The parasol tree is a place where hundreds of birds dare not perch, for they avoid the phoenix. —— "Records of What One Hears and Sees"
However, the parasol tree planted by Qiu Chang in the courtyard broke this precedent. Besides the tree spirit Hua Feijie who slept on his own tree every day, there was now a little kid!
If it weren't for Qiu Chang seeing that the kid was born with wisdom and extraordinary talent, he wouldn't have bothered to pick up such a little burden!
Well, the complete story is actually that Qiu Chang went down the mountain to buy some crispy cakes. Coincidentally, he saw this child being bullied. He scared away the villains, asked and found out that the child had no father or mother. Qiu Chang felt pity and brought him back, adopting him as his foster son and giving him the name "Heng Deng".
Whether the child actually had wisdom or extraordinary talent, Qiu Chang really had no idea. The only thing he knew was that Heng Deng was a very clingy child!
Sure enough, when Qiu Chang was writing in the study, Heng Deng also came over to take a look.
Qiu Chang finished the last stroke of his writing, turning the tip of his brush as he did so. Without even raising his eyes, he asked Heng Deng, "Aren't you playing with Hua Feijie?"
Heng Deng nodded vigorously. Pointing at the rice paper spread out on the table with his tender little finger, he asked, "Foster father, what are you writing?"
"Have you never learned to read?" Qiu Chang pointed at the three big characters on the rice paper and read them out one by one to the little boy in front of him, "This is, Zi — Wei — Shan."
Heng Deng looked confused. He didn't recognize the characters at all. He only knew that his foster father's writing was very beautiful. He looked up at Qiu Chang with his big watery eyes blinking. His face clearly showed the words "want to learn, want to learn, want to learn".
Qiu Chang shook his head helplessly and handed a writing brush to Heng Deng. "Come, I'll teach you to write. What do you want to write? How about learning to write your own name 'Heng Deng'?"
Heng Deng shook his head and said in his tender voice, "No~ Foster father, can you teach me to write 'Qiu Chang'?"
Qiu Chang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He reached out and flicked Heng Deng's forehead, smiling, "You little thing. Instead of learning your own name, why do you insist on learning mine?"
"Foster father is my benefactor," Heng Deng said seriously.
Qiu Chang laughed and asked jokingly, "So if you cause trouble in the future and the other person asks you to leave your name, will you also leave your foster father's name?"
"Um..." Heng Deng thought. He mustn't let his foster father know if he caused trouble, otherwise he would think he was a bad boy. So he could only do this. He said, "Then I'll write Hua Feijie's name."
Hua Feijie jumped in through the window at some point. He pounced on Heng Deng and tickled him. The two kids wrestled with each other. "You little rascal! I gave you sugar figurines and this is how you repay me!"
"Hahaha..." Tears welled up in Heng Deng's eyes from laughter. He quickly called for help, "Foster father, hahaha, foster father, save me, hahaha..."
Qiu Chang also had a smile on his face. He symbolically said to Hua Feijie, "Little thing, stop teasing him."
Seeing that Qiu Chang had spoken, Hua Feijie naturally stopped bothering Heng Deng. Heng Deng patted his sore face from laughing. "Hua Feijie, you're the same age as me. Why are you so strong?"
Hearing this, Hua Feijie immediately got unhappy. He said, "Who's the same age as you? I'm already five hundred years old!"
"Ah?" Heng Deng stood up and compared his height with Hua Feijie's. The other was actually two centimeters shorter than him. "You... How come you're shorter than me at five hundred years old?"
"…" There was a crack in the smile on Hua Feijie's face. "We demons grow slowly!"
"Do you demons not eat properly?" Heng Deng asked innocently, because he had subconsciously thought that not eating properly would make one not grow tall.
Hua Feijie: "…"
Hua Feijie looked at Qiu Chang pitifully, only to find that Qiu Chang was also holding back his laughter. "Divine Lord!!"
"Hahaha, I think what Heng Deng said makes sense. Look at you. You should eat more in the future. Even a human child is taller than you. It would be so embarrassing if it got out," Qiu Chang said, laughing and teasing Hua Feijie as if he were enjoying the show.
"Aaaah!" Hua Feijie ran away angrily. These father and son were really too hateful.
Qiu Chang looked amiable. He tapped Heng Deng's head. "Come here. Do you still want to learn to write?"
Heng Deng nodded and ran over happily. "Yes~"
Qiu Chang held Heng Deng's hand and wrote his name "Qiu Chang" stroke by stroke on the rice paper. At the end, he added the two characters "Heng Deng" after his own name.
"These two characters are 'Qiu Chang'. The ones behind are 'Heng Deng'. Remember?" Qiu Chang rubbed the little boy's head and asked considerately.
Heng Deng looked at the name next to his own. There was an indescribable feeling in his heart that couldn't be calmed for a long time. "… Remembered."
"Gurgle —"
What sound was that?
Qiu Chang looked at Heng Deng, whose face was blushing as he covered his stomach. Only then did he realize that the child hadn't eaten yet.
But he didn't know how to cook. What should he do!!
He couldn't let the child starve to death, could he?!
"Are... you hungry?" Qiu Chang asked tentatively.
Heng Deng replied sullenly, "Yes."
Qiu Chang had lived for thousands of years. The first time he entered the kitchen was not for his wife but for his son... Human children were really troublesome. Usually, Qiu Chang didn't need to eat at all. He survived on the spiritual energy between heaven and earth. As long as the sky didn't collapse, he wouldn't starve to death.
But now the new little boy actually wanted him to cook!
Qiu Chang finally stepped into the kitchen that he hadn't entered for a hundred years. He picked up a spatula and a kitchen knife.
Looking at the ingredients that Hua Feijie had bought for him — Chinese cabbage, potatoes, chicken, fish...
It had to be said that they looked quite fresh, but the problem was that he didn't know how to cook them.
Heng Deng's short body only reached Qiu Chang's thigh. He tugged at Qiu Chang's robe. "Foster father, can you cook?"
"…"
If he said that he had never cooked in his life, would this little boy laugh at him?
"Of course I can. Your foster father is omnipotent... Should I pour the oil first?" Qiu Chang said.
"Yes. Wait until the oil starts to smoke," Heng Deng reminded Qiu Chang carefully in his tender voice.
Oh~ So it was that simple!
Qiu Chang poured the oil into the pot and stared intently at the inside of the pot, waiting for it to smoke. After waiting for a while, the oil was still calm.
So how exactly did it start to smoke? Forget it. Never mind. Just throw in the vegetables.
Qiu Chang put the washed vegetables into the pot. Immediately, the pot made a "crackling" sound, just like an explosion.
"Waahhh!" Qiu Chang was so scared that he ran far away and hid behind Heng Deng. "Why is it flying out?!"
Heng Deng stood there expressionlessly, looking at the boiling oil and water in the pot. He said calmly, "Oil will splash when it meets water."
Qiu Chang looked panicked. "Then why didn't you say so earlier!"
"I thought foster father really knew how to cook," Heng Deng blinked his big black eyes. His face clearly showed "I'm innocent" and "I don't know".
Qiu Chang: "…"
Only after the oil stopped splashing did Qiu Chang dare to get closer to take a look at the situation in the pot. As a result, the vegetables inside were all charred and black.
This definitely couldn't be eaten...
Seeing Qiu Chang standing still, Heng Deng also came over to take a look.
Heng Deng: "…"
Qiu Chang gave a dry laugh and looked embarrassed. "You must not like to eat burnt food, haha... ha."
Heng Deng: "…"
Qiu Chang patted Heng Deng's shoulder and said, "Don't be afraid. Foster father has another way. I'm sure I can make you eat the food I cook."