By the time they finally sat down to eat, it was already eight in the evening.
Freshly bathed and smelling sweet, Lan Xi swept his gaze over the table piled high with food and clearly loved the grand spread. He held his chopsticks, his cheeks still rosy from the steam. “Fun. Play together again tomorrow.”
The cousins all waved their hands. “N-no, maybe not?”
Lan Xi stared at them. “Why not?”
His little face was still just as beautiful, but to the other children in the Fu family, he was starting to look rather like a tiny demon.
“Why… why…” They looked helplessly to Fu Hui for rescue.
Fu Hui was a little embarrassed too. He immediately stuffed a spoon into Lan Xi’s hand to divert his attention. “Because they have school, and you have school too.”
Fu Hui paused, then asked with a trace of anticipation, “Don’t you want to go back to kindergarten?”
Lan Xi thought about the comparison very seriously. “…I do.”
He added with equal seriousness, “Have to study hard.” No one knew whether his kindergarten teacher had taught him that.
“Mm.” Fu Hui added a little more shredded wood ear mushroom to his bowl.
The children across from them immediately let out enormous sighs of relief.
Lan Xi added, “When school’s out.”
Fu Hui said, “Okay.”
The others across the table: “…”
After dinner, they hurriedly said goodbye.
Fu Hui took Lan Xi’s fingers one by one and rubbed hand cream into them. It was fruit scented, which Lan Xi liked, so he was especially cooperative.
“Fu Hui, phone’s ringing.” Lan Xi nudged the phone toward him with his head.
Fu Hui lowered his head and unlocked it. Only then did he see the message Fu Lin had sent several hours earlier, asking whether they liked the gifts he had bought.
Probably because no reply had come for so long, Fu Lin had just sent another message asking whether they had taken any pictures.
Clearly, he wanted to see what they looked like wearing the gifts.
Fu Hui spared no effort when it came to securing Lan Xi’s place in the family, so after a moment, he made up his mind.
So he doesn’t like the little bear or the little deer?
Fu Hui put away the hand cream and pressed a hand to Lan Xi’s shoulder.
A few minutes later, Fu Lin received a photo of the two of them together.
Fu Hui had Lan Xi tucked into his arms. Fu Hui was wearing the little deer hat that belonged to Lan Xi, while Lan Xi wore the lion hat and did his best to make a fierce face.
Fu Lin laughed.
Why are they wearing them the wrong way around? Still, Fu Lin could not help staring at his son a little longer. Fu Hui almost never wore anything this cute.
Against Fu Hui’s solemn expression, the little deer hat made him look as though he might lower his head and ram someone to death.
Then his phone vibrated again.
Fu Lin received another photo.
Fu Hui had his head lowered, one hand pinching Lan Xi’s cheek. Lan Xi’s soft cheek puffed out under his fingers, and his lips were pushed into a pout too.
What else could Fu Lin say? It seemed his son was quite a bit naughtier than that.
Fu Lin forwarded the photo to Secretary Li and told him to print it and put it in a frame. Fu Lin planned to keep it on his desk.
Back on their end, Fu Hui had just released Lan Xi. “All done.”
Lan Xi immediately leaned his head over. “Look, look.”
Fu Hui turned the phone toward him at once and showed him the photo.
Lan Xi’s eyes went round. Only now did he realize they could take pictures like this.
He curled up one finger and poked Fu Hui in the photo, then poked himself. “More pictures, more pictures!”
Fu Hui readily handed the phone back to the bodyguard.
Lan Xi immediately went back to directing the shoot the way he had with his close-up photos, telling the bodyguard, “Take some here, here.”
“And there, there.”
They carried on like that for a while.
“Lan Xi, taking pictures isn’t just about changing the angle,” Fu Hui told him. “You have to change your pose too.”
“Okaaay.”
Lan Xi had found himself a new hobby.
He was no longer obsessed with snowball fights. Now he was obsessed with taking new pictures.
When he and Fu Hui came home from school, they had barely stepped through the door before Lan Xi suddenly stopped and announced solemnly, “Take a picture.”
The bodyguard, already an old hand at this, whipped out the phone and captured the moment with a click.
At meals, whenever he ate something he especially liked…
Lan Xi absolutely had to take a picture with the food and Fu Hui.
When it was time for bed, Lan Xi crawled under the covers, closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them again. “Take a picture.”
Fu Hui lazily opened his eyes too. Of course, they could not call the bodyguard in now, so he reached for the phone by the bed and, using the dim moonlight, took one himself. Click.
The two of them were caught in the frame together, one with his eyes half closed and the other with his eyes round and bright.
Fu Hui had the bodyguard get the photos developed and made into an album.
In barely a week, they had already put together an entire album. Fu Hui could not help wondering whether, if they kept taking pictures at this rate, he would eventually need to buy an entire house just to store them.
Once Lan Xi discovered that photos could actually be printed, he became even more enthusiastic.
He even insisted on hugging the album while he slept.
It took two nights of sleeping soundly and repeatedly bumping his little belly against the hard corners of the album before Lan Xi finally gave up.
December brought Christmas.
Fu Lin was still too busy to come home, but that was fine. Fu Hui had already made arrangements.
Lan Xi brought along the two little apples the kindergarten had handed out. Well, they were only supposed to give him one, but…
“Especially for Fu Hui.” It had been a long time since Lan Xi had used those words.
By this point, most of the semester had passed, and there was not a single child at kindergarten who disliked Lan Xi.
Even Haohao, whom Lan Xi had once kicked, had completely forgotten the lesson and still followed him around all the time.
So when Christmas came, Lan Xi received more apples and cards than anyone else.
Lan Xi did not like the cards and promptly gave them back, but he picked out the three prettiest apples to take with him.
He ate one himself at kindergarten and brought the other two home.
Now they took those two apples, along with the bodyguards, and set off for England to spend Christmas Eve there.
It was Lan Xi’s first time on an airplane. He was curious about everything, tapping on the window as he asked, “Why won’t it open?”
Fu Hui knew how strong he was and hurriedly caught his wrist before he could mess with it. Then he explained the difference in air pressure inside and outside the plane, and that a person could get sucked out.
Lan Xi did not know how to use the bathroom on the plane either.
Fu Hui could only go with him and teach him step by step.
When they came out, the flight attendants had just begun serving the in-flight meal. The plane was passing through huge banks of cloud, threads of golden light spilling through the gaps. Lan Xi looked at the meal, then the clouds, his eyes darting back and forth because there was simply too much to see.
The whole journey felt both novel and special to Lan Xi.
From boarding the plane, to getting off and into a car, driving through the streets of a foreign country, then entering a magnificent hotel…
Lan Xi said, “Woooow!”
He and Fu Hui took many more pictures.
Fu Lin liked that too.
Now that they were taking so many photos, Fu Hui would sometimes send a few to his father on his own. A photograph carried far more impact than a few questions over the phone.
Knowing what his son was doing at any given moment made Fu Lin very happy and reassured.
That evening, Lan Xi clutched Fu Hui’s hand tightly and followed him past a Christmas tree decorated in red and green and into the restaurant.
Lan Xi had become extremely clingy with Fu Hui again, because he had discovered that he could not understand what anyone here was saying.
Fu Hui quickly ordered from the menu.
Lan Xi looked all around.
Christmas here was incredibly lively, with crowds everywhere… but because Lan Xi could not understand the language, it felt to him as though the whole world had been reduced to just him and Fu Hui.
Lan Xi jumped down from his chair and, for the first time in a long while, climbed onto Fu Hui’s lap.
When the waiter returned pushing the serving cart, he could not help pausing. In English, he asked Fu Hui, “Would you like me to find a high chair for your little brother? He’s so cute.”
Fu Hui shook his head. “I’m his high chair.”
Lan Xi tugged anxiously at his sleeve. “What? What?”
Lan Xi could not understand.
“He said you’re very cute.”
Lan Xi lifted his chin and smiled softly.
It was Lan Xi’s first Christmas.
It was Fu Hui’s first Christmas too.
Fu Hui had never felt much about holidays, but he looked forward to the expression Lan Xi made whenever he saw something unfamiliar and exciting.
So after dinner, Fu Hui took Lan Xi on a double-decker bus to take in the festive Christmas nightscape, then took him to watch fireworks before they finally returned to the hotel.
The bodyguards had already finished decorating the room. The moment Lan Xi walked in, his foot bumped into two beautifully wrapped presents.
Ever since he was little, material things had always come easily to Fu Hui, so gifts did not mean much to him.
But the tiny succubus had hardly seen anything of the world.
Fu Hui bent down, picked up a present, and stuffed it into his arms. “For Lan Xi.”
Lan Xi lifted his head and saw the enormous Christmas tree standing in the corner of the room. It was covered in sparkling lights and tiny gift boxes, while many more presents were piled beneath it.
Once again, Lan Xi exclaimed at the top of his lungs, “Woooow!”
Fu Hui could not help smiling along with him.
They opened presents until very late.
Heavy snow drifted outside the window, while the fireplace crackled softly inside, briefly reminding Lan Xi of home.
But aside from the fireplace being a little similar, nothing else was.
Lan Xi was so sleepy he kept yawning, but he still did not want to go to bed. He bumped Fu Hui with his head again.
As he nudged him, he drawled in his soft, childish voice, “Itchy.”
Fu Hui rubbed his purple hair and dragged him off to sleep.
Lan Xi simply flopped onto the carpet, hugging a present with one arm and resting one leg on another, clearly intending to sleep right there.
Fu Hui thought about it and decided that was fine too.
Lan Xi had slept under the bed before, after all.
So Fu Hui simply pulled the quilt down.
Lan Xi muttered softly again, “Itchy.”
He rubbed his head against Fu Hui’s arm and burrowed even deeper into his embrace.
Fu Hui loved it when Lan Xi relied on him like this. He pressed his lips together, held Lan Xi close, and the two children fell asleep together beside the fireplace.
Morning.
Fu Hui woke with a start at the empty feeling in his arms. When he opened his eyes, he found that Lan Xi had somehow sat up and was scratching his head.
“What is it?” Fu Hui sat up too, still dazed.
Lan Xi turned to look at him, wrinkled his nose, and said again, “Itchy.”
Fu Hui reached over to pull his hand away, but the moment he touched him, he realized something. “Lan Xi… you have a fever.”
Lan Xi was stunned. All he could say was, “Succubi don’t get sick…”
Fu Hui hurriedly pressed a hand to his forehead again. He was still hot.
Fu Hui immediately called the bodyguards and told them to get ready to go to the hospital.
After hanging up and turning around, he found Lan Xi still scratching his head.
Fu Hui caught his wrist and pulled his hand away, then brushed aside the hair over his forehead. Between the purple strands, Lan Xi had scratched the skin raw and a little blood had seeped out. In the middle of the red patch, two tiny points had pushed through, like flower buds just beginning to peel open.
Now it was Fu Hui’s turn to freeze.
“Lan Xi, on your head…”
“Mm?”
Fu Hui cautiously reached out with one finger and gently felt them twice.
Lan Xi dodged away in obvious discomfort and glared at him fiercely.
“What’s growing on your head?” Fu Hui paused, looking faintly bewildered and uncertain. “Horns?”
Lan Xi’s eyes went round. He raised a hand and carefully felt them himself.
Then he nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes! Lan Xi is starting to grow up!”
Once he understood the reason, he said, “Growing horns makes me sick. I got sick when my wings were growing too.”
Speaking from experience, Lan Xi said, “It hurts for three days, then it gets better on its own.”