"...Cat… you just...""What"re ya gonna do, cry to dear ol" Father about it?"
"You-- you-- No, you"re doing this on purpose. You"re purposefully trying to make me angry."
"Hehehe, meoooow, is it working?"
"..."
"...meow?"
"...is an affinity controllable if the person who has it isn"t a G.o.d? Right now, all the Beasties are losing their minds when they get near Mother, it"s not safe."
"Not to worry, not to worry! Momma cat is only affected because her kitten is still forming. That is why the affinity"s effect is so strong! When the kitten is born the effect will eventually lessen and animals will only be affected if they are near him. By nature, the affinity won"t allow them to hurt the little kitten. Smart animals like those "Beasties" will just compulsively adore him, and dumb animals will instinctively obey. As the kitten grows, he"ll naturally gain control of his affinity. This is why I said, nothing to be concerned about."
"Right. I appreciate the information."
"You"re welcome!"
"..."
"..."
Shi Ji then lunged forward to grab the cat. Goji sprang up, scattering papers everywhere and then vanished into thin air, leaving only an echoing laugh behind.
Shi Ji told everyone what the cat had told him. While there were some doubts, Shuya a.s.sured them the cat probably didn"t lie. At least not about Mother and baby being safe. The cats had made a deal with Mother. What"s more, they were rascals, not villains. They wouldn"t maliciously lie and endanger a person they liked just for a laugh.
Since they didn"t have any other information to go on, and Goji"s explanation was as good as any, they all decided to tell Mother what they"d learned. No one was sure how Mother would take the news about her unborn baby having acquired a divine power.
They all watched her reaction anxiously, but she only blinked for several moments as if surprised. Then she stood up to leave the room.
"Mei, where are you--?"
"Ah, I"ll be right back. Everyone stay here."
They waited until they started to worry. Imperial Father had stood to go check when Mother came back in. She was carrying a common tree squirrel in her hands. She sat down and put the squirrel on the table.
Eyes glittering with amus.e.m.e.nt, she told everyone, "Watch this!"
The squirrel watched Mother very attentively. When she raised a finger, it raised its little paw. When she raised a finger, on the other hand, the squirrel raised its other paw. She then would lower and raise her finger, causing the squirrel to raise and lower its paws. She then twirled her finger and the squirrel would spin around in a tight circle.
By moving her fingers this way and that, the squirrel did something that vaguely resembles dancing. After the weird squirrel dance, she pulled out a nut from somewhere and gave it to the squirrel and then pointed towards the door. The squirrel flicked its tail, chirped politely, and left.
Everyone was silently for a moment, then Uncle, Aunt, and Mother burst out laughing. Imperial Father muttered, "I could have done that…" while Yan Li, Shi Ji, and Shan Hui sighed in exasperation, leaving only Lu Shao confused.
"Mother aren"t you worried?" Lu Shao had asked.
"Hm, what should I be worried about?"
"We--well, Lil" Fifth having a divine power…"
"Son, your Father is an ancient mountain spirit who took over a centuries-old dead body. That"s the heritage of your paternal side. Is there even a chance a single son of mine will be normal by human standards with a father like that? No. Do I fear any of you for it? No. Do I love you less for being half-human? No. I have long since accepted that being married to your Father means having unusual children. This is just a slightly different type of unusual."
"Ah."
"Besides, your Father is stronger than all the animals and Beasties on the mountains put together. Even if Little Fifth lost control of himself, your Father would be able to deal with it. And with me here guiding him, he won"t grow up cruel and abuse his power. Plus there will be you and your brothers looking out for him." She smiled slightly and c.o.c.ked her head, "Isn"t that so?"
Lu Shao nodded slowly and then brightened. "I know all kinds of songs that would be useful if he got out of control, songs for sleeping, calming down, um--"
"Why bother with that?" Shan Hui commented lazily, "Just hit him in the head and knock him out."
"Shan Hui, you can pick on me," Lu Shao looked outraged, "but don"t you dare pick on Lil" Fifth!"
"If I don"t pick on him, how will he toughen up in this family? It"s the duty of the eldest to keep the younger ones on their toes, otherwise, how will they survive in this cruel world?"
"We"ll survive very well!!!"
Yan Li chuckled to himself at Lu Shao"s bristling. Shan Hui might have been smiling maliciously as he spoke, but the words were still true. Lu Shao, the youngest and weakest of them, had been chased down and forced into practice matches for over two years by Shan Hui. Not only was Lu Shao now physically stronger, but his ability to battle with sound had also increased exponentially.
Yan Li ,and to a lesser extent Shi Ji, had experienced this too. Once they had Shan Hui go at them without holding back a few times, everything else in life became relatively easy to deal with. Much of Yan Li"s fear of the reanimated dead had been cured by some very intense training sessions with Shan Hui.
If they feared Shan Hui, they also respected him. If they found him annoying, they found his methods to be highly effective. He was truly a double-edged sword as a person.
"Alright you two," Mother intervened when it looked like her oldest and youngest would start arguing, "Calm down. Lu Shao don"t let Shan Hui"s teasing get to you. And Shan Hui, stop picking on your brothers. Don"t think I"m not aware that you do, I know you do. Especially when Little Fifth gets here. If I find out you"ve done anything to him..."
At her glaring, Shan Hui immediately submitted. "Of course, of course. Little Fifth is just a baby after all. I don"t pick on babies."
Lu Shao rolled his eyes but remained silent. This was the same as Shan Hui saying he"d wait until Lil" Fifth grew up before he tried anything.
Mother raised her eyebrows, but decided to continue the previous conversation, "I do wonder what Goji meant about my family lineage. I know my family wasn"t well-liked by the townspeople, but I never did know why."
Imperial Father spoke up, "The town is still there, perhaps we could ask…?"
"Would anyone who knew still be alive? It"s been over sixty years since I left."
"Ah, that"s true. I forgot how much time pa.s.sed."
Shuya looked thoughtful, "I can try to find out? I"m good at digging up interesting information after all."
"I"ll be really surprised if you can find anything, but go right ahead."
Shuya shrugged, "Who knows? You"d be surprised by what people remember."
Beasties have a strange sixth sense when it comes to birth. They always seemed to know when Mother"s delivery time was near and would gather around to wait in antic.i.p.ation. They would then take turns peeking at the newborn princes.
Usually, that was fine, but this time Beasties were forbidden from entering the Palace and even shooed away from the mountain peak the Palace sat on as a precaution. But who knew? When it was finally time for Mother to give birth, it was as if Lil" Fifth"s divine power went crazy.
Shan Hui grimaced and theorized the reason was, "the trauma of being born. You guys don"t remember, but I do. Getting squeezed through an opening not much bigger than an apple is extremely uncomfortable, not to mention the sudden change of environment... Aya, why couldn"t I have been born dumb like you three? I"d rather not have been self-aware during that process."
For once, the three younger siblings didn"t mind being called dumb.
Every Beastie within 80 li was pulled in by the divine power and descended on the Palace all at once, refusing to leave. If they"d known a divine power could reach that far, they"d have shooed all the Beasties further away but they didn"t know until it was too late. So the Palace was unexpectedly swarmed by adoring Beasties who "Just wanted to get a little closer".
Imperial Father always put a protective barrier up around the room Mother was giving birth in, so he could concentrate on being Mother"s support and reduce the pain. No matter how earnest the Beasties were, they wouldn"t be able to get into a room that Imperial Father was protecting. As far as Imperial Father was concerned, no one outside that barrier existed until Mother was finished giving birth and properly settled.
This left the Princes to deal with all overzealous Beasties. They weren"t violent or threatening, just overwhelmingly earnest and sincere. It was difficult for Yan Li and his younger brothers to toss out rabbits and chipmunks who were looking at them with those wide, pitiful eyes. Shan Hui wasn"t affected at all, but there were so many of them he was very annoyed.
In the end, Yan Li called in the fairy soldiers to push back the crowds for them. The weaker Beasties were kept out of the Palace entirely, but the stronger ones did manage to get through and then camp out in front of his parent"s courtyard.
As for the deer, Lu Fan was let in by Shuya, who then asked to let in all the other deer too. He even went so far as to grab Shan Hui by the legs and beg. Seeing someone like Lu Fan lose so much face because of his family"s Lil" Fifth, Shan Hui felt a sliver of guilt and let the deer in.
The little white foxes had also come, and when they saw the deer were allowed in they cried out how unfair it was that they, personal servants of the Queen, weren"t allowed in too. They cried pitifully in front of the courtyard gates as if a great tragedy had befallen them.
To everyone"s surprise, it was Uncle Ye who finally let them in. When all his nephews were staring at him in astonishment, he could only grumble somewhat embarra.s.sed, "They"re surprisingly hard workers... and anyway, now they can"t say I don"t do anything nice for them..."
It turned out being Uncle Ye"s gophers really DID have some advantages!
The Immortal Cats, of course, weren"t invited but since when did that matter? They went where they wanted when they wanted. Everyone felt they were being generous by not going directly into the delivery room.
The Fifth Prince was born hale and healthy.
The Fairy Emperor gave him the name "Ming Yu", meaning shining jade. And then, to everyone"s surprise, including the Fairy Emperor, the Imperial Queen Consort gave the Fifth Prince a generational name, "De", which meant virtuous. Thus his full name was Huang De Ming Yu.
The citizens were surprised to find out the Queen Consort had given her son a generational name, something usually reserved for literal generations (father, son, grandson, etc) and more commonly done in the far west of Dalu. But there was a twenty-one-year gap between the fourth and fifth sons, so they might as well be considered separate generations.
It was said that the Fifth Prince was so loved by all the animals and Beasties of the mountains that he didn"t need a Nurse Maid. Every Beastie was ardently volunteering themselves. In the end, it was a female goat Beastie who"d recently given birth that was chosen. Supposedly that female goat had an insufferable smirk on her face for years after being picked.
The affection of Beasties was so intense that very few humans were able to get close to the Fifth Prince. Almost all his friends were Beasties, with his closest friend being the son of the Nurse Maid. As an adult, when any problem came up among the Beasties, they would often try to bypa.s.s the usual channels and run straight the Fifth Prince for support.
He thus got the extremely deceptive moniker "The Beast Prince".
His personality was a mystery to much of the Lanhua population. The Beasties were one step away from worshipping the Fifth Prince as a minor deity and most stories about him were highly exaggerated as a result. If anyone happened to think of anything negative to say about him, no one dared say so publicly. A Beastie would always, somehow, be nearby and start a fight with the "offending" speaker.
To his family, De Ming Yu was "the quiet but happy son". Rather than hearing him speak, it was more likely to hear him laugh. He had a twinkle in his eye as if he was chronically amused by something. When he did speak, he was always very concise and to the point. If he got angry, which wasn"t often, he had to make sure there weren"t any Beasties around, lest they make matters worse by fighting with whoever upset him.
De Meng Yu was the oldest of what would later be called the "De Princes". These princes, a total of six, all had the generational name "De" included in their name. When the eighth son was born, the first four princes were given the generational name "Nan", meaning simply Son.
Except for announcing their full name at birth, people rarely called a prince by his given name. For formal occasions, princes went by their birth number, surname, and generational name. Thus Shan Hui was "First Prince Huang Nan" and De Meng Yu was "Fifth Prince Huang De". For less formal occasions, it was just "First Prince" or "Fifth Prince". The closer a person was to a prince, the more casual they would call them, but only wives and near relations dared call them by their given name.
There was a rumor that when the tenth son was born, the Fairy Emperor cried. At the time, people thought they were tears of joy because he"d had a son for the tenth consecutive time. This a.s.sumption was only partially correct. Many many years later it would be revealed that the Fairy Emperor had finally talked his Queen Consort into taking a break from having any more children after the Tenth Prince was born.
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Tiny Theater:
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*Baby De Ming Yu, at night, in his room*
Shan Hui *sneaks in*: (whispering) Come on Lil" Fifth, say it with me… "Old Man", come on, you can do it… "Old Man"...
*Next Night*
Yan Li: *hands over some sweets* Can you say "Old Man"? Watch me now, "Old Man"...
*Next Night*
Shi Ji: ...and that"s why you must absolutely call him "Old Man". As the youngest, you are the only one free to do it. You mustn"t let this chance pa.s.s you by.
*Next Night*
Lu Shao: (singing quietly) He raised you "till you were big and strong, but never is he an Imperial Father~~ to your heart and in your head~~ there"s only that silly Old Man~~
*At breakfast several weeks later*
Mei: Baby Ming, can you say "Mommy"? Can you say "Daddy"?
Baby Ming: M- O-- M- O--
Mei: ?!
Baby Ming: OLD MAN!
Jin: …
Mei: ...
Baby Ming: *laughing* OLD MAN~ OLD MAN~ OLD MAN~
Jin: ... SHAN HUI, YOU BRAT, GET OVER HERE!!!
Mei: *facepalm*