LPLFDA Chapter 84

Qin Xun noticed that he suddenly stopped crying. For some reason, his heart skipped a beat.

“Yuan Yuan, do you want to eat something before going to sleep?”

Holding the little one in his arms, Qin Xun returned to the bedroom.

Once inside, he didn’t rush to coax the little one to sleep, but instead went to get something for him to eat.

Eating late at night wasn’t a good habit.

But tonight was special. Qin Xun wanted him to have a few bites of something tasty to calm his emotions.

“No, Yuan Yuan wants to sleep.”

Feng Yuan shook his head, climbed onto the bed, pulled the blanket over himself, and closed his eyes.

Qin Xun sat beside him, looking at his small face, his brows furrowing tightly together.

“Yuan Yuan…”

He wanted to say something, but the little one kept his eyes closed, his face stiff and tense, showing no sign of wanting to talk.

Qin Xun could do nothing but lie down beside him.

After lying down, he reached out and pulled Feng Yuan into his arms, gently patting his small back.

At first, Feng Yuan was only pretending to sleep, his little face buried against Qin Xun’s chest.

Qin Xun could feel the fabric over his heart slowly growing damp.

He didn’t say anything more, only continued to pat Feng Yuan’s back gently while softly telling him a bedtime story.

No one knew how much time had passed.

Feng Yuan’s small body finally relaxed.

Qin Xun lowered his head and slowly eased the little one out of his arms, laying him flat on the bed.

Under the dim glow of the bedside night light, Qin Xun saw that the tear stains on Feng Yuan’s little face had already dried.

He got out of bed and went to the bathroom.

After running some warm water, Qin Xun soaked a towel in it, gently wiped Feng Yuan’s face clean again, and then applied another layer of fragrant lotion.

Only after doing all this did he lie back down, pulling Feng Yuan into his arms again. He fell asleep with a heavy heart.

He had also heard the conversation that Feng Yuan had secretly listened to earlier.

Though he didn’t cry like Feng Yuan had, his heart ached all the same.

Uncle Feng Qi was a good man.

Qin Xun didn’t want Feng Qi to die.

Having experienced the pain of losing his own parents, he didn’t want Feng Yuan to endure the same kind of suffering.

In the dim room, the two small figures huddled together. Neither of them slept well that night.

As for their secret eavesdropping, the adults next door remained completely unaware.

Between Li Sheng and Feng Qi, their late-night conversation was one Li Sheng had no wish to continue.

Those words, which sounded almost like a final farewell, were ones Li Sheng didn’t want to hear again.

Even in what sounded like a final testament, Feng Qi had confessed his love for him with complete honesty.

“You wait here. I’ll go get you some water.”

Feng Qi had finished his soup but hadn’t yet rinsed his mouth.

Li Sheng got up to bring him some mouthwash. After doing so, he quietly locked the door behind him.

“All done.”

After finishing up, Li Sheng pulled Feng Qi back into his arms.

Since Feng Qi had slept a lot during the day, Li Sheng didn’t urge him to sleep again.

The two held each other tightly.

From time to time, Li Sheng’s lips brushed gently against Feng Qi’s forehead.

He didn’t let Feng Qi speak.

But as he held him close, Li Sheng began to talk softly to him.

He started from the very first time they met…

“Do you know? When I first saw you, I thought, How could someone in this world look so beautiful?”

“Do you think I was just lusting after your looks?”

Although Li Sheng was asking, before Feng Qi could answer, he went on to answer himself.

“To be honest, at the beginning, I thought so, too.”

“But later, I slowly realized something wasn’t right.”

“Feng Qi, in you, I found the place where my soul belongs.”

Li Sheng found it difficult to clearly describe his feelings for Feng Qi.

All he knew was that what drew him to Feng Qi wasn’t just that face.

Only when he was by Feng Qi’s side did he feel truly alive.

Li Sheng had never spoken so many words of affection before.

Feng Qi leaned quietly against his chest, listening in silence, without saying a word.

The next day.

When Feng Yuan woke up, he didn’t go looking for his Dad. His eyelids were a little swollen.

Qin Xun pressed a warm towel against them for him, but it didn’t help much.

At the breakfast table, as expected, the adults quickly noticed Feng Yuan’s puffy eyes.

“Yuan Yuan, were you crying?”

The adults all stared at his eyelids, momentarily forgetting about their food, their attention entirely on him.

Feng Yuan raised his little hand to touch his eyes, his soft, childlike voice still a bit hoarse.

“Yuan Yuan had a bad dream.”

“You cried because of a bad dream?”

“Mm!”

Feng Yuan didn’t tell the truth, but the adults didn’t doubt his excuse either.

They only asked him what kind of nightmare he had.

Feng Yuan shook his head, his little face clearly looking a bit listless.

“I don’t remember.”

“Yuan Yuan doesn’t remember anything at all.”

“Alright then. If you can’t remember, don’t think about it anymore.”

Li Ting, who was sitting closest to him, reached out to rub his head and placed a chicken wing into his bowl.

Feng Yuan loved chicken the most. Fried chicken, roasted chicken, beggar’s chicken, braised drumsticks, cola chicken wings, spicy gizzards…

He had eaten all kinds of chicken dishes.

But today, when he saw the chicken wing his little uncle had given him, Feng Yuan didn’t eat it.

He picked it up and gave it back to Li Ting.

Li Ting: “?”

Seeing him refuse the meat, Li Ting couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

Throughout the whole breakfast, Feng Yuan showed little interest and hardly said a word.

Before they left, Li Heng called Qin Xun over to him.

“Xiao Xun, Yuan Yuan doesn’t seem to have much of an appetite this morning. Keep an eye on him at the base. I suspect he might not be feeling well.”

“Alright.”

Qin Xun knew exactly what was wrong with Feng Yuan, but he didn’t say anything.

He only nodded, promising he would take good care of him.

Qin Xun wanted to keep his eyes on Feng Yuan at all times, but Feng Yuan deliberately avoided his gaze.

As soon as they got to the base, the little one grabbed a notebook and a pen and started doodling and writing who-knows-what.

When Qin Xun leaned in to take a look, the little one ran off with the notebook before he could see anything.

The two of them spent the whole morning playing a kind of hide-and-seek until training began.

Thursday and Friday were group training days.

Feng Yuan had always been very enthusiastic about group training.

Not only was he excited, but even the older brothers and sisters who wanted to see him were always looking forward to it.

“Yuan Yuan!”

The moment Feng Yuan arrived, just like usual, he was immediately surrounded by his older brothers and sisters, all trying to steal a few moments to play with him.

He obediently let them pinch and squeeze his cheeks without any resistance.

“Hey, what’s wrong with our Yuan Yuan today? Why do you look unhappy? Did Charles do something to you again?”

Lily, who had managed to claim the “right” to pinch Yuan Yuan’s cheeks, kneaded his little face while shooting Charles a suspicious glare.

Charles: “……”

Charles looked completely wronged.

He had only just seen Feng Yuan himself!

There were too many people crowding around Feng Yuan. He had even been squeezed all the way to the outer edge!

“It’s not Charles.”

Feng Yuan explained softly in his muffled little voice.

Lily wanted to ask more, but the instructor was already walking over.

Everyone had to immediately return to their positions.

During training, Feng Yuan kept making mistakes. Whether it was because he wasn’t feeling well or simply distracted, no one could tell.

Bang—

After falling down once again, Charles couldn’t hold back and instinctively called out to the instructor.

Almost the moment the word “Instructor” left his mouth, sharp, knife-like glares shot toward him from every direction.

Jack, who was standing next to him, immediately lowered his voice and warned,

“Charles, if you dare say a single word against Yuan Yuan, I’ll kick you off my team.”

Jack had formed a soccer team, and Charles, who loved playing, was one of its members.

Jack’s threat made Charles’s mouth twitch involuntarily.

Ignoring Jack’s threatening glare, Charles turned to the instructor and requested that Feng Yuan be allowed to rest.

His reason was simple. He felt that Feng Yuan’s physical condition didn’t seem right.

The instructor also noticed that something was off about Feng Yuan.

“Feng Yuan, go take a rest.”

The instructor, who was usually strict and unyielding, actually took the initiative to let Feng Yuan rest.

Feng Yuan got up from the ground and sat down to the side.

For the rest of the morning, he didn’t take part in any more training.

While he rested, his older brothers and sisters all came to keep him company.

Lily brought him some chocolate.

Jack gave him a palm-sized toy car.

The little car model was finely crafted. Most importantly—

It seemed to be made of gold.

It felt heavy in Feng Yuan’s small hands.

Receiving so many gifts and comfort from his brothers and sisters, Feng Yuan sniffled, deeply moved.

Charles came over three times before he finally managed to squeeze his way in front of Feng Yuan.

Everyone knew that Charles loved to pick on Feng Yuan.

Because of that, everyone was very against Charles getting close to Feng Yuan.

“Yuan Yuan, this is for you.”

Squeezing his way through the crowd, Charles, under everyone’s watchful gaze, pulled a card out of his pocket.

“This is a card for the Golden Shield Mall. The Golden Shield Mall has the most luxurious indoor amusement park in the world. With this card, you can play as much as you want.”

Charles’s sudden act of goodwill left everyone staring wide-eyed in shock.

“Keep it. Besides the children’s amusement park, you can also use it to shop at any store in the mall. It’s a gold membership card.”

Charles shoved the card into Feng Yuan’s hand and turned to leave.

No sooner had he taken two steps than Li Si picked up the card he had left behind.

Holding it in her hand, she examined it carefully.

After a moment, she said, “It’s real.”

When Lily heard that, she muttered, “Oh my God.”

“Has Charles gone crazy? Why is he suddenly being so nice to Yuan Yuan?”

“Could he be plotting something against him again?”

“It must be that! He’s trying to get Yuan Yuan to lower his guard, and then, he’ll do something bad to him!”

Not a single person believed that Charles had really changed.

They all assumed he was just scheming up an even nastier plan.

“Yuan Yuan, you must be careful around him.”

“That’s right, stay away from him. Don’t believe a single word he says.”

“He’s bad news.”

Charles had been training with the team for quite some time. Before, everyone could at least tolerate him.

But ever since Feng Yuan appeared, Charles’s favorability among the group had plummeted straight down.

Every time he ran his mouth at Feng Yuan, that favorability dropped even further.

By now, it was already deep into the negatives.

Feng Yuan listened to his older brothers and sisters’ reminders, wanting to say something to defend Charles, but no one believed him.

At noon, Charles once again sneaked over to Feng Yuan.

By chance, no one was around him at that moment.

As soon as Charles came over, he hurried to explain that he really wasn’t going to be mean anymore.

Feng Yuan nodded, showing that he understood.

After explaining himself, Charles looked at Feng Yuan with a hesitant expression, as if there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t.

He had been holding it in for several days.

Just one question. If he didn’t ask it, he’d go crazy.

“Yuan Yuan, you—you’re a chick from what kind of breed? In your East, can baby chicks really turn into humans, too?”

Feng Yuan: “???”

Feng Yuan had already been in a bad mood. Hearing Charles’s question only made him even more annoyed.

He lifted his little face and glared at Charles unhappily.

“I’m not a baby chick! I’m a little phoenix. The little phoenix from The Classic of Mountains and Seas!”

“I’m an auspicious creature!”

As Feng Yuan proudly praised himself, he suddenly added with emphasis, “And I’m very nutritious!”

Zheng had said that eating him would be an enormous tonic!

“Phoenix… The Classic of Mountains and Seas.”

Charles repeated his words with some effort and said, “That sounds kind of familiar.”

No, it even looked kind of familiar.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas…

He seemed to have that book at home, along with some notes.

While Charles was still trying hard to recall, Feng Yuan had already lost interest in him.

Feng Yuan was very busy today.

He had a lot of letters to write.

He needed to write a will, one that included how to distribute his pocket money and how to divide up his toys.

Aside from his own will, he also wanted to write a farewell letter for every family member and for Qin Xun, too.

Feng Yuan didn’t know many characters. He could write even fewer.

To finish all those farewell letters, the little one had practically chewed the tip of his pen bald.

He spent two whole days writing them.

While writing, he went through many sheets of paper.

His tears soaked the pages of his notebook, blurring some of the words on his farewell letters.

Once his “final preparations” were almost done, Feng Yuan went looking for a pot.

He transformed back into his original form and ran straight to the kitchen.

Just as he got there, Li Wei also happened to walk in, planning to grab something to eat.

When Li Wei entered, she saw the little one sitting right inside a stew pot.

The chubby little creature was so round that the pot could barely hold him.

Li Wei stared in confusion. “Yuan Yuan, what are you doing?”

Feng Yuan chirped twice in reply.

Li Wei didn’t understand him at all. She could only watch as Feng Yuan climbed out of that pot… and then sat himself down in another one.

All of these pots were for stewing meat.

Feng Yuan sat in one pot after another. But in the end, none of them felt right.

Those pots were all too small. None was big enough to stew Yuanyuan.

Unable to find a suitable pot, the little chubby ball left with a heavy heart.

He decided he would have to buy a new one.

Besides buying a pot, he also looked up many recipes.

Every single one of them was for stewed chicken.

Having always been mistaken for a baby chick, when Feng Yuan decided to stew himself to save his Dad, all the recipes that came to his mind were about cooking chicken.

Stewing a baby chick and stewing a little phoenix should be more or less the same, he thought.

Feng Yuan wanted to make sure he would taste good.

Soon, Saturday arrived.

Feng Qi’s condition showed no signs of improvement. When Feng Yuan went to see his Dad, he didn’t cry.

He just pouted his lips and kissed his father.

Then, later that morning, he secretly went out and bought a big pot.

He hid the pot outside.

He didn’t want anyone to find out, so he could only do the stewing outdoors.

The pot was ready, the recipe was ready, and his farewell letters were written.

Feng Yuan had prepared everything.

He planned to use Sunday, his very last day, to go and cuddle with every single person at home.

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