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“When children stand quiet, they have done some ill”
Or something like that his mother touted when he and Wei Ying planned out their mischiefs, and that phrase could not be truer, because soon afterwards, the house would quake under Madam Yu roars when she caught them red handed in their misdeeds.
What goes around, comes around. “Luckily” he was now the uncle of only one nephew, and as much as he adored him, he heartily wished that his sister would not consider conceiving another one soon. At least until this kid learned how to behave.
He would have given everything for Jin Ling to have inherited his mother’s docile personality, he would be the happiest with a little nephew following him around without him having to keep an eye on him. Instead, he did not only inherited the features of his father, but also his arrogance. Jin ZiXuan insisted that the child’s stubbornness came from the Jiang clan, but Jiang Cheng strongly denied it.
Trouble began as soon as he learned to crawl, if the young lord wanted go anywhere, he would go there. If the young lord wanted to play with something, as dangerous as it could be, he would take it, and woe betide anyone who would contradict him, because the young lord also talked back!
“Jing Ling,” Jiang Cheng took a deep breath to calm his voice so he would not upset the child. “Drop that arrow, you’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Dou!”The child roared as he shook his chubby face from side to side.
As soon he caught the irresponsible one that left his arrows lying in the yard, he was in for a scolding worthy of his predecessor.
“Jin ling, that’s not a toy, that’s for big boys,” Jiang Cheng extended a hand towards the baby. “May I borrow it?”
“DOUDUOUDOUDOUDOUDOU!” he responded angrily as he shook the arrow menacingly with his little hand.
“This kid is going to kill himself,” He thought. “GIVE IT TO ME!”
Jiang Cheng took the arrow by force and the kid clinged to his toy until the end, which snapped in two from the intensity of the fight.
“You can’t play with that, you can hurt yourself. Wound! Bad!” His uncle tried to convince him, but babies didn’t respond to the logic of adults.
The child saw his broken toy on the floor and he let out a roar that had nothing to envy to those of his deceased mother.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Not even covering his ears could be save him from that deafening screech. Now all of Yunmeng Jiang knew the young lord was in a bad mood. Luckily, his sister soon came to the rescue.
“A-Ling, A-ling, what’s wrong?” Yanli took the baby in his arms to calm him down and the demoniac roars started to gradually decrease in intensity. “Don’t get mad at Uncle Cheng. He only wants to take care of you.”
“Dooooooou!” he cried angrily.
“Can you stop saying “No” to everything?!”
“A-Cheng…he’s just a child.”
“But he must learn! How he can be so…naive to play with an arrow?!”
Yanli let out a sigh and took the child from below his arm to show him to his uncle.
“Because I want to grow up, uncle!” she feigned a childish voice to speak for her son. “I want to become big and strong to go hunting together and become a great cultivator like you!”
Jin ling seemed to like his mother’s performance, because he forgot about his anger and let out a contagious laugh. Even Jiang Cheng couldn’t help but smile at the little brat’s antics, but he also noticed a detail.
“Wait a minute, are his wings getting bigger?”
Jing ling realized they were talking about him, so he flapped his wings to show them with a giggle.
“Yes, he’s already at the age when he must learn how to use them, he also has to learn how to walk,” Yanli sat on the floor and put the baby on his feet“A-Ling, go with your uncle, go.”
“Dou…” He sat on the floor without any intention to crawl.
“Don't push it, all in good time.” Jiang Cheng responded to give a mature response, but deep down he was terrified that the little demon would learn to move around on his own, since this would mean more headaches.
“You’re right. He’ll become a young man in a blink of an eye…A-Ling, shall we take a walk?”
“Dou.”
“Shall we have lunch?” She asked with a smile.
“Dou.”
“Do you want to stay with your uncle?” She asked to see if he continued to deny, but the baby went silent.
“…Yah.”
Both brothers were dumbfounded.
“Do you want to stay with your uncle?” Yanli repeated.
“Yah!” The baby responded with determination.
Both adults exchanged looks, Yanli could barely hold her laugh while Jiang Chang looked at the child, incredulous.
“Very well. So, you’ll stay here while mama prepares lunch.”
“Wait a minute…You don’t have to-…” The uncle interrupted.
“A-Cheng, there’s nothing to worry about, the lotus root soup must be almost ready. Besides, I trust you to keep him safe.” The mother caressed her son’s head before standing up. “Please behave, ok?”
“But Yanli…”
His protests didn’t reach Yanli, who was now walking away through the hallway. Now they were both alone.
Jiang Cheng looked at the baby with suspicion. He was very quiet, distracted with a butterfly that fluttered nearby, and a memory came to his mind.
Demons had an ancient method to teach their children how to fly, which consisted in throwing them upwards and catch them, so they get used to open their wings. That’s how both brothers learned how to fly. Yanli never agreed with this method, claiming that the baby would get scared if it is thrown too high, but is not like he would apply the same strength as his mother, who almost threw him over the roof of the mansion. Worst case scenario, the child would cry, and they wouldn’t leave him in his care anymore. Something he considered a benefit.
“A-Ling~, A-Ling, come here.” Jiang Cheng called the child with an uncommon enthusiasm. He lifted him from the ground with both arms and spoke to him to his face. “Today, your uncle will teach you how to fly.”
The child blinked blankly, and suddenly, he was thrown into the air. His wings were still retracted, and he fell heavily. His uncle repeated the process a couple of times without the success he expected from this experiment. Tired of not comprehending this situation, the child threatened to cry once again.
“No, no, no, don’t cry, please, don’t cry,” His uncle begged to him, but when he saw it only caused the opposite effect of calming him down, he looked for another alternative. “A-Ling! Your wings! Where are your little wings?”
Jin Ling got the message and extended the little black wings on his back.
“That’s it! What pretty wings you have!” His proud uncle exclaimed and the boy smiled back. “Who’s the boy with the prettiest wings of all China?”
The boy let out a squeal of happiness and flapped his wings vigorously.
“Vain as his father,” Thought Jiang Cheng to himself before repeating the experiment. “Now use them!”
In the first tries, the boy fell hard into his arms again, but after each launch, he felt that he lasted a few more seconds in the air.
“Five…six…seven…again!” He counted the seconds Jing Ling was in the air, ten seconds was the ideal standard at his age. “Seven…eight…nine! Ten! Jin Ling you already passed the ten seconds! Thirteen…fourteen…” The boy fell into his arms again. “Fifteen seconds, A-Ling! You flew fifteen seconds! You’re amazing, A-Ling!”
“A-Cheng, did something happen? I heard the child…” Yanli ran to the yard alarmed, and Jiang Cheng stopped her.
“Sister! Stay there and watch this!” He ordered before throwing the child into the air again.
“A-Ling!” she exclaimed in panic; she took a step forward but stopped short when she saw that her baby not only hovered in the air, but he was also flying her way. Her only reaction was to extend her arms to catch him. “A-Ling…He’s flying!
“No less than fifteen seconds!” his uncle exclaimed proudly. The boy also let out a squeal of happiness.
That day, the lotus root and rib soup had a special flavor. Like his wife, the peacock couldn’t contain his tears when he witnessed his offspring’s great achievement. He knew that in the next days it was going to be a headache to find Jin Ling in the most unbelievable places of the mansion, but he would never deny the fact that this day was registered in his memory as one of the happiest days of his life.