"Nannan, what are you doing here?"
The Ten-Mile Peach Blossom Grove also has fruit-bearing peach trees. Yulan had picked some peaches and brought them over when she caught sight of her little niece standing alongside Emperor Donghua.
The chubby little toddler was still holding a Golden Lotus in her hands.
"Auntie!"
Yulan's elder brother was the head of the Sujin Clan, so her little niece was naturally the Sujin Clan leader's daughter.
She was only five hundred years old this year.
"How is it that you came here all by yourself? Is there no one with you?"
"Auntie, I came here with Xiaobei, but we ran into a big monster on the way. Emperor Donghua saved me, but Xiaobei died."
Faint traces of tears could still be seen at the corners of the little girl's eyes.
"Many thanks to Emperor Donghua for saving the young master of the Sujin Clan!"
"Don't mention it, it was just a matter of convenience."
That day, he had inadvertently discovered a place in the mortal realm radiating immense fortune.
Out of sudden curiosity, he had decided to come down and take a look, never expecting to encounter a black bear spirit.
It had swallowed the maid—the one the little girl called Xiaobei—alive, and the next in line to be devoured was clearly this little toddler.
Feeling a twinge of pity, and seeing that the little girl was of the immortal race, he had stepped in to help.
The Golden Lotus had been held right in the little girl's hands, and he could only discern that the source of that fortune was this very Golden Lotus.
He had intended to take it to examine it, but it turned out the Golden Lotus had already gained spiritual awareness and resisted his touch.
Having no other choice, he had asked the little girl where she was going.
Only then did he learn that she was Yulan's niece.
"Dear Nannan, might you hand this Golden Lotus to me so I can take a look?"
The little girl gave Moyuan a dazed look.
"You are so very pretty! I'll give this flower to you!"
Clasping the Golden Lotus tightly with her two chubby little hands, she made to shove it right into Moyuan's palms.
To everyone's surprise, this actually displeased the Golden Lotus, which began rapping Nannan over the head with one tap after another.
"Ouch... the little flower is hitting Nannan! The little flower is bad, Nannan is good!"
Her adorable little antics drew roars of laughter from everyone present.
Baize walked over, poking Nannan's plump, round cheeks with keen interest.
This time, the Sujin Clan had not been wiped out, and the little girl was able to live happily within her clan.
Without being forced to grow up too soon, this innocent and artless demeanor of hers was truly a rare sight.
"This little girl is so chubby. Could it be that she eats too much at home?"
"Hmph, Nannan is not fat at all! Nannan is just cute, and all my uncles and elders adore me!"
Hearing Baize call her fat made Nannan quite angry, but upon seeing that this person was also extremely handsome, her anger vanished in an instant.
Moyuan sensed the Golden Lotus's resistance, yet he still managed to take it from Nannan's hands.
He muttered a few incantations under his breath, causing the Golden Lotus to erupt with a blinding, intense golden radiance.
The golden light spun in the air as if searching for something, paused momentarily before Yaoguang, and then instantly darted straight into Yaoguang's belly.
"Oh dear, Moyuan, how did your younger brother end up inside our Yaoguang's stomach? Make him come out right now!"
None of present company were fools.
How could they fail to understand what was happening? This fellow was clearly borrowing a womb to be born.
Yet while Baize desired a child, he had in mind a sweet little girl, not some stinky brat.
"It seems Yaoguang is going to have a child."
"No, no! I want a cute little girl like Nannan, I don't want a stinky boy!"
Yaoguang was somewhat flustered as well; that object had just zipped so vividly right into her belly.
The moment the golden light vanished just now, she had felt as though something extra had appeared inside her body.
A life within her stomach was resonating with her own heartbeat.
Zheyan pulled Yaoguang's hand over and examined her carefully. Her pulse glided smoothly like rolling pearls—it was an unmistakable pregnancy pulse.
However, it had only been a month; she must have conceived very recently.
The child had not yet taken form, and since the Golden Lotus was Moyuan's younger brother, it was naturally endowed with immense fortune.
Being nurtured by Yaoguang meant she would surely reap the benefits in days to come.
Zheyan exchanged a glance with Yaoguang, and she immediately understood his intent.
Why not welcome a development that brought such personal benefits?
Besides, this would forge an even closer bond with Kunlun Xu.
"Why is the little flower not glowing anymore?"
Adult subtleties and unspoken calculations were naturally lost on little Nannan, but she could clearly see that the Golden Lotus, which had been glowing with shifting colors just moments ago, had now turned utterly dim.
It looked as though it had withered.
Before anyone could explain it to her, the little girl's mouth drooped.
Vivid tears welled up and spilled down her face.
"You're a bad person! You killed my flower by staring at it, waah!"
Nannan lunged forward, snatched the dimmed Golden Lotus back, and brought it close to her nose to sniff it.
"It doesn't smell nice anymore either, wuwu—"
"Ahem!"
The crowd was caught entirely off guard by the little girl's sudden outburst of crying, leaving them completely flustered.
Emperor Donghua caught sight of the string of crystal teardrops on the tip of the little girl's nose and quietly stepped a bit further away.
As the primary culprit in all of this, Moyuan naturally had nowhere to hide.
"There, there, Nannan, be a good girl. The Golden Lotus is actually High God's younger brother, and he has already gone into Auntie's tummy. Once Auntie gives birth later on, you'll be able to see him."
Yulan shook her head helplessly, stepping forward with the air of a lone warrior holding off an entire army in the face of everyone's pleading gazes, and finally coaxed little Nannan into a good mood.
The chubby little hands wiped away the tears and gave a couple of sniffles.
She wanted to touch Yaoguang's stomach, but then she remembered that she had just wiped her tears and her hands weren't clean.
Meanwhile, Yaoguang and Baize were both dressed in pristine white garments that looked remarkably spotless.
She hurriedly wiped her hands against the back of her dress.
"Auntie, may Nannan touch the little flower?"
"Um, yes, you may."
Yaoguang took Nannan's chubby little hand and gently placed it against her still-flat abdomen.
"Is the little flower in here? But Nannan can't feel anything! Auntie's tummy is so small, not like Nannan's—it's so soft."
With a swift pull, the chubby hand withdrew, only to grab Yaoguang's hand and place it right against her own stomach.
"Auntie, make the little flower come into Nannan's tummy instead! My tummy is so soft, and I eat lots of pastries and fruit every day, so I certainly won't let the little flower go hungry."
Good thing the Golden Lotus had no idea; otherwise, it would have surely had to rap her on the head a few more times.
She was treating it like a husband, while it was treating her like a fine eldest son!
Yaoguang held Nannan's hand, somewhat reluctant to let go.
The little hand was simply too adorable, resembling plump lotus roots.
"Does Nannan have a master yet? How about becoming my disciple?"
"She shouldn't have one yet. Children of our Sujin Clan reach adulthood at five hundred years old, and Nannan isn't even five hundred yet—she doesn't even have a formal name."
Baize stepped closer and patted little Nannan's head.
In the original plot, the little girl had not yet turned five hundred when her entire clan died in battle, forcing the Heavenly Lord to take her up to the heavens, where she was made the Zhaoren Princess, a symbol of the Heavenly Palace's benevolence.
The Heavenly Lord had then sent the little girl to Consort Lexu, but since Lexu already had a child of her own by then, naturally she did not pay much mind to her.
As a result, the little girl's formidable talent was utterly wasted, and by the end of the story she was still merely a goddess.
In the end, she was even cast down into the mortal realm to undergo the cycle of reincarnation.