Savage Wolf, Lotus Heart [Never Let You Go, Again: Book 4]

29: Bloodied Mouth

"Mhmm........." Jin Rulan groaned, subconsciously snuggling into his arms.

"You're this weak? A-Ling... come on," Sizhui dragged him to the bed and seated him there. He shuffled the pillow array he had arranged for Mingxia to the corner of the bed and lightly stroked the sleeping infant's hair when she moved, instantly lulling her back to sleep. He laid Jin Ling down on the bed. "When did you get dressed?"

"Left my robes outside the forest, can't walk in here naked or in wolf form..." Jin Ling groaned. "Sorry for troubling you so late at night, it's eleven, isn't it?"

"It's fine, and you know it. Lie down there. Don't sleep, try listen," Sizhui said and seated himself at his table.

"Listen? Listen to what?"

Twang!

Jin Ling turned his head to see the beautiful white man daintily plucking the strings of Ningjing, playing Cleansing. Jin Ling nodded and shut his eyes, letting the music fill him up. As expected, the Lan melody soothed him, the fiendish rage in him reducing to nothing. His feebleness had been out of trying to fight the barbarity of his wolf part back. Now that the savagery was gone, his cooler spiritual energy took over, following the rhythm of the zither music, flowing through his meridians, calming him down, uplifting him. His weak heart caught up to the pace of the song's beat, and he finally felt a dozen times better. Slowly, he sat up on the bed and nodded to Sizhui.

Sizhui nodded back, rose from his seat, and walked to the bed. "Feel better?"

"A lot, thank you, Sizhui." He turned to see his daughter lying amid a hundred pillows safely stacked up in a rectangular pattern on the bed, forming a large and tall fortress for her to cosily doze off in.

Seeing Jin Ling staring at it, Lan Sizhui scratched his nape. "Er... I don't have a cot here, so I had to make do..."

"This is cute," Jin Ling smiled.

"Oh..." Sizhui beamed back. He treaded closer and placed his palm on Jin Rulan's forehead. "Slightly warm. Come have some tea, you'll feel better."

Jin Ling slumped his shoulders, crouching away from Sizhui's hand. The latter sighed and retreated his hand, walking back to the table to get him the tea.

Jin Ling slowly walked over to the table and sat down across Sizhui. "Did she bother you?"

"Not in the least."

"Where's your headband?" Jin Ling pointed to the barren forehead and the loose hair.

Lan Sizhui grinned. "Didn't see?" He nodded to the baby asleep on the bed. "She took it to play, fell asleep holding it, didn't have the heart to take it back. Whenever I did try to tug it off, she'll start wailing," Sizhui laughed. "Reminds me of Meilien with Lan Shushu."

Jin Ling blushed, praying Mingxia will not start calling Sizhui Daddy or something too. "Oh, we had a fight, by the way."

"Fight? Who? Someone attacked you?" Sword gripped in his hand, Sizhui almost ran to the door already.

"Woah, woah, calm down! Not me, Auntie Qiang."

"Ah........ they did say they were planning on tracing the enemy demon tonight... you met them?"

"I was chasing the demon. Blasted thing's a Nine-Tailed Fox. Nine tails would have filled my wolf stomach up just right but she chatted with Daddy for some time and ran off."

"Chatted?"

Jin Ling summed up the events of the night.

"I see... revenge, eh? I do love Grandma, she's so awesome! But if the revenge they want is to kill Daddy, why threaten all five sects with these beasts?"