"A-Ying!"
Xie Lian turned to Wei Ying and stood up abruptly, trying to reach to his son. But as soon as he stepped on his foot, his ankle twisted and he fell onto the person under him again.
""Baba!""
Seeing Xie Lian stagger, Wei Ying and Banyue both ran towards him. Hua Cheng, however, held Xie Lian gently in his arms. Then he rose to his feet and swept Xie Lian swiftly into his carry.
"Let's go back to the Manor first."
Hua Cheng only said a sentence, but both Wei Ying and Banyue noticed the seriousness and authoritative aura in the voice and followed closely behind.
Xie Lian was still dressed in women's clothing, and could only be grateful that the pillow was no longer stuffed in his belly. After being carried for a few seconds, the silent atmosphere brought him back to his senses. He struggled a bit in Hua Cheng's arms but didn't succeed, so he remained silent.
Wei Ying, "A-die... what happened to Baba? Why did he fall earlier?"
Xie Lian, "A-Ying, Baby. I'm alright."
Xie Lian said without looking up at Hua Cheng's face. He was looking down, patting Wei Ying's head as he said with a soft voice. However, the two children who saw Hua Cheng's cold expressionless face knew otherwise. Sensing the tense atmosphere, Xie Lian softly cleared his throat.
"...San Lang, I'm sorry. I kind of lost it just now, how embarrassing."
Xie Lian's voice was so soft that only Hua Cheng could hear it. He thought San Lang had meant well, but he had ended up overreacting and scaring him; truly, he was being too impolite.
Hua Cheng, however, just replied in the similar soft tone, "Nothing of the sort. I was the one who offended gege. San Lang is in the wrong and apologizes."
Seeing that he didn't take anything to heart, Xie Lian secretly let out a breath of relief.
"You were only trying to help; it wasn't really a big deal anyway...Oh, what happened to the child spirit by the way? And how come A-Ying and A-Yue are both at Ghost City?"
Hua Cheng, however, replied in an authoritative tone, cutting off their whispering conversation: "Treating your wounds comes first."
During this exchange, they had already arrived before a magnificent dark red building. Xie Lian was very familiar with this builing, from the title 'Paradise Manor' hung upon the entrance to the where the back doors and the crooks and nooks were, since Wei Ying liked to play hide and seek and Xie Lian was always the one finding him in that Manor. The three had been staying at Paradise Manor just until the other day because of the incident that happened during Wei Ying's first night hunt. And the day before was supposed to be their first time in a while going back to Puqi Shrine, their home in the human realm. However, right then, Xie Lian was being carried back to Paradise Manor by Hua Cheng, and Wei Ying and Banyue were walking behind them in tow. Xie Lian didn't need to look in the mirror to know how red he was then.
Steadily, Hua Cheng entered the exquisite manor, carrying Xie Lian in his arms, and mounted the black jaded divan. Xie Lian sat on the divan, Hua Cheng himself half-knelt below, Wei Ying and Banyue standing on each side of them. The position made Xie Lian uncomfortable but because everyone else seemed so natural with it, he couldn't say anything. Hua Cheng gently held Xie Lian's injured foot, checking the tiny puncture dyed by blood underneath. Xie Lian started to feel embarrassed being held like that and seeing that Hua Cheng was about to take off his boot, he yelped, "No!" and tried to get down. However, Hua Cheng pushed him back, swiftly removing both his boot and sock with a steady hand.
This foot happened to be the one with the cursed shackle. A deep black chain locked around that clean white ankle, a powerful contrast. Hua Cheng's eyes only lingered for a moment on that soft ankle before his palm pressed against Xie Lian's injury.
"This might hurt a bit," Hua Cheng said. "Don't hold back, Gege. Cry out if it hurts."
"I..." Xie Lian said.
Before he finished his sentence, he felt Hua Cheng squeeze with a bit of force. At the same time, he also felt Wei Ying and Banyue held tight onto either side of his arms while looking at him with eyes that seemed to be saying "Stay strong!". Pain crawled up his leg, but he felt supported being surrounded like that. Xie Lian would always consider this kind of of pain as nothing, but that day, he felt that it didn't hurt at all. Soon enough, the tiny little nail was already extracted. Xie Lian focused his eyes and saw the tip of that nail was glistening with vicious poison. Hua Cheng closed his five fingers and crushed it easily into dust, dissipating into the air.
Wei Ying, "It must have hurt..."
Wei Ying knelt near Xie Lian's foot and said painfully looking at the injury. Banyue was not saying anything but her pained expression on seeing the bloody injury was enough to know what she was feeling. Xie Lian felt a bit guilty to see Wei Ying and Banyue like that. With a soft smile, he extended both his hands and patted the children's heads.
"It didn't hurt at all. I have A-Ying and A-Yue supporting me. So something like this won't hurt at all."
Just then, a masked man entered with a clay pot with both his hands, and handed it to Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng looked into the clay pot a bit then handed it to Xie Lian directly, not letting Wei Ying nor Banyue see it. Xie Lian looked into the clay pot and saw a lump of twisted organs; it was the fetus spirit Hua Cheng's butterflies had captured a while ago. This was its true form!
Wei Ying, "Baba. What is it?"
Xie Lian immediately resealed the pot, "It's nothing. Just some radishes."
Then, Wei Ying and Banyue put medicine and bandaged Xie Lian's injury and as an immortal god, Xie Lian's foot was already healing back to normal.
"Thanks, you two. Ah. A-Yue, when did you arrive at Ghost's City? I thought you wouldn't be coming for a while."
"I came because A-die called me to look after A-Ying. He said Baba might be in trouble and that he wanted to go help."
"Oh..."
Xie Lian felt touched. Hua Cheng came to help him. Yet, he reacted like that on the shore. He felt embarrassed again and a bit guilty. He turned to Hua Cheng and said a bit awkwardly, "Thank you."
"There's no need for thanks."
For some reason, Xie Lian thought Hua Cheng was a little edgy then, and so he tried to change the subject.
"So A-Yue was with A-Ying. That's reassuring. What were you guys doing anyway?"
"We were cooking!"
Wei Ying replied with a cheerful tone, "And we'll let Baba be the first taste tester when the dish is done!"
Xie Lian, "Haha. That's sweet of you. I can't wait to try it."
Then, a maid came running past them while yelling, "FIRE! FIRE!! THERE'S FIRE IN THE KITCHEN!"
Both Wei Ying and Banyue yelped, "OH NO!" And they both ran to the kitchen.
"Both of you, be careful around the fire!!" Xie Lian yelled but the two had already run out of their sight. Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This was the second time Paradise Manor was set on fire in his presence, but just as the first time, Hua Cheng didn't seem to mind it at all. Xie Lian scratched his cheek awkwardly while peeking a bit at Hua Cheng.
Xie Lian coughed for no reason, then he held the clay pot and talked seriously, "This fetus is captured by you, but would San Lang mind if I take it for a while to investigate? Because I've already bumped into it once before at Mount Yujun, this was the second time it's appeared before me. I don't know if it's mere coincidence or if there's some kind of a connection."
"If you want to take it, then just take it," Hua Cheng said, "Even if I didn't appear you would've still captured it."
Xie Lian chuckled, "Be that as it may, San Lang still caught it so effortlessly, much more so than if I was to try."
It was an offhand comment, but Hua Cheng remarked, "Is that right? And if I didn't appear, how did you plan on capturing it? Eat it into your stomach, then swallow the sword too?"
"..."
He had actually hit it right on the mark.
There wasn't any trace of displeasure on Hua Cheng's face, but Xie Lian somehow felt maybe Hua Cheng was a little mad.
Instincts told him that if he didn't answer right, Hua Cheng would become angrier. Just as he was thinking of a response, he suddenly felt his stomach shrink slightly, and without thinking, Xie Lian said, "...I'm a little hungry."
"..."
It was only after the words left his lips that Xie Lian realized what he had said. Too embarrassed to see the reaction on Hua Cheng's face, Xie Lian explained himself honestly.
"This time it's true..."
A moment later, Hua Cheng finally "pfft"-ed and laughed out loud.
Once he laughed, it was as if all of Xie Lian's gloomy clouds dispersed, and he sighed a breath of relief. Hua Cheng, on the other hand, was half-laughing, half-sighing, and nodded his head.
"Alright."
Normally, Hua Cheng would prepare a feast or something his family would like either by ordering the maids or cooking by himself. However, as of the moment, the kitchen was on fire; so the two decided to go out for a stroll and find something to eat at the same time.
It was quite warm within Paradise Manor. The two who entered dripping wet were both dried soon after; it was unclear whether it was because of the warmth of Paradise Manor or the heat of fire coming from the kitchen. Only when they decided to go out, Xie Lian remembered that he was still wearing the pink dress. He covered his upper face, feeling relieved that Banyue and Wei Ying didn't ask about the dress, otherwise, he wouldn't know what to answer.
Afterwards, Xie Lian borrowed a set of clothes from Hua Cheng; changing back into clean, white robes, then the two set out.
The main street of the Ghost City was as bustling as always. On either side of the street were stalls selling exotic foods, stuffs and other ghastly accessories. There were also quite a number of stalls selling humans' food ever since Xie Lian and Wei Ying came to live at Paradise Manor from time to time. Many human cultivators go in and out of the city everyday too, so the Ghost City was starting to become a friendly environment for humans. Of course, there were still some stalls that sold humans as food, but the Ghost City originally was the city of Ghosts, and a place even the heavens daren't lay their hands on. So which cultivator would be daring enough to cause trouble in Crimson Rain Sought Flower's territory?
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng walked shoulder to shoulder in the main street, and all the familiar faces of ghosts and demons came to greet them. Xie Lian was already used to being treated as a special guest at the Ghost City, but he thought the treatments were a bit more aggressive that day. The two walked leisurely and decided to sit at a simple store that seemed to sell soft fluffy wantons.
Meanwhile, at the kitchen in Paradise Manor,
"Whew. That was a big fire."
Wei Ying wiped his forehead as he had helped take out the fire.
"Your face is all covered in soot." Banyue chuckled softly after which she gently wipes Wei Ying's face with her sleeve.
"Hehe," Wei Ying only gave back a big smile.
The whole kitchen was now char-black, and the wok they used to cook in had a deep hole in it. Even the ghosts that used flame or fire abilities were amazed at how fast the wok was melted. Banyue and Wei Ying were just talking about cooking in another part of the city, when they all heard.
"FIRE! FIRE! PARADISE MANOR IS ON FIRE!!"
Banyue and Wei Ying, who had just put out a fire in the same Paradise Manor looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions. Then, they saw a big fire coming from the main hall their fathers were just in. Seeing that they both rushed to the front of Paradise Manor which was closer to the main street, and so they could see little ghosts and monsters screaming and howling as they ran back and forth with buckets of water.
"A-Ying! A-Yue!"
From a distance in the main street, they could also see Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, one who came hastily and one who came leisurely.
Soon enough, the fire was put out.
"That's so weird... Two fires in a day!"
Wei Ying excitedly yelled out only to get a flick on the forehead by Xie Lian, "Don't say like that about your home when the first one was your do-... accident."
"Although the second one is not likely," Hua Cheng said, "A-Yue, take A-Ying to Qiandeng Temple."
"Yes, A-die. A-Ying, let's go."
"Ah? What's wrong?"
However, with his sister tugging him, Wei Ying was brought to Qiandeng Temple.
The next morning, Wei Ying found himself waking up in Puqi Shrine. Hua Cheng was cleaning the place while he was passed out on the straw bed. The bed made out of straws was uncomfortable but it was the bed he had spent sleeping on for years, so he probably slept like a log and didn't even realize that he had been brought to Puqi Shrine for how long. Wei Ying yawned and rolled out of bed.
He rubbed his eyes, trying to have a clearer vision of the Shrine. It was already cleaned spotless much cleaner then even yesterday. On one of the walls hung a beautiful portrait of Xie Lian, and from the table in front of it, three hazy screens of smoke gently went up.
"A-die, Where's Jiejie?" Wei Ying asked half-asleep.
"She's back at Yushi Country. I heard she's helping with farming nowadays. She's quite busy."
"Oh. Then, where's Baba?"
"Your Baba... went to the heavens for some business."
"??? Why are you saying some business again? A-die... you aren't going to tell me what happened last night?"
"...You're still too young." Hua Cheng paused a bit before he answered mischievously.
Hua Cheng did not want to talk to Wei Ying about the fetus that was cut up and enslaved for hundreds of years, and the endless affairs of the heavens, at least, until he was of proper age.
"Ehh. That's what you say most of the time! You've already told me about Baba's Xian Le Kingdom, Jiejie's Half-moon Pass Kingdom and every other kind of plague and genocide that has happened! I can't still be too young for anything else?"
"Nope. Until your Baba approves, I'm not saying anything."
"..." Wei Ying pouted looking at Hua Cheng. He really wanted to yell out, "If it is about those kinds of stuffs, I've already learnt them from Pei-shu!" But he couldn't since it would get both him and Pei Ming in a lot of trouble.
And so, he gave up on asking about the matter as he got up to help with the cleaning and cooking. Soon afterwards, Xie Lian arrived back saying he just had some matters to deal with at the merchant's mansion, otherwise the merchant would be too frightened to know that Xie Lian had disappeared out of thin air. Then, the three made a simple lunch and ate together like they always did.
Then that evening, a couple of uninvited-yet-not-so-surprising-that-they-are-here guests arrived. These two beautiful ladies bewitched every villager on their arrival and even after so many years, normal humans could still not get used to their elegance. One was dressed in white cultivation robes; her lips rosy, her form charming and sensual, with a whisk in her hand and her eyes bright. The other was a black-clad woman, with skin white as snow, brows beautiful and sharp.
"Lord Wind Master. Lord Earth Master." Xie Lian cupped his hands in his front, showing courtesy.
"Your Highness," Shi Qingxuan returned the courtesy as she and her partner hurriedly came into the Shrine, "Please don't mind the sudden arrival. This time, I've something really important I need your help with..."
{Parts of the original around these chapters that I wanted to put in but couldn't cos that would make it too long}
XL, "Say, San Lang. If you were to steal a spiritual device and kept it within Paradise Manor, would the original owner of the device be able to take it away?"
HC raised his brows, "Of course not. Once it's in my hands, it's mine."
Jun Wu, "Xianle, I remember that your cultivation method demands a body of purity, lest your spiritual power be greatly damaged."
"Yes," Xie Lian said.
Shi Qingxuan piped up again, "Well. Just by looking at His Highness I can tell he must've cultivated such a path, so I was right. It that's the case, nevermind knocking anyone up, I bet he's never even held anyone's hand."
Xie Lian was about to say "that's right", but in his mind, suddenly there was a pale white, slender hand, cool as jade, reflected upon a bright red wedding veil, its third finger knotted with a thin red thread. The "that's right" got stuck in his throat, no longer able to roll out. Everyone in the hall was staring at him intently, and with just one look it was obvious that this stump meant "that's not true"!
However, "never held hands" was too low of a standard, and even if hands were held it wasn't a big deal.
Shi Qingxuan immediately added, "Even if he's held hands, he must've never kissed anyone before."
Xie Lian wanted to say "that's right" again, but this time, before his eyes suddenly floated stream after stream of crystal-like air bubbles, the translucent beads dispersing. Then, there was an exceptionally handsome face with eyes closed; a small widow's peak on top of that shapely forehead, beautiful to behold.
This time, not only did not a single word got squeezed out, his entire face flushed a bright red.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Instantly, every heavenly official in the hall understood, and dry coughs sounded all around. Shi Qingxuan was starting to regret saying anything, knocking his fan over his own head once, and secretly passed a message to Xie Lian through their private communication array:
"Sorry about that, Your Highness. I only wanted to convince everyone that you're really of the innocent sort, but I hadn't realized you weren't. So you've had such experiences, I really couldn't tell!"
That "I really couldn't tell" shattered Xie Lian's will. He choked out with difficulty, "Don't say anymore. That was, an accident..."
At this point, it was obvious she was pointing fingers randomly; even Ming Yi, who was standing in a corner silently, focusing on chewing whatever his cheeks were stuffed with, was forcefully recognized as the father once.
[Isn't he just... adorable??]
[Being a double spy while chewing non-stop. Gosh... I can't. I literally can't!!
*rolls around in overfangirling.]
[And for those who don't know and are wondering about the fetus spirit, it's actually a longg story. So I'ma just leave it unsolved. You really have to read it till the end_ to see the end of this case. SO GO READ THE ORIGINAL!!]