Hua Lin Rong who had gone back to his room to cultivate after solving the trouble of his missing younger brother was interrupted by the opening of the door. Before he could even get up from the meditation platform, the steps of a person arrived in front of him, and the crying of his dear baby brother shocked his ears.
Hua Lin Rong shot to his feet and rushed over, trying to take his brother from Xin Lan to see what was wrong. Unfortunately, the child wasn't even thinking of letting go of his favorite uncle. He still hugged his neck, his little hands curled into the silver strands of Xin Lan's hair.
Hua Lin Rong felt distressed. "What happened to him?!"
Xin Lan furrowed his brows when the older brother also started to make a fuss and tried to take the child off again without success. "How would I know? He suddenly started crying and didn't want to let go."
"But wasn't he still alright a few hours ago?!" This couldn't be right. He had checked on them before and they had both been sleeping soundly. Most likely, it hadn't even been long since they woke up. He didn't believe that his little brother would just start crying like this without reason. No, there had to be more to this! "Did you say something? Or maybe you did something that could have upset him?"
Xin Lan pursed his lips in a straight line and refused to talk. Anyway, wasn't it obvious what had gone wrong with this brat again? Obviously, he was unwilling to go to that damned Jian Yi Sect. It had been like this since the day his father mentioned it.
Hua Lin Rong naturally wasn't convinced by this silent rebuttal. "How could that be? Xiao Yu was never like this. He wouldn't throw a tantrum out of nowhere." He had already completely forgotten about how his brother would habitually start to cry when he had been little without them being able to ever find the reason for that. Anyway, by now, his little brother was an angel. Obviously, Xin Lan must've done something wrong for him to react like this.
"Xiao Yu, ah. Why don't you tell big brother what is wrong? Big brother try to help you!"
Hua Lin Yu stopped crying as loudly and only sniffled a bit, turning to glance at his brother.
Hua Lin Rong immediately became hopeful. As expected, his little brother would still rely on him! "What is it, ah? Just tell big brother!"
Hua Lin Yu's face was still scrunched up and he turned to Xin Lan again, rubbing his head on his shoulder. After a moment, he sniffed again, glancing at his face.
Xin Lan blankly stared ahead, trying not to acknowledge this child at all. If he gave in again and again, he would never get rid of this brat! If he had already turned into a young man and preferably beauty, it wouldn't be as bad. But he really didn't want to deal with a child right now.
He really, really hated whining children. Weren't they just behaving like this to get attention? Well, then that attention definitely shouldn't be given. That would teach them not to try it again.
He couldn't help but remember the way his Master always acted when Jin Ling threw a tantrum while he was still young. That pained gaze he used to look at him and the way he would stoop down and pull him into his arms, giving him a hug and then talking and talking until his mouth was dry so that this little darling of his would not be sad anymore.
Jinde had been beautiful when doing so. Well, he had always been beautiful in everything he did but there was a special beauty to watching this scene. The endless love that he felt from him in these moments was just too captivating.
Even when he talked about Chun Yin, there had never been that kind of gentleness in his gaze. Between the love he felt for that man and the love he felt for this child, there was still a huge difference. It made him feel that he had once again lost him to somebody else.
Hua Lin Yu started to whine again when he noticed that while his brother was trying to calm him down, Xin Lan still hadn't given him any attention. In fact, this favorite uncle of his wasn't even looking in his direction! He once again started sobbing and rubbing his head against Xin Lan's shoulder, hoping that he would get his attention somehow. Unfortunately, Xin Lan stayed unconcerned as if he couldn't hear him.
Meanwhile, Hua Lin Rong grew even more distressed. If his little brother still cried, something had to be wrong! "I guess we should get my parents to help out." He unceremoniously grabbed Xin Lan's arm and then pulled him out of the room and towards the courtyard where his mother was currently training her sword arts. "Mother! Xiao Yu …" He didn't say anything else and just turned to look at his little brother.
Fa Min Juan stopped what she was doing, put the sword away and then hurried over, also trying to take the child from Xin Lan. Unfortunately, her son refused to let go of their guest. "Xiao Yu, what are you doing? What happened? Did somebody bully you?"
Hua Lin Yu stop crying for a moment and glanced up at Xin Lan's face. Had somebody bullied him? Well, at the very least, his uncle wasn't paying any attention. He felt very wronged!
With the child still feeling betrayed by his most important person, even Madam Hua's intervention couldn't help. The same was true for Hua Ning Shun who was pulled over next. In the end, the whole Hua family with both Elders, parents, and the big brother was standing around Xin Lan and the child, fussing over him without changing a thing about his behavior. He just wouldn't calm down.
Xin Lan's brows twitched and he was just one step short of ripping the child off his neck regardless of what that would mean. Anyway, if he didn't know how to behave, then that was his own problem.
When Xin Lan grabbed the brat, Hua Lin Yu felt hopeful. He looked up at his favorite uncle with shimmering eyes, making even Xin Lan feel reluctant to let go. Uh … It probably wouldn't look good to his future in-laws if he treated the child badly?
He awkwardly remained with the child in his arms, finally just patting his shoulder. "Alright, you've made a fuss for long enough. Stop now."
The Hua family gave Xin Lan a pitying look. This guy really believed that this problem would be solved just like this. He was too naive! If it was so easy, wouldn't they have been able to calm the child down already?
But under the astonished gazes of the whole family, Hua Lin Yu did indeed not cry as much anymore. Instead, he looked at Xin Lan expectantly, clearly waiting for him to try and comfort him some more.
Xin Lan furrowed his brows but he couldn't take the crying any longer. So in the end, he still gave in. Anyway, his ego wasn't so fragile that he couldn't survive doing this once.