The devastated little succubus shed two tiny pearls over it.
Fu Hui froze for a moment, then hurriedly wiped away his tears.
But Lan Xi had barely shed two tears before his little face was almost rubbed red, and he immediately glared at Fu Hui in fury.
Little Fu Hui went through an intense internal struggle.
He raised a hand to cover Lan Xi’s eyes and said in a muffled voice, “Sleep.”
Lan Xi gave a soft little hum and asked, “Fu Hui, are you going to cover my eyes whenever you talk to me from now on?”
“…”
Lan Xi turned over, going from lying on his back to lying sprawled across Fu Hui’s chest.
Thinking Lan Xi was getting upset enough to cry again, Fu Hui drew a deep breath, abruptly sat up, and turned on the light.
Lan Xi looked up blankly. “Mm?”
Fu Hui opened his mouth and said in the same muffled voice, “…You can look.”
Lan Xi sat up in a flash too, only then realizing that Fu Hui meant he could inspect his mouth.
Delighted, Lan Xi immediately leaned his head closer.
“I can’t see.” Lan Xi tugged at the collar of his pajamas. “Lie back down, lie back down.”
Fu Hui sighed and slowly lay back down, looking almost heroic about it.
Lan Xi promptly settled comfortably on top of him, reached into his mouth, felt around for the tooth, and carried out his examination in one smooth sequence.
Still not quite satisfied, and clearly holding a grudge, he pressed, “Can I put my finger in Fu Hui’s mouth?”
Fu Hui: “…”
“Can I?”
“…”
Lan Xi wriggled twice until his face was pressed against Fu Hui’s and asked, “Can I?”
Fu Hui said, “…If you fall asleep with your finger still in my mouth, my mouth will grow crooked later.”
Fu Hui forced the words out with difficulty: “So I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
Lan Xi imagined it for a moment, then asked seriously, “Will it grow into an O?”
He made himself laugh.
Only then did he obediently say, “All right, I won’t do that anymore.”
Then he pursued one more question: “Will you talk to me a lot, then?”
“Mm.” Fu Hui finally relaxed. “Sleep?”
“Mm-hm.”
Lan Xi’s breakdown and unhappiness were eaten away and did not survive until the next day.
The tooth Fu Hui had lost was placed in the little house too.
Lan Xi had simply picked up a new habit.
While riding to school, he would be watching a cartoon and suddenly ask, “Why aren’t you talking to me?”
Fu Hui patted his head and called, “Lan Xi.”
Lan Xi looked at him, clearly waiting for a second sentence.
Fu Hui had no choice but to ask, “Is the cartoon good?”
“It’s good!”
The conversation ended, and Lan Xi was satisfied.
That evening, while they were bathing at home, the shower had barely been turned on when Lan Xi suddenly said again, “Talk to me.”
Fu Hui had no choice but to find something else to say.
His gaze shifted and caught a faint mark on Lan Xi’s belly. “What’s this?”
Lan Xi said, “My pants pressed it.”
Fu Hui understood and corrected him: “That’s from your waistband digging in.”
“Oh, oh.”
Lan Xi’s demands grew infinitely higher.
He practically wanted Fu Hui to talk to him every second of every day.
Whenever Fu Hui did speak to him, Lan Xi would look completely pleased and happy. It gave Fu Hui the urge to satisfy every single one of his requests…
At times like that, Fu Hui was grateful that his front teeth had already come in before he found Lan Xi.
Otherwise, that would have been terrifying!
That weekend, the two children went to the old residence again, and even Old Master Fu could tell that Fu Hui was talking more.
Old Master Fu was utterly baffled: “How did you change so much?”
Only after hearing that did Fu Hui remember: right, he had not talked much even before losing his tooth!
Lan Xi did not care about that and said happily at the dining table, “Because he has to talk to Lan Xi.”
Old Master Fu was even more puzzled: “You tell him to talk, and he just does it?”
Lan Xi skipped straight over the part where he had cried: “Mm-hm, mm-hm!”
Old Master Fu could no longer tell what exactly he was feeling: “Fu Hui is that easy to talk into things?”
Lan Xi immediately shook his head hard and pointed at himself: “Because Lan Xi.”
Old Master Fu looked at him in amusement: “Because you’re cute?”
As far as Lan Xi was concerned,
“cute” meant “worthy of being loved.”
Lan Xi answered without the slightest modesty, “Of course!”
Old Master Fu was instantly speechless.
Lan Xi had not only developed this new habit, he also seemed to have realized that a little succubus’s teardrops were quite powerful.
He did not even need many.
Two were enough.
Lan Xi had always been an eager student who rushed to put anything new he learned into practice.
Lan Xi rubbed his hands together, preparing to become a little tyrant.
But after thinking and thinking, he still could not come up with anywhere to use his new trick.
After all, Lan Xi already got whatever he wanted at home, and Fu Hui had even let him feel around inside his mouth.
Was he already a little tyrant?
Lan Xi was both happy and disappointed.
In the blink of an eye, Children’s Day was approaching.
Fu Lin was as busy as ever, so Old Master Fu called and invited them to spend the holiday at the old residence.
Lan Xi answered the phone: “We’re not coming, I have to perform.”
Old Master Fu paused: “Who’s performing?”
“Lan Xi!”
Old Master Fu thought about it and realized that made sense. With Fu Hui’s personality, how could he possibly go up onstage?
He was just about to say that they could come over later.
Lan Xi spoke first, still brimming with excitement: “Will you come watch?”
Old Master Fu hesitated; as Fu Lin increasingly took the lead, he had mostly stepped back and actually had some free time now.
“You’re not coming?” Lan Xi asked again.
Lan Xi seemed to have no concept of feeling self-conscious or embarrassed.
Most people would not dare ask a second time after asking once, but Lan Xi insisted on asking again.
That second question made Old Master Fu feel embarrassed instead.
“I’ll come.”
Fu Hui did not really understand why children had to perform when it was children who were celebrating the holiday.
Shouldn’t the adults be performing for the children instead?
But Lan Xi did not care because Lan Xi loved performing.
On Children’s Day, Lan Xi got up very, very early.
The children’s makeup artist Secretary Li had arranged came to the house and, after hearing that Lan Xi would be playing the Little Mermaid, studied his face from every angle: “You already look so much like a little mermaid, you’re really pretty.”
He was so pretty that he hardly looked like a real little child.
Lan Xi was delighted by the praise and wanted to put on his mermaid-tail skirt and perform for the makeup artist on the spot.
Fu Hui held him down.
“We need to finish your makeup first,” Fu Hui reminded him.
“Oh, oh.” Only then did Lan Xi sit obediently, close his eyes, and wait for the makeup artist to attach scales and fins to him.
There was not much else that needed painting on.
Once his tied-up long hair was let down, dusted with glitter, and set with gel, everyone in the room unconsciously held their breath.
Lan Xi could not wait to put on the mermaid-tail skirt: “Let’s go!”
Fu Hui looked at his legs. “How are you going to walk? Take it off first…”
“Mm, no.” Lan Xi shook his head, wriggled his bottom, dropped onto the carpet, and immediately began flapping his tail and rolling himself forward.
Fu Hui’s head hurt just watching him.
He was afraid Lan Xi would bruise his bottom before they even reached kindergarten.
He had no choice but to bend down, forcibly pick Lan Xi up, and stagger with him all the way to the car.
And just like that, Fu Hui became Lan Xi’s personal vehicle, carrying him all the way into the kindergarten and then onto the stage before his job was finally done.
All the children’s parents had come, packing the venue full.
Meanwhile, only after watching the bodyguards blend into the crowd and take up their positions did Old Master Fu give a light cough and finally get permission to leave the car.
Quite a few people were accompanying him as well, and their group quickly occupied some of the best spots in the venue, attracting plenty of attention.
Old Master Fu had originally intended to come quietly, but he had been discovered just as he was leaving.
Everyone had asked him, “What about security?”
Only then had Old Master Fu realized how hastily he had made his promise.
“I still can’t stand up a little kid,” Old Master Fu said awkwardly.
And so, in the end, it somehow turned into a whole crowd of people coming along to watch Lan Xi perform.
“Fu Hui is over there!” Everyone spotted Fu Hui in the front row.
Fu Hui turned around and looked a little surprised to see Old Master Fu.
But after the surprise passed, he said mercilessly, “You have to go to the back; the front-row seats were assigned long ago.”
He showed absolutely no intention of giving up his own seat.
So everyone squeezed back through the crowd to the rear, consoling themselves that standing higher meant seeing farther.
The curtain opened.
The children’s play The Little Mermaid began.
Long purple curls draped over his shoulders as Lan Xi made his sparkling entrance. His large tail slapped against the floor with a thump, thump.
He sat inside a giant shell, blinking his big eyes while the scales on his face gleamed with a blue-violet iridescence.
The sight drew a wave of instinctive gasps from the crowd.
He looked no different from something out of a fairy tale.
The Little Mermaid rescued the drowning prince, then went to the witch to have her fish tail changed into two legs.
But Lan Xi liked his sparkly fish tail.
So, at King Lan Xi’s request, the script had been changed too.
Lan Xi fed the witch’s poison to the prince, cupped his little face in both hands, and stared at the unconscious prince: “Grow quickly, grow quickly…”
One parent asked in confusion, “Grow what?”
Lan Xi said, “Grow a fish tail quickly.”
He thought it would be better to turn the prince into a fish instead.
The parents nearly spat when they heard that.
The prince went from a human to a fish, and the price was enduring pain like walking on knife blades. The child playing the prince rolled vigorously across the floor, acting out his agony, but apart from his own parents, everyone else still could not stop looking at Lan Xi.
Lan Xi sat in his shell like a little princess, slowly combing his own hair while blowing iridescent soap bubbles from his mouth…
There was no mirror in front of him.
Yet he seemed to be admiring himself through the audience’s eyes.
Wait… soap bubbles?
How was he blowing them?
Fu Hui shot to his feet, dragged the mermaid princess off the stage, pried open his mouth, and smelled bubble solution.
The child who had been rolling around was still crying, “Don’t steal my princess! Don’t steal my princess!”
The parents looked around in confusion: “What part of the play is this now?”
“Why is someone stealing the little mermaid too?”
Fu Hui’s vision went dark again and again as he roared, “Lan Xi! Spit it out!”
The whole venue dissolved into chaos.
The teachers realized what was happening too and hurried over with bottled water for Lan Xi to rinse his mouth.
Old Master Fu and the others crowded around too, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: “Good heavens, how could you keep bubble solution in your mouth?”
“Has anyone called an ambulance?”
Lan Xi rinsed his mouth with a vigorous gurgle-gurgle.
Then he lifted his little face: “Don’t I look like a mermaid?”
The adults were rendered speechless.
He really did.
The ambulance arrived with its siren wailing, and after a round of examinations, they tentatively determined that his stomach did not need to be pumped.
Fu Hui pressed his lips tightly together and said angrily, “Bubble solution is poisonous; you can get poisoned if you swallow it, do you know that?”
Lan Xi shook his head.
“Do you know getting your stomach pumped really hurts?”
Lan Xi shook his head.
Seeing that he still looked completely innocent, Fu Hui angrily pinched his little face until Lan Xi’s mouth formed an O.
Fu Hui said fiercely, “This mouth is only for eating tasty things. Do you understand?”
Lan Xi looked at him pitifully: “…Oh.”
But he tugged at Fu Hui’s sleeve and still did not forget to ask, “I was a really pretty mermaid, right?”
The anger in Fu Hui’s chest subsided: “…Yes.”
Lan Xi licked his lips in satisfaction.
Fu Hui pressed a hand over his mouth and said coldly, “No licking.”
Lan Xi said regretfully, “Blowing bubbles was so pretty, and I wanted to perform it for Fu Hui again when we got home.”
And it was not just Fu Hui.
Even Old Master Fu and the others standing nearby went soft when they heard that.
Aunt Fu could not help sighing, “Goodness, that little mouth of Lan Xi’s. Everything he says just makes you want to dote on him.”
Lan Xi pouted and pushed Fu Hui’s hand away with his mouth, then continued, “Where’s my performance award?”
Fu Hui knew him very well and immediately dug a certificate out of his schoolbag to hand him: “Here.”
Lan Xi beamed: “Mm-hm, mm-hm, mm-hm, mm-hm.”
Written across the certificate in black ink were the words, “Lan Xi received the Best Performance Award in this Children’s Day performance,” with the lettering carefully outlined once more in gold pen.
Old Master Fu narrowed his eyes.
Wait, isn’t that my grandson’s handwriting?
But whatever the case, Lan Xi had his certificate and was satisfied enough to prepare to go home.
At that moment, Fu Hui’s phone rang, and his face darkened as he turned away to answer it.
After the call, he came back and went aside with Old Master Fu to talk.
Lan Xi watched where they went and thought Fu Hui seemed very angry.
Was he angry with Lan Xi?
Lan Xi frowned slightly, thinking that everyone had clearly said Lan Xi was so lovable, so Fu Hui should not be angry…
The slightly troubled little succubus soon came up with a new idea.
He brightened.
Oh, oh, oh, he had finally found a chance to put his new trick into practice!
Two tiny tears fell from Lan Xi’s eyes with a plip, plip.
Hm? But why had Fu Hui not come back yet?
Lan Xi had no choice but to put more effort into it and keep crying.
He waited for a bit…
Fu Hui still had not come back!
Lan Xi started crying angrily.
When the others turned around and saw him in tears, they were startled.
It was hard for anyone to steel their heart against him crying like that, so they instinctively began coaxing him: “What’s wrong? Do you feel sick somewhere?”
“Why are you crying?”
“Did something scare you?”
“Weren’t you happy just now?”
At last, Fu Hui and Old Master Fu started walking back toward them.
Old Master Fu’s expression looked ugly too as he said to Fu Hui, “Why is she calling you now? Anyway, the point is that you don’t need her, so just tell her that.”
Fu Hui’s tone was calm: “I can’t say that.”
Old Master Fu seemed to grow even angrier: “Who needs her to celebrate Children’s Day with you? Didn’t we already say you and Lan Xi were coming back to the old residence today? You still acknowledge her as your mother?”
Fu Hui said, “Mm.”
“You…” Old Master Fu still wanted to say more.
Lan Xi hurriedly thrust his tear-covered little head forward and wedged himself firmly between them so they could see clearly.
Stop arguing.
Can’t you see? Lan Xi is crying!
Look at Lan Xi first!
Fu Hui immediately cupped Lan Xi’s face: “What’s wrong?”
Old Master Fu’s attention was drawn over too: “Why are you suddenly crying now?”
Lan Xi looked at Fu Hui, opened his mouth, and finally said, “Because you were mean to Fu Hui.”
Old Master Fu choked on his words.
Then he let out a long sigh.
None of the others dared say anything about Old Master Fu’s attitude, and the rest of the Fu family naturally saw things from the Fu family’s perspective, so of course they felt Old Master Fu had not said anything wrong.
Only after Lan Xi said that did Old Master Fu awkwardly realize that his tone had been too harsh.
Old Master Fu lowered his voice: “Fu Hui still can’t go.”
Lan Xi stared blankly.
His tears obviously worked very well on Fu Hui! The moment he cried, Fu Hui agreed to every single one of his requests.
Lan Xi immediately argued with conviction, “Fu Hui has to go.”
Even though he had absolutely no idea where Fu Hui was supposed to be going.
Old Master Fu persisted awkwardly: “What if I simply refuse to let him go?”
As he said it, he looked into Fu Hui’s eyes.
But Lan Xi still hurried to answer first.
He declared loudly, “Then I’ll just keep crying!”