Sleeping Sweetheart

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/32286595.

Rating: Not Rated

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandom: 二哈和他的白猫师尊 - 肉包不吃肉 | The Husky and His White Cat
Shizun - Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat
Relationship: Chu Wanning/Mo Ran/Taxian-jun, Chu Wanning/Taxian-jun, Chu
Wanning & Mo Ran
Character: Chu Wanning, Mo Ran | Mo Weiyu
Additional Tags: Drama, Misunderstandings, Married Couple, Married Life, Domestic,
Domestic Fluff, Smut, carrierau, Fluff, soft chu wanning, Mpreg,
Pregnancy, Crying, Lazy Sex, Kisses, ranwan, labor, Ranwan Babies,
Cute, Happy
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2021-06-30 Completed: 2022-06-15 Words: 44,240
Chapters: 18/18

Sleeping Sweetheart
by xXxDeViLiNwHiTexXx

Summary

“I didn’t want to hide this from you.” A siren of warning goes off inside his head as Moran
continues to listen to his husband’s cries. Moran had rarely seen his Wanning cry.

Chu Wanning had been sleeping a lot, and he's been keeping away secrets.
Moran just knows how to overthink.

Notes

Suddenly wanted to write tooth-rotting fluffly mpreg with Moran and Wanning's kids. So
here it is. The title makes no sense, the plot kinda doesn't either. But I hope you'll like it
anyway!

See the end of the work for more notes

 Shizun, what are you hiding?

Sleep.

All Chu Wanning wanted was sleep. Top of the mountain, his home; was a relatively cold place.
Yet the bed underneath his back felt like burning. He was lying on his back for too long.

His heavy hands come to untie the knots of his outer robe.

Why the fuck was he wearing his outer robe while sleeping? The white garment gets thrown on the
floor with a quiet plop.

Tentatively he opens his eyes, blinking profusely in an attempt to push away the lingering
drowsiness in his eyes.

Yet all he did was flip on his stomach. A gush of chilled mountain wind rushed through the open
window, cooling his heated back. Chu Wanning hates laziness.

Yet there he was, lying in their bed, sleeping the day away

The house was quiet. No sound of anyone living in the house could be heard.

Was Moran out?

Probably.

His brain felt too hung to even think about anything other than getting another round of slumber.

When Moran enters their bedroom again, he sees Chu Wanning on his stomach, his inky black hair
undone and spilling out of everywhere, almost touching the floor. His dainty yet strong limbs
sprawled in a manner too carefree for his uptight husband.

Kneeling by the bed, Moran tucks the tray strands of hair out of other’s faces, a beautiful face bare
of any kind of guard peeks through. Moran chuckles seeing Chu Wanning’s flushed cheeks.

Today was a very hot day indeed.

“Wanning.” He calls out softly. His Shizun has been sleeping since the morning.

The sleeping male flinches after the third call. Moran feels his heart rate pick up at the sight of his
Shizun slowly blinking; an unexplainably soft expression marring his usual rigid and strict face.

Moran leans forward to kiss those flushed cheeks.

“Did Wanning have a good sleep?” He didn’t get the answer to his question. He gets a question
back instead.

“Where were you?” The words were almost inaudible.

“I was out shopping.” Moran cards his fingers through the silky hair, a fond smile playing on his
lips.

“Are you thirsty?” Blinking twice more, Shizun nods. Smiling at the male, Moran gets up. No
wonder his Wanning was thirsty. Chu Wanning had scurried off to his work desk as soon as they
were done with breakfast.

But upon reaching the room, Moran found Wanning to be dozing off, head propped on top of his
arms. Moran had carried him back to their bedroom; laying him down with gentleness, fearing he
might wake up.

This has been happening for the last few weeks. Chu Wanning falling asleep out of the blue.

Moran couldn’t help but think that his husband has somewhat turned into a cat.

A white cat who falls asleep just everywhere and any time.

Not that Moran thought there was anything wrong with that. Shizun had this tendency to overwork
his body.

It was time his body forced sleep upon the man.

Moran hears Wanning walk closer. Turning back, he was greeted with a Wanning with a loose
under-robe barely hanging on his body.

“It’s so hot.” Moving closer to him, Chu Wanning slides his arms around Moran’s torso, catching
the man off guard. But he gets over the shock quickly.

He too wraps his arms around his husband.

“Even you are hot.” Chu Wanning almost whines. Was his Shizun trying to give him a heart attack
or something?

“Why are you so hot?” Resting his chin on Moran’s chest, Wanning looks up at Moran.

No buns tying up the long and thick locks were carelessly scattered on his shoulder, making his
features appear more delicate. His phoenix eyes puffy due to his long hours of sleep; the usual
sharpness of them morphing into something gentle and…

He could feel his face flush with all the obscene things suddenly rushing through his head.

“Are you feeling sick? Why’s your face so red?” Wanning asks, his voice sounding better than
before.

“Wanning is right. It is a very hot day.” The warm body in his arms….

Moran wanted to feel more of that heat.

He wanted to feel that heat- Skin to skin.

After several cups of cool and overly sweetened lemonade, buried deep inside Wanning, Moran
found himself hazy in a sugar rush. Or maybe it was the heat that was hugging his manhood. Or it
was the sight of the rays of setting Sun over Wanning’s porcelain white skin messing up with his
sanity.

He knew he had to prepare dinner. Chu Wanning has only had one meal since morning.

Yet-

The supple thighs wrapped around his hips, the gasps the man lying underneath let out had him
glued to the bed.
His rough hand detaches the thighs around his hips and spreads them wider; the flesh under his
fingertips appearing to be fuller and softer than what his calloused hands are used to.

“Shizun,” The man looks at him through his wet eyelashes.

“Seems like all the sugar that has gone through this pretty mouth of yours has finally been doing its
work.” Taxian-Jun slips his thumb inside his husband’s mouth his finger instantly was enveloped
in a comfortable heat.

Chu Wanning hated it when they switched their places in the middle of sex.

“Your thighs…” Taxian-Jun proceeds to bite hard on the most sensitive part of his inner thigh.

“They are way softer now Wanning.”

“Don’t you think so?” Taxian-Jun proceeds to rub his calloused hand on the sensitive skin of his
thigh.

“You’re talking too much.” Chu Wanning replies curtly seeing the coy smile playing on his
husband’s face.

“Does Shizun want me to work even harder then?” He almost catches Chu Wanning off guard
thrusting his hips forward in a particularly hard.

“Should I shut my mouth up?” The continuous ah ah and rare moans didn’t seem like a bad reward
to keep his mouth shut for.

It wasn’t that Chu Wanning hadn’t realized his sudden weight gain. His waist belt not fitting as it
always did. He’s been wearing it looser than what he was used to.

Also, the constant drowsiness and sleepiness were getting in his daily routine too much to his
likings.

“I am sure I am not wrong Laoshi.”

“But it appears that you are pregnant.” Chu Wanning wanted to scold the physician for drinking in
broad daylight. But he wasn’t someone who would do something so careless. Chu Wanning has
known him for quite a long time now.

“Sir….” Chu Wanning rubs his temple in frustration.

“Can you…. Are you feeling anything unusual with yourself?” Chu Wanning couldn’t help but
ask.

“Laoshi. I know it sounds odd.” Physician himself seemed somewhat confused too.

“But your heartbeat and other vital signs-“

“You mentioned falling asleep very often, right?”

“And you’re feeling quite sensitive to smells…?” He was asked again. Chu Wanning couldn’t help
but nod.

Those passion fruits Moran had brought back, he remembers the uncomfortable feeling of nausea
lingering in his taste buds till now. He had lost count of things that have made him feel this way
over the past few weeks.

“Also…”

“You’ve mentioned gaining weight too, right?” The physician asks again. Chu Wanning nods
again.

“I did not need to ask you all these questions. Your vital signs would have been enough.”

“But Laoshi, you looked quite uncertain about my answer.”

“That’s why I had to give you all these proofs too.” Both of them stay quiet. Chu Wanning didn’t
know what to think of the news. Maybe all of it was some odd sickness he had because of his
origin.

“Chu Laoshi…”

“Are you sure you’re not one of those… carriers?” His heart dropped a beat.

Carrier?

There was no way he would be one.

Cultivators had a condition where some of the males could get pregnant. It wasn’t something that
was heard of every day, but it wasn’t something totally out of the blue either.

“Most carriers show their symptoms after they start engaging in..” Chu Wanning knew that.
Carrier would show their symptoms when they engage in sexual intercourse.

These cases were rare because two males doing dual cultivation wasn’t widely practiced. In most
cases, they lived their lives not knowing about their condition.

And Chu Wanning…

He was just a bit late in that.

“I understand.” The physician lets out a breath of relief; seeing Chu Wanning finally believe in
him.

“I would suggest you drink ginger or mint tea if you feel too nauseous.”

“If it gets too out of control,”

“Take one of these pills before every meal. They should help.” Chu Wanning doesn’t nod this
time. He only eyes at the glass bottle on the desk.

“How far… do you think I am?” The smile on the physician’s face was somehow very reassuring
as he once again puts his hand on the desk for the physician to examine.

Chu Wanning could feel his head buzzing as soon as he steps out of the chamber. The whole walk
back to the mountain, Chu Wanning couldn’t hear a thing or remember anything.
He had told Moran that he was going to pick up the grocery for the day. Yet he comes back empty-
handed. The task was totally out of his head.

Pregnant.

“It seems you are almost 6 weeks ”

Pregnant!

He was freaking pregnant with Moran’s child!

It was too much to take at once.

Clutching his hair, Chu Wanning squats down. This was hard to digest.

“Wanning?” Hearing the voice, Chu Wanning looks up. A worried line was formed on the
handsome face of his husband.

“Why are you down here?” Chu Wanning asks in horror. He wasn’t ready to tell Moran yet.

More like he did not know how to crack the news to the man yet.

Fuck he wasn’t even ready to face Moran.

“You were so late.”

“I got worried.” Moran moves closer to his husband, seeing his empty hands, he couldn’t help but
ask-

“Wanning.. Are you not feeling well?” Only then he realized that he didn’t shop for their dinner.
His face flushes with shame as he looks at Moran’s face, only to look away after a split second.

“I’m fine!” Chu Wanning tries to run back to the way of the market, looking for a way to get away
from this man. But Moran was too quick to grab his wrist, pulling him closer.

“Wanning doesn’t need to go back again.” A gentle smile plays on his lips as Moran strokes the
back of his palm tenderly.

“I’m gonna take a bath.” Chu Wanning flees from Moran’s line of sight as soon as they enter their
home.

It was suddenly really chaotic inside his head. He needed to have some time alone with himself to
figure everything out.

Most importantly, he needed to let the news sink in himself.

Untying his robes, Chu Wanning lets the pieces of his clothes fall on the ground freely.

Looking down at his stomach, Chu Wanning doesn’t see any difference. It was all flat.

“You might see some changes from week 10-12.” He remembers the physician telling him.

Submerging his body in the water, Chu Wanning finally felt he could relax.

How would Moran react to the news? Moran definitely was great with kids. Well, he was good
with everything and every one after all.

How would he crack the news to him? And all of a sudden, Chu Wanning felt a headache crawl
back up.

He wasn’t very good with his words. Nor did he know how to word this sudden news of a possible
new addition to their already small family.

But a smile made its way to his lips as he thought of it.

A new addition to the quiet life of theirs. It probably would be rather chaotic. Not to mention he
had zero experience with kids.

But he couldn’t help but be a little excited about it.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Something was wrong with his Wanning. Moran could feel that in his bones.

The way Chu Wanning would steal glances at him and look away whenever their eyes met.

Or how Moran wasn’t granted kisses and cuddles sessions after meals.

Moran had tried asking him. He was shunned away with

“I’m fine.”

Moran felt incredibly stupid each time he heard that answer, yet he would ask again.

He had written to his other self to behave. He was afraid Taxian-Jun just might tick off his
husband.

Wanning wouldn’t even let Moran touch him. Not even allow Moran to see him getting out of his
clothes and getting a bath.

Moran feels it’s been ages since he had gotten a good look at his husband’s face clearly.

Chu Wanning was always sitting on his work table, barely eating his meals then escaping to that
room again.

This has been going on for almost two weeks now. He couldn’t feel but have a cold feeling seep
into his heart.

Was it that he didn’t want to see him anymore but he was feeling guilty of speaking the truth? He
knew the other male had always been thinking of others before his own.

Was Wanning tired of him?

Was Wanning no longer in love with him?

A sharp pain shoots across his body. His eyes become blurry as the possibility sets into his heart.
He knew Wanning would rather keep those words to himself than hurt him by his words.

So.. That was…… it?

Chu Wanning was hungry and very, very irritated. The physician had said he probably wouldn’t
see any changes till the 12th week.

But there was a bulge. Right there snuggling under his robes waiting to be discovered.

Looking out, Chu Wanning sees the sunlight dimming a bit. It was late. Why wasn’t Moran calling
him for the meal?

With light steps, Chu Wanning makes his way to the kitchen. Immediately sees his husband’s tall
and sturdy figure standing by the stove, both arms unmoving.

As he walked closer, a faint scent of iron fills his nostril. He was being particularly sensitive about
smells after all. His eyes widen in shock as he sees the state Moran was standing there.

Both of Moran’s palms were resting on top of the counter, blood freely flowing from one, drops of
blood that had fallen on the floor already had formed a small pool. A bloodied knife he knows
Moran uses lays just there.

Chu Wanning felt dizzy all of a sudden.

“Moran!”

No one says anything as Chu Wanning wraps a clean gauge on the wound. Moran’s palm was
almost sliced in half. He wonders how Moran had managed to cut himself so deeply like that.

Chu Wanning wanted to scold his husband for being so careless. But the expression on his face…..
Was rather odd, Chu Wanning concluded.

Moran hadn’t said a single word ever since Chu Wanning made him sit down and was bandaging
his hand. His eyes were swollen and a sullen expression marring his handsome face.

His hand was grabbed back as Chu Wanning was getting up from giving Moran aid. He looks back
at Moran in confusion. The latter wasn’t looking at him.

“Mo-”

“Wanning……” Chu Wanning felt his breathing stop. Moran sounded-

“Wanning have I done anything wrong?” Moran’s eyes were filled with desperation, liquid filling
the corners of his beautiful purple eyes in haste.

“What are you saying?” Chu Wanning asks in confusion.

“Wanning.. No.. Shizun.”

“Please punish this low-life if he’s done something to anger you.” Moran stops, his head bowing
forward. His voice is seemingly muffled by the wave of tears he’s trying hard not to shed.

“I know-“

“I… Wanning has given me so much.”

“He’s been so patient with this disciple.”

“And he’s also accepted me as I am.” Wide shoulders shake as Moran tries to hold back the sobs
wracking his lungs. He had been a stray dog everyone hated after all!
“If… Wanning. If he doesn’t want me anymore-” It probably wouldn’t hurt to go back where he
was, would it?

“I’d understand.” A sense of panic sets in Chu Wanning’s heart.

What was this man sprouting?

“Why- What the heck is wrong with you?” Chu Wanning asks, his voice laced with slight
irritation. His irritation morphs into anxiousness

“Something’s bothering Wanning that he refuses to share.”

“Wanning wouldn’t even let me look at him.” Chu Wanning stands there rigidly as his husband
went on, warm drops of tears falling on his encased hand.

“Wanning... do you not love me anymore?” Moran holds onto his hand tightly. Soft sniffling sound
echoes through their silent house.

Hadn’t Chu Wanning been through this experience of pain? When he thought he was being hated.
When he had thought he was unworthy of love?

A tight feeling fills his throat.

How could he...

Make the person who loved him the most feel this miserable? Didn’t he vow to love this man with
all his heart?

Then why was he sitting there, crying because he no longer could feel the love? It was all his fault.

Chu Wanning was the one to blame. Because of his own incompetence, he hurt Moran, yet once
again.

A flare of anger lights inside him as hot tears fill his eyes. Why the heck was he feeling like crying
now?

“Moran...” His voice came out way more miserably as he had intended. The reason; behind all
these was something Moran deserved to know.

It was something Chu Wanning knew would make Moran so happy that he’d say he could die.

Yet he selfishly kept that news away from him. The child inside him-

Moran had his own share in their existence too. How could Chu Wanning hoard and hide that
existence like this?

“Moran... Moran..” the said male was quick to react as his husband slid down to the floor, his
shoulders shaking.

“I’m sorry...I’m...” Fuck. Chu Wanning couldn’t stop crying.

“I couldn’t....” Forgetting his own tears and the fresh gash on his hand, Moran holds his husband
closer. His other hand slowly rubs his back.

“I didn’t want to hide this from you.” A siren of warning goes off inside his head as Moran
continues to listen to his husband’s cries. Moran had rarely seen his Wanning cry.
A pain was growing inside his chest insistently.

“I just couldn’t bring myself to tell you this.” Moran suddenly feels funny. Poor Wanning! He must
have caught him really off guard.

Moran knew Wanning wasn’t someone who could easily speak their heart. He shouldn’t have
driven him into a corner like this.

“Shush shush...”

“Don’t cry anymore Wanning.”

“I’ve got you.” Moran’s arms around Wanning tighten. This probably was the last time he was
going to have the chance to embrace Wanning like this after all! Moran wanted to savor this feeling
as much as he could.

“Wanning doesn’t have to feel so bad about it.”

“I understand if he...”

“No! You don’t understand!” Chu Wanning yells with vigor.

“You dumb dog! You understand nothing!” Moran stared at his husband with his eyes wide open.

“I don’t want to cry anymore! Fuck!” As things continued to go out of hand, all Moran could do
was to try and comfort his fuming husband.

Chu Wanning and anger were never a good thing together.

“There there, Wanning. I am a dumb dog. You already know that.” Moran felt dumb. He thought
he was living a dream so realistic that-

“I’m sorry for driving you into a corner like this Wanning.”

“Please forgive me.” Chu Wanning continues to cry softly in his arms.

“I did not want to hide this.” Moran shut his mouth up immediately.

“I...” Chu Wanning pulls himself off from the embrace, sitting right in front of his husband on the
floor; his eyes cast downwards.

He tries to think for some moment. He had planned this moment in so many ways for the past few
weeks.

Yet, when the moment has finally come, he was at a loss for words again.

Taking the injured hand of his husband, Chu Wanning takes a look at the bandaged limb. The
bandage was soaked through blood once again.

His heart filled with grief once again.

He was responsible for this.

“That day,”

“I had gone to physician Fang....” Moran’s heart dropped in his stomach. Was there something
wrong?

“Cause I wasn’t feeling that well for some time now.” Chu Wanning lets out meekly.

“Wanning!” Moran felt betrayed. Why wasn’t he aware of that? But looking at his husband’s hand
gesturing him to keep quiet, Moran shuts up.

“He said that... I am one of the...” the suspense was slowly killing Moran, he knew for sure.

“Carriers.” Moran blinks a few times. As if his brain needed time to process the information.

“Wanning...?” He calls out carefully.

“I’m pregnant.”

There was a tinge of pink on Chu Wanning’s face as he looked at Moran. The shade only got
darker the longer he stared.

Moran just thought his Wanning was looking oh so beautiful. And he wasn’t abandoning him.

“Say something,” Wanning asks, his voice a bit impatient. But Moran decides it would be fine.

“Wanning,” A pair of strong arms pull the smaller man in.

“Oh, Wanning I love you so much!”

Two days later when Taxian-Jun came around, he had already gotten a note from his other-self.

There’s a surprise.

And it was normal when Chu Wanning eventually broke the news to him, he didn’t believe it until
Chu Wanning had shown him his belly with the small swell resting on it.

And about a month later, there was no doubt that Chu Wanning, indeed was pregnant.
 Shizun is eating chili!?
Chapter Summary

Chili, a bit of crying, and some getting frisky!

Chapter Notes

The second chapter is out. Yay!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Laoshi! How are you……” Physician Fang pauses seeing another tall figure enter with Chu
Wanning.

“I am good, Physician Fang. This..” Looking at Moran, Chu Wanning pauses.

“My husband.” Moran bows to the elderly man.

“Oh! That’s great... That’s great.” The pregnant male takes a seat in front of the physician. Moran
was sitting close by.

“Please put your hand over here.” The physician points at the small pillow on the table. The
physician takes his pulse once, twice, even a third time. He looked confused.

“Laoshi, I need to check your stomach.” The serious expression on Physician Fang’s face rang an
alarm in Chu Wanning’s heart.

Was there something really wrong? Moran, sensing his distress, squeezes his other hand.

Untying his robes, Chu Wanning lays on the bed the physician had directed him at.

“Oh my...Laoshi you…” If not for the stress Chu Wanning was under, he probably would have
smacked the physician on his face.

“You’ve grown a lot!” The serious expression on the physician’s face vanishes all of a sudden.

“Please get up.” This time, both Moran and Chu Wanning were confused. The doctor didn’t even
need to look twice and he was done?

“Please take a seat.” The physician was smiling brightly at them. Chu Wanning couldn’t help but
ask him.

“Is there anything wrong, Physician Fang?” Chu Wanning couldn’t help but ask.

“Laoshi needn’t be so nervous. Nothing is wrong at all.”

“But it seems that Laoshi and his husband is going to have their hands full!”
The sun had completely set by the time both of them came out of the clinic. The hand gripping
Moran’s was warm.

Both of them took their sweet time to walk and reach their home on the top of the mountain. No
one spoke a word.

As soon as they step into their house, Moran engulfs his husband in a hug, lifting the shorter male
off the ground.

“Moran! Put me down!” Chu Wanning wraps his arms tightly around Moran’s neck.

“Wanning… Is this real?” His heart melts. The breath hitting his neck was shaking.

“Every morning when I wake up next to Wanning,”

“I find it hard to believe that you’re real.” The embrace tightens.

“How am I going to..”

“Wanning this…” Moran’s voice seemed unsure.

“This happiness..” The last words came out a bit shakily.

“Put me down,” Wanning says with a soft voice.

Moran doesn’t deny this time. He slowly lets his husband down on the floor. The arms around him
loosen. Bigger hands then hold onto his.

“Look at me.” Chu Wanning orders the man looking at their conjoined hands. Moran’s head was
still kept down.

“Moran.” Chu Wanning calls out softly, his hand cups Moran’s face, lifting it. The beautiful pair of
eyes were glossy. An unbearable sad expression on his face twists at Chu Wannning’s heart.

“But I am here now, am I not?” Moran nods vigorously, a lone tear making its way down to his
cheek.

“And your presence makes me so, so happy Wanning…”

“It feels like I’m dreaming.” The latter looks into his husband’s eyes. Chu Wanning wanted to stare
at them for a long time, without any reason. But pushing his weight on his toes, Chu Wanning
presses his lips on Moran’s for a brief moment; their lips part with a wet smooch.

Sliding his arms around his husband, Moran pulls Wanning closer. Leaning forward, he presses his
lips on the latter again.

Chu Wanning tilts his head on the side slightly, their lips moving against each other perfectly. A
tongue tentatively licks his lower lips.

A content sigh was drawn out as the hot, wet tongue slides into his mouth, licking inside his mouth
most sweetly. Throwing both his arms around the taller man’s neck, Chu Wanning draws Moran
closer.

Chu Wanning loves lazy evenings and sweet kisses.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
“What?”

“We’re having twins?” Chu Wanning wanted to scold Taxian-Jun for being so loud when he was
just up from a nap. But the betrayed expression on his husband’s face told him to stay put.

“Why is it that bastard gets all the good news first?” Wanning rolls his eyes in annoyance.

“Aren’t both of you the same person?” Chu Wanning says, his fingers rubbing his forehead. It was
true. Yet to hide his flushed expression, Taxian-Jun buries his face in his husband’s growing
stomach.

“You two better come when I am around.” A ‘Shut up’ was just at the tip of his tongue. But the
words were caught in his throat when Taxian-Jun dropped a kiss on his tummy just like that.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

“Do we have anything spicy?” Taxian-Jun nearly chokes on his soup as soon as his brain registered
the words.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, right?” He asks dumbly.

“What does it have to do with you answering my question?” Taxian-Jun gulps seeing the irritated
expression on his husband’s face. They were in the middle of having their dinner when Chu
Wanning suddenly asked for something spicy?

It either had something to do with Taxian-Jun doing something dumb and Wanning wanting to rub
that in his eyes or something. He couldn’t believe how dumb his own logic sounded.

But he doesn’t say that out loud though. He was sure Wanning would throw the porcelain rice bowl
at him if he heard this.

“We do have some chili oil.” Chu Wanning looked at the bowl of porridge he was eating just a few
minutes ago.

“This tastes…”

“Bland.” Taxian-Jun probably had had a funny expression on his face because Wanning looked
more angered.

Chu Wanning hates spicy food.

“So you want to mix something spicy in it?” Chu Wanning nods, a tinge of red growing at the tip
of his ears.

After Taxian-Jun brought the jar of oil to their table, Chu Wanning looked at it in distaste. He
absolutely cannot tolerate spicy food after all.

But once he took a bite of food mixed with a little bit of oil, Chu Wanning couldn’t help but moan.

It tasted that good.

But Taxian-Jun couldn’t swallow another bite after seeing his husband inhaling the porridge red
with chilies.
The next time Moran wakes up, he sees a new jar of chili oil resting on top of his kitchen counter,
red chilies drying on a rack. The diary he and his other self had agreed to keep to update each other
after their time.

Wanning’s been asking for something spicy in each meal. Saved you some work making you some
oil beforehand. Dry those chilies properly. Got them off of a very good deal in the market.

“Ah... That’s actually quite normal!” Physician Fang’s answer had left Moran puzzled when he
had asked him about his husband’s newfound love for spicy food.

“The urge to eat things he’s not used to or didn’t like before,”

“That is very normal in his condition.”

“Just make sure he doesn’t eat too much of them.”

But Chu Wanning who had avoided spicy food all his life couldn’t understand how much he could
digest, ending up with terrible heartburns.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Taxian-Jun wasn’t ready when this had happened. Chu Wanning said he wanted to eat Osmanthus
jelly. Not unusual at all, right?

Wrong.
Both Taxian-Jun and Moran had failed to totally grasp the effects of this pregnancy dear Wanning
would have.

This particular night, after dinner Taxian-Jun had handed Chu Wanning a small bowl of
Osmanthus jelly he had asked for. Taxian-Jun had prepared them just how his Baobei loved.

But as soon as Chu Wanning chewed on the jelly, the color of his face changed.

The bowl dropped from his hand on the floor as Chu Wanning made a run for the bathroom.

“Wanning!” Taxian-Jun, who had come back from the kitchen wanting to ask his husband if he
would like to have more, see the bowl and jelly dropped on the floor.

“Wanning?” He hears some water splashing and heads for the bathroom sees his husband
wrenching his gut out.

Chu Wanning didn’t have much problem with food at the beginning. But this problem seems to be
growing day by day.

With a glass of water in his hand, Taxian-Jun finds his husband sitting in a rigid position on their
bed, his both hand fisted on his knees.

“Here, drink some water.” But Chu Wanning just sat there, with his jaw and fists clenching even
more tightly, his knuckles turning white. Taxian-Jun, seeing his husband like this, tries to comfort
him.

“I have some more at the kitchen. Drink the water first and I’ll bring them to you.” His fingers card
through the silky hair.

“No..” It was so faint Taxian-Jun almost didn’t catch Chu Wanning say it.
“Ah.. you don’t want them anymore?” Taxian-Jun was alarmed all of a sudden.

The rim of his husband’s eyes were red and glossy, his jaws kept on clenching.

Oh.

Shit.

“Wanning”

“Baobei..” Putting the glass aside, Taxian-Jun scoops his husband in his arms, putting kisses on his
temple he speaks up.

“Don’t cry! This venerable one will make Wanning as many bowls of jelly he wants to eat.” Chu
Wanning’s head snaps his way.

“Who says I’m crying?” But as soon as he let those words out, his tears began to fall like a broken
dam.

Chu Wanning himself looked taken aback by the tears that he was shedding all of a sudden. But
something in the back of his mind only made him cry harder.

“I really wanted to eat that bowl…” Chu Wanning had been craving those jellies for so, so long!
And the perfectly sized jellies looked like dreams to him at the first glance.

But who knew that his body had something else planned for him?

Not to mention he had thrown up the dinner he had had for the night too.

But was this something for a grandmaster to cry about?

A flush of shame graced his face, making him look even more adorable in his husband’s eyes.

“Ah... Wanning! Don’t cry anymore.”

“This venerable one promises to make Wanning as many jellies as he wants!” Taxian-Jun wraps
his arms around his husband tightly.

Fuck.

He liked seeing Wanning cry like this. But He was never right in his brain.

He always liked tormenting his Shizun, didn’t he?

But in the middle of the night, after much tossing and turning, Chu Wanning couldn’t take it
anymore.

Taxian-Jun felt someone shaking his body.

“Moran.” His eyes greet a pouting Chu Wanning hovering over his face. He couldn’t help grabbing
the smaller man by his jaw and planting a kiss on his lips.

“Why are you still awake?” Taxian-Jun knew it wasn’t anything less than 2 in the morning. But his
husband seemed to have something on his mind. Chu Wanning couldn’t meet his eyes. So after a
while of looking back and forth at his husband, Chu Wanning finally says-
“I’m hungry.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Moran looks at his husband standing near the stovetop, his fingers wrapping dumplings with
expertise. It suddenly was a bit colder than any other day today.

Moran had a slip of tongue and expressed how much he was craving the dumplings his Wanning
made for him.

Wanning was standing there, clad in his inner robe only; complaining how the heat of the stove
was making him feel extra hot.

His body...

It no longer was that thin looking figure that made him look even sharper. The pregnancy had been
doing its job, putting on fat wherever it could.

His hips, thighs weren’t as slender as before. Nor were they full enough to call them downright fat.

Just right supple.

And don’t get Moran started on how good his ass looked underneath those white robes that were a
tad bit tight on his lover now.

He just wanted to knead those fleshy parts and-

Moran shakes his head. He hadn’t really laid his hands on Wanning ever since he found out the
latter was pregnant.

He didn’t want to do something dumb and harm either the babies or Wanning.

Yet the heat pooling at his gut was uncomfortable. It’s been a while after all.

He wanted to touch Wanning.

Getting up from the mat, Moran makes his way towards his husband a familiar smell of the soup
boiling fills his nose. Walking closer, Moran wraps his own arms around his lover, both hands
sliding under the slightly bulging tummy, his both palms covering the swell completely.

A smile breaks into his lips when he feels Moran enveloping him in a warm hug. The big, warm
hands of the younger male caress his bump affectionately.

As the younger male presses himself harder on his back, Wanning’s movement falters, his breath
hitches as Moran breathes on his neck.

He could feel something hard pressing against the swell of his ass.

Moran dives his nose in. The lazy and messy bun his husband had put his hair on was almost
undone, giving him a very unkempt look.

Wanning’s whole body shudders as he feels his husband nosing at his slender neck, his hot ragged
breath hitting his skin.

“Wanning…… Baobei..” Wanning puts the dumpling down, his hand coming up to touch Moran’s
face, the leftover flour on his fingers leaves white marks over the tanned skin of his husband. The
skin was almost burning hot.

Moran’s hand undoes the messy bun, the inky black hair falls over his face. He takes deep breaths,
wanting to take in every essence of his husband.

“Wanning…” Wanning yelps a little when Moran pulls him back, arms around him tighten as his
hips rolls against his ass.

Twisting his neck, Chu Wanning tries to take a good look at his husband. His breath hitches at the
sight.

Face flushed, pupils blown, Moran was breathing through his mouth.

He looked like a hungry beast, ready to devour his meal.

Oh, how long has it been since Chu Wanning had seen this expression on Moran’s face? He
couldn’t help but lean in.

Moran catches his lower lips in between his teeth almost immediately, as if he had been waiting for
this moment for hours now.

Tongue entangled, and wet suckling sound fills their ears. His teeth roughly bite onto Wanning’s
lower lips, mouth erotically sucking on his tongue No matter how much they kiss, Moran still
thinks it’s not enough.

And he had a hard time controlling himself. But his movements start to slow down as arms caress
over the swell of Wanning’s stomach.

Oh.

He got carried away again.

Chu Wanning could feel the change in his husband’s movement immediately. They were more…

Gentler.

And careful.

The pair of lips leave his. Wanning was left lightheaded just with one kiss. He looks at his
husband’s face as confusion grows in his heart.

“What’s wrong?” Chu Wanning asks, his voice sounding hoarse. Moran says nothing for a while;
a guilty look smearing on his beautiful face.

“I don’t think I should…” Moran doesn’t finish his sentence. Wanning understood. Ever since
finding out about his pregnancy, Moran has been cautious; and way too careful. As if he was a
fragile porcelain doll.

So he put away his shame and had asked physician Fang about it.

“As long as we are careful…” Chu Wanning looks away from Moran as the words fall out of his
lips.
“Physician Fang said it would be fine……” Chu Wanning could feel his nape and whole face burn
in shame. To think he mustered up enough courage to ask physician Fang such question stunned
Moran.

But it doesn’t take him long to pull Chu Wanning into another bruising kiss like a starved beast.

Getting frisky with his husband in any place of their home wasn’t anything new for Moran. Yet
this time...

This particular time…

Moran felt everything felt a thousand times intense. He didn’t even undress them. He didn’t want
to even waste that much time.

He lets out a shaky breath as he pushes away the fringes of his hair away. He wanted to have a
better look at his husband.

Chu Wanning was leaning towards the counter, dainty fingers clutching on the edge of the table.
His body shakes along with Moran’s deep and slow thrust.

Moran’s cock felt like a scorching piece of iron inside his body, thrusting in and out, burning him
with more desire.

Goodness, he loved this!

The hot and sturdy naked chest plastered on his clothed back, the burning heat passing through the
inner robe to his skin. The rough and worn trouser rubs against the back of thighs, making Chu
Wanning crave more friction.

Moran caresses the lower part of his tummy, barely touching his leaking cock; a tickling sensation
makes a shiver break out all over his body. Wandering hands travel up to his chest, pinching on his
tender nipples.

Chu Wanning chokes out a sob.

“Do you like that?” A husky voice asks him. Chu Wanning couldn’t help but gasp and push his ass
back, wanting to get that little more pleasure.

It felt good.

It felt awfully good.

All Chu Wanning could do was try to conceal the moans spilling out of his mouth.

“Why is Wanning keeping his voice down? Let me hear.” Moran rolls the pink buds with his rough
fingertips. The older man suddenly grabs at his hands. His nipples were too sensitive.

“No more…Don’t do this…” Chu Wanning hadn’t touched his own dick yet, but he knew he
probably was leaking all over the place by now.

Moran’s eyes get darker at the statement.

“What the hell..” Moran breathes out next to his ear, his voice shaky and breath hot over his sweat-
slicked skin.

He wants to see this man properly.

Pulling out, Moran turns the man around. The tear-stained cheeks, lips red with how much his
husband had been biting on them, it wasn’t long before Moran dives in for a kiss again.

Chu Wanning feels his mouth melt into the kiss, the clash of their teeth, the taste of iron on his
tongue…

Moran’s mouth trails over his jaw, neck, then to his collarbone, biting on the skin until he saw red
splotches appear.

Chu Wanning only could crave more.

“Let’s go to the bed, hm?” Moran says before casually picking up his husband.

Putting the smaller man down on the bed, Moran puts feathery kisses on the unmarred chest. His
rough tongue swirls over the tender nub, another one under his fingertips.

“Moran! Stop!” Chu Wanning’s protests soon died out as his back arched up, a moan chokes out.

Moran looked stunned. His movements halt as he feels something warm wetting his chest.

The streak of white cum across his chest and chin…

Chu Wanning came just by getting his nips teased?

He looks at the man sprawled on their bed, his both hands covering his eyes; heavy breaths and
flushed skin, his cock flushed against his slightly swollen tummy as if he hadn’t cum just a
moment ago.

Moran could feel his cock getting even harder. Was that even possible?

He wanted to mark this man. Moran wants to thrust in deeper.

He wants to mark this man.

Tearing the piece of garment hanging on Wanning, Moran bites on the exposed shoulder, hard.

Hard enough to draw blood. He knows he shouldn’t do this-

“Mo-Ah... Moran!” Wanning cries out, tears leaking out of his eyes like a broken tap as Moran’s
both hands get busy down there. Three fingers were massaging his sensitive hole, another stroking
his semi-hard cock in a frustrating manner.

Moran stares at the mess he had made out of Chu Wanning. The bite marks were already forming
purplish bruises all over. But he wants to mark this man more. Inside out.

Pulling his fingers out Moran presses only the stiff head to his cock in husband’s abused rim, along
with a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth.

“Wanning…”

“You’re mine…” Why was he getting so possessive today? His other hand holds the other man’s
face in a firm hold, tilting his head sideways, Moran bites on his ears, tongue swiping over the
mole obsessively.

“I love you...Wanning”
 “Please tell me you’re mine.” Chu Wanning hears his husband mutter insistently even in a head
muddled up he could feel shame creeping out at this demand.

“Ah...Hurry up..” But he says something different entirely.

“Tell me first Wanning..” Moran suddenly teases even further pushing in only a little, just to pull
out, his calloused fingers rubbing the red swollen nipples again.

“Wanning... Baobei..” Moran peppers small kisses all over his face.

“Indulge me a little, won’t you..” These moments... God Chu Wanning hated these moments. Yet
he couldn’t deny the sickly satisfaction he got from Moran getting all possessive over him.

“What do you want?” Rubbing his fingers inside him, Moran asks his husband in a saccharine
sweet tone.

“You have to speak.”

“How else would I know what you want, hm?” Schooling his breathing, Chu Wanning looks at his
husband. Moran sure was acting wild today.

But who knew Chu Wanning had something even wilder in his sleeves?

“Ge…” Chu Wanning lets his hand wander over the sturdy chest, slowly creeping down to
Moran’s dick. It was hot. Hot and hard. Chu Wanning mewls.

Putting his shame aside for once, he calls.

“Moran Gege….” Moran feels his whole body freeze as the name slips out of his husband’s lips
and a tug at his agonizingly hard cock.

“Won’t you indulge me a little?”

Chapter End Notes

I realized the smut part was kind of unnecessary. But I wanted to write it. I think it
turned out well? It's been a while since I've written smutt!! At first, I was putting
weeks of pregnancy, then I was like I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO ADD! Putting
weeks kinda was making it weird. Also Moran and Taxian-Jun... I had this weird bug
in my mind that I had to write Taxian-Jun instead of Moran when it was Taxian-Jun's
time. And I have a huge thing for twin babies and want them myself too. XD. So I'll
make all my fic couples have twins (AS much as possible). I know they are the same
person. But somehow to me, they are VERY different. SO different that I had to put
the name separately each time. But writing Taxian-Jun so many times kinda made me
feel weird lol. I hope it doesn't seem too bad.
BUTTT I hope this chapter was fluffy enough. I'll try to update every 10 days. This is
the first time I've begun posting an unfinished story. So I am also feeling OMG what if
I feel like doing some major change and stuffs. enough ranting. Enjoy!
 Shizun, it's okay to feel selfish
Chapter Summary

Shizun feels and learns some new things.

Chapter Notes

Yay. Update a day before.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

As Moran climbed up at the top of the mountain, his eyes fall on the figure sitting on the bench.
Chu Wanning was sitting there in a comfortable manner; he had a piece of paper in his hand.

Moving closer, Moran sees Wanning frowning.

“Baobei.” His eyes fall on the box kept on the table. There were three porcelain bottles nestled in
silk.

Chu Wanning hands him the piece of paper seeing a curious look on Moran’s face. It was a letter
from Tanlang elder.

Given how your temper is, your blood must be pumping out of that heart of yours in a mad rage.
These oils should help you cool you off to some extent.

It was a short, sarcastic letter from an old colleague. Moran lets out a laugh as Chu Wanning huffs.

“I’ll come back after putting these aside.” Chu Wanning doesn’t say anything in return.

“Oh... These..” Moran picks up each bottle from the box as he examines the label. One was for
hair, another for skin, another for bathing.

“Tanlang elder sent a very considerate gift.” But Chu Wanning did not seem too happy.

“Does Wanning want me to put some on you?” Even though Chu Wanning didn’t like the sender,
he didn’t refuse.

So Chu Wanning sat there, Moran slowly massaged through his hair, his fingers gliding smoothly
on his scalp.

Strong hands putting pressure on the right places. Not to mention how the oil was spreading a
warm sensation on his scalp.

Chu Wanning couldn’t help but moan. Moran’s hands slide down to his nape, massaging the stiff
muscle.

“We should thank Tanlang elder for the oils.” Chu Wanning still kept quiet; he would never
personally thank that particular guy.

“Do whatever you want.” Moran smiles at the reply.

Rather than the long ponytail his husband always does, Moran ties his hair in simple braids. Chu
Wanning was engrossed in the book he was reading, not noticing what his husband was doing with
his hair.

Small red spiritual butterflies escaped from Moran’s fingers, resting on top of Chu Wanning head.

These butterflies… They sure bring back memories.

“All done.” Chu Wanning’s stupor breaks as he feels his husband putting a sweet kiss on his left
eye.

If anyone would have told Chu Wanning five or six years prior that he’d be here, he would have hit
that person with Tianwen so hard.

Yet, his lips curled into a small smile and his heart warmed up with the love he is nurturing inside.

“Why are you staring at me like this?” Moran was sitting across him with his both arms propped
on top of the table. Chu Wanning was working on a piece of new machinery. But his concentration
was constantly challenged by the fluttering gaze of the man sitting across him.

Smiling sweetly, Moran replies-

“My Wanning looks so beautiful. I can’t take my eyes off him.” The dimple on his cheeks deepens
as Chu Wanning throws him an offhanded Shameless.

It was the next day when Chu Wanning realized why Moran was staring at him like that.

As soon as he let his braids loose, a handful of butterflies burst into red sparkling glitters. The
glitters were warm against his cheeks as they fell.

They were just how Moran’s love felt on his skin.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning throws the stale rice in the pan; two scrambled eggs were sizzling in the melted
duck fat. Days without Moran seemed… Empty.

Moran was hesitant to leave for so long. But either of them had to go. It was an important mission.

Sprinkling some spices in the pan, Chu Wanning attempts to grab the bowl resting by his hand.
The spatula slips through his hand and a soft fluttering sensation fills his tummy.

Both hands wind around the swell of his tummy, a feeling similar to a feather lightly caressing his
insides, but it was still very different; something Chu Wanning couldn’t describe.

“Hello..!” Chu Wanning was shocked by how soft his own voice sounded in his ears. Yet he
couldn’t stop the warmth flooding his whole body.

His knees buckle as he slides on the floor, his hands caressing his bulging stomach.

The featherlike sensation was faint, yet not ignorable.

Chu Wanning felt his throat closing up, eyes welling with unshed tears. What was this feeling?

There was no one else in the empty house. Only Chu Wanning and his children under his heart.
The children; who he knew existed, but felt real on a different level now.

He can’t remember having such a personal moment ever in his life. It was something he didn’t
even want to share with Moran. This selfishness almost caught him off guard.

But what could Chu Wanning do? He is someone who has always been there for everyone else but
him. Could anyone blame him for wanting to keep this just to himself?

It was okay if he hid this from his husband, right?

His mornings began with the soft kicks. He found himself greeting back. How odd.

“BaoBao”

This is what he had begun to call the two in his tummy. The first time the name slipped his lips
Chu Wanning couldn’t help but laugh out loud. It sounded so ridiculously childish.

“Are you two warm in there?”

But the tickling sensation of happiness filling his whole being when he called out the name
overrode his shame.

He would have become red with anger if he was to imagine himself talking to his tummy in silence.

Yet he no longer found anything unusual with that.

Did you two have good sleep?

What do you want to eat today?

Chu Wanning couldn’t stop talking; as if all these years of silence were finally taking their toll. Or
maybe he was enjoying these lonely and silent days just with himself.
“Ah... Laoshi! You’re here in perfect time!” Chu Wanning had come to Physician Fang’s clinic on
his own today. He could hear the faint cries of a newborn.

“Some new mothers are here. My wife is actually teaching them proper childcare.”

“I think Laoshi could use this opportunity too!” Physician Fang had said without a break. Sitting
with a bunch of young mothers didn’t sound very appealing.

But Chu Wanning had no experience with kids whatsoever. He couldn’t be picky.

So he just……nodded.

Giving him a bright smile, Physician Fang brings his wife out, muttering some words in her ear.
Looking his way, the lady smiles at him then disappears to the inner room.

“Laoshi. Please come with me.” Chu Wanning wasn’t the type to get nervous easily. Yet amidst a
bunch of giggling young mothers, he felt his throat becoming dry.
He could feel the curious eyes on him as he takes a seat.

“Chu Laoshi is a grandmaster.” Madam Fang introduces him to the crowd of four.
“He’d be joining us for our sessions from now on.” He gives them a curt bow.

“Laoshi is a cultivator?” An overexcited girl questioned him. Chu Wanning nods. He could see the
eagerness in the eyes of all the other women in the room. But His cold impassive face probably
was making them hold back.

Also, male pregnancy was rare in human society after all.

But for now, Chu Wanning was thankful they weren’t asking any more questions.

“Laoshi, have you held a baby before?” Chu Wanning looks at Madam Fang in horror as she
approaches him with a baby held in her hands.

The next day, two pregnant young ladies joined them. Thanks to their frank personality, Chu
Wanning felt somewhat at ease.

The over-curious girl from the first day turned out to be the younger sister of a cultivator.

“Laoshi, do you think my girl can be a cultivator too?” Chu Wanning looked at the girl looking his
way with an expectant expression. In his arms was the newborn daughter of hers.

Holding the baby in his one arm, he proceeds to take out one hand from the swaddle.

“She can.” Her magic core wasn’t all that weak.

“If she will work hard enough.” She could become a good cultivator.

Her mother’s eyes lit up.

“Laoshi! Then please take my daughter as your disciple!” Chu Wanning couldn’t help but feel odd.
Why would people like to send their kids into this kind of life deliberately?

“Your young ones will be slightly younger than my daughter after all!” But all in all, she looked
excited.

Turned out, not all of the young girls with children were inexperienced. They were there just to
help other ladies.

“Ah… Laoshi, pull this corner slightly tighter.” One of the ladies points to Chu Wanning who was
swaddling a squirming child.

“Are you afraid that you’ll tighten it too much?” He couldn’t help but nod. The first time Madam
Fang had made him hold a baby, he felt the baby was going to slip out of his arms.

Soft and weak, flailing its arms here and there.

His hands have slashed through thousands of bodies at once, he had not feared. But holding an
infant in those same arms scared him.

His hands weren’t for nurturing lives. Could he actually…

“It’s okay. I will guide you.” This lady was pregnant with her third child already. She had a frail-
looking body, but oddly strong yet gentle hands. And her simple words somehow managed to put
Chu Wanning at ease.

With Chu Wanning walking down to the mountain every other day, half a month had gone by
easily.

Moran returns just before the sun began to drop. Grocery bags filled with things and his backpack
looked stuffier than when he had left half a month prior.

“The village head and his wife packed lots of things when they heard you were pregnant.” Chu
Wanning only hums as he watches his husband puts away the grocery bags.

“Wanning..” the older man soon found himself in a familiar warm embrace.

“Did you guys miss me?” Chu Wanning says nothing as he wraps his arms around the taller man.

And it took Chu Wanning almost another two to break the news to his husband.

“Shizun, are you sure it doesn’t hurt?” The latter couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Taxian-Jun had
asked this same question for the 9th time since he was told he could now feel the babies move.

“Do you think I’m lying?” He asks sternly. But the confused look on his husband’s face doesn’t
cease.

“I can feel it so…” He moves his hands all over the swell, his face saying he can’t trust his
husband’s words just yet.

“They don’t hurt. You’re over….” Chu Wanning’s words die down in his throat as the other
person speaks.

“Don’t bug him too much you two, okay?”

“This venerable one knows Wanning is very good at hiding his pain.” Chu Wanning feels his heart
throb as the words reach his ears. He looks at the man kneeling by their bed, his face serious as he
talks to his belly.

They have come a long way, haven’t they? With their heart heavy with memories of lifetimes; yet
his heart was filled in such love he could never get used to.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning wakes up to hammer noises, space next to him empty. Rolling out of the bed, he
makes his way out of their home.

Moran was making something.

“Moran.” The said male looks back at the source of the voice, his tense expression breaking into a
dazzling smile.

“Shizun! You’re awake?” Nodding his head, Chu Wanning eyes the frame Moran has been coming
up with.

“What are you making?”

“Can Shizun guess?” It still wasn’t anywhere near done. The basics of the main structure were just
set up. Yet Chu Wanning somehow took the right guess.

“A crib?” The smile on Moran’s face widens.

“Shizun is right as always.” Chu Wanning couldn’t help but reach out to touch the rattans put
together in a tight bind.
“The weather is nice. Wait here, I’ll bring our breakfast out.” Moran’s hand pats Chu Wanning on
his head as he leaves. These small gestures never fail to make Chu Wanning go all mushy.

“The ones I saw on the market,”

“They seemed too small for two,” Moran says as he puts down the last bowl of congee on the table
outside.

“So you decided to make one?” Moran nods with a smile.

“Does Shizun like it?” Moran asks as he tucked back the strand of stray hair away from Chu
Wanning’s face.

“Mm. The frame looks good.” The rest of the breakfast goes in silence. Chu Wanning’s gaze
suddenly falls on his husband, who was gazing at him with a fond smile.

His heart softens at the sight of a haitang petal sticking to Moran’s hair. Lifting his hand, Chu
Wanning picks the petal. Another hand soon covers his.

Bringing his hand to his lips, Moran puts a kiss on the palm.

“Moran.” Chu Wanning doesn’t know why he’s suddenly asking this. Probably because his chest
feels a bit stuffy with the sudden surge of emotions, or probably because he’s become a bit more
honest with his feelings ever since becoming pregnant.

“Are you happy?” Moran’s eyes widen as the question clicks, then creases as a smile graces his
lips. Moran doesn’t speak. He nods his head vigorously.

“I can’t even describe how happy I am, Wanning.” The gentle morning rays of the sun reflected on
those glossy purple eyes. Opening his arms, Chu Wanning says-

“Come here.” Moran looked startled, yet soon he melted in the warm embrace of the love of his
life. Moran could only put his head on Chu Wanning’s chest. The bump in between them has
grown a bit too much for Moran to squeeze in.

Yet, the sound thumping heart, the soft kicks he felt were unreal to him.

Moran, having lost his only loved one; who had to fend for him from such a young age, was now
lying in the embrace of the person who loves him the most in this world.

And he was soon, going to welcome children of his own… The mere thought twisted something
inside Moran’s chest.

How did he get so lucky?

His mighty Shizun, his Wanning!

The dread of this breathing, talking man’s not being here with him still hasn’t left Moran’s heart
yet. He constantly needs to be reassured. And he was so, so thankful Chu Wanning understood
him.

With the nimble fingers carding through his hair, the calming scent of haitang, Moran was a sucker
for all of them. Yet, he felt emotional. He felt like crying his heart out in Wanning’s arms.
To let it all out.

The fear, doubt, his happiness!

Yet, he said something very stupid and honest.

“Wanning. When they are born…” Chu Wanning hums in acknowledgment.

“Let’s have more of them.” Chu Wanning was dumbfounded for split second, before laughing out
loud.

So unlike him, he thought.

“How about next time you carry them?” Moran’s head shot up, the betrayed feeling showing on his
face evidently. Chu Wanning couldn’t help but let the smile stretch longer.

“Shizun has learned how to crack jokes now.” Moran dives his nose in the comforting smell of
Chu Wanning’s body.

“I am a quick learner.” This time, Moran couldn’t help but laugh a little too, the previous weighing
feeling in his heart dissipating into a warm feeling of love.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Laoshi, you both should prepare for winter.” The news of Chu Wanning’s pregnancy had come
through the dying hint of spring. Now went the summer and the autumn was looming over their
head.

“Given that you’re carrying twins, they might be…”

“A little early if I’m not wrong.” Physician Fang had a calm expression on his face.

“This is not my intention to scare you both!” He was also quick to explain himself. Probably the
anxious feeling in Moran’s face was showing on his face too.

He holds on to Chu Wanning’s hand tightly.

“Physician, do you think I might have any risk?” He felt the grip on his hand tighten.

“En… you and both of them in there are doing great! Mo Zongshi needn’t be so tense!” Physician
Fang had a gentle smile on.

“I will keep a regular check on you on the last few weeks.”

“You can rest assured.”

The hold on his hand doesn’t loosen. Chu Wanning looks at the rigid jaw and frown of his
husband. This is when Madam Fang entered the room with hot water for tea.

“You still haven’t learned how to use your words properly.” She scolds.

“Laoshi, have you two decided on any names yet?” Hearing this, Moran relaxes a little.

“On that Madam Fang, we are lagging.” She smiles hearing the response.

“You both should hurry. There’s not one but two names to come up with!”
 “Let’s look for something.” Chu Wanning says as he drags Moran to a shop before he could even
reply.

“Why is Wanning looking for wool?” Moran was thoroughly confused seeing his husband look
through various types of wool.

“To knit of course.” It was his time to be surprised.

“Wanning knows how to knit?” Moran knows Chu Wanning was trying to glare at him. But once
sharp and slightly sunken cheeks were now quite full, giving his husband a soft and adorable aura.

“Ahh... I was just asking Wanning.” Moran couldn’t help but pinch his husband’s cheeks.

“Which color do you want to buy?” Moran says, eyeing at the lavender and purple yarn the latter
had in his hands.

“……” But Wanning doesn’t say out loud that he’s actually conflicted.

“Why not pick out some other colors too? And try to make things while we have the time?” It
wouldn’t hurt to buy some more than they need, would it?

And turns out Chu Wanning was indeed very good at knitting.

“I’ve never seen someone knit like this.” Moran looked at the almost complete blanket in awe.

“This one will never fall short.” Took the clueless man a few minutes to understand what it truly
meant.

“Like Wanning’s robes?” Nodding his head, Chu Wanning continues to work.

Later when Moran was hanging the washed wet blankets to dry, he couldn’t help but look forward
to wrapping these around the ones who were yet to come.

Moran finds Chu Wanning standing by the tree with its leaves turned red. He stood there as the
wind blew leaves around him. His Wanning always managed to look so put together even though
he’s just standing there, doing nothing.

Chu Wanning looked totally engrossed in his thoughts. He looked totally out of it.

“Shizun, what are you thinking?” Moran wants to ask.

But Chu Wanning didn’t seem he heard Moran approaching him. Walking closer, he slides his both
arms around Chu Wanning’s belly, his chest flushed against other’s backs. His warm lips brushing
against the older man’s ears as he mutters-

“Shizun. Pay attention to me, won’t you?”

Chapter End Notes

So.
I have an assignment due next week. Also, it's Eid-ul-Adha this week (SO MUCH
WORK). (ㆆ_ㆆ) (ಥ_ಥ)So I thought I'd update a day early or something. And this
chapter kind of was Shizun centric I feel. And I hope it doesn't feel like I'm dragging
the story too much. (I'm just really pumped to write this)(◑﹏◐)
And the part where Chu Wanning goes to the clinic and kind of gets a childcare
training, I was kind of skeptical about writing about that. But I don't like how Shizun
is made to look incompetent in some things and how this is overly emphasized. So I
gave him that training session which actually is totally made up lol. I just didn't want
to write a part where he feels he lacks as a parent and other insecurity, inferiority shit.
And leave a comment or two. I feel like I'm having this one-sided conversation. ( '_')┏
AND EID MUBARAK (つ⁎ᵕ ᴗ ᵕ⁎)つ *Sending virtual hugs*
 Shizun! We don't have any names yet!
Chapter Summary

Moran wakes up to two sleeping sweethearts.

Chapter Notes

Wow. This one turned out to be longer than I had anticipated! And this chapter has
some graphic descriptions or labor. I'm gonna mark
[(ノಠ益ಠ)ノwith this!] the beginning and end of it just in case someone doesn't like it.
ENJOY!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Week 30

Taxian-Jun looks at the roads covered in white snow. They had gotten down to the mountain to
visit physician Fang the previous day. But the sudden snowstorm held them back for a whole night.

“I had sent a letter to my sister. She’s an experienced midwife.” Physician Fang gestures at the
woman sitting next to him.

“She was married off to Chen household next town.” Chu Wanning knew about them. They were
one of the most influential families who sold medicinal items to the cities nearby.

” You should have told this venerable one beforehand that you were such an incompetent one.”

“Moran!” Chu Wanning had almost yelled.

Physician Fang only laughed out loud.

“Mo Gongzi needn’t doubt my brother’s ability.”

“But since it is Laoshi’s first time, I thought he would feel more comfortable with me.”

“Please pardon his rudeness.” Chu Wanning had glared at him as he apologized on his husband’s
behalf.

“I can understand Mo-Gongzi’s worries. Laoshi needn’t apologize.” Physician Fang had an
amused look on his face as he stole a glance at Taxian-Jun.

“May I have a look at Chu Laoshi?” The lady asked in a soft voice.

“Many thanks to Madam for her generosity.” Chu Wanning replied bowing his head slightly.

Chu Wanning hadn’t talked to Taxian-Jun since the meeting with Fang siblings.
“After all the assistance he’s given, this is how you repay him?”

It’s been years since Taxian-Jun had seen Chu Wanning summoning Tianwen out of anger. To say
he was scared would be an understatement.

He was literally terrified to death.

Chu Wanning’s face was flushed in a slight pink and breathing heavy.

But unlike before, Chu Wanning had calmed down right after his anger had flared up.

“Get out.” With his hand resting on top of his belly, Chu Wanning had yelled at Taxian-Jun. By
that time, it was snowing pretty heavily already and he had no other choice to sit in the open area of
the inn they were staying in for the night.

The next morning, the roads were covered in snow, and the sun reflecting on the fresh snow made
it look blindingly bright. Chu Wanning had been walking in slow steps.

His breathing was heavier than usual. But Taxian-Jun daren’t say anything about it. Seemingly lost
in thought, he failed to see his husband walking a lot ahead of him.
By the time he noticed, Chu Wanning was halfway through the stairs to Nanping Mountain. He
was looking back at him, both hands cradling the baby bump.

Wrapped in white robes head to toe, standing in stairs covered with equally white snows, Chu
Wanning looked like a god descended to earth. The rays of sunlight falling over the ink-black hair
and white skin made him look more outer-earthly.

Taxian-Jun felt his heart skip a beat.

He knew his Shizun was the most beautiful-looking person on the planet, no matter how much the
latter tried to refuse.

Yet right now, seeing the man standing there like this………

Taxian-Jun couldn’t help but just stand there and look at his Shizun.

In his last lifetime, after Chu Wanning’s death, there were countless times he had seen his Shizun
standing under the Haitang tree; just like the first time, he had seen the man.

But soon, he would realize it was just a fragment of his past. And the sight of a man donned in full
white would just disappear right in front of his eyes.

But this Chu Wanning was very real, right?

Yet the lingering fear and doubt suddenly crept into his heart through the cold snow under his feet.

“Do you plan to stand there the whole day? If you want to, then say so.” An ever-familiar voice
spoke angrily, washing Taxian-Jun with a wave of relief. He dashed upon the stairs. Chu
Wanning’s heart jumped in his chest.

“What the heck is wrong with you? Standing like a statue, then running like a dog!” Chu Wanning
looked genuinely angered. His brows furrowed together and his eyes squinted.

“Immortal gege!” Taxian-Jun tried to engulf Chu Wanning in an embrace, the playful smile on his
lips almost tipped Chu Wanning off.
“Shizun looks like an immortal descended from heaven. How could I not admire him a little?” But
before either of them could reply, a grumbling sound shut both of them down.

“Hmph!” Chu Wanning turned and walking back at a hurried pace.

Taxian-Jun didn’t follow him immediately; rather he stood there, watching his immortal gege
disappear within the bushes and trees on the mountain top.

And when he returns there, Taxian-Jun would still find his Shizun there, sitting by his working
desk, dainty hand insistently busy on scrolls or new pieces of machinery.

Week 34

Chu Wanning looks at the floor. More like the mess he had ended up making. He just had wanted
to put some spoonful of sugar in his bitter tea Physician Fang had asked him to drink every day.

But the spoon full of sugar had fallen on the floor accidentally. And when he tried to crouch, the
porcelain cup filled with warm tea knocked over; making a sticky mess on the floor.

Moran had just wiped down the whole kitchen just minutes prior. When he tried to crouch down,
the realization hit him.

His tummy now was kind of too big for him to crouch like any normal person. So he tried to wipe
the mess out of the way with a broom; ended up making a bigger mess.

So, with his shoulders slumped, Chu Wanning looks at the floor. Not like he could see the floor
clearly either. How long has it been since Chu Wanning had seen his own feet while standing?

Not to mention how the back pain and approaching due date were taking a toll on his sleep and
appetite.

He would toss and turn in their bed until very late into the night. He was really used to getting out
of bed in the middle of the night to walk till the pair inside his belly decided to finally call it a day.

Don’t get Chu Wanning wrong. He loved all these times when his baobao’s would respond to his
voice and touches.

But he needed to rest too.

What he found to be somewhat helpful was playing guqin. He felt like patting himself on his back
because he had randomly had bought the instrument and not really putting his time on it.

But playing meant forcing Moran to wake up from his much-needed sleep.

Not to mention at this point of his pregnancy, Chu Wanning was barely going by, only doing his
personal works on his own. He couldn’t help Moran in anything at all.

And here he was, creating more work for his already overworking husband.

Months of lack of sleep, ache in his whole body and finally, this mess finally hit on Chu Wanning.

Moran entered the kitchen to look for his husband, who said he’d come back in a minute, sees the
man standing there.
“Wanning?” He calls out. But the man stays unmoving.

Walking closer, Moran hears his husband warn him.

“Don’t come closer!” only then Moran sees the condition the floor was in. It wasn’t anything
much. Moran frowns.

“I’ll clean it up right away Shizun. You should go inside. I’ll make you a cup of fresh tea.” Moran
takes the moping towel from the side of the counter. But his Shizun still stood there. The
expression on his face looked grim.

“Shizun?” Chu Wanning’s face was flushed red. He could have summoned tianwen, or he could
summon those forest spirits to help him. Yet his brain seemed to have grown lax these days.

In the end, he made Moran clean up the mess he had made. This made him feel extremely……

Burdensome.

He felt angry with himself, and his lack of ability to think faster.

But these days, his anger seemed to have found another way of steaming off.

Moran has experienced this handful of times already; but each time it happened again, it caught
him off guard.

Chu Wanning burst out in tears. His eyes were still stern. But fat tears fell like pearls and his hands
clenched in a tight fist.

“Ah... Shizun...Why are you crying?” Moran didn’t care if he stepped on the sticky mess he just
jumped forward, cradling Chu Wanning’s face in his palms.

“I don’t know how this happened.” Chu Wanning closed his eyes, softly hiccupping as tears
continue to cascade down to his cheeks.

“It’s totally okay Baobei. It’s no big deal at all.” Moran tried to comfort the man. But he was
greeted with more violent tears.

“But you’ve been…I..” Chu Wanning couldn’t continue. But Moran understood. It’s not like he
couldn’t see Shizun’s efforts to not burden him.

Like how Chu Wanning still insisted on washing the dishes after dinner even though Moran knows
how swollen his feet already were.

Or how Chu Wanning tried to play guqin after putting a silencing spell around his study so that he
wouldn’t wake Moran up. There were hundreds of things Moran could list out that his Wanning
does for him.

How could he still think he was being a burden?

A fond smile plays on his lips as he pulls Chu Wanning closer, loosely wrapping his arms around
the man, his big palm patting Chu Wanning’s head.

“There there Wanning……”

“You’re already doing so much for us!” Moran’s voice was gentle as he talked.
“You’ve been carrying these two buns in your tummy for so many months.”

“You’re giving them everything they need.” Chu Wanning’s tears wetted Moran’s outer robe as he
presses his cheek on his chest.

“You’re keeping them warm.”

“You’re eating things you hate just to because baobao need them.” Bitter medicines, sour fruits,
and so on.

“I’m so proud of you.” Pulling away from the hug, Chu Wanning looks at his husband. All he
could see were eyes filled with admiration.

“It’s my Shizun we’re talking about! How can I ever do enough for him?” Chu Wanning threw
himself into Moran’s arms again. Tea be damned. Sugar be damned.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

An amused smile breaks out on Taxian-Jun’s face. Chu Wanning was sitting under the blanket,
leaning against the headrest. The bowl of fruits Taxian-Jun had given him was resting on top of the
swell of his belly. His undone hair showed the peaceful state he was in.

“Wanning has such a nice personal table.” Chu Wanning’s gaze was soft when he looked at
Taxian-Jun.

“Might as well use it to its full potential.” Taxian-Jun laughs out loud. Putting the empty bowl
aside, Chu Wanning lifts the blanket.

“Come in here.” Taxian-Jun was happy to comply. Sliding in the warm blanket, Taxian-Jun rests
his head on the swell of Chu Wanning’s belly, his hand on the top.

“Wanning do you think they are boys?” Chu Wanning listens as he strokes Taxian-Jun on his head.

“I…” Chu Wanning stops. Did he ever even think about the gender of the baby? This was a
miracle itself. To think he’d have the luxury to even think this-

“Your belly is absolutely rounded! Those girls in the market said round belly means boy.” Taxian-
Jun tries wrapping his arm around Chu Wanning’s belly, sliding into a more comfortable position.

“Don’t you want boys?” The pout in his husband’s tone made Chu Wanning smile a little.

“No! Not that!” The face pressing on his belly was tickling his skin. Chu Wanning feels his smile
widening.

“But I want to have a princess too.”

“I bet she would be just as pretty as Wanning.”

“She’ll have suitors line after her.”

“But I’ll shoo all of them away! Hahaha,” the two in his belly moves along to their father’s laugh.

“You sound like an old man.” Chu Wanning replies.

“I’m gonna become a father after all!” Taxian-Jun laughs again.

“But we haven’t thought about any names yet.” It's not like he hadn’t thought of any… But both of
them didn’t really talk about it yet. And he already was so close to his due date.

“What the hell have we been doing all these times?” Chu Wanning couldn’t help but huff out in
sheer surprise.

Just how fast these past eight months have passed!

Chu Wanning’s fingers glide over the crib handle. His other hand rests over his belly. His gaze
falls over two big boxes filled with god knows all the things Xue Meng had sent over.

“Wanning, have you gone through the boxes?” Moran’s head was peeking through the door.

“I feel tired looking at them.” Chu Wanning has been tired all the time. His back and feet hurt
every time he walked or tried doing anything else other than lying down.

Not to mention the contractions he’s been getting. Physician Fang said it was indicating his due
date is close.

Moran smiles at him gently.

“Okay. Sit here. I’ll show you.” Moran puts a stool out and holds it till Chu Wanning takes a seat
on it. Then pulls out the first robe he could find.

It was a white single silk robe. Chu Wanning couldn’t help but huff a smile. The small garment
looked tiny in Moran’s gigantic hands.

“What’s making Wanning smile like that?” Moran couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s so small…..” He couldn’t help but say it out loud. He and Moran had bought so many things
themselves too. Yet looking through new things for the new guests never failed to fill his heart
with joy he had never had experienced.

“Oh! This one’s so cute! Shizun look!” It was a red Hanfu made out of chiffon and silk. A dress
clearly made for a girl.

Chu Wanning says nothing as he watches Moran happily take out each thing and animatedly talk to
him.

Chu Wanning gaze falls on the crib right beside him. The last ray of the setting sun was falling on
the mattress inside the crib. His fingers touch the frame again.

His gaze falls on Moran looking at him. He had a questioning look in his eyes.

Moran’s sun-tanned skin looked even more beautiful in the orange sunlight. He looked
unrealistically handsome.

What a sappy way of describing your own husband, Chu Wanning thought to himself.

The moment he had held Moran’s hand in his own, both of their lives changed forever. He no
longer has to uphold the wall he had built over the years.

He doesn’t fear losing the people he loves by his hands. Chu Wanning no longer kills and
massacres through floods of ghosts. Moran had brought an odd sense of serenity and peace in his
previously chaotic life.
After all these years, he was entering a new stage of life that would change their lives again.

From the moment he found out about his baobaos, he knew his life would never be the same
anymore; whether he would be able to bring them to this world safely or not.

They would never be the same anymore.

They will be the same people with the same heart and love, yet everything will be different.

Chu Wanning saw Moran’s eyes widen as his heart twisted in a bittersweet feeling. His throat was
all choked up as he felt hot tears sliding down to his cheeks.

Nowadays Chu Wanning has stopped caring that he cried on every little thing. He cried when he’s
happy; he cried when he was sad.

He cried when his heart would swell with love.

“Moran” Chu Wanning’s voice was strained with the tears he was shedding.

“I love you.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Week 37

(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ

“Mmmm” Chu Wanning moans in pain. How come the pain is suddenly kicking in like this?

He kicks the blanket away. His robes were drenched wet with his sweat. He felt dumb for sending
Moran to the market.

But who can blame him? He wasn’t feeling this horrible even just an hour ago! But an alarm goes
off inside his head as he realizes the situation he actually might be.

Another groan leaves his throat as the pain kept going on.

This is nothing he had ever experienced before. His pelvic bones seemed to be breaking into
pieces, his guts felt like they were twisting around sharp blades. Chu Wanning gripped the
bedsheet hard.

God and he know how much pain he and his body have gone through. Yet he couldn’t help but cry
out in pain.

God, it hurt!

He calls out to his husband in the empty house.

Perhaps because he has truly gotten used to the other person being with him all the time.

But the pain subsided after a minute or two, the sweat cooled down; forcing him to wrap himself in
the thrown blanket again. But before he could drift back into sleep, it hit yet again.
Taxian-Jun was looking through vegetables when the Haitang messenger flower suddenly
appeared in front of him. The flower opened as soon as he touched and text appeared.

“Bring Physician Fang.”

“Wanning!” Taxian-Jun rushed inside their shared bedroom where he had the last husband at. Chu
Wanning was lying like a cocoon wrapped in a blanket.

“Baobei….. What’s wrong? Let me see your face.” Taxian-Jun tugs at the blanket. Chu Wanning’s
face was red and skin covered in sweat, his breathing heavy.

“Mmm...Moran…..”

“It hurts.” His heart drops in his stomach as Chu Wanning mutters those words.

“Laoshi! Does it feel like the day yet?” Taxian-Jun could hear the overly cheerful voice of
Physician Fang. This old bastard always found a time to joke.

But he saved the punch for later. This bastard was important for now.

Physician Fang gestures Taxian-Jun to move. His fingers press against Chu Wanning’s wrist. Two
ladies enter the room right then. Chu Wanning could recognize them; Madam Fang and her sister-
in-law Madam Chen.

“Laoshi has lasted longer than we had predicted.”

“That doesn’t really make me feel any better.” Now that Chu Wanning was in almost unbearable
pain, he wasn’t in the right state of his mind to talk politely.

“Hahaha……Forgive me, please. I was just trying to lighten up the situation.” Physician Fang
scratches his head apologetically.

“Laoshi, may I remove your blanket?” Chu Wanning nodded as Taxian-Jun helped him to sit on
the bed. But all of a sudden, his face lost its color as he felt something wetting the beddings
underneath.

“We should get prepared.” Madam Fang moves closer to Taxian-Jun who suddenly stood there like
a statue, not understanding what was happening around him at all.

“Mo-gongshi. Please help Laoshi to change into something more comfortable.” Taxian-Jun blinks
at her several times before replying.

“Ah…… Will an old robe work?” Madam Fang smiles at him.

“Anything soft and loose will be fine.”

Physician Fang had left after some time; saying that the other two will be more than enough.

“I have left the clinic unattended. Please don’t worry both my wife and sisters are very good and
experienced with what they do.” Even though Taxian-Jun was reluctant to let him leave, Chu
Wanning had given him permission beforehand.

“Mo-gongshi, you should prepare something light for Laoshi to eat. It will be while and he needs
energy.” Taxian-Jun quickly whipped up late lunch for all of them. He had quite literally dragged
all of them away when he had received the Haitang flower message earlier.
“I apologize for dragging all of you out like that,” Taxian-Jun says as he served food for the two
ladies on the table.

“I promise to treat all of you to a nice meal after this.” Two women giggle at his words.

“Gongshi is being too polite.” Madam Fang responds.

“It’s the first time for both of you. It’s okay that you don’t know how to deal with everything at
once.”

Chu Wanning inhales the food. He couldn’t believe how hungry he truly was.

“Does Wanning want to eat some more?” Taxian-Jun couldn’t help but ask. But Chu Wanning
shakes his head. The next two hours go by peacefully, with Taxian-Jun holding Chu Wanning’s
hand throughout his painful contractions and Madam Fang or Madam Chen checking up on him
every ten minutes or so.

“Moran…..” Taxian-Jun jerks awake. He dared to doze off for a few moments!

“I want to throw up.”

Chu Wanning’s face looked pale all of a sudden. Taxian-Jun wasted no time getting up to fetch a
bucket.

“Laoshi, it’s almost time.” Madam Fang said as she checked on Chu Wanning last time. Chu
Wanning knew what it meant. At this time he couldn’t help but feel grateful for all those days he
had spent with all those women in Physician Fang’s clinic.

“I want to walk a bit if it’s fine.” Chu Wanning asks. He was getting tired of lying down.

“It’s absolutely fine.”

“Oh Mo-gongshi, may I use your kitchen?” The lady asked again before leaving.

“Please help yourself around the house as you please.” Chu Wanning looks at his husband bowing
to the woman, finding this whole interaction to be quite hilarious.

“You’re being so polite.” Taxian-Jun looked at Chu Wanning with a betrayed look on his face.

“When am I not nice?” He almost yells as he pulls Chu Wanning carefully. Taxian-Jun pulls his
husband into his chest, his arms wrap around the other loosely.

Taxian-Jun rocks Chu Wanning side to side. When the contraction hits again, Chu Wanning
almost crumples on the floor. Taxian-Jun almost gets another heart attack.

“We won’t have any more of them after this.” Taxian-Jun declares once Chu Wanning recovers.

“Didn’t you say you wanted a princess? What if these two are boys?” Chu Wanning teases.

“But Wanning is in so much pain.” Chu Wanning looks up at his husband’s face, he gets a kiss on
his sweaty temple.

“I never want to see you in so much pain ever again.” Taxian-Jun kisses his closed eyelids. Chu
Wanning just buries his face in his chest.

“I’m very excited.” Chu Wanning mutters softly. Because those babies inside his tummy were his.
He grew them for all these months after all. They are going to be something his own.

Chu Wanning couldn’t describe this feeling inside his chest at all.

Chu Wanning doesn’t hear clearly as he feels something drop in his belly he kneels on the ground
in pain; Taxian-Jun calling Madam Fang and Madam Chen.

This time, the pain didn’t subside at all.

“Laoshi, would you like to lie down?” He was in so much pain! Chu Wanning thought if he would
lie down, he wouldn’t be able to get up again. He shakes his head frantically clutching his belly.

“Do you feel comfortable like this?” Madam Chen asked seeing him kneeling.

“Mo-gongshi, please sit here.” Madam Chen puts a stool for Taxian-Jun, then ushers Chu
Wanning to kneel between his legs.

“Laoshi, please use Gongshi as your anchor.” Chu Wanning looks at his husband. Taxian-Jun
looks at his Wanning; face red and cheeks wet with tears and sweat. He looked in great pain.

Taxian-Jun strokes his head.

“You’re doing so good Baobei.”

“Laoshi, when the pain will be at its peak, please push. Okay?” Chu Wanning remembers
concentrating on the pain for a while. He doesn’t remember digging his nails on Moran’s thighs
that left mark on his skin.

He also doesn’t remember Madam Chen telling him “A little more laoshi! You’re almost there.”

He only remembers something warm being pushed out and Madam Fang saying

(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ {the end}

”Aiyah! It’s a boy!” But before Chu Wanning could register her words, she puts the newborn in his
arms.

“Laoshi, please hold him close to your chest!” Madam Chen instructs him. Chu Wanning held
whatever that was given in his arms with all the care he could muster.

The small wet and warm body squirmed against his chest. Chu Wanning didn’t dare look down
yet.

He barely got the chance to look up at his husband, let alone really read the expression on his face.

“Laoshi, there’s another one. Let’s get him out then you can look at them at peace!” The second
one let out a shrill cry as soon as Madam Chen pulled him out. Putting a cotton rag on the back, she
hands the child in Chu Wanning’s arms again. Muttering an excited-

“It’s another boy!” Chu Wanning knees gave out right then, his naked butt falling on the thick
towel that had been put there beforehand.

He could barely register Moran’s arms around him as both infants in his arms cried in unison,
filling their quiet home in an unknown sound.
Chu Wanning still was breathing heavy, his phoenix eyes wide in surprise. He looks at the pair
crying in his arms, all he could see was tiny faces smeared with blood and everything crying with
their small mouth open, eyes closed tight.

He couldn’t help but huff out a laugh.

“Look at you two, so ugly crying like this!”

As soon as the words left his lips, ugly tears started leaking his own eyes. There was nothing Chu
Wanning could compare to what he was feeling right now. No words could describe them, no inks
could write them down. The arms around him and words of encouragement fell deaf to his ears.

Chu Wanning felt there were only him and the two tiny human beings in his arms.

Things afterward happened in a blink. Taxian-Jun had carried him to the bathroom to help him
wash up. By the time they were back, the bedding was changed the mess on the floor was wiped
clean.

The room looked just as normal.

Those two ladies are efficient. Taxian-Jun couldn’t help but think. The last few hours were.......
Tough.

There was nothing he could do to help his Wanning. All those suppressed pains, blood and
everything-

Taxian-Jun couldn’t do anything at all. Even now, he was moving here and there mindlessly.

Chu Wanning was drying his hair with his spiritual energy like always. He looked exhausted.
Well, definitely he would look like that after all the things he’s been through.

“Laoshi” Two women enter their room again, both of them has a bundle wrapped in the blanket
Chu Wanning had knitted.

“Moran.”

“You should prepare beds for them.” Taxian-Jun nods and flees.

Would his other self have had handled this situation better than him? Was he really just full of
words and not action?

If it weren’t for Madam Fang and Madam Chen, he doesn’t know what would have happened. And
he dared to question their ability earlier. His throat closed up in a feeling of unbearable uselessness
that Taxian-Jun couldn’t feel anything else.

Even in his last lifetime, all he did was inflict pain on the man next room. Yet his Shizun took
everything; accepted all of him without any complaint.

And at the time when he brought his children into this world, Taxian-Jun couldn’t do anything but
watch his Shizun be in pain.

Was he worth all the happiness after all?

It took him another hour or so to prepare dinner for all of them. By the time he had returned to their
room with a bowl of porridge for his husband, he could smell a faint fragrance of sandalwood
incense and giggles of the two women in there.
 Following Chu Wanning’s gaze on him, the other two see him standing by the door as well.

“Mo-gongshi. You should come in now.” Madam Chen ushers him. He gives them a curt nod
before entering.

“I’ve left your dinner back at the room. I apologize for not being prepared enough.” Taxian-Jun’s
words were, unlike him. Two of them left the room at some moment.

Taxian-Jun was left alone with his Wanning in the room. Setting the bowl aside, Taxian-Jun kneels
by the bed.

Neither of them speaks even a word. Taxian-Jun looks at his husband sitting on the bed under the
thick blanket. He was wearing his usual white robes with one of his dark and heavy robe draped
over his shoulder. His hair has been tied differently, his eyes looked tired.

“Mo-”

Taxian-Jun grasped the hands that were resting on top of the blanket.

“This venerable one-” Taxian-Jun stopped. What was he going to say now? Say he is sorry for all
the time he has pained this human?

Or how he feels he’s unworthy of the happiness this person has brought in for him?

He just presses those warm palms on his eyes as he fights the tears that were threatening to fall and
choking his words.

“Moran. Don’t you want to hold them?” Taxian-Jun’s head shoots up. Just like this. This man
always took all of his in as his own; all his imperfections and insecurities.

How could he not come back to this man every time? How can he when his Wanning is looking at
him like that?

Through his tears, Taxian-Jun nods frantically.

The next morning, Moran wakes up to Chu Wanning’s gentle coaxing and faint whimpering of an
infant.

It was still really early. The first rays of the sun had just started to stream through the window of
their room. Chu Wanning was sitting on the stool by the crib, his back facing Moran.

Moran sat on the bed like a statue. He could see Chu Wanning’s arms moving gently, hushed voice
lulling someone to sleep. Probably sensing him awake, Chu Wanning turns around slightly.

Moran could only see two tiny feet dangling out from the Wanning’s arms. Seeing him sitting like
a statue, Chu Wanning frowns a little; then suddenly turns around, showing the now sleeping
sweetheart in his arms and says-

“They look exactly the same.”

Chapter End Notes

This chapter was difficult to write Lol. But the baobaos are here. yay!
I had to literally watch a bunch of videos on youtube to have a rough idea of how long
twin pregnancy lasts, belly growth progressions, etc.
I was kinda skeptical about how this chapter would turn out and whatnot. But I think it
turned out fine. Lol, most of the time, I have so many things I want to talk about in the
endnote, but I can't find anything today. Maybe I will keep quiet and let you guys
enjoy the chapter in silence.
Big thanks to the people who left so so so nice comments on the previous chapters.
(つಥ⌣ಥ)つ⊂(ಥ﹏ಥ⊂)
lots of love for you all and thank you for loving this story too. I'll work hard to make
future chapters just as nice and enjoyable. (´• ᴗ •̥`✿)
 Shizun's baobao
Chapter Summary

Chu Wanning loves his baobaos.

Chapter Notes

DID YOU GUYS MISS ME?

Anyway. Here's the update! :)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Moran looks at the child in his arm intently. The newborn was trying to flail his arms and feet out
of the firm swaddle he had just wrapped around him.

“They used to do this inside your belly?” At one point Moran feared he’d drop the baby because he
was moving too much. Chu Wanning smiles at his husband.

“They sure did.” Moran looks at the tightly closed eyes, the small body that fits in his palms. He
wouldn’t say he doesn’t have any experience holding an infant. But the mere thought of that child
as his own made him nervous in a good way.

He couldn’t pinpoint it clearly.

“Hold him in your chest. He’d fall asleep sooner.” Chu Wanning spoke, his voice laced with usual
expertise. Moran couldn’t help but feel a bit surprised. But mimics his husband’s action, pressing
the child on his chest as gently possible, his fingers lightly patting on the back.

The faint fragrance of milk and something pleasantly new filled Moran’s nostrils. His nose nuzzles
on the tuft of hair on the baby in his arms.

“Wanning…… How come they have such curly hair?” Chu Wanning looks at the man sitting
across him on the bed, his bangs and baby hairs curled on top of his head. Chu Wanning
remembers a younger-looking Moran, with a wild glint in his eyes and equally wild hair.

“Shouldn’t you look in the mirror?” Moran blinks dumbly. His unoccupied hand comes up to touch
his own head full of hair. Even though the length of his hair didn’t show any sign of being
anything but straight, but the stray strands of hair that were carelessly thrown over his forehead and
face definitely answers his question.

Moran couldn’t help but smile. Getting up, Moran puts the sleeping child in the crib by their bed.
With both the child sleeping soundly, he scoots closer to his husband sitting under the blanket.

“Wanning.” Chu Wanning looks at his husband. Moran’s arms were open.

“Come here.” An invitation of the warmest embrace in the world. Chu Wanning slips right in
between those strong pair of arms, his body almost melting in the warmth.
“You’re so warm. Are you feeling okay?” Moran’s voice was laced with worry when his slightly
colder palm touched his husband’s hot forehead.

“Just a little fever… Madam Chen said I’d have them for a few days….” Moran’s arms tighten
around him.

Chu Wanning’s ear was pressed on Moran’s chest, the thumping of his heart calmed his own
slightly restless one.

“Wanning….”

“Do you know there’s one person I really hope was here?” Chu Wanning doesn’t say anything.
Moran continues.

“My mother” Chu Wanning’s heart drops in his stomach at the answer.

“It’s been so long! I…” The restless hand caressing his head, the quickened heartbeat… Chu
Wanning could read all these silent signs very easily.

“Back then…. I couldn’t even give her a proper burial.”

“I can’t even take Wanning to……meet her.” The waver in the last word was faint.

“After she passed….” There was a large intake of air.

“I never truly had a place I belonged.”

“Back in Sisheng peak; the place I had was someone else’s.” Chu Wanning’s own arms wind
around his husband’s wide torso.

“Even though uncle, aunty, Mengmeng truly thought of me as their family… But….” There was a
hint of doubt in his voice, perhaps Moran didn’t know how he should lay out his heart.

“I ended up losing them too.” The sound of beating heart was loud in Chu Wanning’s ear.

“Often time I thought about how pathetic I was trying to clutch on something that wasn’t mine!”

“But in the end Wanning……”

“Nothing was mine.”

“But there was only one thing amidst everything else that wasn’t mine. Wanning do you know
what that is?” Moran’s voice was gentle as he asked.

But Chu Wanning couldn’t reply. His voice suddenly getting all choked up.

“It was a heart that was the purest in the world.”

“It had a strong barrier, but tender inside.”

“And that heart nurtures so much love.”

“Wanning do you know to who the heart belongs?” Chu Wanning violently shakes his head.

“He’s the person who clutched on to a wandering creature like me and never let go.”

“I truly belong to that person.”

“With everything. My heart, soul, body!” Moran felt his own ears burn in shyness. Even though he
has a sweet mouth and shame was something he really didn’t possess.

“Wanning do you know, that person gave me the sweetest gifts of my life.” Moran’s eyes linger on
the crib.

“In my heart, there’s so much love for him.”

“Even an eternity won’t be enough to love him.”

Chu Wanning.

Chu Wanning!

The person who stood by his side in two lifetimes a presence steady, calm, and serene that kept
Moran and his sanity together. The person who never cared about his own pain; yet never forgot to
care for him.

There were so many things, so much pain they have been through. So much he had put this person
through.

This peace, this warm body in his arms; everything… Moran couldn’t help but feel he was quite
undeserving of all of this.

This mere thought tightens around his airways, making his heart drown in pain. He loved this man.

Moran loved Chu Wanning to death. And he never wants to let go of him. Even if he was deemed
unfit.

Chu Wanning’s eyes were red when he looked at his husband, those beautiful phoenix eyes were
filled with tears.

“Isn’t it the same for me too?” Chu Wanning’s voice was hoarse when he spoke, his eyes leaking
fresh hot tears.

Wasn’t Chu Wanning just like Moran? He had nothing; just an empty human body.

“Yes! Yes! Wanning……It’s the same.” Both of them were like two stray souls in the world.
Trying to fit in, trying to have a place to call their own.

Who knew they’d end up with each other like this? Both of them so used to each other that they
couldn’t even imagine surviving alone anymore?

Moran didn’t want to even imagine.

“I love you so much Wanning.”

“I love you.” Moran is used to declaring his love so shamelessly. But now, he felt his heartbreaking
and then rejoining. He pulls Chu Wanning in his arms; as if suddenly he was afraid of losing this
man. His own tears sliding down his cheeks. He didn’t want them to stop.

Two grown-up men curled against each other, bawling their eyes out. Moran puts a gentle kiss on
Chu Wanning’s forehead.

Maybe after an hour or some minutes later, Moran speaks in surprise.

 “Wanning! We still haven’t fixed any names for them!”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning couldn’t stop himself from looking at the sleeping babies. Swaddled in a cotton
cloth and warm blanket, they didn’t look like the baobaos he had in his tummy just yesterday.

Just then, a shrill cry pierces through the quiet of their home. For a moment Chu Wanning was
caught off guard then gently picking up the crying child in his arms.

“I just fed you. Why are you crying like this?” His words seemed stern, but the expression on Chu
Wanning’s face gave it all away. As if hearing his mother’s voice, the child opens its eyes.

Purple iris with hints of blue. Chu Wanning chuckles, he knows once they grow up this hint of blue
would disappear. With his index finger, Chu Wanning gently taps on the face of the child.

It felt like clouds under his fingers. Giving in to his urges, Chu Wanning squeezes the cheeks.

Chu Wanning puts a kiss on the small face.

How the hell did he become so fucking soft?

The other one sleeping peacefully just seconds ago wakes up, letting out another shrill cry identical
to his brother. Chu Wanning shakes his head.

When Moran enters the room hastily hearing both cries at the same time, he was greeted with his
husband holding two of their baobaos in his arms, gently swaying on his feet as he put two baobaos
back to sleep. Chu Wanning made it look so easy as if it was nothing.

His heart skips a beat when Chu Wanning smiles at him. Moran had never seen his Wanning
smiling like that.

“Moran.”

“I love them so much.”

Chapter End Notes

So.
My uni suddenly decided to take our finals. So I had to fucking disappear. And
moreover I was a kinda in writer's block too. Writing fic with infants is harder than I
had imagined. ಠ_ಠ
And chapters will be shorter from now on. Shorter than the first few chapters. I can't
write such big ass ones or I'll run out of ideas soon.
But if you guys have any ideas, you can also suggest them. Happy reading!
 Shizun wants to make memory scroll
Chapter Summary

Wanning's baobaos have their names.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

“Laoshi, they truly look like sons of an immortal!” The tip of Chu Wanning’s ears burns in
embarrassment. Madam Fang and Madam Chen came back to check up on him for the last time
before Madam Chen leaves the city.

"Such beautiful children!" Madam Chen chimes in with her sister-in-law.

"Laoshi, it also seems like both of them have Mo-gongshi's eyes."

"Also the hair!" Both of them giggle at their own words. Chu Wanning nods in acknowledgment.

"All I hoped for them was to be born safely." Chu Wanning's voice was tender as he spoke.

"Laoshi is right. All matters that they are healthy and well." Madam Fang replies.

“I can’t thank both of you enough for your help.” Moran comes back with the tray of tea and tea
snacks just then.

“Aiyah Mo-gongshi it was nothing. Chu-laoshi had helped my husband so much back in the days.”
Madam Fang replied in a polite tone.

“You both should keep keen eyes on them. They are going to grow faster than weeds!” Madam
Fang chimes as all of them laugh a little at her words.

Chu Wanning couldn’t help but think how true that was. It feels like just yesterday when he found
out about them. Now they are here in his arms.

Being so small and vulnerable; yet making Chu Wanning’s heart melt in the sheer amount of love.

“Laoshi, have you given them names?” Madam Chen asks, eyeing the child in her arms.

To that Chu Wanning nods and looks at his husband.

“We did.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Getting out of the bath, Chu Wanning sees his husband looking at sleeping baobaos intently.
Then picks one of them up and holds him closer to his face, a fond smile tugging at his lips.

Then the look changes into a frown. Then looks at Chu Wanning hearing his footstep.

“Wannig. This one's…” The confused expression on Taxian-jun’s face only grows. Hiding his
smile, Chu Wanning asks-

“Hm?”

“He’s Xinyi…?” Taxian-Jun’s voice was small as he replied in another question.

Taxian-Jun didn’t even need Chu Wanning to talk and he knew the answer.

“How come this venerable one mixes his own sons up? And how come Shizun can tell them apart
without even holding them?” Chu Wanning couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s because you’re my dumb disciple who never paid attention to my lectures.” The look on
Taxian-Jun’s face was silly. Tiptoeing, Chu Wanning gently kisses him on the cheek.

Something warm and sticky was suddenly thrown at Taxian-Jun’s robes, some slipping through the
single layer of cloth and sticking to his skin.

Taxian-Jun looked surprised.

“Tsk…. I just fed him a while ago. Did you not burp him?” Chu Wanning was trying his best not to
laugh out loud at the condition of his husband.

“I did….but why…”

“Maybe he’s upset cause you called his name wrong.” The look on Taxian-Jun’s face was of pure
betrayal.

After changing his soiled robes, Taxian-Jun sits on the bed, his eyes lingering on his husband
feeding the “wrong” kid.

He couldn’t help but lightly tickle the sole of the child’s bare feet.

“Moran. Stop that.” Chu Wanning warns.

“Tsk.”

“You. Mo Yijun. Aren’t you one hell of an attention-seeking bun?” This time he proceeds to poke
the cheek sucking on Chu Wanning’s nipple.

Chu Wanning doesn’t refuse him this time. He stares as his husband accuses these two infants of
taking up all of his attention.

“I want to make memory scrolls of them.” Taxian-Jun hums not looking up.

“Wanning is right. We should make some for them.” Taking the child from Chu Wanning arms,
Taxian-Jun brings the child close to his face, putting a kiss on top of his head.

“They already have grown so much.”

“I feel I won’t be able to remember these times at some point.” Chu Wanning wanted to capture
these moments and experience them over and over again.

Taxian-Jun listens to his Wanning attentively.

“About their name-“

“It’s not like I didn’t know what to name them…”

“I knew what I’d name then when I held them in my arms for the first time….”

“I know Wanning.” The kiss on top of his eye was warm.

Names that signify the feeling both of them have been given through the presence of these two
little human beings.

Joy.

Because they have brought Chu Wanning a feeling of happiness he had never felt before…….

He wanted his children to carry that feeling with them through their names. Moran wasn’t aware
what kind of names his Wanning had in store.

But now that he thought about it, both Yijun and Xinyi couldn’t have had better names than this.

“Waaaaa” Chu Wanning was putting Xinyi to sleep when he heard the other twins cry from the
bath. Moran was going to bathe Yijun tonight.

“Moran”

“What’s wrong?” The said male looks at him with a helpless look on his face.

“Wanning”

“He started crying as soon as the water touched him.” Yijun was pressed against his father’s naked
shoulder, Moran’s big palm rubbing over his back.

“You put him in the water very fast.”

“He doesn’t like the water much.” Chu Wanning wanted to go on, but Moran….. looked helpless.

“Give him to me. And finish up.” Moran wanted to protest but Chu Wanning was already out of his
sight.

Chu Wanning lowers himself in the warm bathtub, careful not to let any water touch the child in
his arms.

Placing his hands under Yijun’s arms, Chu Wanning holds him just above the water surface, then
gently lowering him only letting the soles of his feet touch the water.

Yijun retreats his legs immediately.

Chu Wanning laughs a little.

“Look at you, acting like a cat who hates water.” Drawing his eyes brows together, Yijun
scrunches up his little face, clearly showing his displeasure.

“Don’t be afraid.” Drawing his knees closer to his chest, Chu Wanning lets Yijun down, yet
holding him closer to his chest.

“I’m here.”

It took him another few minutes of careful coaxing until the baby was comfortable enough not to
 cry his eyes out.

“See? It’s not that bad.”

Chu Wanning gently pours water over Yijun’s tiny legs, not wanting to tip him off again.

“It’s fun, isn’t it?” Warm droplets of water splatter on his face as the child in his arm kicks his feet
in the water, letting out excited gurgles.

“Look at you. You totally did it to scare your father.” In his arms, Yijun didn’t seem like he hated
the water at all; it looked quite the opposite.

Chu Wanning laughs out loud seeing his baobao smiling at his words.

“You’re only a few weeks old, but picking up these antics so soon?” Yijun flails his limbs with
more excitement, his small mouth round as he let out incoherent sounds.

Hastily pouring some water over his own head, Chu Wanning gets out of the bath, his hands gently
wrap a towel around his child.

Upon returning to their bedroom, the sight of Moran already asleep, Xinyi was lying on top of his
broad chest. With Yijun already sleeping in his arms, Chu Wanning Puts both of them in the crib,
then covers Moran with the thick blanket.

It was surprising to see Moran already asleep. But who could blame this man for being tired?

Taxian-jun or Moran; both of them made sure Chu Wanning got enough nap time during the day
even though Moran wasn’t getting any more sleep himself either.

“Wanning needs to wake up every hour to feed them. He needs to sleep more during the day.”

He didn’t mind at all. He was used to sleeping less after all. But he loved this gesture of care.

Scooting closer, Chu Wanning gently kisses the corner of his husband’s mouth. Smiling when a
pair of strong arms wrap around his waist.

“I love you.”

Chapter End Notes

So the meaning of Xinyi I found online was joyous and Yijun was delighted/
harmonious.
And I hope this update was niceeeee.
Thank you to all the people who wait for the update and leave comments after
reading. Thank you for supporting me through this journey of writing this story.
 Shizun's ducklings
Chapter Summary

Chu Wanning's baobaos have grown a lot!

Chapter Notes

Hahahaha
This weird update was written within an hour.
Please enjoy!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Chu Wanning gently poked Xinyi’s cheek as the boy stares intently; his eyes sparkling with the
soft sunlight of the dawn. The hue of blue still hadn’t disappeared.

Chu Wanning sometimes couldn’t help but feel amused. The twins looked nothing like him even
though they are still infants. But he wouldn’t complain. He knows it couldn’t have been any better.

“Did you sleep well?” Responding to his voice, Xinyi flails his limbs excitedly.

“Slow down. I’m not going anywhere.” Chu Wanning shakes his head seeing his baobao latching
on to him as if he’d been starved for days. The birds chirping outside were the songs of spring.

Getting hold of the loose strand of untied hair, Xinyi pulls on them lightly. This is one habit his
younger one has developed; Chu Wanning has noticed. Always holding on to his mother’s hair
whenever he finds it to be undone.

And his baobaos were already four months old. Chu Wanning couldn’t help but recall what madam
Fang had warned him previously. Both of these small human beings have already grown like big to
the point Chu Wanning cannot believe he carried them in his belly just a few months back.

“Didn’t I cut your nails just three days back? How come they are so sharp so fast?”

Those small and seemingly weak fingers were oddly strong when they scratched the bare skin of
his chest. But the scolding voice only made Xinyi gurgle happily, both of his chubby cheeks
denting, creating beautiful dimples.

Chu Wanning put two kisses on the dents just as usual.

“Stay put. I’ll bring the cutter.” Putting him back in the crib beside his sleeping brother, Chu
Wanning heads for his study.

Both Yijun and Xinyi had learned how to lie on their stomach and hold their head high. Eyeing his
sleeping brother, Xinyi goes for the head full of curly hair. His small fingers coil around the soft
locks of Yijun as he Xinyi pulls on them.
Unlike Chu Wanning, Yijun still hadn’t developed the sense of suppressing his pain. With his hair
being pulled like that, the older boy was forced out of his peaceful slumber being in pain.

Chu Wanning runs back as he hears a sharp cry.

“Such an unruly child!” Chu Wanning’s voice was deep as he gently untangled Xinyi’s fingers
from his brother’s hair. But not expecting his brother to cry like this, it didn’t take him long to start
crying too.

Such a wild morning.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Taxian-Jun eyes were stuck on the scene being played in front of his eyes. Chu Wanning was
walking back and forth in their house. But it wasn’t anything out of ordinary. The funny thing was
Xinyi and Yijun crawling after Chu Wanning trying to keep up with their mother’s long, steady
steps.

“Wanning.”

“Do you know if you hatch duck eggs and ducklings see you right after their birth, they would
consider you as their mother?” Chu Wanning halts on his step to picking both of his unruly ones in
his arms.

“I know that.” He replies to his husband’s odd question.

“And they would follow you everywhere.”

“Like this.” Taxian-Jun tries to imitate how a duck walks tumbling on his feet. Chu Wanning
snorts at his stupidity.

It took him some moment to understand, but Taxian-Jun laughs when he sees the expression on his
husband’s face changed abruptly.

“Since these two had seen your pretty face after birth,” Taxian-Jun gently kisses the corner of Chu
Wanning’t thin lips.

“They are following you like those silly ducklings.” Chu Wanning’s lips curl upward in a beautiful
smile. Taxian-Jun feels his heart skip a beat at the sight. But before he could press another kiss on
those lips, he found his arms full of sleeping ‘ducklings’

“Go put them back to their crib.” Chu Wanning doesn’t look back when he walks away.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning was startled awake when his hands couldn’t feel anything beside him. He clearly
remembers putting sleeping Yijun and Xinyi beside him. He jumps out of bed and makes a run for
the outside.

It couldn’t be Moran taking them away. His husband was down to the mountain shopping for their
groceries.

Running through the dining space and kitchen, Chu Wanning hears excited and familiar giggles of
his baobaos.
 Upon arriving at his study, Chu Wanning felt both relieved and hopeless.

He had recently gotten a small bottle of red ink for his calligraphy. As always, he had put the ink
bottle on the table when he had gotten off his work.

In the middle of all his papers and tools on his working table, both Yijun and Xinyi sat, the bottle
of ink was tumbled down, the content of it was all over his paper works and…..

Both of the brothers seemed as if they were having the time of their lives. Yijun dips his small
palms in the spilled ink, then presses them on the papers, his eyes sparkled as the prints on the
paper became visible. Both of their clothes and cheeks were already stained in the dark red ink.

“Tianwen!” Chu Wanning’s heavenly weapon appears in his hand. The willow vine slowly slithers
towards those two mischievous boys.

Chu Wanning was standing in front of the twin with both his hands on his hips. Tianwen’s vines
were gently holding the wild pair in the air. But neither of them seemed to mind being held like
this at all.

“How did you two get down from the bed?”

“And you two made such a mess of my table.”

“I am spoiling you both too much.” But as soon as the words were out, Chu Wanning’s face was
met with two warm and wet hands. His eyes widen as he looks at the culprit.

Returning from the market, Moran walks through the house to look for everyone else. But he was
forced to stop at the threshold of Chu Wanning’s study at the sight.

Both Yijun and Xinyi were sitting on Chu Wanning lap, their eyes wide in wonder as the
grandmaster was filling the empty pages in impressive drawings. But the state the twins were…….
Questionable.

Moran swears his heart stopped beating when Chu Wanning looks at his way a gentle smile
playing on his lips, with two messy ink marks of small palms rests on both his cheeks.

“Moran, Welcome back.”

Chapter End Notes

Lol I am having such a wild month! At the beginning of this month, I took the first
dose of the vaccine and was bedridden for the side effects. Then halfway through it, I
have a fever again and I have 3 assignments due by the end of this month. Hahaha.
Then I felt I didn't want to do my assignment and write an impromptu update of
Sleeping sweetheart within an hour and post it. And this actually is very roughly done.
So I might edit it later when I'll find time to read and think through it.
But I hope you are getting your vaccines if you can and stay safe! Thank you for
sticking with me and loving my story.
take love <3
 Shizun, you are so wonderful!
Chapter Summary

Moran finds himself falling in love with Wanning all over again.

Chapter Notes

Haha.
Did you miss me?
And no baobaos for this update. ( ͡ಥ͜ ʖ ͡ಥ)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Entering their bedroom, Moran sees his husband sitting on the stool by the crib. One of the twins
in his arms latched onto his nipple hungrily, tiny feet dangling out of his arms. He could hear that
upset whine the twin voice outs then Chu Wanning isn’t paying them attention.

Well, how could they not? His Wanning was that amazing. Everyone wanted to have his attention
on them.

Chu Wanning’s hair was dripping wet, and it seems like he only managed to wear his pajamas
before he had to rush and tend the crying one. Walking closer to his husband, Moran stops just
behind his husband.

“Wanning. Your hair……” Craning his head back, Chu Wanning tilts his head up to look at his
husband.

“I couldn’t finish….” Chu Wanning replies with a smile. Moran swears each day this husband of
his gets even more beautiful. He accepts the kiss Moran puts on his nose with that smile.

“I’ll dry your hair right away.”

A soft stream of warm spiritual energy travels through the towel and Moran’s finger. Chu
Wanning bouncing now sleeping Xinyi in his arms. They were approaching spring fast and the
weather was much warmer than before. Sitting bare-bodied on the stool, Chu Wanning wasn’t
feeling cold at all.

Also, the stream of spiritual energy was warming up from within.

The last strand of dry hair slips out of Moran’s finger. The ink-black hair was shining brilliantly
under the orange candlelight. Gathering all the hair in his hand, Moran quickly puts up a ponytail.

His hand traces along the veins on the long slender neck; feeling the pulse under his calloused
fingers.

A shiver breaks out on Chu Wanning’s body when Moran’s warm breath fans over his neck, then a
kiss drops on his pulse point.
“All done.” The husky voice whispers in his ear. With a smile, Chu Wanning gets up from the
stool.

“Thank you.” He replies as he lays Xinyi beside his brother.

Turning around, Chu Wanning faces his husband stiffly standing there. His hand pulls at the ribbon
keeping his hair up, untying the knot in a swift movement. His long silky hair falls on his body like
an inky waterfall.

The expression on Moran’s face was almost comical when he stumbles forward as Chu Wanning
pulls him closer, his slender fingers grabbing at the front of his robe.

“Moran”

“Kiss me.”

Moran felt overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed with how fast the blood in his body was coursing through every vein.

Overwhelmed by how warm the hands that had gotten rid of all his robes just seconds ago felt on
his bare skin.

The hot wet tongue intertwined with his own; oh so familiar scent of Haitang that was muddling all
his senses.

Moran was simply overwhelmed by how much he wants this man kissing him with so much
passion.

How long has it been since he last kissed Chu Wanning like this? He doesn’t remember anymore.
His broad palms map over the familiar body of his lover; feeling every bit of exposed skin there
was to feel.

“Wanning… Are you sure…?” Moran asks between kisses. With all his blood rushing inside his
body like crazy, Moran felt dizzy. He couldn’t stop his lips putting open mouth kisses along the
column of the other’s neck.

Letting out a shaky breath, Chu Wanning palms Moran’s still-clothed erection.

“You’re still asking me that when you’re like this?”

A while later and a silencing spell over the crib Moran finds himself in their bed with a very naked
Chu Wanning on their shared bed.

Both of their hands, lips touch each other with burning eagerness.

Fuck.

FUCK.

Moran felt like his dick was about to explode.

Chu Wanning…

“Chu Wanning. You surely will be the death of me.” But the said male says nothing and pulls him
down for another kiss.
This is the same man as before. The man Moran has loved for two lifetimes. The man he had spent
many days and nights entangled in this same bed.

Yet everything felt different. The skin under his fingers was the same, yet not the same anymore.

Chu Wanning had resorted to wrapping his belly after the twins were born. The swelled belly was
almost back to how it was before. But the marks on the belly that looked like spread out roots of
the tree showed how Chu Wanning had carried the seed of their love in here and nurtured them
with the utmost gentleness.

Moran felt like he was falling in love with Chu Wanning all over again. The same Chu Wanning
with the same amount of love if not even more.

This body, this person…..

Carries the mark of the love both have for each other. And this body and Chu Wanning continue to
love him.

The smell of fresh sweat, the body underneath his own body slowly heating up and marks
blooming like spring flower….

Moran loves everything about this man and his body.

The constant presence and heat radiating from this body….

Moran can never get not used to it.

His hands slip under Chu Wanning’s back as he spreads his legs further to make space for himself.
Supple thighs wrap around his waist as he pushes himself in slowly.

The heat welcoming his manhood felt scorching hot. He looks at Chu Wanning looking back at
him with a dazed look; his lips bitten red and face flushed. His eyes were swimming with an
infinite amount of love.

Ah.

He won’t last long at all.

Shit. SHIT.

“Wanning…. Ah…. Wanning….” His hips moved at a slow pace. Too slow for what both of them
are used to. But Moran thought he could feel everything with more intensity.

“I won’t last long. Shit…”

Chu Wanning looks at Moran with an amused expression.

“Well, aren’t you talking like a virgin?” He mocks.

“Haha…That Wanning might be true.” Moran laughs at his own misery; Chu Wanning gently bites
on his bobbing Adam’s apple.

“It feels as if it’s my first time all over again.”

“It feels like I’m falling in love with you all over again.” Moran looked like he was about to cry
anytime now.
 “Yeah? Aren’t you a bit too late for that?” Chu Wanning looks at the crib near their bed, a slight
smile playing on his lips; Moran’s eyes following his gaze.

“Especially after making those two?” The words were mocking, but the tone wasn’t. Chu Wanning
spoke to him with all the gentleness he could muster.

“Wanning….” Moran’s eyes were glossy as he spoke.

Goodness.

“I want to fall in love with you like this…Again.”

“And again”

“And again…..”

“Until I can no longer love anymore.”

At times like this, Chu Wanning can’t really understand if it’s Moran who’s an idiot for saying
such stupid words or is having his heart rate race up hearing these stupid words.

Maybe it’s both of them. They have been in this together after all.

And they will be in this together like this for the rest of their lives.

True to his instinct, Moran did not last long at all. Maybe he truly has turned into a virgin who
finally got to make love with his long-time item of affection.

But he reasoned himself by saying it was his irresistible Wanning after all.

Chapter End Notes

Unbeta-ed chapter. ( ͡◑͜ʖ ͡◑)

Just realized it's almost been half a month since I've last updated. So I thought it would
be good to put a somewhat bad smut chapter that doesn't really make any sense. I
didn't read this after finishing writing the chapter and I hope it's not as bad.
And I turned 21 this week.
haha. I feel old.
Fuck, is it time to feel old yet? Cause I somehow feel I'll suddenly pass my 20's and
then be, weird all of a sudden. I don't know. ¯\_( ͡ಥ͜ ʖ ͡ಥ)_/¯
Hope you guys enjoy this "Makes no sense chapter"
 Shizun's disciple
Chapter Summary

Uncle Meng-Meng meets baobao.

For the first time.

Chapter Notes

Haha.
hello.
here's the update. It's totally on Xue Meng. I hadn't actually planned on writing a Xue
Meng-specific chapter? So it might sound irrelevant to some. You can totally skip if
you want. I mean this story really doesn't have a plot. So it won't matter if you read it
or not. But I wanted to write it. So I did. And I've now posted it too.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Wanning” Moran looks at Chu Wanning as he read through the letter that had arrived just
minutes prior.

It was a letter from Xue Meng.

“What does it say?” Folding the letter back into the envelope, Chu Wanning turns to look at his
husband.

“Xue Meng wants to visit.”

Xue Meng has known about everything since the beginning. Ever since the time Moran and his
Shizun have entered retirement. His Shizun has kept in contact with him through letters and
everything.

So did Moran.

Xue Meng was a simple-minded man. Downright dumb he’d like to add as well. But he knew for
sure that he loved both of the men equally.

His Shizun and his brother.

Yet,

Things got lonely over at Sisheng peak. And Xue Meng blames no one but himself for that. It was
because of his own incompetence that his Shizun and brother had to leave their home.

It was his inability to see how unsafe, judgmental the place he was so proud of.

Most days, Xue Meng would be too ashamed to even think of standing on the same ground as those
two persons.
Yet they were all he had left. He was only a human and craved being near the people he loved.

It was because of that that he did not visit his Shizun during his pregnancy. He couldn’t get rid of
the suffocating shame. He couldn’t protect those two when they needed his protection the most.

He didn’t know if he was strong enough to even think of protecting the children his Shizun were
carrying.

Xue Meng had nothing to offer. His hands were empty and his heart filled with all the unsaid
sorrow.

But he didn’t want his Shizun to think he was shameful about Moran and him.

God forbid he never wants that man to think of it like that. So pushing aside every bit of his shame,
Xue Meng decided to finally visit them.

“I swear this smug look on your face never fails to irritate me.” The smile on Moran’s face only
widens at the words of his cousin. He sure didn’t change a bit.

“Why thank you Meng-Meng. I’ll take it as a compliment.” But two of them find themselves in
each other’s arms in a brotherly hug. Moran leads him inside their home.

“Why are you so late?” Comes a familiar voice.

“It’s almost time for the twins to fall asleep again.” Xue Meng’s heart thumps in his chest at the
oh-so-familiar tone of scolding.

God, he missed it.

“I apologize, Shizun.” His back bends as his head leans forward in a bow. When he straightens his
back again, his eyes were met with his Shizun in his signature pristine white robe, his gaze sharp as
usual.

Sitting on the bed, his Shizun was holding on to a bundle wrapped in an equally white swaddle.
Xue Meng could hear the soft gurgling of a newborn.

“Shizun….” Chu Wanning’s eyes were soft as he heard his disciple call out to him.

“It’s been a while.”

Xue Meng found himself kneeling by Chu Wanning’s feet. The fond gaze directed towards him….

Xue Meng thought he didn’t deserve it.

Chu Wanning was a man of few words. But Xue Meng knew for sure how honest this man was;
how pure his love for him was.

To think he had dared to doubt that for so many days and dwindle on his own….

“Meng-Meng. Who do you think the twin looks like?” Moran’s voice broke him out of his stupor.
In his arms was another infant wrapped in a similar white swaddle.

“Of course they look like Shizun you damn mutt.” He glares at Moran as the older man laughs out
loud.

“Here,” Chu Wanning says as he slowly puts the infant in his arm into Xue Meng’s awaiting ones.
His breath hitches as his eyes fall on the infant looking intently at him.

He was right.

They look exactly as beautiful as his Shizun.

“Take him too.” Before either Chu Wanning or Xue Meng could protest, Moran had put the baby
he was holding into Xue Meng’s unprepared ones.

“He needs to practice. He’s already so late!”

“Look at them they have already grown so much.” Moran has always had very expressive eyes and
ways of talking to people in all these various ways.

There was a time he used to think how fake this mutt was; how hard he was trying to impress
everyone. How hard he’s trying to blend in with everything.

Well even then, he is also enchanted by that man who’s his brother.

Xue Meng’s eyes stung.

Because right now, all he could hear in this voice was unadulterated affection an older brother
would have for his younger brother. His tone had a hint of complaint; the underlying love was even
more apparent.

Now holding the children of the two persons he probably loves the most in this world……..

How could Xue Meng miss out for so long?

His inexperienced and sturdy arms around the infants tightened, his eyes finally stinging enough to
let out the tears fall.

“Aya Meng-Meng!”

“You’re crying cause they look like this mutt?” Moran says jokingly.

Hearing his words, Xue Meng looks back at the pair in his arms. The hint of blue and purple in
those eyes was undeniably of Moran's.

The locks stubbornly curly sitting loosely over their small head was way too twisted to call as same
as his Shizun’s pin-straight dark ones.

But he felt he didn’t mind.

These two still were the most beautiful babies in the world.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning takes the cup of tea Xue Meng had just poured.

Both sit in the comfortable silence, warming their hands holding the warm porcelain cup.

“How have you been?” At the question, Xue Meng’s looked lost; his eyes blanking in for a split
second before he regained his composure.

He straightens his back and sits more rigidly. Chu Wanning knew his fingers were balled in fists
under the tables.

“Things are tough….”

“But I’m trying to manage.” He doesn’t say he’s trying his best. The proud Xue Meng from back
when Chu Wanning was still in Sisheng peak has now grown into a strong man.

Getting up from his seat, Chu Wanning sits closer to where his disciple was.

“You’re doing amazing, Xue Meng.” Xue Meng’s head shots up, his eyes shine as he looks at the
man he admires the most.

“Shizun is very proud of you.”

Xue Meng always found the presence of his Shizun to be calming. The mere sight of this man was
able to tell him everything will be fine.

So when Chu Wanning’s hand gently pats his head, his face carrying those rare genuine smiles his
Shizun would give whenever he is very happy…..

Xue Meng felt he could die in happiness,

Sadness

And guilt.

He knew he was proud narcissistic and selfish. Xue Meng was aware of everything he was.

Maybe this is why he wanted to say-

“Shizun! It’s hard. It’s lonely.”

“Shizun, please come back home.”

“Please come back to the place that failed to protect you.”

“This Shizun shouldn’t have left you alone with so much responsibility to sort through.”

“It is also my duty to guide my disciple.”

“Yet I…..” Xue Meng’s hands grab at his Shizun’s; his pale face flushed red and eyes brimming
with tears.

“Shizun.”

“This disciple failed to protect you; failed to give you proper protection and respect.”

“This lowly one doesn’t deserve your kind words.”

Please don’t add to my agony.

“I…”

Chu Wanning always thought how ugly Xue Meng looked while crying. How troublesome it was
to calm him once he would start.

Yet this time,

 He found it endearing.

“Silly child….”

“When did you grow up so much, hm?” Chu Wanning’s warm fingers wiped the ugly tears with
love; Xue Meng cried even more just so that they could be wiped off like this.

“You don’t have to act tough in front of me.”

“Shizun has no complaint against you.”

By this time, Chu Wanning was used to Xue Meng jumping at him with his bear hugs.

He has let go of his discomfort long ago to console this child like this.

So he was unfazed when Xue Meng jumped in his arms unannounced.

“Shizun….!”

“Shizun……I’m sorry.” Chu Wanning caresses Xue Meng’s hair as the man continued to talk and
cry.

“I was so ashamed to face you and the twins.”

“I missed you.” Chu Wanning just smiles.

“Well aren’t you just as silly as your father?”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Xue Meng’s eyes shone as he held Yijun in his arms, soft rays of the morning sun streaming
through the open window falling over them.

Yijun, now awake from his long peaceful sleep looks intently at the new face; not making a single
noise.
Xue Meng peeks at still sleeping Xinyi in the crib. He finds their existence to be simply enthralling.
All he wanted was to cuddle them in his arms and-

“Shizun…..”

“Just you wait. I’ll bring them every little, big or whatever thing they want”

Chapter End Notes

So.
I suddenly felt that how Xue Meng must have been feeling being a sect-leader alone.
Even though I feel like I fully couldn't portray it, but I tried lol. And I promise cute
baobao chapters soon XD.
And a big thank you to all the people who read this story and leave beautiful
feedbacks.
take love.
 Shizun's baobao and their kisses
Chapter Notes

Hahaha.
Hilo.
So I actually had this chapter somewhat completed weeks ago. But The first part of
it.... It felt kinda cringe to me? So I kept on stalling posting it. But I hope it turned out
okay?

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“What are you trying to say hm?” Taxian-Jun asks the child in his arm as he moves his arms
around comically and gurgles into inaudible sounds.

“Are you trying to say baba?” Xinyi giggles in joy when his father blows the raspberries he loves
so much on his little tummy.

“Bbu….bu…”

“That’s right! You’re such a fast learner!” Xinyi smiles along with Taxian-Jun’s cheeky smile.

“Wanning has fed you both so nicely. Look at your belly. It looks so warm.”

Never in his life, he would have thought that there would be any other person he would be able to
love this much in his life.

But Taxian-Jun was wrong.

He had underestimated the love he would have for these two tiny human beings.

“Wanning is such a good Wanning. Isn’t he?”

“We all are so lucky to have Wanning like this!”

Chu Wanning's heart melts at the sound of a boisterous laugh infusing with giggles of their child.
His eyes fall on Yijun sitting in the crib, eyes bleary with his afternoon nap.

He looks intently at Taxian-Jun and Xinyi playing with each other.

His curly hairs are in a mess. It's going to take so much time for him to brush through them again.
But

That chubby cheeks flushed adorably, wide eyes almost dropping close in sleep..........

Chu Wanning could feel his heart turn into a mush. Sometimes it seems hard to believe he made
these babies.

Taxian-Jun doesn't notice Yijun until he makes a whiny sound and does his grabby arms.

"Baba"
The word was so clear that both of the parents thought they have misheard.

"What did you say?" Taxian-Jun carefully picks up Yijun from his crib who then proceeds to lay
his head down on his father's shoulder.

Taxian-Jun looked baffled.

Before any of them could talk, copying his brother Xinyi chimes along.

"Bbaba!" His eyes were shining in excitement.

"Baby...What did you say?" This time, Chu Wanning couldn't help coming forward, taking Yijun
from Taxian-Jun's arms.

"Say that again." Chu Wanning's voice was unbearably soft.

But Yijun looked conflicted.

"You don't want to?"

"Only he is your baba?" There was a hint of teasing and pout as he turned to his husband. Chu
Wanning feigned being upset.

But a child who was barely 9 months old wouldn't know that. And soon, Yijun wailed; catching
Chu Wanning off guard.

Wrapping his small arms around his mother's neck, Yijun cries loudly.

"Silly child.... I was just teasing. Why are you crying?" Swaying his body Chu Wanning gently
pats Yijun on his back.

“Hush now…. You don’t have to call me Baba.” Chu Wanning probably should have been a little
sad.
But fuck it.

How could he, when the child in his arms was crying so pitifully.

“Do you want to go to the market?” Yijun instantly looks at Chu Wanning, his silly crying session
seemingly ending in seconds.

“Let’s get your face cleaned, and then we’ll go.”

“Why do you think he cried like this?” Taxian-Jun asks on their way back home. The twins were
sitting inside the basket on his back wrapped in warm blankets.

“Maybe he just didn’t want to call me that.” Going out in the market with their twins meant free
goods. And lots of them.

The vendors and shopkeepers kept insisting on giving something to the twins because of how
beautiful they looked. Chu Wanning stopped refusing after some time.

“Hmm…. Maybe I should teach them to call you A-Niang?” the latter snorts at the suggestion.

“Or should I teach them to call you Wanning?” Taxian-Jun seemed to like the idea way too much;
a coy smile was plastered on his lips irritatingly.
“Please shut up. You’re not making much sense.”

“But how cute would that be, if they really call you Wanning?”

“Then we’ll all call you at the same time.” Chu Wanning smacks his husband’s arm. Everything
already felt like a dream to him. He didn’t need to die of being too happy.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“What the hell are you two doing?” standing at the door of their bedroom, Chu Wanning could feel
another headache coming up.

The pile of clothes he had just folded and stacked were now in a mess. Ever since the twins learned
how to crawl, they have begun their expenditures on how to make a mess of everything.

Multiple occasions where they managed to get a hold of his calligraphy materials and….

Well, let’s just say Chu Wanning had to hang both of them off the ground with Tianwen on
multiple occasions.

They just had…. Too much energy.

“Did you help your brother?” Chu Wanning stands there with both his hands on his hips; trying to
look intimidating to the mischievous pair.

But they never seemed to mind him.

“No…” A new word both of his baobaos have learned to say was no.

“They are your kids after all. Of course, they would learn how to say no so fast.”

Chu Wanning bitterly remembers Taxian-Jun’s joking tone.

“No?”

“Then Xinyi did it all by himself?” A smile threatens to break on his lips as Chu Wanning sees a
conflicting look appear on his oldest one’s face. Both brothers were loyal to each other even at
such young age.

Yijun possibly wouldn’t betray his brother and let him get punished alone.

“Ah…. Both of you! You’ve done it again?” Taxian-Jun’s voice from behind broke the tension.

“What should I do with you two hm…?” Chu Wanning sees as the father of the twin hoist them up
in his arms and pepper butterfly kisses on their faces.

The giggles of pure happiness fill Chu Wanning’s empty home once again.

The smile on his face, he can no longer keep it in. No wonder his kids didn’t take him seriously.
Chu Wanning was sure his face looked ridiculous.

But being here has made him unable to hide his feeling.

The smile on his face only widens as he gets a kiss from his husband all of a sudden.

Another two wet and messy smooches were pressed on his mouth.
 Chu Wanning doesn’t mind the drool on his fresh white robe he had put on just hours prior.

He looks at the twins in their father’s arms. People who would see them the first time would never
be able to tell them apart. Both Yijun and Xinyi had exactly the same purple eyes as their father;
locks on their hair a tad bit curlier than Moran’s.

Their pale skin might resemble Chu Wanning a little, but those plump rosy cheeks…..

Xinyi laughs loudly and twists his body in his father’s arms as Chu Wanning plants a kiss on his
plump cheek, his big eyes crinkling into a crescent as squirms in delight.

Spreading his arms wider, Chu Wanning tries to hug his family, the steady rhythm of his heart only
getting faster and faster.

How was this possible?

How could he feel so happy like this?

Happy about the pile of clothes he will have to fold again.

Happy about the drool-covered robes his baobaos were wearing that will cool down soon.

Happy about the kiss his beloved had stolen.

Chu Wanning should probably be angry at Moran, for kissing him in front of the kids too blatantly.
Now both Yijun and Xinyi demanded them.

But he was turning into this very soft being he never knew he could morph into. His heart would
burst inside his chest each time he got those drool mixed kisses. Happy about the wet patches he
would get on his everywhere.

“There must be something wrong with me.” Taxian-Jun looks at his husband funnily.

“How is it possible to love you more and more every day?”

Chapter End Notes

So my finals are in two weeks. So I had to post it now because I don't know the next
time I'll be able to update lol. Or I just might feel like writing one during my exam
weeks.
This chapter didn't really turn out how I had planned. So I'm kinda ashamed too lol.
But I hope this doesn't sound too weird. And I haven't gotten any studies done so wish
me luck.
Happy reading!
 Shizun's sweethearts
Chapter Summary

Baobao's first birthday!

Chapter Notes

AHHHHHH
I missed updating this!
Please enjoy!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The soft jingling sound of bells slowly became stronger along with the sounds of small feet
running towards his workroom and excited voices calling out-

“Wanninggg!!!”

Despite both him and Moran attempting to teach his baobaos to call him something else than this,
they still decided to fix on this name.

“Don’t run. I’m right here.”

But then, Chu Wanning never knew his own name could sound so sweeter to his own ears.

“Look!” Yijun excitedly points at his head. Nothing out of ordinary seemed out of ordinary at the
first glance.

“Did Baba do this?” A chuckle leaves his lips as he sees what the twins are so excited about!

Xinyi and his brother nod vigorously.

Their hair has grown long enough to tie them in ponytails. But the curly locks were now tied in two
buns on the top of their head, ribbons with small bells attached to them keeping the thick locks
secure.

With dark locks in buns like this, both of them looked like those nicely dressed dolls at the market.

It feels like just yesterday when the twins learned to stand while holding something.

Moran made them walk with their tiny feet on his much bigger ones.

And it’s as if Chu Wanning had blinked once, and they’ve already learned to call him and run to
him like this.

When his baobaos are in sight, he swears he doesn’t even wanna blink.
“Wanning….Up! Up!” Xinyi demands to be picked up first; Yijun follows along. Chu Wanning
never refuses to hold them.

He’d always pick them up, hold them closer to his chest and pepper butterfly kisses on his baobaos
nose, cheeks, and forehead.

Well, it’s only till they stay still. Once they get what’s going on, it’s a lost cause for the Yuheng
elder.

His beautiful face is littered with loud smooches, sharp jawline, and cheekbones wet with the drool
his baobaos still can’t control.

And his usually stoic face breaking into a smile that’s…..

No matter how powerful the Beidou immortal is with his Tianwen and blasting core,

To these giggly small humans, he stood no chance against.

Heaven!

He loves these ducklings so fucking much!

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning stares at the sight in front of his eyes.

Xinyi and Yijun; both laying like two starfishes inside the crib that was a tad bit smaller for their
growing body.

Chu Wanning couldn’t believe it’s been one year already.

How did time fly so fast?

It feels like just yesterday when he went to physician Fang and-

The rustling sound of the sheets and a soft voice calls his name-

“Wanning”

How atrocious.

He was one of the most capable grandmasters of the cultivation world. No one dared to call him by
his name like this.

Yet,

Yet-

“Hi baby…..” his arms went forward, lifting the half-asleep sweetheart and bringing him close to
his heart.

Xinyi was quick to lay his head on his mother’s shoulder, his head full of hair tickling Chu
Wanning’s face lightly.

“Did you sleep well?”

Hearing the words, Xinyi reels his head back, staring at the beautiful person in front of him.

Chu Wanning gets a greeting kiss on his lips.

Shit-

He could feel his face breaking into this inevitable smile of happiness.

“Do you know what day it is?” Xinyi looks at him funnily. Then mutters-

“No?” Chu Wanning chuckles at the answer.

“It’s you and your brother’s first birthday.” Chu Wanning pushes away the hairs covering the
small face.

“One year back, you both came to us.” Xinyi giggles at the words; not quite understanding what
his Wanning was saying.

The giggle spikes up as Chu Wanning peppers kisses on the small face.

“I love you.” The words slipped out of his lips without resistance. Insides of his chest felt warm
and fuzzy. He didn’t want these feelings to cease.

“Do you love me?” Xinyi couldn’t say the words back properly. But he couldn’t help asking.

Within this one year, Chu Wanning had become more honest with his feelings.

He felt love in ways he never even imagined.

“Wanning.” Moran had a gentle smile on his face. He had been watching the whole thing like an
awestruck man who suddenly came across something absolutely beautiful and breathtaking.

Big hand comes to caress the child’s head in the mother’s arm, a kiss was dropped on the way.

The smile on the said man’s face only grows.

Touching the side of his husband’s face, Moran kisses his lips.

Short and sweet.

“Thank you for giving them to me.”

The mischievous existence of these two never failed to turn Moran’s heart into a gooey poodle of
happiness.

The smile that was almost permanently engraved in Chu Wanning’s eyes and the taste of sweet
happiness on his lips left a honey-like aftertaste at the back of his throat.

The first birthday;

It wasn’t of any extravaganza Xue Meng had planned. Nor was it filled with mindless running here
and there as Chu Wanning had thought.

He was having a hard time coming up with a list of things he thought he had to do on this special
day.

It was a simple uneventful day.

 Well not really.

Yijun dropped the bowl of mashed sweet potato on Chu Wanning’s white robes.

Xinyi got snuck into their bathroom and played with the bucket of water kept there in the middle of
this cold winter. Then proceeded to do the same to his brother.

Maybe, maybe Chu Wanning got the better of his anger and hung both of them off the ground with
his Tianwen.

But-

Xue Meng arrived by lunch. With things too many for Chu Wanning to count at once.

“Shizun. Please stick these talismans around the house.”

“It will keep the place warmer than normal spells.” Chu Wanning wanted to smack his silly
disciple for wasting time writing these difficult talismans all by hand when he was so busy.

But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. The stack of talismans flew on the streams of Qi that flowed
from Chu Wanning’s dainty fingers.

The room became warmer almost immediately.

Both of his bao baos ate almost two shuotao buns.

Then slurped on some thin chewy noodle Moran had prepared.

The hair ties with bells chimed each time they moved their heads or laughed in a soft tone.

This was a happy day.

Chu Wanning looks at Xue Meng and Moran bickering around even now. There just were two new
addition.

Chu Wanning looked. He stared and took all that in.

He truly thought he could just live in this moment for the rest of his life

Chapter End Notes

Finally done with my exams. And wrote this as quickly as possible. Also, I don't have
much idea of how traditional Chinese birthdays are celebrated, so I wrote very
vaguely about it. I think it turned out to be pretty cute. Also, thank you for reading,
commenting, and leaving kudos! Your comments literally make my day 100 times
better.
 Shizun's bad dream
Chapter Notes

Happy new year! And I hope all of you had a great holidayyyy!!!!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Baba! Baba!” Taxian-Jun could feel a smile forming on his lips at the voices calling out to him. In
no time, two pairs of tiny feet come near the kitchen counter where he was.

“Baba! Up up!” tiny arms outstretched towards him, both Xinyi and Yijun demand to be picked up
at the same time, identical pairs of eyes staring at him were too similar to his pair to his liking.

Yet Taxian-Jun felt enthralled and swept off his feet by these two tiny creatures.

He picks both of them off the ground without any hitch.

Putting them down on the cleared part of the kitchen counter, the father of two picks up the task at
hand again-

Making lemonade.

The cold winter has passed and morphed into scorching hot summer in a blink; and before any of
them could register, it was already the second summer with their baobaos.

Picking up a lemon, Yijun brings it closer to his nose; giving it an experimental sniff.

A surprised smile blooms on his face as the fresh smell of lemon hits his nose for the first time.

“Smells nice right?” Yijun nods his head at his father’s question.

“Me- Me!” Not being able to handle his curiosity, Xinyi demands one for himself.

“Now that I think about it, you guys didn’t taste lemons yet.” A playful smile plays on Taxian-
Jun’s lips as something silly crosses his mind.

“Go call Wanning. Say baba has made lemonade.” Their big eyes start to sparkle at the mention of
that one person.

Taxian-Jun can’t help but wonder- Ever since Chu Wanning conceived these two till now; they
have stuck to his hips like leeches.

Not letting their Wanning out of their sight for more than a few minutes.

Yet- yet when this name is mentioned, their eyes sparkle as if they haven’t been near their mother
for years.

Such cheesy brats.

But then- Was he any less than his kids? Didn’t Taxian-Jun take pride in this coddling habit of his
toddlers towards Chu Wanning?
He brings out the jar of freshly made lemonade outside. Setting the tray down, he waits for the rest
of his family to arrive.

Taxian-Jun sees the figure of his husband donned in white; his usual straight back was bent
forward as two ducklings held onto his hands and led him out.

There was a fond smile on Chu Wanning’s lips.

This whole scene…… It was so unlike Chu Wanning. Yet he was the same. He was the same man
that loves him and his other self equally.

The man who brought these two creatures to the earth. A smile forms on his lips.

“Wanning! Take a seat.” Chu Wanning eyes the two slices of lemon on the table as he sits opposite
his husband.

“I thought it was time they had a taste of lemon.”

“I thought it would be quite the sight.” A light chuckle leaves Taxian-Jun’s lips; Chu Wanning
couldn’t help but smile along.

“Yijun, Xinyi” Taxian-Jun hands them two thin slices of lemon, they look at the slice in their hand
and back at their father.

“Put it in your mouth when I count to three, okay?”

“One, two……”

“Three!”

Plump lips crumple and eyes close shut as the raw sour taste fills their taste buds.

The expression on both Yijun and Xinyi’s faces morphs from excitement to unpleasant surprise.

Taxian-Jun breaks into a loud fit of laughter and Chu Wanning was quick to extend his palm to his
toddlers’ mouth.

The kids spend no time to throw the abomination out of their mouths.

They shoot looks of betrayal towards the mastermind; Taxian-Jun was still clutching onto his
stomach, laughing to the point of tears.

Chu Wanning won’t say he didn’t feel a little sorry for his baobaos. But he also can’t deny how
hilarious everything just was.

“Enough of this. Here, drink this.” Chu Wanning pours both of them a glass of cool lemonade.

As soon as Chu Wanning spoke, everything else was forgotten and who would pour their beloved
Wanning his glass of lemonade became the topic of debate.

In the end, Chu Wanning had to drink three glasses of that cool drink because apparently, his one
hell of a husband wouldn’t stop being a kid and compete against his kids.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Chu Wanning was dreaming; this is what he thought. It had to be. There was no way all of that was
true.
“Do you think you can survive the life down the mountain?” Chu Wanning could feel the anger
and stubbornness bubbling inside his chest.

“You have to stay in this mountain, and rot alone!”

The pain in his chest as a sword pierced through his heart felt real. Chu Wanning closes his eyes.
The next scene chills his bones.

He was in the underground prison. He could tell it was a scene of his memory from last life.
Silhouette of a woman comes to his line of vision.

“Pull his nails out.”

How could dreams feel this real?

“Once you wake up laoshi…..” the Song Quitong in his dream whispers next to his ears.

“Nothing will be there anymore!”

Chu Wanning shots awake; his hand instantly reaches to the space next to him. It was cold and
empty.

Frantically looking around the room he was in, he easily recognizes it. It was the house he used to
live in with his master Huaizui.

His knees buckle as he drops to the floor. What was real? What was he living?

For a fragment of a second, he couldn’t collect his thoughts. A soft pitter-patter of footsteps comes
closer to him.

“Niang” A small and warm hand taps on his cheeks.

“Wan-Niang” His arms instinctively wrap around the small body that slid closer to his.

“Niang…. Don’t cry.” The soft voice speaks up, the same warm hand wipes the tears off his face.

“Niang….Wan-Niang are you hurt?” Then Chu Wanning sees. Yijun was standing there, his face
worried sick as he tries to comfort him.

Saying nothing, Chu Wanning just holds his baby close, peppering kisses on the soft face.

“Where did you go alone, hm?” His voice comes out shakier than he had anticipated.

“Niang! Baba…..”

“Baba is hurt!” Picking the child in his arms, Chu Wanning makes a run for the room the other two
were in.

Xinyi came down with a fever last night. Moran had suggested he sleep separately with Xinyi for a
night lest Yijun might get the fever too.

Upon reaching the room, he sees Moran sitting beside a sleeping Xinyi.

“Wanning…” His face was flushed and his eyes hazy.

Putting his cool palm over Moran’s forehead, Chu Wanning confirmed his doubt. Moran had a
 fever too.

What a way to begin a morning.

“I don’t know how this happened,” Moran says apologetically.

“Lay down. I’ll grab something for you to eat.” Chu Wanning says quietly before exiting the room.

Inside his head felt like a mess. Suddenly it felt like a lot to process at once. First that obnoxious
dream, now both Moran and Xinyi being sick-
Chu Wanning feels a tug at his robe. Yijun had his old swaddle cloth in his hand.

“Wan-Niang” Stretching his hands upwards, Yijun demands to be picked up. Chu Wanning blinks
a few times before a smile breaks on his lips.

When Yijun and his brother were much smaller, Chu Wanning and Moran both would make a
pocket with their swaddling clothes and put both in them like a carrier.

Both of their kids have gotten too big to be carried at the same time. But their demand has not.

Yijun keeps his arms around his Niang’s neck tight as Chu Wanning wraps the cloth around their
body firmly.

But the hold on his neck doesn’t loosen even when he was done.

“Did Niang scare you?” Chu Wanning caresses Yijun’s hair carefully, another hand stirring the
congee boiling on the stovetop.

First seeing both his baba and brother sick, then seeing him crying like that; it was too much for
him to process at once.

“Niang! Are you hurt?” Yijun asks again, finally looking at Chu Wanning.

“I’m not hurt, baby.” Chu Wanning pecks on the pouty lips.

“Do you want to go eat your breakfast outside?” Chu Wanning smiles as he sees the light return to
those eyes.

“Let’s get baba and Xinyi their food.”

“We’ll eat ours then, okay?” Yijun nods enthusiastically and Chu Wanning pours the hot congee in
the bowls.

Sitting under the tree, Yijun speaks of the time earlier this morning when he found Moran also had
a fever.

Chu Wanning puts a spoonful of congee in his mouth in between his animated description of how
Moran fell on his face as he had tried to get up from the bed.

And how Yijun doesn’t want Wanning to cry again.

Even if it is to be a dream, Chu Wanning hopes he never wakes up.

Chapter End Notes

So. I feel I have been gone for a long time. So slightly longer chapter this time. I came
back home for my semester break and kind of fell into a slump where I didn't want to
write anything nor do anything else Lol.
But, I hope everyone had a great holiday. Even if some of you didn't spend a good
holiday, or didn't get a good start to the year, that's fine. You always don't need a good
start for something amazing.
The point of me writing Chu Wanning dream like this partially is because I wanted to
somehow convey the message that every bad thing has its end. And you will pull
through it. Give yourself time, try to spend time with your families and loved ones.
And even if you don't have any family you can rely on, remember that you have
yourself. SO remember to take care of yourself.
Be in a slump, be the saddest you can be; but you will pull through just fine.
 Shizun's favorite disciple
Chapter Notes

I just realized I haven't updated this fic in over a month!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH

I'm so sorry!!! But here you have it!
Also No-Beta.
So please look over any mistakes.
:0

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Waking up, the first thing Yijun sees is his Wan-niang. He heard the people at the market call
Wan-Niang immortal grandmaster.

But he doesn’t know what that means. Did it mean that his Wan-Niang was pretty? It has to be
that. Why else baba would call Wan-Niang pretty all the time then?

“Niang” Chu Wanning was carefully brushing through the unruly locks with a wooden comb. No
matter how intricately he had tied them the previous night, it will stay this same mess every
morning.

“Is Niang immortal grrr……” Chu Wanning laughs.

“Grandmaster?” He finishes the word for Yijun.

“Yes!” Yijun replies enthusiastically.

“I am.” Chu Wanning confirms, hand calmly tying the ponytail in place.

Yijun then turns to face his mother; his purplish eyes gleaming with familiar excitement.

“Does it mean very strong?”

“It does.” Chu Wanning replies caressing the top of the youngster’s head.

“Then Wanning is very pretty and very strong?” Taken aback, the grandmaster looks at the child.
His face was bursting with glee and innocence.

“Silly child. Who told you that?” Even though Chu Wanning called them silly, they still were
Moran and his babies. Once in a while, he got a clever remark.

“Is Wanning not?” Chu Wanning didn’t know what to reply. There was no way he could explain to
a three-year-old kid what self-consciousness was.

“Do you think I am?” So he asks back.

Nodding vigorously, Yijun jumps into his mother’s arms, his smaller arms wrapping around the
older man’s neck. His plump cheek rubs with Chu Wanning’s defined ones. Then Yijun looks at
his mother once again.
Chu Wanning couldn’t help but steal a kiss on those cheeks.

It only made Yijun giggle more.

“Niang is very pretty!”

////////////

Chu Wanning was in the kitchen when both Xinyi and his brother came running.

“Niang!! Wan-niang!” Xinyi called excitedly.

“Hide! Hide!” Before he could register anything, both his baobaos had slipped under his loose
outer robe.

Just seconds later, Moran emerges from the door. His face breaks into a smile as he notices the
twin hiding under Chu Wanning’s robe.
They were playing hide and seek.

“Wanning, have you seen where baobaos are hiding?” Moran asks to feign not knowing.

“No.” Chu Wanning replies curtly, his lips pursed tightly to not snort. The arms around his thighs
hug them tighter.

“Seems like they have become an expert at hiding……”

“Where can they be hiding~” Moran sing-songs as he inches closer to his husband.

And then-

Moran pulls at the robe, exposing the two munchkins sloppily hiding behind that.

The surprised gasp and their expression mixed with betrayal and shock make Moran cackle harder.

Wrapping his arms around them, Moran picks them up.

“Aren’t you two silly?” Then proceeds to plant kisses on each of their cheeks.

“You found us!” Xinyi let out joyful giggles as he and his brother were swept off the ground.

“You guys are getting so good at this. I almost couldn’t’ find you!” Moran still plays along.
“Baba, you hide this time.”

“We will look for you!”

“You will?” Chu Wanning knew this look on his husband’s face. He was up for mischief.

“Mmhm!” Yijun hums excitedly.

“Then close your eyes and count to 5 two times.” They only could count to 5 till now. They had to
get creative.

Chu Wanning only could shake his head as Moran puts on a spell of invisibility, disappearing
before the kids could even finish counting to 5.

This was going to be a long game.

////////

“Wanning! Wanning look!” Chu Wanning couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Baba made this for us!” Both Yijun and Xinyi had small wooden swords in their hand.

Both he and Moran had been discussing starting their baobao’s basic core formation. Chu Wanning
was more reluctant; hesitant he would say. He thought it would be better just to look for a master
that could take his sons under their care.

But both Moran and he were one of the best cultivators of their time. And Chu Wanning wasn’t
sure how would he let them go either.
This honestly was stressing him out for no reason.

Suddenly seeing the swords in his baobaos hands, he felt his worries vanishing.

“Do you like it?” Both vigorously nod their head at the question.

Xinyi tugged at his robes, ushering him to come out of his workroom.

He could see Moran swaying his sword in the air.

“Wanning! Baba said you have a sword too?” Tianwen was a common sight for both of the kids.
But they didn’t know the extent of expertise of their sweet Wanning.

“I do.” Chu Wanning could see how the eyes of his twin sparkle at the words. He knows the next
words-

“Can you show us? Please Wanning?” Chu Wanning looks at his husband, who was smiling back
at him.

“You should hold them tight.” Chu Wanning warns Moran as he gently pushes the kids towards
the said man.

There was a streak of blinding light and wind that shook the branches of the trees on the mountain.

Yijun and Xinyi peek from behind Moran’s legs.

Chu Wanning was holding the magnificent holy weapon. The whole body of the sword was
emitting golden light.
“Should we go for a round Shizun?” Moran says all of a sudden. The former name makes Chu
Wanning skip a beat of his heart.

Moran looked charming as ever; the cheeky smile, eyes curving into crescent…..

Moran looks like the same stupid disciple and his lover.

“You should better be ready then.” Chu Wanning shot towards Moran before he even finished his
sentence. Moran holds his sword forward; meeting the blow straight on.

There was no way he could compete against a holy weapon like this. But the sword he was holding
wasn’t something insignificant either. Xue Meng had specially forged this sword with priceless
metals and emblemed precious spiritual stones.

When both powerful weapons clashed against each other, it created fire sparks that started flying
around the two grandmasters absorbed in their sparring.
Both of them knew each other’s sword movements like the back of their hands. Yet there was the
thrill of something new each time they sparred.

Moran could already feel sweat forming on his forehead.

His hand busily blocks and attacks his former teacher’s elegant yet fierce attacks.

Chu Wanning looked like a true immortal holding his holy weapon. Moran wants to keep looking
at his Wanning like this. He wants to spar with his Wanning like this.

He wants to keep loving his Wanning like this.

But his invasive thoughts suddenly stopped as he feels the sword at his hand get thrown off, a cool
metal touching his bare neck, right on his pulse point.

“Mo Weiyu! Your skills have dulled significantly!” Chu Wanning’s voice held a similar heat in his
voice. Moran couldn’t help but shiver involuntarily.

“Do I have to teach you everything from the beginning?” Moran feels the sword pressing on a little
heavier.

“I have disappointed Shizun,” Moran replies as he pushes the sword off his neck gently, moving
closer to the man in white.

“Should I make it up to Shizun then?” He slides his arms around Chu Wanning in practiced ease,
pulling the man into his embrace.

Moran moves his face closer, right then-

“Hahahaha”

“Baba you lost!!” Two cheerful voices interrupted them sweetly.

“Wan-Niang! You are so amazing!” Chu Wanning huffs out a laugh as he squats on the ground,
facing his two baobaos.

“Was I good?” He asks.

“mhm! You were the best!” Xinyi replies wrapping his arms around his Wan-Niang’s neck.

“Shouldn’t I get a reward then?” Chu Wanning asks, not expecting anything in return.

The kisses catch him off guard for a moment.

But Chu Wanning soon finds himself smiling at the familiar warmth of simmering love in his
chest.

“Baba! You were so silly!”

“Yeah! Your arms were all weird and jiggly!” Both brothers laugh at their father’s moment of
weakness.

“Yeah? Do you want to see if these arms are jiggly and weird, huh?” Moran says loudly as he
proceeds to hold both of them in his arms at once; only urging them to run away from him.

Chu Wanning watches as one tall strong man chases two munchkins all around their yard.
 He could see the sun high up in the sky. He was supposed to finish this work by now. But here he
is, being ushered by two powerless children into playing one round (Definitely not one) of blind-
man’s buff.

He knows how this one round would stretch into hours of mischief and how these two wouldn’t be
able to stay awake for dinner because they are too tired to keep their heads up.

Chu Wanning knew everything. Yet he couldn’t not do the same silly things over and over.
Because life has taught him something; he should soak up all the good times when he is granted.

Chapter End Notes

Sorry for such infrequent updates. It's just I kind of didn't want to write this fic. So I
wasn't writing this. But then I was like, I should just make bigger chapters because I
really, really want to finish this fic before my life becomes very hectic with my
academics and stuff. So I'll try to update as soon as possible.
And also, THANK YOU ALL FOR 500 KUDOS.
It makes me beyond happy to know that so many people read this story and they love
it. Thank you so so much. Your feedbacks are what keeps bringing me back each time.
Take my sincerest gratitude.
 Shizun's home
Chapter Notes

I'm back after soooooo longgggg!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoy this updateeee <3

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Xinyi looks at three pieces of coins at the table. Yijun was hovering over them as well, a worried
expression marring both of their expressions.

They were still missing three more coins.

It was their Wanning’s birthday in two weeks. But they were only allowed two coins only once a
week.

“Ge! It’s your fault we don’t have the coins!” Xinyi says with little frustration. According to their
“plan”, if they didn’t buy those sugary candies for three weeks, they would be able to save enough
to buy those beautiful jade figurines for Wanning.

“But! I really wanted to eat them!” Yijun sulks. Having a sweet tooth mother, it was of no surprise
that one of the two would be the same.

“Do you think baba will help us?” Yijun asks, contemplating their options.

“No! Baba will tell Wanning!” Taxian-Jun, despite becoming a father couldn’t let go of his
mischievous antics.

“Then we should wait till silly baba comes!” Moran probably would want to die if he was to hear
what his precious baobaos call him behind his back. But there was nothing anyone could do.

With how Chu Wanning couldn’t stop calling this guy “idiot” for being overly cheesy and still
acting like a freaking puppy, they knew it wouldn’t be wrong to call him that, even if it’s in secret.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

When the next week rolled around, both Xinyi and Yijun were on their toes the whole day. Chu
Wanning couldn’t help but frown a little. They were up to something and didn’t want him to know.

So Chu Wanning chose to just observe.

“Baba!” Moran cranes his neck back to look at the two voices calling out to him.

“Yes, sweethearts?” Crouching down to their level the father looks at his children, their eyes were
filled with anticipation and question bubbling.

“Baba- Yes! We….!”

“Yes! Baba can you-” Overexcited jumble of broken words filled his ears.

“Okay okay! I’ll listen to both of you. But tell me one person at once okay?” Xinyi looks at his
brother then at Moran.

“Can you give us three coins?”

So three coins later (Maybe three hundred more,), Chu Wanning got his three holy weapons carved
out on a white jade on his birthday.

Years later, when the twins were old enough to know some things about the real world, they
realized how much of idiots they must have looked to their parents and the craftsman who made
them an intricate and rare jade token in exchange for six minor coins that was probably enough to
buy them two sugar candies.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Shizun! Please come and visit Sisheng peak this new year.” Now sect leader Xue Meng had
personally visited their small home to invite the family over to their former home.

“They haven’t seen that place yet-” Xue Meng had glanced at the sleeping pair of baobaos before
looking at Chu Wanning again.

He wasn’t against it. Chu Wanning rather felt an odd sense of excitement in his heart about the
invitation if he was being honest.
But it has been a while and it sufficed to say things were a bit different than they were all those
years back.

“Wanning?” Moran peeks in the room his husband had holed himself into.

“Aren’t you coming to bed?” It was late and they needed to leave early the next morning.

Chu Wanning looked perplexed. Walking closer to him in small steps, Moran sits beside the older
man.

“Does Wanning not want to go?” Moran asks taking his beloved fisted hand in his own.

“No…. it’s not like that….” They fall in a comfortable silence as the other prepares how to say
what’s in his mind.

“I… do want to show them the place.” The warm thumb was drawing circles on his knuckles as
Chu Wanning continued to talk.

“But I don’t want anyone to….. Judge baobaos or Xue Meng.” Chu Wanning finally looks at his
husband only to see him smiling like an idiot.

“Knowing Xue Meng, he would kill everyone on the spot if they were to even raise their eyes to
the kids.”

Chu Wanning stared at Moran, stunned momentarily. Then bursts into a fit of a silent giggle.

“You’re right. It’s Xue Meng we’re talking about.”

Chu Wanning’s this disciple has grown from a rash and passionate boy to a serene and passionate
leader who has been working tirelessly to revive that place called home.

He did not as his Shizun to visit Sisheng peak until he was confident enough that Chu Wanning
wouldn’t feel even a spec of unwanted attention on him.
It was only natural that Xue Meng had prepared everything in advance before even asking for his
permission.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The Red lotus pavilion was just as how Chu Wanning remembers leaving it to be.

Maybe just very much organized. There were just so many things that came rushing back to the
previous owner of the place.

“Wan-Niang! This is where you used to live?” Xinyi’s overexcited voice broke him out of his
stance.

“Mn. I did.” Chu Wanning couldn’t help but smile at the starry-eyed boy.

“Niang! Niang! Can I swim in the water?” Yijun, who was just outside with his father rushes in. He
must be talking about the red lotus pond.

“Make sure you don’t go alone.” Yijun was quick to understand what his mother had meant and
ran to the person he knew couldn’t refuse him.

“Uncle Xue! Please come with us!” And before the sect leader could even welcome his former
master properly into the sect, he was dragged out by two irresistible munchkins.

Chu Wanning brushes his gaze on his former residence. The sense of familiarity was there. He
knew this place like the back of his hand. Yet, it felt like something he has left behind; something
that he holds dear but doesn’t have any solid emotions towards anymore.

The day goes by fast as both he and Moran greet the people in the sect. There were many new
faces. New disciples, new buildings, and everything. Chu Wanning kept on looking every corner,
looking for stray strands of memories of the people who have left.

The Mengpo hall was the same as usual; bustling with life. The only difference was disciples no
longer knew who the feared Beidou immortal was. They no longer stopped their lively chatters
upon his entrance.
“Wanning,” Moran calls out to his beloved.

Without saying anything, he takes his hand in his own. Moran knew what the other man was
thinking. The burden of heart and memories were heavy.

It was difficult to escape and unfeel the pain related to this place. It was difficult to ignore the good
times that floated in the air.

Xue Zhengyong, madam Wang……

Chu Wanning let out a shaky breath, giving the hand holding his a firm squeeze.

“Wanning! Uncle Xue said there will be sparkles in the sky!” Xinyi came running, his face slightly
red due to his excitement.

“Sparkle?” Chu Wanning couldn’t help but ask. Xinyi was quick to nod in affirmation.

“That- Boom! Sparkle!” Chu Wanning chuckles hearing the adorable description of fireworks. This
boy of his wasn’t good at remembering longer words.
“Meng-Meng did say he prepared a special spell for this year’s fireworks. Let’s go and watch.”
Moran says as he pulls his husband along with him. Behind them, many other students slowly
come out as well.

Xinyi was all too excited to drag both of his parents to where Yijun and his uncle Xue Meng were.

The sky soon filled up with colorful sparkles. All the cold feeling in his chest dissipated at once.

Chu Wanning feels Moran’s body moving closer to him, his hand was warm as he held onto his
tightly.

“Does Shizun remember when this disciple made fireworks for him?” It was dark outside, the
flashes of fireworks momentarily lit up the place. Chu Wanning didn’t even realize when Moran
had moved tong closer to him.

So close that the warm breath of the taller man was hitting his ears. Soon he finds two strong arms
wrapping around his waist. Moran could feel his eyes widen for a split second as he feels the man
in his arms leaning on his chest.

He no longer needed to hide from the world. There was no way he could hide anymore. With two
kids on the toe- Chu Wanning knew there was no point even in trying.

“How can I forget? You made such a big deal out of it.” Chu Wanning feels his body shake with
the reverberating laugh of his husband.

Moran feels a familiar hand on the side of his face, he looks down at the man in his embrace.

Chu Wanning was smiling fondly at him. The different colors of the fireworks were shining in
those golden eyes. Moran could feel his heartbeat pick up the speed. How many years has he been
in love with this person? Two lifetimes would probably sum up to more than his lifespan in this
life.

Yet he fell in love with this person each time he saw this look in his beloved’s eyes.

The hand on his cheek gently holds his jaw and brings his face down. Moran feels a brief kiss on
his lips. And a soft I love you.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning suddenly felt more on guard as he hears the door click close.

It’s the first time since the twin’s birth that they have had the chance to spend even one night alone.

“Wan-Niang! Can we sleep with Uncle Xue?”

“Pleaseeeeee?”

There was no reason for him to say no.

But suddenly the lack of the presence of his twins made him feel a tad bit nervous.

“Ever since I had realized I loved you,” Chu Wanning founds himself in the arms of his husband.

“I’ve always wanted to do this” His back flush against Moran’s chest as the said male wraps his
arms around him even more firmly.

“I’ve wanted to fuck you in this bed so bad” A hot kiss was pressed on the exposed skin of Chu
Wanning’s neck.

But to Moran’s surprise, he found himself thrown on the bed by his aloof and proud teacher, lover,
and husband.

A smile forms on his lips as he sees Chu Wanning expertly untie the sash of his pristine white
robe, the light outer robe falling effortlessly from his body.

“Such lecherous words!” Getting on the bed, Chu Wanning straddles Moran’s hips. But before he
could even touch the beauty above him, his both hands get held up above his head by a strong
hand.

“Do you have a death wish?” Moran could see the golden light of Tianwen flashing as it wrapped
around his wrists.

“Forgive this lowlife. I deserve punishment Shizun.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Xue Meng stood at the door of the Red lotus pavilion quietly. The sight before his eyes- How long
has he wanted to witness this just once more?
The tid table was again filled with things, amongst everything, Chu Wanning was reading through
his old scripts.

Xue Meng felt his throat choking as he struggled to call out to his teacher.

“Shizun.” Chu Wanning looks up from his table. He looked the same even after all these years.
Only Xue Meng’s respect for the man has increased tenfolds.

“Come in.” Chu Wanning gestures at the spot beside him. Xue Meng takes a seat there tentatively.

“Shizun….. This disciple thanks shizun for visiting.” Chu Wanning smiles at the bowing young
man.

“No need to thank me.”

“I thought it would be a great chance to show the kids this place…..” Xue Meng looks at his
teacher; his eyes swimming in various emotions.

“………”

“This place looks exactly how I…..” Chu Wanning stops at his words. He didn’t leave this place,
he fled.

Fled from everything.

“This is Shizun’s place. How could this disciple let anything change?” The words of utter devotion
and respect warm the former master’s heart.

“You’ve grown up so well Xue Meng.” Xue Meng suddenly finds himself getting patted on his
head. Gentle warm hand stroking his hair. When was the last time he received a head pat like this?
He can’t remember.
 He could feel tears filling his eyes, his shoulders shaking gently. But he wipes his tears just as
quickly.
“Shizun.”

“This disciple will ask for something very witless from Shizun.” Chu Wanning listens to his
student carefully.

“Please return to Sisheng peak.”

-_-_-_-_-_-

On the day of their departure from Sisheng peak, Xue Meng tried his best to ignore the fact that he
had asked Chu Wanning to return from seclusion.

If he could cut his head and die, he probably could relieve some of the hit shame.

But Chu Wanning said nothing as he stood at the bottom of the stair of the mountain.

“Xue Meng,” The said male was alert at once.

“Yes, Shizun!”

“When they turn seven-” Chu Wanning looks at the sleeping pair of baobaos in Moran’s arms.

“Take them as your disciple.”

Xue Meng’s eyes widen comically. He looked baffled and shocked.

“Yes, Shizun!”

Getting closer to his former disciple, Chu Wanning puts his hand on Xue Meng’s head once again.

“And Sisheng peak is also my home.”

“I will return once I’m ready.”

Chapter End Notes

So.
Here's a little backstory behind me being MIA.
A new semester started and I moved into a different dorm, and life has been HECTIC
with all classes and exams.
I'm finally back home and immediately wanted to write an update. And If anyone
noticed, I put the number of chapters there will be in this fic. I finally have an
estimation of how much I want to continue this story.
So it's sufficient to say that I'm like only 3 or 4 chapters away from finishing this story.
Even with my current update schedule, it probably will take some time as well. But
thank you to all the people who read this story and leave comments and kudos. I
appreciate it so so so much!
And did you see the rumor that Immortality might air this may? AHHHHHH
I really hope they fucking air this thing already!
Take care of your physical and mental health.
I love you all.
 Shizun's dream
Chapter Notes

AHHHHH
I hope this update doesn't sound too rash.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Taxian-Jun sees his sweetheart standing by the old crib walking into the quiet room. The crib that
no longer can carry the two growing toddlers.

Moving closer, the taller man could see all of the smaller clothes their twins had worn throughout
their infancy till only a few years old of age strewn across the whole bedding of the crib.

“Baobei” Chu Wanning looks back, his eyes slightly wide; he was clearly startled.

The house was too quiet without the kids these days.

“Do you miss the kids?” Taxian-Jun asks sliding his arms around his beloved’s waist.

“It’s so quiet here……” The statement took him by surprise he won’t lie. Chu Wanning wasn’t the
type to let his emotions out like this. But then Taxian-Jun finds himself smiling.

“Yeah? Does Wanning want me to change that?” His hand wanders towards the other man’s nether
region, squeezing the flesh there lightly.

“I can make you scream so high that…..”

“Moran!” the slap on his playful hand felt nice.

“No. For real. It’s been a while since it’s been only Wanning and me.”

“I’m going to make good use of this opportunity.”

Ever since returning from Sisheng Peak, the twins have been crazy about that place. Xue Meng
was way too happy to hear that. So before Chu Wanning knew it, he packed his baobaos bags and
they left like excited puppies with their uncle.

That night, after taking a bath, Chu Wanning couldn’t help but feel oddly cold.

Oddly free and empty.

“Do you want me to help you with that?” Chu Wanning asks a busy Xinyi carrying a tray of the
side dishes he had just arranged.

“I can do it on my own Niang!” Then that small thing proceeded to carry that small tray on his
own while trotting away from the kitchen.

It wasn’t only this time.

Both brothers somehow made it into a routine to take bath on their own. They learned to take turns
scrubbing each other’s back, even drying their own hairs.

The only thing they required their Wanning was……

Of course, while brushing their unruly locks with the proper amount of oil and all that. They no
longer fit in their swaddling clothe. They no longer fought as much to have their Niang pick one of
them first.

They grew up too fast for Chu Wanning’s liking.

Looking at their old clothes, Chu Wanning cannot even imagine they were small enough to even fit
in those. Each day they are looking more and more like their father. The bright light in their eyes
only grew every day.

“You’re thinking about something.” The smaller man finds a familiar pair of arms pulling his
naked body closer to his body.

“Mn. It’s just……”

“Feels like it’s been a while…..” Taxian-Jun’s breath felt warm on his bare neck.

“Last couple of years have been busy.” His husband finishes his sentence before Chu Wanning can
even open his mouth.

“I won’t lie that there were times when I thought I couldn’t do it……” Chu Wanning continues
speaking, the heartbeat resonated in his chest through his unclothed back pressing against the bare
chest.

“When they got sick…..”

“Remember that one time all three of you fell so sick-” Chu Wanning squeezes the hand on his
tummy tightly. But he doesn’t stop talking.

“I felt helpless in ways I could never even imagine.” Swallowing the knot in his throat, he
continues. Their hearts beating in sync.

“But it can’t compare to the love you all have made me feel.”

“It’s almost as if I will do it as many times as needed.” Chu Wanning felt his throat closing up. His
emotions were getting better of him again. Was he overthinking these days without realizing it?

He hears the other man chuckling lightly.

“Yeah? Is this your way of saying you want to have more baobaos?” With this Chu Wanning finds
himself pinned to the bed once more.

“Now that I think about it….”

“I think it’s high time you gave me my princess as you promised.” Chu Wanning looks away, his
face flushed red.

“As if I can if I want!”

Later that night, Chu Wanning had that dream again; the dream he’s been having for months now.

A dream where he is walking toward a full-bloomed Haitang tree where he finds a beautiful white
kitten. A beautiful kitten that climbs up on his lap and just mewls and then proceeds to sleep.

The rest of his dream passes him petting the kitten and just staring at it.

But today, the kitten had a name. It was a small gold coin hanging from its neck tied with a
beautiful red ribbon.

Princess.

“Wanning!!”

“Where were you? We couldn’t find you everywhere!” Chu Wanning chuckles at the words. He
was indeed overthinking about his baobaos growing up too fast.

“I just had to visit somewhere.” Chu Wanning’s arms were filled with two cuddly bears. He could
see his husband slowly walking toward them in small steps, a smile gracing his lips.

“Yijun-Ah, do you like Daiyu’s Didi?” With his eyes lit up, Yijun vigorously nods.

“Do you like Chaun-ah’s Mei-Mei?” This time, Xinyi nods along with his brother.

“Mn! I love playing with Didi and Mei-Mei!” Yijun made a sound of affirmation to his brother’s
words.

“Then-” Gently putting the stray hair behind Xinyi’s ears, Chu Wanning asks in a soft voice.

“If you are to have a Mei-Mei or Di-”

“What-” But before he could finish the sentence, he hears heavy footsteps running toward him and
strong pair of arms lifting him off the ground-

“Not fair Wanning.” Moran’s nose, lips, and chin rubbed all over his beloved’s neck.

“I’ll only have it if it’s my princess.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“So you have any symptoms yet?” Chu Wanning ponders on the question. He wouldn’t have
known he was expecting again anytime soon this time.

He couldn’t feel a thing different about himself.

“No……rather…..” by that time, Madam Fang has already brought out trays with teas and light
snacks.

“I have been having this dream for quite a while.”

“Oh goodness! So you had a conception dream?” Chu Wanning had no idea what she was talking
about.

“Laoshi didn’t know about a conception dream?” He shook his head sideways.

“Ah! Makes sense”

“Laoshi, please follow me.” After almost 5 years, Chu Wanning found himself following the
doctor to the familiar check-up room.
“I….. it’s already been that long?”

Chu Wanning was already almost 4 months along.

“I couldn’t tell a difference.” Late at night, Moran caresses the bare stomach of his husband under
the gentle orange light of the candles.

“Mm. Physician Fang said it will take some time to actually show any changes.”

“So there’s only one this time?” Moran asks stupidly.

“Yes. Only one.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Maybe it was the dream that made or maybe it was the tag that made Chu Wanning actually want
to go to Physician Fang.

“Congratulations laoshi!”

“You came way later than I expected.” Chu Wanning was caught off guard, once again.

“No Mo-Zongshi this time either?” The other male just smiled.

“Yeah. His surprised faces are to die for.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Niang!” Yijun came running; Xinyi was following suit. The older one was holding a paper bag in
his tiny hand.

Chu Wanning puts down the book he was reading on the smooth rock, his face breaking into a
small smile.

“Look! I brought it for you! And mei-mei!” Extending his hand, Yijun puts the warm packet in
Niang’s palm.

“What are…..” Peeking inside, Chu Wanning saw two steaming baozi. His cravings have been so
diverse. Moran and his kids have been on their toes to have him stuffed all the time.

Chu Wanning was enjoying this.

Every day, Yijun and Xinyi would buy something their Niang have been loving these days from the
street vendors.

They were still young enough not to doubt how two coins would magically become four.

Well into six months, the bump on his tummy became noticeable. The twins became inseparable
from their Wanning once again. Not that they were ever away from Chu Wanning in the first
place.

“Wanning how many days till Mei-Mei comes?” Either Yijun or Xinyi would ask this same
question every few days.

Instead of answering the question, Chu Wanning asks a question back.

“Do you think there’s a Mei-Mei and not a Didi?” Yijun looked taken aback, his brows furrowing
 into concentration.

“It doesn’t matter.” Trying to wrap his small arms around Wanning’s stretched belly, Yijun puts a
kiss.

“I just want to meet the baby.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Meng-Meng is also going with me. Don’t worry so much.” Moran says caressing Chu Wanning’s
head gently. The bag hanging from his back looked heavy.

“Just-”

“Don’t get hurt, okay?” Moran presses yet another kiss on his beloved’s lips.

“Mhm. Take care of yourself.”

Moran was skeptical about leaving Chu Wanning alone in this condition. But the older man was
adamant about being on his own.

“I’ve been okay with these two. Why do you think I can’t be okay with this one?”

Which was technically true…..

But Moran didn’t want to leave for this mission. There was something that was pulling him back.
But he probably was just skeptical. He’s been on these missions hundreds of times. So has been
Chu Wanning.

Why was he feeling skeptical about it now?

He didn’t know. Pressing one last kiss, Moran sets off for the journey.

Chapter End Notes

I just want to finish this fic.

So I'm like, writing as fast as I can.
Hope all of you are doing good. And I'm sorry if this chapter seems kinda off. I'm
tired out of my wits but wanted to finish writing this chapter and update.
 Shizun's life
Chapter Notes

Hi-ya'll.
Here's a HUGELY UNEXPECTED update. ; )

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Yah! How did you not see that coming?” Moran hears Xue Meng yell near his ear. He wonders
too. How the hell did he not see this coming?

“Here, press this on your wound.” He could faintly hear the Hanxue brothers’ swords clashing with
their target.

It probably took him by surprise. It has been a while since Moran had last seen any of these
demonic creatures. The last time he saw was……

His last lifetime.

He was the one who had designed it with the help of chess pieces. There were some harmless
failed projects that he had laying around everywhere. Where did this one come from then? All this
time later, here?

“I…..” Moran was at loss for words.

“Is the wound too deep?” One of the twins asks.

“It is. Dumb dog! You’re just going to worry Shizun.” Xue Meng yelled as he pulled all the
necessary medicines out of his bag.

“I should stay at an inn for a few days. I can’t go back home in this state.” Moran grimaces at the
pain as Xue Meng presses on his wound.

“Of course, you can’t. Shizun is going to be so worried!”

So, they delayed their departure for another three days.

When Chu Wanning opened the door upon the knock, his breath stopped for a brief second.

Moran tried to hold his smile in front of his baobei. But those three days of extra rest seem to have
done nothing.

“Mo-What happened to him?” Forgetting that there were other people around them, Chu Wanning
runs towards his husband, standing weakly at the door with Xue Meng supporting him.

He could feel his heartbeat getting faster, the pale face, weak smile-

No-

No-
“Moran?” His voice came out weaker than he had anticipated.

“Wanning-”

“I’m fine--”

“It’s just a little accident.”

“Master Chu, I think we should let him lay down first.” Mei Hanxue intervened.

“Ah! Yes.”

“We need to leave immediately.”

“Some issues need our direct assistance.” Xue Meng seemed to have wanted to refute.

“Thank you for helping them till here.” Chu Wanning replied on his behalf.

“Xue Ziming.” It’s been years since Xue Meng had last heard this tone of voice his Shizun used so
frequently.

“What the hell happen back there?”

But it never fails to make his hair stand.

“And he said he alone would be enough to handle it.”

“Who knew he was going to get his stomach punctured like that?” Xue Meng almost slams his
teacup on the low table but gains his composure in seconds.

“He said he was taken aback.”

“Shizun-”

“Is it something……” Chu Wanning gripped his cup tighter. His disciple doesn’t say anything
further at the curt nod.

“WANNING!” Both Chu Wanning and Xue Meng’s stupor breaks at the cheerful voice.

“Is baba back?” Xinyi was quick to run to his Wanning and put a kiss on his cheek.

“He is. But he’s resting now.” Their mother says as he strokes Xinyi’s hair.

“Is baba sick?” Yijun was sharper than his brother. He picked up on the atmosphere just like that.

“Mhm”

“Baba got hurt while fighting.”

The smile on the kids’ faces dimmed at once.

“He’ll be okay once he rests well.” Xue Meng was quick to cover up.

“Uncle Meng Meng! Do you want to see the sword baba made us?” Xinyi suddenly asked.
“He did? Let me see!” Xinyi ran back into the room and came back just as quickly with a wooden
sword.

“Huh! I can make one better than this!” But Yijun looked doubtful.

“Let’s go. I’ll make you one.” The kids were out of sight quickly.

“Shizun.”

“Until that dumb dog is completely fine, I’ll stay here.”

Xue Meng says before he leaves the room to join the awaiting kids outside.

Once his disciple was out of his field of vision, Chu Wanning crumples. He puts both hands on his
belly, rubbing small circles on the swell.

“Hush, hush.”

“Everything is fine.”

Since the moment he laid his eyes on Moran’s face, his heart has been going crazy, and so is the
child under his heart.

This child was too sensitive to his emotions. Maybe because it was there alone; unlike his previous
kids. No matter where you are, being on your own feels tough sometimes.

Even if it meant being in the safest place on earth itself.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning stood by the stove with the pot of rice. Should he start cooking now? Moran has
been asleep for a good few hours now. The kids should be hungry too. He had nothing special to
prepare for Xue Meng either.

What would Moran want to eat? Would he like to eat some wonton? But they don’t have fresh
meat at home. It was too late to even go to the market now.

All these thoughts made him a little dizzy. Hastily throwing the rice into the water along, Chu
Wanning takes a seat quickly.

Sitting in a lotus position, he dives into meditation. He needs to calm himself.

“Shizun- Why did you prepare so many things?” Xue Meng felt himself fluster seeing the amount
of food his teacher had put out.

“I didn’t cook anything…..” Chu Wanning just tried putting anything and everything he had at
home. By this point, he’s not even sure if anything on the table is edible.

“Wanning…. I don’t want to eat it!” Xinyi hates pickled vegetable stir fry. Chu Wanning doesn’t
understand why he made it in the first place.

Hearing his brother, Yijun doesn’t touch anything either. Both of them side-eye their uncle while
eating his dinner quietly.

“If you don’t like it, wait till Xue Meng finishes eating.”
“he’ll take you both down to the market.” Their eyes light up just hearing that they can go to the
market.

Surprisingly, Chu Wanning found himself to be very hungry. He sat alone at the table, gobbling his
bland food down his throat.

-_-_-_-_-_-

“Moran.” His calling goes unanswered. Chu Wanning stares at the rise and fall of that sturdy chest.

The sound of breathing fills his ears, indicating that the man lying on their bed was still very alive.

The house was so quiet. Almost too quiet for his liking. It almost felt as if things weren’t real as
they were.

“Moran….”

So he calls out again.

It goes unanswered again.

Chu Wanning begins to work on changing the bandage on Moran’s wound. Slowly taking the robe
off, he begins to unwrap the carefully dressed wound. He flinches once he sees where the wound
is.

It’s the same place as the wound Moran had gotten fighting a monster while he was still sleeping
after having his soul back in his body.

Pushing all the bad thoughts back into his throat, Chu Wanning dabs the wound with the clean and
warm towel. He hears the sleeping man groan once he pours the ointment on the wound over the
stitch.

He wraps clean bandages around the wound.

He wants to lay down beside Moran. He wants to lay there and curl himself near the sleeping body.

“I’m sorry.” Clutching his beloved’s hand, Chu Wanning felt like breaking down.

“I should have protected you better.”

“And! And uncle bought us milk candies!” Yijun shows his Wanning the candies neatly wrapped
in a paper. Chu Wanning smiles at his enthusiasm.

“Wanning, have one” But the thought of eating something sweet made him nauseous suddenly.

“It’s okay. I’ll have them later.”

“Shizun” Noticing the distraught expression on his teacher’s face, Xue Meng feels his own heart
growing heavier.

“Why don’t you retire for the night?”

The last time he heard what Shizun was expecting, he spent all his time thinking about what he
wanted to do for the man. But he couldn’t push away all those negative thoughts out of his head.

But this time, he has the chance. A chance to make amends for the last time.

“But-”

“I will be here, Shizun.”

“And Shizun looks very tired.”

Chu Wanning doesn’t refuse. His kids were all too happy to have their Wanning in their bed like
this. Soon after chattering and laughing, the twin fell asleep sprawled against their mother.

Chu Wanning had been on the edge since the day he had gotten the flower message from Moran,
saying they will arrive three days later than planned. The deep wound, the pale face-

The immortal master’s heartbeat increased suddenly. The unrest in his heart spreads throughout his
whole body. For a moment he forgets his twins are in bed with him.

“Niang…..”

“Why is meimei moving so much?” Yijun was pressed close to his belly.

“Does she want a milk candy?” Before Chu Wanning could say something in return, the oldest one
jumps out of the bed to fetch the candies wrapped in wax paper.

“Here.” This time, Chu Wanning didn’t refuse. The sweet candy melted in his mouth instantly.

“Baby, when you come out, I’ll let you eat all of my candies.” Chu Wanning chuckles at the
words.

“What if she doesn’t like sweet your brother?” He seemed to have never thought of that possibility.
Standing on the bed, Yijun wraps his arms around his mother’s neck, his cheek resting against the
older man’s.

“Then I will just give all of them to Wanning!” The said man looks at those bright eyes and smiles.
The tension stiffening in his body eased instantly. He wraps his arms around his child, pulling him
closer to his chest.

“You will? Don’t you love them a lot?” Chu Wanning’s oldest was just of a sweet tooth as he.

“Mhm. But I love Wanning the most!” Chu Wanning gets one of his oh-so-familiar smooches on
his lips.

This little human doesn’t even know how much his Wanning needed that.

“Come. Let’s go back to sleep now. You’re going to wake your brother.”

Yijun tried to lay as close to his mother as possible.

“Niang.”

“How long will meimei be here?” Today was the beginning of his seventh month.

“Baby will be here in two full moons.” Yijun looked bummed.

“That’s late.” Chu Wanning chuckles again.

“But it’s still sooner than six!”

“Baby! I love you!”

“And I love Wanning the most,” Yijun says with a sleepy smile.

“I love you the most too angel.”

That night Chu Wanning dreams of the time he got to know he was pregnant. He also saw Moran’s
crying face when he got to know the news as well. He can never understand how can someone
look beautiful even when they are crying like this.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The next morning, Chu Wanning woke up with more optimism. His body no longer had the heavy
feeling he had from last night. Coming out of the twins’ room, he finds Xue Meng’s note on the
table.

He went to grab some things from the market.

Well, a good thing; Chu Wanning thought. They needed to do groceries after all. Setting up the
stove for broth, he takes some flour into a bowl. He would make some fresh wontons.

“Wan-Niang”

“Are we having wontons?” Xinyi was the first to reach the kitchen. The smell of familiar broth
was wafting throughout their whole house.

“Mm. We are.” He replies.

“Is your brother awake?” Chu Wanning ducks his head down to kiss the top of Xinyi’s head.

“No. Ge is still sleeping.”

“Wake him up and go see if baba is still sleeping or not.” Xinyi dashes at the mention of Moran.

Soon with faces freshly washed, water still dripping from those chubby cheeks, the twins dash to
their parent’s room only to see their baba sitting on the bed.

“Baba! I missed you” Xinyi says as he proceeds to climb up in the bed.

“Who are you?” the familiar voice booms with a terrifying tone.

For a moment, Xinyi looks taken aback. Then bursts out laughing.

Xinyi cups Moran’s face in his tiny palms

“Silly baba. Are you still sleeping?” But the expression on his father’s face remained stiff,
questions were visible, and so was the bubbling anger.

“How dare you touch this venerable one?” The voice rang through their small house. In no time,
Chu Wanning heard Xinyi bursting into tears. Throwing the almost done dough, he makes a run for
the room.
The twins were standing near the door, clutching each other tightly. Xinyi’s cries were soft and
Yijun looked scared out of his wit. Seeing their mother, both of them runs to hide.

Chu Wanning looks at the man in question. Moran was standing by their bed, his hair distraught
and eyes wide open. His gentle and playful look was replaced by caution and madness.

A heavy realization settles in his heart.

This wasn’t Moran.

These eyes……

“Moran” Chu Wanning’s voice was cold.

“Chu Wanning-No.” From instinct, the said man knew this voice.

“Who are those kids?” Taxian-Jun asks as he walks closer to Chu Wanning. His hand reaches out to
the kids hiding behind him.

“Niang” Xinyi scoots even further, his tiny hand clutching the back of Chu Wanning’s white robe.

“Don’t touch them!” None of the twins had ever heard their Wanning talk like this. The fear of the
unknown slowly consumed their mind.

“Niang! What’s wrong with baba?” Yijun’s voice was trembling.

“Wanning….I’m scared” Accompanied by Xinyi’s teary confession. Chu Wanning felt his whole
body burning in anger, fear, and grief.

“Go find uncle.” But they couldn’t go out. The door was blocked by a barrier.

“Tsk….Chu-Fei”

“Still so disobedient.” Coming dangerously close to the shorter man, Taxian-Jun grabs him by his
jaw. Chu Wanning winces in pain.

“I asked who are those kids?” He was met with the swell of Chu Wanning’s seven-month-old
belly.

“And you’re pregnant?” Taxian-Jun asks, mockery lacing his voice.

“No. I take that back.”

“Whose kids are they, Chu-laoshi?” Taxian-Jun moves the face in his hand from left to right, his
lips curling into a smile seeing the similar fierce look in Chu Wanning’s eyes.

“Take your hands off me.” Chu Wanning warns.

“Oho? Why should I?”

“I’ll throw you on this bed right now” Bringing his mouth closer to his ears, Taxian-Jun mutters-

“And fuck the hell out of you”

Fire flicked in his heart as Chu Wanning yells out for his holy weapon

“Tianwen!” The golden vine wraps around the invasive man and throws him back to the bed.
“Why-”

“Shizun!” Hearing his teacher summon his holy weapon, Xue Meng rushes to the source of the
voice. Only to find the entrance to be blocked with a barrier spell.

The twins rush to their uncle as soon as the barrier was open.

“Oh look who it is!”

“My dear cousin!” Having been used to Taxian-Jun’s playful antics, at first Xue Meng didn’t know
how seriously he should take this whole thing.

“Xue Meng”

“Take the kids out of here.”

But he knows how to take this command.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The next time Chu Wanning enters their shared room, he finds Moran to be sleeping again, with
Tianwen still wrapped around his body tightly. Walking that short distance towards his beloved felt
like a dread. Was he going to lash out again? Was he pretending to be sleeping?

He doesn’t know, yet he walks closer. Maybe he should be a bit more cautious given that…….

Chu Wanning felt weak and afraid.

“Moran……” The man was sleeping so peacefully! It didn’t seem like he just blew fire over
everything just a while ago.

“Moran…?” Chu Wanning touches his face carefully. In a few seconds, the sleeping man stirs
awake.

“Wanning…?” He seemed to have understood the situation he was in instantly.

“Why- Wanning! What have I done?” Having Tianwen wrapped around his body meant he had
done something grave. Moran winces in pain as he tries to sit up abruptly, reopening his wound.

“Sit. I’ll change your dressings first.” Tianwen unwraps itself from Moran’s body, disappearing
into its owner’s palm.

“Wanning-” Chu Wanning takes a deep breath before looking at his beloved. His eyes were
glistening with tears.

“I’ll tell you later, hm?” Chu Wanning’s hands were gentle. But it lacked the general steadiness.

“I’ve made some wontons. I’ll bring them to you right away.” Chu Wanning was quick to flee the
spot. He needed to make sure that Moran was back to normal for good.

He stares at the pot full of broth. He made it for everyone. None ate.

Chu Wanning puts the bowl in Moran’s hand. The milky white broth was still letting off steam.
The expression on Moran’s face was hidden under his hair. He should have tied his hair back, Chu
Wanning couldn’t help but think.
Smiling at his husband, Moran puts his hand on Chu Wanning’s hair.

“Why did you bring this to this venerable one?” But Chu Wanning’s heart goes cold at once. The
affectionate hand was gripping at the back of his hair, inflicting sharp pain.

“How dare you?”

Chu Wanning barely got time to balance himself as he hears the porcelain bowl gets thrown and
shattered. The hand gripping his hair pulls him forward harshly.

“You never learn, do you Chu Wanning?” Another hand comes to grip his jaw. A feeling of
disbelief washes over the man. What was happening?

This man-

He suddenly remembers Xinyi’s terrified voice, Yijun asking what was wrong with his baba-

The child under his heart hasn’t stopped squirming since the morning.

Chu Wanning doesn’t want to think of anything else. The only thing he understood at that time is
that this man- who was try to ing hurt the people mattered the most to him. Just the mere thought
of someone inflicting any harm to his children set his heart in the fire of hell.

“Mo Weiyu!” Tianwen appears just as Chu Wanning yells out.

“You’ve crossed the line!”

A burst of energy explodes on the intrusive man; Moran staggers a little with the intense blow.

“How dare you try and harm my children?” Tianwen sparks in brilliant energy as its owner heaves
in anger.

The divine vine slams itself on the other man’s body, almost throwing him off balance.

“You’re wrong to think that I’m that weak Chu Wanning from your past life!” The long vine once
again wraps itself around Moran and sends strong japs of spiritual energy throughout his body.

Sharp needle-like branches cut through Moran’s skin. In no time his whole body was littered with
small paper cuts.

“I won’t hesitate to gauge out those eyes if you even look at my children!”

Not sparing a glance at the man, Chu Wanning storms out of the room. His whole body was
buzzing with all sorts of emotions. His head hurt and all his nerves were making him dizzy.

Xue Meng had come back within an hour with Tianlang elder.

Chu Wanning doesn’t know what happened inside the room where he had left Moran.

He saw the two enter their house. He spent the rest of the day in his twins’ room, sitting on the low
table, sipping chamomile tea in an attempt to calm himself down.

“Chu Wanning” Chu Wanning doesn’t remember when he laid down on the beds, almost slipping
into a troubled sleep.

“Elder” Tianlang elder takes a seat at the low table. Chu Wanning makes it a hassle to scramble
down the bed.

“Be seated, no need for such formalities.” Still, Chu Wanning silently slips down from the bed,
taking a seat beside his old colleague.

“Your kids- They are fine.” Chu Wanning wasn’t expecting such words from the man. But he
conveys his appreciation anyway.

“I wouldn’t expect anything otherwise.”

They sat in silence for a moment before the physician spoke again.

“Give me your hand. Let me check your vitality.” Chu Wanning feels warm fingers touching his
wrist.

“Eat well and meditate while you can.”

“Stress is not good for your body now.” Chu Wanning had thought he would feel a thick veil of
tension around them. But he felt none.

“And about Moran-” The pregnant man suddenly tensed up.

“He had been poisoned through his attacked.” Tianlang contemplates for a moment.

“A rare kind of poison I’d say. No wonder you couldn’t recognize it.” Chu Wanning listens to the
words carefully.

“It throws the victim into a time-loop”

“The time that person regrets the most in his life to be exact.” Under the table, Chu Wanning’s
fingers balls into a fist.

“That child-”

“His cultivation is high. He should have been fine on his own in a few days.”

“But I still stuck some needles”

“Thank you……. For coming all the way here.”

Chu Wanning bows toward his old acquaintance. Tianlang seemed flustered.

“He’s going to remember whatever happened once the poison wears off.”

Chu Wanning suddenly didn’t know how to deal with this piece of information.

For the next three days Xue Meng stayed over, Chu Wanning didn’t even go to see his beloved. He
felt numb at the thought of going there and facing the man.

He had hit the man he loves more than his life.

But now he had tiny little humans he could trade his whole world with to protect. He hated the fact
that he had to choose between those two people.

He hated the fact that he had to pick sides in his family.

Xue Meng promises to bring his baobaos back within a few days.
Chu Wanning stands at the door of their room. He could see his shadow trembling on their room’s
floor.

He also knew Moran was awake now, and the poison has worn off.

“Wanning-”

“Do I even deserve to ask for forgiveness?”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning took long strides towards the bed, almost tripping himself; and then wrapping his
arms around his beloved.

“What have I done Wanning-!”

“What have I done!”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Moran cried again after meeting his twins. The again- and again- and again.

At this point, everyone lost count.

Children are innocent. They are forgiving.

There was no way Yijun and Xinyi wouldn’t understand when their Wanning said Baba was so
sick that he couldn’t see properly. Even though it probably didn’t make sense to them either. But
they believed it nonetheless.

It was their Wanning who told them to believe.

But it was the adults who always were stuck up in their past.

Bad memories; traumas always knew how to hunt and strike them at their weakest.

“Wan-” Chu Wanning flinched and moved away from the hand that came towards his face.

It took both Moran and Chu Wanning aback.

Old scars would strike you in ways you can never even imagine.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Taxian-Jun can feel the man beside him moving. He should have been asleep hours ago.

“Wanning”

“Are you afraid?” Chu Wanning stills at once.

“…….I’m not”

“Wanning-”

“Maybe it would have been better if this venerable one never came back”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
“Wan-Niang!” Chu Wanning felt lightheaded and sleepy. He could barely register what Xinyi was
yelling for.

“Blood!”

“Baba!”

“Baba! There’s blood in Niang’s nose!”

Chu Wanning was dreaming. Dreaming of the time when Moran held their twins for the first time.

He dreams of the time Moran came all bloodied and bruised from the fight.

He dreams of a lot of irrelevant things. His dreams were just as chaotic as his mind.

He couldn’t control anything in his life anymore. It feels as if the life he had for the past five years
had been a dream.

“Laoshi” He wakes up to a familiar voice.

“What the hell have you been doing to end up in this state?” For the first time in his life, he sees a
worried expression on physician Fang’s face.

“You-”

“You can’t even walk.”

“I am ordering you to be confined to bed until your due date!” Chu Wanning says nothing in reply.

“Mo-Gongshi, please make sure laoshi is eating right. Also-”

“That he’s not overthinking and overworking himself.”

Sitting up, Chu Wanning gestures at his baobaos. They had been standing by the door frame for a
while.

“Why were you hiding there, hm?” The twins instantly melt into their mother’s arms, accepting
loving kisses and caresses calmly.

“Wanning! Are you hurt?” Yijun was on the verge of crying.

“Is meimei hurt?” Chu Wanning smiles.

“Niang is just a little tired.” His hand tries to smoothen the unruly hair sticking out of his ponytail.

“Do you want to take nap?” Chu Wanning nods at the question. He was truly very tired.

“Come sleep with me.”

The next time Moran comes back, he sees three sleeping tightly on the bed.

The night rolls in, the kids were already in bed deep in sleep.

“Moran” The said man stops on his track.

“You don’t have to sleep somewhere else.”

“But you won’t be able to sleep again,” Moran replies just as quickly.

“Don’t leave…” Chu Wanning tugs at the sleeve of the taller man.

“Please!”

For a few weeks, Moran didn’t sleep with him in this, Chu Wanning woke up in the middle of the
night from his nightmares where Moran was gone and Chu Wanning was alone in the old house
left by his former master.

His only reassurance was the restless child under his heart and the toys and clothes strewn across
the room that Chu Wanning could never tidy up.

“Please-”

“I can’t take this anymore….” Throwing the pillow down, Moran wraps his arms around the other.

“I’m so sorry…..” The taller man mutters burying his nose into his husband’s neck.

“Please don’t leave me alone”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning’s fear got better. He no longer flinched or moved away.

But his health did not.

“I can’t eat anymore.” Moran wanted to force him. But this was the same when he was pregnant
with the twins too. At the last stage of his pregnancy, he felt bloated and lightheaded all the time.

Chu Wanning stayed in bed most of the time. He sometimes went on walks with his baobaos just
around the mountain. But his steps would be slow, his demeanor faint. His usual glow was replaced
with almost ghostlike paleness.

But he tried to make it not so apparent. He still kissed his baobaos goodnight. He still ate all the
meals together, and still taught them calligraphy in the afternoon.

He still slept in Moran’s arms every night. Everything was back to how it was.

He was this near to see the child under his heart.

Yet-

Yet he felt an indescribable feeling of remorse growing in his heart as days went by.

“Moran” The man was almost asleep when he called him, the hand rubbing circles on his hip
doesn’t stop.

“I love you.”

“I love you more, Wanning….” His name came out more like a whisper, like the last tune of a
beautiful song that lingers in your ears.

The next morning, Moran wakes up to something gripping his wrist in a deathly painful grip.

“Wanning?” Realizing it was the man lying in his arms holding his hand like this, the latter jumps
out of the bed.

Chu Wanning’s lips were almost blue.

“Baobei…..?”

“What’s wrong…….?” With a trembling hand, Moran touches his dearest’s face. It was cold. Now
that he was awake, the hand holding his own felt oddly cold as well.

Within an hour, Xue Meng and physician Fang had arrived.

“No! I want to stay with Wanning!” Chu Wanning could faintly hear Yijun crying and Xue Meng
trying to coax them into going with him.

“Baobao” Through dizzying pain, the mother calls out to his children.

His hand felt as if it weighed a ton. Still, Chu Wanning pats his baobaos on their head, slowly
speaking-

“Go with uncle Meng Meng”

“He will bring you here when the baby is here.” Both of them were still hiccupping with tears. Yet
they didn’t refute.

“You guys want to meet your meimei, don’t you?”

“Listen to what baba and uncle say, okay?” Vigorously nodding, both of the twins wipe their tears
off.

“Wanning loves you two the most” With great effort, Chu Wanning brings their tiny fists to his
lips, planting a feathery kiss.

Everything was almost the same as last time.

But Chu Wanning couldn’t feel the energy to feel anything other than the pain.

Madam Fang gasps once she removes the blanket covering the patient.

The white sheets were dyed red.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Moran sat by Chu Wanning’s head as the Madam Fang kept on instructing. Chu Wanning’s
breathless gasps and pained moans rang in Moran’s head.

“Laoshi, you have to focus on me!” Moran hears Madam Fang speak in a high tone.

But Chu Wanning’s brilliant golden orbs were dimming quickly.

The hand inside his palms no longer would hold his hands back; his cold hand kept on slipping
through his sweaty palms.

“Zongshi please circulate your Qi in laoshi’s body. His….”

“Moran……” He desperately looks at the pale face.

“We didn’t pick a name again……” Moran vigorously nods.

 “Yes. Let’s get her out, and then we’ll think of a name, yeah?” With one hand, Moran wipes the
sweat forming on his dearest’s forehead.

“baobao….. They….Mmmmm” Chu Wanning twists in pain again. The whole room was heavy
with the smell of blood.

“Block his blood circulation points! He’s losing too much blood” The thing with joker people was
this. Once they became serious, it never meant good news.

Physician Fang was always joking and smiling.

Hearing him yell like this made Moran’s heart go cold.

“They picked out a few names…..”

“Why are you talking like this, hm?”

“I…..”

“You know I love you right?”

“No….No…”

“Don’t do this to me Wanning…..” Moran chokes on his tears, his heart threatening to jump out of
his chest.

“What am I going to tell the kids?”

“You’ll be fine…”

“laoshi, one last time!”

Soon the cry of their newborn fills the air.

Chu Wanning could only mutter a few words before his eyes roll back and sealed shut.

I love you

Chapter End Notes

Would you believe me if I said that I planned this whole fic because I had THIS plot
and chapter planned? I wrote a whole ass fic cause I wanted to write this.
And I'm still contemplating whether I should keep Wanning or kill him. ; P
Also, I'm leaving all of you on a cliffhanger because my semester finals start this
month and it won't be for another month before I can write the FINAL chapter.
And it's 4.03 in the morning and I spent the whole night writing and editing this
chapter. So I hope you enjoy this.
 Shizun's way back home
Chapter Notes

So.
When I started writing this story, I only had planned it to be like, maybe highest of 7
chapters. But it now officially is a story of 17 chapters!!!! My longest written story till
date! I can't be more proud that I managed to finally finish this chapter and mark this
story as complete!!
Also, for the last two chapters I did something I really hate about ANY story.
Whenever I watch K-dramas, I see this pattern of 80% of the episodes being not about
the plot, or not being serious about the plot, and then BOOM! last two episodes are
emotional rollercoaster, all the twists and turns unfold in those two episodes and I'm
left with this baffled emotion and expression.
But I, too run on whims. So I kind of changed the whole story, brought in some weird
shits to make sense of everything.
PLEASE ENJOY!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Zongshi hold you have to hold the baby closer to your chest.” Moran distantly hears madam Fang
instruct him.

He knows. He knows dammit. Ripping the front of his robe open, Moran holds his newborn close
to his heart.

The warm, wet, and bloodied body of the newborn felt warmer than his own body. His hand was
still holding onto his beloved already cold one.

“Zongshi…..”

Madam Fang calls out for a second time. The man doesn’t reply. More like, he can’t even hear it.

Sighing, the lady starts working on other things that needed to be done.

Before Moran could resist, a hand peels the child off his chest gently.

“I’ve prepared the bath. You should help Laoshi clean up as well.” Madam Fang doesn’t look at
the man sitting on the bed. She couldn’t.

Upon entering the other room, she tests the temperature of the water she put to bathe the child.

Slowly putting the child in the warm water, Madam Fang gently pours small scoops of water over
the small body.

Madam Fang had been accompanying her mother to mothers in labor since she was 13 years old.
She was almost 50 now.

She lost count of how many children have been helped by her to be brought into this world.

She went back to couples for their second, third, or even sixth child.
She had witnessed mothers dying.

She had witnessed a child dying.

She had witnessed every tragedy a family can encounter through this blissful process cause
pregnancy and childbirth.

But this couple-

When Madam Fang delivered the twins; Yijun and Xinyi.

She thought they were the most beautiful children she had ever seen.

After four and a half years, she was proven wrong again.

A child that looks like a porcelain doll that has been molded by the most talented and expert hands.

Rarely had she seen a child coming out of their mother’s womb with a head full of hair. Skin so
pale and smooth that it looked like almost the most expensive and exquisite doll.

But why that the sight of such a beautiful child filled her heart with such heavy grief?

Madam Fang couldn’t see the tears dropping into the bowl now dirty with remnant blood and
fluids.

Physician Fang, witnessing such a state of his wife couldn’t find any word of consolation.

“Why did it have to be them-?”

“This child-” She chokes on a sob trying to complete the sentence.

A princess

“Laoshi couldn’t even-”

What was more unfortunate in this world than having a mother not even getting the chance to look
at the child they had carried all this time?

Holding the swaddled child in her arms tightly, madam Fang wailed.

“Don’t cry like this while holding a newborn.” Physician Fang reminds his wife gently.

Wiping her tears off, she heads toward the other room. The room where her parents are.

Madam Fang sees Moran put down the other man’s body oh so gently on the bed. The bed sheets
were changed, and so were the bloody robes on Chu Wanning’s body.

Sitting beside his sleeping husband, Moran doesn’t even notice the other person come in.

“Zongshi”

Moran’s whole body jerks a little; as if he couldn’t anticipate the other one’s presence like this.

The day was long and the sun was just starting to tip down. So much had happened in the past few
hours.

Madam Fang remembers the young man barging into their home this morning when she and her
husband were just sipping on their first cup of tea of the day.

“Shizun-"

“You have to hurry!”

Later she got to know he is the sect leader of Sisheng peak. The former disciple of Chu Wanning.

Madam Fang puts the baby in her father’s expecting arms. She was one quite baby. She didn’t even
cry much after being born. As if she had understood the intensity of the situation.

“If Laoshi doesn’t wake up soon….”

“I’ll have to bring her milk from somewhere else.” Moran nods then look at his newborn.

Madam Fang leaves as soon as she sees water filling the new father’s eyes. He needs some alone
time.

“Wanning…..” An uncontrollable sob leaves his mouth. His arm holds the child closer to his body.

“Wanning, wake up……” Moran doesn’t remember the last time he had felt this sharp pain in his
heart that suffocated his whole existence. The helplessness of the whole situation made him weak
in his knees.

“Wake up…. Please!” In the other room, Madam Fang tries her best not to let her voice out. The
pain the cries of the man who had lost the person he cherishes the most carried throughout the
small house were too heavy for her to not cry.

“You didn’t even look at her.”

-_-

“You came here later than I thought!” Chu Wanning had chuckled at the statement.

Physician Fang was right. He lasted longer than he had thought as well. With how his husband
is…..

Chu Wanning shakes his head. Then looks at the milk candies wrapped in wax paper in his hand.

He’s been wanting to eat them for so long. Putting the first candy in his mouth, he couldn’t help
but think what face Yijun would make if he heard he ate candies without him. But he just sat under
the tree and finishes the candies.

Putting his hand on his belly, Chu Wanning says-

“When you come out, all healthy and well I’ll take you to eat them for real.”

Chu Wanning doesn’t really understand what is different with this pregnancy of his.

He felt…… excited.

He felt loved.
All his life, he had no one to truly love. Then came this young man named Moran, who brought
along two other Moran into his life.

Two munchkins who couldn’t even sit on their own to almost becoming two incredible big brothers
ever.

But still, he loved how helpless they were sometimes. How they’d fall and cry for him. How he
was sought for comfort.

This love-

Chu Wanning was greedy for this love. He was a sucker for this love. He never wanted his
baobaos to grow up. He’d always wanted them to stay those helpless babies who start crying when
he’d be away for a moment.

But they grew up. They are still growing up. The more independent they became, the hollower
Chu Wanning felt.

Now that he had tasted the unconditional love of being a parent- he wanted to experience it over
and over again. No matter how much pain he had to go through for that.

Chu Wanning had been a private person. So much so that he felt shameful to seek affection from
his beloved a lots of times. No matter how much time passes, Chu Wanning still can’t get used to
it.

But his baobaos……

They have unleashed a side of his he never knew existed in him. The open and unrestrained display
of affection he would show for his babies was sickeningly sweet he’d say.

He’s sure if his past self was to witness this, he would rather want to die than even think of
experiencing this.

But here he was, with another child in tow, as happy as he can be.

The thought that another helpless human being was going to come into his life- give him the
chance to love that being with any restrain or hesitation Chu Wanning internally rejoice like the
waves of an ocean.

“How come Wanning looks even more beautiful this time?” His beloved’s sweaty body was
pressed closer to his, with his head resting on Chu Wanning’s chest.

Chu Wanning says nothing in return.

“You’re not going to scold me?” Moran asks in wonder.

“With how you are, I’m sure this one is going to be even cheekier and more shameless than you
three combined. Might as well get used to this.” The younger man’s boisterous laugh vibrates
through his whole body.

“Oh, Wanning! I love you so much!”

Chu Wanning’s conception dream didn’t stop even after hearing the news.

He kept on dreaming of that white kitten. But they became increasingly bizarre each day. He found
himself bringing food for the kitten.
It was all the foods he loved.

“Why did you roll in the mud like this?” That day, Chu Wanning was sitting near a small shallow
pond.

Just like his red lotus pavilion one.

The little white kitten was dirty. It’s pink paws were strained with dry mud, white fur splotchy with
freckles of soil.

The kitten aggressively run towards the pond and jumped into the water. Then came back to Chu
Wanning with the same aggression and excitement and ran straight to Chu Wanning’s lap.

Chu Wanning for a moment couldn’t understand why he should be more worried. He’s now
dropping wet robes or this little kitten jumping into water like this.

Well, it was a dream. His robes won’t be wet when he wakes up anyway.

So, with the wide sleeves of his outer robe, Chu Wanning slowly rubs the wet little kitty dry.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The day Moran came back wounded, Chu Wanning probably would have lost his mind if not for
the child under his heart constantly reminding him to keep calm.

“I know kitten, I know.” Chu Wanning lightly pats his belly, trying to calm the restless child
moving its hands and legs to over the place.

Moran was back to normal quickly. How could he not? Their kids were eagerly waiting for a
proper explanation of what had happened.

There wasn’t much to it anymore. The human heart is quick to make the painful experience of the
past to let us go through our days smoothly.

But only Chu Wanning knew it probably wasn’t the case anymore.

He was tired. Just so so tired. He got nose-bleeds way too often these days. He always kept a
handkerchief in his sleeves. First white ones; then darker colored ones because his hands were
getting blisters trying to wash off the blood.

He hid. He hid his weakness and weening lifeline.

Chu Wanning just kept on telling him that-

“Just a few more days just a few more days-“

“I’m gonna bring you here, among all the people who’s gonna love you to death”

Chu Wanning knew he probably wouldn’t make it this time. Or maybe he will.

He didn’t know anymore. He felt exhausted. But he felt so happy. He knew there were people who
would look after this child even if he wasn’t there.

And all those things.

Chu Wanning let his thoughts loose all the time. He liked to think. Think about the ominous
things, think about the blissful things.

His thoughts would help him not think about why his body was so weak these days. Why short
walk to the Haitang tree in their front yard felt so strenuous. Why do his feet get so cold so easily?

Chu Wanning started telling “I love you” to his kids more. He kissed Moran a kiss or two more
each time the man demanded or stole one.

Just a few more days-

And you’ll be here.

That morning, it wasn’t still light out when Chu Wanning had felt a pain shoot through his
abdomen.

Small ripples of current that grew stronger each second washed over him and faded.

Chu Wanning breathes through them.

You’ll be here today-

Chu Wanning hoped it would be really bright outside. Sun blazing and flooding the whole world,
the light so bright that even a small hole on the wooden door would make the whole room light up
a little.

He hoped his child would be just as bright.

The immortal master holds onto his husband’s hand.

Just a few more hours-

“Mmmmm…..”

His grip was a little too tight.

“Wanning?” Chu Wanning still could hear his name through the blinding pain.

He feels warm liquid trickle down his thighs, wetting the bed and fill his nose with iron smell.

He blearily sees Xue Meng.

He kisses the hands of his first-borns…….

He wanted to call Moran all those stupid names.

“Dummy- why are you crying?”

“You wanted a princess-”

“We didn’t pick out a name again-”

How silly of them. Almost a year of this and still no name.

“Baobaos…..they…..” Chu Wanning moans in pain again. It hurts so bad. And he can’t focus his
gaze anymore.

“They picked out a few names-“

“Why are you talking like this, hm?” Chu Wannjng wanted to tell Moran that he looked beautiful
while crying.

“I….”

Chu Wanning knew this feeling. The feeling of the child touching the earth for the first time; a
child’s first time flailing its limbs outside of that small belly.

He could feel his consciousness slipping. He hopes that he wakes up. He really does. It will be
okay if he doesn’t as well.

He knows everything will be fine.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Tianlang-Jun had rushed here within an hour. Upon entering the room where his former colleague
was, he was struck to the ground for a second.

Moran had set up a heavily detailed spiritual array.

Tianlang-Jun knew this child had a gifted golden core- but to have set up such an array to protect
the body…….

“Feed him the medicine while it’s warm.”

Xue Meng had requested to Guyue sect leader for his assistance to save his Shizun’s life.

Tianlang-Jun was here to deliver the Blood elixir from Sect leader Jiang. Even though everyone in
the room knew there was no point in any medicine anymore.

No amount of medicine could wake up someone who has passed the line of worldly life.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

As time went by, Moran felt the suffocating feeling of helplessness choking him. Everyone knew
about the blood elixir pills.

It was resting in his palms yet he couldn’t give them to his beloved-

“Feed him the medicine first.” Tianlang-Jun instructs. His fingers curled into a fist.

He wanted to yell at the man

“Aren’t you taking it too far Chu Wanning?”

“What are those kids going to do without you?”

But he couldn’t. The back of his throat burned with unshed tears. He quietly leaves the room after
handing Moran the medicine.

The Sun had begun to set and Moran hadn’t left his beloved’s side even for a second.

Wanning-

Moran kept on calling out. Softly, rashly, angrily-

There was no reply. The man in question just laid there peacefully as if he didn’t have a thing to
worry about.

Moran didn’t count how many times he had called out to his beloved and broke down to tears.

If he truly never woke up-

Moran looks down at his newborn.

She hadn’t cried even a bit after being bathed. She’s been sleeping; just like her mother.

Heavens!

“Wanning…….” There were just too many things he wanted to say. He wanted to look into those
warm honey eyes.

He wants to see that warm smile when he says I love you.

-_-

Chu Wanning feels something rustling under his blanket, rousing him from his sleep. Lifting his
blanket up, Chu Wanning sees his kitten. That once small kitten was now a lot bigger. Still a kitten,
but a lot bigger kitten.

Chu Wanning wanted to hold the cat as he was used to, but the cat suddenly jumped toward his
chest-

Chu Wanning struggles to open his eyes.

When he finally manages to open them, he feels his heart drop in his stomach. The boat he was in
sways gently on the river.

So he truly didn’t make it huh?

He tried to think about how Moran is doing right now. He tried to think about his baobaos, his
kitten-

He didn’t feel any different than normal, he felt as if he would return to them as normal. He had
just gone for a walk or to run an errand.

Everything is going to be fine.

“Everyone! Line up! We are going to measure your merits!” Chu Wanning sees that familiar scale
and a few officials standing at the gate.

Eventually, when his time comes, the officers looked baffled, generating side-eyeing him and
officers whispering among themselves.
“Hey, we don’t have anyone of his name on the list.” Chu Wanning wasn’t sure how grave that
problem was. Or what they would do to him afterward.

Was he going to be abducted by one of the ghost kings again? The mere thought of it gave him a
headache.

“Hey, you! Follow me” The one wearing a slightly different uniform instructs Chu Wanning.
He had no other option but to follow him.

After what seemed like walking for almost an hour, Chu Wanning and that officer reach a two-
storied building. The people sitting at the front desk looked equally baffled after the former officer
pointed toward him.

In a few minutes, he was led to a room on the second floor.

“Master, there’s some issue with this person that needs your supervision.” Chu Wanning hears a
soft affirmation.

When the door opens and Chu Wanning looks at the person inside, he becomes speechless as well.

It was Chu Xun. Whose misfortunes were witnessed by Chu Wanning himself?

“Beimu, what seems to be the issue?” The officer who had accompanied him looked
uncomfortable.

“Master- This man doesn’t have any records in his name” Beimu then hands his master the stone
tablet he was holding.
“I’ll look into it, leave him here.” Bowing to the man, Beimu exits.

“Grandmaster Chu,” Chu Wanning found himself to be flustered.

“It seems master knows about me.” Chu Xun suddenly lets out a light chuckle.

“Even though the underworld is an odd place, it’s not every day one sees his face on someone
else.”

“I apologize to the master. My master Huaizui-” Chu Xun then lifts his hand to shush him.

“Let the past be past. No need to apologize for the incident that wasn’t in your control.”

Both of them fall into a comfortable silence.

“I think the officers were confused because of our similarities-” Chu Wanning strikes up the
conversation again.

“They sure were.”

“But it is also true that there is no information about you” It was Chu Wanning’s turn to be
surprised.

“Last time you were here, you caused quite the commotion here.”

“Grandmaster Chu, why are you here again this time?”

The person sitting in front of him sure had an almost identical face to him. But Chu Wanning felt
an odd sense of familiarity; as if he had known this person for ages.

Chu Wanning always has been a man of few words. But it took him a while to finish talking. Yijun
and Xinyi kept jumping in his words. How the twins always are at the top of their prime in
mischief.

How excited they have been for their new sister. Chu Wanning always had been a man of few
words. But when he had been living such fulfilling life, he couldn’t help but slip a few sentences
here and there.

“Do you really not feel remorseful about your fate?” Chu Xun looks at the serene expression on
the other person’s face.

“Fate has given me tenfold of what I deserved…..”

“But…..”

Chu Xun doesn’t say anything for some moment, then sighs.

“But once you’re here, there’s no turning back” Chu Wanning smiles at the statement.

“I am aware of that”

“Your kids- Have you thought how they would take the news?” Chu Xun asked purely out of
curiosity.

Chu Wanning contemplates for a moment. Then-

“It seems that I yet have to register the situation I’m in completely……”

“The realization needs to sink in….” An empty feeling begins to fill his chest, his fingers curl into
a ball of fists.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Chu Wanning replies.

“They probably would think this is some kind of game”

His twins love to play hide and seek. Hiding in obvious places, then jumping on Chu Wanning
each time.

Their smiling mischievous faces….. Chu Wanning remembers it so vividly!

To think he’d never see them again-

When he looks back at the time he’d spent with his kids and Moran, he unknowingly had become
so bound to his life; that he’d become too comfortable with life.

But he wouldn’t have it any other way. Even if it meant never seeing the people he loved the most
again.

Chu Xun looks at the former grandmaster. It had been a while since he’s been sent to the
underworld; stripped away from his family in the most painful way.

Only to learn that the person who had caused him all these misfortunes and heartbreaks had left
behind someone who looks exactly like him. Now to see that person going through the same fate as
him-

All Chu Xun felt was a familiar pain making a way through his own heart.

If everything was fine- his son hadn’t been killed, wouldn’t it mean that there still would be
someone he could call family?

“But Grandmaster Chu,”

“Since we don’t have any records of your death and whatsoever-”

“Your presence or absence here will not make any difference” Chu Wanning couldn’t understand
what the man was talking about.

“I…. Don’t understand…”

“The first time grandmaster was here-”

“Your soul had already been registered.”

“But since you had managed to go back…..It caused officials here an error.”

“You died once. For the underworld, one person can die only once.” Chu Wanning looks back at
the man with shock apparent in his eyes.

“So now that you’re here again, they cannot find any records of your death- how you died, your
merits and everything.”

The said man looked surprised for a moment, but he was quick to school his emotions back to
normal.

“I don’t understand what master is trying to tell me” Chu Wanning was quick to let his confusion
known.

“Take this and follow its lead” Chu Xun hands Chu Wanning a clear stone along with a cloak.

“Within five days, you should reach his workshop.”

“If your body is intact, you will be able to go back to your mortal body”

“And oh- tell him to come and collect his rewards after he’s done.” Chu Wanning offhandedly
hears Chu Xun instructing him to put on the cloak and follow the stones lead as long as it doesn’t
crack and turns milky white.

“But master…… Why are you doing this for me?” Chu Xun looks up from the paper he was busy
writing something.

He keeps mum.

Then replies-

“When I had my own family, I didn’t do my best for them…..”

“I had to pay a hefty price for that.” Chu Wanning feels his ears buzzing as he reminisces the
stories that he had seen unfold.

“This feels like a way to compensate” The smile on the master’s face was still filled with
calculated grief.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Tianlang-Jun comes back to check up on both of them again. It’s been three days and Moran yet
had to eat or sleep.

Madam Fang was generous enough to come every day to provide food for the child.

“Moran!” But this couldn’t go on, the elder thought.

“Elder……”

“I should have been more careful with him….” Moran was still sitting on the bed, streams of qi
seeping through the array to Chu Wanning’s body.

Maybe he shouldn’t have pestered him so much for another child. Maybe he should have just paid
more attention to the man when he was slowly breaking apart.

Maybe Moran should have just kept himself away from the man altogether!

There was no way Moran could bring back this man from where he is now. There was no master
Huaizui to give him a helping hand or instruct him on what to do.

He felt tired. He hadn’t slept for days; hadn’t eaten for days. He was utterly exhausted. He just
wanted to go to sleep and wake up to his beloved waking him up like normal.

His eyes were tired of shedding tears. But the ache in his heart was still burning hot. Each time he
looked at the child in his arms, each time he saw the face that looked like a doll of his beloved,
Moran broke down in tears again.

Things that he could have done to not have what he has now; things he could do so that he
wouldn’t hurt this much-

Moran would do everything to stop this pain.

So Moran just calls out to his beloved.

Softly, rashly, angrily-

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Chu Wanning felt like he had woken up from a very long nap. But the nap had done nothing but
make him even more tired.

He was thirsty. There was a leftover bitter taste of medicine in his mouth.

The room was washed in the last light of the day. He sees his beloved sitting beside him, his hand
holding his own.

He could hear his own name being called like a mantra. He could feel the warm tears wetting his
hand.

"Moran"

Chu Wanning was thirstier than he had anticipated.

Moran looked electrocuted as he heard the voice.

"Water"

The man got down from the bed holding his newborn close.

Was he delusional?

Moran truly had thought he’d see the other man sleeping just as before once he got back to their
room.

But to his surprise,

The man in question was sitting on the bed, as usual, looking at him with a frown.

Moran holds his child firmly to his chest. Lest this turns out to be an illusion and he might drop
her.

Chu Wanning extends his shaky hand towards Moran, asking for the glass of water.

“Give her to me.” Downing the content of the glass in one go, Chu Wanning demands Moran to
give his newborn to him.

Moran doesn’t say anything. His heavy weight drops on the bed as the reality of the whole
situation starts to muddle his head.

Moran looks back at the confused man again.

“Am I hallucinating?” Pinching the bridge of his nose, Moran looks back again.

“Haven’t you been calling me all this while?” Chu Wanning replied with his usual sass. His voice
was still unstable, his whole body shivering like a leaf……

But Chu Wanning was sitting there, on his own and talking to him.

“Yes, yes. I was.” And without any question, Moran gently hands the newborn to the mother.

Chu Wanning wasn’t sure if he couldn’t hold the newborn. The weakness was oozing through his
whole body.

His head was light and he was cold. He probably had lost too much blood.

He wanted to go right back to sleep.

But he wanted to keep on looking at this small face.

A tiny body that he grew in his belly, a life he had nurtured in the safest place in the whole world.
A life that holds his life.

A child so beautiful, Chu Wanning selfishly wanted to just keep her in his belly forever.

A smile broke on his face, his tired eyes were gentle and so full of love that-

Moran found himself crying at the sight again. Sitting on the bed, and watching his beloved
smiling at their child made it seem like a dream.

“Why are you crying again, silly?” Chu Wanning asks again. He was gently bouncing the baby in
his arms.
“You- it doesn’t feel like you’re here for real-!” Soft sniffles turned into hiccups. Chu Wanning
wanted to pull the man in his arms and keep him there.

“Moran” looking straight at his husband, Chu Wanning says-

“When was I even gone?”

Moran was stunned to silence.

“I’ve always been here.”

“When was I gone?” Chu Wanning asks again.

Chu Wanning was never gone. It was Moran who was presumptuous and thought otherwise.

Why?

Now that Moran thought about it- there’s no reason to think like that.

“I was just…. So tired.”

Moran doesn’t think anything else. He just stands there quietly.

“Can you get me something to eat? I’m so hungry.” Moran’s eyes brush over the bare chest of his
husband and his child latching on to her mother.

Moran dashes out of the room in a daze. Madam Fang had taken the liberty to cook meals for them
on her own.

Putting together some more things, Moran begins to put all the dishes on the tray.

“Zongshi! So you finally decided to eat?” Hearing the commotion in the kitchen, madam Fang
couldn’t help but take a peek.

“No… it’s for Wanning.” Madam Fang looks at the man worriedly.

“He woke up.”

Madam Fang rushes to the room along with Moran. True to the former’s words, Chu Wanning was
indeed awake.

“Laoshi! How are you feeling now?” Madam Fang asks the man in worry.

“I am fine. Just a bit tired.” She could certainly see he was tired. But she was equally surprised to
see the man sitting here as if nothing was wrong with this.

There was visible tension in the air of the room. No one dared to break it. Tianlang elder and
Physician Fang rush in just then.

“Elder.” Tianlang wasn’t used to Chu Wanning calling him like this. There was something
different about the immortal master.

Turning his body a little, Chu Wanning shows his newborn to the small crowd in his room

“Look what I made”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-
After his meal, Chu Wanning went right back to sleep. In a deep peaceful slumber with his
newborn in his arms.

That night, no one slept.

Both physician Fang and Tianlang elder sat rigidly in the guest room.

Moran doesn’t sleep either.

He sits by Chu Wanning’s head, circulating and rearranging his Qi, cleaning his meridians.

Moran doesn’t sleep. He was too afraid that it was a beautiful dream where Chu Wanning was
back to normal and everything was fine.

He would wake up to emptiness.

So Moran doesn’t sleep.

Not until he believes everything is not a dream.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

But Chu Wanning was still there the next morning, and the morning after that, and many mornings
after that.

The twins came back in the second week, they didn’t leave the baby’s side till their bedtime.

“Niang! What are we going to call mei-mei?” Yijun had asked before touching her cheeks for the
tenth time.

“Biyu” Chu Wanning replied as he stroked his firstborn on his head.

“Do you know what it means?” He gets a negative shake of the head.

“It means semi-precious stone” Yijun looked kind of confused. But Chu Wanning promises him to
show one once he recovers.

Handing his newborn to Xue Meng to hold for the first time, Chu Wanning engulfed his twins in
his arms. Inhaling into their hair. It felt like thousand years since he’d last smelled them, held them
in his arms like this.

Chu Wanning didn’t think he could breathe a single breath without all of them anymore.

Later that night, when everything finally had quieted down, for the first time after waking up Chu
Wanning got to have a good look at his husband.

Last week had been busy with all the people who got the news and came to see him and him
sleeping all day to somehow keep his fatigued body at bay.

He can’t recall how the last week has gone by.

Now that he finally got to look at his beloved, he felt his breath get stuck in his throat. Moran’s
eyes had sunken, his skin has lost all the bronzed glow; his eyes were deeply saddened and at the
same time there was relief and tiredness.

After a week, Chu Wanning had finally been able to stand on his feet. But looking at his beloved
 like this, all he wanted was so run to him and engulf his whole crushed soul into his arms and nurse
him back with kisses and chants of I love you.

Chu Wanning wasn’t so confident about running yet; so he opened his arms, and called out-

“Come here”

Later when Biyu had grown up to ask complex questions, she asked why she was named after a
semi-precious stone and not a very precious stone.

Her mother’s first reaction was to laugh loudly.

“When I had you, I got a little lost somewhere” Chu Wanning feels Moran slipping his arms
around his waist, his chin resting on one of his shoulders. He had gotten a message from his twins
that they would come back home. They haven’t been home for over three months.

Chu Wanning never spoke of that incident to any of his children. He didn’t want any blame game.

“But thanks to a certain Biyu I found my way back.” Chu Wanning wanted to clutch onto the stone
Chu Xun had handed him that day-

The stone that shone until he found the workshop.

A stone that was semi-precious-

“No matter how lost I am-”

“As long as all of you are here,”

“I’ll always find my way back home.”

Chapter End Notes

So.
This is the official ending of "Sleeping sweetheart".
Thank you to all the readers who have been with me since the very beginning of this
story. Thanks to all those readers who read the updates and commented on the story,
thanks to all those silent readers who patiently waited for every update and read them
all even though I was very inconsistent with my updates. The ending suddenly is
making me feel really emotional. this has been such an amazing journey to write this.
It's been a year since I started writing and uploading this-
I am beyond grateful to myself for pulling this through, grateful to all of you for
sticking to me for such a long time.

and a little BTS of the last chapter XD

In my draft, Chu Wanning was going to wake up normally, without being dead. But
when I showed my editor the chapter, she was like that sounds so anticlimactic! and
that I should kill him and then make him alive again. SO this is why this OC
appearance of Chu Xun at the last chapter. But I think it made the last chapter make so
much more sense.
Thank you so much. Take love, and take care. In life, all of us might feel little to a lot
lost. But bad times don't last forever. Take care of yourself, love yourself and try to be
as happy as possible. I love all of you so so much!!!
 Sleeping sweetheart- Epilogue
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

“Laoshi!” Chu Wanning sighs in exasperation. He knew what happened.

“Madam-” The grandmaster bows to the woman who was now burning in rage, behind her stood a
young boy, slightly older than his youngest. His fair face and once clean and pristine clothes were
now covered in dust; some layers of the expensive robes were even torn.

“Laoshi! I don’t need your apology again!”

“That daughter of yours-!” Biyu jumps to stand beside her mother, her sharp eyes brimming with
mischief.

“She picked up a fight with my son, again!”

“This is the third time this month! And this is his third formal robes that she has messed!” The lady
accuses the young lady.

“I picked up a fight with your son?”

“Hey! You weakling! Who came to me all brave and asked me to fight with him, huh?” Chu
Wanning pinches the bridge of his nose as he tries to stop his daughter.

“Mo Biyu! Apologize to them, right now!” The mother says sternly.

“Wanning!” The young girl in question yells in frustration.

“You don’t even call your mother properly! No wonder-” At this point, the lady swallows her
words as she sees the grandmaster’s cold gaze at him.

“Madam, I’ll make sure she doesn’t cause your son any problems. And I will compensate for your
son’s robes.” Flicking his sleeves, Chu Wanning turns back to walk into his house.

But sighs as soon as he enters the room. This has been happening too often to his liking. He was
fully determined to give his daughter an earful as he entered her room. But like a beast, the young
girl jumps forward; instinctively, Chu Wanning catches the flying girl.

“Wanning! Do you really believe what that woman said?” Chu Wanning couldn’t help but think
how Moran’s way of talking has rubbed on this baby of his so early on.

“Don’t talk informally. She’s someone older than you” Biyu shrugs as she speaks her next words-

“Yes. An evil woman who came to snitch about me to you.” Putting her down on the bed, Chu
Wanning pulls her ear.

“Young lady, watch your mouth!” Chu Wanning is sure his eyebrows are furrowed together, face
muscles stiff. He knows his expression looks cold and frightening. Even his twins know it’s time
to stop when Chu Wanning shows this expression.

But he doesn’t understand how this doesn’t work for his youngest. He doesn’t understand how can
this little girl can just smile at this face and-
“Ayiah Wanning-”

“You’re such a worrywart.” Putting a kiss on his lips, the young girl just wraps her arms around her
mother’s neck.

Chu Wanning didn’t think who his daughter was going to look like. But as soon as he saw her eyes,
he knew.
All his life, Chu Wanning had spent wallowing in the feeling of ugliness; not knowing the truth
and beauty he held. There had been an intermittent fear that his daughter, who each day was
looking more and more like him would soon fall into the cycle of self-hatred-

He shook his head each time, shaking off every bad thought like this. He was there to not let this
happen.

And so, proving his thoughts wrong, Chu Wanning’s little kitten, despite having his face, somehow
became another copy of his husband.

Each day of new miscreants and mischiefs; Chu Wanning saw the young, unbound, and rowdy
Moran. There was something he did with Moran, he couldn’t do with Biyu. Which was to get angry
on this lady.

No.

That wasn’t true.

He did get angry. Life-long habits don’t wash off just because one’s heart has now softened. He
could still feel anger boil his blood, flushing his neck and face.

But there was no way he could stay angry with this little human being. There was this unbound
fondness and unconditional love that always managed to cool his anger.

Chu Wanning’s daughter was everything he was not. She was unrestrained, unafraid, and brave.
She was never afraid to let the world know what she wanted even now.

Truly worthy of being his princess; as Taxian-Jun says.

During those five days, Chu Wanning didn’t wake up, on his day, Taxian-Jun just sat beside his
beloved without any words or tears. The urge to wrap his own fingers around his neck and block
his airways until he died was strong.

But he couldn’t do that either. There was someone else he shares this body with who genuinely
tried to be a better version of himself and protect his beloved. Unlike him-

So for that whole day, Taxian-Jun sat near Chu Wanning, holding the princess he’d wanted so
much, thinking how much of a degenerate human being he was. How much he didn’t deserve to
even exist……..

“It was all my fault”

“In this life and the past-”

“I’m truly beyond redemption Wanning!”

Maybe this is why it took him almost two weeks to reappear again. He doesn’t remember what
happened to him those few days, he felt trapped in a small room of his guilty conscience. He didn’t
have the power to face his family again.

But this was something he couldn’t control. Inevitably he came back.

Seeing his Wanning cradling their newborn in his arms while standing on both feet; all Taxian-Jun
could manage to do at that moment was to kneel and thank the heavens.

Or that- his legs weakened as a splash of relief washed over him like a flood.

Chu Wanning’s touch on his face felt otherworldly. Holding that hand in his own, he kissed the
pulse point repeatedly.

“I’m sorry”

“I was so selfish”

Selfish to want and leave you.

No matter what had happened, Taxian-Jun had scored himself his princess.

This child of his seemed like all his dreams come true.

He got to see what Chu Wanning might have looked like as a child, or how Chu Wanning would
look like with all his emotions floating on his face.

In short, Taxian-Jun was absolutely smitten with his daughter.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“NO!” Biyu trashes her feet angrily on the ground. Chu Wanning was taken aback.

They were in the middle of telling their youngest that she too needs to seek an apprenticeship from
a master.

It was fine until Chu Wanning mentioned she needs to leave them behind.

“I won’t leave!” Her feline eyes were wide in anger, tears threatening to fall.

“Do you not love me anymore?” She asks her mother in exasperation and desperation.

“Are you going to bring a very precious baby?” Chu Wanning was too stunned to even laugh at
this.

“Kitten- That’s not what you’re thinking” Moran tries to console his livid child.

“No! Don’t try to fool me!” Chu Wanning wonders where the hell she picked up such heavy words
at such young age.

“You’re going to send me away! And- and then bring Baoshi!” Her beautiful face was red, water
running from her nose making a mess out of her chin.

“Kitten- You’re” Seeing her mother approach her, Biyu just sprints out of the house. Finally getting
a breath, Chu Wanning bursts into a fit of giggles.

Moran just looks at his husband, his own lips forming into similar smiles.

“Oh goodness, Moran-”

“I love her so much!”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

But it proved to be extremely difficult to find the girl in the mountain. It was almost sunset when
Chu Wanning found the corner of a familiar white robe peeking out of a bush.

“Isn’t it very hot here?” Biyu looked startled, but she knew she couldn’t flee this time. So she just
keeps quiet.

“Your baba made Tanghulu for dessert” Puffing her cheeks, Biyu sits even firmer.

“baobaos sent a message. They are coming tomorrow morning.” Chu Wanning could see his
baby’s ears perking up at the news. But she still kept her demeanor strong.

“Uncle Meng-Meng is also coming-”

“Ayiah Wanning! No matter what you say,”

“Mo Biyu is upset”

“Hmph”

Suppressing his laughter, Chu Wanning tries again.

“But Wanning really wants to eat those Tanghulu with Biyu”

“I can’t keep them for my baobaos-”

“Your baba spent so much time to make this”

“He’s going to be so heartbroken when it gets thrown out” Aggressively getting up from her seat,
Biyu yells

“Okay Wanning! I am coming!”

Stomping on her feet, she walks towards their home in heavy steps.

From behind, Chu Wanning sees a small figure trying to outwalk him with her small legs. Her long
hair had all sorts of leaves and dirt stuck to it. He’s going to have to spend hours detangling those
unruly locks again.

Using his qinggong, Chu Wanning lands in front of his daughter and despite her protests, she gets
picked up from the ground.

“Look at my precious daughter” Chu Wanning could feel a warmth burst in his heart. He gently
kisses her youngest on her cheeks.

“There is no one who’s more precious than you are” Chu Wanning wanted to laugh. When your
child looks the same way you do, but she’s just too good with her emotions than you are, it’s a
sight to behold.

“You are my most, most, and most special person in the whole world.” Chu Wanning often
wonders how he manages these cheeky words. Maybe his family has been rubbing it off him.

But as his youngest’s stiff face melts into an ugly crying face, Chu Wanning thinks it’s worth all
the cheekiness.

That night, she refused to let go of her Wanning and proceeded to occupy a big chunk of her
parent’s bed, while draping her limbs all over her mother.

So,

Thus, Chu Wanning’s daughter became his youngest disciple and his most precious gem.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

There was everything but one thing Chu Wanning couldn’t teach Biyu; Riding a sword.

So Moran took it upon himself to fulfill that role.

“Baba! Can we go higher?” Moran looks down to see if Chu Wanning was anywhere near. He
didn’t want to be wrapped in Tianwen at this age anymore.

Tapping his feet on his sword, Moran moves them higher; almost reaching the cloud in the
process.

“Princess-”

“Keep your feet stable.” Moran knew he didn’t need to tell this to his daughter. Being born to such
parents, all his children were exceptionally blessed. Even at the age of 8, Biyu had almost perfected
her stance.

But the look in her eyes scared Moran.

He knew this look all too well.

Both he and Chu Wanning knew it all too well.

“Wanning!!”

But before Moran could understand what this little miscreant was up to, he hears her call out to her
mother.

In a hurry, Moran tries to lower their sword. But he could only do that fast enough. Chu Wanning
was already out in the front yard, his eyes filled with surprise.
But his eyes went even wider at the next move of his daughter.

“Wanning! Catch me!”

Moran was one of the best martial artists of his era. But at that time, he couldn’t act fast enough as
his evil child jumps right off his sword in mid-air.

Tianwen shoots from nowhere and wraps around Biyu’s waist; the ground below Chu Wanning’s
feet was left in shambles with the power of his feet.

Flying in the air, Chu Wanning catches his falling daughter. Her giggles were reverberating
throughout his whole body.

“Wanning! You are so, so COOL” But her smile vanishes from her face as she takes a look at her
mother’s face.
Chu Wanning looked deathly pale, and there was a trail of blood trickling down his nose. Let’s say
Moran was quick enough this time to catch a fainting Chu Wanning in time.

And when he regained his consciousness a few minutes later, Chu Wanning wasted no time
grounding his unruly daughter.

“If I see you stepping on a sword again, I’ll break your both legs!”

To hell with his angry face and voice, Biyu wasn’t afraid of them.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Da-ge” Yijun looks at his younger brother.

“We’re gonna be late!” His restlessness was evident on his face. Yijun sighs.

“You already spent all your allowance buying things she won’t wear again.” Yijun knows Xinyi
was right. As much as he wanted Biyu to wear all these colorful dresses, tie her hair with beautiful
hairpins and clips, their sister…….

All she wore was white robes like their mother and kept her hair untied like a madman.

But none of them could call her that because she was just too freaking adorable.

Yijun never learns. Each time visiting home, he will spend all his money buying things normal
girls love to wear these days. Xinyi in that sense has learned his lessons pretty well.

Opting for buying things his sister actually likes, no matter how much Wanning gets angry with
him on this.

Well, Xinyi had only one sister and he wanted to do everything that would make her happy.

“Da-ge”

“How did she turn out like this?” Yijun couldn’t help but laugh at the question. Each time they
return home, only to see Biyu resembling their mother even more. That feline eyes with warm
honey color; a head full of silky straight hair that fell over her shoulders like a fountain of spilled
ink.

But she would definitely tie them, not even a simple ponytail. She wasn’t patient enough to
detangle it after a whole day of running here and there either. So their Wanning, each night would
gently apply oil to her hair and comb it with a jade comb.

Both Chu Wanning and Biyu looked like mirror images. There was not a thing that was out of
place. Even after so many years, Chu Wanning looked like he hadn’t aged a day

Chu Wanning would like to differ though. He saw everything in Biyu’s eyes that he didn’t have.
He often times wonders how can they look the same, yet his daughter’s eyes were so different?

Those identical eyes were always filled to the brim with intense emotions. Let it be determination
or mischief.

“Young lady”
“What are you planning this time?” Chu Wanning looks at his daughter’s face. He knows this
look.

It screamed “I’m desperate for another miscreation”

She laughs without any restraint, eyes sparkling like beautiful jade and teeth shining like precious
pearls.

Chu Wanning’s daughter was everything he was not. And he loved her with his everything.

“Biyu!” Chu Wanning hears the familiar voice of his sons.

The young girl jumps down from the bed, then sprints out of the house.

“Da-ge!”

“Er-ge!”

Yelling at the top of her lungs, Biyu jumps at her brothers, not caring about anything else.

“Omo! My little baby has grown so much!” Xinyi says before picking her off the ground, twirling
her around like a princess.

Chu Wanning, at point, was skeptical about raising a daughter. But then realized all of them were
his kids. Yijun and Xinyi both made it so easy for him. Even though they had to leave for Sisheng
peak after a few years.

But Chu Wanning knew it would have been impossible without their help.

And then there was Moran.

Looking back all those years, Chu Wanning couldn’t help but think how far both of them have
come. From trying to teach a rowdy young teen how to cope up with a martial life to falling in love
and eventually having the chance to be with him for life.

Throughout their whole life, Moran has stood beside him like a strong tree; shadowing and
protecting him with his all might. Chu Wanning can’t imagine a life without this man, he wouldn’t
dare even think of it.

Each time he looks at the man, he feels all his worries melting away. His heart filled with all this
love he never knew he could feel.

And he knew it was the same for his beloved as well. Moran had sat dumbstruck when Chu
Wanning had told him about how he found his way back home.
Wrapping his arms around the man, Moran just chanted “Thank you…”

There were a thousand ways these two showed, showered, and flooded each other with love. Let it
be those hushed nights tangled in each other limbs, or fleeting gazes and feathery touches.

Chu Wanning’s Baobaos were already 13 years old. Leaving their shell as those small boys, they
are growing up as fine young men under Xue Meng’s guidance. This time, they came back home
for Biyu’s 9th year with them.

Both Yijun and Xinyi were as tall as Chu Wanning’s chest. He knows they will probably tower
over their father as well. Chu Wanning couldn’t wait to see that day. He was tad bit worried about
his daughter though. With her extraordinary talent and quirky personality, she was just as hard to
 get along with as him.

But he’s sure everything’s going to be fine.

As long as he had his family,

Everything was bound to be fine.

Chapter End Notes

So.
I'll address a few things.
This chapter was supposed to be a surprise chapter. I had plans for this ever since the
beginning of my writing of the last chapter. So since chapter 17 was the last chapter of
this story and stuff, I was definitely very emotional about it. And I actually planned a
lot to make the ending the way it was written.
Then, some readers commented why I didn't put Taxian-Jun's part in the last chapter.
It was a totally valid question. But I was and still am so offended by them. I've been
reading fanfictions for a very very long time. And every story I read, no matter how
absurdly the ending turned out to be, I never questioned the author why did they end
the story this way. Because I know they did it because it was THEIR story and they
did it because they felt like it was the perfect way to do so.
Now, those who commented for sure didn't know there was going to be an extra
chapter. So I get their point as well. But after seeing them left such a bitter aftertaste as
a writer who's been working their ass off to complete this work only to end up being
questioned like this. At this point, I might sound whiney and downright immature
about this whole deal. But this has genuinely caused me an issue I can't solve nor
come to terms with.
I'm sorry for sounding like an asshole. And I don't want to sound like someone who's
stopped appreciating their readers just because of this small issue. I thank you all for
all the love you've shown me till now.

End Notes

So I just had wanted to write mpreg fluff. Didn't want to go into too much complicated
kinds of stuff with how to make Chu Wanning pregnant. So came up with this cultivator
bullshit. Hope it wasn't low-quality bullshit. Also, I have everything planned for this story,
just not writing it. Thought if I'd post it, I'll complete it FAST. AND still not sure if I'll keep
the title the same? Might change later cause just literally came up with the idea that I'm
gonna post the first chapter. ALSO I have no idea how many chapters there will be. But
more is coming so I hope after reading the first chapter you guys will wait for the next ones
too??

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!