A Dog Father Cannot Beget a Dragon Son

World 50: Part 3

Fucheng brushes off the uneasy feeling. No matter what, he believes in Mumu. So when Mumu asks, demurely, to borrow his Lightning Orb, he doesn't even give it a second thought despite their current distant interactions. 

Part of this is because he finally finds out who Mumu has been focusing her attention on these days. There's a newly initiated junior brother who, if Fucheng remembers correctly, had been picked up by Elder Fong on his rare excursions. Fucheng assures himself that a street rat couldn't possibly compare to a sect clan's young master. And he believes it, he really does, but it still irks him that the junior brother, one He Liufeng, is taking up so much of Mumu's time. 

So maybe he lets some of his kiss-ass followers go and rough him up. It's not like Fucheng asked them to kill him or anything. 

But when He Liufeng asks for a duel only a few days prior to Fucheng's birthday, Fucheng feels just a little smug. This would give Fucheng a chance to show Mumu (and his brother, when he comes. It doesn't even occur to Fucheng how much he trusts his brother will come) how strong he truly was. 

This superiority quickly falls away when at a critical moment, He Liufeng roars and releases his qi, demonstrating to all the elders present his 95% Yang Physique.

 Fucheng's stomach drops, and it's not only because of the sudden blow that follows and knocks him out, then out of the ring. 

****** 

Fei Chuan returns on his brother's sixteenth birthday to find Fucheng unconscious and heavily injured. The sight of that still body on the medic bed nearly causes Fei Chuan to go and wring out the damn He Liufeng's neck. He cannot, and he knows this. [Their] loosened security only lasts as long as he can keep himself under the radar, and killing the protagonists is a sure-fire way to put him on it. 

It makes him antsy, but Fei Chuan doesn't dare move from the bedside lest Fucheng wakes up and no one is there to see him. Their father, Yan Qing drops by every now and then, looking at Fucheng's body with both worry and disappointment, then leaving after nodding at Fei Chuan. 

Mu Hong pops in, once and only once, and on his face is the look of surprise, as if this were all a coincidence. "Oops, it's time to get ready," he says, seemingly to himself, and Fei Chuan almost smiles because everything is now in place. 

Fei Chuan might not be able to get revenge for his younger brother, but he agrees that it's much more fitting for Fucheng to do it himself. 

So he cards his hands through Fucheng's hair, and waits. 

******

Fucheng wakes up to see his older brother lightly dozing at his bedside, and jerks up before hissing at the pain in his ribs. Yan Jing startled, hands reaching for a sword, before he comes away and looks at Fucheng. A smile blooms across his face, and Yan Jing says with heartfelt relief, "Fucheng, you're awake." 

Fucheng does not actually want to be awake right now, but he tries. A cup of water was pressed into his hands, and after a grateful sip, Fucheng asks, "Brother?" An anxious thrum of nerves start up. 

Yan Jing keeps smiling. "Yes?" 

"How...how long have you been here? Is it my birthday already?" And please tell him that that's true, that his birthday only just started. The last thing, the absolute last thing Fucheng wants is to have his brother know how weak he is, and maybe that's because there's still some hero worship in there, but still. Fucheng thinks that might even be worse than Mumu knowing he's weak. 

Fate must hate him, because Yan Jing finally stops smiling, his lips now set in a neutral frown. "You've been out of it for a week," his older brother says, with a hint of worry. "You've missed your birthday, Fucheng."