Axolotl Translations

After a serious heart-to-heart, the clever Little Feather finally nodded in agreement. Then, he came up with a brilliant loophole—humans couldn’t share a bed with Huo Yunyuan, but birds could.

So he cheerfully comforted Huo Yunyuan instead: “It’s okay! I’ll just turn into a bird every night when I come to sleep with you. Problem solved!”

“Uh…”

Huo Yunyuan blinked. Every time he talked to Little Feather, his brain seemed to get completely sidetracked. On the surface, that idea sounded fine. But deep down… the real issue wasn’t about whether he was a bird or not.

Yep. Human relationships were just too complicated. He didn’t want to put Little Feather through that mental gymnastics anymore.

“Alright. However you want to be, it’s all fine.”

After everything that happened earlier, Huo Yunyuan had completely given up on setting rules. He didn’t want to restrain this little guy anymore.

This special little spirit who’d dropped into the world by chance—he just wanted him to live freely.

And Huo Yunyuan would protect that freedom, always.

Now that the problem had been “solved,” Shen Jingque didn’t dwell on it. He wasn’t the type to get stuck in his feelings anyway. In both his lives, he’d grown up surrounded by love.

Words like lonely, sensitive, or emotionally neglected had nothing to do with Little Feather.

He was happy. Completely and honestly happy.

“Goodnight.”

He’d already been sleepy before. Now, with the last of his tears still drying on his lashes, his expression had returned to normal. He pulled up the covers and fell asleep within seconds.

Huo Yunyuan had no idea what was on the boy’s mind as he dozed off: “Tomorrow we’re going to the amusement park!”

……

It was the weekend, and the amusement park was packed. Families, kids, couples—it was a sea of cheerful chaos.

For the first time ever, Huo Yunyuan didn’t mind the noise. In fact, he kind of liked it. He knew Little Feather would definitely enjoy it. That kid loved being around people.

“So many people!”

Just as he expected, the boy’s face lit up with joy, and he practically bounced in place. At the same time, one of his hands clutched Huo Yunyuan’s arm tight—like he was afraid of getting lost in the crowd.

“I’ll hold your hand,” Huo Yunyuan said after a second of thought. And then he reached down and gently took Little Feather’s hand.

It was the first time they’d ever held hands. And instantly, both of them went quiet. Their full attention zeroed in on that small point of contact.

They weren’t thinking anything weird—it just felt… warm. And close. And really, really nice.

To Shen Jingque, Huo Yunyuan had never felt like someone he needed to be “cautious” around. For two reasons: First, he hadn’t hit that stage yet. He died just after entering his teens in his past life. His childhood had barely finished, let alone puberty. Second, he trusted Huo Yunyuan completely. Like Huo Yunyuan had once said: “You’ve got me for everything.”

Hand in hand, weaving through the noisy crowd, Shen Jingque adored this lively, human atmosphere.

And Huo Yunyuan, watching the wonder and joy in the boy’s eyes, couldn’t help falling a little more in love—with him, and with the world.

“I can try every ride, right?”

“Even the haunted house?”

Even though Little Feather wasn’t scared of anything—not the sky, not the earth—he was kind of scared of ghosts.

Back at home, he always made Huo Yunyuan turn the lights on whenever he had to go to the bathroom at night. Now he looked up at the bright midday sun and said confidently, “It’s the middle of the day! What’s there to be scared of? As long as you hold my hand tight, I’ll be fine.”

If a ghost came, it could just take them both.

“You want me to be your ghost shield, huh?”

Of course, Huo Yunyuan could see through his little scheme.

Shen Jingque nodded, completely serious: “Exactly.”

“Alright, I’ll take you in. But if you get scared out of your mind, don’t blame me.”

In Huo Yunyuan’s opinion, haunted houses were just cheesy. The staff’s acting skills were pretty bad—barely enough to spook little kids. But what he didn’t expect was that even that level of acting would send Little Feather jumping straight into his arms.

“Ahhh! That’s so scary!”

Well, he’d never been in a haunted house before. Between the eerie atmosphere and creepy setting, even a pebble on the ground could scare him.

Huo Yunyuan smiled the whole time, playing the role of a human security blanket, while the staff whispered among themselves: “See? Only scaring kids feels rewarding. The grown-ups never react.” Although, wow, kids these days sure grow tall fast.

Outside of the haunted house, though, nothing could scare Shen Jingque. He was having the time of his life. Laughing the hardest, riding everything.

Which made sense—birds didn’t fear heights. All these amusement park rides? Child’s play for him.

After a full day of playing, even a kid with boundless energy was feeling it. Shen Jingque leaned against Huo Yunyuan’s back, mumbling,

“How far is the parking lot? I’m so tired… I wanna curl up in your pocket…”

Hearing that, Huo Yunyuan felt like something soft just squeezed his heart. He chuckled and said, “We’re almost there. And I am carrying you—how are you still tired?”

Shen Jingque grinned mischievously.

“Riding in a car is comfier. You’re too slow.”

“Well, sorry for being so inconvenient,” Huo Yunyuan said. Then added, “Even if you turned into a bird, summer clothes don’t have the right kind of pockets for you to curl up in.”

Big cozy winter pockets—that was a bird’s true paradise.

“Really?” Shen Jingque’s hands weren’t idle. He reached into Huo Yunyuan’s pants pocket and started feeling around. “You’re right. There’s barely any space. Huh?”

He pulled something out. A handful of pine nuts.

He burst out laughing. “I’m not even a bird right now—why are you still carrying these around?”

That didn’t stop him from tossing one into his mouth and crunching down.

“Today I was extra well-behaved. I deserve a pine nut.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Huo Yunyuan said. “Who rewards themselves and gives themselves praise in the same breath?”

Little Feather crunched happily, not just eating one nut—he downed a whole handful.

As they were still walking, Huo Yunyuan reminded him, “Little Feather, don’t litter.”

The boy said, “I didn’t litter—I’ve been putting everything in your pocket.”

No wonder Huo Yunyuan had felt a hand constantly rummaging around in his pocket all day. The kid had been busy.

“Why not use your own pocket?” he asked.

Little Feather was wearing a shirt with pockets today. He replied, “I’ve got my souvenir badge in mine. No way I’m putting trash in there.”

“…Fair enough.” That actually made sense.

Huo Yunyuan figured he’d completely worn Little Feather out over the weekend, so from Monday to Friday he could leave him at home to recharge. What he didn’t expect was that after just one day of rest, the guy bounced back and asked excitedly, “So, where are we going tomorrow?”

Huo Yunyuan tapped his pen against the calendar. “Take a look—what day is it tomorrow?”

The boy leaned over to read it. “August 13th.”

“And what day of the week?”

“Tuesday. Wait, are amusement parks closed on Tuesdays or something?” he asked, pretending to think hard.

That obviously wasn’t the point.

Huo Yunyuan let out a helpless laugh and pinched his cheek. “Don’t play dumb with me.”

This little guy understood everything, but he liked to pretend otherwise when it suited him.

After getting firmly rejected and called out, he sulked off to his room without causing any more trouble. Which—honestly—was kind of suspicious. Too quiet.

Huo Yunyuan paused what he was doing and quietly went to check on him. He cracked the door open just a bit—and heard Little Feather on the phone… chatting with some uncle. Complaining about how someone was too busy with work and never took him out.

Huo Yunyuan froze in the doorway, listening silently. Instead of being annoyed, he actually felt… happy. It was kind of heartwarming that when Little Feather needed to vent, he had someone he could call to complain to.

The person on the other end was clearly patient too, even offering to take him out. And just as the call reached that part, Huo Yunyuan quickly interrupted: “Uncles are busy too, you know! Who has time to take you out tomorrow?”

Little Feather completely ignored him, shooting him a smug look out of the corner of his eye.

“Uncle Jiang, you’ll pick me up at 8:30 tomorrow morning? Awesome, thank you!”

Huo Yunyuan rubbed his temples. Jiang Ye…

Shen Jingque looked at him threateningly. “If you ruin this for me, I’ll just go live at Uncle Jiang’s house.”

Huo Yunyuan let out a sharp laugh. “Sure, if you can actually sleep there. You cry just changing rooms in your own house, and you want me to believe you’ll be fine somewhere else?”

Later that night, he still gave Jiang Ye a call.

“You’re taking Jingque out tomorrow?”

Jiang Ye replied, “Not really. We’ve got our regular company meeting. I’m bringing him to the office. What else could I do?”

After all, the kid had called him directly. He had to do something.

Huo Yunyuan wasn’t sure who he should feel more sorry for—Jiang Ye for being dragged into this, or Little Feather for getting duped. In the end, he just tossed his phone aside and pretended he knew nothing.

“Little Feather, what are you up to?” Huo Yunyuan asked as he brought over the nightly soup the boy always drank before bed. He peeked into the walk-in closet—and saw the vain little guy meticulously coordinating an outfit for tomorrow.

“Ahem, that outfit looks great already. Come out and drink your soup,” Huo Yunyuan said.

“But is it fancy enough?” Shen Jingque stood in front of the mirror, striking a few dramatic poses.

Why does he need to dress fancy to go to an office? Huo Yunyuan thought, exasperated.

He could’ve told him the truth—but nope. He was being petty. Even knowing full well what was going on tomorrow, he kept his mouth shut. The next morning, he watched silently as Little Feather got up bright and early, getting ready at the same time as him.

All dressed up and looking sharp, the boy glanced at Huo Yunyuan’s parked car and said, “Why are you still here?”

Clearly, this guy was heading to work and wouldn’t be joining them for the fun day out.

Huo Yunyuan opened the car door and asked, “You really want to go out with Uncle Jiang? Why not come with me to the company instead?”

Part of him was starting to feel guilty.

“No thanks. What’s there to do at a company?” Shen Jingque waved him off. “Hurry up and leave, Uncle Jiang will be here any minute.”

“But he never even told you where you’re going. What if he takes you somewhere boring? Did you ever think about that?” Huo Yunyuan hinted—okay, not so subtly—that maybe Jiang Ye wasn’t the most reliable playdate.

“You’re so naggy,” Shen Jingque rolled his eyes. Just then, a car pulled up. He waved Huo Yunyuan off. “Okay, bye! I’m going to meet Uncle Jiang!”

With a cheerful bounce in his step, he disappeared from view.

Huo Yunyuan let out a long sigh and told his driver, “Let’s go.”

Their car was a bit faster, so they arrived at the company first. Huo Yunyuan even had time to make a glass of warm milk and waited at the elevator just as the clock ticked down.

Shen Jingque had been to the company back when he was still a bird. So when Jiang Ye’s car pulled into the underground parking lot, he instantly recognized the place—and had a bad feeling.

“Uncle Jiang, where exactly are we going?”

Jiang Ye gave a sheepish laugh. “The office. We’ve got a meeting this morning. Let’s go out and have fun around lunchtime, yeah?”

The expression on Shen Jingque’s face was priceless. He wasn’t mad at Uncle Jiang—he was just panicking.

Because that meant… he’d have to see Huo Yunyuan! He was definitely going to get teased for this. Ugh!

Feeling a little guilty, Jiang Ye practically ran out of the elevator the moment it opened, went straight to Huo Yunyuan and whispered, “He’s pissed. You deal with it. This whole mess is on you anyway.”

Huo Yunyuan peeked into the elevator. Sure enough, Little Feather stood there sulking, arms crossed, cheeks puffed, and glaring daggers.

No way he was going to joke around now. Huo Yunyuan walked over gently and took his hand with all sincerity.

“Totally my fault. The company had a last-minute meeting. But I swear, we’ll go out and have fun at lunch. Promise.”

Anyway, no way all that effort Little Feather put into his outfit is going to go to waste.

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