「Siguotang」
Quan Xiu was at his desk, reviewing docunts.
The Little Snake was locked in a specially made Magic Artifact cage, which was padded with several layers of soft, small brocade cushions and placed on the desk. This way, he could see it at all tis.
"This is a light punishnt to teach you a lesson. I’m locking you up for three days," Quan Xiu said flatly, flipping a page in his docunt. "If you run off again, I won’t co looking for you."
Little Qi was already listless, but hearing this, he burst into tears. "WAAAH! I really am a child without a mother! Daddy doesn’t love either! When my little sister hatches, I’ll just be a little weed that nobody cares about."
"..." Quan Xiu was speechless. ’So boisterous. Who on earth does he take after?’
He sighed, his head aching. "I never said I wouldn’t take care of you."
Every ti he ran off, Quan Xiu would anxiously go searching for him. No matter what trouble he stirred up, Quan Xiu always cleaned up the ss.
"Then Daddy! Let out!"
"If I let you out, you’ll just run off again."
"I won’t run off this ti, I promise! I found my mommy!"
"You an that female?" Quan Xiu’s hands stilled, and for so reason, he couldn’t focus on the words in his book. He rembered the Little Snake saying last ti that she had an aura that made him instinctively want to be near her, that he couldn’t control the urge to seek her out.
"She is my mommy, it’s absolutely true! Daddy, you have to hurry up and marry Mommy and bring her to the Prince Mansion. Then I’ll never run off again," Little Qi said.
"...When you first arrived at the Prince Mansion, you used the sa excuse. You said you liked the scent of the concubine, Lu Zhi, and that it felt familiar, which is why I let her stay. You’re changing mothers a little too quickly. I can’t marry them all." Quan Xiu had heard him use this excuse more than once, so he didn’t pay it much mind.
"No, it’s different! I just liked Lu Zhi’s scent. I don’t know why, it just slled really good, and I couldn’t help but want to sniff her. But I don’t like her! She’s always using as an excuse to pester Daddy, and she’s so annoying!" the Little Snake said anxiously. "You can’t marry Lu Zhi! You have to marry Mommy! Hurry and keep Mommy by your side, and I swear I will absolutely never run off again!"
"If you behave, I’ll consider it."
"That’s great, Daddy! You have to get along with Mommy. All the other little Beastman kids have a mommy and a daddy. Soon, Little Qi will be a kid with a mommy too!"
Quan Xiu humd in agreent, feeling nothing. To him, it made no difference who he married.
He would choose whover Little Qi wanted as the Beast Mother to be his partner, just to give his son the ho he so desperately longed for.
"My lord, the noble female you brought back this morning has awakened. She has requested to see you."
"Hm. Let her in."
As soon as Sang Luo entered the room, she saw Little Qi locked in his cage and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Quan Xiu put down his docunts. His gaze fell upon her as he dismissed the servants at his side.
"You wanted to see ?"
Sang Luo looked at him. He was wearing a mask again. ’It’s not like that mask makes any difference,’ she thought. "Um, thank you for saving ."
"Don’t ntion it. It was no trouble."
Sang Luo was taken aback. She pressed her lips together and asked, "Quan Xiu, when I saw you at the morning market last ti, why did you pretend you didn’t know ?"
"...Do we know each other?"
"You don’t rember ?" Sang Luo asked in surprise.
He didn’t answer, seemingly lost in thought. Sang Luo didn’t know what to say, either. The two stood in silence, and the atmosphere beca awkward.
After a mont, Quan Xiu picked up the cage from his desk, walked over, and offered it to her. "I have so business to attend to. My son is very fond of you. I wonder if you, noble female, would have the ti to help look after him."
They were standing so close that Sang Luo could sll a faint, pleasant fragrance on him. It was so familiar, so nice...
The mont Little Qi saw Sang Luo, he began wagging his tail happily. Sang Luo was also very fond of the Little Snake. Snapping out of her daze, she took the cage. "Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of the Young Master!"
Quan Xiu nodded in satisfaction and took his leave.
After Sang Luo left with Little Qi, she ran into Lu Zhi, who had likely co looking for Quan Xiu. When Lu Zhi saw Sang Luo with the Little Snake, her expression instantly turned ugly.
’Is that resentnt over stealing her son?’
Sang Luo put herself in Lu Zhi’s shoes and figured she would be upset too. Just as she was wondering whether she should give the Little Snake back to Lu Zhi, the Little Snake suddenly spoke. "Mommy, I’m sleepy. Can you take Little Qi to your room? Little Qi wants Mommy to hold him while he sleeps."
"You—you can talk!" Sang Luo said, surprised. ’Was he calling Mommy? Or...’
Sang Luo glanced at Lu Zhi, who stood nearby looking furious but not daring to speak. Then she looked back at Little Qi, who was wagging his tail happily at her. No matter how she looked at it, the two of them didn’t have the air of a mother and child. It seed her earlier guess had been wrong—Lu Zhi was not Little Qi’s birth Beast Mother.
She chuckled lightly. "You shouldn’t just call anyone ’Mommy’."
"But you are my mommy! I love your scent, and I want to be with you."
A strange feeling stirred in Sang Luo’s heart.
The Little Snake had sought her out ti and again, acting incredibly affectionate. ’A young cub can’t fake sothing like that,’ she thought. ’He really thinks I’m his mother...’
But nothing had ever happened between her and Quan Xiu.
’No, that’s not right. Since I arrived at the mansion, I still haven’t seen Quan Xiu’s real face.’ A thought suddenly struck Sang Luo, and her fingers began to tremble uncontrollably.
’The brothers Quan Xiu and Caesar looked nearly identical, but there were subtle differences around their eyes and brows that she could distinguish. If she could just get him to take off that mask, everything would beco clear.’
’But... setting aside the question of whether Caesar is even still alive, Quan Xiu’s attitude toward her is so cold, as if he’s looking at a stranger. How could it possibly be him...?’
’Is he pretending? Or does he have amnesia?’
In just a few monts, a thousand thoughts raced through Sang Luo’s mind. She had her suspicions, but she still had no proof.
She said to Little Qi, "Can you tell Mommy what you and your daddy have been up to for the past year or so?"
"Okay, Mommy! But I only woke up half a year ago, so there’s a lot I don’t know. But I’ll definitely tell you everything I do know," he said happily.
Sang Luo took Little Qi back to her room.
Lu Zhi was too far away to hear what they were saying, but seeing Sang Luo’s intimate rapport with the Little Snake, a huge sense of crisis welled up inside her.
She had always relied on her closeness to the little snake cub to keep Quan Xiu by her side. Now, another female had taken her place, filling Lu Zhi with panic.
’A child that isn’t my own flesh and blood is useless, so easily lured away!’ she fud. ’I can’t just wait around any longer. I have to get pregnant with Quan Xiu’s child as soon as possible to secure my position.’
Lu Zhi went to Siguotang, only to find that Quan Xiu had already left. She gave the steward a few Crystal Stones. "Please inform as soon as the master returns."
That evening, the steward sent a ssenger to inform her that Quan Xiu had returned.
Lu Zhi changed into a sheer, lotus-pink gauze skirt, brought so refreshnts and pastries with her, and went to the study.
The man was at his desk, reviewing docunts.
He was exquisitely handso, with his ink-black hair unbound. Dressed in a white inner robe with a dark cyan cape draped over his shoulders, he had a languid, relaxed air about him.
Lu Zhi felt a fire of desire ignite within her, and her mouth went dry. "My lord, allow to grind your ink for you."
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