Chapter 2 - Meeting the fox clan

In the wee hours, something furry tickled Donghua's nose, he wondered what it was and slowly opened his eyelids to check. A tiny silver nine tailed fox baby was sleeping next to Xiao Bai . "Oi so you sneaked in next to your mother in the middle of the night. " He was so cute and calm while asleep. Dijun gently shifted him farther from xiaobai and covered him properly with the cloud quilt. He watched him sleep for a long time before drifting off to sleep again.


When he woke up the next morning he found himself on the corner of the bed while Gungun was sprawled on the bed.His tiny chubby fingers were tangled with strands of Xiao bai's long black hair. Donghua untangled her hair from his fingers and gently picked him up and shifted him back to his room.


In the morning when A li came to invite Gungun to have breakfast with him, Gungun complained,ย  " I know I was sleeping next to jiujiu but I woke in my room. Father is such a meanie. He lied to me that I slept in my room all along and must be dreaming that i turned into my fox form and slept with them."


A li who was always on the receiving end of his father's trickery generously shared the advice his fengjiu jiejie had given him on the matter. " don't worry Gungun, the next time your father takes you back to your room to sleep you should cry till he relents. Fengjiu jiejie always says, Crying is the best method there is." They were still eating their porridge when Zhonglin came to pick them up as the Bai clan had arrived to meet the newest addition to their family.


They were pretty pissed at Dijun when they arrived. It was because of him that Xiao Jiu had hidden Bai gungun from them. However all grievances were soon forgotten after they met Gungun and extracted a promise from Dijun that he would send him to qingqiu with fengjiu to spend time with them


Bai Yi was absolutely delighted to meet such an obedient grandchild. He had worried that Gungun would be a trouble maker like his mother but he was quite mature and calm even though he was still a toddler. Gungun's grandma and great grandma kept on giving various instructions to Dijun like he should not give the child too many sweets etc.


Bai Zhi had instantly won Gungun's heart by gifting him a toy sword. He had also promised to train with him when he was a little older. Zhe yan and Bai Zhen couldn't resist pulling his cheeks and he was a bit annoyed with them and his father for allowing them to do so. He absolutely refused to introduce them to his pet parrot cao cao, gifted to him by Uncle Lian song.


Lian song decided to join in as he definitely could not miss the golden opportunity to see Dijun with his in laws, but to his disappointment Bai zhi was too engrossed in playing with Gungun to chastise Dijun, Donghua's kid was indeed a charmer. He had to settle for a cup of tea and Gungun's tales about his school and friends in the mortal world.


Gungun hated the smell of medicine in his mother's room but he did not wish to leave her side. What if she wakes up at night, wouldn't she miss him? He decided that tonight he would not let his father send him back to his room. So when Dijun was busy painting the screen for his bedroom, he settled on the bed and watched him paint. He had planned to throw a tantrum at bedtime but he was so tired after playing the whole day that he fell asleep immediately.


Dijun took him back to his room and put a lethargy spell on him before tucking him in. In the middle of the night however Dijun woke up to discover that he was sleeping on the floor and Gungun was occupying most of the bed yet again. Very kindly the tiny pea had covered him with a cloud quilt and put a pillow underneath his head. Dijun shifted him back to his room again.


Henceforth this became a routine. Dijun tried putting a lethargy spell on him and even put up a force field around their bed but nothing worked. Every night he crawled into their bed and slept holding strands of her hair. Only when he was soundly asleep Dijun would carry him back to his room. And every morning he would complain.


By now even cao cao had started chiming in. Much to the delight of Liansong, he would fly around the nine heavens singing "father is a meanie" and would only stop when Zhonglin gave him the best quality peaches from zheyan's orchard, which were thankfully in abundant supply since Zheyan absolutely adored the little highness.


While the little pea complained every morning and absolutely hated his father's cooking. He was Dijun's biggest fan. He followed him everywhere, copying his walk and mannerisms. Only Dijun was allowed to dress him, do his hair, pull his cheeks, teach him and hold him to sleep.


He listened to Zhonglin because father told him to. Aunt Chengyu's stories were great because they were all about his father and mother. And A-li, well he was his next favourite playmate after father and he gave him all his toys.


Many months passed but his mother had not woken up. His father spent most of his time by her bedside tending to her. He picked flowers with him to put by her bedside, he chose the robes and father dressed her in them, mostly he chose red robes as jiujiu looked the prettiest in red.


He would then sit by watching as father prepared and fed her medicine and curled up in his lap when he sat at her bedside reading and watching her. He would often turn into his fox form to cheer him up whenever he was sad, he knew it was the best way to make father smile.


Everyday they would make trinkets to gift to her. By now they had made several hairpins, earrings, two jewellery boxes, porcelain figurines and paintings of her dancing, carving her swordcase, cooking fish, hiding in the shade of lotus leaves as a baby fox, wielding her sword...


One night after tucking Gungun in, Donghua was applying salve on Fengjiu's wounds when she asked in a faint voice, " Are you trying to take advantage of me?" He hugged her tightly and said to her in a gruff voice, "I would love to xiaobai, but what can I do, you are injured all because of me. How are you feeling, does it hurt anywhere?" "Only a bit, nothing that I can't manage." She replied. "Well then let me feed you your medicine, then it will hurt less." He insisted.


He kissed the crook of her neck and got up to get her medicine, she pulled him back and pecked on his nose. He responded by seizing her lips, pouring all his longing and love into it. After an eternity, he let her go. He lighted a calming incense for her and settled down next to her after she drank her medicine.



She nestled close to him, smoothening his messy silver strands she asked him, " where are we? umm this looks like our room in Taichen palace." Donghua soothed her back as he assured her. " we are in taichen palace, xiaobai. Our friends and family helped us. But most importantly it was you who saved us. If you weren't there that day, if you had not entered the starlight ward, I would have died within it."


Tears streamed down her face at the thought of losing him. She warned him, "promise me Donghua that you will never hide anything from me ever again. " She shuddered at the thought of what might have happened. She could never live without him.


Donghua held her and coaxed her to rest for a while. " xiaobai, you were gravely injured, why don't you rest a little, it's still nighttime."


" No, I am not sleepy at all, I have something important to tell you, promise me you won't be angry."


Donghua asked "is that something about a tiny silver cub named Gungun?" " you already know" she responded hesitantly.


" yes xiaobai, he is here since the last few months, he is sleeping peacefully in his room. He met your family too and already has them in the palm of his hand." He informed her.


She had not seen him for so long and had dashed into the battle without thinking of him. Overwhelmed by guilt she begged Donghua, " I miss him, please bring him here, I cannot wait to see him." Donghua had often taken advantage of her maternal feelings so he couldn't refuse her when she requested him with such a pitiful face.


He brought Gungun back. Fengjiu tried to wake him up but he didn't budge. She eventually gave up and fell asleep herself while caressing his hair and cute face. The next morning Gungun kept on sleeping. Fengjiu nudged him, "Gungun, you would be late to school, your teacher would punish you"


Then she tempted him, " wake up Gungun, I made you your favourite rib soup" When that did not work she promised, " well let's not go to school today, I will take you out for a picnic, what say?" Worried she asked Dijun, " is he unwell, why is he not waking up?"


Donghua told her not to worry, "he must be tired xiaobai, just let him sleep for a while." He brought her some porridge and tea and removed the effects of the lethargy spell when Fengjiu was busy drinking her tea.


Gungun was so surprised with joy to see his mother sitting next to him that he enveloped her in a bear hug. " mother, you woke up, Gungun missed you so much, are you ok now, Gungun was worried."


She showered him with kisses and told him , " I missed you too my baby, mother loves Gungun a lot. Thank you for being such a good boy and helping father when mother was not well. "


Gungun told her, " Father is the best, do you know he was here taking care of you all the time when you were asleep."


She apologised for not telling him about his father and explained to him that she being the queen of qingqiu had to have experience in the mortal world but his father couldn't come with her as he had his responsibilities as Dijun. So she gave birth to him in the mortal world and they had lived there without his father. If she had told them about each other they would miss each other so she thought it best to let them know later.


He then introduced her to cao cao and showed her the toy sword and all other gifts he had received. He then told her about all the gifts they made for her. Donghua was watching them both, they were so engrossed in their world that they had forgotten him altogether. He cleared his throat to draw attention but to no avail.


Thankfully for Donghua, the little dough arrived right then after hearing that his jiejie had woken up and he tried to hug his jiejie but as he saw Donghua Gege staring he thought it best to drag Gungun out to play in the garden.


Donghua asked her if she loved him anymore as she was showering all her love and attention on Gungun since she woke up. She scolded him for being jealous and sweetly told him that she loved him the most. Putting one of the hairpins they had made in her hair, he promptly presented his cheek for a kiss.


Gungun was so happy that he turned to his fox form and ran around the garden with A li. He happily rolled around in the grass and was covered in grass and dirt when Dijun came out to pick some flowers for xiaobai. As Dijun bent down to pick some wild flowers, Gungun jumped up to hug him.


Seeing them both covered in mud, Liansong who had just arrived with Chengyu, Bai Qian and Yehua to see Fengjiu, burst into laughter. To his surprise Dijun did not glare at him, but gave a smile as he went inside with Gungun.


Fengjiu blinked twice, Dijun and Gungun were both dressed in purple robes with their hair pulled back in the same way, Gungun was a spitting image of his father except for his doe eyes and the indigo jewel on Dijun's forehead. He was carrying a bouquet of flowers. Gungun squealed, "look mother, father and I picked flowers for you."


She took the flowers and buried her nose in them. She kissed Donghua's hand and thanked him. These lovely flowers reminded her of their time together in Aranya's dream, Ever so often he would decorate her hair with flowers.


When Chengyu and Aunt came to see her they too had told her how he had not moved an inch from her side since he woke up. He was gravely injured himself but he cared for her. He loved her so much, but silly her did not believe that he had challenged fate to be with her. She still regretted scorning him when he had reassured her that no one else was more important than her.


Feeling ignored Gungun pouted and stamped his foot. Fengjiu pretended to hide her chuckle behind a cough. Hugging Gungun, she remarked, "like father, like son". "like Me! he threatened to beat me up the first time we met, he may look like me but he has your temper", Dijun replied. "He is very cute though when he is angry or annoyed, just like you, my little fox."


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