Once the kites were done it was time to hide them. The first one was a rainbow hued kite, the clue for finding it was entrusted to Gungun. It was hidden by them behind the clouds. The clue for finding the next kite was tied to it. The next kite was shaped like a fish and was golden orange in colour. It was hidden underwater. Like the previous one, it also contained the clue to find the next. The third was a dragon shaped red kite, that had been hidden in the bamboo forest. Each of these kites were guarded by magical spirits who would give a challenge to A-li. He would be given the kite only if he completed the challenge.

Fengjiu had cooked Gungun's favourite fish for dinner. She had hoped that he would readily eat it, but now that he had no distractions he refused to take even a single bite. To coax him, Fengjiu seated him in her lap and tried to feed him herself. But he turned his mouth away. "You only feed him, you have never fed me yourselves. you only love Gungun." Donghua complained. "Well if he isn't eating, why don't you feed the fish to me? You know I love the steamed fish you cook." Donghua opened his mouth asking to be fed. Fengjiu nodded and was about to feed Donghua, when Gungun held her hand and ate the fish. "She is my jiujiu, not yours, Mother don't give this fish to father." Gungun declared as he promptly ate his dinner.

Despite being busy all day and the pain medication, Gungun was a restless baby fox full of energy and had all sorts of questions to ask right when it was bedtime. "Why did Miao Luo fight with a sash father, did she not have a sword? Anyway why is your sword called the Cang'he? When can I start learning swordsmanship? Did you teach jiujiu as well?" he enquired. "Well xiaobai is my.." Donghua replied when Gungun asked," I want to learn how to throw fireballs. Ooo that was cool what Jiujiu did. Also father, cao cao broke his feeding bowl, please make him a new one. It should be purple just like my new robes." He babbled on as Donghua heard him out and tried to answer patiently, his face propped up on his palm. "Don't you want to sleep?" fengjiu prompted as she picked him up in her arms and walked around his room singing a lullaby. He finally fell asleep with his parents on his either side, taking his pain away with their loving caresses.

The next morning Gungun handed over the first clue to A-li. He sang loudly while gulping down his porridge, " violet, indigo and blue, red, yellow, orange and green, Where I end a pot of gold can be seen. Hidden behind a cotton ball, guess where I am and have it all." " Hmm so its the seven colours, I know, I know it's a rainbow. The cotton ball must be a cloud then." A-li guessed. " absolutely right, now you must go and retrieve it to get the next clue, Gungun and I will watch from here." Dijun suggested. A-li flew up to the sky and saw the rainbow hued kite hidden behind a fluffy cloud. A thunderbird spirit was guarding it. He gave A-li a rainbow hued bow and set of arrows and asked him to shoot bulls eye for seven targets in total set by him. A-li started hitting the targets one by one as Gungun cheered on happily for him. After he had hit all seven targets, the thunderbird spirit handed him the rainbow hued kite.

The next clue was tied at its end. A-li came back and opened the clue, "if you go out on a boat, and stay there until it's late, what is it that you might catch, with a rod, hook and some bait?" He read out loud. "I know, I know, it's a fish, Donghua Gege, you had taken us out fishing the other day, the next clue must be under that lake, right?"Gungun nodded vigorously in response to A-li. So he left for the lake to fetch the next clue. "A-li uncle is so clever father, he guessed the riddle so quickly." Gungun said. " so are you my boy" Donghua assured him patting his back.

Under the lake A-li found the golden fish shaped kite guarded by the golden carp spirits. The fish spirits challenged him to break through a whirlpool. The whirlpool was strong and A-li was whirled round and round. He broke through eventually and came back with the golden shaped kite. Gungun, Donghua and Fengjiu welcomed him back with claps.

Fengjiu read the next clue that was attached to the fish shaped kite. " I have tail but I am not a mouse, I have scales but I am not a fish, I have wings but I am not a bird, I live amongst lush tenacious trees, I can warm you if you freeze." A-li promptly turned into his true form and went towards the forest to fetch the final kite. To get the kite he had to duel with a green dragon. They soared in the sky, breathing fire at each other and hitting the other with their strong tails. A-li the tiny white dragon was quick with his moves and successfully retrieved the dragon kite. He was welcomed back with a whole plate of cakes prepared by fengjiu and applause from the purple robed duo.

A-li and his clever nephew ran to their room to devour the plate of cakes before Donghua could steal any. Little did they know that an even larger plate was being shared between the couple sitting in the yard, drinking their tea. As soon as Donghua heard their footsteps, he immediately hid the plate of cakes. "Mother, jiejie let's fly these kites" Gungun and A-li requested Fengjiu in unison. "Its already dark, let's have a competition tomorrow, shall we?" Donghua suggested. "Ok what will the winner get?" Gungun asked. " well that I will tell you tomorrow, go and tidy up your room with your uncle and feed cao cao, your mother and I are going to cook dinner." Donghua replied. Instead of leaving with A-li, Gungun came and stood behind Fengjiu and put his arms around her neck, rubbing his cheek against hers he requested her in an extremely sweet voice, "mother, gungun wants fish soup and dumplings." He begged in an extremely low voice which could be caught only by Fengjiu's foxy ears, "please Gungun doesn't want to have the porridge father makes."

Hope Fengjiu saves her precious baby from Donghua's heavenly culinary skills! We don't want our dear Gungun to shed his fur and look ugly on his birthday 😊

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