Aftermath (A series of ELOD one-shots)

XXVIII. Baby Bet

A/N: Gender reveal, DongFeng style. =P

Originally titled Nightmare (Part 2), because this, I think, must be the stuff that a father-lord's nightmares are made of. Hahaha.

Pure crack, so don't take this seriously. For all we know, these immortals (at least the likes of DH) have the power to see a baby's gender, no need for ultrasounds.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Cutie artwork of FJ and the baby foxes not mine. Ctto!

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The ongoing bet as to the gender and fur color of Dijun and Dihou's second child was on the running for a year and a half, with the bets getting larger as the due date drew near, when news of it finally found its way to Donghua Dijun's attention, during a visit to Qingqiu.

He was lying on a chaise behind one of the bushes that surrounded Lake Wansheng, his trusty fishing pole in hand, when a conversation between that nosy Zheyan and Xiaobai's fourth uncle floated over.

"This getting ridiculous," Bai Zhen said, as he refolded the missive delivered by Jingwei all the way from the Four Seas. "Moye is betting the replica of the Miaohua mirror that Dijun gifted to him in Fanyin Valley."

"Is he now?" There was rare excitement in the jaded Zheyan's voice. "So what's the catch?"

Bai Zhen coughed, and recited Moye's missive, word for word, "as precious as this instrument is, I am hoping to pit it against High Deity Zheyan's Jiuli pot on the babe's gender, if he will so agree."

Donghua's brows furrowed as Zheyan's cackling laughter rippled over the lake. "Done! He's betting on a boy with red fur, isn't he?"

Bai Zhi Dijun's fourth son did not reply at once, and Donghua surmised that he might be shaking his head at Zheyan's antics. "How can you be so confident that the babe will be a girl? The bet on silver fur is feasible, since we have Gungun as reference, but the gender?"

"Divination is my specialty," Zheyan replied in a flippant tone, which had Donghua snorting. The ancient phoenix knew as well as he did that divination is not an exact science; Donghua tried that when he determined the most auspicious date for his first wedding banquet, and look where that got him.

Zheyan's next words, however, got Donghua's attention. "Don't worry, Zhen Zhen. Jiu herself thinks a girl will be good, does she not? I'm sure that Donghua will find a way to give her what she wants."

Well. Zheyan's not wrong, and theoretically, nothing is impossible (at least for the likes of Donghua), but still...to will a baby's gender is a bit of a tall order, even for him.

Later, he found that the bet had become so widespread and the stakes so high that even the most unexpected immortals have joined in: Bai Yi (a silver-furred girl, with a commissioned painting as wager); Yan Chiwu (girl, red, "because who wants another Ice Face? By the way, I'm betting the late Nie Chuyin's entire fur collection"); and Xie Guchou (boy, no bet as to the color of fur, a vial of water from the River of Forgetfulness).