Chapter 3, Part 3: A First Night That Was Close Called with Fear
Pei Yiyan rented a one-bedroom apartment, which was more than enough for him by himself, but it wouldn't be enough for one more person, even if the extra person was a three-year-old child.
Pei Yiyan is a germaphobe; he won't let Xixi touch the sofa or bed in the house unless she takes a bath.
But when it was time to take a bath, he discovered a big problem: there were no children's clothes at home, and Xixi would have no clothes to change into after her bath.
After some hesitation and struggle, he pulled out his short-sleeved shirt from the closet, deciding to make do for the night and take the little girl to buy clothes the next morning.
Upon arrival, the young girl showed no signs of being a proper guest, wandering around as if she had discovered a new continent, and finally commented:
"Dad, you're so pitiful, living in such a small place."
Pei Yiyan choked, then asked irritably, "You live in a very big place?"
"Yes, yes!" Xixi spread her short legs, put her hands on her hips, and said proudly, "I'm in charge of several big mountains."
Pei Yiyan raised his thick eyebrows slightly and curled the corners of his mouth. So he was a little wild man.
Afterwards, Xi Xi's lack of modern common sense confirmed the guess that she was a little wild person. The automatic hot water faucet could amaze her for a long time.
Pei Yiyan filled a tub with warm water, told her which was the shower gel and which was the shampoo, then closed the door and left.
He didn't expect her to wash the three-year-old very well; it was just a formality, and he wasn't going to bother with it anyway.
While the child was taking a bath, Pei Yiyan moved the pillows and blankets to the sofa and laid them out. He was glad that the sofa was wide and big enough that it wouldn't be difficult for the child to turn over.
Jiamu Town is located in the remote Pingshui City and is known as the land of fish and rice.
In this city, most indoor spaces do not have central heating pipes; people rely on electric blankets, electric heaters, and air conditioners for warmth in winter.
Pei Yiyan has thick skin and doesn't get cold easily, so he never turns on the heating during winter, preferring to tough it out. The 27-degree air conditioner in his bedroom is for Xixi.
The air conditioner, which hadn't been used for over six months, was blowing out hot air mixed with dust, and he came out sneezing shortly after going in.
He has mild rhinitis.
Last night, as soon as Xixi transformed into human form, she set off from Baicao Mountain, following the soul aura in her memory all the way here. She only had a vague understanding of how to be a human cub.
She was a little ginseng spirit who had never undergone pre-job training.
Pei Yiyan was playing a game but didn't forget to listen to the sounds coming from the bathroom. After a fifteen-minute game, he got up and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Are you done yet?"
"Okay, all done."
Her slightly guilty answer alerted Pei Yiyan: "Did something happen?"
"No, no."
Pei Yiyan ordered, "Put on your clothes and open the door."
"Oh." The sound of slippers clattering inside came from inside. The door slowly opened, and a small head with wet, messy hair peeked out.
Pei Yiyan's vision went black: "How did it get like this?"
The little girl was wearing oversized slippers that didn't fit properly, and she was still wearing the same clothes she had worn before. She looked like she had just been pulled out of the water, her whole body was wet, and water was still dripping from the ends of her hair that was sticking to her forehead.
The little dumpling's ten toes, sticking out from under its feet, curled up helplessly. Its face showed embarrassment and shyness as it pouted and said:
"No one has taught Xixi how to take a bath or get dressed."
Pei Yiyan was genuinely stunned.
Being an adult for too long can make you forget many things. For example, right now he takes it for granted that taking a bath and getting dressed should be something you're born knowing, just like how people are born knowing how to eat and use the toilet.
So it was supposed to be taught?
Pei Yiyan's feelings were mixed. He looked down at the little head and said in a low voice, "Next time you encounter something you don't know, ask me."
Upon hearing this, Xixi's eyes lit up: "Will Daddy be angry?"
The question seemed out of the ordinary. Pei Yiyan replied, "When did I get angry?"
"Yes, I have."
The little pink dumpling came out from behind the door, grabbed Pei Yiyan's clothes, and said in a gushing manner: "There are so many things that Xixi hasn't learned or seen. Every time Daddy sees them, he frowns like a caterpillar and looks very unhappy. Isn't he angry with Xixi?"
As she spoke, she vividly imitated the other person's expression at the time, her two delicate arched eyebrows furrowing into sword-like brows, her chubby face looking both cute and fierce.
That's kind of funny.
Pei Yiyan was uncharacteristically speechless. After a moment of silence, he said in a slightly unnatural voice, "I'm not angry."
Since that accident, he has become accustomed to treating people coldly. No matter how gentle and handsome a face is, it can't look good if it's been soaked in lifelessness for too long.
Even when he wasn't speaking, he seemed to be giving a cold look. In reality, he was just wondering how Xixi, who didn't understand anything, had grown up.
He didn't bother to explain; once the paternity test results came out, he would send her to an orphanage, ending this brief encounter.
"Oh dear, why didn't you say so earlier? You scared me to death!"
Xi Xi's eyes sparkled: "Daddy, you should smile more. You look so handsome when you smile."
My mother once said that my father was the most handsome tree spirit in all the mountains back then, easily charming all the aunties within a hundred miles.
Pei Yiyan didn't take it to heart. That was because the little girl had never seen him smile. His smile would only scare children to tears.
He carried two small stools into the bathroom and instructed, "Lie down and wash your hair."
The little girl obediently lay down: "Xixi is very clean."
Upon hearing the word "clean," Pei Yiyan's lips twitched. The little girl looked fair and clean, but her hair was infested with lice and fleas.
When he pressed her head down at Qiu Ming's house, he felt something strange in his palm. It wasn't the feel of hair; it felt more like a little bug doing parkour.
Pei Yiyan removed the hair tie from her little bun, revealing her thick, black hair that looked like seaweed, its quality outrageously good.
A thought popped into his head inexplicably, something that seems to be in his genes.
Once he realized what was happening, the boy's face instantly turned sour.
Despite Pei Yiyan's clumsy and rough hair-washing technique, Xixi didn't lose a single hair.
He didn't know that a single hair of Xixi's was like a ginseng root that could save lives; it wouldn't fall off on its own unless Xixi plucked it willingly.
After washing her hair, Xixi's head was wrapped in a towel like a blue flower bud. Pei Yiyan frowned as he looked at the floral dress she was wearing and took the clothes he had prepared.
"It's easy to catch a cold in winter, you need to change your clothes since they're wet."
Xi Xi waved her chubby little hand: "No, this is a dress woven by Aunt Hua Hua from flower petals. It's impervious to all poisons, invulnerable to knives and spears, strengthens the body, and keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer."
“”
That's great, it's not like he's genetically predisposed to be so easily fooled.
With his anxiety lessened, Pei Yiyan casually asked, "How old is your Aunt Hua Hua? Has she always been like this?"
He's probably not very old; he's either an old swindler or a young lunatic.
"Aunt Huahua is a thousand years old, seven hundred years older than Xixi."
Unable to chat for long, Pei Yiyan decisively muted his microphone. He demonstrated several times how to quickly take off and put on his clothes, and then sat outside the door waiting for Xixi.
After changing his clothes and drying his hair, it was already 10 p.m. Although the amount of activity seemed small, Pei Yiyan was exhausted.
With just one last thing to do, he pushed the child into the bedroom, half-covering his nose, and said, "Alright, go in and sleep now."
The sheets and duvet covers were all newly changed and still had the smell of sunshine drying.
Little Nose rolled around happily on the big bed, shouting excitedly, "Wow, it's as soft as Mushroom Sister's mushroom bed! Xixi loves it so much!"
Pei Yiyan, who was standing to the side, breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't wait to leave the room, only to find himself with a leg accessory attached to him.
Xi Xi wouldn't let him leave her to sleep on the sofa, so she hugged his leg tightly and wouldn't let go.
Pei Yiyan remained unmoved. Even if he opened the window and jumped out today, he would not agree to sleep with her.
The two, one big and one small, stood frozen in place, staring at each other.
The older one's heart is colder than the fish that have been killed at RT-Mart for ten years, while the younger one is more stubborn than a donkey that has been whipped ten times.
At times like this, Pei Yiyan is incredibly patient; he'll just wait until dawn.
The child pursed her lips, her voice gradually lowering: "Daddy, Xixi is afraid of the dark, please don't leave Xixi behind."
Pei Yiyan's cold, hard expression froze, his heart clenched slightly, and he met the little boy's pleading, grape-like eyes, seeing through her the soul of another boy.
Five minutes later, the father and daughter, who were not very familiar with each other, were sleeping on the bedroom floor, one on the large bed and the other on the bedroom floor.
"Dad, you're sick, aren't you?"
"No."
"You're lying, I heard you 'Ah-choo' all over."
"None of your business, go to sleep."
The child was chattering even louder than Qiu Ming, but Pei Yiyan couldn't just leave her there. He regretted that he had been so foolish as to agree to let her stay and sleep on the floor.
He turned over in a huff and covered his face with the blanket to block out the smell of dust.
Suddenly, a heavy blanket was placed on top of him, and a familiar child's voice rang out above him, a piercingly loud "Daddy, Daddy!" that never stopped.
Pei Yiyan sat up with a jolt, his face turning ashen with anger.
"What exactly do you want!" he shouted, barely containing his anger. "If you keep arguing, believe me, I'll..."
Suddenly, I felt a warmth on the tip of my nose.
The child's soft little hands gently touched his nose, and with his eyes closed, he murmured, "Xixi, touch, and illness will fly away."
The bristling beast silently retracted its claws.
Pei Yiyan, remaining silent, resisted the urge to flick the baby away and stared at Xixi for a long while:
"Are you performing a ritual for me?"
"?" Xi Xi's eyes widened. "I'm treating your illness, Daddy, can't you tell?"
"Hey, you've become stupid."
Pei Yiyan pressed the veins on his forehead and gritted his teeth: "Go back to your bed."
Xi Xi patted her bottom and got up, glanced at him several times, and snorted, "Dad, you're such a ungrateful bastard."
The brat's contemptuous words reached Pei Yiyan's ears without escaping. He lay there peacefully, knowing he could just bear it.
Through the thick blanket, he vaguely heard a childish voice say, "Dad, don't be afraid that your head isn't working properly. If someone bullies you, Xixi can ask Sister Mushroom for mushrooms to feed him, so that his stomach will hurt and he'll have diarrhea for three days and three nights."
"Pshaw." Talking nonsense again.
He closed his eyes and thought, feeling that there wasn't a single normal person around the child.
He sat up abruptly after confirming that he could hear the child's even, deep breathing coming from inside the room.
He tiptoed out of the house, took off his shoes and socks at the side, then crept into the bathroom to change the metal prosthesis on his right leg, massaged the sore incision, and quickly took a shower.
The first night, though fraught with danger, has finally passed.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com