LPLFDA Chapter 73

Feng Yuan’s sudden question made Qin Xun pause for a moment.

Qin Xun didn’t rush to answer.

Instead, he asked back, “Yuan Yuan, did someone ask you to be their boyfriend?”

Feng Yuan froze for a second before softly admitting in his childish voice,

“Anna asked me to be her boyfriend, but I didn’t agree.”

“Mm, Yuan Yuan, you did very well.”

Qin Xun’s tone was calm as he continued to ask, “Yuan Yuan, do you know what a boyfriend is?”

“I know~ You have to hold hands, and you also have to kiss on the mouth.”

When Feng Yuan went out with his sister, he saw young couples on the street showing affection.

Curious as he was, he even ran up close to take a look.

And when he looked, he saw them kissing on the mouth.

His sister pulled him away and told him that those two people were in love.

Feng Yuan thought kissing on the mouth was kind of scary.

He didn’t even dare to fall in love anymore.

So, when Anna talked about having a boyfriend, he didn’t want to be one at all.

“Yuan Yuan, do you know? If you want to be in a relationship, you have to treat her very well. When she cries, you have to comfort her. You have to share your delicious food with her, give her your fun toys, too. Everything good, you have to give to her.”

“You also have to make her happy and not let her feel sad. Only then can you be a good boyfriend.”

“Do you want to be someone’s boyfriend?”

Feng Yuan: “……”

Feng Yuan was stunned.

He still needed others to comfort him when he cried, and he didn’t even want to share his tasty snacks or fun toys with anyone else!

“Qin Xun, Yuan Yuan doesn’t want to be a boyfriend.”

Feng Yuan shook his little head like a rattling drum. His lips pouted. Being someone’s boyfriend sounded way too hard!

Seeing that he had dropped the idea, Qin Xun’s tone softened a little.

“Mm, Yuan Yuan won’t be one then.”

As he spoke, Qin Xun changed the subject. “Is Anna a new friend you met? Do you two play together often?”

“Nope. She said she’d come play with me, but she never came.”

“Oh.”

Hearing that the two of them hadn’t actually spent much time together, Qin Xun didn’t bring up the little girl again.

He asked Feng Yuan, “Yuan Yuan, is there anything you especially like to eat back home?”

Feng Yuan replied, “Spicy sticks!”

When Feng Yuan was asked what he wanted to eat, he started counting on his chubby little fingers. There were too many to list.

“Sour gummies, Bull Demon King snacks, mung bean cakes, flower cakes, liquor-filled chocolates, bald ice pops…”

Feng Yuan rattled off a whole bunch in one breath.

Qin Xun listened patiently, then responded with a quiet “Mm.”

“Yuan Yuan, be good. I’ll buy all these for you.”

As the two little ones talked, toward the end, Qin Xun asked again, “Yuan Yuan, do you want to see me?”

Without even thinking, Feng Yuan nodded. “I do.”

He had always missed Qin Xun very much.

“I miss you, too.”

Qin Xun, who was usually restrained with his emotions, only ever spoke so directly about “missing” someone when it came to Feng Yuan.

They didn’t talk for too long. Qin Xun knew the adults at home liked to spend time playing with Feng Yuan, so he didn’t keep him any longer.

After hanging up, Feng Yuan put his game console into his big front pocket.

He was wearing yellow-and-white overalls today, with a large pocket on the front.

The game console fits inside just right.

The adults at home were either busy or relaxing.

Seeing Feng Yuan come out, Li Heng, who was playing chess with Frida, waved at him.

“Yuan Yuan, do you want to learn to play chess? Come here, Grandpa will teach you.”

Feng Yuan: “No, no!”

He didn’t like playing chess at all!

Frida glanced at the little one running away and said, “He can’t sit still. Maybe when he’s a bit older, he’ll be interested.”

Chess, piano, and other such skills.

Feng Yuan wasn’t willing to learn any of them.

For things that required sitting still and learning slowly, the little fellow had no patience whatsoever.

The only skill he had at the moment was dancing.

And even that, he had learned from the aunties who did square dancing.

Behind the grocery store on Huasheng Street, there was a large open space.

Every evening, a group of middle-aged aunties would bring a speaker there and start dancing.

One time, Feng Yuan accidentally wandered in and was immediately captivated.

He loved following the lively music. His chubby little face was all serious as he put his hands on his hips and twisted along with the aunties.

The aunties were delighted to have him join in.

Feng Yuan almost ended up becoming their lead dancer. Unfortunately, he still had to spend time collecting scraps, so he couldn’t go dancing every day.

Now that he was at Grandpa’s place, there wasn’t anyone here who liked doing square dances.

Sometimes, when he felt like dancing, Feng Yuan would play music for himself and dance alone.

His playlist was quite rich. Every single song was a DJ remix.

Among all the songs, his favorite was “Little Apple.”

Feng Yuan, who loved dancing but hated chess, dashed out of his grandpa’s small chess room and ran straight into the courtyard.

There, he found the butler.

“Uncle!”

Feng Yuan called out to Li Cheng and asked, “If Yuan Yuan needs your help, can you help me?”

Li Cheng smiled. “Of course, I can.”

Tilting his little face up, Feng Yuan added, “But the thing I need help with, you can’t tell Dad, Grandpa, or Grandma, okay?”

Li Cheng: “Mm…”

Seeing Li Cheng hesitate, Feng Yuan’s little face turned solemn. He turned to leave.

Forget it.

He couldn’t ask the butler uncle for help after all.

The butler uncle looked exactly like someone who would sell Yuan Yuan out!

He had originally wanted to ask the butler for help with a game verification, but now he had completely given up on that idea.

Clutching his game console, he wandered around the courtyard for a bit, then wandered back again.

Time ticked by little by little.

Feng Qi and Li Sheng had just returned home from outside. As soon as they came in, they saw Li Heng and Frida playing chess, and their son playing with his little toy car in the living room.

Li Heng also noticed them.

“You’re back,” he said casually, then stood up and added, “Dinner’s ready. Let’s eat.”

Feng Qi nodded.

As he walked over, he said, “Next time, you don’t have to wait for me and Li Sheng. You can start eating first.”

Li Heng replied lightly, “We didn’t really wait on purpose. Yuan Yuan had some snacks earlier when he came back, so he’s not very hungry.”

Even though Li Heng said that, Feng Qi knew full well that the old man had been waiting for them.

The whole family sat down together at the dining table.

Feng Yuan was still reluctant to part with his little toy car.

It was a new one and personally modified for him by Li Ting.

The car had a really cool design and even an automatic driving feature.

When Li Ting was modifying it, he had paid the most attention to safety functions.

He had tested it several times to make sure the little car was completely safe before sending it over.

He himself was also on his way here.

This time, it was he who was bringing Qin Xun over.

After getting to know each other, Feng Qi, Li Ting, Li Wei, and the old man had gradually exchanged contact information.

They were all WeChat friends now.

Knowing that everyone liked Feng Yuan, Feng Qi created a group chat that included only the members of the Li family.

He often shared videos of Feng Yuan in that small group.

Since photos and videos on WeChat expire after a while, Feng Qi even created a family cloud album.

He uploaded all of Feng Yuan’s photos and videos there, so anyone who wanted to see them could access them anytime.

The Li family was a big one.

However, before Feng Yuan came along, not a single person had thought about creating a family group chat.

Even after Feng Qi made the group, the family rarely talked in it.

Unless Feng Qi sent a message first, no one would reply.

At the moment, the chat history in the group was still stuck on messages from two days ago.

Feng Qi: “[Video]”

He sent a video of Feng Yuan pretending to sleep.

Below it were a few quick comments.

Li Ting: “[Laughing] [Laughing] [Laughing]”

Li Ting: “How is Yuan Yuan so easy to fool?”

Li Wei: “[Kiss emoji]”

Li Wei: “My silly little baby. So adorable.”

Li Heng: “[Smile emoji]”

Frida: “[Rose emoji]”

Li Si: “……”

Almost everyone in the group had replied. But after that, the chat went silent again.

Other than messages related to Feng Yuan, nothing else could draw them out. They were all lurkers most of the time.

“Daddy, can Yuan Yuan drive his car and go out to play?”

“You can play in the yard?”

“No, outside!”

Although the courtyard was big, Feng Yuan still wanted to go play beyond the house.

His little car could even pull people along!

He wanted to give his sister a ride.

Feng Qi picked up some vegetables and placed them into Feng Yuan’s small bowl. Seeing him looking up eagerly, asking to go out, he finally relented a little.

“You can go out and play, but someone has to go with you.”

“Okay!”

As soon as Feng Yuan heard he could take his car outside, he immediately lit up with excitement.

With Feng Yuan around, family meals had become much livelier.

At the dinner table, Feng Yuan was excitedly talking about going to Lily’s house to play with his sister.

Feng Qi reminded him from the side, “Don’t forget to bring a gift.”

Feng Yuan: “Mm!”

Clutching his spoon in his chubby hand, Feng Yuan told his dad that he had already prepared his gifts!

He was going to give Lily a card he had drawn himself, a hand-woven bracelet, and a pretty flower.

He also wanted to bring along some snacks from home.

The family chatted and ate. Even the meal seemed to taste better than usual.

After dinner.

Feng Yuan ran to his bedroom first and hid his game console under his pillow.

Once he was done hiding it, he came out and accidentally bumped his little head right into his dad’s leg.

The impact made him fall to the floor with a plop.

Feng Qi crouched down, looking at him with both helplessness and amusement. “Yuan Yuan, why aren’t you watching where you’re going?”

A bit nervous, Feng Yuan mumbled something in his soft, childish voice.

Feng Qi didn’t quite catch what he said, so he simply picked him up.

“Yuan Yuan, Dad’s going to be busy again soon.”

Feng Qi actually never really had any free time.

He was either working or hunting down ferocious beasts.

From the sealed Gu Diao’s mouth, he had learned about the whereabouts of several other beasts.

Gu Diao said that outside of China’s borders, besides himself, another one had also come here.

After revealing information about the other beasts, Gu Diao went on to talk about the Li family.

He said the Li family was not simple.

The reason he had protected Li Heng wasn’t just because of Brother Zhu’s request.

On the Li family members, he could sense an indescribable aura.

If not for Feng Qi’s unexpected interference, he even had a feeling.

That he might have been able to fully restore his body through the Li family.

Gu Diao’s words about the Li’s were vague and mysterious. Feng Qi didn’t press further for now.

Compared to the Li family’s oddness, what he cared more about at the moment was finding the other beasts.

“When Dad’s not home, you have to behave,” Feng Qi reminded his son. “Running away from home without telling the adults, something like that must never happen again, understand?”

“Mm! Yuan Yuan knows!”

Last time, Feng Yuan had gotten a spanking because of that. For now, he was still able to avoid getting hit for the same reason again.

Feng Qi, still uneasy, gave a long string of reminders. By the time he was done, he cupped his son’s little face and kissed him again and again.

If circumstances allowed, he actually didn’t want to do anything at all… didn’t want to stay busy…

All he wanted was to stay quietly by his son’s side, to watch him, to accompany him.

But his duty meant he could not afford to be selfish.

As father and son talked, the tension on Feng Yuan’s small face gradually faded away, and he relaxed.

His dad carried him off to play with his little toy car for a while.

Sitting in the cool, stylish mini car, Feng Yuan even invited his dad to ride in the passenger seat.

“Doot-doot-doot—!”

The little car zoomed around the big living room. Feng Yuan gripped the steering wheel, his mouth wide in a grin. He couldn’t be happier.

After sitting in the car for about ten minutes, Feng Yuan started to get restless.

He took the initiative to ask his dad to give him a bath.

He still had an important mission to accomplish tonight, and he wanted to make the most of his time.

When Feng Qi heard his son ask to take a bath on his own, he raised an eyebrow.

“Yuan Yuan, are you getting sleepy already?”

“Yep, sleepy!”

Feng Yuan wrapped his little arms around his dad’s neck, ready to take a bath and then go to bed.

Seeing how unusually cooperative Feng Yuan was about taking a bath, Feng Qi didn’t hesitate and immediately carried him to the bathroom.

The bathtub was soon filled with water.

Sitting in the water, Feng Yuan smiled sweetly and said to his dad, “Dad, Yuan Yuan will lull you to sleep~”

Feng Qi: “?”

Feng Qi asked, “Not Dad lulling you to sleep, but you lulling Dad to sleep?”

Feng Yuan: “Mm-hmm!”

With his eyes curving into a smile, Feng Yuan added, “Yuan Yuan will also lull Big Dad to sleep!”

Hearing this request from the little one, Feng Qi kept his expression calm, though a faint suspicion stirred in his heart.

Before long, Feng Yuan’s bath was finished.

Wearing his little dinosaur pajamas, he pushed both of his dads toward the bathroom.

To save time, he insisted that both of his dads take their bath together.

Li Sheng didn’t mind this at all.

It was only Feng Qi who frowned, clearly unwilling to bathe together with Li Sheng.

“Our son’s request,” Li Sheng said lightly, “as his dads, we should try to grant it.”

As he spoke, he took Feng Qi and led him into the bathroom.

Watching both of his dads go in, Feng Yuan stared eagerly at the door and began to wait.

He had originally thought that if both his dads bathed together, they would be done quickly.

But to his surprise, when both of his dads bathed together, it actually took longer than if they’d gone one at a time.

To pass the time, Feng Yuan even gave Wu Jin a call.

He’d been busy lately and hadn’t managed to meet up with Wu Jin.

Now that he called, they finally had a chance to set a time to meet.

“What are you two planning?”

Yu Yi, who was watching a drama, overheard the little one on the phone and came over to join in.

When Wu Jin saw him approach, his pair of dark eyes turned toward him.

Being stared at, Yu Yi let out two dry laughs.

“Baby, I’ve already watched The Legend of the White Snake three times…”

Wu Jin’s handsome face stayed stiff and expressionless.

Yu Yi cried inwardly but didn’t dare show a hint of displeasure on his face.

He sat down next to Wu Jin and asked, “You’ve made me watch so many versions of The Legend of the White Snake. What exactly do you want me to write about it? Give me a hint, will you? I’ve already written several drafts for you.”

Lately, Wu Jin had been acting strange.

He kept saying he envied Feng Qi and Li Sheng.

When Yu Yi thought about Feng Qi and Li Sheng, he had to admit that he envied them, too.

Those two were clearly both men, yet they had a baby together.

If he and Wu Jin could have a baby, he wouldn’t have to keep hiding things from his family so painfully.

But he and Wu Jin couldn’t have children.

Yu Yi had secretly been looking into the technology for male pregnancy, but so far, he hadn’t found any reliable information.

He simply assumed Wu Jin also envied Li Sheng and his partner for having a child, never realizing that Wu Jin hadn’t been thinking about children at all.

What Wu Jin had learned was that everyone in the Li family already knew about Feng Qi and Feng Yuan’s true identities.

Li Sheng knew, too, and had accepted it without issue.

When Wu Jin thought about Feng Qi and then about himself, he couldn’t help but feel inferior.

The phoenix had always been a symbol of auspiciousness since ancient times. They were born beautiful and powerful.

Unlike him, he had originally been just a pitch-black snake.

Even after transforming from a black snake into a black dragon, his color had never changed. His appearance was still ugly.

It was bad enough that his true form was hideous, but the worst part was that Yu Yi absolutely hated snakes.

He didn’t dare to confess his true identity to Yu Yi at all.

But between partners, there should be honesty and loyalty.

He wanted so badly to tell Yu Yi who he really was.

The reason he’d made Yu Yi watch The Legend of the White Snake these past few days was because he hoped Yu Yi would see how, in the end, Xu Xian accepted the White Snake as his wife. He even became a monk to guard the tower for her sake.

But even after watching The Legend of the White Snake several times, Yu Yi still complained.

“This whole man-and-snake romance is just too scary!”

And in every reflection he wrote afterward, he kept insisting that Xu Xian and the White Snake should’ve just gone their separate ways.

Thinking about Yu Yi’s comments and everything he’d written, Wu Jin’s eyes had reddened more than once.

“I’m talking to Yuan Yuan right now. Don’t interrupt us.”

These days, every time Wu Jin saw Yu Yi, his heart ached sharply.

After pushing Yu Yi aside, he continued speaking to Feng Yuan in a low, dispirited voice about arranging their meeting.

Hearing how downcast he sounded, Feng Yuan stopped worrying about whether they’d actually meet and instead focused on comforting him.

“Wu Jin, don’t cry! Is it because Uncle Yu Yi is still scared of snakes?”

“Mm, he’s afraid of me.”

Wu Jin’s voice was muffled. “Yuan Yuan, am I really that scary?”

Feng Yuan: “!”

Feng Yuan quickly said, “You’re not scary at all!”

Hearing that Wu Jin was on the verge of tears, Feng Yuan hurried to reassure him, “Wu Jin, you’re not scary one bit! Yuan Yuan thinks you’re really good-looking!”

“Don’t cry, okay?”

“Don’t worry, Yuan Yuan will help you! Yuan Yuan will make Uncle Yu Yi stop being afraid of you!”

To coax Wu Jin and make him feel better, Feng Yuan even patted his own chest and made a solemn promise right then and there.

He promised Wu Jin that Uncle Yu Yi would definitely not be afraid of him.

Hearing Feng Yuan’s firm, confident tone, Wu Jin was half doubtful, half hopeful.

“Yuan Yuan, you… You really can do that?”

“I can! Leave it to Yuan Yuan!”

Feng Yuan reassured him over and over again. Only after hearing those promises did Wu Jin’s mood finally start to ease.

As Wu Jin gradually calmed down, Feng Yuan glanced at the time. Then suddenly froze in realization.

“Wu Jin, my dad and big dad went to take a bath, but they’ve been in there for so long!”

He hadn’t noticed how much time had passed before, but now that he looked at the clock—

His two dads had been in the bathroom for an entire hour!

“Wu Jin, I have to go check on Dad!”

Feng Yuan grew worried that something might have happened to them.

Wu Jin wanted to stop him. But before he could say anything, Feng Yuan had already hung up.

He scrambled down from the bed, barefoot, and hurried over to knock on the door.

“Dad! Dad! Did you faint?”

Panicked, Feng Yuan’s soft little voice rose loud and anxious: “Open the door for Yuan Yuan!”

No one opened the door from inside.

After he had been knocking for quite a while, his dad finally spoke from within.

“Yuan Yuan, Dad didn’t faint. Go back to bed and sleep. You’re not allowed to walk around barefoot.”

Feng Yuan: “……”

Feng Yuan looked down at his own chubby bare feet. He stared for a few seconds, but didn’t obediently go back to bed.

Instead, he went to rummage for something he’d nearly forgotten about. His big mosquito coil.

He had seen it on TV before: as long as you lit incense, people would fall asleep.

Feng Yuan wanted both his dads to go to sleep early.

But he didn’t have the kind of incense they used on TV.

However, in a small storage shed out in the yard, he had found this big kind of coil you could also light!

Feng Yuan could breathe fire.

He used a tiny flame to light the big, spiral-shaped coil.

“Cough—cough, cough!”

As soon as it started burning, the strong smell made Feng Yuan cough hard.

He had smelled mosquito coils before, but this giant one was different from the small dish-shaped ones.

The acrid, pungent smoke made his eyes sting and his stomach churn. It was so strong he almost felt like throwing up.

His chubby little hands covered his nose as he hurried away on his short legs.

The coil burned in the corner.

The smell was so strong that Feng Yuan ran all the way back to the bedside, coughing.

He wanted to climb onto the bed and wait there.

But before his small body could make it up—

Plop!

He fell to the floor.

Almost at the exact moment he hit the ground, the bathroom door flew open.

Inside, the two adults had smelled the scent less than a minute after the coil was lit.

Feng Qi’s sense of smell was sharp. He was extremely sensitive to such pungent, chemical odors.

But even in that brief moment.

By the time he threw on his clothes, rushed out, and reached Feng Yuan to lift him into his arms—

Foam was already bubbling from the child’s mouth.

Feng Qi: “!”

His expression changed drastically. Clutching the convulsing boy, he dashed out of the room in long strides.

Li Sheng, who remained in the room, quickly found the source. The coil is still smoldering in the corner, releasing its acrid fumes.

He extinguished it, grabbed it in his hand, and followed them out.

Outside.

Feng Qi was shouting, “Uncle Li! Uncle Li, call the doctor. Quick!”

His voice echoed through the house. In an instant, everyone rushed out.

When they saw Feng Yuan foaming at the mouth, the entire household was struck with horror.

Li Heng immediately pulled out his phone and dialed the family doctor’s number.

He had always been a calm and composed man, but this time, even his hands were shaking as he made the call.

Li Sheng came out holding the incense coil from the room.

The butler took one look and recognized it right away. “That’s the insect-repelling incense from the outer courtyard. It’s poisonous! How did it end up in the room?!”

That particular incense, laced with toxins, was always kept in remote, inconspicuous corners of the property.

It had been used for years without anyone ever being poisoned by it.

The butler never imagined that the young master could somehow dig up something hidden so far away.

Feng Qi didn’t have the time or energy to think about how Feng Yuan had found it.

All he wanted now was for his son to be safe.

Just a few minutes after Feng Qi had carried Feng Yuan out, Li Wang, who had briefly stepped away, came back carrying a basin filled with soapy water.

He set it down, then reached out to take Feng Yuan from Feng Qi’s arms.

Feng Qi looked at Li Wang’s calm, composed face and handed Feng Yuan over to him.

Li Wang took Feng Yuan, swiftly stripped off the child’s pajamas, and then rubbed his little body all over with the soapy water.

Once he was done, he removed his own pajama top, wrapped it around Feng Yuan, and carried him to a place with better air circulation.

“He’s suffering from gas poisoning,” Li Wang said evenly. “He needs to be kept away from the contaminated environment and moved somewhere well-ventilated.”

“His skin must be cleaned thoroughly to avoid further exposure to the toxin.”

“Next, we’ll need the doctor’s professional diagnosis.”

In a calm, steady tone, he continued, “Oral antidote, intravenous infusion, hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Those are all viable treatments.”

Feng Qi: “……”

Feng Qi looked at the unflustered Li Wang, then at his weak little son in the boy’s arms.

Turning his face slightly, he asked, “Are all these things Xiao Wang said taught at the base?”

Li Sheng nodded.

At the same base where both children had learned, Feng Yuan had managed to knock himself out with incense, while his older brother was methodically saving him.

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