Eternal Love of Dream: The Aftermath

Donghua And Gungun Make A Kite

Author's note: this cute father and son moment takes place sometimes before Fengjiu wakes up. In the iconic ending in both the book/show, Donghua tells Gungun, "我是你父君" (I am your father). He does not use "父亲", which is the normal way to say father. I've seen "父君" translated as Father Lord, in accordance with Donghua's title as "帝君"/emperor. So I've kept "Father Lord" in how Gungun refers to Donghua.
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Bai Gungun had at first questioned if the handsome uncle who claimed to be his Father Lord was indeed his father, especially when Father Lord utterly failed the questions Gungun had set out to test his father. Father Lord had actually told him he would give Mother 4 salty cakes and Gungun only 3 salty cakes if Mother had made 7 salty cakes! And then to add insult to injury, Father Lord claimed that he was being thoughtful of Gungun's teeth when everyone in the world knows that eating salty cakes does not give one cavities.

Just thinking about Father Lord's answers made the little fairy boy sigh heavily, but then Gungun smiled when he remembered that last night, when he had tiptoed to Mother's room at night to tuck her quilt back on her, he had seen Father Lord holding Mother in his arms in bed and tucking the quilt back on both of their bodies. While Father Lord was not very fair in the division of salty cakes, it was clear to Gungun that Father Lord loved his mother very much, and naturally as a result, Father Lord would love him very much as his mother's son.

Which was why Gungun woke up excitedly this morning. Since he did have a father, he had to remind Father Lord to make him a spinning top and a kite as all fathers do! After he finished the breakfast Zhonglin had made for him, Gungun ran to Mother's room. The sensible little fairy boy remembered to catch his breath before he opened the door gently and saw that Father Lord was sitting in bed next to Mother, who continued to lie in deep sleep. Father Lord was reading a scroll with one hand and was gently caressing Mother's hair with his other hand.

"Father Lord," Gungun greeted his father shyly.

Father Lord paused in his reading and lowered the scroll at Gungun's entrance, though his hand continued touching Mother's hair. "Gungun." His father smiled with a mix of warmth tinged with uncertainty. Gungun remembered that he had stormed off yesterday at Father Lord's unacceptable answer and that Father Lord did not know that he had accepted him as his father since he had just come to this realization last night.

Gungun cleared his throat and said, "Father Lord, Gungun has accepted that you are my father."

"Oh?" Father Lord said with a smile.

Gungun could see Father Lord's eyes had suddenly filled with tears and became concerned. "Is Father Lord not happy with this news?"

Father Lord laughed and gently let go of Mother's hair. He extended both his hands and said, "Come here."

Gungun walked over to Father Lord and stopped at the bed. His father picked him up and settled Gungun into the crook of his arm. "Father Lord is very happy with the news."

"Then why are you crying?" Gungun asked, his small hand gently touching his Father Lord's face where a tear had trailed down.

His Father Lord hugged Gungun tight to his chest and kissed the top of Gungun's silver head. "There is no need to worry. Father Lord is just very happy to have Gungun in his life."

Gungun smiled and hugged his father back. "Gungun is also very happy to have Father Lord in his life." Gungun settled happily in his father's arm and breathed in his father's sandalwood scent. Since Gungun could remember, his friends would ask him why he smelled like sandalwood. He had told them it was because of his mother, who carried a fainter smell of sandalwood. He had thought all immortals smelled like sandalwood, but Uncle Xie Gu Chou did not. Nor did the uncle with the fan who played go all the time or the aunt with the fan who always told the uncle with the fan to go away or the loud uncle with the red dots on his forehead who called Mother his dear friend. Even Great Fifth Aunt, Great Fourth Uncle, his grandparents and great grandparents all did not smell like sandalwood. But being in his Father Lord's arms, he realized his scent definitely came from Father Lord.

But a question came to the little fairy boy's mind. "Father Lord, you smell like sandalwood and I smell like sandalwood, but why does Mother only smell a little like sandalwood? Shouldn't she smell the same as us?"

"Gungun, sandalwood is an essence that was rooted and grown within my body over thousands of years of cultivation and nurtured by my unique crimson gold blood. As my son, you have crimson gold blood flowing through you." Gungun smiled and thought himself very smart to have reached the conclusion that Father Lord was indeed his father without needing this definitive proof.

"However, your mother was born without my crimson gold blood. But before you were born, your mother was injured—"

"Oh?" Gungun exclaimed in distress. "She was injured again?" He didn't know mother was so prone to injuries in this fairy world.

His Father Lord kissed his head again. "It was my fault. I refused to give her a pimpon fruit and she went into a python formation to take it. I fed her my blood every day for months to help her recover. As a result, my blood flows through her and she has my essence in her."

Gungun raised himself from his father's embrace and glared at him. "Father Lord, why would you not give Mother a fruit? Don't you love mother? Father Lord should always give Mother what she wants."

Father Lord, whom Gungun was told was the most powerful deity in the immortal world, the former Master of Heaven and Earth, and the Master of the Bihai Cangling, to whom all immortals in the Four Seas and Eight Realms must respectfully honor him as Dijun, tilted his head and...pouted. "I thought she wanted the fruit to make cake for Yan Chiwu."

"Who is Yan Chiwu? Was she going to make it for you too?" Gungun asked.

"I thought she was going to make it for Yan Chiwu only so I was jealous."

Gungun was indignant for his father. "Why would Mother make cake for someone who was not Father Lord? That would be like if mother had made cake for another boy instead of Gungun."

Father Lord laughed but then cleared his throat. "Gungun, you must remember that even if we are jealous, we cannot make your mother sad. What kind of men would we be if we made your mother sad?"

Gungun nodded. Though his father was not fair at dividing cake, Father Lord was indeed very wise and loved Mother very much.

"Your mother was injured and I fed her my blood for months. That's why she has crimson gold blood in her too and smells like us."

Satisfied with his father's answer, Gungun remembered why he had come to see Father Lord today. "Father Lord, since you are my father, I want to remind you of your responsibility." Gungun said seriously.

"Oh?"

"I am already 200 years old, but you have not made me a spinning top and flying kite yet," Gungun said gently.

His father blinked. "That is true I have not."

At his father's silence, Gungun asked in dismay. "It it not a custom in the fairy world for fathers to make their sons spinning tops and flying kites?" How unlucky was he! Gungun thought. There were so many differences between the customs of the mortal world and the fairy world!

"I have not heard of this custom." When Father Lord saw Gungun's sad face, he quickly added, "But, how about we make it together?"

"Can we?" Gungun asked excitedly. He exclaimed in amazement when his father waved his hand. A flash of purple fairy magic and a scroll appeared. His father gave him the scroll. Gungun excitedly opened the scroll and saw that it was a step by step instruction manual of how to make a kite.

"Gungun, as long as we follow these steps, we should be able to make a kite by dinner time. I can't leave your mother's side but I will tell Zhonglin to bring us a table and supplies so we can make it together here. And tomorrow, we can work on the spinning top."

Gungun clapped his hands. "That sounds wonderful!"