Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume #1)

17 Being Muddy, Being Scolded?!

Qiu Ling's worries were confirmedas soon as Madam Zhong and her son got to the river. The women thatwere already there waved at Madam Zhong while their daughters perkedup at Jing Yi's sight.

Qiu Ling tensed. There it was. Themoment he dreaded. Ah, how easy it would have been if this was stillthe Nine Heavens and he could reveal himself to Jing He! Well, itwould also have helped if his beloved wasn't a four-year-old childat the moment. Sigh ...

Qiu Ling had to watch helplessly asMadam Zhong brought her son over. She nudged him into the directionof the girls but the boy still stubbornly held onto her hand.

"Hehe!" Qiu Ling smiled,satisfied. His beloved had such good eyes. He knew those mortal girlswere beneath him and wouldn't even spare them a glance! What a goodboy. He'd love to give him a hug right now but, unfortunately, JingYi had grown too old to be hugged whenever he wanted.

A newborn wouldn't notice or evenif it noticed, it would forget and couldn't tell anyone in anycase. But a four-year-old was different. If it suddenly got swept upinto the embrace of a person it couldn't see, it'd get spooked.And considering how close Jing He was to his mortal mother he'dcertainly run to her crying. And then that overprotective woman wouldonly be stricter with guarding her child and he'd have even lesstime with him than the pitiful amount he could enjoy now.

Qiu Ling sighed and continued towatch the children. Jing Yi's mother had cruelly pushed him to thegirls that had already swarmed him by now, all of them trying to actcute. One of them was jumping up and down, her skirt swaying aroundher short legs. Another one tried to get his attention with beingpretty and was endlessly swirling one of her pigtails around herfinger.

Jing Yi didn't take a second look.Instead, he watched his mother crouching with the other women at theriver, washing the clothes. He was thinking about the mad beast hismother had described the river as. Would she be swept away, too?

The jumping girl couldn't take hisindifference any longer. She went up to him and gripped his sleeve."Big brother Jing!" she mournfully begged for hisattention.

"How nauseating!" Qiu Linglifted his hand, prepared to gift her a gust of wind if she dared toapproach his beloved any further. And what was with this 'bigbrother'? She was clearly a year older than him!

Jing Yi looked at the girl'sfingers that clutched his sleeve, unsure of what to do. He had almostonly spent time with his mother. Those girls didn't seem asfrightening to him as the boys but he still didn't know what to do.

The girl pursed her lips, quiveringthem as if she'd cry the next moment. Don't look at how she wasonly a little over five years old. She had already experiencedeveryone fussing over her when she cried. She was sure that Jing Yiwould pay her attention if she did.

Unfortunately for her, the boydidn't notice her quivering lips. He was still thinking about thosefingers.

One of the other girls made up forhis lack of reaction. "Shameless!" she imitated her mother."How is big brother Jing your big brother? He's my bigbrother!" She shoved the other girl who lost her grip on JingYi's sleeve and fell to the ground.

She sat there in a daze before herfake tears turned into real ones and she wailed loudly.

The women at the river turned aroundonly to see a girl sitting in the mud, almost all of her skirtdirtied. The more direct women laughed out loud while the politerones at least turned to the side to hide their faces while maskingtheir laughter with a cough.

The girl's mother got furious. "FaChao Fu! What have you done now?" The girl only cried harder atthe scolding but the woman wasn't even done. "Why am I evenwashing these clothes? You're just going to get them dirty anyway!How can a girl be this troublesome!"

Zhong Jing Yi next to Fa Chao Fuhurriedly looked at his own mother. A child was troublesome if it gotdirty?

Qiu Ling who hadn't stoppedwatching him for even the blink of an eye smiled. So someone wasafraid of infuriating his mother? Maybe that could be used againstthose troublesome girls. This Fa Chao Fu would just be the firstexample for his beloved!

The girl in question turned aroundto Jing Yi, trying to get his help. But the boy still didn't react.His gaze only switched between the dirty girl and his mother who hadjust finished washing a robe. He couldn't let mother scold him!

Jing Yi ignored the girl and hurriedto his mother. Fa Chao Fu couldn't accept it. She gripped the endof his robe to hold him back. No way! She wouldn't let him go! Thatwas her big brother Jing!

Jing Yi lost his balance. His doeeyes widened. He flailed his short arms around and managed to notfall on his back like the girl but still lost his balance and insteadfell forward. The ground and with it the disgusting mud came closerand closer. He thought of the crying girl and her mother and then ofhis mother with the clean robe.

Qiu Ling leaped to his feet! Hispoor beloved! Jing He was such a beautiful and elegant person. Hedefinitely couldn't let him be dirtied! And ... well, how should heuse this if Jing Yi found out that nothing would happen if he got hisclothes dirty? That couldn't happen!

He lifted one hand and the water inthe river splashed. All the women turned around to look, notbothering with Jing Yi anymore. Well, except for Madam Zhong who hadalso leaped up when she saw her son's impending fall.

Qiu Ling grabbed Jing Yi's collarand pulled him back onto his feet. Nobody but Madam Zhong and thefive girls saw what happened. The girls swarmed Jing Yi again,impressed by his great balance. Only Madam Zhong understood thatsomething strange had happened to her son again. But she didn't sayanything and she didn't mind much.

It had kept her son from harm oncemore. Even though she was afraid her son might be taken away one dayif the gods really favored him, she was still thankful that there wassomeone besides her who watched over her son. Whatever happened toher, her son would be safe.

Jing Yi darted out of the ring ofgirls and ran to his mother. He threw himself into her arms, his doeeyes tearing up.

"There, there. Nothinghappened." Madam Zhong tried to pacify her son but Jing Yi goteven more terrified.

So his mother really would haveyelled at him if I had fallen! He turned in her arms and looked backat the place where he had almost gotten muddy. He had felt somethingtugging at his clothes. Had somebody saved him? But nobody stoodthere.

Zhong Jing Yi stared blankly,seemingly at nothing but air. But Qiu Ling still stood at the placeand even though he knew that his beloved couldn't see him hereturned his gaze and smiled at him.

Yes, look at me. Whether it's yourimmortal or your mortal life I'll always be at your side, watchingover you and keeping you from harm.