CH 78
Extra ① Undersea City┃It is the little dragon girl!
“Dad, Dad, hug, hug.” Dragon Four clung to Nan HuaiLin’s leg with both arms, looking up at him with his little face and begging in a milky voice.
Dragon Three and Dragon Four, who were also trouble makers, developed a revolutionary friendship and split into a small group among the four brothers, Dragon Three also ran over to hug his other leg and begged for a hug.
Nan HuaiLin squatted down and hugged one with one hand.
When he was breastfeeding, he went from Dragon One to Dragon Four, his arms had been practiced, and it was easy to hug both of them at the same time.
Nan HuaiLin kissed the left one then kissed the right one, smiling, “Look over, let’s go home.”
Dragon One and Dragon Two were playing with their new shark friends not far away when Nan HuaiLin called out, “Dragon One, grab your brother! We’re going home.”
Dragon One obediently took Dragon Two’s chubby hand, waved politely at his little friend, and then ran up to catch up with Nan HuaiLin and grabbed his pants with his hand.
Dragon One and Dragon Two could now run, though they often fell, and Dragon Three and Dragon Four couldn’t walk very well, but they were already learning to speak.
“Shark!” Dragon Two pointed to the sea just a wall away and blurted out the new vocabulary he had just learned from his father.
Nan HuaiLin turned her head and saw a huge shark wandering outside the “wall”.
After the birth of their second brood, Nan HuaiLin and Fei Cheng took their four dragon cubs and three dragon eggs – the newly born Dragon 6, Dragon 7, and Dragon 5, who had refused to break their shells – to the long-awaited Undersea City, where they had been living for more than a month.
Nan HuaiLin didn’t have any discomfort as Fei Zheng had expected before, on the contrary, he really liked this calm and quiet life, a bit of the ancient meaning of living in the mountains.
The underwater city wasn’t very large, about the same size as the Forbidden City in Beijing, or slightly larger, because it was built hundreds of years ago, so the architecture here was quite old-style – and it was still a mix and match style, with both Eastern and Western characteristics. There were even two buildings that looked like pyramids, which Fei Cheng said was the “Dragon Market”, the tomb of the dragon race, where his parents also rested – when he first arrived here, Nan HuaiLin often had the illusion that he had traveled in time.
At this moment, Nan HuaiLin, holding Dragon Three and Dragon Four, followed by the dawdling Dragon One and Dragon Two, was walking along the avenue by the “city wall”.
The “city wall” was transparent, the two sides of the wall were two completely different worlds, inside the wall was the silent and desolate underwater city, outside the wall was the mysterious and unpredictable Atlantic Ocean.
Colorful schools of fish were swimming around freely, a large fish suddenly rushed over, scattering the school of fish, and the small fish scattered. The giant jellyfish shone with a glowing light in the dark water, and its long, ribbon-like tentacles fluttered freely, which Fei Cheng said was its murder weapon and its “stomach”.
The shark Dragon Two had just seen trailing them, suddenly bared its fangs and hit the “wall” with a muffled sound, startling Nan HuaiLin, but the babies were amused and giggled.
This shark must be new,?Nan HuaiLin thought to himself, otherwise it wouldn’t have been stupid enough to hit the wall.
“Wife!” Nan HuaiLin looked over and saw Fei Cheng walking quickly toward him.
“Why are you out?” Nan HuaiLin asked.
“I’m looking for you. Aunt Su wants you to go home for dinner.” Fei Cheng walked up to him, reached out and picked up Dragon Three with one hand, while holding Dragon One’s hand with the other, “You don’t have your phone, our mom just called you on videochat, so I answered it.”
“You can send a video now, you’ve made a lot of progress,” Nan HuaiLin said with a smile, “What did it say?”
“She asked how you were doing and if you were sick,” Fei Cheng said, “and said that the New Year was coming up in a month and asked how we were thinking about adoption.”
Nan HuaiLin asked, “What did you say?”
Fei Cheng said, “I said that I would make sure that we would be able to give them a grandchild in May of next year.”
Nan HuaiLin thought about it, “Next May, Dragon One will be a normal human baby when he turns one year old, so it should be okay to show him to my parents.”
Fei Cheng said, “I think so, too.”
Nan HuaiLin said, “By the way, did Dragon Five hatch today? No, it didn’t. Well, I’ll ask tomorrow.”
Because Dragon 5 never came out, Fei Cheng put it together with Dragon 6 and Dragon 7 for a second incubation.
Fei Cheng’s way of hatching the eggs was also very strange; he had to turn into a dragon first, then swallow the eggs into his stomach and use his own body heat to incubate them for eight hours a day, and finally spit them out again.
Nan HuaiLin was worried that Fei Cheng would digest or break the eggs, but Fei Cheng laughed at him, saying that the eggs’ shells were so hard that they wouldn’t necessarily break even if they were accidentally dropped on the ground.
After listening to Nan HuaiLin’s question and answer, Fei Cheng laughed and said, “Dragon Five will definitely be a great man in the future, he’s too calm.”
Nan HuaiLin said, “If Dragon five hatches last, won’t it be Dragon Seven instead of Dragon Five?”
Fei Cheng laughed and said, “We’d have to ask Dragon Seven if he’d be willing to give up his position as the youngest.”
They arrived home after chatting and having dinner, and their sons went to bed on time.
Fei Cheng didn’t have to hatch eggs in the evening, but sat at one end of the couch reading a book with the title “Fundamentals of Film Script Writing” on the cover – he had recently been studying script writing with the goal of having Nan HuaiLin star in a film he had written.
Nan HuaiLin was lying on the couch with Fei Cheng’s legs, holding up his iPad to watch the film. Watching was a great way to learn, and seeing the great performances of actors who had made a name for themselves in film history was a great way to improve his acting skills. So Nan HuaiLin gave himself a list of a hundred excellent Chinese and foreign films; some he hadn’t seen, some he had seen many times, like today’s “Taxi Driver”. He probably watched it for the fifth time, the young Robert De Niro was really evil and impetuous, but could be very charming.
Fei Cheng was holding a book in one hand, and with the other hand, he was absently playing with Nan HuaiLin’s hair.
Nan HuaiLin suddenly put down the iPad, looked at Fei Cheng and said, “Honey, I suddenly thought of a very serious problem.”
Fei Cheng looked at him with downcast eyes, “What?”
Nan HuaiLin said, “Hair loss is hereditary, my father started to lose his hair at the age of 30, in a few years I might start to go bald too.”
Fei Cheng laughed out loud, and only after he finished laughing did he say, “Don’t worry, with the nourishment of dragon essence, you can’t even go bald if you want to.”
Nan HuaiLin was half convinced, “Dragon essence can cure hair loss?”
Fei Cheng said, “Hair density depends on whether the kidney energy is full or not, and dragon essence is a good kidney tonic, so you won’t go bald. Don’t think blindly.”
It sounded so reasonable that Nan HuaiLin was convinced and continued watching the film.
After a short while, Fei Cheng put down the book and said, “I can’t even watch it anymore because of your interruption.”
Nan HuaiLin laughed at him, “You’re not concentrating yourself and you blame me.”
Fei Cheng took the iPad out of Nan HuaiLin’s hand and put it aside, then picked him up and carried him to the bedroom, “Do you still want to have lush hair, huh?”
Nan HuaiLin said with a smile, “Yes.”
Fei Cheng lowered his head and kissed him, “Then why don’t you be a good boy and ask for irrigation?”
Nan HuaiLin shook his head, “I don’t think I’ll be bald for a while.”
Fei Cheng put him on the bed, then pressed his whole body down, put one hand on Nan HuaiLin’s forehead, stroked his bangs back,?tsked, and said, “Look, your hairline is already moving up.”
“Liar,” Nan HuaiLin hurriedly took his hand away, “I don’t believe it.”
Fei Cheng lay on top of him and laughed for a while, reached out and peeled back his loose T-shirt to reveal his white shoulders, and started kissing along his beautiful collarbone.
Nan HuaiLin put his hand in his hair and tugged gently, whispering, “I’m habitually nervous when I do it now.”
Fei Cheng asked vaguely, “Nervous about what?”
Nan HuaiLin said, “I’m afraid of getting pregnant.”
Fei Cheng kissed his neck, looked up at him and said, “With the first and second brood, you had a fever about three days after we mated, and we haven’t missed a day this month, but you haven’t had a fever. Which is a good indication that the first two pregnancies back-to-back were just a chance occurrence, so the chances of you getting pregnant with a third brood in the near future are slim.”
Nan HuaiLin said in a serious way, “Mr. Fei, please don’t set up any flags, okay?”
Fei Cheng smiled and said, “Anyway, don’t worry about it and enjoy it, okay?”
Nan HuaiLin nodded, “Okay.”
Fei Cheng continued the kiss just now, and Nan HuaiLin, who was convinced, relaxed and began to respond passionately.
After kissing for a long time, both of them were ready to go, Fei Cheng said in a hoarse voice, “Baby, let’s try something new today, right?”
Nan HuaiLin reddened the tips of her ears and asked weakly, “What?”
Fei Cheng said, “Man-beast Play, you dare?”
Nan HuaiLin’s heart jumped, “You mean, you turn into a dragon?”
Fei Cheng gave a “hmm”, “Isn’t it exciting to think about?”
Exciting, yes, but..?Nan HuaiLin hesitated, “It’s too big, isn’t it? I’m afraid it will hurt..”
Fei Cheng coaxed him, “Let’s try, but if it can’t get in, forget it.”
Nan HuaiLin struggled for a while, but finally nodded gently.
The result of the “try” was that Nan HuaiLin didn’t say a word to Fei Cheng all day the next day, and no amount of coaxing worked.
Another three months passed in the blink of an eye.
Fei Cheng had incubated the eggs for four months, and both Dragon Six and Dragon Seven had already undergone significant changes.
“Look,” Fei Cheng said, pointing to the dragon egg that had just come out of his belly, “hasn’t the shell become a little transparent?”
Nan HuaiLin then stared at Dragon Six, the egg shell was indeed much brighter than at the beginning, and he could faintly see the inside of the egg, he was suddenly excited, “Dragon Six seemed to have moved just now!”
Fei Cheng smiled and said, “I didn’t see it clearly.”
Nan HuaiLin suddenly sighed again and looked at Dragon Five next to Dragon Six and said worriedly, “But why is Dragon Five still not changing at all? Will it..”
“No,” Fei Cheng interrupted him gently, “it will come out, just a little later, don’t think about it.”
Nan HuaiLin smiled reluctantly.
Fei Cheng said, “There’s one more week before the Chinese New Year. My brother said he would come to spend it with us, let him see Dragon Five again then.”
Nan HuaiLin nodded and suddenly remembered Lancelot, “I haven’t heard from Little Lan for a long time, I don’t know if he’s still in Beijing. How is he doing lately?”
Fei Cheng smiled and said, “Don’t worry about him, Little Lan is very strong, he will be doing well.”
On New Year’s Eve, Fei Zheng came to the undersea city, bringing Ruan Xin with him.
Ruan Xin’s appearance was so unexpected, but Fei Cheng just froze and smiled and shouted, “Sister-in-law!”
Ruan Xin smiled, didn’t say yes, but didn’t retort either.
Nan HuaiLin then knew that Fei Zheng and Ruan Xin were finally together.
Although this was the result he was happy to see, when he thought of Little Lan, there was a hint of sadness in his heart.
Without even taking a sip of water, Fei Cheng took Fei Zheng to see Dragon Five, and the answer Fei Zheng gave was, “He’s fine, just wait a little longer.”
Nan HuaiLin was a little relieved, but he couldn’t really feel at ease until Dragon Five broke its shell.
After New Year’s Eve dinner, Ruan Xin asked Nan HuaiLin to take him out for a walk.
Their home was right next to the “city walls,” and Nan HuaiLin took Ruan Xin down the “coastal road” to see the colorful underwater world.
“It’s so beautiful,” Ruan Xin exclaimed, “like a giant oceanarium.”
Nan HuaiLin says, “I walk the kids along this road every day and have taken tens of thousands of pictures.”
Ruan Xin said, “The babies are so cute, and you and Fei Cheng are doing a great job raising them.”
Nan HuaiLin smiled, “How are you? You seem to have lost a lot of weight than before.”
Ruan Xin said, “I had an illness a while ago, but I’ve recovered now.”
Nan HuaiLin was astonished, “Is it serious?”
Ruan Xin said gently, “I got over it, so I feel fine.”
Nan HuaiLin politely didn’t ask more questions, but he could probably catch some clues from his memories. Ruan Xin’s illness must have started last April and lasted for a long time, otherwise he wouldn’t be so thin until now. However, it was this serious illness that catalyzed the relationship between Ruan Xin and Fei Zheng, who had previously lost a lover to illness and must have had a painful choice to make when the same situation arose again.
“What’s on your mind?” Ruan Xin asked.
“Nothing.” Nan HuaiLin looked back and smiled at him.
The undersea city was round, and the two of them walked around the “coastal road” in a huge circle and came back to the original point.
Ruan Xin was tired, lying back home on the sofa, unable to get up, so Fei Zheng silently carried him back to the bedroom.
Nan HuaiLin bent down to pick up the Dragon Four who wanted a hug and asked Fei Cheng, “What did you talk to your brother about?”
Fei Cheng directed his sons to the room like little ducks and said with a smile, “My brother said he’s getting married to Ruan Xin and the wedding is scheduled for May so that we can both attend the wedding.”
Nan HuaiLin smiled and said, “That’s really great.”
Fei Cheng let out a long breath, “Wife, why do I have a feeling of old age and relief? It’s like.. You know the feeling of a son who’s having trouble getting married suddenly getting married to his wife?”
Nan HuaiLin laughed, “If your brother hears you, he will beat you up.”
When the boys were put into their cribs, Dragon One and Dragon Two all slept well, but Dragon Three and Dragon Four still had to be coaxed, and the two of them hugged and patted each other gently.
Fei Cheng lowered his voice and said, “By the way, my brother has finally named the boys.” With that, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket with his free hand, unfolded it and handed it to Nan HuaiLin, “See if you are satisfied.”
On the paper was a string of names written in strong penmanship.
Dragon One- Fei Qi
Dragon Two- Fei Xun
Dragon Three- Fei Lun
Dragon Four – Fei An
Dragon Five – Fei Xi
Nan HuaiLin smiles and says, “I like every one of them.”
Fei Cheng said, “And Fei Xi can be used by both boys and girls.”
Nan HuaiLin gently kissed Dragon Four, “Son, you finally have a proper name, are you happy?”
Dragon Four hummed, Nan HuaiLin and Fei Cheng looked at each other and smiled, concentrating on putting their son to sleep.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Fei Zheng and Fei Cheng took Ruan Xin and Nan HuaiLin and went to the Dragon Market to pay respect to their parents.
After staying another day, Fei Zheng and Ruan Xin left Underwater City on the third day of the Lunar New Year, they had too much work to do.
On the same night they left, Dragon Five, who had been in the dragon egg for almost a year, broke out of its shell without warning.
When Nan HuaiLin went back to his bedroom after putting his sons to bed, he vaguely heard a sound in the room that Fei Cheng had dedicated to hatching the eggs.
He hurried over, opened the door, and froze in his tracks.
On the floor of the room, a small dragon the size of a sparrow was walking slowly with an egg shell on its head. Upon seeing Nan HuaiLin, it chirped and flapped its wings as it ran toward him, but when it reached him, it failed to brake and hit Nan HuaiLin’s neck.
Nan HuaiLin witnessed all this, but he stood still and didn’t dare to move. He shouted in a trembling voice, “Fei Cheng! Come quickly!”
Fei Cheng heard the sound and hurriedly came out from the bedroom, “What’s wrong, wife?”
Nan HuaiLin pointed at the little dragon, who couldn’t get up after falling into a fart squat on the floor, and said, “Look, look.”
“Oh my goodness!” Fei Cheng quickly ran over, squatted down to the ground, carefully gathered the little dragon who was struggling to get up into his hands, held it up to Nan HuaiLin and showed it to him, and said excitedly, “Wife, our little five..! Finally, finally he’s out!”
Nan HuaiLin stared at the little dragon in Fei Cheng’s palm, his eyes full of surprise and disbelief, as well as tears that he was holding back.
“But,” Fei Cheng also stared at the little dragon, “why are its wings red? Is it a genetic mutation?”
Nan HuaiLin said nervously, “And it doesn’t have dragon horns.”
Only then did Fei Cheng notice that the little dragon cowering in his palm really didn’t have horns on the top of its head, and he was instantly ecstatic, “Because it’s a little dragon girl! Little dragon girls don’t have horns!”
The little dragon girl, who had just broken her shell, had a pair of red wings, no horns on her head, and was weak, helpless and pitiful, was frightened by her father’s voice and cried. Her tears fell on Fei Cheng’s palm, condensing into beads, but not transparent, but with a little bit of red.
Nan HuaiLin followed and cried and laughed.
At this moment, the two fathers were immersed in the great emotion and surprise of finally breaking the shell of Dragon Five and being blessed with a dragon girl, no one had the heart to think about what made this belated arrival of the little dragon girl so special.
Perhaps, they wouldn’t think about this issue.
Or perhaps, they would seriously think about it but couldn’t get the answer.
In this world, many things didn’t have answers, and one could only wait for the day when the answer itself emerges.
The author has something to say: –
{Note] The names of the little dragons come from the comments of @Bambu in chapter 53.