Time slipped away unnoticed, and as the sky gradually turned crimson with the setting sun hiding behind the mountains, Shen Tanqi and the two little ones were still discussing their favorite snacks. Fang Wenxun, feeling a bit restless, gazed out the window.
Glancing out of the window, he noticed the lanterns beginning to glow, each one adorned with fire stones that would illuminate the night. They burned relentlessly until dawn.
Calculating the time, Xiao Qingyu should be arriving soon. But Yu Ce hasn’t come back to take away his two children yet. With children present, wouldn’t it jeopardize Shen Tanqi and Xiao Qingyu’s plans?
Fang Wenxun impatiently tapped his foot, involuntarily shifting his gaze towards Shen Tanqi, who was still engrossed with the kids. He subtly reminded, “Junior Brother, have you made plans with Qingyu?”
At his words, Shen Tanqi slowly raised his head, as if just remembering this matter. Nodding, he replied, “I made arrangements with him this morning. He should be here as night falls.”
Turning his attention to the deepening night, he suddenly felt a little reluctant. He genuinely didn’t want little Taro Ball and Goldfish to return to the male lead.
“How about this, Senior Brother? Go talk to Junior Brother Yu and suggest that little Taro Ball and Goldfish stay overnight at my place. I’ll take good care of them,” Shen Tanqi proposed, mustering courage.
Unexpectedly, Fang Wenxun firmly refused on the spot, “Absolutely not.”
Seeing Shen Tanqi’s disappointment, Fang Wenxun sighed and said, “I know you like these two kids, but they do have their biological father. Asking Yu Ce to leave his children with you… do you really think he’d agree to that?”
Shen Tanqi: …
Well, that makes sense. How could the male lead possibly agree to leave his children with the least favored antagonist senior brother?
“Little Goldfish, Little Taro Ball,” Fang Wenxun inexplicably found himself adopting Shen Tanqi’s way of addressing them. He smiled as he picked up the two kids, saying, “Time to go, let’s find your Dad.”
As he held Little Taro Ball and Little Goldfish, their eyes remained fixed on Shen Tanqi.
“Uncle…” Little Goldfish stretched his small hand towards Shen Tanqi, sounding a bit sad. “I want Uncle…”
Although Little Taro Ball didn’t want to leave either, he could sense from Fang Wenxun and Shen Tanqi’s conversation that Shen Tanqi had plans for the night and couldn’t play with them anymore.
He gently grasped Little Goldfish’s hand and softly said, “Let’s go, big brother. Dad hasn’t seen us in so long; he must be worried.”
Feeling wronged, Little Goldfish reluctantly took back his small hand, biting his lip tightly. He stared at Shen Tanqi with pleading eyes, and a teardrop welled up in the corner of his eyes.
Shen Tanqi naturally couldn’t bear to see them leave. Under the gaze of such innocent eyes, his heart melted.
He lovingly held their little chubby faces, planting kisses on their foreheads and cheeks. Lowering his gaze, he whispered, “Uncle Fang will bring you to play at my place tomorrow. I’ll cook a big meal for you, okay?”
After the forehead and cheek kisses, Little Taro Ball and Little Goldfish were left in a daze. They replied, “Okay…”
Reluctantly, Shen Tanqi gave their furry heads a final gentle rub and let Fang Wenxun carry the children out.
Before leaving, Fang Wenxun gave him several looks that Shen Tanqi couldn’t decipher. “The wine, I hid it under the table. Work hard, Junior Brother!”
Shen Tanqi didn’t quite understand what Fang Wenxun meant by ‘work hard.’ Wasn’t it just about inviting Xiao Qingyu for a small birthday drink? What’s the effort for?
Senior Brother Fang is a good person, just a bit tangled up in his thoughts, it seems.
Bending down, he indeed discovered several bottles of clear liquor wrapped in black cloth under the table. The rules at Rongyun Sect were strict, and Shen Tanqi wondered when Fang Wenxun secretly went down the mountain to buy these. He must have conveniently stashed them in the Yaoting Pavilion on his way to finding the disciples for cleanup.
Opening one, the aroma of the liquor wafted up, rich and mellow.
It was a good wine, even more aromatic and flavorful than Maotai. He liked it.
Shen Tanqi happily poured himself a glass, calmly sipping and waiting for Xiao Qingyu’s appointment.
Just as he took a sip, his right eyelid suddenly started twitching.
Left eye twitching, wealth is approaching; right eye twitching… just superstitious nonsense!
What kind of disaster could happen at this late hour? Shen Tanqi rubbed his eye, dismissing it altogether.
“Are you hungry?” Leaving the Yaoting Pavilion, Fang Wenxun placed the two kids on the ground and chuckled, “After eating so many snacks, you still need to have a proper dinner to grow tall. Uncle will take you to find Dad.”
However, after he spoke, he didn’t get a response from the two little ones for a long time. Fang Wenxun lowered his head to take a look.
Surprisingly, Little Taro Ball and Little Goldfish still stood in place, dazed.
After Shen Tanqi gave the two little kids a kiss, they seemed to see a lot of pink bubbles, and the whole world turned sweet and pink.
Although Yu Ce loved them just as much, he never kissed them like this—so tenderly, affectionately on the forehead.
After a while, one of them asked dazedly, “Brother, I feel like Uncle Shen is like our mother, don’t you think so?”
The other, also in a daze, replied, “Silly, we don’t have a mom. He’s like a beautiful Bodhisattva.”
In the eyes of children, someone who is both good-looking and gentle, kind-hearted, is a bodhisattva.
“He’s very beautiful, isn’t he, Brother?”
“Very beautiful, you silly.”
If Dad could make this beautiful bodhisattva their mother, both of them simultaneously had this wishful thought.
Being twins, they almost instantly understood each other’s thoughts from the glint in each other’s eyes—
They needed to find a way for Yu Ce to make this beautiful bodhisattva their mother, so they would have two dads.
Fang Wenxun, who was observing nearby, raised an eyebrow: ?
He had been helping to take care of the kids too. Why were these two so fond of Shen Tanqi?
Strange.
But he didn’t particularly care about these trivial matters. He smiled, took the two children’s hands, and headed towards the Rongyun Pavilion where the sect leader and Yu Ce were.
Just a few steps away, they coincidentally ran into Xiao Qingyu, who was wearing a snow sable cloak, on his way to the Yaoting Pavilion for the appointment.
Early in the morning, the sect leader suddenly ordered him to organize the list of participants and deliver it to the Rongyun Pavilion, claiming that someone wanted to review it.
Xiao Qingyu had been busy all day with the task of compiling the list of participants and only found time in the evening to fulfill his appointment with Shen Tanqi. It had been a whole day since he last saw Shen Tanqi.
Really, he couldn’t understand who would want to review the mountainous list of disciples; that person must have it much worse than him.
However, when Xiao Qingyu saw Fang Wenxun coming out from Shen Tanqi’s residence with two three-year-old children, he stopped in his tracks, unable to suppress his curiosity. “Senior Brother, who are these two little kids?”
“Oh, they’re Junior Brother Yu’s children,” Fang Wenxun, upon seeing him, smiled and introduced the two kids to Xiao Qingyu. “Your Junior Brother Yu just returned, was immediately summoned by the sect leader, and had to entrust me with taking care of the children.”
Xiao Qingyu, slightly surprised, covered his mouth. He found it hard to believe that the white-robed swordsman who seemed to radiate brilliance had two children.
For someone as indifferent as Junior Brother Yu, who could have imagined he would have children?
Could someone so detached from desires have ordinary human emotions?
This world was truly crazy.
He bent down, carefully examining the faces of the two children. They indeed bore a striking resemblance to Junior Brother Yu, whom he had met before—about five or six points of similarity. The remaining four or five points… seemed oddly familiar?
He couldn’t recall, perhaps it was just a trick of the mind.
“Hello.” Xiao Qingyu politely greeted the two little kids.
Equally polite, the kids responded, “Hello, Uncle.”
Well-mannered children always warms people’s hearts, and Xiao Qingyu was no exception. He chuckled and, remembering his promise to Shen Tanqi, composed his expression. “Senior Brother, Senior Brother Shen has something to discuss with me. I’ll take my leave.”
Fang Wenxun nodded and winked at him. “Go ahead, Senior Brother Shen has been waiting for you for a long time.”
Hearing that Shen Tanqi had been waiting for him for a long time, Xiao Qingyu couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. He hastily spoke, “I should go quickly then. There’s been too much going on today. Farewell, Senior Brother.”
With that, he wrapped himself tighter in his cloak, not looking back, and walked through the wind and snow towards Shen Tanqi’s Pavilion.
After he left, Fang Wenxun and the two little kids lifted their heads simultaneously.
Little Goldfish asked, “Where is the uncle who just left going?”
Fang Wenxun felt awkward about explaining their plan to the children, so he made up an excuse, “Oh, him? He’s going to have sweet rice cakes with Uncle Shen.”
Little Goldfish nodded and then asked, “Like how he treated us?”
Caught off guard by the sudden question from the children, Fang Wenxun scratched his head. He figured that having a night of drinking and heart-to-heart talks should count as hospitality.
With that in mind, he nodded and smiled, saying, “Yes, just like how he treated you both. Uncle Shen is going to treat Uncle Xiao who just left the same way.”
Like how he treats them, treat Uncle Xiao the same way?
After a moment, Little Taro Ball and Little Goldfish exchanged a glance. Suddenly, both of them slapped their foreheads simultaneously with a resounding ‘smack.’
“He wants…”
Little Goldfish touched the spot where Shen Tanqi had kissed him, imagining the scene of Shen Tanqi, with gentle humor, feeding sweet rice cakes to Xiao Qingyu.
“He wants…”
Little Taro Ball also touched his little head, picturing Shen Tanqi leaning down with a smile, kissing Xiao Qingyu on the forehead and cheeks.
Suddenly, a somewhat weary and cold voice interrupted their thoughts.
“How did you end up here?”
Yu Ce stood not far away, a faint hint of fatigue in his eyes. His spirit had been worn down by the endless everyday talks from the sect leader and the mountain of participant lists, more so than when he fought with the demon clan for three days and nights. Yet, upon seeing Fang Wenxun with his two little ones, Yu Ce’s heart instantly relaxed and eased.
The day’s irritations always disappear when he sees the sweet and adorable children Shen Tanqi has given birth to.
Dandan and Erdan were the best gifts Shen Tanqi had given him.
Unexpectedly, just as he was about to take the two little kids from Fang Wenxun, both kids clenched their tiny fists and excitedly exclaimed, “Dad, why are you still here!”
Yu Ce: ?
“Uncle Shen wants to feed Uncle Xiao sticky rice cakes and lots and lots of snacks!”
“He also wants to kiss Uncle Xiao’s forehead and cheeks. If you don’t hurry, there won’t be any left for you!”
Yu Ce: ???
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
