small, listless face at first, but when he heard the cries of the other children, he clearly brightened up.
Some kids, not wanting their parents to leave, threw tantrums and rolled on the floor.
Feng Yuan found it quite entertaining.
He cupped his chubby little hands around his face and watched with fascination for a long while before reluctantly looking away.
The professional and responsible teachers had already managed the crying children.
With no more fun to watch, Feng Yuan lay back down on the table, resting his round little chin on the picture book in front of him.
“Hello, children. I’m your teacher, Kang Kang. From now on, Teacher Kang Kang will guide you in learning and in daily life…”
The head teacher of the Green Leaf class was a male teacher.
He had a very approachable appearance, and his voice was gentle and warm.
At this moment, he was softly delivering his opening remarks.
Qin Xun had originally been sitting next to Feng Yuan.
But just now, when Teacher Kang Kang called the roll and realized he wasn’t in the Green Leaf class, he was politely asked to leave.
Now, Feng Yuan was sitting alone.
He didn’t want a deskmate, so when someone had tried to sit with him earlier, he had refused.
On the first day of kindergarten, the teachers didn’t really teach much.
Since the children’s emotions were unstable, the teachers’ main focus at this stage was to soothe them.
So on the first day, their “lessons” mostly consisted of playing.
Feng Yuan liked to play.
By the time the day was over, not only was Feng Yuan in a better mood, but he was also feeling a bit proud.
“Kindergarten is really easy,” he said.
Still unaware of the hidden challenges of kindergarten, Feng Yuan, sitting upright in the car on the way home, puffed out his little chest and boasted to the adults: “Big Daddy, Dad, Little Uncle, just wait—Yuan Yuan will bring you little red flowers every day from now on.”
Today, Feng Yuan had earned one little red flower.
Today, he didn’t cry or throw tantrums and behaved especially well, so Teacher Kang Kang gave him a little red flower.
Teacher Kang Kang said that from now on, little red flowers would be given out in class every day.
However, in the future, the little red flowers would only be given to five children.
Feng Yuan had only received one little red flower, and he gave it to his favorite dad.
“Dad, this is for you.”
Feng Yuan gave the little red flower to Dad and shared the cookies with Big Daddy and Little Uncle.
“Tomorrow’s little red flower will go to Big Daddy, and the day after tomorrow’s will go to Little Uncle!”
Feng Yuan had planned it all perfectly.
He even intended to give the little red flower three days later to Qin Xun.
The cookies Feng Yuan had drawn were all eaten by the adults.
However, on the second day, the third day…
Feng Yuan didn’t receive a single little red flower.
Not only did he fail to get any little red flowers, but the frequency of his ghostly encounters was also increasing.
On the first day of kindergarten, unfamiliar characters had already appeared in his books.
At the time, Feng Yuan had been too busy playing to notice or read, so he hadn’t discovered them.
He noticed it on the second day.
On the second day, his pen moved on its own.
Right in front of him, his pen wrote characters in his book by itself.
It was during break time; all the other children had gone off to play. Feng Yuan was lying on the table, drawing a little turtle. Before his little turtle was finished, a pen floated out of his pencil case and wrote words beside it.
In broad daylight, Feng Yuan was scared into tears again.
He cried and stumbled backward, his baby voice trembling: “W-what are you writing? Yuan Yuan can’t read these characters!”
The pen, in response to his words, abruptly stopped moving.
Watching the pen halt, a sudden, very bad premonition surged in Feng Yuan’s heart.
His premonitions were usually accurate—and usually good—but this time, it felt very wrong.
This time was the same.
After he declared that he couldn’t read the characters, the ghost that wrote in his book fully focused on him.
During the lesson on new characters, the teacher was teaching strokes and simple characters.
Whenever Feng Yuan got distracted, a pen would appear on the back of his hand, drawing little turtles.
Seeing the little turtles on his hand, Feng Yuan, who didn’t want to pay attention to class at all, felt frustrated, his small face tearful again.
After being forced to sit through several consecutive lessons, Feng Yuan somehow managed to overcome his fear of the ghost.
He sniffled, and during the activity period, ran to an empty corner.
In this deserted little corner,
Feng Yuan tilted his chubby little face toward the air in front of him and declared with fearless resolve: “Next class, I don’t want to listen! If you’re unhappy, then go ahead and draw little turtles!”
Feng Yuan simply couldn’t sit still during class.
He was naturally restless. Making him sit quietly through a lesson was no easier than letting him face a ghost directly!
Hearing the little one’s protest, the ghost that had been following him finally began to take shape in front of him.
The figure was young—and strangely familiar to Feng Yuan.
Obrigada pela tradução!😘💓