They Are Archenemies, But They Have A Child - Chapter 46

Chapter 46: A Way to Vent Anger

Whether Yun Qingwu managed to sleep well after returning is an untold story for now.

In any case, Xiao Dao, in her new location that night, was still restless.

Leng Lici rested his face on his hand, watching Xiao Dao attempt to roll around on the bed, his brow furrowed: “You should be sleeping.”

Xiao Dao pouted: “Wuu—”

Leng Lici stared at Xiao Dao, unmoved. Following his usual trick, he let out his tail to try and soothe her to sleep. Xiao Dao hugged the fiery red, large tail and did stop her “wuu.”

But she clearly still didn’t want to sleep.

Leng Lici’s patience ran out. He wasn’t Yun Qingwu, who could pull out so many tricks.

He pondered for a moment, then decisively picked up Xiao Dao and, with a flash, appeared at Yun Qingwu’s residence, placing the child on the bed. He then lay down on the other side.

Yun Qingwu was only lightly dozing, his sleepiness faint. The sudden movement woke him completely, sending that faint sleepiness flying. He looked in shock at the large and small figures who had suddenly materialized.

“What… are you doing?”

Leng Lici turned to look at Yun Qingwu: “Sleeping.”

Saying this, he motioned for Yun Qingwu to look at Xiao Dao, who was sleeping in the middle.

Yun Qingwu: “…”

The little girl, who had been fussing uncontrollably just moments ago, was now smacking her little lips, her eyes half-closed, looking like she was about to enter dreamland.

“You really found the key to controlling her…” Yun Qingwu sounded helpless yet amused.

Leng Lici closed his eyes, crossing his arms, a hint of smugness in his tone: “How hard can a child’s mind be to guess?”

Leng Lici’s words were purely stated, but in Yun Qingwu’s ears, they carried other connotations, such as parental harmony and a peaceful family.

Stop, too much speculation!

Yun Qingwu stiffly lay back down on the bed, facing up, lying perfectly straight as if marking a clear boundary.

Perhaps his reaction was too unusual. The person with closed eyes opened them again, and a perplexed look glanced over: “What’s with your posture?”

“What posture?” Yun Qingwu bit out, flipped over to face Leng Lici: “I’m going to sleep.”

He immediately closed his eyes after saying that.

Leng Lici watched Yun Qingwu for a while, then closed his own eyes. Before settling, he didn’t forget to regain a point: “No one is stopping you from sleeping.”

Not long after, Yun Qingwu felt that both the large and small figures had steady breathing and were asleep.

He opened his eyes, but his mind was still wide awake.

Just then, a furry sensation draped over him. His taut body instantly jolted. Yun Qingwu instinctively closed his eyes, pretending to sleep, but found that the tail’s movements were utterly random.

He looked back at the person beside him and breathed a sigh of relief.

This person hadn’t woken up.

The tail seemed to have a mind of its own, lightly touching Yun Qingwu here and there.

This stirred a restlessness in Yun Qingwu’s heart.

Eventually, Yun Qingwu couldn’t bear it any longer. With a steelier resolve, he let out his own tail, wrapping it tightly around the mischievous fox tail. Only then did the movement finally subside.

Yun Qingwu turned onto his side, facing outward. The warm touch of the other person was on his tail, and he could faintly feel the other’s beating pulse.

Under such intimacy, his scattered thoughts gradually calmed down. With the rhythmic clash of their pulses, he slowly drifted into sleep.

…

The next day.

Sunlight streamed into the small courtyard, awakening the flowers, grass, and trees.

Yun Qingwu was awakened by a heavy weight on his chest. Before his eyes were fully open, his hands had reflexively grabbed the culprit disturbing his sleep, instinctively wanting to toss it out. Just as his hands closed around it, a pair of innocent, curious large eyes appeared in his blurry vision.

Yun Qingwu’s rationality instantly returned, and he closed his eyes again.

This is my biological daughter, I can’t throw her… I can’t throw her.

Xiao Dao: “Ah.”

Yun Qingwu reached up and rubbed his brow, coaxing: “Don’t fuss.”

As he rubbed, his memory gradually returned. His movements paused, and he suddenly turned his head to the side, only to see that the spot next to him was empty.

Leng Lici was gone.

“So early? What’s he busy with?” he muttered to himself.

As if to answer his question, the commotion outside today was much louder than usual, with various footsteps moving around the vicinity.

Yun Qingwu performed a cleansing spell, tidied himself and Xiao Dao, and then stepped out to investigate.

But as soon as he exited the door, Yun Qingwu felt that the eyes directed at him were far more numerous than yesterday, and the intensity of the gazes felt strangely familiar…

He looked around, expecting to see nothing, but what met his eyes were pairs of eyes that made no effort to hide their gossip.

As if giving a gossipy look wasn’t enough, these demons blatantly pointed at Yun Qingwu.

“They say His Honor slept in the new nanny’s room last night!!”

“No need to ‘say,’ I saw His Honor go over with my own eyes! Absolute confirmation!”

“Tsk tsk tsk, the little baby is pitiful. Before her biological mother even arrives, His Honor has already changed his mind!”

Yun Qingwu reached out to cover Xiao Dao’s eyes and used his body to shield her ears.

“…”

Such utter nonsense, so improper! How could they be so brazen as to gossip right in front of him, the person involved??

Truly worthy of being demons managed personally by Leng Lici.

“It turns out His Honor is omnivorous, capable of going for both men and women?”

“What’s there to be surprised about? With His Honor’s temperamental nature, he clearly doesn’t discriminate!”

“…”

The discussion devolved into increasingly inappropriate topics. Yun Qingwu quickly hastened his pace to leave the scene of the gossip and headed towards the main activity.

Near the Li Palace, he saw a long line snaking from the entrance of Mount You Su to the palace itself. The demons in the line belonged to various races, with two to three representatives from each. They all held an exquisite, luxurious box or were jointly carrying some bulky item.

“Hey, your Flower Demon Clan has quite a few treasures. How do you manage to come up with new things every year?” A Centipede Demon in the line, holding a vertical wooden box with six hands, scrutinized the Flower Demon in front of him.

The Flower Demon shook the flower branch on his head, looking troubled: “The Demon Lord demands tribute every year. Even if we don’t have anything, we have to find a way to get it, right? Unlike you, who have deep pockets and confidence.”

Yun Qingwu listened to the demons chatting, his brow slightly furrowed. He had heard about this before. When he was hunting down disruptive demons in the mortal realm, many demons pleaded that they acted out of necessity for their clan’s survival, attempting to use this as a bargaining chip for survival.

At the time, he thought it was merely an excuse and had not been swayed in the slightest. But seeing this scene with his own eyes now, he knew their words were true.

His mood darkened. In a sense, if those bloody, evil incidents were traced back to their origin, the source of the evil was Leng Lici, who set this rule.

And this point, he seemed to have selectively forgotten for a long time.

“Tree Demon, one Cosmic Mirror; Tiger Demon, one pair of Celestial Claws…”

Inside the Li Palace, a woman wearing a half-face of colored glass and with her hair tied up high was intently working. She was using one hand to manipulate an abacus and the other to record the items in a ledger.

This was Hong Sui, the Fox Clan’s Director of Finance and Revenue.

Leng Lici sat on the high seat, resting half his face on his hand, watching with disinterest as the treasures were presented and then stored away.

“The treasures presented today are a new high compared to previous years. I would have thought Your Honor would be at least beaming, if not ecstatic?” Hong Sui worked with both hands simultaneously, her expression serious, yet her words held a touch of disrespect.

Leng Lici’s icy gaze lightly settled on Hong Sui.

Hong Sui cleared her throat and immediately corrected herself: “This subordinate spoke out of turn.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the movements of her hands instantly accelerated into a blur. She truly did not speak another word.

This situation continued until a flash of white entered the Li Palace, which finally drew a bit of Hong Sui’s attention away from her work.

She had heard a few days ago that His Honor had hired a new nanny, but what truly made the demons remember this nanny was the wild gossip that spread last night.

What kind of stunning male beauty could defeat a throng of eager beautiful demons and win His Honor’s favor?

With this curiosity, Hong Sui quickly glanced at Yun Qingwu. This glance gave her a new understanding of Leng Lici. She had thought Leng Lici would either remain a century-old bachelor who only loved himself, or perhaps he would favor the silly-sweet type like Dan Mu.

She never expected him to like this “air-headed Immortal” type?

Every movement of his was steeped in good breeding… it truly was…

She quickly glanced at the loosely seated Leng Lici.

The ruler’s mind is unfathomable.

With that look, she keenly noticed that the person who had been unenthusiastic moments ago now had a slightly elevated aura.

She refocused on her work, her mind wandering freely.

Honestly, even if this nanny were to mix with the God Clan, he would probably blend in perfectly. Could it be that since His Honor failed to kill that Celestial Sovereign many times, he’s using this doppelgänger method to vent his anger?

Tsk tsk tsk, moral decay. Truly worthy of him.

Complaints aside, she was perceptive and sped up her work, striving to clear the room for the two gossip protagonists within the next half hour.

Yun Qingwu stood aside, holding Xiao Dao. Once the tribute ceremony was announced to be at a mid-point, and most of the crowd had dispersed, he finally walked towards Leng Lici.

Leng Lici: “Awake?”

Yun Qingwu: “Mhm. I need to prepare lunch for Xiao Dao at noon. Would you like to join?”

Leng Lici’s initial instinct was to refuse, but the taste of Yun Qingwu’s cooking prematurely flooded his tongue. Since returning to Mount You Su, he had reverted to his old lifestyle and didn’t bother with culinary pleasures.

But now that it was brought up…

He stood up, maintaining an expression that suggested he could take it or leave it, and said faintly: “Depends on what you’re making.”

Yun Qingwu’s sullen mood briefly lifted again, a hint of a smile in his eyes. He turned and walked straight toward the door: “Sweet and Sour Lotus Root Slices, Chicken Soup, Steamed Crab with Orange. Come if you want to eat.”

Leng Lici frowned at Yun Qingwu’s retreating back. After waiting a moment, he followed him out.

The two arrived at the small courtyard. Yun Qingwu placed Xiao Dao into Leng Lici’s arms, rolled up his sleeves, and asked casually: “Since all the demon clans are here today, wouldn’t it be inappropriate for you, the host, not to entertain them?”

Leng Lici was unimpressed, scoffing: “Your God Clan ways don’t work here.”

“Is today some special day?” Yun Qingwu took the pre-processed chicken and placed it into the pot.

Leng Lici turned his back to Yun Qingwu: “Why is the Celestial Sovereign so interested in the affairs of Mount You Su today?”

“Just curious.”

Yun Qingwu smiled and continued: “When I was traveling in the mortal realm, I personally witnessed a massacre. The bodies of the family were gone, and only the blood staining the ground recorded what happened there. Later, I caught the culprits, a group of Rat Demons.”

Yun Qingwu poured hot water into the pot: “The Rat Demons cried and begged for mercy, saying they did it because they needed to forge a treasure to present as tribute to the Demon Lord. The treasure required human souls as seasoning to be completed. If the treasure failed, their clan might be the ones exterminated.”

“What exactly are you trying to say?” Leng Lici’s tone turned cold. He turned back to face Yun Qingwu.