The thought, Had the world finally stopped making sense?
On the fourth night, Shen Yangge dismissed that notion. He had heard a baby crying because his mermaid constitution made his senses of smell, sight, and hearing exceptionally keen. That faint crying was something only he could hear.
Shen Yangge pointed out a spot and had the little stutterer dig there. Sure enough, he unearthed a swaddled baby whose face had turned purple from crying.
What surprised him was that the baby had survived all these days. But when he saw the corpse lying beside the baby, he suddenly fell silent.
He had the Imperial Guards carry the corpse away and bury it. The swaddled baby kept crying without pause. Even when exhausted, the baby kept opening his mouth, maintaining the motion despite being unable to make a sound, as though that was the only way to prove he was still alive.
Shen Yangge asked around, but all these grown men were bachelors. They had no elderly relatives or children at home, much less wives, and had never dealt with a child this young. Every one of them was at a loss.
The little stutterer did know how to look after a baby, but when flustered, he could not even get a complete sentence out. If they left the child in his care and something happened, how would he explain it quickly?
And so the heavy responsibility fell back onto Shen Yangge. He had no idea what to do with a child whose face had turned purple from crying. Only after the little stutterer said the baby was hungry did he start wondering where to find something to eat.
After eating a few mouthfuls of steamed cornmeal bread softened in water, the baby finally closed his mouth and stopped crying. Only