A/N: Merry Christmas, everybody~! Enjoy~!
_+_+_
Inside the study, Feng Xuo and Nyx settled down, starting on their first serious discussion to which the ears of others aren't allowed to hear lest they be persecuted.
Feng Xuo laced ten fingers together over his mouth, leaning on the table with a serious expression, "This is something I can never agree to in this lifetime, Nyx."
Nyx leaned back on the couch, his hands holding one knee of his crossed legs, "I'm not asking you to agree. I'm stating a fact."
Feng Xuo flicked his sleeve, "I refuse to acknowledge it!"
Unlike him, Nyx was calm. "It has been acknowledged by many people. But who has acknowledged your rebuttal?" Nyx challenged him.
"What 'many people'! You expect your group of pirates to be credible? Their biased opinions are invalid!"
"It's not about being biased. It's because they're the closest that they're able to state the truth more accurately."
Head Feng slammed his hand on the desk. The terminal on his desk shook a little but remained the same—
'Cutest child', 'Prettiest angel', 'Most handsome pirate son'...
The list of lists was endless!
Of course they had important news to talk about, as well as transactions and business—however! Important matters come first!
What Feng Xuo couldn't agree to the most was the title of 'Most Adorable Parent-Child Duo' which had the names of Yu Yan and Nyx written on the first rank.
Neither parent wanted to back down. Clearly, their child deserved first place!
The two men tacitly agreed to keep such discussions secret. Neither their men, nor their children even knew that they were like this in private... Well, perhaps except Head Feng. The two comrades had joint fists as they started a boasting competition of their children's achievements. Nyx would never allow himself to be outdone by this 'lawless man'—completely forgetting his and his son's occupation of being a star pirate and hacker!
Meanwhile, in the dining hall—
"I never took you for a runaway wife", Yu Yan commented as he watched Mori eat with the sticky child on his lap.
Mori had a constipated look on his face, "It's not what you think."
"Right", Yu Yan stretched out the word. "So? Let's hear how you gave birth then. Maybe I could take pointers." Half-joking, Yu Yan let Mori's protest come in one ear and out the other. "How many hours was the labor? How did you even conceive—" He glanced at somebody's abdomen.
Mori had his hands on the little princess, Feng Xiuying's ears, slightly pulling her to lean back and hide a certain area. "It wasn't like that! I didn't—we didn't... She was... I..."
(A/N: Xiuying as in the characters meaning 'beautiful' for 'xiu', and 'brave' for 'ying'.)
The doctor looked down at the child in his arms. As if feeling his gaze, the child looked up at Mori and smiled sweetly. She was truly happy to have her Moma come back home! Her classmates were wrong! Her Moma didn't leave her! Dad was right—her Moma was only away because of work! Wasn't he back now? That's all the little princess felt mattered.
Besides, she can't show off Dad's grizzly men. She'd scare those sissy boys and girls if she brought them along. But she can show off Moma!
The little princess looked up one more time to confirm Mori's soft facial features that lacked even an ounce of any domineering aspect. She hummed and nodded. Moma was the best choice to show off!
Both adults were unaware of the child's thought. They continued with their silent interrogation over a meal.
"Eat your green peppers", Mori helpless scolded the little princess with a pat on her head, as he thought of what to say to Yu Yan but all he could do was reveal a feeble look.
As she ate begrudgingly, Mori had Feng Xuo's assistant have the little princess wear headphones as the adults talked, and propped up a small screen similar to Yu Yan's tablet on the table for her to watch children's short films.
Yu Yan glanced the smooth transaction between the assistant and the little princess—'You give me headphones, I'll give you my green peppers.'
Seeing Yu Yan's line of sight, Mori eventually looked down to see the little princess with a clean plate.
For a moment, the adults in the room stared at the obedient and doe-eyed little princess; one adult being an imposter and an seasoned accomplice.
Yu Yan hid his feelings by taking a sip of water.
In the end, Mori didn't have the courage to talk about this matter and Yu Yan didn't have the courage to expose the little girl. Thus, lunch ended soon in a quiet harmonious tone with the adults ignoring problems.
Nyx came out with Feng Xuo a while later and the group finished lunch quickly. The Captain wanted to bring Yu Yan back to school on time.
Alone with his adoptive father inside the shuttle, Yu Yan could no longer hold back his curiosity. Since the doctor won't tell him, might as well ask Dad.
When Nyx heard his question, he said, "It's a long story."
"Then drive slow", Yu Yan cheekily said like it's the only obvious choice.
Nyx shot him a look but Yu Yan took it as a playful glare.
"How did you even get to know Feng Xuo, Dad?"
Nyx maneuvered the shuttle to an isolated road before heading out to the main road. He took his time answering, pushing Yu Yan's anticipation to a higher level.
The Captain took one look and knew that Yu Yan's curiosity needed quenching like water to a burning house. The longer you leave it, the worse it rapidly got.
Nyx began recounting, "Feng Xuo's family is an old one. He had an older brother that was supposed to take over as family and executive head. His father was the oldest of his uncles and took over their grandfather. He planned to hand it to Feng Xuo's eldest brother but the eldest died before that could happen. Feng Xuo's old man had to marry a new woman in secret and work hard to produce another son."
"Robust old man", Yu Yan remarked. "So Feng Xuo was born after his eldest brother died. Was he raised with intentions of being an heir?"
"Raised? More like trained. That old man of his raised Feng Xuo like a perfect, ruthless mercenary. Like I said, their family's an old one and they have a reputation among black societies. When I said 'executive head', I meant part of the Triad. That Feng Xuo was taught ballistics when he could barely walk; then was tossed to handle their family's business when he was barely an adult."
Nyx tapped the stirring wheel while recalling what Feng Xuo used to be like, "Well, he's more or less a daughter fanatic now. You can't really picture how cold-blooded he looks if he's always sporting a stupid look." He snorted.
"Did you meet him when you were a General?"
"Before oh. I was assigned to the capital. Let's just say I took care of his older brother's murderer for him. The bastard who killed his brother went for his neck too, and I just so happened to pass by the alley they were playing wrestling games. We got acquainted and he owed me in exchange for me not arresting him. I didn't even report him to my immediate superior."
"Were you even allowed to do that?"
Nyx just smirked at Yu Yan's obvious teasing.
In a way, Nyx saved Feng Xuo's life, and by accepting Feng Xuo's request in the latter part of their life, Nyx consolidated Feng Xuo's position of authority. If Nyx didn't help him, he wouldn't be where he was now, or worse; he'd be six feet below ground.
Yu Yan's eyes widen slightly. "Did you kill the murderer?"
"Dead man tell no tales." Nyx smirked. "Scared?"
"Scared! Very scared! But if you gift me an Uzi, I won't~"
"Not buying."
"Not buying but stealing?"
Nyx raised his brow at this kid, who cheekily smiled at him. He can't have the kid bring a gun to school, but he can hide it under the kid's pillow on his first semestral break.
Seeing the Captain unresponsive, Yu Yan continued his teasing, "Honorable Captain Nyx, were esteemed officers of your time even allowed to have relationships with the Triad?"
"I was just taking a page from the government's book. I'm a good citizen that follows by their good example. Just that they're much more 'good' than I initially realized." He clicked his tongue in distaste but didn't elaborate.
"You said Feng Xuo owes you. It's because of this? Was he wounded that time so you brought him to the doctor?"
"He owes me more than that, kid. And Mori didn't follow me until after I 'died'. I was already a pirate when I got a call from Feng Xuo."
In the beginning, Mori and Feng Xuo never would've met if not for the Captain. One was Nyx's informant and the other was a young underground lordling at that time. However, when Mori had resigned to stay by Nyx's side, he had been kept at M40 with not even a single test tube in hand. It was Nyx who had pulled a few strings to get Mori a well-protected place to set up his clinic as well as have the latest medical technology at that time.
Those strings that Nyx had pulled were naturally from the Triad. Specifically, from Feng Xuo.
Mori may have had an inkling, but he never asked questions. The doctor seldom asked in-depth questions. As a previous informant, he knew that knowing too much could very well be the reason why you lose your life.
Yu Yan: So it's fine to condone and ferment stupidity? Figures.
So when Mori came to his clinical laboratory with a resources and a request to create a test tube baby, he didn't ask much questions after Nyx gave him a strict look, with his lips pressed into a thin line of mutiny.
The request was made from the young lordling, Feng Xuo, who was next in line as the head.
The succession of Triad heads had always been one of the most dangerous times in the organization, both inside and outside of their family. The top position had a been passed to the most befitting and capable successor, usually the first-born who was groomed to be, and one of these capabilities was to nurture the next heir.
However, Feng Xuo was gay.
His position as heir was in danger when the previous head, his father, had collapsed, and his paternal uncles were eyeing the position like hungry hyenas. Once they took a bite at his weaknesses, they'd never let it go, and his flaw was too big to pass unnoticed.
Feng Xuo faced a mountain of blades and a sea of fire just to retain his position as heir. Although capable, he lacked one thing—
A child.
His uncles had their own families and sons that were much older than him. The rules within their family were absolute, so even at his teenage years, Feng Xuo had reached out to Nyx, who was then enjoying his free sailing the stars with a cigar in hand.
Feng Xuo had put in the request to Nyx and used his personal assets and business profits to fund the project.
It didn't matter whether they were male or female, or who was the donor, as Feng Xuo said. As long at his flesh and blood ran through that child and the child was born before his father died, it was fine. He didn't want to give his uncles an opportunity to exploit this particular weakness.
However, what man proposes, heaven disposes; Mori had made a serious blunder.
Being pressured into expediting the project results and the intuition of who the frightening client was, Mori took all-nighters. And in a moment of inattentiveness, he had fallen asleep only to had have wasted the healthy female donor's resources. He had left the resources to spoil overnight due to improper sealing.
All he had left was the male donor's healthy samples. Additionally, it would take days to travel or transport any healthy female sample to a remote place like M40. Not to mention M40's unique ionosphere, he'd easily exceed the due date.
Sure there were females in the planet's red light district, but they were most afraid of getting pregnant so almost all of them were impotent.
Of course, with empire's technology it was possible to use another male donor's samples as well, however, Mori felt that his neck would be on the line if he did so—he didn't know that Feng Xuo was gay in the first place and that having another male donate wouldn't disgust the lordling like Mori thought he would.
At that time, Mori had looked down and sighed, and there he saw his answer. One that made his back chill. However, he persuaded himself. Rather than some unfortunate young man, he decided to take the heavy responsibility—although in actuality, he was too ashamed to ask for male samples on the street. He also assumed that Captain would definitely protect him!
Thus, he harvested his own resources and continued with the baby making process...
A beautiful baby girl was born and Feng Xuo named her Feng Xiuying.
Feng Xuo eventually became family head, and one of the executive heads of the Triad. The first thing he did with his authority was to exile two of his uncles who had collaborated to take away his life. Peace finally came into their family as Feng Xuo raised Xiuying by himself. Unexpectedly, he grew to love this child very dearly, even when there were clear habits and traits that weren't inherited from himself.
It was quite obvious from the way that she resembled cotton when Feng Xuo was a razor.
Mori , on other hand, had finally eased the tension in his body and forgotten all about it. However, the secret that he had decided to bring to his grave was dug out when a gold digging woman claiming to be Xiuying's mother came to Feng Xuo's office.
The information seemed to have been leaked to the woman by one of his uncles, and after knowing that she could become a wife of a rich and powerful man, she became greedy and started scheming.
It was also because of this incident that Feng Xuo started favoring extremely hidden places of business and houses. No one in the organization, except for his men, could see a trace of his shadow on regular days. Even almost all meetings and communications were done remotely. This became his reputation.
This was also proof of Feng Xuo's trust in Nyx as the latter knew a few of the former's deeply hidden houses.
When the maternity test result came out, everyone, except for the young Xiuying who was too young to understand the situation, had sucked in a breath of cold air in front a paper that said 'zero percent relation'. What's more surprising was that the test also elaborated that Xiuying's genes were sourced from a male-male pair of donors.
Ignoring the stumped woman, Feng Xuo ordered a quiet investigation on the spot, which gradually led him into taking an undisclosed trip to planet M40 that same day. Even Nyx was too late when he found out; Feng Xuo was already there at M40.
Mori would always have a constantly strong urge to slap himself whenever he remembered his first interaction with Feng Xuo.
At that time, when he had invited the 'potentially rich-looking patron in an expensive suite' to his clinic, he didn't know he was welcoming a fox into his brick home instead of a money bag. His mannerisms were a dead giveaway to the secret he wanted to seal inside with him in his casket, and with Feng Xuo's IQ, it was quite obvious who the other male donor was.
Mori had been mortified when Feng Xuo hastily asked his hand in marriage! What was this total stranger doing discussing words of love with him?! Was he blind—he was clearly a big man ah!
What Mori wasn't aware of was that he was like a bigger replica of Xiuying, and this made Feng Xuo's hard heart soften. He was quite taken by this gullible doctor. He also wanted to give Xiuying a complete family if he could.
He could never be with a female, but he could be with Mori . Indeed, Mori was the perfect candidate for Feng Xuo's partner.