Fu Hui sat beside the bed, trying to burn the little thing awake with the intensity of his stare.
But even after staring until his eyes ached, Lan Xi continued sleeping soundly.
“Young Master.” The nanny brought in breakfast.
Fu Hui had no choice but to abandon his plan.
He had failed to wake Lan Xi by staring at him, but the buttery aroma of the flat croissant in his hand succeeded.
Lan Xi’s head popped up from the bed, his eyes shining brightly.
Fu Hui considered himself relatively mature already. Of course he would not get angry with Lan Xi like some three-year-old child.
Fu Hui pushed the little plate in front of him. “Give it to him.”
The nanny hurriedly prepared to carry it over to the bed.
But Fu Hui immediately frowned. “Don’t let him eat in bed. He’ll develop bad habits.”
The nanny could not suppress a smile. “Right.”
She thought privately, How old is the Young Master himself? Yet he’s already acting like he’s raising a child.
Fu Hui hesitated for a moment, put down the food in his own hand, went over to lift Lan Xi off the bed, and started toward the bathroom.
“You need to brush your teeth and wash your face first. Oh, you haven’t even had a bath yet…”
Because Lan Xi was always crawling beneath the bed to hide, everyone had been afraid of frightening him. And since he had wounds on his body at the time, they had not forcibly taken him away to wash him clean either.
Fu Hui thought now was a good opportunity.
He was already bold enough to occupy Fu Hui’s bed.
Under ordinary circumstances, bathing him could naturally have been left to the nanny or bodyguards. But Fu Hui hesitated for only 0.2 seconds.
His wings could appear at any moment. He could not let other people see them.
Otherwise, perhaps they would send him off to the Academy of Sciences to be dissected.
Fu Hui placed Lan Xi in the bathtub, lifted his arms, and pulled off the ragged dress he was wearing… Actually, perhaps it was more appropriate to call it a robe. It was wide and loose and really did not fit him very well.
But that did not matter. Fu Hui had bought him new clothes.
Once the “dress” was removed, Lan Xi obediently leaned against the edge of the bathtub, looking as though he already trusted Fu Hui completely.
He looks very easy to fool.
Fu Hui thought, What if he fell asleep in someone else’s flower bed and got tricked?
He pinched Lan Xi’s chubby cheek.
Before Lan Xi could frown, Fu Hui quickly released him and began filling the tub.
Lan Xi stared blankly for a moment.
Is he going to boil me and eat me?
But Fu Hui began wetting his hair and rubbing shampoo into it. The shampoo smelled of bergamot and the ocean.
It doesn’t smell like seasoning.
That was Lan Xi’s conclusion.
While rubbing his hair, Fu Hui accidentally tugged it. Lan Xi immediately turned his head.
Fu Hui hurriedly stroked him twice, then gave him a couple of pats.
But it was already too late.
Lan Xi lowered his head and bit Fu Hui’s wrist, then quickly gave it a lick.
He was extremely vengeful and was obviously imitating Fu Hui.
Fu Hui tilted his head and stared at him for another moment before finally pressing his lips together and smiling softly.
The Young Master had never taken care of another person before. He spent another two hours struggling before he finally managed to get Lan Xi properly washed.
The nanny could not resist knocking. “Young Master, do you need my help?”
Fu Hui was genuinely exhausted. “Come dry his hair.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
The nanny entered and discovered Fu Hui had already dressed him.
He wore a little brown suit with a pinecone brooch pinned to the chest, making him look like a tiny figurine.
The nanny could not help smiling with extraordinary tenderness as she switched on the hair dryer.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The sudden noise frightened the little figurine into hiding behind Fu Hui.
Fu Hui took the hair dryer back. “I’ll do it.”
Lan Xi sat in his lap with a lollipop between his teeth, and at long last, his hair was dried.
Hair that long was not easy to dry either.
By the time they finally made it to the dining table, Fu Hui was so tired his eyes had gone blank.
This was ten thousand times ten thousand times more exhausting than studying.
The bodyguard could not resist suggesting it again. “Why don’t we just send him to the police station?”
Fu Hui recovered a little energy. “No.”
He had someone put another small bed in his room for Lan Xi to sleep in.
And so Fu Hui settled into a regular routine of studying, visiting the hospital, returning home, and bathing Lan Xi.
Lan Xi’s hair was too long. Sometimes even applying hair oil took more than ten minutes.
Fu Hui had considered cutting it short. But then Lan Xi would no longer be complete.
That long, slightly curling purple hair, soft as seaweed, was part of this strange little creature too.
Fu Hui restrained himself and continued diligently applying hair oil for him.
Lan Xi gradually began eating more.
Then one morning, Fu Hui opened his eyes and discovered something extra beneath his blankets.
He reached out and felt around.
He touched Lan Xi, who had crawled over from the little bed.
Fu Hui no longer tried to burn Lan Xi awake with his stare, nor did he hurry to call the nanny in with breakfast.
Instead, he caught the soft flesh of Lan Xi’s cheeks between his fingers and played with them over and over.
Lan Xi did not wake up.
He was trying very hard to pretend he was asleep.
Fu Hui knew. So he continued playing with his cheeks for quite a while before finally letting go.
When the nanny came in carrying breakfast, she even asked in surprise, “Does he have a fever? His face is so red.”
Despite his young age, Fu Hui had already mastered the essence of pretending nothing had happened.
“The heat’s probably turned up too high.”
The nanny said, “Oh.”
The next day, Lan Xi crawled from the little bed into Fu Hui’s blankets again.
But just as Fu Hui was about to pinch his cheeks again, Lan Xi opened his eyes first this time.
His large, watery eyes stared steadily at Fu Hui.
Fu Hui turned his face away. “Get up. Wash your face, brush your teeth, then eat breakfast.”
From then on, Lan Xi woke up very promptly every morning.
And just like that, Fu Hui lost a morning activity he had only gotten to experience once.
……
Fu Hui’s grandfather remained ill for a long time.
During that period, Fu Lin never returned home. And because Old Master Fu had fallen ill, the Fu family was more or less in turmoil. The family did not feel comfortable allowing Fu Hui to attend school, so teachers came to the house every day instead.
On Wednesday, the teacher arrived as usual.
“Let’s start by reviewing yesterday’s lesson…” As the teacher spoke, he suddenly stopped. “The tablecloth… is moving?”
Fu Hui froze for a moment, then immediately bent down.
The teacher watched with his own eyes as Fu Hui pulled a tiny person with long purple hair out from underneath the table.
Fu Hui’s gaze shifted slightly. In the end, he had a bodyguard bring over another chair.
He put Lan Xi on it, then calmly told the dumbfounded teacher, “Please continue.”
Lan Xi began accompanying him during lessons.
But he could not sit still very well.
More than anything, he had begun trying to explore places outside Fu Hui’s bedroom.
After that, Fu Hui constantly discovered him in different places.
Under desks, inside the wine cabinet, behind flower vases, among the flowers… Lan Xi loved quietly hiding in corners and observing everything around him.
Once, he even hid inside the food storeroom.
That was extremely dangerous.
What if one day he accidentally wandered into the freezer?
Fu Hui decided this could not continue.
The bodyguard asked, “So are we finally sending him to the police station?”
Fu Hui shot him a sidelong glance. “Of course not.” Fu Hui had his own solution. He ordered a soft collar custom-made with highly accurate GPS tracking.
He put it around Lan Xi’s neck.
The bodyguard hesitated. “Isn’t that inappropriate? He’s a person.”
Fu Hui met Lan Xi’s innocent gaze.
Lan Xi did not like the collar very much. He looked up at Fu Hui while raising his hands to tug at it.
Very soon, the skin around his neck had been rubbed red.
Fu Hui said nothing. He simply removed the collar and had the tracker remade into a bracelet, hidden inside a Cartier bangle covered in diamonds.
Lan Xi liked that one very much and refused to take it off.
Fu Hui felt better too. All he had to do was tap his tablet, and he could immediately find out where Lan Xi was.
Day after day passed.
Lan Xi also muddled his way through several lessons alongside Fu Hui.
Children learned extraordinarily quickly. Before long, he could manage simple conversations with Fu Hui.
And Fu Hui finally learned his name. Lan Xi.
Even so, Fu Hui still loved changing what he called him. Sometimes it was “Little Thing.” Sometimes it was “Bad Thing.” And sometimes he could not resist pinching Lan Xi’s cheeks, leaning close with a solemn expression, and calling him, “Little Baby.”
Lan Xi, meanwhile, became increasingly fluent at shouting Fu Hui’s full name.
When he was hungry, he shouted, “Fu Hui!”
When he was too sleepy to move, he draped himself over Fu Hui’s arm and called, “Fu Hui~”
When he could not figure out how to say a sentence, he shouted furiously, “FU HUI!!!”
Fu Hui became increasingly practiced at carrying him and catching him.
He ordered many different little outfits for Lan Xi.
And of course, every time he returned from the hospital, he also bought a different style of hair tie.
Eventually, there were so many hair ties that he needed somewhere to store them, so he bought a little leather case specifically for them and kept it in the bedroom.
Lan Xi had never lived such a happy, carefree life before.
He smelled the faint fragrance lingering in his hair, then the scent on Fu Hui’s clothes, and clung tightly to Fu Hui’s arm.
Secretly, he wondered, Did my birthday wish come true this year?
Is this Heaven?
But if this is Heaven, why aren’t the angels attacking me?
Lan Xi’s little brain could not figure it out, so he immediately gave up thinking.
That morning, Fu Hui woke up, held him down, pointed at his own arm, and said, “Stop lying on my arm.”
Lan Xi blinked, pretending not to understand.
But Fu Hui had no intention of letting him bluff his way through it today. He turned Lan Xi’s face toward him and made him look directly into his eyes. Seriously, he said, “My arm has been numb for several days.”
Fu Hui had nearly started wondering whether his arm was broken.
Lan Xi pursed his lips and pouted. The soft flesh of his cheeks bunched up and trembled.
He neither agreed nor refused.
Although Lan Xi had learned to speak, he did not talk very often. Fu Hui did not care. He had already explained himself anyway, so he released Lan Xi and let him go eat breakfast.
After breakfast, Lan Xi did not accompany him to class.
He crouched behind a vase and secretly thought for a very long time.
Fu Hui would not give him his arm anymore.
But Lan Xi wanted it.
He had been hugging it all this time. That meant it belonged to the demon.
But Fu Hui refused.
Lan Xi’s cheeks puffed in and out. He became so angry that two fat tears dropped from his eyes.
“Lan Xi.”
Fu Hui had come looking for him.
Lan Xi turned his butt toward him to demonstrate his unhappiness.
By now, Fu Hui had become very good at understanding what Lan Xi meant.
But he did not want to become a one-armed person.
Fu Hui decided he could not give in.
So he walked one circle around Lan Xi, then went to the sofa and put on a movie.
The movie was in the original French and terribly boring.
Fu Hui pretended to watch it while secretly listening for movement from Lan Xi’s direction.
Lan Xi remained angry while secretly listening for movement from Fu Hui’s direction too.
But Fu Hui did nothing… Lan Xi waited. And waited. Finally, he could not bear it anymore. He climbed onto the sofa, then climbed onto the backrest and stared fixedly at Fu Hui’s arm.
The little succubus ground his sharp fangs together.
Possession and destruction were written into a demon’s genes.
With a plop, he threw himself into Fu Hui’s arms and grabbed that arm tightly.
He didn’t care. It was his.
Fu Hui’s face went white. Cold sweat instantly broke out across his entire body.
“Lan Xi, you’re really heavy.” Fu Hui raised his head and called for the bodyguard. “I think my arm is broken.”
……
Even if Fu Hui kept a tiger at home, that would not actually have been such a serious matter.
But if the tiger bit him, that would be a serious matter.
Fu Hui had fractured his arm. Everyone in the residence was badly frightened, and the bodyguards finally called Fu Lin.
The bodyguard did not mention that an extra child had appeared in the house. He only said Fu Hui had broken a bone.
Fu Lin immediately rushed home.
The first thing he saw after entering was a little child sitting on the coffee table, sadly biting his fingers.
Fu Lin stared blankly, almost wondering whether he had entered the wrong house. “Where… did this child come from?”
The bodyguard answered concisely, “Young Master picked him up.” After a pause, he reported the truth as well. “He’s the one who fractured Young Master’s arm by lying on it.”
Compared with when Fu Hui had first picked Lan Xi up, he had already been fattened up considerably.
Purple hair, purple eyes, plump pink-white skin. He had grown even prettier and even chubbier.
Fu Lin lost his temper, something he rarely did. “Picked him up? If you picked up a child, why didn’t you take him to the police station?”
“Young Master wouldn’t allow it.”
“So?”
“So he’s been raising him in his own bedroom.”
Fu Hui had just finished having his arm put in a cast when he heard hurried footsteps approaching. His father almost never roared like this. “Fu Hui! What do you think you’re doing, raising a dog?”
Fu Hui corrected him seriously. “Dad, he’s not a dog.”