When Lan Xi woke up, he discovered he was the only demon left at home.
This was actually quite common.
His parents were always busy, busy going somewhere else to have more children. That was their idea of fun.
His older brothers and sisters were busy too. They would pat his head and say, “If we don’t go out and find food, we’ll starve to death.”
They would always disappear for ten days or half a month.
When they returned, they would tell him strange stories from the road: how impressive this lord or that lord was, how some demon had captured two angels during a great battle and how incredibly white the angels’ wings were, and how the Heaven those angels described had endless food and wine…
Lan Xi interrupted in his childish voice, “The angels must be lying to us.”
“But how could angels lie?”
“Exactly, Lan Xi. Demons are the ones who lie.”
Lan Xi froze, still muddled and innocent. “Is that how it works?”
They laughed, then started talking about the targets each of them had seduced.
“The demon I seduced is built like a mountain. When you grow up, you should mate with a demon like that too, understand? Only a demon like that can protect you.”
“Nonsense, don’t listen to him. Find one like the demon I seduced. He gave me all his food to eat.”
“Forget it. The demons you two picked are ugly as hell. You should seduce a beautiful one. Then mating will actually be enjoyable.”
Lan Xi’s older brothers and sisters started fighting.
At the time, Lan Xi’s demon age was four years and eight months.
Now, Lan Xi climbed down from his little wooden bed and prepared to celebrate his fifth birthday.
He sprinkled pretty sugar crystals over a lump of dough. Unable to find thin candles, he stuck five matches into it instead and began making a wish.
What kind of wish should he make?
Last year, Lan Xi had wished he could fly farther because he wanted to cross the nearby mountain. But his wings had stubbornly remained tiny.
The year before that, Lan Xi had wished for sharper, fiercer fangs. Unfortunately, the little succubus always grew prettier and prettier and could not become fierce-looking no matter what he did.
The year before that, he had wished for a huge feast, preferably with roasted lamb bones, salmon cakes, fruit soup, and an entire roast pig…
…Oh. In short, none of his wishes had come true.
But Lan Xi was not discouraged.
He was simply much more cautious about choosing this year’s wish.
“I want to go to Heaven.” He said it softly, then blew out the matches.
A demon with curved ram horns pushed open the round window and stuck his head inside. “Lan Xi, you idiot. Who would grant a demon’s wish? Only angels get to make wishes to their god!”
Lan Xi blinked in confusion. “Oh. Really?”
“Of course. Making wishes is useless, and that thing of yours isn’t even a cake.” The demon pointed at Lan Xi’s lump of dough with matches stuck in it.
Then the ram-horned demon climbed through the window and smeared mud from his body across Lan Xi’s wall.
Lan Xi had only picked flowers to decorate that wall yesterday.
Lan Xi was unhappy. “Dirty.”
The ram-horned demon blinked his yellow vertical pupils, which made him look considerably more frightening. “Demons are supposed to be like this. Evil, filthy, born from rotting mud.”
Lan Xi scrunched up his round little face.
The ram-horned demon looked at him with contempt. “Only you succubi are so fussy. All you care about is looking pretty. You’re dirt poor and can’t even afford enough food, but you still go looking for pretty stones to decorate yourselves with. You don’t act like demons at all.”
Lan Xi let out an angry “Awoo!” and pounced on the ram-horned demon.
Imitating the way his older brothers and sisters fought, he got into a vicious brawl with the other demon.
The other demon had lived five years longer than he had.
The little succubus was outmatched and took more hits.
But he really was so pretty.
So very pretty.
His eyes were round, his ears pink and white, and his wings were only the size of a palm.
Unlike the grotesquely shaped demons around him, he was even more delicate and clean than most succubi, white as snow.
The ram-horned demon swallowed drool twice and could not bear to keep fighting Lan Xi.
He left.
That night, Lan Xi secretly crawled into the ram-horned demon’s cave and smashed his head open.
The two demons got into another vicious fight.
Lan Xi limped home, extremely pleased with himself.
This time, he had used both hands and feet, and when those failed, his teeth too. He had landed more hits on the other demon this time~
Lan Xi cleaned his face, touched the bloody tear on his wing, placed both hands over his little belly, and closed his eyes to sleep.
If he slept really well, his injuries would heal faster.
＊
“Young Master is back!” the nanny called loudly.
At the same time, a bodyguard took the little schoolbag from Fu Hui’s back.
Fu Hui lowered his head and swept his gaze across the floor.
Two antique vases had shattered, a phone had been smashed to pieces, and a long crack ran across the marble counter…
Something very serious had happened at home. Fu Hui knew that.
“You’re back.” His mother hurried out and gave him a gentle smile. “The school says they’re organizing a seven-day study tour. Shall we sign you up?”
His mother was trying to send him away.
Fu Hui knew that too.
His father soon came out through another door. His shirt collar hung open and he looked somewhat disheveled. Lowering his voice, he said, “Fu Hui is my son. Do you know how many people outside are watching him? If you want him kidnapped, then go ahead and let him go!”
His mother’s expression stiffened, but almost immediately softened again. “All right, then he won’t go. Weren’t you interested in literature and history before? How about we send you to study with Teacher Xu for a while?”
His father interrupted, “Let’s eat first.”
His mother answered, “Mm. We have your favorite Matsuba crab.”
This family was teetering on the edge of collapse. Fu Hui knew.
They were doing everything they could to pretend nothing had happened. Fu Hui knew that too.
Fu Hui sat between his parents.
The man and woman seemed to be secretly competing as they each displayed their affection toward Fu Hui.
Fu Hui put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth. He did not have much appetite.
Eight-year-old Fu Hui wore a cold expression as he calmly pierced through the peace the adults were pretending to maintain.
He asked, “Are you getting divorced?”
His father, Fu Lin, was the first to blurt out, “No!” The muscles in his face trembled. “Why would you think that?”
That night, his mother, Song Xu, came to his room and told him, “No matter what happens, Mom and Dad both love you.”
After his mother left, his father came in.
“Your mother, outside…” His father swallowed the words that had reached his lips and changed course. “She doesn’t want to stay with the Fu family anymore. She wants to leave. But you can’t be without your mother. Fu Hui, cry in front of her and make her stay.”
Fu Hui thought for a moment, then said, “But then she’ll hate me too.”
His father was shocked that he could say something like that. His immediate response was, “Impossible.”
Fu Hui seriously analyzed it for his father. “Every day afterward, she’ll remember that I was the reason her path was blocked.”
Fu Lin said in a trembling voice, “No, she won’t. She won’t…”
He hugged Fu Hui and cried, but he never again suggested asking Fu Hui to stop her.
Fu Hui’s father, Fu Lin, truly had loved his mother, Song Xu.
But he was too busy and simply had no energy to maintain a family.
Many members of the Fu family were in politics. Their family circumstances were complicated, and that meant there were also countless strict rules.
Marrying him had been a terrible choice for Song Xu.
His mother had lived under terrible pressure here. Fu Hui had known that from a very young age.
But the Fu family refused to let go, so Song Xu could not leave. In the end, she chose the most drastic form of resistance.
Even then, Fu Hui knew how to mediate between them so the entire matter would cause as little harm as possible.
He talked with his father all night.
The next day, Fu Lin took him back to the Fu family and held a private discussion with the elders. The central point was simple: for Fu Hui’s sake, they should not make things difficult for Song Xu either.
Afterward, Song Xu successfully moved out of the Fu family home, although on paper they never divorced.
Fu Lin devoted everything he had to raising his son well.
It was almost as if he wanted to prove something to the person who had already left, and almost as if Fu Hui had become his only emotional anchor.
So unlike children in many other families, Fu Hui’s life did not actually become harder after his parents’ relationship broke down. On the contrary, he received even greater consideration and status within the family.
Only his grandfather once looked at him and said, “You’re so young. How can you already be this cold? You planned a way out for your mother and secured your own position, but did you never think about your father?”
As long as there was no divorce on paper, Fu Lin could not remarry and would never have a second or third child. Even if he did, those children would inevitably be illegitimate and could never be publicly acknowledged.
Before Fu Hui’s grandfather could finish scolding him with, “Are you trying to make your father spend the rest of his life alone…”
Fu Lin walked in.
“Fu Hui chose to stay with his father. That’s enough.” After saying that, Fu Lin took Fu Hui away from the Fu family.
Little Fu Hui had once wondered whether he truly was too cold.
But very soon, he no longer had time to think about it.
Gradually, more and more people began praising him for already possessing such composure at such a young age. For the Fu family, an heir like this was qualified.
Fu Lin’s political career also went increasingly smoothly afterward.
The few discordant voices within the Fu family could be ignored even more easily.
Sunday.
Fu Hui’s grandfather was seriously ill. Fu Lin went to visit his father, leaving the enormous residence utterly silent.
After getting up, Fu Hui carried a large pair of shears into the garden.
He planned to cut some flowers to take to the hospital.
A bodyguard followed from far behind and watched him step into the flower bed.
A large patch of brilliant tulips had been crushed, as though some small animal had run through them the night before.
Fu Hui bent down to straighten one of the flower stems. Then, deeper among the flowers, he saw a tiny person.
The little person was sleeping quietly with both hands obediently folded over his belly. He had soft, long purple hair and a ring of flowers around his neck, making him look like a little elf.
But an elf would not be in such a sorry state.
The white dress on his body had been torn. His chubby cheeks were covered in injuries. He did not even have shoes, and his curled little feet were crisscrossed with wounds too.
His fingers clenched tightly, and as though caught in a nightmare, he suddenly rolled over.
A tiny pair of wings immediately stuck up from his back.
Wings…?
Fu Hui crouched down and reached out to touch them lightly.
It felt as though he had stepped into a dream.
The wings were slightly torn, and against the snow-white skin, the blood marks looked especially startling.
At that moment, the tiny person shuddered and opened his eyes.
Sunlight spilled down and flowed across jewel-like purple irises.
He suddenly bared his teeth and threateningly showed Fu Hui two tiny sharp fangs.
Fu Hui seemed to realize something and put down the shears in his hand.
He asked, “What are you? Some kind of creature from a fairy tale? Why are you here?”
The little succubus could not understand him.
He looked blank, then bared his teeth at Fu Hui even more fiercely.
Fu Hui could not help reaching out and touching one of the tiny fangs.
The fang cut Fu Hui’s fingertip.
Fu Hui lowered his head and muttered to himself, “Do I need a rabies shot?”
The little succubus hurriedly licked the blood from his mouth.
The taste immediately stirred his appetite. He was hungry.
Fu Hui met his wary gaze again.
…So cute.
Fu Hui’s heart began pounding strangely.
But the young master, already accustomed to acting cool, naturally would not say that aloud.
Instead, he said as though nothing were wrong, “Can’t you talk? What am I supposed to do with you, then? If you stay here, you could easily freeze to death, starve to death, or get bitten to death by mosquitoes.”
Fu Hui supplied his own solution. “I’ll take you inside first, then I’ll call the police for you.”
The bodyguard waited outside the flower bed for a while.
Then he saw their young master, eight years and seven months old, laboriously carrying an even smaller child out.
“Where did this child come from?” The bodyguard was badly startled and hurriedly reached out to take him.
But Fu Hui dodged.
He hid the little person’s wings and said with a cold face, “He insists that I carry him. Otherwise he’ll cry.”
The bodyguard knew the young master always meant what he said, so he could only hold back and hurriedly order people to prepare towels and hot water.
“And food.” Fu Hui paused. “He looks very hungry.”
Fu Hui had picked up a strange little thing.
For the time being, he kept this strange little thing in his own room.
Naturally, he never called the police.