The Bai household was bustling with activity today. The former queen of Quingqui and the future queen of Sky Kingdom, Bai Xian was visiting after a long time. Her son Ah-li was with her. Ah-li had always been quite close to his Fengjiu Jiejie. Knowing that Fengjiu was in a coma had had both Xian and Ah-li worried. So they had come to check on her.

Bai Xian and Dijun exchanged pleasantries. Dijun introduced Gungun. After the initial shock and surprise, Bai Xian and Ah-li took an instant liking to this little silver-haired boy.

Bai Xian checked on the sleeping Fengjiu and then excused herself. She went on to look for her mother.

Ah-li and Gungun took a seat at the window, watching the birds outside, and started chatting. Dijun busied himself with preparing medicine for his wife. He could hear the little boys talk excitedly nearby.

"So, where have you lived all this while, Gungun? What's your home like?", asked the ever-curious Ah-li.

"Mother and I lived in the mortal realm. Not in any one place though. Mother says I grow much slower than mortal children so to avoid people talking and making more trouble, we move every few months or every couple years.", Gungun explained. "We still do get into plenty of trouble anyways, but at least we have gotten better in the last couple years", he added.

That just piqued Ah-li's interest immensely and his eyes shone brightly. "Tell me all about it. I know when I went around with Fengjiu Jiejie we often got into trouble, but she always made an adventure out of it."

Dijun was listening, he did get worried when Gungun said trouble, but on hearing Ah-li's response, a tiny chuckle escaped him. Yes, that was true. His Xiaobai could turn trouble into an adventure any time. That was one of the many things he admired about her. Curious to learn more, he diverted his attention back to the little boys by the window.

"Well, my earliest memory is of Mother fighting a bunch of roughs. Their leader wanted to hold Mother's hand and take her away. He said he had never seen a beauty like her. Mother tried to reason with him to leave her alone. But when he just wouldn't listen, she kicked him. They all came to fight with her. Out of nowhere mother took out a knife, made it into a sword, and fought them all by herself. But the leader guy was sly. He picked me up and started threatening her. She was furious. She did something with her hand, a bright red light shot up and the guy holding me went flying backward, while Mother caught me. That scared them all and they ran away shouting. But all that fighting had injured Mother too. She was bleeding all over and was also spitting blood. I was very scared. But Mother is brave. She smiled at me, told me not to worry, collected just a few things from home, and took me away." Gungun's face showed all kinds of emotions as he spoke. But most of all, you could feel the pride that little boy felt for his Mother. She was his hero.

Listening to all this perturbed Dijun's heart. He should have been there for her. She had been all alone while he was still alive. He had promised her, over and over, that he would never leave her alone. That he would always be with her. He had failed miserably to keep that promise. No wonder she had not believed him. She had walked away even when he had said no one was more important to him than her. After what she had gone through, after what he had inadvertently put her through, how could she ever believe him? Why should she believe him? His heart broke at the thought. The ring on Xiaobai's finger glowed again.

Ah-li's eyes had grown as big as saucers. "Wow, what an amazing story! I am so proud of Fengjiu Jiejie. Tell me more.", Ah-li said leaning closer.

"More? Well, there are so many stories like this. A few months later, Mother had started covering up the Phoenix feather on her forehead with something she called cosmetics. She had also started dying my hair black so we could both look more like mortals. At that time she ran a small tea stall in a different town. One day it started raining heavily and before we could wrap up our stall and go home, we were both drenched. Her cosmetics had washed away and the Phoenix feather on her forehead glowed. I thought it looked so pretty, but there was a mortal nearby who saw and told everyone she was a demon. People gathered around us and wanted to throw all kinds of things at us. The bad guy jeered at us, he told everyone to capture Mother and hand her over to him. Mother did something clever this time. She did some magic to make the black snake come out of his sleeve. And then she told everyone that the guy himself was a bad wizard and he kept black snakes as pets. That scared everyone long enough and we ran away.", Gungun recalled.

"You ran away to where? What did you do after running away? Did the bad guy chase you? Tell me, tell me, tell me, please...", Ah-li begged to know more.

"He tried to chase us, but we were too fast for him. Mother flew us away to the nearby forest and we took shelter in a cave. Her magic had hurt her though. She was spitting blood for so many days after that. She said it was because of the backfire from her magic. Immortals were not allowed to use magic in the mortal realm, so it was like a punishment. "

"We began living in that cave. We did not have any quilts etc in there, but Mother made our beds with some grass and we kept fire running at the door all the time. Mother said it kept the wild animals away. She worked hard there too. She would take me on her back and go gathering fruits and hunting during the day. At night she would feed me first and eat only if something was leftover. She used to get fever at night for several nights - maybe because of the backfire or the cold in that cave. She often had nightmares in which she kept calling for Dijun and crying. I was worried about her a lot. But at least we were safe from bad guys for the time being. And despite all this, Mother always kept smiling and told me I was enough for her to be happy. I tried to help as best as I could. Slowly things got better as Mother recovered. We lived in that cave for several months, all the way till winter was almost starting."

"That's an amazing story! I wish I could have been there with you both. I would have also helped and would have also enjoyed the adventures.", Ah-li sighed.

Chonglin came in at that very moment. He bowed to Dijun and the little 'your majesties'. He had brought dinner for Dijun and a message for the boys. "Your grandma said you both need to come with me. I will help you wash up for dinner.", he said.

Gungun looked at Dijun as if asking for permission silently. He didn't really know Chonglin yet. Dijun smiled and nodded a yes. All of them left to go eat.

Dijun was alone with his wife. He left the food alone for the time being and gave her her medicine. He lovingly wiped her face and adjusted the quilt on her. He bent down and planted a soft kiss on the Phoenix feather on her forehead.

Dijun sighed.

Xiaobai did not stir.

He sat next to her bed as he started eating. His thoughts drifted again. He had wondered why she had stubbornly stayed away from him for almost 200 years. Even if she was mad at him, she could not have stayed mad at him for that long. She would have at least tried to meet him once. She would not have made a deliberate attempt to avoid him like that.

Her actions were becoming more and more clear now. When he did not show up for their wedding and didn't show up for over a couple of months after that, she was forced to believe that he had given up on them. She must have believed that he had chosen Ji Feng and left her. She must have realized she was pregnant at that time. So to avoid complicating things, she had taken herself away. She had stayed away to protect his son and also to protect him.

It had been a huge mistake to hide things from her.

It had been his mistake.

It had been his love.

She had paid a very heavy price for it.

And yet, she had come. Despite everything. When she had heard Dijun's side of the story from Chonglin and found out about his battle with Miao Luo, she had kept everything else aside and rushed to protect him.

He recalled how her delicate, elegant frame had burst in through the Star Light ward wielding her Pottery sword in front of the fearsome Miao Luo. Her graceful, agile movements had shown no trace of hesitation. She was determined to save him. Even if it meant sacrificing herself!

How could someone love him so much?

How could she love him so much?

Love was mysterious in many ways!

He realized that while he thought he was protecting her, she had suffered so much. For him. And in the end, it had been her who had protected him. It was the blood from her heart, the heart of the only red nine-tailed fox in the universe, that had cleansed the immense negative energy from Miao Luo. It was her blood that had destroyed Miao Luo forever, cleared up all the negative energy, broken the Star Light ward, and saved him. Saved Bihai Cangling. Saved this universe from chaos.

Yes, he had underestimated her grossly. He had been captivated by her ethereal fragile beauty, her innocence. He had completely missed her strength, her perseverance, and her power.

Yes, she was powerful. In her own right. She had not needed him as much as he had needed her, he thought wryly.

Yes, she was the only one for him.

Yes, he was forever indebted to her.

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