On a quiet official road, a light gray carriage that was pulled by two tall chestnut horses slowly moved forward. Dressed in light blue scholarly clothes, An JunYue leaned leisurely against the carriage door, and let the horses wander without holding the reins.
He re-tied his wind-blown hair to the back of his head, then picked up a history book he had bought in the last town, as he slowly began to read.
An JunYue did not like to be disturbed, so he simply bought the carriage. Although its appearance was simple, its interior was very comfortable. An JunYue had arranged it into a bedroom, so he slept in the carriage these days, and only went to the city when he needed to buy supplementary food. He spent the rest of his time in the carriage.
“It’s still more comfortable to be alone.”
An JunYue smiled slightly. It was a warm and charming look.
He had never been suited to the busy, bustling lives of ordinary people. He didn't like the greed and evil desires of those people and did not understand the loves and hates of the ordinary world.
Suddenly, the faint crying of a child in the distance interrupted An JunYue’s train of thought. An JunYue looked deeper into the woods where the cry came from.
“Let’s go check it out…”
If it had been an adult’s voice, he wouldn't have cared, but the child’s voice sounded very young. If it was an abandoned baby or something…his Shifu had rescued him as a baby; he could not leave this child alone.
When the carriage was settled in place, An JunYue went to search for where the crying had sounded from.
“What the hell do you want?”
Liu Li angrily looked at the little child that was just lying on the ground and sobbing. The baby was about one year old and could not walk yet. He just cried and crawled towards Liu Li. His fat cheeks were very soft and adorable, his big round eyes were red from crying and his nose was runny with tears. The blue robes on his body were full of mud and grass, with some purple and black stains. He struggled to crawl towards Liu Li, but because he had no strength left and couldn't really move, he started wailing even harder.
Liu Li stomped his foot impatiently. He had saved this little devil from a pile of dead bodies in a moment of temporary soft-heartedness.
The little devil had been crying since he woke up. Tears and snot had been rubbed on Liu Li's clothing and even his hair had been pulled. Liu Li had put him on the ground in a fit of anger, and now looked at the pitiful sight of the child crawling towards him. It wasn't kind to watch the little devil crawl towards him, but it was no use since he didn't know how to hold the other. He was a fox demon, not a wet-nurse. He had never even taken care of foxes, how could he possibly care for a human baby?
Liu Li's eyes were filling with flames. What was he going to do with this kid?
“…Wah wah…Mom…wah…Mom.”
The little baby cried with abandonment, and then finally spat out words other than crying, but it made Liu Li want to go hit a tree.
“I am not your mother!”
“Is he not your child?”
The gentle and elegant male voice suddenly came from behind, which made Liu Li turn around and automatically roar back, “How could a man be his mother!”
An JunYue looked indifferently at the charming man in red clothing standing in front of him. He was similar in age and was stunningly beautiful, with a delicate oval face, rounded nose and cherry red mouth. His jet black, knee-length hair danced in the breeze.
If he had been born a woman, he would have been the unsurpassed beauty of his generation. It truly was a pity he had been born a man. However, An JunYue was clearly not interested in his appearance, and his eyes were focused on the little man who was in trouble on the ground.
Bypassing Liu Li, he went to the child. Ignoring the dirt on the baby, An JunYue bent over and picked him up. He took out a silk handkerchief and wiped the baby’s face and hands. Seeing that the child was still crying, An JunYue thought for a moment, and then put his index finger into the baby's mouth. The little baby spat some bubbles and bit An JunYue’s finger to suck. An JunYue looked up and smiled at Liu Li.
“He is just hungry.”
Liu Li looked at the man in front of him in surprise. He had turned a blind eye to his appearance; this gentle and handsome man truly didn’t care about the charm of a fox demon.
When An JunYue saw the baby in his arms crying again because his fingers could not be eaten, he asked Liu Li softly, “My carriage is near here. Can we go over and get him something to eat?" He didn’t know what the relationship between the child and the man was, so he couldn’t act impulsively.
“Fine”
When Liu Li saw the baby crying again, he hastily replied, as his head began to hurt…
An JunYue didn’t talk much, so he took them to the place where he put his carriage.
He took out the rice cakes he had stored in the carriage, mixed them with some water to make a thick congee, and An JunYue carefully fed it to the child. The baby finally stopped crying when he had something to eat, but he ate only a few mouthfuls and did not eat any more. He struggled to reach out both hands and scream at Liu Li.
Liu Li sat in the carriage and wiped at his clothes that had been dirtied by the child with a cloth towel handed to him by An JunYue, ignoring the baby’s call.
The child pouted his lips and burst out crying again, expressing that he would not stop until his goal was reached.
“WAH… MOM… MOM… WAH!”
“I am not your mother!”
Liu Li gripped the towel tightly and saw the obvious doubts in the eyes of An JunYue. He explained indignantly, “I was passing a mountain and saw a pile of dead people. They were probably robbed by mountain thieves. There was nothing left. I don’t know who he is. I saw that he was still alive and then the boy smiled at me quietly, so I picked him up."
An JunYue nodded and did not ask anything. He was not interested in the child’s life.
“You’d better hold him.”
An JunYue put the struggling baby in his arms and Liu Li had no choice but to hold him. The little child saw that the goal had been achieved, grabbed Liu Li ‘s hair and laughed, then looked at the bowl in An JunYue ‘s hand.
“It’s important for you to feed him. He’s very smart.”
An JunYue put the spoon into Liu Li's hand and he reluctantly fed the baby who babbled at Liu Li as he ate, unable to speak clearly. To the side, An JunYue smiled and held the bowl while occasionally wiping the child’s mouth with a handkerchief.
An JunYue Yue liked this child very much. This must have been a fateful encounter. Since he was not this person's child, he could adopt the other himself.
An JunYue was considering it, when suddenly, Liu Li opened his eyes wide, put the spoon in the bowl, lifted the baby up, and looked at the suspicious, still warm, water stains on his clothes. Liu Li threw the baby into the arms of the amazed An JunYue.
“Damn little devil!”
An JunYue carefully caught the child, looked at the Liu Li who was angrily pulling his clothes apart, and then looked at the baby’s wet pants. He was also stunned for a moment.
The child fell in An JunYue's arms and was not afraid, but instead laughed.
“… Dad… Ha ha… Dad. ”
Now Liu Li was also stunned. The two people looked at each other, then looked at the laughing baby, and for a moment they didn't know what to say.
The baby clearly did not understand the minds of the adults, and he squinted his eyes smilingly.
“Dad… Mom…”
So far, the aim is to do one chapter a week, so we’ll see how that goes!