Chapter 29: Suspicion
For Nuonuo, Fei Zhiyan’s feelings were contradictory and complex.
When Nuonuo first arrived at the house, Fei Zhiyan thought that Baizhou had finally lost its patience and was going to make a move against him. A harmless little merman cub was no threat, so he decided to keep him for the time being to see what the people behind this were planning.
But he never expected that, as he raised him, he would actually develop feelings for him.
Later, some strange people with abnormal energy fluctuations appeared around him, and it was only then that he realized that some “outsiders” had come to this world.
According to his plan, on the day of the open day, Daizhou should have been completely in his grasp. But these outsiders seemed to have some skills. They actually knew about Fei Zhiyan’s deployment in Daizhou and had made plans in advance, temporarily uniting Daizhou and successfully blocking Fei Zhiyan’s offensive. Otherwise, Fei Zhiyan wouldn’t have had to listen to those Daizhou council presidents talk nonsense on stage all day today, but should have directly held the inauguration ceremony.
At this thought, the coldness in Fei Zhiyan’s eyes deepened.
The people around him could not have betrayed him. What’s more, the matter of taking back Daizhou had been carried out in secret, so there was no possibility of a leak.
That left only one possibility: those outsiders, through some unknown method, had actually grasped the future trend of events.
Fei Zhiyan slowly leaned back in his chair, took the tea Fei Jing had brought him, his face becoming blurry in the steam.
Tapping the teacup with his finger, Fei Zhiyan lowered his eyes and let out a soft scoff.
They’re just a bunch of parasites occupying other people’s bodies. It’s one thing if they hide themselves well, but they have to be so reckless as to rush in front of me.
Fei Zhiyan had originally been worried that unifying the world too quickly would be boring. Now, with a few small bugs struggling on their deathbeds and thinking they were all that, the situation had become much more interesting.
As for Nuonuo…
The thought that he might be involved with the outsiders made Fei Zhiyan’s mood instantly plummet. He didn’t even drink his tea and put the cup back down with a grim face.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, Fei Zhiyan really did care about this soft little one.
Without Fei Zhiyan even realizing it, a corner of his heavily armored heart had long since been pried open by this sticky little dumpling. He had even thought that it wouldn’t matter if Nuonuo had been sent by Baizhou. He was going to conquer Baizhou eventually anyway. After dealing with the people behind it, Nuonuo could still stay here.
But now, Nuonuo might not even be from this world at all. No, not a person, but a merman.
Fei Zhiyan let out a cold laugh, thinking to himself that he should have known earlier. The mermaids of this world had long since died out. Even the most advanced laboratory could not have created such a successful merman cub.
Fei Jing saw Fei Zhiyan’s gloomy face and knew his guess was right. Thinking of Nuonuo’s soft, milky voice calling him “brother,” his fingertips couldn’t help but dig into his palm. “Father, do you need me to deal with Wen Yuan?”
Since Nuonuo was not Wen Yuan’s child, it was highly likely that this woman was just trying to cause trouble.
The moment Wen Yuan appeared at the open day, her information had been delivered to Fei Zhiyan’s desk. But what surprised Fei Zhiyan was that Wen Yuan’s life experience was very ordinary and mundane. Like most people, Wen Yuan had a happy family. Although her parents had died in an accident two years ago, she was still quite strong. After graduating from university, she became a secretary at a company in Yuncheng. Besides being slightly more attractive than average, there was nothing worth paying much attention to.
But such a person, who didn’t even have a boyfriend, suddenly jumped out and said Nuonuo was her child?
It should be known that in Fei Zhiyan’s investigation, Wen Yuan had not even had a sexual life. So how did she have a child? Asexual reproduction?
The suspicious points about Wen Yuan were too obvious, so obvious that it was as if she had “I have a problem” written on her face. Even those outsiders knew to disguise themselves a little, but she just stood out so brazenly.
She was so stupid that Fei Zhiyan couldn’t help but curl his lips and let out a sarcastic scoff. “Don’t worry about her for now. Just wait quietly. She’ll come crashing into us on her own.”
Fei Zhiyan didn’t know why, but when he saw Wen Yuan’s photo, the thought that she was not a very well-behaved person popped into his mind. He himself found it very strange. He had clearly never seen her before, but for some reason, he felt that he knew her very well.
Fei Jing nodded, glanced at his still-not-so-good-looking father, and didn’t say much. He lowered his eyes and quietly walked out of the study.
The sky had completely darkened. The stars came out, one by one finding their places and shining quietly in the black-curtain-like sky.
A crescent moon hung on the treetops, its bright light like silver frost, winding its way down the road.
Fei Zhiyan finished the work he hadn’t finished today. As he was about to step into the bedroom, his steps paused for a moment before he continued to push the door open.
On the bed in the bedroom, Nuonuo had already washed his little face. There were no tears in his eyes, but the tip of his nose was still red. He sat on the bed, propping his chin on his hands in a daze.
Fei Zhiyan rarely saw Nuonuo looking worried. In his memory, the little one was always happy and seemed to have no worries at all. But at this moment, he was frowning his little brow and sighing heavily, then lowering his head to take a big gulp of milk from his bottle.
Fei Zhiyan’s originally somewhat annoyed mood was instantly lightened by the little one’s adult-like appearance.
“Papa!”
Nuonuo, who was drinking his milk, saw Fei Zhiyan coming from the corner of his eye. He didn’t even drink his milk and crawled to the edge of the bed on all fours.
As if he knew the other would pounce over in the next second, Fei Zhiyan reached out first and picked Nuonuo up. “You never learn. How many times have I told you not to pounce over? You’ll know the pain when you fall.”
Looking down and seeing the joy in Nuonuo’s clear eyes, Fei Zhiyan was also infected by this emotion and couldn’t help but smile.
Nuonuo wrapped his arms around his papa’s neck and affectionately pressed his little face against his papa’s, clinging tightly, as if afraid of being separated from him. “Papa no angwy, ya—”
Nuonuo blinked his eyes, rubbed his little face a couple of times, and then secretly looked up at his papa. He was afraid that his papa was still angry. He thought his peeking was very secretive, but in Fei Zhiyan’s eyes, it was no different from looking openly.
Pinching Nuonuo’s little nose, Fei Zhiyan’s tone finally softened. “Next time, don’t pester your brother and not let him go to school, you know?”
Nuonuo’s nature was too simple and transparent. Fei Zhiyan didn’t even have to guess to know his little thoughts. This little one definitely knew that Fei Luo was going to school today, but he had just watched his brother leave with his little backpack in the morning, and in the afternoon, he wouldn’t let his brother go no matter what. And Fei Luo’s “brother-complex” was also starting to show, so the two of them had played together all afternoon with a tacit understanding.
When it came to pestering his brother, Nuonuo didn’t seem like a little fool at all. His mind turned quite fast.
Hearing his papa’s words, Nuonuo bit his lip in a dilemma, wrinkled his little nose, and whined for a while before saying, “I… I won’t do it again!”
Hearing the other’s milky-voiced promise, as if afraid he wouldn’t believe him, Nuonuo even tensed his little chin, looking very serious.
Amused, Fei Zhiyan patted Nuonuo’s bottom, gave him another lecture, and then put the little one back on the bed to sleep.
Nuonuo was very sensitive to Fei Zhiyan’s emotions. Knowing that his papa was not angry anymore, the light in his little eyes lit up again. He rolled over on the bed a few times, covering his mouth and giggling foolishly.
Fei Zhiyan, on the other hand, stood up, intending to go to another bedroom to sleep.
Since Nuonuo had come to the house, he had only slept by himself once. And that one time, the next morning, the little one had anxiously dragged his blanket and run to find Fei Zhiyan.
Thinking this, Fei Zhiyan pushed up his glasses with a bit of helplessness and turned to leave.
The moment Nuonuo saw his papa was about to leave, his little legs kicked in a panic, and he quickly climbed out of bed. “Papa sweep with Nuonuo, ya!”
Nuonuo tilted his fair little face up and looked at Fei Zhiyan with his big, black grape-like eyes, almost as if he had “pitiful little thing” written on his face.
Fei Zhiyan couldn’t stand this expression the most. He was not an easily soft-hearted person, but under Nuonuo’s pleading gaze, he had never once succeeded in leaving.
This time was no different. His originally firm heart, under Nuonuo’s whining and tugging at his clothes, still collapsed a little. “You’re a big kid now. You should learn to sleep by yourself.”
Fei Zhiyan tried his best to restrain the coldness in his eyes. With his glasses on, he looked like a gentle parent who was genuinely worried about his child.
But for Nuonuo, who was only a little over two and at his clingiest, he didn’t understand so much. He just wanted to be with his papa. “No, ya—”
Nuonuo shook his little head, not buying it.
Perhaps afraid that his papa would really leave, Nuonuo, in a panic, suddenly had his little blue fishtail, which had disappeared since the second day he arrived, pop out.
His short little legs turned into a tail, which even startled Nuonuo himself. He let out a little “ya” and then looked down to touch it with his little hands. “It’s Nuonuo’s taiw, ya!”
The little blue tail wagged lively. Nuonuo hadn’t seen his own tail in a long time. He smiled so widely his eyes crinkled and hugged the tip of his tail.
A flash of surprise also appeared in Fei Zhiyan’s eyes, but what surprised him even more was that the moment Nuonuo’s tail appeared, he actually felt a similar spiritual fluctuation. But it happened too suddenly, and the spiritual power on Nuonuo only appeared for a brief moment before disappearing without a trace, before Fei Zhiyan could even react.
Fei Zhiyan’s eyes under his glasses became unreadable. He half-closed his eyes and couldn’t help but fall into deep thought. “Nuonuo, who sent you here?”
After Nuonuo arrived, Fei Zhiyan had never asked him how he got here. Before, he felt it was unnecessary, and he thought he could guess. But now, he was actually a little unsure.
006, which had come online since Fei Zhiyan came in, was so scared by his question that its program froze for a moment. It quickly said to Nuonuo, “Nuonuo, you must not say…”
But it was obviously too late. The well-behaved baby Nuonuo answered without a moment’s hesitation. “It was Auntie Wu who brought me here, ya!”
“Yiyi even washed Nuonuo’s face!” Nuonuo lifted his little face to show his papa how clean he had washed it, and he even had a nice scent on.
Nuonuo’s answer made the virtual puppy that 006 had materialized into directly plop and scatter in his mind.
006: I almost thought I wouldn’t live to see tomorrow, smile.jpg.
The conversation, which was like a chicken talking to a duck, gave Fei Zhiyan a momentary headache. He wanted to say that he wasn’t asking who brought him to the bedroom, but who brought him to this world. But thinking of Nuonuo’s silly look, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to explain it clearly.
Fei Zhiyan could only rub his temple and, with a click, turn off the light. “Let’s go to sleep.”
