Page 16 of Two Thousand Shadows

Ming Yu made a dismissive noise as she turned to the rice porridge. “If the cat knew his name or had an opinion about it, he should have said something.” She tapped the wooden spoon on the side of the bowl and set it aside. “Besides, it looks to me that he’s attached himself to you. If he could say it with words,I think he’d tell us that the only person he wants naming him is you.”

“Really?” He shifted the kid so that he was sitting on the edge of the counter rather than Junjie’s thigh. The biggest grin spread across his red lips and he held out half of an apple slice to Junjie, wanting to share with him. How could he be so sweet and adorable? After everything he’d been through, shuffled from his own kind to a clan of vampires, who didn’t know what they were doing.

All except for Ming Yu. He had no doubt that she’d had some interaction with the younger children of the Zhang clan and the sect prior to the arrival of Jiang Chong.

“Eat that,” Ming Yu admonished in a whisper. “I’ll cut up another to go with the congee.”

Junjie leaned close and took a small bite of the offered apple, smiling at the child. He chewed but struggled to swallow the piece of fruit past the sudden lump that had grown in his throat.

“Why do you think he’s so attached to me already?”

“No idea, but children are often excellent judges of character. He can look at you and sense that you’re going to take good care of him.”

He would. That soft smile and sparkling blue eyes shining so brightly at him sealed it completely. The feel of him cuddled against his chest, the chubby fist clenching his shirt, begging to be kept safe. All of it worked deep into Junjie’s heart and there was no letting him go now. Even if he didn’t know the boy’s name.

Yet, one problem remained.

Jiang Chong and the fae.

That monstrous group was trying to destroy all of humanity, but their first target continued to be the Zhang clan. How could Junjie think to keep a small child at the manor when they weren’t sure they could protect themselves?

“Jiejie?” Junjie choked out.

“Hm?”

“What about Jiang Chong?”

“What about him?”

His head popped up, and he stared at her back, his forehead furrowed as his eyebrows snapped together over his nose. “What do you mean?” She made it sound as if that bastard wasn’t even a threat to them at all.

“Just that. What about him? What does he have to do with this precious Xiao Ping Guo?”

Yep, that settled it. He needed to decide on a name for the child. He couldn’t let him go through life as fruit.

“But…but…Jiang Chong is trying to destroy us.”

“And we’re going to stop him. We defeated him once before, and we’re going to do it again.” She turned to face him and clucked her tongue as if she were disappointed in him. “We fought too hard to escape Jiang Chong and a string of useless emperors. To have a life that we weren’t ashamed of. We can’t put that life on hold because we’re threatened.” Her gaze softened as she stared at the boy who was chowing down on the fresh plate of apple slices she’d placed next to him only minutes ago. “This darling young man needs you, and he needs a family who will care for him. If we allow Jiang Chong to force us to be less than ourselves, to turn aside those who need us the most, what is the point of fighting him? He’s already won.”

That was a very good point.

He smirked at Ming Yu. “Practicing for when you have to make the same argument to Shixiong?”

She stiffened for a heartbeat, only to scamper close. “Some. Was I convincing?”

“I thought you were very convincing, but you know that Xiao Dan’s first concern will be for the child and whether we can properly care for him. Not just about the danger, but what doesa group of vampires know about caring for a human…or rather, a mostly human child?”

Ming Yu straightened and waved a hand at him. “Pfft. We’ll figure that out. Moon will know some modern parenting things, and I recall plenty from my years of serving the Zhang family. What we don’t know, we search for on the Internet.” She gave a giggle. “Raising children must be so much easier now that you can buy premade food in stores and disposable diapers. We can order all the clothes and toys online.”

From there, Shijie was off and running, talking about all the things they would need to buy for the boy so that he could be comfortable. Clothes, diapers, toys, a proper bed, books, and so much more. He let her talk while she made a small bowl of congee for the child. She had no problem with the idea of the baby staying with the clan.

A soft noise rose from the child in front of him and he looked down to see that adorable, chubby-cheeked smile directed at him. The little guy was holding his blanket up to Junjie as if offering it to him. He accepted it and the boy clapped. His laughter rang out, and it was the best sound in the world. It went straight to his soul and soothed old aches, reviving him when his energy flagged.

He and Ming Yu took turns feeding him and making funny faces as he devoured the porridge she’d made. By the time she was scraping up the last bits in the bowl’s bottom, the kid’s eyes were growing heavy and struggling to stay open.

Ming Yu advised that maybe they could get by just wiping off the dirt with a soapy cloth rather than a full bath. Thankfully, she also showed him how to change his diaper.

By the time they had the child settled, he was asleep in Junjie’s bed, his blanket gripped in one hand.

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