Hu Yuan gently patted his chest, and the wolf demon fell silent.
The man glanced at Mu Anxiao's retreating back and said, "She's just a child, in the future..."
"If you want to take care of me, you can, but on one condition," Hu Yuan looked up at the man. "Tell me, why didn't you accept me before."
"I..."
"If you want me to say it, you saw me as sickly, and also, I was a disgrace from your youth, so you didn't want to acknowledge me, right?" Hu Yuan said frankly.
Hu Yuan's mother's eyes sank, and she said nothing.
The man looked at Hu Yuan's serious expression and nodded, "Yes, before, after hearing that you were in poor health and had a bad temper, I found you very annoying, and even thought you were a burden on your mother, an obstacle between your mother and me. But, the moment I saw you today, I knew I was wrong."
"If I were a healthy child, would you still be like this?" Hu Yuan asked.
The man lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry, it was my vanity, it was my fault."
"As expected, you all dislike people like me who are sickly!" Hu Yuan chuckled bitterly.
Hu Yuan's mother hurried to get up and took Hu Yuan's arm.
Hu Yuan took a breath and said, "Everyone likes perfect things, even if not absolutely perfect. For instance, as long as a person is not sick and is healthy, they are good. Someone like me, a sickly person who constantly costs the family money," he said, "really doesn't deserve to live!"
"Hu Yuan, I won't allow you to say that," the man suddenly became serious.
"What," Hu Yuan became inexplicably pessimistic, "Am I wrong?"
"You are wrong. You are a person, and even if you are sick, you must live well," the man said sternly.
Hu Yuan couldn't help but cry, "I'm in pain! I don't want to see my mother labor so hard to take care of me every day, I don't want to see her cry silently alone, I don't want her to lie to me, I don't want to see despair the day after seeing hope. I've had enough of this feeling." He bit his lip and continued, "As you said, I am a burden, a drag. If it weren't for me, my mother wouldn't be this tired. It's all me, it's all me."
"Hu Yuan," Hu Yuan's mother began to cry.
Hu Yuan turned his face to his mother and said, "Mom, I'm sorry, I can't help it, I can't help it. Don't cry, if you cry like this," he reached out and wiped his mother's tears, becoming incoherent, "it's not good for the child, and even worse for your health. I won't cry anymore, I won't cry."
Mu Anxiao stood not far away, watching the scene unfold in the pavilion. Her eyes darkened, and she thought: If it weren't for that scoundrel, Hu Yuan would have continued to be a happy carefree immortal, perhaps exploring scenery somewhere with those two idiots. This family wouldn't be like this either. Perhaps Hu Yuan's mother would have given birth to a healthy baby girl, and Hu Yuan's father would surely have accepted her. Nothing would be like this. All of this was the fault of that selfish scoundrel. She clenched her fist.
Hu Yuan's mother hugged Hu Yuan.
The man looked at the mother and son embracing each other and said, "Before, it was Dad's fault, Dad was selfish, Dad was a scoundrel. Yuan Yuan, you are our son," he began to cry, "No matter what you are like, you are my son, my best son."
This was everything Hu Yuan had longed for since childhood. Although he didn't reply to the man's words, his heart felt warm.
Mu Anxiao looked at the family of three and sighed. She turned to the Yin Messenger in a suit, who had returned again, and asked, "Have you thought of a way?"
The Yin Messenger in a suit glanced furtively left and right and asked, "Did those two leave?"
"Yes," Mu Anxiao nodded, then reconfirmed the surrounding safety and said, "This matter is settled, how much will you give me."
"Mentioning money as soon as we meet hurts our harmony," the Yin Messenger in a suit said.
"I'm helping you," Mu Anxiao said with a determined look.
"By the way," the Yin Messenger in a suit smirked wickedly, "how do you know that if it weren't for Hu Yuan and their situation, Hu Yuan's mother would have had a daughter?"
Mu Anxiao's eyes widened, "You were eavesdropping on my thoughts."
"Sometimes, you need methods," he said, taking a black ball from his ear and tossing it to Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao caught the black mass and asked, "Is this something from the underworld?"
"Yes, put it in your ear, and you can hear the thoughts of different people, including monsters," the Yin Messenger in a suit smiled.
"Why don't you do it yourself?" Mu Anxiao asked.
"If I remember correctly," the Yin Messenger in a suit said with a roguish grin, "you've accepted silver notes from those two!"
"It's different," Mu Anxiao stated clearly.
"It is different. If you help me find out from the Chihuahua where that monster is, and capture it," the Yin Messenger in a suit raised an eyebrow, "I'll give you five hundred taels of silver afterwards."
Mu Anxiao didn't believe him, "Do you have it?"
"Of course, it was just opened below recently, modern money can be exchanged for ancient silver taels," the Yin Messenger in a suit said seriously.
"Do you have more, or do I have more?" Mu Anxiao asked.
"The same," the Yin Messenger in a suit raised his eyebrows.
"Let's sort it out," Mu Anxiao started to say, then looked around, but still worried someone might mistake her for being crazy. So she said, "Forget it, let's not talk about it here. I'll find you later."
"Do you know how to find me?"
"I can stomp the ground, right?" Mu Anxiao asked, making the black mass disappear.
The Yin Messenger in a suit gasped, "What you're saying, I'm not the local Earth God."
"You can't just call the Earth God like that, they're busy!" Mu Anxiao said.
The Yin Messenger in a suit narrowed his eyes, "You mean, I'm idle?"
"Don't say anymore, hurry up and go," Mu Anxiao said, taking a deep breath and walking towards the pavilion.
The Yin Messenger in a suit looked at Mu Anxiao's retreating back, pouted, and disappeared.
Mu Anxiao arrived at the pavilion and looked at Hu Yuan, saying, "It's time for your injection." She then glanced at the man.
Hu Yuan didn't want Mu Anxiao to see him cry. He wrinkled his nose and lowered his head, saying, "Okay, take my mom back."
Mu Anxiao looked at Hu Yuan's mother, "Auntie, I'll take good care of him. I'll call you if anything happens."
"Thank you," Hu Yuan's mother said politely.
Mu Anxiao glanced at the man, turned around without a word, and walked ahead.
Hu Yuan followed Mu Anxiao without a word.
The man looked at Mu Anxiao's retreating back, sighed, and looked down at Hu Yuan's mother, saying, "You've educated this child very well."
"Yes, let's go," Hu Yuan's mother didn't want to say more.
The man dared not speak more to Hu Yuan's mother and nodded.