Axolotl Translations

There’s a saying: “Well, since we’re already here…”

Duped into coming, Little Feather had no choice but to hang around, eat well, drink well, and make the best of it.

Most people at the company had seen the little bird before, but this was their first time meeting his human form. Everyone was curious—who exactly was this handsome guy hanging out in the CEO’s office, getting doted on by all three department heads in rotation?

Talk about VIP treatment.

“Little Jingque, want a snack?” Knowing he’d messed up, Jiang Ye raided his team’s snack stash and offered it all up to Shen Jingque like some kind of peace offering.

Fu Shaoheng went a step further and ordered fresh fruit delivery, then personally sliced it for him. He’d already heard about the betrayal—how Jiang Ye and Huo Yunyuan had teamed up to trick the poor kid. So much for keeping promises.

“Don’t mind them. Uncle Fu will slice fruit for you,” he said kindly. For some reason, Fu Shaoheng felt a natural fondness for Shen Jingque—like they’d known each other forever. He couldn’t help but want to spoil him.

“Thank you, Uncle Fu,” Little Feather said as he happily munched on the sweet, juicy fruit, slowly cheering up.

He wasn’t actually mad. Just embarrassed. A moment of poor judgment had led to him walking right into a trap.

All Huo Yunyuan’s fault.

Huo Yunyuan, on the receiving end of that glare, immediately pointed at Jiang Ye, like: He’s the one who tricked you, not me!

Jiang Ye looked utterly betrayed. What the hell, dude? He stared at Huo Yunyuan like he couldn’t believe this guy would sell him out—when he was clearly the one who’d started this whole thing.

The two of them went back and forth blaming each other, nearly getting into a full-on scuffle. Meanwhile, Little Feather seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the drama, finally cracking a smile.

Huo Yunyuan sighed, rolled up a book into a makeshift bat, and started whacking Jiang Ye with it, making him yelp dramatically.

Anyone with a brain could tell it was all an over-the-top performance. Only Little Feather would fall for such a ridiculous show.

Still, they kept their promise. Once work was done, they immediately took him out to have fun.

Huo Yunyuan never questioned why Little Feather loved going out so much. He just assumed it was a bird’s nature.

And Little Feather would never tell him the real reason—it was about making up for lost time, for the childhood he never really got to have. He was grateful to Huo Yunyuan, who had always been so good to him.

Maybe, if the moment ever felt right, Shen Jingque would tell him the truth—that he wasn’t some magical bird spirit, just an ordinary boy with an extraordinary soul.

……

On a late summer evening, as they sipped bright, colorful fruit tea by the roadside, Shen Jingque suddenly tugged on Huo Yunyuan’s sleeve. “Can I ask you something?”

This little bird was full of weird and wonderful questions. Huo Yunyuan chuckled. “Go ahead.”

He gently steered the boy to the inside of the sidewalk, hand on his shoulder.

He must’ve told him a thousand times to be careful walking on the street. But Little Feather always forgot. If he wasn’t holding onto him, the kid would wander anywhere.

Huo Yunyuan never dared to let him go out on his own.

Today’s question from Little Feather was: “If I weren’t a magical bird or some celestial being, just a regular person… would you still like me?”

Huo Yunyuan found the question kind of funny. You’re not a magical being to begin with, he thought. You’re the one who gave yourself that title in the first place.

As for the second part, he figured Little Feather meant: if the person he met hadn’t been some magical bird, but just a normal human version of him—would things be different?

He actually thought about it seriously before answering, “Well, if you were just a regular kid, I probably wouldn’t have had the chance to take care of you, or build a relationship with you. Think about it—someone as adorable as you? No way your parents would hand you over to me to raise.”

Shen Jingque nodded solemnly. Exactly. No way Mom and Dad would’ve given such a cute kid to Huo Yunyuan. So if he were just an ordinary human, Huo Yunyuan never would’ve had a chance.

“Lucky me,” he said, feeling grateful for being born as a little bird in this life. He hugged Huo Yunyuan’s arm happily while munching on the chewy fruit toppings in his drink.

“This looks good. Can I have a sip?” Huo Yunyuan leaned over, already looking for a spare straw.

“Nope! I asked if you wanted some earlier and you said no. I hate when you do this—always turning me down at first, then coming back to steal a bite!” Shen Jingque let go of Huo Yunyuan’s arm and scooted away, completely ruining the nice, peaceful moment they just had.

“Guess our love just can’t handle the pressure,” Huo Yunyuan sighed dramatically.

“Hmph!” Little Bird huffed proudly behind him. That drink was 28 yuan, okay?

Luxury goods.

……

After August passed, the back-to-school season rolled around. Little Feather noticed there were fewer students out and about, and the malls had started pushing school supply bundles and “students get 20% off” promos.

“What are you looking at?” Huo Yunyuan asked. As usual, he’d taken Little Feather out for a meal. Ever since he turned human, the kid was obsessed with eating out. Not that the food tasted better—it was just that he liked the buzz of being around other people.

Through the big glass windows, he was staring at a stationery store, full of brightly colored school supplies.

There was a glimmer of longing in his eyes. Huo Yunyuan noticed and gently cupped his face. “Do you want to go to school?”

Shen Jingque shook his head. “Not really… I don’t think I’d fit in. What if I don’t get along with anyone, or… what if something goes wrong…”

“You? Struggle with people? Don’t make me laugh.” Huo Yunyuan grinned. “You’ve got a total extrovert personality. Making friends is your superpower.”

Still, he understood. With how unique Little Feather’s situation was, going to a regular school just wasn’t realistic. But an extracurricular class? That might work.

“If you just want to experience the back-to-school vibe, we could sign you up for some hobby classes—like two hours a day. That way you’re not stuck at home all the time begging me to take you out. I’ve got a full-time job, you know.”

Little Bird kept his head down, quietly eating.

Here we go again—Huo Yunyuan was rambling again.

“Well? Wanna go or not?”

“Okay! I wanna learn how to swim!” Shen Jingque said excitedly.

Huo Yunyuan: “…You don’t actually want to learn. You just wanna splash around in the water with a bunch of people.”

They had a massive pool at home, and he was just as good as any instructor.

“Then I’ll learn taekwondo!” Shen Jingque suggested next. He figured Huo Yunyuan probably didn’t know how to teach that.

“……”

Huo Yunyuan definitely couldn’t teach taekwondo—he only knew military boxing and close-combat techniques.

Taekwondo it was, then. The two of them talked it over and decided to sign up for a class near Huo Yunyuan’s office.

He enrolled Little Feather in the teen group. There were actually quite a few other students, and on the first day, Huo Yunyuan didn’t dare leave. He stood off to the side, watching like a hawk.

The coach was torn between laughing and crying—parents hovering like this usually only happened in the kindergarten or elementary classes.

Little Shen Jingque was already eighteen, and he was the only one with a “parent” still standing around watching like this.

But President Huo didn’t care one bit. He wasn’t embarrassed—Little Feather should be. Not his problem.

Now, taekwondo classes like this usually involve a lot of hands-on instruction. Some physical contact with the coach is totally normal.

But the moment Huo Yunyuan saw his precious teen hugging the coach’s leg, his brow twitched, and his whole body tensed up. He couldn’t relax at all while watching.

And it wasn’t just the coach—Little Feather would also grapple and tumble around with his classmates. Sometimes his collar would get pulled all the way down to his arm, exposing way too much skin.

“……”

Huo Yunyuan shoved down his discomfort and patiently waited until class ended. Then he accompanied Little Feather to the locker room to change.

The kid was all sweaty but smiling ear to ear. Clearly, he’d had a great time.

That’s what made it so conflicting for Huo Yunyuan.

“Did you like it?”

Shen Jingque nodded. “I did! It was really fun.” The vibe was great, there were lots of kids his age, and moving around felt amazing.

“That’s good.” Huo Yunyuan tried to talk himself into it. As long as he’s happy, that’s what matters. Other kids are like this too, right?

He had to stop being so overprotective just because Little Feather was “special.”

Still…

“Just remember,” he added, “next time, tie your clothes properly, and be careful with physical contact. There are some places that aren’t okay for others to touch—and you should also watch out for people who try to touch you on purpose.”

Huo Yunyuan was stressed out of his mind.

Little Feather: He nags sooo much.

To avoid letting his emotions spill over and affect the kid, Huo Yunyuan stopped going with him to class from the next day onward.

Once Shen Jingque made some new friends, he’d get asked a lot: “What school do you go to?”

Social-butterfly Little Feather would cheerfully reply, “Oh, I’m on a break from school right now. Not sure when I’ll go back. Depends on my mood.”

And his new friends would say, “That’s awesome! So much freedom!”

But when they started talking about school stuff, Little Feather sometimes didn’t understand. So back home, he begged Huo Yunyuan to get him a tutor—to teach him things like history and geography.

Sure, there were tons of online courses out there, but Huo Yunyuan knew what the kid was really craving wasn’t knowledge—it was connection.

Hiring a tutor wasn’t a big deal, as long as the person had good character, solid academics, and no shady intentions.

Huo Yunyuan’s real concern wasn’t the tutor.

What worried him was that Little Feather’s hunger for the outside world seemed to be growing. What if, someday, it got completely out of hand?

After thinking it through, he finally agreed to the tutoring.

“Give me a little time,” he said. “I’ll find the right person for you.”

Shen Jingque didn’t overthink it. He gave a satisfied grin and leaned comfortably against Huo Yunyuan while chatting with his taekwondo classmates on his iPad.

The screen was wide open—he wasn’t even trying to hide it.

Which meant Huo Yunyuan had no choice but to see the stream of mindless, silly messages they were sending.

Ah, the carefree chaos of youth.

“Put your screen away,” Huo Yunyuan reminded him gently. “That’s your private stuff. I shouldn’t be seeing it.”

“I don’t have any secrets from you.”

The teen shoved his own message thread right in front of Huo Yunyuan’s face. “And you shouldn’t have secrets from me either. Hand over your card PIN. Now.”

Huo Yunyuan chuckled. “You’re so scatterbrained, you’d just forget it anyway.”

“I’ll write it down in my notebook.”

“And then forget where you put the notebook. Remember that one you were obsessed with last week? Where’d that go?”

Shen Jingque flushed. “Aah! Don’t bring that up!”

It wasn’t that he wasn’t smart. He just had a tendency to lose track of small things.

But honestly… he kind of suspected Huo Yunyuan had hidden that notebook.

When Huo Yunyuan caught the look on his face, he sighed. “You can’t just keep blaming me for everything. Do I look like the type to sabotage you?”

“Yes. Help me find it.”

Shen Jingque pouted.

Helpless, Huo Yunyuan got up and started searching the spots Little Feather usually hung out in, checking every corner like he was doing a military sweep.

And sure enough, he found a bunch of things Little Feather had “lost.”

Even some of his own missing cufflinks.

Huo Yunyuan raised an eyebrow. “Why are my cufflinks all stashed in here?”

Little Feather looked off into the distance, pretending he didn’t hear.

Oh no. He’d just accused someone of being shady and accidentally exposed himself instead.

There were at least ten pairs. Huo Yunyuan couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

“I wear them once or twice, and then you snatch them? Seriously, what is wrong with you?”

“Um…” Little Feather kept a straight face. As long as he didn’t feel embarrassed, Huo Yunyuan could say whatever he wanted.

What Little Bird didn’t know was that Huo Yunyuan had figured it out long ago.

The first time it happened, he thought maybe Little Bird just liked shiny things—so he went out of his way to buy more sparkly styles.

But then he realized something else.

New ones, straight out of the box? Little Bird didn’t want them.

Only the ones he’d already worn. Probably because they smelled like him.

Huo Yunyuan secretly found it hilarious—and gave Little Feather a nickname in his head: Little Pervert Bird.

Huo Yunyuan had met with a few tutor candidates, but none of them felt quite right.

Luckily, Little Feather seemed to have forgotten all about it, so he took his time with the search.

The taekwondo class Shen Jingque had signed up for back in September had flown by—before he knew it, the whole term was over. Along the way, he’d made a group of friends he got along well with.

Recently, one of the girls in his class was having a birthday and invited Shen Jingque to the party.

Having zero experience with gift-giving, Shen Jingque ran home to ask Huo Yunyuan for help.

“What should I get her? You know what girls usually like, right?”

Huo Yunyuan paused. “Depends on what kind of relationship you have, and what she might actually need.”

Little Feather had never even given him a gift—at most, a simple “Happy Birthday.”

But even that was enough to make him happy for half a day.

“We’re just regular friends,” Shen Jingque said. “She’s going abroad for school soon.”

“Oh, I see.” That made it easier. After dinner, Huo Yunyuan drove him out to pick something out.

Since she was about to study abroad, it made sense to wish her well on her future journey—so he suggested a good-quality fountain pen.

Huo Yunyuan personally picked out one with the best value and made sure the store wrapped it nicely.

Shen Jingque watched the whole thing. He had no clue about fountain pens, but Huo Yunyuan explained everything so clearly, and chose so carefully, even teaching him little bits of social etiquette along the way.

Shen Jingque half-listened, more relaxed than anything.

Honestly, it just felt nice to know he didn’t have to worry about these things—as long as he had Huo Yunyuan, everything was taken care of.

The gift was given soon after. The girl loved it and thanked him for the thoughtful present and kind wishes. She even told him, “Your handwriting on the card is so pretty.”

Shen Jingque felt a little guilty. He had written the message himself… but the handwriting wasn’t his.

Oh well. He just smiled and shamelessly took the compliment.

When winter break started, many classmates left one after another, each with their own plans. Some might not even return when school started again. That short but sweet time together left a trace of quiet melancholy in Shen Jingque’s heart.

But soon, life tossed something else his way to keep him distracted.

See, this year, Huo Yunyuan told his family he wouldn’t be going home for Chinese New Year.

Why? Simple. Going home meant dealing with a swarm of aunties and uncles pushing him to get married.

Even if he could endure it, Little Feather definitely couldn’t.

The other reason? If he brought the teen home with him, he’d have to pretend they weren’t close to avoid raising eyebrows. But Huo Yunyuan had no intention of doing that—Little Feather couldn’t even sleep without him. How was he supposed to fake being distant?

Turning back into a bird wasn’t an option either.

Same reason—he didn’t want Little Feather to suffer.

Shen Jingque scolded him: “Still, you can’t just not go! That’s your family. They’re waiting for you.”

Huo Yunyuan had just gotten an earful from his elders on the phone, and now Little Feather was giving him a lecture too.

He replied with a sigh, “It’s all for you, you know.”

“You wish. You’re just using me as an excuse—you just don’t want to deal with your relatives nagging you.”

Shen Jingque munched on snacks smugly. “Things are different now. You go on a business trip for two days, and I might actually enjoy the peace and quiet.”

A whole semester had passed, and Little Feather had definitely matured.

“Let me guess—did you already make plans to go hang out with your classmates during the New Year?” Huo Yunyuan asked, cutting straight to the point.

Shen Jingque’s hand froze mid-dip into the chip bag. He played it cool and pulled out a chip like nothing happened. Crunch.

“Nope.”

“Liar.”

Huo Yunyuan wasn’t even sure why he said it—maybe just to test it out, see if the kid really was so “fine” without him.

“Alright then. I’ll head back to visit my family for a few days. You enjoy your time.”

“…”

Shen Jingque froze. Wait, he’s actually serious?

He hadn’t actually agreed to hang out with anyone—even though his classmates had invited him. He knew better. New Year’s was supposed to be spent with Huo Yunyuan.

But it looked like Huo Yunyuan really meant it. He was already starting to pack.

Shen Jingque dropped the act, stood up, dusted the crumbs off his hands, and started packing his own bag.

“Why are you putting your clothes in my suitcase? Weren’t you the one who said you’d be happier if I left?”

Huo Yunyuan raised an eyebrow and reached to take them out.

“That was just me exaggerating! Obviously I was just trying to make you feel less guilty about going home to be with your family. Couldn’t you tell?”

Shen Jingque wrapped his arms around Huo Yunyuan’s waist from behind, sulking. “You’re so petty.”

Maybe it was because he cared too much, but Huo Yunyuan’s first instinct wasn’t exactly rational. He hadn’t thought about any of that. He just felt like maybe Little Feather didn’t care about him anymore.

But now that he understood what was really going on, his heart twisted. Yeah, Little Feather had grown up—but this kind of maturity just made him ache inside.

“That was my bad. I misunderstood you.”

Huo Yunyuan paused mid-packing and tried to go back to the original plan.

“Alright. Then we’re not going anywhere.”

Shen Jingque shook his head, took his clothes out of the suitcase, and started helping Huo Yunyuan pack instead.

“You should still go. Even if it’s just for one day—you need to go home.”

Huo Yunyuan couldn’t help but smile. The kid was usually so bratty, but when it came down to it, he was thoughtful, sensitive, and clearly valued family even more than he did.

“I get what you’re saying,” Huo Yunyuan said softly. “But… you really won’t miss me?”

“Not even a little,” Shen Jingque replied immediately—then glanced up to see if Huo Yunyuan looked upset.

“But I’ll miss you.” Huo Yunyuan pulled him into a hug, breathing in the scent he’d gotten used to. They were so close now, it was hard to imagine suddenly sleeping alone again.

“…”

Shen Jingque didn’t have a good answer for that. So he just hugged back, quietly. Given Huo Yunyuan’s family situation, tagging along wouldn’t be comfortable.

Shen Jingque had zero interest in spending his days listening to people nag Huo Yunyuan about getting married. And that’s when a strange little thought popped into his head—

If only I were a girl. He didn’t even know why the thought came. He just figured… If he were a girl, he’d marry Huo Yunyuan in a heartbeat. Wouldn’t that make everyone happy?

They were in the middle of a warm, cozy hug when the clever little bird in his arms suddenly looked up and asked: “Huo Yunyuan, if I were a girl… would you want to marry me?”

Shen Jingque was just curious. The question just kind of slipped out.

He didn’t realize that some questions… once asked, can never be taken back. Some questions are like Pandora’s box—once you open it, there’s no way to shut it again.

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