Chapter 16: The Real Heir in a Fake Young Master Heartthrob Novel

Jiujiu’s logic was very straightforward—since Jiujiu couldn’t listen, it should be fine for him to have Shen Jiujiu come over and listen.

He moved his little head close to his dad, expecting his dad to tell him a little secret.

Shen Yijing knew this matter couldn’t be hidden. Jiujiu was very smart and hard to deceive, so he spoke in as calm a tone as possible:

“After high school starts, I need to live at the dormitory.”

“Jiujiu will live at the dormitory too.”

Jiujiu almost immediately wanted to follow his dad without even thinking, sitting there and starting to look forward to their future dormitory life together.

“Jiujiu has never lived in a dormitory before, hehe, Dad is so good.”

Seeing him foolishly coming over to nuzzle against him, Shen Yijing found it even harder to say what he wanted to say. He turned to look at his mom and asked:

“Can I not live in the dormitory?”

“Chirp chirp, why not live in the dormitory? Jiujiu wants to live in the dormitory, together with Dad.”

Jiujiu flew onto his dad’s shoulder and perched there, staring at his dad with eager eyes, getting so upset that he pecked his dad’s face with his beak.

“Because you can’t keep small animals in the dormitory.”

“Jiujiu isn’t a small animal, Jiujiu is Dad’s good baby!”

Jiujiu, who had no tail and could only stick his bottom up high, was extremely proud when he said this.

His dad didn’t know how to speak at all—calling him a small animal just sounded awful. Jiujiu was clearly a little treasure.

“But you look like a small animal. The school won’t allow me to keep you, it would affect other people.”

Shen Yijing patiently explained to him. After listening, Jiujiu froze there, blinked his little bean-like eyes twice, and tears immediately welled up.

He stubbornly turned his body sideways, facing away from his dad, and pitifully wiped his tears with his wing.

“But Jiujiu is very good, Jiujiu won’t affect anyone.”

Shen Yijing actually knew that his little one wouldn’t, but rules were rules.

Jiujiu’s gaze, which had originally been looking at his dad with anticipation, gradually dimmed.

His chubby body lay on the table silently shedding tears, and even Mother Gu felt it was heartbreaking to watch.

Jiujiu’s tears had dampened a circle of his feathers. When he noticed his dad was still watching him, he changed his position to lying down and continued to whimper.

The first thing Jiujiu saw when he came out of his shell was his dad, so he naturally thought he had been hatched by his dad. From breaking out of his shell until now, he had never been separated from his dad for very long.

Even when his dad went into seclusion for cultivation, Jiujiu insisted on having his little nest moved next to him.

“Not living in the dormitory during high school isn’t impossible, but that would be too exhausting.”

Mother Gu felt sorry for Jiujiu, but also thought not living in the dormitory really wouldn’t work, since commuting back and forth daily wouldn’t even guarantee basic rest time, so how could he possibly focus on studying?

“Mom, it’s just me making a few more trips.”

Shen Yijing crouched down in front of Jiujiu and gently ruffled the feathers on his back. When Jiujiu stubbornly tried to roll to one side, he placed his other hand where Jiujiu wanted to roll.

Rolling directly into his dad’s arms, Jiujiu, who had been busy crying, was also stunned for a moment. He lifted his head and started staring at his dad.

“I won’t live in the dormitory anymore. It’ll be the same as before—I’ll spend more time with you, okay? Don’t cry anymore, your feathers look all messy and ugly from crying.”

Jiujiu stubbornly burrowed into his dad’s clothes to hide, wiping his tears with his wing.

He actually wanted to pretend it was fine if his dad lived in the dormitory, but he was afraid his dad would take his words seriously.

Mother Gu also knew that for her son, it was difficult to ignore Jiujiu’s feelings. After spending so much time together, she could see that her son simply doted on Jiujiu like his own child.

Even though she spoiled Yijing, it wasn’t as much as Yijing spoiled Jiujiu.

“Jiujiu is so sad right now, but Dad only cares about whether Jiujiu’s feathers look messy and ugly.”

The little one, who was even more heartbroken, wiped his tears again. Only after wiping them clean did he stare at his dad and tentatively ask:

“Are they really messy? Really not pretty?”

Shen Yijing held back his laughter and gently tapped his little head with his knuckle, softly answering:

“Just a little bit. My Jiujiu would be pretty even if he were bald.”

Even when Jiujiu was taken back by Shen Yijing, Jiujiu sat in his dad’s palm with a serious expression.

Dads would definitely find their own babies cute no matter what, but he couldn’t be so optimistic—he’d never seen anyone praise a bald person as handsome.

That evening, Shen Yijing went to sincerely apologize to his mom.

He knew that going back on his word after already agreeing was indeed a bad thing, but he really couldn’t bear to see Jiujiu sad.

Mother Gu was personally embroidering a little fat bird on Jiujiu’s small clothes, as his own special distinctive mark.

“It’s okay, Mom respects your decision. Besides, you’re the one who’ll be working hard, coming back very late from evening study sessions.”

Shen Yijing didn’t think it would be very tiring. After all, just thinking about having a little fat bird standing at the door with a lantern in his mouth waiting for him would make his heart flutter enough to overcome all fatigue.

“Mom, where did you buy that lantern you gave Jiujiu last time?”

When he graduated from middle school, Jiujiu was so happy that he mistakenly thought his dad would never have to go to school again, and immediately started kicking around the lantern that had accompanied him for three whole years like a ball.

“Oh right, that lantern was broken by Jiujiu last time. Tomorrow we’ll go to the store together to look for another one.”

It was just a small red lantern, originally a holiday decoration. When they bought it back, Jiujiu had claimed one of them.

Every day he would carry that thing in his mouth and sit on the mailbox in front of the main gate, waiting for Shen Yijing to come back from evening study sessions.

Given Jiujiu’s past incidents of going out to cause trouble at night, Mother Gu felt that Jiujiu definitely wasn’t using it for lighting, but more like telling Yijing where Jiujiu was.

“Sounds good, Mom. I’ll go now then.”

“Go ahead. Your dad’s overtime is almost done, I’ll go downstairs to wait for him. Take this outfit to Jiujiu.”

Shen Yijing took the tiny dinosaur pajamas, which even had a little hood.

Unfortunately, given Jiujiu’s body shape, this hood would probably only serve as decoration.

After returning to the bedroom, Shen Yijing thought Jiujiu was already asleep, so he instinctively lightened his footsteps. Unexpectedly, when he walked to the bedside, Jiujiu suddenly burst out from under the covers and flew up.

“Chirp chirp Dad, you’re finally back.”

Shen Yijing was startled and stepped back. When Jiujiu flew to his face, he couldn’t help but reach out and pinch his beak.

Jiujiu was in a good mood today. When his dad pinched him, he even nuzzled against him. Seeing the new little outfit in his dad’s hand, he was so happy his eyes squinted.

Shen Yijing actually couldn’t sleep very well. Teenagers of this age seemed to have inexplicable worries, as if they were already starting to step through the threshold of growing up, but still felt like children at heart.

Since Jiujiu wasn’t sleeping either, Shen Yijing held him and walked out to sit on the swing chair outside, swaying while helping Jiujiu try on his new clothes.

“Jiujiu, there’s something we need to discuss in advance, okay?”

“Okay.”

Jiujiu stuck his wings through the little dinosaur pajamas, then started staring at his dad.

When teachers had previously taught his dad etiquette, Jiujiu had also listened in from the side and knew that looking into someone’s eyes during conversation was basic courtesy.

“I can commute during my first and second year of high school, coming home every night to see you, but third year requires living in the dormitory. I’ll be very busy studying then, and the college entrance exam is very important.”

Shen Yijing hadn’t felt much pressure during the high school entrance exam—his grades were consistently above average, and with his thorough preparation, he wasn’t worried at all.

But the college entrance exam was completely different for him.

When he first brought Jiujiu home, while he was still confused about everything, Shen Yijing already knew how important studying was for him.

Back then, studying was his only chance to change his fate. Now the college entrance exam was for achieving his own dreams.

“Really can’t bring Jiujiu to the dormitory? Dad can put Jiujiu in his pocket. Jiujiu won’t make noise or look around, just lie inside and sleep.”

Jiujiu climbed onto his dad’s shoulder to sit. Shen Yijing habitually turned his head so Jiujiu’s fluffy body could nuzzle against his cheek.

“Really can’t. It’s just one year. After high school graduation, I’ll definitely take you with me all the time.”

At home, Shen Yijing’s parents loved him very much and gave him plenty of space and freedom. He didn’t feel uncomfortable anywhere in this house.

But Shen Yijing still looked forward to growing up, to living independently after leaving his parents.

“Dad won’t lie to Jiujiu, right?”

Jiujiu extended his wing to his dad. Shen Yijing understood and shook it with him.

“Won’t lie to Jiujiu.”

Shen Yijing lifted his head to stare at the moon hanging in the sky. This night was very quiet. Jiujiu was also curious and tried to copy his dad to look up, but because he was too round, he almost fell down.

“Ouch, Dad.”

As soon as he heard his little one’s cry of pain, Shen Yijing was already used to reaching out to catch him, then placed him in his palm, letting him lie there to look.

Watching Jiujiu lying there contentedly moon-gazing, and when somewhere on his body itched, stretching his wings and claws to scratch, Shen Yijing couldn’t help feeling a bit dazed.

From when he first found Jiujiu while scavenging, to now—more than ten years had passed in the blink of an eye. He was almost grown up, but Jiujiu could still fit in one hand.

“Dad, when will you take Jiujiu to play on the moon?”

After moon-gazing for a while, Jiujiu started remembering the past. He remembered that before he hatched, his dad had told him through the eggshell.

Once he hatched, his dad would take him to the moon together. The peaches on the moon were fresh, juicy, and very sweet.

Jiujiu, who had been made ravenous while still in his shell, had started growing with all his might, working hard every day to eat the delicious food his dad had told him about.

After hatching, he had been so focused on clinging to his dad after his dad found him ugly that he had forgotten the goal that had motivated him to hatch in the first place.

Shen Yijing looked at Jiujiu’s very serious expression and seriously thought about it.

“That might be a bit difficult.”

“Why is it difficult?”

“Because I don’t want to be an astronaut in the future, and even if I became an astronaut, I couldn’t take you to space with me.”

“If Dad won’t be an astronaut, can Jiujiu be an astro-bird?”