“I Will Treat It Like a True Orphan”
“Monster.”
“Monster.” The man spoke again, his tone so light it was almost ethereal, as if he were savoring the word.
Zhang Lu opened his mouth, but his throat felt as though something was stuffed inside it.
Just now, he had clearly caught a fleeting flash of emotion in the depths of the man’s eyes.
A faint, almost fragile strangeness.
Was it because of the word “monster”?
Before he could figure it out, that trace of strangeness completely vanished, and the man’s eyes were once again left with only a piercing, bone-chilling coldness.
Yet the corners of his lips were slightly upturned, as if smiling:
“To be a monster’s father, I should consider myself quite honored.”
“Pervert!” Zhang Lu gritted his teeth, forcing out the word, completely speechless.
He did not want to dwell on this topic any longer. “Do not let my little brother know about this. I will listen to you in everything.”
The man chuckled softly, his gaze sweeping up and down Zhang Lu as if deliberating whether to agree.
A moment later, he said slowly, “The whole process will be very difficult. Do you really not want your brother to take care of you?”
Zhang Lu felt as though his lungs were about to explode, and he squeezed a stiff refusal out from between his teeth: “No need.”
The man looked at him, the corners of his lips curving into a slight arc, and replied indifferently, “Fine, I will do as you say.”
He did not push him any further.
The two of them walked among the flowers for a little longer before the man stopped, raised a hand, and pointed to the rattan chair beneath the garden trellis: “Are you tired of walking? Sit down and rest a while.”
Zhang Lu complied, walking over and sitting down stiffly.
The man immediately sat down beside him.
The sunlight was warm, filtering down through the gaps in the rose branches. Surrounded by blooming roses, the pink and white petals swayed gently in the breeze, and the air was filled with fragrance.
Yet Zhang Lu felt nothing toward such beauty.
The man’s palm was already reaching toward his yet unchanged lower abdomen, rubbing it gently.
“Relax,” the man said softly. “If you are this tense, you will scare it.”
Zhang Lu’s hands gripped the edges of the rattan chair tightly, his fingers clutching it until it hurt.
“Would you like to give a name to the monster inside your body?”
The man’s palm was clearly scorching hot, yet wherever it touched, it only sent a chilling shiver straight from Zhang Lu’s bones.
“No.”
“Then I will name it instead. Well, what should we call it?”
“No!” Zhang Lu gritted his teeth.
He took a sharp breath, rambling somewhat incoherently: “I mean, I will call it…”
His mind was a mess, his temples throbbing in waves.
“Call it Xiao Xiao.”
The man furrowed his brows slightly, as if he had not heard clearly: “What?”
“Xiao Xiao,” Zhang Lu raised his volume, making it firmer. “Just call it Xiao Xiao.”
He did not want to tell the man the thought that had surged into his mind at that exact moment:
In the broken, pitch-black midnight, from an unknown and distant place, a faint, weeping melody of music had drifted over.
Though he knew nothing of rhythm or musical tuning back then, he had listened to it with tears streaming down his face.
Later on, he learned that it was the sound of a vertical bamboo flute.
Xiao—Xiao Xiao.
The man looked at him silently for a moment, his gaze deep and inscrutable, before he finally nodded slowly and accepted the name.
His palm still gently covered Zhang Lu’s lower abdomen, his fingertips drawing light circles, when he suddenly lowered his voice, his tone softer and more tender than ever before, whispering directly to that spot:
“Xiao Xiao, I am very much looking forward to your arrival.”
Two completely contradictory emotions surged within Zhang Lu’s chest.
On one side was an ingrained disgust; on the other was an irrepressible whirlpool of mixed feelings.
The little creature inside his belly now had a name.
And he was the one who had chosen it.
He had seen that blurry scan, and he had heard its clear, powerful heartbeat.
Could he really continue to live in self-deception?
A familiar wave of nausea suddenly surged up his throat. He pressed his lips tightly together, his face turning pale as he forced down the rising pregnancy sickness.
Sensing his discomfort, the man removed his hand from his abdomen.
Instead, he gently stroked Zhang Lu’s back up and down.
This action only made Zhang Lu feel even more nauseous.
He raised his eyes to glare fiercely at the man, his gaze mixed with anger, grievance, and incomprehension, and rasped out a question:
“Since you are looking forward to this child so much, why do you not go find a normal woman to have one properly? Why must you do this to me?”
The corners of the man’s eyes narrowed, a half-smile playing on his lips as he leaned close to Zhang Lu’s ear. His warm breath and teasing words drilled straight in:
“That, of course, is because you are the most suitable one.”
Zhang Lu’s teeth clenched so hard they nearly fractured, and the anger accumulated at the bottom of his heart could no longer be contained, erupting violently:
“Even if you want to take revenge on me, you do not have to drag your own child into it!”
He suddenly raised his hand, grabbing the man’s collar, his chest heaving violently.
Far from being provoked by his anger, the man let out a low, soft chuckle from the depths of his throat.
He did not struggle in the slightest, letting Zhang Lu grip his collar tightly, and even leaned forward proactively along with the force, closing the distance between them into a suffocating, dangerous proximity.
A finger brushed against Zhang Lu’s furrowed brow, pressing it down bit by bit.
“Revenge? You are wrong.” The man’s voice was like honey laced with poison, sickly sweet yet carrying a bone-chilling frost that made one’s hair stand on end.
“How could this be revenge? My child, a natural-born monster, having a mother like you.”
The man smiled lightly, his gaze locking onto Zhang Lu’s abruptly constricted pupils: “This is your flesh and blood. What will you choose? Destroy it? Abandon it? Let it fend for itself?”
This question struck like a red-hot iron brand, fiercely searing Zhang Lu’s heart.
All his forbearance, anger, and humiliation completely broke through the floodgates. Shivering all over, he clenched his fists with all his might and threw a punch straight at the man’s face, showing no technique, only a desperate, do-or-die ferocity.
The man did not dodge at all, taking the punch squarely. With a dull thud, warm blood instantly welled up from his nasal cavity, slipping down the corner of his lips to drip onto the back of Zhang Lu’s hand, which was still gripping his collar, burning hot.
Zhang Lu froze, a dull ache still lingering in his knuckles from the impact, his eyes filled with disbelief and bewilderment.
The smile remained on the man’s face, faint as ever. He raised a hand to gently wipe away the blood beneath his nose, and then slowly brought the blood-stained fingertips to his lips, leisurely licking away the warm red trace like a wild beast.
Next, he reached out, firmly enclosing Zhang Lu’s still-trembling fist within his palm, his tone as gentle as a lover’s whisper:
“You have not answered me yet. After Xiao Xiao is born, what will you do?”
Zhang Lu gritted his teeth so hard they clicked, his knuckles turning pale. With a sudden burst of strength, he yanked his fist back from the man’s palm and let it drop heavily to his side.
He said not a word, simply lifting his head to gaze at the clear sky above.
The garden was still filled with the fragrance of roses, and the warm sunlight fell all around.
Yet the surrounding air felt so heavy from this dead silence that it was suffocating.
The man lowered his gaze, his expression unreadable. After a moment of silence, he too raised his eyes to the horizon, the corners of his lips curving slightly:
“I heard that you and your brother woke up one morning to find your parents gone without a trace, disappearing completely?”
“At that time, your brother was only three. And you? Ten, or eleven?”
Zhang Lu was not surprised that the man knew about his past, but these words still felt like sharp thorns piercing straight into his heart.
“Are you afraid?” the man asked, his tone sounding almost curious.
“Afraid of what?”
Zhang Lu’s voice was hoarse, a suppressed fire burning inside his chest.
“Afraid of not being able to survive.”
Zhang Lu coldly twitched the corner of his mouth, remaining tight-lipped.
“Or not being able to protect your brother.”
The man’s voice turned gentle once more: “After all, you were still just a child yourself. Did you never think of handing your brother over to someone else, say, a foster family?”
Zhang Lu’s heart tightened, and anger finally forced his voice out of his throat. He turned his head, fixing a glare on the man: “You forced me to give birth to it, just to send it away for someone else to raise?”
“Xiao Xiao.”
“What?” Zhang Lu was startled.
The man smiled slightly, his voice carrying a soft, coaxing tone: “Its name is Xiao Xiao. The name you chose.”
Zhang Lu closed his mouth once again, his lips pressing into a cold, rigid line.
“You be a good mother to Xiao Xiao, and I will be a good father to it.” The man’s eyes and brows curved. The sharp aggressiveness naturally brought by his refined facial features completely dissipated at this moment.
Even with dried blood still staining beneath his nose, that face remained so strikingly handsome that even Zhang Lu could not find a single flaw.
Yet the words coming out of the man’s mouth still made him want to vomit blood.
“Pervert!” he squeezed out the two words through his teeth.
“Jin Yuan.”
Meeting Zhang Lu’s puzzled gaze, the man leisurely repeated it: “Jin Yuan. My name.”
Zhang Lu looked away, raising his volume instead to pronounce each word distinctly: “Pervert!”
“Xiao Xiao, your mother says you are a monster and calls me a pervert.”
Unfazed, the man chuckled lowly, reaching out to stroke Zhang Lu’s lower abdomen, his tone as soft as if he were murmuring to the child inside.
Unable to bear it any longer, Zhang Lu grabbed Jin Yuan’s wrist and growled hoarsely: “Do not call me mother. I am not a woman!”
“Yet it is inside your body right now.” Jin Yuan gave his wrist a slight twist, easily breaking free from the grip while keeping his palm firmly planted and slowly rubbing against Zhang Lu’s abdomen.
“Only women have the qualification to be mothers!”
“Are you saying you want to be a woman?” Jin Yuan chuckled lightly.
Zhang Lu was instantly left speechless, his chest heaving violently.
He had to endure.
It was better to just stay quiet. As long as he spoke, he would sooner or later be driven to an early grave by this man.
“You give birth to it,” the man’s voice was breezy, as if he were discussing the clear weather, the gentle breeze, and the pleasant floral fragrance. “And then you can decide whether you want it or not. If you don’t want it, it does not matter. Rest assured, I will not give it to your brother. I will treat it like a true orphan, and send it off to a place where even I will lose track of its whereabouts.”
“What the hell are you…” Zhang Lu caught himself, abruptly standing up, towering over the man as he raised his fist once more.
Yet this punch never came down.
Simply because the smile on Jin Yuan’s face was far too strange.
His heart sank, and his movement froze stiffly in mid-air.
“Do you really care so little about your child?”
Hearing Zhang Lu’s question, Jin Yuan smiled faintly, though his eyes were filled with chilling coldness: “Did you not say so yourself long ago? I am a pervert. The blood relative of a monster.”