“Would you like to join me?” Mei Hua asked, a small playful smile on her face.

“Join?”

“Yes, join.”

“Join where?”

She pursed her lips, hands on her hips. “Are you being obtuse on purpose? To take a bath! You know, together.”

He was, in fact, being obtuse on purpose. Just the mention of seeing her lithe form naked and covered in water sparked a fire of a different kind in him, but no matter how strong the desire he knew it wasn’t wise.

The Fairy Doctor had been keeping her body in good shape with a lot of medicine and whatever exercise could be managed while she was in a coma. But there was no way the Fairy Doctor could account for everything. Some things were lost despite his best efforts. Her tan was gone, the toughness of her skin was gone…

He’d been warned in advance to take things slow and to be extra gentle. To give her body time to acclimate to moving again. It was torture to wait, but that’s all he’d been doing. Waiting more so he didn’t hurt her was a small price to pay.

And somewhere in the back of his mind he thought: While she was completing her rehabilitation, he could bulk himself back up again.

“If you really mean to just bathe together,” He sobbed in his heart as he spoke the sensible words aloud, “that should be fine. Otherwise—”

“Ye ye!”

Jin stiffened.

A child-like voice had just interrupted him. What was more, it had sounded suspiciously like the words ‘Grandpa’ had been directed at him.

He thought frantically: No, no, maybe they’d just meant to call out for Ye. Just because he had white hair and a slightly more frail body, that didn’t mean he was a Grandpa!

A little boy’s figure could be seen sprinting across their courtyard from the main entrance. He couldn’t have been older than five, yet he ran like the wind and when he hit Jin’s legs, the force was almost enough to knock him over.

“Who—?” He began to ask, when the little boy looked into his face and grinned widely.

Two bright glowing blue eyes stared at him excitedly.

“Grandpa! I heard you wake up, so I visited!”

Mei Hua saw the blue eyes too and raised her eyebrow. In a very flat voice, she asked, “One of yours?”

Jin immediately took a large step back from the child, hands up in alarm.

The little boy didn’t understand the problem, but he did understand that his Grandpa didn’t seem eager to see him. His lips quivered and his eyes watered at the unexpected rejection.

“Oh no, don’t cry!” Mei Hua reached down and scooped him, patting his back gently. “Don’t worry! I was just teasing that Grandpa over there, that’s why he stepped back. It’s not because he doesn’t like you.”

Jin choked a little at Mei calling him a Grandpa so easily and lowered his hands. While he was relieved she was just teasing him, he couldn’t help feeling wrong and definitely unprepared for being a grandparent!

“T-teasing?” Came a sniffling response.

“That’s right. When you love someone a whole lot,” Her eyes curved in a mischievous smile. “Sometimes you can’t help teasing them to see their cute reactions.”

The little boy looked at Jin and his expression was clear: could this tall Grandpa really be called cute?

Jin had a look that said he was wondering the same thing.

In that instance, the family resemblance was so strong there was no doubt that the little boy was definitely related to Jin. Mei gave a big laugh at both of them.

After she gained control of herself, she poked the little boy’s nose and looked to Jin with an eyebrow raised, “Grandpa definitely likes you, so don’t worry. Isn’t that right, Grandpa?”

Jin hesitated for a moment, still unwilling to respond to that term. When both of Mei’s eyebrows came together sharply, he begrudgingly gave a nod. He even gave his wife extra service, reaching out and gently patting the boy’s head, saying, “Yes, yes, I like you.”

The little boy giggled happily, all traces of unhappiness gone.

“What’s your name, little one?” Mei Hua asked curiously.

“Little Wei.” Responded Little Wei and then tilted his head. “Are you my Lao Ye?”

Mei Hua eyes twinkled in amusement. “Well… if I’m not your Grandma, I’d like to know who is…”

Little Wei gave her a confused look so she hurriedly replied again, “Yes, I’m almost assuredly your Grandma.”

“Grandma!” He spread his arms wide and gave her a hearty hug. “Little Wei heard Grandma sick and has to sleep to feel better. Grandma all better now?”

“That’s right, Grandma is all better now.”

“Grandma can play with Little Wei?”

Mei Hua furrowed her brow. “Rather than playing, shouldn’t Little Wei be getting ready for bed?”

Little Wei immediately looked down, a sulking expression on his face. “N-no, Little Wei can play with Grandma before bedtime.”

Mei Hua cleared her throat to prevent herself from laughing again. How many times had her own sons sulked like this? They had so much energy, ridiculous amounts of it, that some days she struggled to keep up.

“Little Wei you shouldn’t be like this.” Jin gave a stern frown. “If you don’t sleep properly how will you grow big and strong? It is the duty of all sons to grow up big and strong to protect their Mother.” He paused. “Actually who are your—”

“Wait, wait!” Mei interrupted him. “Let me see if I can guess which son he belongs to!”

She held the little boy up a little bit more to closely examine his face. Startled at being stared at so intently, the child covered his face shyly.

Jin saw Mei was having fun so he shrugged and played along.

“He’s definitely not Shan Hui’s.”

“What? It could be!”

“No, that brat has never shown interest in women. If he even knew how to seduce a woman properly with that attitude of his, it’d be a miracle. And you don’t know, but he’s been traveling extensively outside my territory for many years now. When would he even have the time to woo someone?”

“Oh..” Mei had no idea what her sons had been doing while she was in a coma so that could very well be. “Then the twins or Lu Shao?”

“Not Lu Shao, that kid is too obsessed with music to +take women seriously.” He paused and rubbed his chin. “Though that doesn’t mean he hasn’t played around… women are strongly attracted to him and he never directly turns anyone down so…”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Mei Hua’s mouth fell open. “He grew up to be a flirt?! That Lu Shao? That earnest little boy of mine?!”

“Calm down, I didn’t mean it like that. To be a proper flirt he’d have to devote actual time to chasing after women, but he’s too busy with his music. That doesn’t stop women chasing him. And since he doesn’t harshly turn any of them away, I can’t say for sure if he never caved in after being persistently chased.”

Her face scrunched, feeling both relieved and anxious at the same time. It was good to know he hadn’t turned into a flirt. Being chased by women was much different than chasing. That said, he should be firmer in turning women away he wasn’t interested in. A wishy-washy attitude of that sort was bound to cause trouble. If Jin wasn’t insisting this child couldn’t possibly be his, she’d already think trouble had come.

“So then the twins?”

“Most likely.”

They both stared at the little boy, who’d been trying to look interested and not at all sleepy.

“If you had to guess… which one?”

Jin furrowed his brow. “Actually—”

He was interrupted by a fairy crying out in angered relief:

“Wei Sheng! There you are!”

At the sound of the fairy’s voice, Little Wei scowled and tightened his grip on the front of Mei Hua’s rob.

The fairy ran up and hastily bowed to Jin and Mei Hua before scolding the little boy. “Wei Sheng, I’ve been looking all over for you! How could you run away like that? Do you understand how upset you’ve made everyone! Your Mother is besides herself with worry, not to mention Doctor Zufu and Auntie Zumu!”

Mei Hua blinked several times at the irate fairy.

“Xiao Ting?”

Xiao Ting paused her tirade and gave a tired smile.

“Greetings Lady Mei! Indeed, I am Xiao Ting. I’m sincerely sorry that Little Wei barged in like this. We wanted to give you more time to acclimate before formally introducing you but…” She glared at Wei Sheng. “..as you can see, he did whatever he wanted without informing anyone.”

Xiao Ting was the Fairy Nanny of Yan Li.

Mei could hear Jin quietly mutter under his breath, “Ah, of course it’s that troublemaker...” and she had to stop herself from snickering.

While Jin found Shan Hui difficult to deal with, for Mei Hua it’d always been Yan Li. The boy was very enthusiastic but often thoughtless or just down right mischievous. He often didn’t think things through and charged right ahead, breaking or ruining something in the process. One of Pei Zhi’s own sons had broken their arm because of Yan Li’s ill-thought out plans.

Not that she loved Yan Li any less, of course. He was just difficult to raise.

Mei Hua looked down at Little Wei and couldn’t help smiling softly and chuckling in amusement. The apple did not fall far from the tree.

“I don’t see why you needed to wait to introduce us?” Mei Hua looked a little surprised. “I know I’ve been in that coma for ages… but Yan Li getting married is a good thing, not something I need to be prepared for... meeting his wife and son… of course I’d want to do that as soon as possible.”

Xiao Ting’s face froze at the word ‘married’, her whole body becoming obviously uncomfortable. She tugged on her sleeves nervously, casting Jin a pleading stare. This confused Mei Hua but Jin’s eyes narrowed in understanding.

“He didn’t actually…” Jin rubbed his forehead. “Did he really go that far to keep that stupid vow?”

When Xiao Ting nodded slightly, Jin’s face cramped.

“Vow? What vow?”

“Ah… Mountain Flower, I’m just saying in advance I didn’t give my approval for what they did so don’t get upset at me for it.”

Mei Hua wrinkled her nose. To use ‘that tone’ when saying Mountain Flower AND warning her in advance, it meant what was coming was definitely going to make her mad.

Jin cleared his throat before explaining. “When it became clear that you weren’t going to be cured of that poison any time soon, all our sons decided to focus on finding a better cure or at least getting revenge for the people who’d hurt you.”

She gave a slight nod. That didn’t seem too bad.

“But apparently just devoting their time earnestly wasn’t enough. One day all four decided that none of them would get married or be in a serious relationship until you were properly cured.” He paused and added. “They insisted it was a group decision, this vow, but I suspect Shan Hui was the ringleader.”

Mei Hua’s lips thinned as they pressed together, eyes flashing darkly with understanding.

“I told them you likely wouldn’t be happy with such a vow, but they insisted. They said it wasn’t right to marry and start a family without you there to see any of it. That they needed to focus on the tasks at hand and not be distracted from important matters. Hn. That’s what they said to me. My objections were ignored.”

Of course, he didn’t mention that his objection was barely two sentences. After all, they were going to live a very long time. There was no rush for them to start a family. And since he couldn’t enjoy his own wife, why should they get the pleasure of having one? So he didn’t try too hard to convince them.

Everything would have been fine… if they’d kept the vow. But that fool son of his, Yan Li, had to go ahead and do something stupid. He better be the only one who was that foolish! He wasn’t going to cover for any of them, so if they all decided to be like Yan Li, they better be ready to feel the full wrath of Mei.

“And yet,” Mei Hua commented icily, “Here we have Little Wei. So someone was clearly ‘distracted’.”

“Y-yes well,” He quietly said a prayer for his son. “With Yan Li’s personality he’s the most likely to get swept away in the moment...”

“Swept away? SWEPT AWAY?”

The little foxes, who’d been watching this whole unfold, saw that now was a good time to escape. Even among foxes, when family drama like this started, it was better for bystanders not to be around. Very quietly they began to sneak out so as to avoid getting entangled in the coming storm.

Mei Hua looked liked she was going to lose her temper right then and there, but managed to stop at the last minute. She realized she was still holding Little Wei. She turned to the Fairy Nanny and very gently put the boy in her arms.

“NO!” Little Wei cried out, feeling betrayed. He wiggled, even kicking his legs ruthlessly, trying to escape Xiao Ting. “Want to stay with Grandpa and Grandma.”

“If Little Wei doesn’t go to sleep on time, doesn’t eat all his meals, and doesn’t listen to his Nanny and Mommy—” Mei took a deep breath and looked directly in the child’s eyes. “—then Little Wei doesn’t get to see Grandma and Grandpa.”

The boy froze. “D-doesn’t?”

“That’s right. Only good little boys get to visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Only good little boys get to play and eat sweets with Grandma and Grandpa. Bad little boys don’t get to do that. Bad little boys stay home. So be good and do as Nanny Ting says.”

Little Wei bit his lower lip and then nodded. “Little Wei understands.”

“Good, good.” Mei Hua pat his head.

Fairy Ting looked heartily relieved. “Thank you, my Lady.”

Mei Hua waved her hand and gave a small smile. “Go ahead and take him home. Sometime tomorrow I’ll meet his Mother. I’ll send someone for you, so don’t worry about me showing up unexpectedly. Will you tell her that for me?”

“Of course! I will definitely pass along the message.” Fairy Ting gave a slight bow and then added in a hard voice, “My Lady, you should know… no one asked me to take care of Little Wei, I did it on my own. I love him in place of Yan Li. Does my Lady understand my meaning?”

Mei Hua eyes widened and then narrowed. Her hands were in fists and shaking.

Seeing this, Fairy Ting looked satisfied, “It’s good that you’re back, Lady Mei. The Princes of Blue Flower Mountain will know real fear once again.” She then put Little Wei down and took his hand, pulling him along. “Come now Little Wei, it’s time to go home and get ready for bed.”

“…yes Nanny Ting…” came the glum boy’s response as they left.

Once the Fairy Nanny and the little boy were gone, Mei Hua turned to Jin in a rage. He took a few steps back just in case.

“Jin, how could you let Yan Li behave this way?!”

“I didn’t! He did this all on his own!”

“You are his Father!”

“I am, but he’s a grown man! What would you have me do? Follow him around and spy on everything he does? I’m not interesting in peeping on my son’s bedroom affairs!”

Mei Hua pursed her lips. “Fine, fine, that was unreasonable of me. He is the only one to blame for his actions. But why didn’t you at least request Xiao Ting take care of your grandson? Surely you would have—No, wait, you didn’t even know you HAD a grandson… how is that possible? How could you not know?”

Jin sighed and gave her a hard stare, “You remember when you pushed me out of your world to get stronger?”

“…yes?”

“I did not take that well. I know you didn’t understand at the time, what you were doing.. But.. If you’re not here, if I can’t be with you, what is the point of caring? All this, even these sons of ours, I did for you. If you’re not here to enjoy them, even they don’t matter. So I stopped caring and I waited. I waited for you to let me back in.” His face was filled with bitterness. “So, no, I was not aware of what Yan Li had done and I could not ask Xiao Ting to look after the grandson I didn’t know existed.”

Hearing this, Mei Hua’s shoulders slumped and her face fell. It’s not as though she approved of him ignoring everyone simply because she wasn’t there, but she also understood he’d been terribly hurt by her actions. His fear of being abandoned, rejected, was very real and never quite healed no matter how much time passed.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered contritely, looking sad.

He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around, hugging her affectionately. He wanted to snuggle his spirit close to her as well, but he had a vague notion that was a bad idea.

“I’m sorry as well. I know I was being irresponsible.” He stroked her petal filled hair and sighed. “What do you want to do about Yan Li?”

Her body stiffened noticeably at the mention of her son. Jin could almost hear her grinding her teeth.

“Jin, how dare that stupid boy use my illness as an excuse to be immoral. Even if he was careless, I didn’t think it was this bad!”

“I agree. He is definitely stupid.”

“He’s hurting his own son, and I can’t even imagine how the boy’s mother feels…” She separated herself from Jin and folder her arms across her chest. “I will beat that boy, Jin. I will beat him so that he wishes he was dead.”

“Hn, beat the stupid out of him, Mountain Flower. He was never smart enough that talking sensibly worked anyway.”

“Honestly… why didn’t my other son’s stop him at least? And where was Ye in all this?”

“I don’t know but you can ask him.”

“Hm?”

“He’s coming over right now.”