Unruly Phoenix Xiaoyao

“Supreme Commander?” a middle officer turned to ask Lou Zigui. Lou Zigui returned to his senses and guided his horse forward. “It’s nothing.”

Inside a house within the alley, an infant with a chubby face was crying inconsolably until she fell asleep. The baby had a mucus bubble hanging from her nose and was lying in Xie Duoying’s arms. Ning Xiaoyao also let out a yawn. She told Xie Duoying she was going to sleep and closed her eyes.

Xie Duoying looked at the one in her arms and the one on the bed and the corner of her mouth twitched. They really are mother and daughter. She placed the baby beside Ning Xiaoyao and looked around the freshly cleaned room. After thinking for a bit, Fifth Young Miss Xie took a small box of pastries and placed it beside Ning Xiaoyao’s pillow before leaving the house with ease.

In the courtyard, Shadowgale stood on the flight of steps and looked dazedly at the withering flowers. Without realising, the weather had slowly entered the autumn season. Xie Duoying walked over to Shadowgale’s side and whispered, “Just now, Xiaoyao said she heard the sounds of horses and even said that Lou Zigui has entered the town?”

Shadowgale smiled for a second and sighed, “Her ears are really sharp.” (Author: Yes, Miss Ning’s thief ears are very sharp~)

“What should we do?” Xie Duoying asked, “Once he finds out his elder brother is fine, Lou Zigui will definitely know Xiaoyao is still alive.”

Shadowgale and the rest have already thought about this matter before they left Anyuan. Previously, Lou Zigui already knew about Lou Jing’s wounds. But now, aside from his weak body, Lou Jing appeared to be completely normal. 

Who else could possibly heal Lou Jing? It couldn’t be His Majesty’s master. Lou Zigui had already caused the death of his own disciple, how could her master possibly save his enemy’s brother?

But Shadowgale and the others still haven’t thought of a solution to this. After all, they couldn’t go back and slaughter Lou Jing to destroy the evidence. Ning Xiaoyao was very open about it. So what if he finds out? At the end of the day, Lou Zigui was no match against her.

This matter was like a heavy stone weighing on the hearts of Shadowgale and the others. Who knows what Lou Zigui will do?

“When Xiaoyao finishes her one-month confinement* period, we’ll leave,” Shadowgale lowered his voice, “The Black Frost Cavalry wouldn’t randomly search different houses. If we hide within the courtyard, we’ll be fine.”

Xie Duoying nodded. I guess that’s all we can do.

“Don’t worry too much,” there was no one in the courtyard and Shadowgale squeezed Xie Duoying’s hand, “Now is the time to fight for the throne, Lou Zigui isn’t going to stay in this area for long.”

“I’m not worried,” Xie Duoying smiled. As long as she’s with Shadowgale, she didn’t have to worry about anything.

Just then, a sparrow landed on Ning Xiaoyao’s window. As Ning Xiaoyao was still on confinement, her window was closed to prevent any wind from getting in. This sparrow tried to push open the window. After failing multiple times, the fat sparrow called out, “Xiaoyao, is Ning Xiaoyao in the house? Ning Xiaoyao?”

Big Boss Black and Little White Fatty were lying beside the bed. After hearing the sparrow’s words, they ran towards the window and Big Boss Black projected out of the window, “Xiaoyao is asleep. Why are you looking for her?”

“Grandfather Sparrow and Grandpa Ash from the palace asked Wheat to send some news to Xiaoyao,” the fat sparrow replied.

Ning Xiaoyao opened her eyes while lying on the bed. News from the palace? Ning Xiaoyao scrambled out of bed and rushed to the window. “I am Ning Xiaoyao ah.”

The window suddenly opened, surprising the fat sparrow as he soared into the air and spun twice before landing on the window ledge again. “Nice to meet you Xiaoyao, I am Green Feather.”

Ning Xiaoyao didn’t understand why this little sparrow would call himself Green Feather when he didn’t have a single green feather on his body. However, she still greeted him, “Hello, Green Feather.”

“Exactly what news did Grandfather Sparrow and Grandpa Ash want you to send!!” Big Boss Black got impatient.

“Grandfather Sparrow and Grandpa Ash said they heard Ning Xiaomu and Luo Zigui talking.”

Little White Fatty stretched out his head, “Who is Ning Xiaomu?” Ning Xiaoyao quickly replied, “The heir of the Duke of Yue’s estate. My Big Bro Ning ah.”

Green Feather continued, “It’s related to Xiaoyao’s past ah!” The fat sparrow spent almost an hour telling the whole story to them.

Little White Fatty exclaimed, “Omg! Xiaoyao, you’re a young miss of the Duke of Yue’s estate ah!” Ning Xiaoyao was incredibly shocked by the news. This world is too crazy. She couldn’t take it even as an evolved person!

“Xiaoyao,” Green Feather chirped, “Grandfather Sparrow, Grandpa Ash and even Yellow Great Immortal all miss you a lot.”

Ning Xiaoyao sighed. She also misses her little friends ah. Xiaoyao turned around to carry her daughter and the snacks over to the window. She offered some snacks to Green Feather and showed her newborn baby to him. “Green Feather, can you help me with something? Spread the news to the capital. Just tell them I’m very well. Shadowgale and the rest are also well. I even gave birth to a little girl, look!”

Green Feather pecked a bit of the peach pastry and measured Ning Xiaoyao’s daughter. “Your baby is really fat ah, chirp~”

“Mhm, she’s very sturdy. It will be easy to raise her,” Ning Xiaoyao proudly stated.

Big Boss Black and Oil Jar both jumped up to the windowsill. Little White Fatty was no longer the fat ball he used to be. Now, when Little White Fatty jumped up, his front paws could reach the windowsill. The fat baby was surrounded but still slept soundly.

“Xiaoyao, what are you going to name this little thing?” Big Boss Black asked.

Yes ah, what should I name my daughter?

“Fatty!” Oil Jar suggested.

“How can a small girl be called Fatty?” Big Boss Black scoffed, “This cat remembers that Big Yellow has a son called Fatty.”

Okay then, Ning Xiaoyao inhaled, her daughter couldn’t steal Big Yellow’s son’s name.

“Actually, the baby’s name should be given by the father,” Little White Fatty mumbled, “This is what my mum taught me, ao~” Big Boss Black hurriedly smacked Little White Fatty and scolded him fiercely, “You talk too much!”

“Stop fighting,” Ning Xiaoyao pulled Big Boss Black and Little White Fatty apart, “I’ve thought about it. This baby shall be called Taosu (peach pastry)!”

The little animals looked at the peach pastry in the pastry box. You saw the peach pastry and decided to name your daughter that, right?

“Can’t you use your brain?” Big Boss Black asked Ning Xiaoyao.

“You guys don’t like it?” Ning Xiaoyao furrowed her brows and thought, “How about Fantuan (rice ball)?” Big Boss Black swung his tail before concluding, “I think we should stick with Taosu.” Thus, when chubby Taosu was in dreamland, her name was decided by her mother.

“Ning Taosu,” Ning Xiaoyao looked at her chubby daughter and laughed. Ha ha ha, what a good name ah! (Author: You’re taking advantage of your daughter while she’s asleep and can’t speak! o(╯□╰)o)

Green Feather filled his stomach and said bye to Ning Xiaoyao, “Xiaoyao, where are you going next? Are you going to stay here? Maybe Grandfather Sparrow and Grandpa Ash will want to come find you ah!”

Ning Xiaoyao replied, “Nah, I’ve decided to go to Fengzhou. I want to go and find my family.” It was fine when she didn’t know. But now that she knew, she felt that she ought to make the trip to see her real parents, Big Bro Ning and even Xiao Luoluo.

“Fengzhou’s Duke of Yue Estate,” Big Boss Black repeated to Green Feather, “Remember to tell Grandpa Ash and the rest. Also tell my cat little brothers ah. Meow~”

“Okay,” Green Feather flew off. Ning Xiaoyao watched as Green Feather flew over the wall before turning to Big Boss Black and the others. “We’re leaving tomorrow.”

Big Boss Black thought about it and decided not to tell Ning Xiaoyao that Lou Zigui was currently still in town. Nodding his head, Big Boss Black repeated, “Okay, we’ll leave tomorrow.”

That night, Ning Xiaoyao drank more than half a pot of chicken soup before walking out of the room to tell Shadowgale and the others about her decision.

“You still have to do your confinement ah!” Xie Duoying frantically said. She didn’t have any power to control this person who tried running around immediately after giving birth. Now she was saying that she wanted to leave for Fengzhou, which was a thousand miles away. Fifth Young Miss Xie was even more anxious. Was she courting death?!

“Let me tell you ah,” Ning Xiaoyao lowered her voice and told the story of her birth to everyone.

Shadowgale and the rest: …

“Really?” Xie Duoying couldn’t believe it. “It’s true,” Ning Xiaoyao confirmed, “The news is reliable.”

“No wonder Third Young Master Ning looks so similar to you ah!” Shadowrain gasped.

“Ya,” Ning Xiaoyao continued, “We’ve overlooked how shameless Grand Preceptor Xie can be. So we were tricked, I was never part of the royal family ah.”

The Dragon Guards all nodded their heads. There was no one that could beat Xie Wenyuan when it came to shamelessness.

“We’ll leave for Fengzhou after your confinement,” Shadowgale concluded after the shock wore down and discussed with Ning Xiaoyao, “This is better for you and the baby.”

“It’s okay,” Ning Xiaoyao insisted, “I don’t need to go through the confinement period. I am a miracle doctor!”

Shadowgale realised that he had nothing to rebut to that. “Oh yeah, my daughter’s name is Taosu, Ning Taosu,” Ning Xiaoyao also announced, “This name is pretty good, right?”

“Pfft,” Shadowthunder spat out the water that he just drank. “Not good?” After seeing Shadowthunder’s reaction, Ning Xiaoyao received another blow.

Shadowgale and the others saw the two animals next Ning Xiaoyao. The cat was called Black Tubby and the wolf was called Little White Fatty. They really shouldn’t expect His Majesty to choose a good name.

“That should be the childhood name right?” One of the Dragon Guards felt that he couldn’t just give up hope like that and questioned Ning Xiaoyao. “So I have to give it an adult name too?” Ning Xiaoyao stared blankly into space.

“Just call her Ning Taosu,” Shadowgale decided. Let’s just stop tormenting ourselves. Xie Duoying suddenly added, “It’s all my fault, I gave Xiaoyao the peach pastries.”

All the young lads chuckled. Luckily it was peach pastries, if she gave her mung bean cake, wouldn’t the little baby be called Ning Ludou (mung bean)? What if it was a meat bun? Ning Roubao (meat bun)? They couldn’t continue thinking about it ah!

“Are you sure you’ll be ok on the trip? Shadowgale asked Ning Xiaoyao. “Of course!” Ning Xiaoyao hopped on the spot a few times. After giving birth, she was back to her original form, the evolved human Ning Xiaoyao!

“You’re good at healing people, not yourself ah!” Xie Duoying protested out of concern. “That is a normal doctor. I’m a godly doctor!” Ning Xiaoyao waved her hands, “We’re leaving for Fengzhou tomorrow. I am going to go study the maps now.”

Ning Xiaoyao turned and ran off. After watching her hop off with her legs moving as fast as the wind, everyone believed that this lady would be fine.

“Study the maps?” Shadowbolt was puzzled, “Xiaoyao is worried that we can’t recognise the roads?”

“She just wants to see where there’s good food to eat,” Shadowgale stood up from the stone chair and instructed his brothers, “Go pack your bags. Check if Lou Zigui and his army has left the town. We’ll leave as soon as possible.”

After bringing up the serious matter of Lou Zigui, the smiles on the Dragon Guards’ faces all dimmed. None of these young lads wanted to encounter Lou Zigui.

Shadowthunder drank a cup of water before continuing, “What if the Duke of Yue’s estate doesn’t want to acknowledge Xiaoyao as his child when we reach Fengzhou?”

“Then we’ll leave,” Shadowgale said icily, “With how vast the world is, there will surely be a place for us to call home.”

 

*坐月子 is very common in China (maybe in Asia too? Not sure). After a mother gives birth, she’s supposed to follow a special diet, and do various things to protect her body from exposure to the “wind”. Lol this means no showering/getting wet, going out, etc. It’s supposed to last the entire month. People still do this nowadays. In fact, some of my friends actually followed this. LOL