Traveling Through the Book and Becoming a Cub Among the Villains - Chapter 6

Mu Feng, “???”

Mu Feng was speechless.

“You really like raising other people’s kids, huh?! One Qin Cheng isn’t enough—you want to add Xiao Xi too?! Are you worried there aren’t enough people gossiping about you?!”

Mu Zheng couldn’t care less. “Sitting in my position, people talking about me is inevitable.”

“Oh, just shut up,” Mr. Mu said irritably. “If you really want another child, go have one with Qin Luan already. What kind of child could compare to your own flesh and blood? You’re not that young anymore. You’re already married. Having a kid—what’s the big deal?”

“As for Xiao Xi, stop thinking about it. If Mu Shaowu really dares to treat him badly, then I will raise him myself. At my age, I’ve still got another 20 years in me. In 20 years, Xiao Xi will be grown. Before I die, I’ll leave him enough inheritance to last a lifetime. And you, as his uncle, just look after him a bit more once I’m gone, and he’ll never have to worry about food or money for the rest of his life.”

Mu Zheng, “….”

“That’s enough.” Mr. Mu leaned back on the sofa again, “Go on, head back. Every one of you gives me a headache.”

Mu Zheng had no choice but to stand up and say, “Then I’ll get going.”

“Oh, by the way, I gave the change of slippers you prepared for Xiao Cheng to Xiao Xi, and I’ve asked Xiao Li to buy you new ones.”

“Okay.” Mu Zheng said.

This is not a big deal, or even a big deal. Mr. Mu also thinks so, but who can blame Qin Cheng for not being Mu Zheng’s biological son? And when a child isn’t your own, even the smallest things can turn into something significant.

That’s why he specifically mentioned it to Mu Zheng.

“All right, off you go. I’m going to check on Xiao Xi.”

He said this as he stood up and left the room together with Mu Zheng—one heading upstairs, the other down.

Ye Qingxi was already lying in bed.

When Mu Feng reached his door and saw that there was no light coming through the crack, he quieted his steps and gently turned the doorknob.

The room inside was completely dark.

Mu Feng didn’t disturb him. He softly closed the door and turned to head back downstairs.

At the same time, Mu Zheng got into his car, pulled out his phone, and saw a message from Mu Shaowu on WeChat.

Mu Shaowu: [I’m almost there.]
Mu Zheng: [Almost there?]

A few minutes later, Mu Shaowu replied: [Yeah, I got a high-speed rail ticket. Just one more stop to go.]

Mu Zheng called and said, “I’ll come pick you up.”

“No need.” Mu Shaowu refused, “I’ll go back by myself.”

“No need,” Mu Shaowu declined. “I’ll head back on my own.”

“Didn’t you say you changed your flight to tomorrow? Why the high-speed rail now?”

“I was planning to take tomorrow’s flight,” Mu Shaowu replied, “but then I saw there were train tickets available, so I bought one instead—this way I could get back faster.”

Mu Zheng gave a slight nod.
“I just met the child. He’s very well-behaved… very sweet.”

“Really?” Mu Shaowu chuckled. “Then why didn’t you send me a photo?”

“I thought Dad sent you one.”

“He didn’t.” Mu Shaowu sounded a little helpless.

Mu Zheng, “…..”

Mu Zheng changed the subject.
“Dad put him in the guest room next to your bedroom. Once you see him, you can have a chat with him—ask what kind of room he likes and maybe redecorate it to suit his taste.”

“Alright.”

“And then there’s the matter of school,” Mu Zheng continued. “Dad wants to send him to the same school as Xiao Cheng, straight into first grade. That way, they can be together at lunch, and Xiao Cheng can look after him a bit.

Talk to him and see what he wants, whether he’d rather stay with his kindergarten friends, or transfer to a new school.”

“Got it.”

“Dad brought him home, yes, but that’s all he did. All of his personal belongings are still back at his original home.

Even though Dad asked Xiao Li to buy him clothes and shoes and such, there are definitely still things he likes, important things he cares about, left behind.

Once you’re back, go with him and make a trip home, so he can bring along anything he wants to keep close.”

“Understood. Don’t worry, big bro—I get it.”

But Mu Zheng did worry.

Mu Shaowu had never been the steady, responsible type.
He was playful, impulsive. And now, with a child suddenly in the picture…

Could he really take care of him properly?

Mu Zheng didn’t want his brother to have to sacrifice himself for the child, and he didn’t want the child to suffer because of his brother.

So he asked again, “Are you sure you want to raise this child?

Right now, you and Xiao Xi haven’t even met. If I take over as his guardian now, it won’t have much of an impact on him.”

Mu Shaowu, “…..”

Mu Shaowu thought his brother was really awesome. One non-biological child wasn’t enough, so he needed another one?

Does he really not want to have his own biological child?

“I’m sure,” Mu Shaowu said, leaning against the car window.
“Alright, bro, the signal here’s not great. I’m hanging up now.”

“Wait a second,” Mu Zheng said. “It’s your first time meeting Xiao Xi, don’t forget to bring a gift. If you didn’t prepare one, I already did. It’s in the drawer in your room. Just give it to him when you see him.”

“I told you, I know all this. I already picked something out yesterday.”

“Good,” Mu Zheng replied.

“Bye.”

With that, Mu Shaowu pulled the phone away from his ear.

He glanced at the time. At this hour, that new son of his was probably already asleep, right?

Well then, hopefully his dad was asleep too. Otherwise, once he got home, he’d definitely be in for another round of scolding.

Mu Shaowu pulled his cap low over his face, leaning his head against the window in silence. He tried his best to blend in, to pass as just another cool, ordinary guy on the street, hoping not to be recognized.

But what he didn’t know was that, at that very moment, Ye Qingxi had indeed gone to bed.

Only he hadn’t fallen asleep. Or rather, he’d just woken up from sleep.

He was running a fever.

Ye Qingxi could clearly feel that something was wrong with his body.
He was cold, so cold that he curled up tightly.

But it didn’t help. The chill lingered. And it shouldn’t be like this, this wasn’t winter. It was a summer night.

He opened his mouth slightly. His throat was dry, his tongue parched.

He tried to call out, but the sound that came out was barely louder than the buzz of a mosquito.

This body was sick. In the haze of his fevered mind, the last traces of Ye Qingxi’s rationality struggled to hold on. He needed medicine—or a shot.

He wanted to call someone, make some kind of noise. But his limbs were weak, his whole body limp.

And his smartwatch—He had just taken it off, leaving it on the nightstand beside the bed.

Ye Qingxi wanted to call Mr. Mu and ask him to feed him medicine, but he couldn’t lift his arms. He had some consciousness but not enough physical strength.

Forget it, Ye Qingxi thought.

He wasn’t really the Ye Qingxi of this world anyway.
If he burned to death like this, maybe that’s what was supposed to happen.

The very thought of death made what little rationality he had left begin to fade.

Death… would be a relief. Death meant no more pain.

He had wanted to die for a long time now. He was supposed to die, after all.

Ye Qingxi stopped struggling. He lay quietly on the bed, waiting for death to come.

As soon as he thought of death, his remaining rationality slowly dissipated.

How good it would be to die. Once he dies, there will be no more pain. He has long wanted to die, and he should have died in the first place.

Ye Qingxi no longer struggled and lay calmly in bed, waiting for the arrival of death.

So cold.

As cold as the blade of a knife once was.
As cold as water slowly turning icy.

In his blurred vision, he saw a memory of himself, holding a fruit knife, slicing open his own wrist.

The blade had been ice-cold, but the blood had been so warm.

He’d placed his bleeding wrist into a basin of warm water he had prepared in advance,
Staring quietly as the water turned pink, as if he didn’t even know what pain was.

But slowly, the warm water in the sink had turned cold—
As cold as the blade itself.

He calmly turned on the hot tap again,
Letting the water warm back up.

And then, he began to feel it—
His body growing cold.

Just like now.
Slowly, slowly…
Colder and colder.

Ye Qingxi drifted off once more.

“Boom!”

A thunderclap exploded across the sky, jolting Ye Qingxi awake from his fevered sleep.

A flash of lightning lit up the room, and his face flushed red from the heat.

His thoughts were in complete disarray.
Hazy and disoriented, all he could feel was the cold.

Why was it so cold?

Oh, Ye Qingxi remembered, this body was sick.
He had a fever.

But what puzzled him was—
Why hadn’t it killed him yet?

He was clearly freezing, aching all over, too weak to even move properly—
So, why was he still alive?

With his eyes closed, his fevered and dazed body began to drift off to sleep again.

But just before he lost consciousness completely,
a sliver of awareness suddenly tore itself free—
snapping him back.

A realization struck him, clear and sharp through the fog:
Even though this body was only 5-years-old,
a whole night of fever likely wouldn’t kill him.

It would more likely turn him into a fool.

Maybe that’s okay too, Ye Qingxi thought.

If he lost his mind, he’d live in his own little world. It would be like his thoughts and spirit had died, and what remained was just a shell, a version of Ye Qingxi even he wouldn’t recognize.

He let go again, allowing his mind to sink into the haze,
leaving only a tired, muddled brain drifting in the heat.

No.

Ye Qingxi’s eyes snapped open.

No—this can’t happen.

It mustn’t.

If he became a fool, then Mu Shaowu would be left raising and caring for an idiot.

And when he eventually broke down, it would be Mu Zheng taking care of both of them: one big fool, and one little fool.

At that moment, a fierce will to survive suddenly surged up inside Ye Qingxi.

He could die, but he couldn’t become a fool.

Death wouldn’t drag others down.
But being a burden… being alive like that… would.

He couldn’t burden Mu Zheng.

“Grandpa…” Ye Qingxi forced the word out, struggling to pronounce it.

“Grandpa…”

The voice was soft—barely a whisper.

Ye Qingxi turned his body, trying to reach for the smartwatch on the nightstand.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t lift his arm.

“Grandpa… Grandpa…”

He shouted with everything he had.

In that moment, a sudden wave of despair and sorrow washed over him.

He had always wanted to die. In his not-so-long life, he had thought about dying over and over again.

But this time, for once, he didn’t want to die.

He wanted to live.

And yet, he felt utterly powerless.

Ye Qingxi felt like his fever was getting worse.

His awareness was being swallowed again, inch by inch, by the burning heat.

“Grandpa… Grandpa… Uncle…” Ye Qingxi murmured in a daze.
“Dad.”

“Dad…”

Mu Shaowu stopped in his tracks.

He paused—
Then turned back and walked to the door of Ye Qingxi’s room, staring at the tightly shut door before him.

Author’s Notes:

Mu Dad: Dad is here!

Xiaoxi: You are really good at showing up at the right time.

Mu Shaowu didn’t hear it, he stopped for other reasons~