Li Chuan had been completely open and childlike with Shen Nianxiang because he believed this man was his father.
Now that he realized he wasn’t, he immediately stopped acting like a three-year-old. His face grew serious—mature.
He replayed the whole sequence of events in his mind and quickly figured out the situation.
At first, he thought he’d been kidnapped and injected with poison. The pain in his body had made him feel close to death.
But now he understood—he hadn’t been poisoned. It had been some mysterious, strength-enhancing substance.
He’d seen cartoons—he knew such things existed.
The pain came from that drug.
When he first arrived in this strange place, he had heard a broadcast telling everyone to close their windows and not go outside. There was danger coming.
But he’d been in too much pain to find shelter—this man had taken him in.
Li Chuan glanced out the window. The world outside glowed red-hot. Heatwaves rolled across the street, and bits of paper occasionally burst into flames in the wind.
Even at three, Li Chuan knew—fire was dangerous.
He turned to Shen Nianxiang and said sincerely, “Thank you for saving me.”
Only then did Shen Nianxiang relax. It seemed the little master was finally back to normal.
He waved it off. “It wasn’t really saving. You were injected with Earth Dragon Marrow. The heat wave can’t hurt you. I was just meddling.”
“You didn’t know I was heatproof, though. That means it was a brave rescue! You’re amazing—so awesome!” Li Chuan exclaimed.
Shen Nianxiang: “……”
Nope. Something was still wrong with this guy’s brain.
Shen Nianxiang said, “Since you think I acted out of righteousness, that means you acknowledge I helped you. In that case, how about you… hmm?”
He threw Li Chuan a “you know what I mean” look and rubbed his thumb against his index finger in the universal gesture for money.
Li Chuan blinked, then loudly said again, “Thank you! What’s your name, sir?”
“I’m Shen Nianxiang,” he replied.
“Thank you, Uncle Shen!” Li Chuan said loudly.
“……”
Shen Nianxiang slapped the table, and a mirror appeared in front of him. He looked left and right at his reflection, saw no wrinkles, and asked, “Do I really look that old? Sure, you’re younger than me, but I’m only 24. That’s not old enough to be called ‘uncle,’ right?”
“24? Can’t I call you uncle at 24?” Li Chuan frowned, remembering he was 13 this year. He clenched his teeth and said, “Thank you, big brother.”
Seeing Li Chuan was immune to subtle hints, Shen Nianxiang had to be blunt. “Whether you call me uncle or big brother doesn’t matter. What matters is—I saved you, took you in, cooked for you, and even bought you an energy potion. Shouldn’t you show some appreciation?”
He clasped his hands and mimed counting money in front of Li Chuan. The boy stared at him blankly.
He’d already said thank you. What else was he supposed to do?
Li Chuan had no experience with situations like this in his memory.
After thinking hard, he recalled what his family used to do. He pressed his lips together, gathered his courage, and stood up, walking over to Shen Nianxiang.
Shen Nianxiang wasn’t sure what he was planning and lowered his hands to watch him.
Li Chuan hesitated, then said shyly, “Close your eyes.”
Close his eyes? Was the kid going to give him something? Maybe he had a spatial item hidden somewhere—despite his half-burned clothes, rich people often carried space-type treasures to store valuable things.
Spatial items were immensely valuable. Maybe the kid didn’t want to reveal a secret, hence the request.
Shen Nianxiang conjured up a million possible reasons, and obediently closed his eyes, fantasizing that when he opened them, he’d receive a priceless treasure.
As soon as his eyes shut, Li Chuan leaned in, face flushed, and kissed Shen Nianxiang on the cheek.
Normally, when he said thank you, his parents would ask for a kiss too.
He had never kissed an outsider before, but since Uncle Shen—no, Brother Shen—wanted more than just a thank you, a kiss was probably necessary too.
After the kiss, Li Chuan shouted, “Thank you, Brother Shen!”
Shen Nianxiang opened his eyes expressionlessly and stared at Li Chuan’s innocent, good-looking face.
He took a deep breath and said, “Don’t try to seduce me. I don’t accept payment in the form of personal favors. I don’t care how good you look, I want money. I’m broke.”
“I don’t have any money,” Li Chuan said sadly. “All the money’s with my parents.”
Shen Nianxiang deflated like a punctured balloon and slumped into a chair.
The scorching wind outside whooshed past the window, sounding like it was mocking him.
After a moment to collect himself, Shen Nianxiang said, “Check your burnt clothes. They’re mostly ruined, but maybe you’ve still got something valuable on you.”
“Oh.” Li Chuan responded guiltily and returned to the bathroom to rummage through his clothes.
Shen Nianxiang, unwilling to give up hope, followed him in to help. The clothes were too charred to be recognizable, but the school emblem on the chest was still somewhat intact. Barely legible were the characters for “Fuyou.”
“You’re a new student at Fuyou Academy?” Shen Nianxiang asked.
Li Chuan didn’t respond—he wasn’t sure himself.
Shen Nianxiang looked at the emblem and said, “My mom went to Fuyou Academy too. She was top of her class, came to the Heaven Realms full of ambition, and ranked eighth on the main city’s power board. If my dad didn’t have a good-looking face, my mom would never have fallen for him.”
“Looks are important—super important!” Li Chuan said.
In his past life, Li Chuan’s mom was highly capable. His dad often joked that if not for his decent face, she wouldn’t have married him.
Shen Nianxiang chuckled. “My mom said the same. She used to say, while having a powerful partner makes life easier, she just liked someone who looked good and spoke nicely.
“She said she was very happy. But I think… if my dad had been a bit stronger, maybe—just maybe—they wouldn’t have died out there.”
“Your parents are gone?” Li Chuan looked at Shen Nianxiang blankly. He was only three years old mentally and didn’t know how to comfort someone without parents.
But he still had his parents. If he lost them, he would cry a lot—really a lot.
Li Chuan threw his arms around Shen Nianxiang and patted his back. “Don’t cry, don’t cry.”
With the strength of someone with Earth Dragon blood, Li Chuan’s hug was nearly bone-crushing. Shen Nianxiang had to struggle with all his might to break free.
“I wasn’t crying!” Shen Nianxiang said. “Stop pawing at me already. I’m starting to suspect you’ve got a thing for me.”
Li Chuan replied sheepishly, “I just wanted to comfort you.”
“If you really want to comfort me, then give me a thousand—no, two thousand Heaven Coins. Only money can comfort me!” Shen Nianxiang declared.
“I’ll look for something valuable. If I find anything, I’ll definitely give it to you.”
Li Chuan shook out his charred clothes, and two items fell from the pockets.
One was a notebook so scorched its writing was completely illegible. The other was a blackened mirror.
“Huh?” Shen Nianxiang picked up the mirror and looked at Li Chuan in surprise.
