Chapter 37 Why should I be afraid of the son my wife and I have?
He Cong knew how troublesome it was when the little guy was in pain. Seeing He Zhimo tossing and turning in Shang Youqing's arms, changing positions to ask for a hug, the skin under Shang Youqing's forearm was pressed red. He frowned and couldn't help but speak.
"If you get tired of holding me, I can hold Momo instead."
Shang Youqing shook his head. After a while, He Zhimo, who was held in his arms, muttered and turned his head to rub against him. Shang Youqing lowered his head and touched the little guy's forehead with his face to check the temperature. "It seems that the fever has subsided..."
"Yeah."
He Cong also subconsciously stretched out his hand, and two fingers first touched Shang Youqing's jade-white cheek. Shang Youqing did not make any move to dodge, and let his hand stroke her cheek and then fall on the cub's forehead.
He Cong's Adam's apple slid slowly, and he said, "The body temperature has indeed dropped."
Shang Youqing hadn't noticed anything yet, but he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He touched the two obviously curved shoulder blades on the little guy's back with his palm again, and guessed that He Zhimo would soon return to his true form and officially shed his tail.
Thinking of this, she raised her head, but suddenly met He Cong's overly passionate gaze.
Shang Youqing was slightly stunned. Although she felt that this was very sudden for both her and He Cong, and she herself still had many unanswered questions in her mind, she still thought it necessary to let He Cong know at this time.
She looked at him, pursed her lips slightly, and said, "Didn't you ask me on the phone why Mo Mo lost his feathers?"
He Cong lowered his voice and said, "Yeah."
"Mo Mo is indeed not human."
Shang Youqing held the little guy in his arms with his hands, and the phoenix skeleton that was obviously undergoing transformation was not visible. He did not choose to hide it from He Cong, but instead calmly reminded him.
"In a little while, He Zhimo might change from a human cub to... a furry ball similar to a baby bird. If you're scared or can't accept it, you can leave first. Once Momo successfully sheds his tail, we can discuss other things."
He Cong was calmer than her. He stared at her and said, "This is the son my wife and I had. Why should I be afraid?"
Shang Youqing was speaking quite calmly at first, but he seemed to be choked by his direct gaze and the unexpected words "the son of my wife and I", and he was unable to react for a moment.
Her cheeks felt secretly hot, and her fingers tensed up inexplicably. She touched the cub, then slid down again, not knowing what to do.
He Cong's heavy palm slowly grasped it and held it all in his palm.
He Cong's oppressive black eyes were fixed on her alone, and his voice was steady and weighty, "Don't be nervous."
“…Who’s nervous?”
Shang Youqing struggled to get his hand free but failed. Just as he was about to look up and glare at him, he saw He Cong's tall and slender figure squatting in front of him.
He Cong gently circled her wrist bone with his thumb and placed her hand on the palm of his hand. In his other hand, he took a Band-Aid that he had prepared at some point in time, tore open the package, and carefully bandaged the tip of her index finger that had just been bitten.
Shang Youqing looked down at the human's cold and handsome face, feeling an indescribable complexity in his emotions.
From her perspective at this moment, she did not remember everything that happened when she went down the mountain three years ago.
Therefore, she took it for granted that she had just broken her vow and slept with a human on her way down the mountain to look for spiritual roots, and accidentally carried the phoenix baby.
Even now, she felt that all she had for He Cong was to obtain the blood of the Phoenix family from him so that her cubs could go through each molting stage in good health.
But... humans don't seem to think so.
Although the human seemed to have only a vague understanding of her and her child's true identities, he also had the patience to try to understand and learn as much as possible. He bandaged her finger, slowly raised his eyes and asked her, "What does molting mean?"
Shang Youqing stared at him and translated directly: "You can understand it as the transformation from short feathers to beautiful long feathers."
He Cong's gaze fell on He Zhimo and he began to think silently.
But before he could think of anything, the little cub in Shang Youqing's arms suddenly twitched violently a few times and scratched his arm in unbearable pain, "Mommy, it hurts... It hurts so much..."
Shang Youqing's face changed, and her heart, which had just relaxed, was almost instantly in suspense again. She rolled up the cub's sleeve and saw needle-like feathers piercing through the cub's tender skin.
This is obviously not normal.
According to the normal process of molting, He Zhimo should have first returned to his true form as a baby phoenix, and then shake out his newly molted golden tail feathers...
At this moment, He Zhimo seemed to be trying very hard to turn back into a little phoenix, but he was unable to break through the constraints of the human body.
As a result, the feathers that were supposed to transform could not stretch out and could only break through the bones, blood and skin. He Zhimo's body suddenly felt as if it was pierced by those feathers and was in unbearable pain.
This scene in Shang Youqing's eyes was more painful than a needle piercing her heart. She even forgot to breathe for a moment and urgently injected soothing spiritual energy into the cub. Under the soothing of the healing spiritual energy, the feather roots quickly retreated back under He Zhimo's skin.
But even so, it only temporarily relieved the little guy's pain.
Because Shang Youqing clearly felt that He Zhimo's body temperature was burning fiercely again.
“Mom, Mom…”
He Zhimo's face turned pale, his lips trembling slightly, like a dehydrated fish. Gradually, he even lost the strength to call out "Mom"...
He Cong saw that Shang Youqing's hands were also shaking, so he immediately reached out and hugged the baby.
Shang Youqing finally came back to her senses from her heart palpitations. She forced herself to calm down, let He Cong hold the baby, and directly pulled off the pendant hanging around her neck and put it on He Zhimo.
It was a phoenix blood bead tempered from her phoenix marrow. After it was placed on He Zhimo's heart, the little guy's body temperature gradually stabilized, but it only soothed the pain in his body.
The little fellow still had his mouth slightly open, as if something was squeezing his heart, unable to shed his tail or wake up.
Suddenly, Shang Youqing seemed to realize something. With a faint golden glow, his palm brushed across He Zhimo's heart. Through his spiritual power, Shang Youqing finally saw the reason why He Zhimo couldn't shed his tail -
A ball of black mist wrapped around the baby phoenix's heart like countless fine silk threads.
It was obvious that it had existed in the body before the phoenix baby was hatched. Over the years, it had left fine and dense marks on the phoenix baby's heart meridians.
No wonder He Zhimo had been sickly since childhood, and no wonder he couldn't restore his true form and complete his first molt even after being fed drops of his parents' blood...
Shang Youqing stared at the black mist on the Phoenix baby's heart, her pupils bloodshot, her mind full of the seemingly plausible words that Mu Jiuhan and Mu Weiting had said to her before...
-I'm looking forward to you recovering that memory, little junior sister. Once you remember it, you will be just like you were back then, and you will want to get away from that human father and son immediately.
-I just want to tell you, Junior Sister, that it’s useless for you to go...
-I will wait for you outside Yanyuan, Youqing. I believe you will understand my senior brother's painstaking efforts after you go there.
Shang Youqing narrowed his eyes, unable to bear it any longer, and turned to leave.
The next second, He Cong held the cub, staring at her back with heavy eyes, and said in a suppressed tone: "Fuying."
There was no emotion in these two words, but Shang Youqing's chest trembled violently, and the steps he had just taken seemed to be nailed in an instant.
But she immediately thought of the heart condition she had just seen from her phoenix baby, as if her heart was tightly bound and she could hardly breathe.
She suppressed the redness in the corners of her eyes, turned around, and before He Cong could say anything, she rushed over and hugged him and the cub a little tightly.
Shang Youqing put his cheek against his neck, his lips brushing against his ear, and explained to him: "Mo Mo has some heart problems. Please wait for me for a day, no, half a day. I will go back to get something and then come back."
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