Chapter 3

Chapter 3 We Should Be the Best in the World “And don’t eat too much, either.” “There isn’t enough money…” Xie Changheng forced himself to speak, his face awkward and embarrassed. Who would have thought that he, a prince and the Emperor’s own younger brother, would one day find himself short of money? The only valuable thing he had on him was a thumb ring, and he had managed to sell it for merely twenty taels. He had no idea how many days it would be before his subordinates came to fetch him. He truly had not expected this child to eat so much. Huayu had eaten to her heart’s content that evening. At this rate, the two of them might be sleeping on the streets by tomorrow night. Meeting Xie Changheng’s embarrassed gaze, Huayu disappointedly exchanged the meal for five meat buns. Hmph. Her father didn’t seem to be all that rich after all. The five meat buns disappeared in the blink of an eye. Back at the inn, Huayu washed her little face and immediately flopped onto the bed. She had eaten only eight meat buns all day and was terribly hungry. If she fell asleep, at least she wouldn’t feel hungry anymore. To save on lodging expenses, Xie Changheng and Huayu shared a guest room. She was only a little child, so he wasn’t worried about inviting gossip. In the middle of the night, a rumbling from his stomach echoed through the room. Huayu lay sprawled across Xie Changheng’s belly, sleeping with drool streaming from the corner of her mouth. Then her little nose suddenly twitched, catching a scent. It was not the fragrance of roast chicken or beef. She could not describe the smell, but it made Huayu salivate so badly that she soaked the bed. She abruptly opened her eyes and sat up. Xie Changheng was still sleeping on the bed, and the black aura surrounding him was slowly flowing. Hm? How was this unlucky thing moving? Huayu leaned closer and sniffed. She confirmed that the enticing fragrance was coming from the black aura. How strange. During the day, the black aura had been completely motionless and had no scent at all. Why had it started moving—and turned fragrant—at night? Huayu cautiously reached out her little hand and gave it a tug, pulling off a small clump of black aura and holding it in her palm. Huh? During the day, it had been stuck together so firmly that even slapping it would not make it budge. How had she suddenly managed to pull it off? But Huayu had no time to think about it. She stared at the clump of black aura in her hand, drool pouring down onto the front of her clothes. It looked a little dirty, but it smelled so good… The starving Huayu, her eyes practically glowing green, did not care about that. She opened her mouth wide and swallowed the clump of black aura in one gulp, sending it straight into her stomach without chewing. Although it was merely a mass of air, the feeling of fullness it gave her was even stronger than that of ten meat buns. Huayu patted her little belly, her eyes shining like stars. Good heavens! If she had known this black aura was edible, wouldn’t she have been spared all that hunger? With trembling little hands, Huayu plucked clump after clump of black aura from Xie Changheng and stuffed them into her mouth. The black aura around him did not seem to diminish, but Huayu’s little belly became thoroughly full. After a while, Huayu found pulling it off piece by piece too bothersome. She simply opened her little mouth wide and began gnawing directly at Xie Changheng. But as her little face drew near, the black aura seemed to sense danger. It surged wildly, rapidly twisting and churning. The golden light radiating from Huayu’s body pierced it until it trembled and shrank back. Within it, the faint outline of a Taotie^[1] True Form could even be seen… At the critical moment, a scream rang out from the room. “What are you doing?” Xie Changheng woke in a daze in the middle of the night, only to see Huayu sprawled on top of him, looking ferocious enough to swallow him whole. The instant he woke, the black aura also followed his brow and drilled into him. It once again became the same motionless, unpluckable mass of sticky phlegm it had been during the day. “I’m eating.” Huayu raised her little face sleepily, sounding perfectly justified. Xie Changheng looked around the bed, then reached over and pulled the blankets tighter around himself. Aside from him, what could there possibly be to eat on this bed? Surely the child hadn’t become so hungry that she wanted to eat his flesh? “Good girl, Huayu. I didn’t bring any money with me this time, but an uncle will come over in a few days. I promise I’ll make sure you eat and drink your fill then. Can you bear with it for these next few days?” Xie Changheng coaxed her gently. Over the course of the day, Huayu had already harmed his backside and his face. He did not want to be sound asleep one night only to have the child bite off a piece of his flesh. She had more or less eaten her fill, and the drowsiness was returning. Huayu nodded groggily, then toppled headfirst into Xie Changheng’s arms and fell asleep again. Early the next morning, Xie Changheng went to a roadside stall to write a letter and had it sent urgently to his personal guard. Fortunately, this place was not far from their destination. As soon as his subordinate received the letter, he hurried over. In less than a day, Xie Changheng was waiting at the inn when his long-awaited Yingzhu arrived. Yingzhu had been raised from childhood to serve as Xie Changheng’s personal guard. This time, they had only discovered that Xie Changheng was missing after reaching their destination, and they had been scared half to death. Fortunately, the Prince was safe and sound. The moment he entered the room, Yingzhu dropped to his knees with a thud. “This subordinate was incompetent. I failed to notice in time that the Prince had gone missing. I beg the Prince to punish me!” Yingzhu was filled with guilt and had already prepared himself to receive his punishment. But in the next instant, Xie Changheng took him by the hand and pulled him to his feet. An eerie green light shone in his eyes. His hand trembled as he gripped Yingzhu’s, and his gaze was so fervent and eager that it frightened him. “Do you have money?” Under Xie Changheng’s terrifying gaze, Yingzhu nodded and pulled a hundred-tael banknote from his robes. “This subordinate only brought…” Before Yingzhu could finish, Xie Changheng snatched the banknote away. He tucked Huayu under one arm, turned, and rushed out the door. “Huayu, Father is taking you to eat!” “Bring us ten roast chickens, twenty pounds of braised beef, and forty steamed buns as big as bowls!” Xie Changheng had completely abandoned his earlier restraint. The moment he entered the restaurant, he began issuing grand orders. Father and daughter sat at the table and devoured the food. The empty plates piled up as high as a small hill. Yingzhu followed behind them, so frightened that he did not even dare to breathe. Where had his pampered, dignified Prince gone? How had the Prince been possessed by a starving ghost who wolfed down food without a shred of decorum? As he ate, Xie Changheng’s eyes grew slightly moist. These past two days had been so hard. Afraid that Huayu would eat him in the night, he had given her all the food during the day. The child had not been polite in the slightest, either. At every meal, she left him only a small, flavorless piece of steamed bun. He had been so hungry these past two days that his eyes had been seeing stars. He had nearly lost all hope of staying alive. Even the imperial family banquets felt inferior to the roast chicken in his hand! Only after he had eaten his fill did Xie Changheng remember his manners. He wiped his hands and spoke to Huayu. “Huayu, I’m setting off for the capital today. You should return to wherever you came from as well. We’ll each go our separate ways.” “You and I are father and daughter, but our fate ends here.” Behind him, Yingzhu looked from one of them to the other. What was going on? In just two days, the Prince had acknowledged a daughter while away from home—and now he intended to sever ties with her? Huayu, who had been absorbed in eating her roast chicken, stopped. Go their separate ways? Not a chance. She had never eaten so well in her entire life. Huayu had decided that Xie Changheng was rich enough to support her! She set down her roast chicken, grabbed Xie Changheng’s sleeve with her oily little hand, and rubbed her little face against his chest as she spoke in a soft, childish voice. “Don’t, Father. Who else could afford to raise me if you’re gone?” “Don’t forget, I’m the one who saved you. We’ve been through hardships together, so we should be the very best father and daughter in the world, got it?” “Besides, Father, haven’t you noticed that you haven’t been nearly as unlucky these past few days with me around?” Every night, she caught the black aura for Xie Changheng. Huayu got a full belly, and Xie Changheng stopped being unlucky. With the two of them together, everyone benefited! Reminded by Huayu, Xie Changheng finally realized it himself. That was right. With his unlucky constitution, these past few days had been remarkably peaceful. He had not been caught in a hailstorm or stepped into a ditch when he went out. He had not choked while eating. Even at night, he had slept especially soundly. Aside from being terribly hungry. Xie Changheng looked at the fragrant, soft little bundle in his arms and suddenly felt the urge to take her back to the Prince’s Residence. Everyone in the Prince’s Residence had been affected by his misfortune, not only him but also his wife and children. The Imperial Preceptor had said that this journey of his might reveal a way to save the entire household. Could Huayu be that way?