"Now that the husband and wife are both gone, who is going to raise this precious son of theirs for them? They even left behind a little toddler. If my own good-for-nothing at home acted like this at that age, I’d break her legs."
"Whenever we asked to borrow a little money from them, they wouldn’t lend any. Look at this kid—every single piece of clothing he’s wearing is brand name."
"Doesn’t he lack a guardian? Everything they take back won't all be usable for their own son..."
"Just looking at him makes me annoyed. Which kid isn't beaten into shape with a stick? I'm telling you, last time I went over to teach them how to raise a child, they told me to get lost."
"I'm his eldest uncle. As long as I give him a bite to eat and raise him to adulthood, everything he owns is mine. Don't any of you even think..."
Clutching his toy bear, the child watched as his once kind and plain-looking relatives turned into vicious wolves. They swarmed around him with greedy eyes, trying to tear him apart and swallow him whole.
...
While making Put Chai Ko, Yan Xiaosan glanced over at the toddler, who was sitting at the table in a temporarily improvised short-sleeved shirt and shorts, happily bobbing his head as he ate his paste.
The higher the bloodline of a spiritual beast, the faster its intelligence awakened after birth. That was doubly true since the toddler possessed divine beast bloodline and could speak the moment he touched the ground.
"You know, it's not a solution to just keep calling him 'Toddler'. Let's give him a name," he suggested to the system.
[Exactly, exactly! I was just about to say that.]
"Got any suggestions, System?"
The system couldn't resist teasing, [Names naturally have to be chosen by Daddy~]
Yan Xiaosan’s face turned awkward. The toddler had decided he was Daddy and refused to change how he addressed him no matter what. Fearing that saying more would hurt the child’s feelings, he had simply stopped correcting him.
"Don't be jealous, System. Even with the toddler around, you're still my number one favorite good son."
[Get lost!]
The toddler finished the paste in his bowl and held up the spoon and bowl to show Yan Xiaosan.
"Daddy, all gone."
"The toddler is amazing," Yan Xiaosan echoed cooperatively. "Does the toddler have a name he likes?"
The toddler poked his little fingers together. "The toddler doesn't have a name. Daddy, please give the toddler one!"
Yan Xiaosan asked, "Does the toddler like the name Qingshu?"
Qingshu clapped happily. "I like it! The toddler will be called Qingshu!"
Yan Xiaosan breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. 'Qing' signified that Qingshu came from the Azure Dragon clan—though the system had told him that news of divine beasts had long since vanished in the present age, he still had to leave a tether of hope—and 'Shu' expressed his wish that the child's life would be smooth, free, and safe.
Picking up Qingshu, Yan Xiaosan opened the door and looked at the faintly brightening sky outside. A headache came on.
Babysitting while running a street stall?
This golden toddler covered in treasures really wasn't easy to take along.
He might just have to bring his plans forward.
Hearing the commotion from the neighboring wooden house, Mu Jian also paused his cultivation, got up, and wished Yan Xiaosan a good morning.
He pulled open the door and froze.
The child in Yan Xiaosan's arms saw him, made babbling noises, reached out both hands toward him, and shouted, "Papa! Hold me too!"
"!"
"!"
[!]
Mu Jian's face tightened, the tips of his ears quietly turning red, as he took Qingshu from the flustered, clumsy arms of Yan Xiaosan and held him.
"Is that the egg?" Lowering his head, he looked at the child's slightly strange clothes in his arms, instantly recognizing them as makeshift stitches, and asked Yan Xiaosan curiously.
Temporarily releasing his toes from where they had been digging nervously into the ground, Yan Xiaosan nodded and explained, "I happened to have a way to break the seal on the egg, so I bought it back. I never expected that inside would be..."
He had a gut feeling that neither Mu Jian nor Meng Haize were the type to snatch Qingshu by force. There was no need to hide it from them, nor could he keep it a secret anyway, so he had simply brought the child out, intending to discuss how to mask the aura emanating from Qingshu.
Cupping Mu Jian's chin, Qingshu answered ahead of time, "Inside is Qingshu!"
Mu Jian didn't ask why a ginseng baby had been conceived inside an egg, nor did he probe into the obscure aura surrounding Qingshu.
The toddler called him Papa. The toddler said his name was Qingshu.
Yan Xiaosan said, "I wanted to ask you guys to think of a way—can we cover up Qingshu's aura? If a ginseng baby of this grade is discovered by others, it will bring too many troubles."
Signaling to Yan Xiaosan not to worry, Mu Jian drew a slender silver bracelet from his Storage Ring and slipped it onto Qingshu's left wrist. He then coaxed Qingshu softly, "Can Qingshu promise Papa that you'll wear the bracelet Papa gave you all the way until Qingshu becomes very, very strong?"
The system secretly leaked information, [The main material is a spiritual artifact forged from Hidden Realm Silver. With that much Hidden Realm Silver used, its primary function is definitely concealment—an assassin's divine artifact! If it hadn't been unactivated when he took it out, even I would have been fooled.]
Sure enough, once Qingshu put on the bracelet, under the system's scan—ignoring the tender sprout atop his head—his aura was completely indistinguishable from that of an ordinary child.
Mu Jian asked again, "Does Qingshu want to hide the green leaf on his head?"
Reaching up to touch the sprout on top of his head, Qingshu looked over at Daddy and Papa, neither of whom had any sprouts on their heads. He nodded. "I want to!"
He wanted to be just like his daddies.
Mu Jian produced a medicinal pill radiating rich vitality and fed it to Qingshu.
The system continued spilling secrets, [The Myriad Life Pill. Its medicinal effects are mild yet extremely difficult to refine. It's totally fine for Qingshu to eat it. Spiritual herbs that have achieved enlightenment through cultivation possess a cultivation method different from humans; they can store energy far exceeding their own within their bodies and absorb it slowly. Don't worry.]
After swallowing the pill, Qingshu consumed a tiny fraction of its medicinal power right then and there. His body stretched out, growing into the appearance of a five- or six-year-old child, and the baby fat on his face diminished.
Mu Jian felt a pang of regret—he hadn't even gotten to pinch those cheeks yet! He really hadn't considered things thoroughly enough.
Perhaps awakening the instinct of a spiritual herb to pursue fortune and avoid harm, or perhaps gaining some inherited memories from the dragon race, Qingshu pursed his little face, and the tender green sprout slowly shrank back into his hair until it vanished completely.
[Oh, Qingshu also has a dragon soul and Azure Dragon bloodline, so he digests things a bit more thoroughly than ordinary plant spirits. Plus, the dragon race generally only changes their human form when they are having breakthroughs.]
The makeshift short-sleeved shirt and shorts he had hurriedly sewn instantly became too tight, wedged halfway up his body, neither up nor down.
Embarrassed, Qingshu buried his face in Mu Jian's shoulder. "Qingshu is so embarrassed, nobody is allowed to look."
The corners of Mu Jian's mouth curled upward without laughing out loud, fearing that the bashful, upset child would become unhappy. He took out a set of spirit robes and changed him into them.
A smoke-green cloud-patterned brocade robe made Qingshu's already fair and handsome face look even more ethereal.
The system persisted in its leaks, [Well, this one's a bit more ordinary—a mid-grade spirit robe. It can fend off attacks and adjust its size according to the wearer's physical form.]
Yan Xiaosan experienced a mental storm. With all these artifacts, pills, and robes combined, how much more was he going to have to pay back?
The ancients really didn't deceive him: raising a child truly costs a fortune.
Turning his head, Mu Jian caught Yan Xiaosan's nearly vacant stare and guessed what he was thinking.
"This is my gift to Qingshu. As long as Qingshu likes it, you don't need to overthink anything."
Stomping the ground and admiring himself, Qingshu spun around in a circle a few times before running over to hug Yan Xiaosan's leg.
"Daddy, do I look good?"
Yan Xiaosan sighed secretly in his heart. This debt was getting harder and harder to untangle, and he had no idea if he'd ever be able to pay it back.
As if venting his frustration, he lightly pinched Qingshu's cheek.
"Qingshu looks the best!"