Chapter 339: Fuzai Should Be a Well-Behaved and Quiet Little Girl
She had been worrying about not having an excuse to visit Master Tian, and now she had a perfectly legitimate reason to go to the Tian Family.
"Zaizai, you’re truly your Female Mother’s little lucky star!"
Fuzai was dazed by the kiss. She didn’t understand why, but that wasn’t important.
The little one seized the opportunity to make a request. "Female Mother, I want to eat your cooking. Look, Zaizai’s gotten so skinny~"
She patted her little tummy, her voice full of pity for herself.
"Beast Father’s cooking is awful. It wasn’t until there were grandpas, grandmas, uncles, and aunties on Overlord Mountain who were good cooks that Zaizai was saved from starving to death..."
She hadn’t even finished her sentence when Ao Wu wandered over.
He said gloomily, "My cooking is awful? Zaizai, who was it that ate a huge bowl and still asked for seconds?"
Fuzai pushed him away and retorted righteously, "I was only doing that to stay alive. Besides, eating Beast Father’s food is barely different from being dead."
"Also, Beast Father, don’t eavesdrop on us girls when we’re talking!"
Yu An chuckled. "Go on, shoo. Didn’t you hear what Fu Fu said?"
Ao Wu: "..."
He walked away, looking deflated.
"Oh, so pitiful," Yu An said, her gaze landing on Fuzai’s cheeks. She gave them a little pinch. "But why does your Female Mother think these little cheeks of yours look even rounder than before?"
Fuzai didn’t bat an eye. "It’s an illusion. All an illusion."
Yu An was just teasing her. In fact, the moment she saw Fuzai, she had thought her little Zaizai looked thinner.
Reunited after so long, she wished she could grab a giant wok and whip up a ten-course meat and vegetable feast to put all the weight Fuzai had lost right back on her.
Han Fengyun was making lunch. His cooking was also excellent, so the family had a simple meal together.
At the lunch table, the entire family was stunned by Fuzai’s terrifying appetite.
Mo Yan asked with concern, "How can Fu Fu eat so much? Won’t she hurt her tummy?"
Yu An knew why. Little Wolf’s appetite had been huge for the same reason—a fragment of the Divine Stone was inside him.
Later, when the Divine Stone’s fragments came out and reassembled, their appetites returned to normal.
’I’ll just have the Divine Stone remove the fragment from Fuzai’s body later.’
Fuzai listed off many dishes she wanted, and Yu An agreed to make them all. After lunch, she began prepping the ingredients.
After sending the elders out to rest, Yu An dragged her three Beast Husbands into the kitchen to help.
The most tiring and tedious part of cooking is preparing the ingredients, so she left that to Han Li and the other two. Meanwhile, she first took Fuzai on a trip to her pocket dimension.
Fuzai, holding a Jelly in her hands, asked curiously, "Female Mother, where are you taking me?"
"To find a person... er, a stone."
’Fuzai still has a piece of the Divine Stone inside her. I wonder if the Divine Stone will change at all once it’s whole again.’
Yu An found the Divine Stone near the old mission console. It was sound asleep, snoring away. ’Come to think of it,’ she mused, ’every time I see the Divine Stone, it’s either teaching the Zaizai how to cultivate or it’s sleeping.’
’I’ve rarely seen it do anything else, like take a walk or read a book... Er, a stone doing those things sounds a bit creepy.’
"Divine Stone," Yu An said softly. "I’ve brought my Fuzai here. Please retrieve your fragment from inside her."
Back then, the Divine Stone had said that the six children were suitable vessels for its recuperation, which was why it had taken up residence inside the Zaizai.
Now, it could finally be removed.
The Divine Stone was still groggy when it woke up. When it saw Yu An, it nearly thought she had come for revenge and instantly leaped three feet into the air.
But then it remembered that Yu An hadn’t regained those memories yet, and it relaxed.
"Ah, you found the Zaizai? Alright then, I’ll take back my last fragment."
’The main reason I stayed in the Zaizai’s bodies was to get around Yu An and build a good relationship with the kids. That way, when Yu An eventually comes to beat the crap out of me, the Zaizai can put in a good word. Of course, it was also a way to taste some delicious food through them.’
However, it wasn’t an ordinary stone. Residing in the children’s bodies long-term would affect them, so the Divine Stone had mostly removed itself.
It couldn’t taste delicious food that way anymore, and Da Hu’s and the others’ appetites had returned to normal as a result.
Only Fuzai had been far away. The Divine Stone had been able to send its fragment into her body, but it couldn’t retrieve it remotely. That was why Fuzai still ate more than a normal child at every meal.
Yu An and Fuzai watched with bewilderment as the Divine Stone leaped into the air, then hopped over as if nothing was wrong.
That’s right. It got around by hopping.
"Zaizai, sweetie, come a little closer and let Uncle Divine Stone touch your little hands."
The Divine Stone’s cutesy affectation was so over the top that it gave Yu An goosebumps.
Fuzai obediently did as it asked. As long as she wasn’t speaking or moving, she looked like a quiet and well-behaved little girl.
She looked so much like a young Yu An that the sight melted the Divine Stone’s stony heart. It spoke in a soft, gentle voice, as if afraid of scaring the little girl.
’Sigh. The Little Phoenix was also such a quiet, well-behaved girl when she was little. She’d adorably call me "Big Brother"... But then...’
’Thinking of the utter chaos in the Heaven and Earth Illusion Realm made the Divine Stone’s heart ache.’
’Best not to even bring it up!’
’I just hope Little Fu doesn’t become like her mother. Otherwise, my Heaven and Earth Illusion Realm really won’t survive their destructive tendencies!’
"Hmm?"
The Divine Stone made a puzzled noise. Hearing it, Yu An immediately asked, "Divine Stone, what’s wrong?"
"It’s nothing, nothing," the Divine Stone said, wobbling a bit. "This fragment has just been inside the Zaizai for so long that it’s a little reluctant to return."
It took a bit of effort, but the stone finally managed to retract the fragment.
Fuzai had just finished eating, but she was already starting to feel a little hungry again. The moment the fragment left her body, however, the hunger vanished.
"Whoa," she said, looking down at her tummy. "That’s so amazing!"
The weight on Yu An’s heart finally lifted. Even if the Divine Stone was potentially the allied Heaven and Earth Stone, she was still uneasy about letting a fragment of it remain inside her child.
She watched the Divine Stone closely to see if there were any changes after it became whole, but she was disappointed.
The small chip on its corner was filled in, making the entire stone a little rounder, but other than that, there was no change.
Yu An felt a slight twinge of disappointment, but it didn’t matter much. She invited the Divine Stone to join them for dinner that evening.
The Divine Stone was about to agree, but then it remembered its current predicament. ’I don’t even have a mouth. How am I supposed to eat?’
It politely declined, but noted that once it returned to the Heaven and Earth Illusion Realm, it would be able to grow a mouth and eat.
The Cloud Beasts hadn’t seen Fuzai in a long time either, and they crowded around her, refusing to let her go.
Seeing the little one dive headfirst into the soft, fluffy clouds to play, Yu An left the pocket dimension by herself.
When she left, she brought the simultaneously joyful and sorrowful Red Fox with her.
It was naturally thrilled that Fuzai was home, but the thought that it would likely be targeted by this little demon wiped the smile right off the Red Fox’s face.
Yu An also went to check on Tian Shu and his family. There were houses built in the dimension—nothing luxurious, just simple farm-style courtyards.
His family had chosen a private, single-family courtyard and were living there, looking as if they intended to settle in for the long haul.
"Tian Shu, would you and your family like to come out? I’m in Tianhuan City right now. You could settle here if you wish."
Yu An added, "Tianhuan City is a very pleasant place to live. Tian Fu has likely forgotten all about you by now, so he probably won’t send anyone to drag you back."
Tian Shu was, in fact, tempted. After all, they were living under someone else’s charity, which was always a bit awkward.