Chapter 112: Lost
The moon slowly rose from the treetops to mid-sky. The autumn night was always accompanied by gusts of cool wind, coming from all directions, blowing into people’s cuffs and collars, making them can’t help but wrap their clothes tightly.
Nuonuo had just finished his bath, wearing his little yellow duck pajamas, with a little dinosaur towel still on his head, and was carried out of the bathroom by his papa.
Pinching his little yellow duck toy, he then poked the little duck on his chest, held up the duck in his hand, and showed it to his papa. “Papa, the ducky ran onto my body!”
Fei Zhiyan placed the little one on the bed, bent down, and carefully wiped his wet hair. His eyes were tinged with a bit of gentleness, and he nodded lightly in agreement.
Nuonuo was still poking his little duck. This was a little toy his third brother had given him. Nuonuo played with it very carefully, and for the past few days, he had held it in his hand every time he took a bath, reluctant to let it go.
Humming a nursery rhyme that Teacher Xiao Ran had taught him, Nuonuo obediently tilted his little face up and let his papa wipe his hair.
Nuonuo’s hair was particularly soft, just like his personality. Every time after washing his hair, it would stick to his little face, making him look much more well-behaved than usual.
When his hair was almost dry, Fei Zhiyan put away the towel and saw that Nuonuo had already dazedly closed his little eyes.
With a light laugh, Fei Zhiyan reached out and pinched Nuonuo’s little cheek, which was flushed red after his bath.
Nuonuo’s sleepy little eyes could only open a crack. Seeing that the person opposite him was his papa, he tilted his head and showed a small smile. “Papa, I’m going to sleep now. Liuliu…”
Nuonuo was just about to call Liuliu to sleep with him, but he didn’t hear a response. He blinked his little eyes and, bending his head, began to look on the floor. “Liuliu, where are you? It’s time to sleep!”
Nuonuo stood up on the bed in confusion and shouted again at the edge of the bed.
Usually at this time, the moment Fei Zhiyan left, 006 would jump onto the bed, curl up at the head or the foot of Nuonuo’s bed, and fall asleep with a little snore.
But today, after calling several times, he still didn’t see 006 appear.
Now Nuonuo’s sleepiness was gone. He frowned his little brow and spun around on the bed, looking for the dog.
Fei Zhiyan saw Nuonuo spinning like a little top and quickly held his little head, saying, “I’ll go downstairs and have a look. He’s probably playing wildly in the living room.”
After getting along for a long time, Fei Zhiyan had come to understand this dog’s habits.
Although it was a system, it was actually more mischievous than a real little dog. If you weren’t careful for a moment, it could cause a lot of trouble.
Last time Fei Zhiyan came home, he had seen this stupid dog somehow get itself and Nuonuo tangled in a ball of yarn. The one person and one dog didn’t dare to move, and they would fall with every step, only able to look at Fei Zhiyan with pleading eyes for help.
By the time Fei Zhiyan had rescued Nuonuo from the yarn, this dog also knew it had done something wrong, and it drooped its head timidly, its four short little legs silently retreating outwards, trying to escape the scene.
Because of the other’s silly behavior, Fei Zhiyan would often forget 006’s identity as a system and wasn’t even sure if his own suspicions were correct.
To this day, Fei Zhiyan was still repeatedly doubting.
Holding the stair railing as he went down, Fei Zhiyan’s silent expression was tinged with a bit of coldness. His gaze swept around the living room, and his brow couldn’t help but furrow.
“Auntie Wu, have you seen that dog?”
Fei Zhiyan went downstairs and asked Auntie Wu.
Auntie Wu was tidying up Nuonuo’s toys. Hearing Mr. Fei’s words, she quickly nodded. “I saw him run out before dinner, but I don’t know what’s wrong. He hasn’t come back even though it’s so late today.”
Hearing Auntie Wu’s words, Fei Zhiyan’s gaze naturally fell on the main gate outside the courtyard.
The moonlight tonight was quite bright, illuminating the entrance area completely. Fei Zhiyan could also clearly see that there was no little white dog there.
Just as he was frowning and thinking about what this stupid thing was up to, Nuonuo’s shout came from upstairs.
“Papa! Zhuang Jie-jie is calling me! Liuliu is at his house!”
Nuonuo didn’t even put on his shoes, his little bare feet pattering on the slippery floor as he ran to the top of the stairs, cupping his little hands and shouting at Fei Zhiyan below.
Fei Zhiyan looked up and saw Nuonuo, who looked like a fluffy little yellow duck, standing there, his eyes filled with even more confusion.
How did this system get involved with Zhuang Jie?
Walking two steps towards the staircase, Fei Zhiyan nodded lightly to indicate he had heard and said in a gentle voice, “You go to sleep obediently first. I’ll go to his house and bring that dog back.”
But Nuonuo didn’t obediently agree. Instead, he stuck his little bottom out, held onto the stair railing, and slowly took small steps down the stairs. “No, ya. I’ll go with Papa.”
Nuonuo’s eyes were full of worry. He carefully came down the stairs and even tilted his little face up and said, “Zhuang Jie-jie said Liuliu is hurt. I’m going to pick him up!”
Fei Zhiyan let out a cold laugh without any surprise, thinking to himself that this dog’s ability to cause trouble was first-rate.
And its luck is good. Why didn’t it just die outside?
Looking at the weather, where the autumn wind was suddenly rising, Fei Zhiyan’s lips were pressed into a straight line.
Seeing Nuonuo’s figure struggling to go downstairs with his little bottom wiggling, he still sighed, went over, and picked up the little one.
Holding the chubby Nuonuo, Fei Zhiyan put on his dark overcoat and wrapped Nuonuo entirely in his arms. “Stay obediently. Don’t peek your head out.”
Nuonuo’s hair was still not completely dry. If he was blown by the cold wind, he would definitely have a headache tomorrow.
Pressing down on the little head of Nuonuo, who was peeking out from his clothes, Fei Zhiyan carried him out and, at the same time, said to the butler on the side, “Have the driver prepare the car.”
The night was like a thick black ink soaking a piece of paper, but it left a white circle, which turned into a moon and lit up the entire earth.
After Fei Zhiyan got in the car, the wind outside began to howl.
Most of the leaves on the branches had fallen, and the remaining small part was also swept up by the autumn wind, spinning in the air before finally falling to the ground.
When they got out of the car, a heart-chilling wind blew against their faces, making Fei Zhiyan’s bangs lift slightly.
Nuonuo was wrapped in the overcoat and could only hear the crisp sound of his papa’s leather shoes stepping on the fallen leaves.
His vision was blocked, but Nuonuo’s hearing became even more acute. His warm little face was pressed against his papa’s neck, his little ears twitching as he imagined the scene of the ground covered in fallen leaves in his little head.
The cold wind was blocked by the overcoat, and Fei Zhiyan even used his arm to block the wind for Nuonuo, so Nuonuo didn’t feel the cold of the late autumn night at all.
In the dark night, at the staircase of the first floor of the complex, Zhuang Jie was standing there, kicking at a stone with a stinky face as he waited.
When the person in the overcoat got closer, Zhuang Jie finally, with the light of the moon and the streetlights, saw Fei Zhiyan walking towards him.
Zhuang Jie’s expression was a little stunned for a moment. He opened his mouth, and the two words “Father” almost slipped out.
This was their first official meeting.
Zhuang Jie thought with his head half-lowered.
“Mr… Mr. Fei, the little dog is inside. Please come in with me.”
Although the address had changed, Zhuang Jie’s respectful tone towards Fei Zhiyan had not changed at all.
His words were tinged with a bit of distance. They were clearly the closest people in the world, but they couldn’t get close to each other at all.
Silently opening the door and walking in, Zhuang Jie turned on the living room light. Just as he was about to say for them to take the little dog away, he saw a bulging lump in front of Fei Zhiyan’s chest and couldn’t help but ask in confusion, “Are you hiding something on you?”
As soon as his voice fell, a fluffy head popped out from Fei Zhiyan’s collar. Nuonuo peeked his head out in a daze, his face still flushed with a warm glow. “It’s me you’re hiding.”
Zhuang Jie looked at the suddenly appearing Nuonuo and couldn’t help but let out a soft hiss.
A cold wind blew in from the slightly ajar door. Zhuang Jie felt the coldness on his body, but his heart was inexplicably hot.
It was as if the person being held in his father’s arms was himself. Although Fei Zhiyan’s face was still cold, Zhuang Jie felt his unique consideration and warmth for Nuonuo.
In his previous life, Zhuang Jie had longed for his parents’ love but could not get it. He had become more and more paranoid and crazy, constantly seeking death, just to get his father to look at him one more time.
But the more he did so, the colder the relationship between father and son became.
Even before he died, Zhuang Jie was not sure if his father really considered him a son.
That fatherly love, did it really exist between them?
But now, looking at the well-protected Nuonuo, Zhuang Jie felt as if he were sitting on a cloud, and in a daze, he seemed to have also experienced Fei Zhiyan’s outward affection.
Relief also seemed to come in an instant. Zhuang Jie looked at Nuonuo, the restlessness in his eyes slowly disappearing, and the oppressive feelings that had been stuck in his chest for a long time also seemed to have cleared up at once.
So Father does love me, Zhuang Jie thought.
It was just that in his previous life, his words had not matched his intentions, and his paranoia and craziness had pushed this father-son relationship further and further away.
If… if he had been like this life’s Nuonuo, with a softer temper, perhaps the ending would have been different.
Zhuang Jie sighed lightly and then felt that there were not so many “ifs.”
He would not change his irritable and gloomy bad temper. No matter how many times he came back, his father-son relationship with Fei Zhiyan would ultimately only end in a state of being fated but not destined.
His gaze couldn’t help but fall on Nuonuo. Zhuang Jie felt that perhaps only such a soft little one could survive among a family of cold and strange villains and completely rewrite their ending.
At this thought, Zhuang Jie turned his head again and pointed to the corner of the wall. “Nuonuo, your dog is over there.”
Nuonuo shook his little head and quickly ran over, looking at that side with his little eyes.
On the nest that had been temporarily built with a cardboard box, a dying little dog was lying there. As if it were exhausted, 006 was panting with its eyes closed.
Nuonuo swung his short little legs, had his papa put him down, and ran to the front of the cardboard box, worriedly touching 006’s little head. “Liuliu, what’s wrong with you?”
006 should have heard Nuonuo’s voice. It opened its eyes pitifully and, seeing Nuonuo opposite it, let out a loud cry.
“Nuonuo! Wuuu—I almost didn’t get to see you again!”
