Chapter 12: The Real Heir in a Fake Young Master Heartthrob Novel

Jiujiu’s overly intense reaction caused Shen Yijing to reach up and remove the bird perched on his head. Actually, he didn’t mind Jiujiu liking to do this, provided that he didn’t fly over and treat his head as a landing pad.

Initially, he had wanted to stop his dad, but unexpectedly, his dad placed him on top of that wooden box, forcing him to helplessly watch as his dad opened the drawer.

When Shen Yijing intended to take out another feather to place into the box, he accidentally noticed a smaller feather lying beside it.

Instinctively, he turned his gaze toward Jiujiu, holding the feather and asking:

“What is this about?”

Jiujiu innocently tilted his head. How could little Jiujiu harbor any bad intentions? He was just a clueless little fluffy bird.

Previously, due to the special nature of this feather, Shen Yijing had specifically asked his mother about it. The conclusion was that only he could see its uniqueness.

To others, it appeared as just an ordinary golden feather, yet in his eyes, it always seemed to glow.

“Jiujiu!”

Startled, Jiujiu immediately stood upright. He tried to appear innocent, but his guilty conscience betrayed him.

“Dad, maybe it’s him—he had a baby chick.”

“Do I look like a fool to you?”

Jiujiu hurriedly shook his head. How could his dad possibly look like a fool? Absolutely not.

“Then why would you say something like that?”

Shen Yijing wasn’t sure when exactly Jiujiu had plucked this feather off, but considering that this little bird had once wanted to abandon his own beak just because he pecked someone…

Compared to that incident, this matter didn’t seem so strange anymore.

“Jiujiu, there can’t be a next time.”

Hearing his dad’s tone, Jiujiu realized he intended to let it slide this time, and quickly agreed.

Anyway, next time’s issues could wait until next time. Getting past this current matter was the most important thing right now.

At night, after his dad had fallen asleep, Jiujiu still couldn’t sleep. He wanted to look at his own claws, but his round belly got in the way.

Unfortunately, his dad was currently undergoing Tribulation; otherwise, he would definitely ask him why Jiujiu didn’t have a molting period. If he did, he could simply collect some of his feathers every day and successfully support both his dad and himself.

Shen Yijing’s biological mother had just been released from prison but was soon sent back again because of that incident. The circumstances were severe—attempted murder with malicious intent, and the victim, Shen Yijing, was still a minor.

Gu’s parents had hired the best lawyers. They absolutely would not allow such a person another chance to harm their child for the third time.

Walking out of the courthouse, Shen Yijing raised his head to look at the sky, but Jiujiu first grabbed his fingertip with his beak, pointing his wing toward a nearby pancake stall.

Initially, Shen Yijing smelled the aroma and thought it was Jianbing (Chinese crepe), but upon approaching, he realized it was actually egg-filled pancakes (Jidan Guanbing).

Shen Yijing was very familiar with his little bird’s preferences, so he ordered one from the vendor, specifically requesting extra cilantro.

He himself couldn’t really tolerate the taste of cilantro, but Jiujiu loved it so much that if you placed a sprig of cilantro in front of him, he’d eat it directly like a snack.

Shen Yijing covered his nose with one hand and held the pancake to his little bird’s beak with the other.

Normally, Jiujiu’s excessively round figure made him prone to falling over no matter where he stood. However, when it came to eating, this was never an issue.

Standing on his dad’s shoulder, no matter how hard he stretched his head toward the pancake, he remained perfectly stable.

Throughout elementary school, Shen Yijing never saw Huo Sitong or Gu Qian again, though occasionally he would hear news about them from his mother.

Huo Sitong’s mother had always disliked Gu Qian. Although she loved her daughter deeply and chose to compromise when her daughter threatened not to eat, this didn’t mean she could calmly accept having the son of a criminal stay in her home.

She didn’t dare openly drive him away, fearing her daughter would throw a tantrum upon finding out. Instead, she resorted to various subtle methods, hoping Gu Qian would take the hint and leave on his own.

After Gu Qian’s biological mother was tried for attempted murder, Huo Sitong’s mother’s dissatisfaction toward Gu Qian reached its peak.

She strongly believed in genetic determinism, thinking that children inevitably resembled their parents.

If Gu Qian had been just an ordinary orphan, Huo Sitong’s mother wouldn’t have held such strong opinions against him.

At first, Shen Yijing felt upset about this, but gradually, he began to care less. After all, he could clearly feel his own mother’s love for him.

Similarly, he could sense that when his mother mentioned Gu Qian, it was simply out of sympathy for a child so young and unfortunate.

Shen Yijing didn’t know why, but perhaps because he himself had a little bird to care for, he could deeply empathize with many of his mother’s thoughts.

Just like when Jiujiu had previously seen the dove during a magic show—since both were birds, Shen Yijing felt sad upon hearing about it.

Perhaps his mother was the same way; seeing children around his age reminded her of her own child.

Shen Yijing had many interests. From a young age, Mother Gu had always cultivated his hobbies, and violin and piano were his favorites.

The violin was fine; whenever he started playing, Jiujiu liked to find a spacious spot to dance.

Although, with his round body, aside from spinning in circles, other dance moves weren’t very distinguishable. Still, judging by Jiujiu’s self-absorbed expression, he probably thought he danced quite well.

When Shen Yijing played the piano, Jiujiu also liked to accompany his dad. Occasionally, he would secretly press a piano key with his little claw, thinking he was being discreet enough not to be noticed by his dad.

As soon as Shen Yijing heard the slightly strange tone, he noticed something was off. But seeing Jiujiu waving his claws around in an exaggerated attempt to hide it, he simply lowered his head and kissed Jiujiu’s little head.

“Daddy, don’t kiss my head, or Jiujiu won’t grow tall.”

Only when Shen Yijing heard Jiujiu’s slightly complaining words did he suddenly realize that from the moment Jiujiu had come to his side until now, when he himself had already graduated from elementary school, Jiujiu had never grown at all.

When they first met, Jiujiu was very round. Later, after following him around, Jiujiu slimmed down a bit, though he stubbornly insisted that birds looked best that way.

Then, after returning to this home, Jiujiu became chubby again due to his gluttony, but he indeed never grew any bigger.

Previously, Shen Yijing had always assumed his little one was just a chick stuck in its juvenile stage, and Jiujiu simply refused to admit it out of stubbornness.

He had even thought about it before—if Jiujiu really was a chicken, since Jiujiu had said himself that he was a male bird, would Shen Yijing have to cover his mouth to prevent him from crowing loudly in the mornings and disturbing others, given Jiujiu’s talkative nature?

Jiujiu noticed his daddy had suddenly stopped playing the piano. Standing on the piano keys, he tilted his head and stared at his daddy.

“What’s wrong? Why did you stop playing?”

“Jiujiu, why… haven’t you grown up at all?”

Shen Yijing placed him in his palm. Even now, Jiujiu could still stand in his palm, and he could easily hold him with just one hand. After so many years, he hadn’t grown at all.

This made Shen Yijing start to wonder where all the strawberry cakes he’d fed Jiujiu over the years had gone.

Speaking of this, he also realized he had never once helped Jiujiu clean up his droppings. Previously, Shen Yijing had always assumed his little bird was just particularly clean.

All these doubts piled up, and Shen Yijing couldn’t help but ask him.

When this topic was brought up, Jiujiu himself felt somewhat downcast and lay down in his daddy’s palm.

“Jiujiu doesn’t know either, but Daddy said he would always stay with Jiujiu until he grows up.”

Shen Yijing stood up, walked into his study, and carefully measured Jiujiu with a ruler. After all these years, Jiujiu hadn’t even grown a single centimeter.

“If you’re like this…”

Previously, Shen Yijing had always thought that when Jiujiu said he could live long enough to see him off, it was just a deliberate lie to comfort him.

But looking at the current situation, it didn’t seem impossible.

“I think maybe even when I’m older than Mom and Dad, you still won’t have grown up.”

Shen Yijing now had a concept of life and death. Putting down the ruler, he began to teach Jiujiu.

“You see, humans will all eventually die, but you’re different—you don’t even grow.”

“I do grow…”

Jiujiu weakly protested, but even he himself found this claim unconvincing after saying it.

“It’s just… I’m growing a bit slowly…”

Shen Yijing knew his little bird valued his pride, so he accepted this explanation. When he brought up another matter, he chose a more roundabout approach.

“Jiujiu, when I go to middle school later, should I prepare a small bathroom for you?”

“I—I don’t need it. After I eat, it’s just gone.”

Jiujiu was confused, not understanding why his daddy suddenly brought up this topic.

Clearly, it was Daddy who had told him before that little birds like him would convert everything they ate into energy. If they ate precious things, they would grow faster.

Unfortunately, the things that could help him grow faster had disappeared in a great catastrophe tens of millions of years ago.

Since he couldn’t grow by eating, Jiujiu only ate what he liked.

“Gone?”

“Yeah, gone.”

Surprisingly, Shen Yijing wasn’t particularly astonished upon hearing this.

After all, his little bird was already capable of normal communication with him, so thinking about it this way actually made sense.

“Jiujiu, when I go to middle school, will you miss me?”

Listening to his daddy’s voice, Jiujiu felt a little annoyed. He leaned forward with his wings and rubbed against his daddy’s neck.

“Daddy, the way you call ‘Jiujiu’ doesn’t sound nice anymore.”

In the past, whenever Daddy called him, Jiujiu would eagerly flap his little claws as fast as possible, flying over to give Daddy a hug.

Now, when Daddy called him, Jiujiu wanted nothing more than to flap his wings and quickly run away.

“Mom says this is called puberty. Hmm, maybe a little bird like you doesn’t have it.”