"I don't know who my dad is," Deng Tianxin said, blinking his big eyes, his voice soft and sweet. "Mom says Dad died a long time ago, so she's going to find me a stepdad."
Bibi Dong's pupils suddenly widened.
"Deng! Tian! Xin!"
Bibi Dong's roar exploded along the path through the woods, sending countless birds flying from the trees.
She grabbed Deng Tianxin by the back of his collar and yanked him off her lap, holding him up in the air.
Her cheeks were blazing red. It was impossible to tell whether she was furious or embarrassed, and the eyes that were usually so composed now burned with blazing rage.
"Explain yourself! Who's your mother? Who's going to find you a stepdad?" Bibi Dong nearly spat out each word through clenched teeth.
Deng Tianxin swung in the air, but he wasn't the least bit flustered. Instead, he blinked at her and flashed a sly smile that only Bibi Dong could see.
Bibi Dong froze.
That expression... Was the little brat doing this on purpose?
"Dong'er," Yu Xiaogang's voice came from behind her, trembling despite his efforts to suppress it. "Is what the child said true? You're going to find him... a stepdad?"
"Xiaogang! He's talking nonsense!" Bibi Dong spun around, her voice cracking in her panic. "I only met him today! Less than an hour ago! He was trying to rob me just now, and he called me Auntie! How could I possibly be his mother?"
"Rob you?" Yu Xiaogang's gaze swept back and forth between them, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. "A six-year-old child tried to rob you?"
At that moment, Yu Xiaogang was starting to believe Deng Tianxin.
Only a fool would believe that a six-year-old child had robbed the Saintess of Spirit Hall.
"Yeah! He used a wooden stick—" Bibi Dong looked down, searching for the stick as proof, but Deng Tianxin's hands were empty. Who knew which bush he'd thrown the weapon into?
"Mom, you promised that if I kept your secret, you wouldn't get mad at me," Deng Tianxin interjected at just the right moment.
His voice was full of grievance, and even a sheen of tears had appeared in his eyes.
Bibi Dong whipped around and glared at Deng Tianxin as if he were a demon.
The little brat could fake crying, too?!
"Little friend," Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice calm. "You said your mother was going to find you a stepdad. So... who's this stepdad?"
Deng Tianxin tilted his head, gazed innocently at Yu Xiaogang, and pointed at him with his little hand.
"I think it's you."
"..."
Yu Xiaogang's complexion shifted from white to green, then green to black, before settling into a complicated shade of grayish white—all in three seconds.
Oh no, Bibi Dong wanted him to raise another man's child.
Though Yu Xiaogang was a good-for-nothing, he wasn't an idiot. How could he agree to raise another man's child?
If he did, his clan would kill him for sure.
Yu Xiaogang resolved to cut all ties with Bibi Dong.
Yu Xiaogang took a step back.
It wasn't a big step, but it struck Bibi Dong's heart like a knife.
"Xiaogang," Bibi Dong's voice trembled, and so did the hand clutching Deng Tianxin by the collar. "You don't really believe what he's saying, do you?"
Yu Xiaogang didn't answer, but his silence hurt more than any words could have.
Dangling in the air, Deng Tianxin tilted his head and watched them. His little face still wore that look of pure innocence, but inside, he was overjoyed.
The fragment inside Bibi Dong was reacting more and more intensely. It wouldn't be long before he could get it.
Bibi Dong was so emotionally agitated now. If Yu Xiaogang said a few more cruel things, perhaps the fragment would come right out.
Once he had it, he'd slip away amid the chaos and leave no trace of his good deed.
"Yu Xiaogang," Bibi Dong said his full name, her voice tinged with a panic Deng Tianxin had never heard from her before. "We've been together for so long. You'd rather believe a child you've known for less than an hour than believe me?"
"I want to believe you," Yu Xiaogang finally said, his voice as hoarse as sandpaper scraping wood. "But tell me, why would a six-year-old make up such a complicated lie to slander you?"
"Because he holds a grudge! Because I spanked him!" Bibi Dong practically shouted.
As soon as the words left her mouth, even she thought the explanation sounded utterly ridiculous.
"He called you Mom," Yu Xiaogang's gaze shifted from Bibi Dong's face to Deng Tianxin's, then back again. "He clung to your leg, said you were going to find him a stepdad, and said his father was dead. All of that was because you spanked him?"
"That's not it..." Bibi Dong's eyes reddened with panic. "He really is doing it on purpose! Didn't you see him wink at me just now? He's acting!"
Deng Tianxin sniffed at just the right moment. His eyes brimmed with tears, but he stubbornly bit his lip to keep them from falling, looking as pitiful as could be.
"Mom," Deng Tianxin said in a tearful voice, trying hard to sound brave. "Don't be mad. I know you don't like me. As long as you're happy, you can say whatever you want..."
Bibi Dong whipped around and glared at Deng Tianxin as if he were a devil from hell.
At last, she understood one thing: he had come specifically to cure love-brained fools.
"Dong'er," Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath and forced a smile that looked worse than crying. "I just remembered, I have some things to take care of at home."
Bibi Dong froze.
He had things to take care of at home?
Yu Xiaogang had been kicked out of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan long ago. What home did he have?
"I still haven't finished organizing my research materials, and my friends are urging me to go back, too." As he spoke, Yu Xiaogang backed away, his steps growing faster. He gave her no chance to interrupt. "Take good care of the child... He's innocent, after all. We can talk about us another time."
"Xiaogang! Stop!" Bibi Dong's voice was tinged with a panic she'd never felt before.
But Yu Xiaogang had already turned around and was striding away, almost at a run.
His retreat wasn't exactly resolute, but every step took him farther from her, farther from this painfully humiliating scene.
"Yu Xiaogang!"
Bibi Dong's voice rang through the woods, piercing with something close to despair.
She had never lost control like this before.
The Saintess of Spirit Hall—Bibi Dong, always composed, always elegant, always in control—now looked like an ordinary woman driven into a corner, her eyes red and her whole body trembling.
But that retreating figure didn't stop.
Not only did he fail to stop, he walked even faster.
Yu Xiaogang's pace went from a brisk walk to a jog, then from a jog to a sprint. He didn't look like he was leaving a woman he'd once loved deeply so much as fleeing a raging beast.
"Stop! I said stop!"
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