Chapter (8): The Lantern Festival - Part three

                                    

                                          


                          
Xie Lian coughed and choked on his tea when he heard Wei Ying's shout. He coughed several more times as he grabbed Wei Ying's pointing hand and retracted it.
                          
Holding up a hand to defend against the glaring heavenly officials, Xie Lian pounded his chest and blinked profusely as he tries to come up with an excuse.
                          
Xie Lian, "It's - *cough *cough – It's that _*cough. Uhmm, Ahem, Ahem. He means me. *cough. Me. *cough ahemm. I'm his A-die."
                          
Whether it's because of the continuous coughing or some other reason, Xie Lian's face was as red as freshly picked cherries. Xie Lian thought maybe it was the wine he drank before acting up.
                          
Seeing his Baba refute like this, Wei Ying was confused. 'Wasn't Baba Baba and A-die A-die? How come Baba is A-die???'
                          
Wei Ying was about to complain; Xie Lian hurriedly cupped his cotton ball in his arms and whispered into his ears, "A-Ying, let's keep a secret about A-die for now. It's that...umm...A-die asked for it."
                          
Wei Ying asked with a confused face, "Really?"
                          
Xie Lian again replied with a red face, "Omm. Really."
                          
Wei Ying, "Oki then!" Then Wei Ying continued watching the play.
                          
Xie Lian sighed a relief as he had stopped Wei Ying from spreading more rumors. The heavenly officials had retracted their glares as they accepted that the boy's A-die was Xie Lian. 
                          
They didn't hear specifically what the boy shouted but since he's Xie Lian's adopted son, it wasn't weird that he shouted out 'A-die' when he saw Xie Lian on stage. The play about the red-robed non-fierce-looking Hua Cheng was now more interesting than the adopted son of Xie Lian.
                          
But three stupefied gazes were stilled locked on Xie Lian. Those three were the ones who heard Wei Ying clearly. They were Shi Qingxuan who was playing with Wei Ying, and Feng Xin and Mu Qing whose attention were on Xie Lian's surroundings since the beginning.
                          
From Wei Ying's choice of words, 'Baba' and 'A-die' were two different persons, and there were only two people on stage. One was Xie Lian and they had already heard Wei Ying call him 'Baba'. The only other person was Hua Cheng and that would mean he's...
                          
Feng Xin and Mu Qing stopped at this point of thought, their faces were already pitch-black looking like the end of the world. Only Shi Qingxuan dared continued it and looked wide-eyed at Xie Lian.
                          
Shi Qingxuan was not someone who didn't know how to read the mood. After seeing Xie Lian try his best to cover it up, she also stayed quiet about it, just keeping it in her mind that she definitely will visit Xie Lian's shrine again and ask in detail about it. Shi Qingxuan thought so with a big smile.
                          
The play was about 'The adventures in the Kingdom of Banyue'. This was not long ago. Although there was a boy that said he would worship Xie Lian but, he didn't know Xie Lian's name, and it was unlikely for that play to be arranged just on the Mid-Autumn Festival by that boy.
                          
The redness on his face didn't seem to calm down. Xie Lian planned to switch his hot tea into some cold tea as he fanned himself. He gulped down his new tea as the beautiful play on the pavilion stage continued.
                          
Though most of the officials are immersed in the play, Xie Lian could feel two piercing gazes locked on him. Without looking, Xie Lian could feel it was from Feng Xin and Mu Qing. The reason why they were staring could also be guessed, they must have heard Wei Ying, Xie Lian thought.
                          
But there was nothing he could do, it's not his fault that Wei Ying has two dads, and the cotton ball is happy and it's all that matters. So Feng Xin and Mu Qing were silently ignored.