Wen Nuan ran into the alleyway and tried to help the boy up.
Wen Nuan was too small and the boy was too big for him, so he couldn’t help him up that much.
The boy faltered seeing Wen Nuan. “Aren’t you our homeroom teacher’s kid? I think I’ve seen you at school before.”
Familiar words spoken by a familiar person.
Wen Nuan’s heart warmed. He nodded. “Mm!”
The boy dusted himself off and said, “Were you the one who saved me? I saw that police officer. Were you the one who called the officer over?”
The boy had originally wanted to call for help himself, but he failed. He thought he would have to suffer today, so he never expected to be saved by a little kid.
Wen Nuan nodded again.
The boy smiled, wincing from the injuries on his face. “How could you be so smart yet so small? You’re awesome.”
“Song Xing! Song Xing!”
Someone started shouting in the alley, and a person quickly ran over.
The person was gasping for air, like they had been running for a long time. “Song Xing! I’m sorry I’m late. Ah, you—how did you get so beat up?”
The person’s eyes widened, face full of disbelief and concern.
Raising his head, Wen Nuan saw it was someone familiar. Wasn’t this the fashionable boy who had been dithering across the street? He was dressed so well, but he was still sneaking around like a little thief.
“It’s no big deal.” Song Xing shook his head. “I just encountered those troublemakers from our year. Luckily, it’s all okay now.”
“I see…” the fashionable boy said. “It’s my fault for coming so late. If I had been here earlier, you wouldn’t have been beaten up this badly. I could’ve helped you.”
“With those short arms and legs of yours?” laughed Song Xing. “Don’t joke. If you got those clothes dirty, wouldn’t your parents get mad at you when you went back?’
The boy laughed sheepishly.
Hearing this exchange, Wen Nuan couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
This fashionable boy was lying. He was clearly already in the area earlier, but he was hesitating on the street for a long time, and yet he told Song Xing he just arrived.
Wen Nuan now understood why this fashionable boy was acting so furtively earlier. He definitely knew Song Xing had encountered those bullies, but he was afraid, so he didn’t dare come help, opting instead for standing far away and pretending like he didn’t know.
Even if you didn’t go in to help on your own, you could’ve called for help.
“Oh, right; I need to go to work. It’s almost time.” Song Xing dug around in his school bag and took out a notebook, saying, “Here’s the physics notes you wanted. Just give them back when you’re done; I don’t need them anytime soon.”
“Song Xing!” The fashionable boy looked at him with guilt and worry. He subconsciously kneaded his hands together. “Um…how about I call the chauffeur to drive you over? You’re hurt, and you still need to be careful riding a bike.”
Song Xing shook his head and said, “No need. You should get home soon. It’s getting late.”
The two looked like classmates who got along pretty well.
But Wen Nuan felt like this was all superficial. Whether or not they actually got along well was hard to say.
Song Xing pointed ahead of him and said, “I work right there on Huang Quan Street. It’s convenient for me to ride a bike there. There’s still time.”
Wen Nuan perked up. Wasn’t that the address of the Hell Chain Hotel? It looked like Song Xing’s workplace wasn’t too far from the hotel’s location.
Wen Nuan quickly raised his head, eyes glimmering as he looked at Song Xing’s bike. “Big gege! Can you take me with you?”
He’d lost track of Heibai Wuchang, and Wen Nuan no longer knew where to go. He had no choice but to return to the Hell Chain Hotel first and stand watch. That was the last place he knew of to find Baili Wuchang at.
Song Xing was curious about why Wen Nuan was running around by himself, especially when it was this dark out.
But Wen Nuan wasn’t going to tell him why. He just made some things up, and Song Xing believed him in the end. After successfully hitching a bike ride back, he went to stand at the entrance of the Hell Chain Hotel.
At this time, the sky was already completely dark. Wen Nuan stood at the hotel entrance and said goodbye to Song Xing. Watching him leave, he couldn’t help but sigh.
“Ai…”
“I have no choice but to lie in wait now.”
Wen Nuan didn’t expect that meeting Baili Wuchang would give him so much difficulty.
He helplessly sat down on the curb by a corner of the hotel, propping up his cheeks as he sighed.
“Child?”
Wen Nuan hadn’t been sitting for long when a friendly, middle-aged woman appeared in front of him. “How come you’re here all by yourself?”
Wen Nuan looked up. He saw the woman’s smiling face. She looked much more friendly than his aunt. However, even though the weather was clearly not that cold, she was wearing thick fur clothes as if she was dressed for the winter.
Alas, Wen Nuan had been at the Hell Chain Hotel for too long. His experiences were abundant; he had seen many living guests, and the non-living guests were also plentiful.
Sometimes, Wen Nuan didn’t know why, but he had a sixth sense. Seeing this woman…
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He knew she absolutely wasn’t a living person.
Qfc Rejc qbcvfgfv lcafgcjiis. Pa kjrc’a wlvcluta sfa, rb cbgwji qfbqif mbeivc’a rff utbrar sfa. Lf vfmlvfv ab qgfafcv ilxf tf tjvc’a rffc bg tfjgv jcsatlcu, mbcalcelcu ab rla klat tlr mtffxr qgbqqfv eq.
“Jtliv…”
“Jtliv, ibbx. Pa’r j yjiibbc. Gb sbe kjca bcf?”
“Jtliv, kfgf sbe jyjcvbcfv ys sbeg ojwlis?”
“Child, do you want to come with me?”
The woman stooped down close to Wen Nuan. She reached out her hand, wanting to touch Wen Nuan’s cheek.
“Child, you’re very cute…”
“You’re just as cute as Aunty’s child…”
“Come with Aunty; Aunty will buy you a nice toy.”
“Ah—!”
Just as her pasty hand was about to touch Wen Nuan, the woman suddenly screamed.
A tortoiseshell cat darted over, using its claws to slash across the back of the woman’s hand.
The woman shrieked in fury. “Mangy cat! I hate strays!”
Wen Nuan blinked. This tortoiseshell cat again? It was in the alley earlier now it’s at the hotel. The alley was pretty far away; how did this cat get here?
“Meow meow meow!”
The tortoiseshell cat yowled at the woman, its voice echoing in the middle of the night.
“Ah, boss, look! Over there!”
“That’s the evil ghost we’re trying to catch!”
“She’s over there!”
“Yi, and there’s also that little imp.”
The cat’s cries caught the attention of some people nearby. They happened to be that “little girl” and the black-suited man, who hadn’t been far.
More importantly, there stood a man with them…
He was tall and broad with long hair hanging as aloof as his disposition. Even in the middle of the night, Wen Nuan could recognize him at a glance. It was Baili Wuchang!
“This is gweat!”
Wen Nuan almost cried tears of joy. He finally found Baili Wuchang. The journey to get here was way too arduous.
“Ah…” With a face full of smiles, Wen Nuan wanted to run over to Baili Wuchang.
But he couldn’t even take a single step before someone picked him up with great force. It was that woman dressed in furs. She grabbed hold of Wen Nuan from behind, picking him up.
“Cough cough cough—”
Caught by the collar, Wen Nuan felt the wind knocked out of him, stars blinking before his eyes. He kicked his legs furiously, trying to break free.
There was a slight breeze near his ear, so quick that Wen Nuan didn’t even have time to respond.
Standing not too near nor far away, Baili Wuchang had cast a silvery light next to the shell of Wen Nuan’s ear. What followed was the ear-splitting screech of the woman dressed in furs.
Wen Nuan’s collar was loosened, and he fell into a familiar embrace.
The woman dressed in furs was indeed an evil ghost. She was the evil ghost the “little girl” and the black-suited man had been searching for. They didn’t expect Wen Nuan to be unfortunate enough to become the ghost’s target right in front of the hotel.
The good thing was that it was a blessing in disguise. Baili Wuchang was looking for the evil ghost’s tracks nearby, so Wen Nuan’s persistent searching paid off.
Baili Wuchang quickly dealt with the evil spirit and released Wen Nuan from its grasp.
He glanced expressionlessly at Wen Nuan and was about to put him down.
Wen Nuan subconsciously reacted like a sloth, wrapping his arms around Baili Wuchang. He was afraid that if he let go, Baili Wuchang would disappear.
Baili Wuchang was stunned. “Let go.”
His voice was cold, and he didn’t have a shred of emotion. It was absolutely the Baili Wuchang Wen Nuan knew, but this Baili Wuchang didn’t know Wen Nuan.
Wen Nuan probed, “Do you not recognize me?”
Baili Wuchang said blankly, “Nope.”
“No way?” Wen Nuan pointed at himself. “I’m Wen Nuan.”
Baili Wuchang didn’t seem to care. He only wanted Wen Nuan to let go.
Wen Nuan stubbornly held tight. Oh no. I found Baili Wuchang after all this trouble, but Baili Wuchang doesn’t even know who I am. But even so, Wen Nuan didn’t let go; Baili Wuchang was his saving grace, after all.
“Um, so, listen…” Wen Nuan said in his childish voice, “It’s okay if you don’t recognize me. We can just get to know each other again! I’m Wen Nuan. I know you’re Baili Wuchang, a ghost envoy from the Underworld, and an amazing one, too.”
Baili Wuchang raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that?”
Wen Nuan was just a toddler, so for him to know about Baili Wuchang, Baili Wuchang was quite intrigued.
“Boss, isn’t this your illegitimate son?” asked Xiao Bai from the side, who was hopping around.
As soon as he asked, he was pinned by Baili Wuchang’s icy glare.
Xiao Bai stammered, “I didn’t make that up! It was that little imp who said you were his dad!”
Turning to look at the black-suited man, Xiao Bai added, “Isn’t that right, Xiao Hei?”
The black-suited man judged the situation and decided to say nothing.
Wen Nuan felt Baili Wuchang’s bone-chilling gaze switch from Xiao Bai to himself, boring straight through him in mere seconds.
Wen Nuan broke into a cold sweat. He said, “Um, I…I can explain.”
Baili Wuchang didn’t want to hear him explain. He went ahead and peeled Wen Nuan off of him, tossing him to the side.
Wen Nuan was stunned. Was he going to be cast away just like this? Absolutely not.
“Wah!”
“Daddy—!”
“Daddy, don’t leave me alone!”
Wen Nuan made the split second decision to latch back onto Baili Wuchang’s leg and sob, sobbing as if his liver and guts were cut into pieces.
There were all kinds of guests near the entrance of the hotel. When Wen Nuan and Baili Wuchang started making a scene, people started pointing and whispering.
“Aiyou, what’s wrong? The child’s crying so aggrievedly.”
“What happened?”
“What a cute kid. How would anyone bear to throw him away?”
Misunderstandings piled upon Baili Wuchang. With a dark expression, he cracked the joints of his knuckles.
Wen Nuan hardened his resolve and continued to cry incredibly sorrowfully. “Daddy! Don’t—don’t throw me away, I was wrong!”
“I…I won’t ask for a balloon ever again!”
“Daddy, don’t dislike me, I’ll be good.”
In a moment, the number of onlookers increased. They were misguided by Wen Nuan’s words, successively crusading against Baili Wuchang.
“It’s just a balloon. What an overly strict father you are.”
“Right, it’s such a small thing.”
“The child’s already crying into hiccups.”
Because of Wen Nuan’s tantrum, Baili Wuchang couldn’t just drop him. In order to quickly settle things, Heibai Wuchang grabbed Wen Nuan and corralled their boss into the Hell Chain Hotel.
“Bang!”
Once inside their hotel room, they slammed the door shut.
There was just Wen Nuan and Baili Wuchang left. Heibai Wuchang didn’t want to add fuel to the fire, so they quietly excused themselves to stand guard at the door.
Baili Wuchang’s expression was dark. He stared at Wen Nuan, who was sitting on the sofa, and said, “Who are you, and what do you want? Sum up all the facts. My patience is thin.”
Wen Nuan’s legs couldn’t even reach the ground when he sat on the sofa, making his grandeur incredibly weak. He slipped his shoes off and stood on the cushions instead.
But…
Even if he stood, he was nowhere near as tall as Baili Wuchang.
Wen Nuan stood arms akimbo and raised his head. “I’ll tell you the truth. Even if we don’t know each other now, we will eighteen years later!”
“Hah—” Baili Wuchang scoffed. He obviously didn’t believe him.
Wen Nuan scratched his cheek. He felt like he sounded like a conman or a fortune teller.
With a serious look on his face, Wen Nuan said, “I’m telling the truth! Really! You have to believe me! I came here from eighteen years in the future.”
“Hah—” Baili Wuchang coldly scoffed for a second time.
“You?” Baili Wuchang looked at him scornfully. “For a mere child to use time control, you’d probably need a thousand more years.”
Wen Nuan: “…” I’m being made fun of.
Wen Nuan waved his hands. “No, no; my point is, even though I don’t have any spiritual ability, it was because of a magical item that randomly sent me back eighteen years into the past. It was a pillow!”
The Youxian pillow…
Wen Nuan realized the reason he ended up here was because of the Youxian pillow. There was definitely a connection.
So whether this was time travel or a dream, Wen Nuan couldn’t tell anymore.
Perhaps just as the legends had it, the Youxian pillow could turn dreams into reality. But like “Zhuang Zhou Dreams of Being a Butterfly”, the separation between fantasy and reality was too thin to tell apart.
Baili Wuchang furrowed his brow, seemingly deep in thought.
Wen Nuan quickly added, “The Youxian pillow! It was because of the Youxian pillow. Surely you’ve heard of it? I came across that very pillow.”
Baili Wuchang looked at him inquisitively. “You came across the Youxian pillow? The Youxian pillow has been lost for ages. Rumor has it’s already been destroyed. How could you have come across it?”
“I really did.” Wen Nuan could tell he still didn’t believe him. He was so anxious he started jumping on the sofa.
Outside the doors where Heibai Wuchang were guarding, Hei Wuchang’s face was as passive as ever, not at all like he had come across anything extraordinary.
Bai Wuchang stuck his neck out and peered around, scratching his ears. He whispered, “Xiao Hei, do you hear any activity from inside?”
Hei Wuchang glanced at him in exasperation. “Don’t be nosy.”
“But I am!” Bai Wuchang put an arm on his waist. “That little imp is glued to the boss. Since the boss didn’t kill him in one fell swoop, I think the boss has taken an interest in him.”
Hei Wuchang said, “Ghost envoys are prohibited from randomly killing people.”
Bai Wuchang replied, “It was just a figure of speech.”
The soundproofing in the room was so-so. They could occasionally hear Wen Nuan’s excited shouting, but they couldn’t hear clearly.”
Bai Wuchang was dying of curiosity. “I’m just gonna take a peek!”
He reached out a little hand. Hei Wuchang couldn’t stop him in time before Bai Wuchang drew something on the door.
In a split second, a glowing circle appeared, and the door became transparent. People outside could see what was going on inside.
“Ho—!!!”
Bai Wuchang’s eyes widened, and he gasped wildly, covering his eyes with both his hands. “It’s so electrifying! Boss’s tastes are a bit too crazy!”
Inside.
Wen Nuan had tried to explain himself, but even jumping into the Yellow River wouldn’t clear his case. Baili Wuchang just wouldn’t believe him, nor did he understand who Wen Nuan was.
Wen Nuan was at his wits end. Suddenly, he had an epiphany. Eyes widening in pleasant surprise, he said, “Right! It’s okay if you don’t recognize me, but you should recognize this!”
This…
Wen Nuan meant the red mark on his back.
Wen Nuan felt like he truly was a genius. At his darkest hour, like a glimmer of hope, he had come up with this idea.
Though he didn’t understand the significance behind the birthmark on his back, he knew Baili Wuchang would react differently. He’d even warned repeatedly over and over not to show anyone else.
Wen Nuan stood on the sofa, his little arms quick at work to unbutton his shirt.
Baili Wuchang frowned. “What are you doing?”
Wen Nuan answered straightforwardly, “Taking my shirt off! You’ll understand when I’m done.”
Baili Wuchang stood up, somewhat perturbed, walking over to stop whatever Wen Nuan was doing.
Wen Nuan efficiently removed his shirt to show his fair skin, exposing his back to Baili Wuchang. He said enthusiastically, “Look, look; hurry up and see!”
The corners of Baili Wuchang’s eyebrows twitched uncontrollably. He said calmly, “Put your clothes back on.”
No way. Does he not see the birthmark? This wasn’t what I imagined to happen.
Outside the door, Heibai Wuchang were peeping, and they happened to see the scene of Wen Nuan taking off his shirt. Because they could only see and not hear, Bai Wuchang had already made up a million different wacky fantasies inside his head.
“I’ll say it once more. Put your clothes back on.” Baili Wuchang felt like today was a hot mess. He had to hold himself back from throwing Wen Nuan out the window.
Wen Nuan didn’t believe it. He craned his neck around to look behind him. “The birthmark, it’s right…”
When he looked back, he saw his reflection in the mirror. His back was clear as day, white as snow, without even a mole to speak of. There was no birthmark at all.
Wen Nuan was floored. “The birthmark…how come it disappeared?”
The author has something to say: [Mini Theater]
Lord Baili: Why did I play delinquent with a kid?
Wen·Has a Lisp·Little-Nuan: I’m not a kid! I’m a dewinquent!
Xiao Bai: Wow, how exciting!
Xiao Hei: …
Poor Wen Nuan! Doing good deeds but can’t get Baili Wuchang to beweive him!
I thought Hei Wuchang was the one who had a wild imagination 😭😭
I like this story so much, thank you for the new chapter! 🌸🌸🌸
Poor dewinquent nuan can’t get his future hubby to recognise him XD and somehow xiao hei and xiao seemed to switch personalities in this dream? This duo is still hilarious together tho 😂