Chapter 5

Chapter 5

On the way back to the palace with the infant in my arms, he suddenly burst into tears again. As he cried, he rubbed his little face against my chest. I panicked completely. “Xuan Niao, what am I supposed to feed him?”

Xuan Niao looked at me coldly, with no intention whatsoever of lending a hand.

Gritting my teeth, I was just about to loosen the front of my robe when Xuan Niao suddenly reached out to stop me, then led me to a well beneath a patch of dense shade. “If he is hungry, draw some Bell Stone Milky Essence from this Spiritual Well and feed it to him. You must never nurse him yourself.”

“Why…”

Seeing the look on Xuan Niao’s face, I silently swallowed the rest of my question.

“As for your insistence on keeping the child, I will report it to the Divine Lord exactly as it is.”

“Oh.”

After a moment of silence, a small spark of hope rose in my heart. “By the way, when you report to the Divine Lord later, could I trouble you to mention one more thing… This child still has no name.”

“…”

After Xuan Niao left, I went to the Spiritual Well and had some Jade Milk drawn. There were Imperial Slaves everywhere here, so I did not need to do it myself.

Only, as I was feeding him, the infant drank too eagerly. His swaddling loosened slightly, revealing two pitch-black eyes.

I shuddered so hard I nearly knocked over the clay bowl!

I had to admit, the only thing that set this child apart from an ordinary baby was that wicked pair of eyes. They were a little frightening, yes, but if I looked at them a few more times, surely I would gradually get used to them.

Thinking that, I did my best to bolster my courage and brought the clay bowl to the infant’s lips again.

Perhaps because he was happy drinking, he grinned cheerfully at me, revealing the blood-red inside of his mouth. Paired with those indescribable eyes…

Ugh. Even more terrifying.

By evening, wisps of sunset glow drifted between the palace halls.

After several uninterrupted rounds of Jade Milk feeding, the child had already grown quite a bit. He could crawl crookedly across the reed mat, his nimble little head turning this way and that. He could clearly recognize people now, and whenever he saw someone, he smiled. He was exceedingly lively.

As long as one did not look at his eyes, from any angle, he was a perfectly lovable, perfectly normal little baby.

My heart eased somewhat. I held the child in my arms and coaxed him. “Look how adorable you are. Your father will certainly like you too, won’t he?”

“Hah. Who knows if he is even the Divine Lord’s seed?”

Before the words had fully faded, a fragrant breeze swept toward me. From the shaded trees lining both sides of the path emerged a grand procession. A young woman sat upon a carriage, wearing a seven-colored floral crown and a snow-white feather robe, her long skirt trailing along the ground.

She had not come with good intentions.

So I simply held the child and played with him, utterly ignoring that ugly expression of hers.

This unfamiliar woman looked dainty and delicate, but the moment she opened her mouth, her words were vicious through and through. “Jiang Yuan, what sort of seductive arts do you have, to make the Divine Lord take one look at you and appoint you Primary Consort?”

I smiled. “Hah. Short-legged horse.”

“What did you call me?”

“Oh? The short-legged horse can talk?”

“You!”

This woman from who knew where had every emotion written plainly across her face. She pointed at me. “You lot, slap her mouth for me!”

As soon as she finished speaking, two burly Imperial Slaves leapt out from the procession.

I hugged the child tightly and snapped, “Who, exactly, is the Primary Consort here?!”

Just as the two sides reached a stalemate, a voice suddenly came from behind me. “Jian Di, why are you here?”

Xuan Niao had returned.

Jian Di seemed rather wary of Xuan Niao. After stammering a few words, she ordered the Imperial Slaves to pull her carriage away. Before she had gone far, Xuan Niao nodded to me. “The Divine Lord permits you to raise him, and has bestowed a name.”

Naturally, I was overjoyed. “What name?”

Xuan Niao spoke only one word, yet it made my whole heart sink to the bottom.

“What did you say?”

Xuan Niao repeated it. This time, not only did I hear clearly, even Jian Di nearby heard it as well. Sitting on her carriage, she clapped and roared with laughter, rocking back and forth so hard she nearly rolled off several times.

The infant in my arms knew nothing of it. Still asleep, he blew a sweet little bubble.

Holding the child, I could not help murmuring to myself, “No matter what, you have a name now. You are no longer some nameless bastard.

“Your father named you Qi…”

The moment the words left my mouth, my vision blurred.

He named you Qi…

He actually named you Qi!