Chapter 29 SJC
Chapter 29 – I Want to Know Who This Child Is
With a sharp whoosh, the bathroom door was suddenly pulled open.
Gu Yan instinctively turned around while holding the baby in his arms. The next second, he locked eyes with Shen Jinnian, who had just stepped out of the shower.
Shen Jinnian didn’t say a word. He just stood in front of the bathroom door and stared at him with burning eyes. His aura was two meters high.
The pressure was silent but overwhelming.
Gu Yan felt like a guilty thief caught in the act. He hadn't gotten Shen Jinnian's permission before picking up the child, and now the panic was clearly written all over his face.
Carefully, he bent down and placed the baby back on the bed.
“PaPa…” The little one, who had just been soothed, suddenly realized he’d been abandoned again. He looked at Gu Yan, then at Shen Jinnian, stretching out both tiny hands like a kitten begging for affection. “Paopao…”
He called out pitifully, again and again.
The two adults had their own thoughts and didn't even want to hold him.
The baby bit his lip and began to cry, fat teardrops rolling down his cheeks.
Gu Yan’s heart ached watching him cry, but with the pressure coming from Shen Jinnian, he didn’t dare make a move. He could only rush to explain, “I heard him crying just now and thought you weren’t around, so I picked him up.”
Only then did Shen Jinnian step out of the bathroom. His expression eased a little, as if he didn’t mind that Gu Yan had held the child.
Instead, he asked a question Gu Yan didn’t expect: “You knew when he called out ‘Papa’ just now, he wasn’t calling you, right?”
“Of course.”
Even though this child truly had nothing to do with him, Gu Yan couldn’t help the sour, bitter, salty mess of emotions rising in his chest.
After a long pause, he did his best to hide the disappointment on his face. His voice was low, but gentle:
“He called you Papa. Is this your child? When did you have a kid?”
Silence fell between them for a full thirty seconds.
Gu Yan even regretted blurting the question out in the heat of the moment.
Just as he was about to change the subject, Shen Jinnian’s voice suddenly cut through the air beside his ear—
“I picked him up. Of course, he’s mine.” Shen Jinnian’s tone was completely matter-of-fact.
“I’ve got something to do. Watch him for a bit.”
It is not Shen Jinnian's child with someone else.
After experiencing great sorrow and joy in three seconds, even a person with a stable mood like Gu Yan was stunned by the shock.
Once he processed it all, he blinked in disbelief. “So... I can watch him now?”
“You already did, so what are you pretending for? But just watch, no touching. Just make sure he doesn’t roll off the bed.”
“Got it.”
Shen Jinnian handed the child over and went to his bag to pull out a diaper and a baby bottle.
After hesitating between the two for a moment, he decided to prepare the formula first.
The baby could hold his own bottle and drink, so it was the perfect chance to swap the diaper while he was busy feeding.
A master of time management.
Shen Jinnian felt like he was a genius when it came to taking care of a kid.
Under Gu Yan’s stunned gaze, he awkwardly changed the baby out of a soaked diaper. But just as he slipped the fresh one over the child’s ankles—
Without warning, the little rascal launched a sneak attack!
A stream of warm pee soaked him from head to toe. His freshly changed clothes were completely drenched.
Shen Jinnian could only think about the shower he just took: “……”
“I’ll do it. You go clean up.” Gu Yan saw how Shen Jinnian’s face had turned an angry shade of green and, sensing the moment, quickly took the diaper from him.
“I’m beating you up when I come back,” Shen Jinnian said, tossing everything to Gu Yan without hesitation.
He didn’t care whether the glass door was see-through or not. He was already fed up and went to the bathroom to change without looking back.
When he came out—
Gu Yan had already dressed the baby in fresh clothes. He’d even wiped the little guy’s mouth and hands with sanitizing wipes, more thoroughly than Shen Jinnian had ever done in the two days he’d been watching the kid.
The little brat, now stuck to Gu Yan like glue, was clinging tightly to his finger and refusing to let go.
He even used his usual trick—planted a wet kiss on the back of Gu Yan’s hand, then grinned with a silly smile and called out sweetly, “PaPa!”
Gu Yan chuckled and gently pinched the baby’s cheek.
Seeing this, Shen Jinnian couldn’t help but feel a little sour inside.
He had spent the entire past month running around—taking the baby to doctors, looking for the parents, feeding and caring for him, practically working himself to the bone. But the little brat? As soon as he turned his head, he started cozying up to Gu Yan.
“Little suck-up,” Shen Jinnian muttered, even more annoyed.
He completely ignored the baby, walked around the two of them to eat, then silently crawled back under the covers and pretended to nap.
Gu Yan held the baby and guided him to pat Shen Jinnian’s shoulder.
The latter opened his eyes with a confused look on his face, and saw a tender little face in front of him quickly enlarged, kissed Shen Jinnian on the face, and took the initiative to lie in his arms, looking particularly intimate: "Nai! PaPa!"
Shen Jinnian paused for a moment before realizing—the baby was saying “Love Papa.”
That tiny temper he had buried in his chest vanished in an instant.
He wrapped his arms around the baby, and asked knowingly, “Who taught you that?”
The baby just giggled, but didn’t dare sell out Gu Yan’s little trick—worried it would ruin Shen Jinnian’s good mood.
But even without him saying it, Shen Jinnian knew.
No matter how smart the baby was, he wouldn’t just come up with a new word on his own, much less understand it and use it so naturally. It had to be something Gu Yan secretly taught him just now.
The baby had made him so happy, he immediately wriggled under Shen Jinnian’s covers, pointed a chubby finger at Gu Yan, then patted the empty half of the bed beside him. “Wu!”
Shen Jinnian asked, “You want him to sleep next to you?”
Gu Yan, who was still eating, suddenly choked. He gulped down an entire bottle of water before barely managing to swallow.
The baby nodded his head expectantly.
It had been so, so long since Papa Shen and Papa Gu had seen each other. Of course the three of them should sleep together as a family!
Shen Jinnian suddenly frowned: "No."
This answer was obviously beyond the baby's expectation. He did not give up and gave Shen Jinnian another kiss to bribe him.
But Shen Jinnian wasn’t moved. He even held up three fingers. “If you want to sleep with him, fine. But you only have three options—One: you and Gu Yan sleep on the floor. Two: you and Gu Yan sleep on the bay window. Three: you both go sleep outside on the street.”
The baby instantly deflated.
Papa was twisting his words on purpose! He clearly wanted the three of them to sleep together, not abandon Papa Shen!
But Shen Jinnian wouldn’t budge.
Gu Yan quickly cleared away the dinner trash, pulled a clean sheet from the cabinet and spread it on the carpet, then brought over a blanket.
He just happened to set up on the baby’s side of the bed.
“I’ll protect you from here,” Gu Yan said gently. “You can sleep on the bed… with your Papa Shen. How about that?”
The baby scooted over to the edge of the bed, watching as Gu Yan tucked himself in under the blanket, right by his side. Only then did he reluctantly agree.
“Yi~”
If you round it up, it still counts as the three of them sleeping together, right?
…
The next morning.
After checking out, Shen Jinnian went to visit the old man in the small mountain village.
Gu Yan should have separated from them, but he didn't expect that the baby in his arms would not let go of Gu Yan's hand, crying until he vomited milk, and insisted on taking Gu Yan with him.
Shen Jinnian had no choice but to bring along one extra male nanny on the trip.
It took the three of them a whole morning to climb the mountain and cross the ridge before they finally found the old man's house.
They had thought there would be a crowd waiting to meet the master, but the tiny yard with bamboo fencing was guarded only by a boy of about fifteen or sixteen, craning his neck and looking around.
Shen Jinnian asked, puzzled, “Excuse me, is this the place…”
The young boy immediately nodded. “Yes!”
Shen Jinnian held the child in his arms. “There are no followers today…”
The boy smiled and said, “Master said early this morning that three honored guests would arrive at noon today, so he specifically dismissed everyone. It’s getting late now, sir, please come with me.”
Shen Jinnian was both flattered and surprised.
At the same time, he was a little startled by the master's incredible foresight. It could be brushed off if the boy mentioned two people—as if the nanny might’ve tipped them off—but to have predicted the sudden addition of Gu Yan… that was enough to make Shen Jinnian fully convinced.
Step by step, he followed the boy into the old master’s inner room.
Gu Yan also wanted to follow along, but was stopped in his tracks by one glare from Shen Jinnian. “You're not allowed in.”
“The master said there would be three honored guests,” Gu Yan lowered his voice to plead, “I count too.”
“You’re the nanny for the honored guest. Be good, this has nothing to do with you. Go play somewhere else.”
Gu Yan: “I also want to seek guidance from the master.”
Shen Jinnian frowned and deliberately gave him a shove, pushing him out the door. “I’ll ask first, then you can come in after.”
“I—”
“Don’t make me beat you up in a holy place.”
Gu Yan couldn’t talk him down and could only give up.
Shen Jinnian carried the child into the room.
At a glance, he saw the white-haired, immortal-like old master sitting on an armchair. The elderly man appeared to be well over eighty, but was still full of vitality—just as the nanny had described.
Shen Jinnian took a seat close to him.
Lowering his voice, he quickly said, “Sir, I’ve recently encountered something strange. I hope you can guide me and help me understand.”
The old man stroked his long white beard. “Oh?”
Shen Jinnian adjusted the child in his arms so the boy was facing the old master.
“I want to know where this child came from.”
“Who his parents are.”
“And why he looks like me… and a certain friend of mine.”
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Thanks for the update!!! I wonder if this old man will actually have answers for them because where did this baby come from?
ReplyDeleteREADING PLLSSSS UPDATEE
ReplyDeleteTHANK u for updating
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