Chapter 13: The Real Heir in a Fake Young Master Heartthrob Novel

After Shen Yijing entered adolescence, his little one started to dislike him, which made him feel a bit upset.

He knew Jiujiu was ticklish, so he reached out and poked the spot next to Jiujiu’s wing. As Jiujiu laughed and rolled all over the floor, he kept calling his name: “Jiujiu, Jiujiu…”

Exhausted from laughing, Jiujiu lay sprawled on the desk, staring at his smug father and muttering quietly, “Daddy is so annoying.”

Back in middle school, things were still fine—Shen Yijing only came home a bit later than usual.

Although students could stay in the dorms, he missed his little one at home, so he chose to commute.

After night classes, the driver would come pick him up. Even when he had three or four extra classes, there’d always be a bright-eyed little one waiting for him on the living room sofa.

When he graduated from middle school, Shen Yijing unknowingly brought home several love letters written by his female classmates.

He usually brought snacks home in his schoolbag. As long as he made sure they were safe for Jiujiu to eat, he’d just pick whatever he thought tasted good.

So it became Jiujiu’s habit to dive into his dad’s backpack every time he came home to dig for snacks.

But this time, before finding any snacks, Jiujiu was overwhelmed by a strange fragrance, sneezed, shook his head, and sneezed again.

Shen Yijing, who was sitting on the sofa chatting with his mom, noticed Jiujiu and came over to check. He pulled out a few pale pink-and-blue envelopes from a side pocket.

Every time Jiujiu smelled perfume, he couldn’t help sneezing. He could keep sneezing endlessly. Even Mother Gu rarely wore perfume because of it.

When Mother Gu saw this scene, she smiled at her son—he was growing up. Girls were already writing him love letters.

Shen Yijing wasn’t a fool. Once he realized what they were, he placed the letters on the coffee table, planning to stash them away later.

“What’s that?”

Jiujiu chirped twice, trying to ask his dad, looking so puzzled even Mother Gu could tell what he meant.

“Those are love letters that Yijing received at school.”

“Chirp chirp? What’s a love letter?”

Jiujiu pushed his dad with his wing, a bit impatient—how could there be something he didn’t know?

It was a bit awkward for Shen Yijing to explain. He rubbed Jiujiu’s head gently, and when Jiujiu started enjoying the petting, he said:

“Grown-up stuff. Little birds won’t understand.”

This annoyed Jiujiu so much he flew off clutching the snack his dad had bought, leaving Mother Gu chuckling.

“Yijing, Mom believes you can handle this on your own, right?”

Shen Yijing nodded, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and took the letters back to his room, planning to also look for his sulking bird.

Once inside, he put down his bag and tucked the letters into a cabinet he never opened.

Maybe because he was naturally mature, Shen Yijing found things like early romance rather childish. But it felt wrong to throw away someone’s youthful affections like trash.

So he chose not to read them and simply stored them away.

After eating the candy Dad bought, Jiujiu fell asleep on his pillow—head, claws, and wings sprawled in different directions—leaving no room at all for Shen Yijing.

During the summer between middle school and high school, Shen Yijing had no homework. Mother Gu and her husband decided to take him on a trip.

While Shen Yijing was still considering whether to go, Jiujiu, who had been perched on his shoulder, flew straight over to his mom.

Mother Gu’s cheek itched from Jiujiu rubbing his fluffy head against her. Shen Yijing realized his little one was trying to butter her up, and with a helpless shake of his head, he agreed.

Father Gu had planned everything in advance, and they visited many places.

While drifting along in a bamboo raft, Jiujiu stared intently at the fish swimming in the crystal-clear water below. He nipped at Shen Yijing’s finger and chirped solemnly under his puzzled gaze:

“Daddy, catch one for Jiujiu.”

Shen Yijing glanced in the direction he pointed—sure enough, there were fish.

“Do I look like I can catch one?”

Mother Gu overheard and turned back, seeing both her son and Jiujiu staring down at the water. Then she looked away again.

“Of course you can! Daddy is amazing! You can catch so many for Jiujiu. There’s nothing in the world Daddy can’t do!”

Shen Yijing looked at his overly confident little bird and wanted to tell him, “Don’t include me when you’re bragging.”

It seemed like ever since their first meeting, Jiujiu had believed in him unconditionally. Even when Shen Yijing doubted himself, Jiujiu would flap his wings and say, “Daddy can do it!”

When they stopped to rest, Shen Yijing asked the guide and confirmed the fish were there for tourists to catch. So he rolled up his pants and stepped into the water.

“Yijing, what are you doing?”

Mother Gu was worried he’d catch a cold and rushed over to ask.

“Catching a fish for Jiujiu.”

He found a quieter spot and moved carefully. After about half an hour, he finally managed to catch one.

Jiujiu, who normally had no patience, had waited the whole time by the shore.

“Daddy is the best! I knew Daddy was amazing!”

After the flattery, Jiujiu flew back to his dad’s shoulder. But just as Shen Yijing tried to feed him the fish, Jiujiu fluffed up in horror.

“Daddy, what are you doing!!”

“Didn’t you say you wanted this?”

Shen Yijing was confused by his rejection. Wasn’t Jiujiu the one who asked him to catch a fish?

“It needs to be clean! Jiujiu will only eat it if it’s clean!”

Jiujiu covered his beak with one wing and pointed at the still-wriggling fish with the other.

To avoid polluting the water, Shen Yijing walked to a nearby trash bin, cleaned the fish’s innards, and rinsed it with bottled water before bringing it to Jiujiu.

“Mm… next time, I’ll just eat cooked ones.”

On the way back to the hotel, Jiujiu was still discussing the texture with his dad.

Their next stop was a mountain hike. Mother Gu and Father Gu were exhausted, but Shen Yijing, who exercised regularly, was only breathing slightly heavier.

Jiujiu was nestled in a basket the whole way, carried by his dad, and somehow still managed to strike a seductive pose—not that anyone could really tell.

At the mountaintop, a gust of wind nearly blew Jiujiu away. He clung tightly to the edge of the basket with both wings and claws, chirping loudly to remind his dad he was still there.

Shen Yijing tried to block the wind for him, but it didn’t help much. It was summer, their clothes were thin, and Jiujiu had nowhere to hide. He ended up a wind-blown, confused ball of feathers.

The last stop was a temple. Mother Gu wanted to pray for the family’s health and for Yijing to succeed in his studies.

The temple was known for being spiritually effective, and there was a rumor: if a couple visited, but they weren’t meant to be, they’d break up soon after.

In other words, only family members would visit this place together.

The day before they went, Mother Gu came home with a brand-new basket with a canopy to shield Jiujiu from the sun during the hike.

Jiujiu loved the pretty basket so much he hopped in and lay down as soon as she brought it home.

If he hadn’t known he was just a chubby little bird and that his affectionate pecks sometimes hurt, and if it weren’t for the fact that only biting Dad didn’t result in scolding, he might’ve even wanted to kiss Grandma.

While climbing the mountain, Mother Gu was worried her son would get tired, so she tried to take the basket from him, but Jiujiu poked his head out and flew a short distance, just for show.

The sun was too harsh, and since he wasn’t molting, his fluffy feathers quickly got sweaty. He retreated back into his little basket. On the way up the mountain, Mother Gu bought a bottle of ice-cold mineral water for ten yuan and tucked it into the basket.

If he hadn’t been worried about his feathers getting wet, Jiujiu would’ve liked to cling to that chilled water bottle.

When they finally arrived at the temple, Mother Gu and Father Gu first made a donation for incense and received incense sticks from the gatekeeping monk, even specially requesting a smaller set.

The monk, having seen many worshippers over the years, knew some regarded their pets as family. Since Buddhism speaks of equality among all beings, he kindly brought out the shortest incense stick.

Noticing someone looking at him, Jiujiu lifted the basket’s curtain with his wing and chirped a greeting.

Even the smallest incense stick was still a bit too big for Jiujiu. When it was time to pray, Shen Yijing helped him. On the large prayer cushion, Jiujiu sat right in the middle, folding his wings together imitating his dad’s posture.

At that moment, the abbot came by to replace the offerings in front of the Buddha. Seeing the little chick kneeling on the big cushion, he picked up a piece of offering cake and handed it to him.

He’d just meant to let the chick have a taste, but to his surprise, after a few pecks, Jiujiu chirped sweetly as if expressing thanks.

The abbot squatted in front of Jiujiu, patiently waiting for him to finish eating the cake.

Offerings in front of the Buddha were often shared with worshippers, and Jiujiu ate so tidily that not a single crumb was left behind.

Finding the taste pleasant, Jiujiu lightly tugged at the abbot with his wing just as the latter was about to stand up, and then rubbed his head against him.

Lifting his head, Jiujiu stared up at the abbot with wide, hopeful eyes.

For some reason, the abbot felt he could understand what the little chick meant. He picked up another piece of cake from the altar and walked over.

Jiujiu pointed at his dad with a wing—he’d forgotten to share the first piece with him and was asking for another to give to Dad.

Seeing how thoughtful the chick was, the abbot grew even more fond of him and gently placed him in the palm of his hand. For the sake of the two pieces of cake, Jiujiu cooperated very well and played along.

Only when he noticed his dad getting ready to leave did he flap his wings twice, chirping his goodbye to the abbot.

“Wait.”

“Chirp?”

The abbot took the Buddhist prayer beads from his wrist and looped them around Jiujiu’s neck, sealing the karmic bond between them. The beads pressed his feathers down a bit.

At first, Jiujiu disliked the heavy thing, and chirped twice in protest. But then he saw his dad waiting nearby and suddenly thought—this could be a gift for Daddy.

With the prayer beads around his neck, Jiujiu couldn’t fly. Standing in the abbot’s palm, he lifted his head and signaled to his father: come quickly and take your baby.