Chapter 145
Xing Nuo’s face was squished by Yiyi’s enthusiastic hug, his mouth puckered into a duck beak.
“Yiyi, let go!” he mumbled.
Yiyi giggled, circling Xing Nuo, then clapped her hands.
“Let’s play pw-incess!”
Xing Nuo shook his head, not liking princess games.
“We play knights! I good knight!”
Yiyi and Qingqing both shook their heads.
“No, we three…can be three pw-incesses!”
Xing Nuo, outnumbered, reluctantly agreed to play princesses.
Yiyi, excited, dragged Xing Nuo to her house, saying they needed costumes and makeup.
Xing Nuo, unable to resist them, his little feet dragging on the ground, was pulled along.
Yiyi took out her mom’s makeup bag, placed it on the coffee table, and picked out a bright red lipstick.
“This smells so good! I snuck a sniff. It’s wose-scented!”
Qingqing leaned closer, and after examining the lipstick, they each applied a thick layer of red lipstick.
Xing Nuo, watching them, his chin resting on his hand, tilted his head.
“Yiyi, your lips…look like…dwank blood.”
Yiyi, hands on her hips, declared, “You don’t understand, Xing Nuo. Mommy said this is the most popular color this year! Rose Red!”
Xing Nuo, not understanding fashion trends, just nodded.
“So this year…this color popular.”
“I’ll do yours too, Xing Nuo!” Yiyi said excitedly.
Before Xing Nuo could protest, Yiyi had already applied the lipstick to his lips.
Quick and efficient.
She admired their handiwork in the mirror, nodding in satisfaction.
“Mommy was right! Makeup makes everyone pwetty!”
Xing Nuo, looking at himself in the full-length mirror, then at Yiyi, who was staring at him expectantly, nodded slowly.
“Y-yes. We all pwetty.”
Yiyi, satisfied, then moved on to her mom’s eyeshadow palette.
Finally, Xing Nuo, his eyes adorned with purple eyeshadow, his lips bright red, was assigned the role of the eldest princess, based on their ages.
Qingqing and Yiyi, completely engrossed in their game, the living room now littered with makeup, continued playing.
As the sun began to set, Xing Nuo, glancing at the time, hurriedly took off the princess veil he was wearing and stood up.
“I go home now. Too late…Daddy will wowwy.”
Qingqing also gasped and jumped up.
“Let’s go! Mommy said…if I no come home before dark…she spank me!”
They quickly helped Yiyi put away the makeup, but before they could leave, the door opened.
Yiyi’s mom, her own makeup impeccable, returning home from work, dropped her takeout bag at the sight of the mess in the living room.
“Oh my god!”
She didn’t have time to mourn her ruined makeup. She looked down and saw the three children, their eyes ringed with purple eyeshadow, their lips bright red.
She burst out laughing, clutching her stomach, then grabbed her phone.
“Come, come, Auntie will take a picture! A souvenir!”
She found Xing Nuo the most amusing, his little topknot, his dark, sparkling eyes, his long eyelashes, his bright red lips and purple eyeshadow.
He looked so ridiculously ugly!
Each child’s makeup was a masterpiece of disaster, equally horrifying!
After her laughter subsided, instead of helping them remove the makeup, she sent the picture to Qingqing’s mom and Xing Nuo’s dad.
“Xing Nuo’s dad, your Xing Nuo is playing at my house with Yiyi. Look how funny he looks, with his little painted face.”
She sent the voice message and, looking down at the three children, who were standing there, their faces frozen, not daring to move, chuckled again.
“This is too funny! Who did your makeup?”
Knowing her daughter well, she immediately said:
“Yiyi, was it you?”
Yiyi nodded, then, looking at her red lips in the mirror, asked:
“Mommy, I no look pwetty?”
Her mom smacked her forehead, exasperated by her daughter’s questionable aesthetic sense.
“Look what you did to Xing Nuo! He was such a pretty boy, and now he looks like a panda ready for the circus.”
Xing Nuo hesitated, then corrected her.
“Auntie, we pw-incesses…not pandas.”
Yiyi’s mom laughed even harder, then walked over, ruffled Xing Nuo’s topknot, and rubbed his cheek.
“So cute! Xing Nuo, stay here and be my son, okay?”
Qingqing, hearing this, immediately protested.
“No! Xing Nuo already my widdle brother!”
Yiyi, thinking this was a great idea, her red lips stretching into a wide smile, clapped her hands.
“Yay! Then I can give Xing Nuo my dwesses!”
Xing Nuo, struggling to free himself from Yiyi’s mom’s affectionate embrace, saw his dad at the door and his eyes lit up.
“Daddy!”
He ran over and hid behind his dad’s legs.
Shen Wen, his eyes crinkling into a smile, his golden hair falling around his shoulders, picked up Xing Nuo and stared at his face for a long moment.
“What’s this? A little bear cub?”
Xing Nuo pouted.
“I’m pw-incess! The pw-incess who likes to paint!”
Shen Wen burst out laughing, his beautiful eyes sparkling, unable to contain his amusement.
“Really? Then, Your Highness, shall we go home?”
Xing Nuo nodded and waved goodbye to Yiyi and Qingqing.
Yiyi’s mom, still admiring Shen Wen’s beauty, finally snapped out of her trance and waved back.
“Come play again, Xing Nuo!”
Xing Nuo, hearing his dad’s laughter, decided he would never visit Yiyi’s house again!
He hid his face in his dad’s chest all the way home, then, as expected, was greeted by his brother’s laughter.
“Where’s my camera?! I have to document this!”
Shen Baizhou ran to get his camera and snapped a picture of Xing Nuo’s makeup.
Xing Nuo, thinking his brother was being mean, chased him around the living room, trying to hit him, but Shen Baizhou, with his long legs, easily dodged him, circling the sofa.
Shen Yan, emerging from the kitchen in his teddy bear apron, stopped Shen Baizhou, letting Xing Nuo catch up and hit him a few times.
“Mean Big Brother!”
Shen Baizhou, his usual lazy grin on his face, unfazed by Xing Nuo’s weak punches, saved the picture.
Xing Nuo huffed and went to the bathroom, using the makeup remover wipes Yiyi’s mom had given him, to meticulously clean his face.
His skin back to its usual pale white, he splashed water on his face, looking at his reflection in the mirror, and sighed in relief.
Halfway through dinner, Xing Nuo’s head started to droop, almost falling into his bowl.
Shen Wen carried him to bed, and, looking at his sleeping face, remembering his clown-like makeup, chuckled softly.
The joys of parenthood couldn’t be shared. He looked at the picture on his phone, then, on a whim, returned to his dungeon.
Wen Xingxue was climbing a snow-capped mountain, the wind howling, ice clinging to his eyelashes.
The clue to clearing the dungeon was at the peak, and the dungeon’s level was so high that only Wen Xingxue dared to challenge it. He was alone.
He suddenly stopped, seeing the golden-haired man in casual clothes standing there.
Wen Xingxue, his face impassive against the biting wind, walked over and offered him a thick jacket from his spatial storage.
“Aren’t you cold?”
Shen Wen, his eyes crinkling into a smile, looked at Wen Xingxue.
“Of course not. I’m not human.”
Wen Xingxue, his mind numb from the cold, having forgotten Shen Wen’s true nature, hummed and put the jacket away.
“What are you doing here? Did you take over this dungeon? It’s too cold for you.”
Shen Wen’s dungeons were always filled with flowers, luxurious manors and castles, reflecting his refined tastes.
He wouldn’t be interested in a snowy mountain.
Shen Wen shook his head, the cold wind clearing his thoughts.
“Of course not.”
He looked at Wen Xingxue, unsure why he had come here, and fell silent.
Wen Xingxue, brushing the ice from his eyelashes, smiled faintly and asked:
“You came to find me. Is it about Xing Nuo?”
Shen Wen, remembering Xing Nuo’s comical appearance earlier, his mood lifting, smiled and showed him the picture on his phone.
“Look. Funny, right?”
Wen Xingxue chuckled, his usually hoarse voice almost lost in the wind, his face unusually animated.
“You should have seen him as a clown doll. Even funnier. But still cute.”
Shen Wen, intrigued, joined Wen Xingxue as he continued his climb, listening to his stories about the little clown doll.
They reached the peak, stood there, looking at the vast expanse of snow and ice below, and talked about Xing Nuo, their shared love for the little one creating a strange bond between them.
Before leaving, Shen Wen suddenly said:
“Wen Xingxue, talking to you…is actually quite pleasant.”
They had common ground, their views on raising Xing Nuo aligned, creating an unexpected harmony.
Wen Xingxue smiled and said:
“My honor.”
Shen Wen, feeling a strange flutter in his chest, quickly turned and vanished from the dungeon.
Wen Xingxue, puzzled, shook his head and resumed his search for the dungeon’s clues.
