“Sister Zhenzhen and I are playing hide-and-seek, and she always catches me!” Nuonuo complained.
Zhenzhen proudly twitched her whiskers, “Who told the little fox brother to have so many tails! No matter where it hides, I always see them first!”
Wow! Nuonuo was so aggrieved that he was about to cry.
No wonder his older brothers and sisters could always find him!
He hadn't won a single game yet!
“I don’t want so many tails, they’re so annoying!” Nuonuo looked at his nine beautiful, big tails with distaste.
Yan, who had finished cooking, walked over and happened to hear his son's complaint. He smiled and said, “I’ll teach you a little magic trick to hide your tails.”
Nuonuo happily wagged his tails, “Dad, teach me how to use it!”
Yan taught him a simple incantation. Nuonuo was very smart and succeeded on the first try.
The nine tails turned into one big tail. He looked at his big tail curiously, jumping on the ground, chasing it around in circles, and biting it playfully.
Little Zhenzhen also took the opportunity to pounce on him, and the two little ones played together in a ball.
Sangluo looked thoughtfully at Yan, who was smiling, “Did you also use this spell to disguise yourself as an ordinary wild fox back then?”
“Yes, the world back then wasn't as peaceful as it is now. The cubs of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox aren't very strong when they are young. Without the protection of their family, they can easily be targeted by those with ulterior motives. I often disguised myself like this when I was a child, otherwise I might have been skinned and had my bones extracted long ago to be refined into magical artifacts or elixirs.”
“…When I first met you, you looked so dirty, with fur covering your face so I couldn't see clearly. I thought you were just a wounded little stray dog.” Sangluo looked at him with pity.
Yan sat down beside her, watching the children playing and laughing in the yard, “Everything is in the past. Now that I have you and Nuonuo, I have no more desires.”
He turned his head to look at Sangluo again, a gentle and relieved smile appearing on his handsome face, “If all the suffering that happened in the past was in order to meet you and our child, then I am willing to endure it without complaint.”
Sangluo nestled in his arms, “Qi, I am also fortunate to have met you.”
The tender affection flowed with the dappled sunlight under the tree, and the children's playful voices came from time to time, making the time still, peaceful, and serene.
“Grumble~”
Suddenly, Sangluo's stomach rumbled disapprovingly.
Yan smiled and said, “Let's go eat something first. If I let you get too thin, Fei Yuan won't know how to mock me.”
“You are his master, after all, but that guy doesn't act like a disciple at all.” Sangluo couldn't help but smile when she thought of the two masters and disciples, who were both old but still bickered from time to time.
“If he hadn't been plagued by Gu poison back then, he wouldn't have been willing to submit to anyone.” Yan rubbed his forehead in a headache, as if regretting taking in this disciple, “He caused so much trouble in the mansion those years, climbing walls, removing tiles, causing trouble, fighting, and I don't know how many rooms and alchemy furnaces were blown up by him… Since him, I have never taken in another disciple.”
Sangluo almost burst out laughing.
So there was such a hidden story back then!
Fei Yuan often joked that Si Ye was disobedient when he was young, but it turned out that he was the original troublemaker.
“Babies, stop playing, it’s time to eat. Uncle Yan has made a lot of delicious food.” Sangluo called out to the little ones.
As soon as the little ones heard about eating, they all came back.
Sangluo held the little fox cub and fed it milk first, then cut some fresh meat strips for it.
After finishing the meal.
Little Zhenzhen pounced into Sangluo's arms and said playfully, “It’s almost Daddy’s birthday, has Mommy thought about what gift to give Daddy?!”
Saying that, she whispered, “Mommy hasn’t been back much these past few years. I’ve heard Daddy call Mommy’s name in his sleep several times, and he even secretly cried in his dreams, boo hoo~ Poor Daddy who isn’t loved…”
Sangluo’s forehead twitched slightly. She picked up her little daughter by the scruff of her neck, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, “If your daddy knew you were secretly slandering him like this, he would definitely give you dozens more test papers to do.”
Little Zhenzhen stopped pretending, pouted her little mouth pitifully, “But Daddy really misses Mommy. Mommy forgot to give Daddy a gift for his birthday last year. Daddy didn’t say anything, but he must have been sad! Mommy, don’t forget again this year.”
Hearing this, Sangluo also felt ashamed. She had too many beastmen husbands and children, and she often couldn't remember important holidays, not to mention the three years of pregnancy amnesia… She had missed Aye's birthday last year.
“This time, Mommy will definitely prepare well and give your dad a big gift!”
Sangluo had firmly remembered it in her heart last time. Aye's birthday is August 29th, and there is still almost a month left, enough time for her to choose a gift carefully.
Sangluo said hello to Yan and returned to the Central Marquis Manor.
As soon as she left, Fei Yuan arrived, looking around for someone, “Where’s Xiaoluo’er?”
“You’ve come at a bad time, she just left.” Yan finished bathing the little fox and planned to take his son to sleep.
Nuonuo lay in Yan's arms, sleeping sprawled out, his nine fluffy tails showing again, wagging unconsciously, pleasing and cute.
Fei Yuan looked at it enviously, “You weren’t here all these years, but I helped you raise the child. It’s not a problem for the little fox cub to call me second dad, right?”
“Strictly speaking, my son’s seniority is higher than yours.”
“…” Fei Yuan had nothing to say.
After a while, he said again, “Luo’er said that the Lord of the Night Ruins Pavilion she encountered ten thousand years ago was the Ghost Realm God, Qi. He detained a fragment of your soul. If Luo’er hadn’t descended to help you retrieve the soul fragment, you probably wouldn’t have been able to return this time.”
“I know him.” Yan wasn’t surprised, as if he had known about this for a long time.
Fei Yuan was curious, “Now that you know that the Ghost Realm God has a grudge against you, you still dared to use such a risky method? If Luo’er and I hadn’t gone down there, who knows how that guy would have tortured your soul fragment.”
Yan carried his son back to his room to rest, but after coming out, he asked about something else, “Do you know who poisoned you with Gu back then?”
Fei Yuan's face darkened slightly. The Gu poison on his body had long been resolved, and he had almost forgotten about it. Yan's words reminded him of the humiliating incident of being backstabbed by a palace concubine.
“What do you want to say?”
“Qi has already awakened. He has secretly colluded with the Demon Lord and the Fallen Angels, and other destroyers of the world, and there are many transactions. Whether it is Xiaobao’er’s exquisite heart or the Gu poison you suffered back then, his hand was involved.”
Fei Yuan didn't expect that the Ghost Realm was the mastermind hiding in the deepest place. After being shocked, he lowered his voice, “What exactly do these guys want to do?”
“This is also what I want to figure out.” Yan looked at the sky, his voice cold and plain, “If we want to find out the truth, we must enter the game ourselves. Qi has an eternal feud with me. He knows that after my soul is reincarnated, he will definitely not let me go easily. If so, it is better to use a counter-strategy.”
Fei Yuan understood and smiled, “I thought you were a very noble fellow, but I didn’t expect you to be a madman too, daring to gamble with your own soul fragments.”
“What did you find when you went to the Ghost Realm this time?”
