Chapter 260: Chapter 260: A Dragon Flying in the Sky
’The little guy is quite cautious.’
Mo Yan smiled and explained who she and Han Fengyun were.
Little Serpent’s wariness finally disappeared. He had heard his Female Mother and Beast Father talk about their relatives at home, and Mo Yan and the other two had been mentioned.
According to their family hierarchy, Little Serpent was supposed to call Mo Yan "Grandaunt." He called out to her sweetly, making Mo Yan grin from ear to ear.
"Good boy. Come, let your grandaunt give you a hug."
When she left home, her nephew, Mo Yan, had been about Little Serpent’s age now. The aunt and nephew had been very close, and that affection extended to his son. The more she looked at Little Serpent, the more delighted she felt.
Little Serpent wrapped his arms around Mo Yan’s neck and said softly, "Grandaunt, let me take you and Granduncle to find my Beast Father. Oh, right, why is there only one Granduncle?"
He remembered his Female Mother saying that Grandaunt Mo Yan had two Beast Husbands.
Mo Yan smiled. "Your other granduncle is at home. Let’s go get our bearings first, and then Grandaunt will bring him over, okay?"
Little Serpent nodded. A guard led the way, and the group headed for the place where Mo Yan and the others were temporarily staying.
Mo Yan had been constantly searching for a way to leave Qing City, so he had left Little Serpent in the care of Ao Si’s people. When Little Serpent and the others returned, he happened to be home.
"Aunt, Uncle, what are you doing here?!"
"It’s a long story." Having not seen him for a long time, Mo Yan had even missed her nephew, Mo Yan. Her voice was tinged with excitement. "I’ll tell you all about it."
Mo Yan nodded and invited Mo Yan and Han Fengyun to sit down. Han Fengyun didn’t sit, because he was going to get Han Xiaoyun.
Mo Yan glanced hesitantly at Little Serpent. "Your Xiao Yun is still the same as ever. He won’t scare Zaizai, will he? Maybe we shouldn’t have him come over yet."
"It’s fine," Mo Yan said quickly. "Aunt, Little Serpent isn’t timid at all. He won’t be scared."
After that, Mo Yan recounted what happened after the three of them left the exiled land.
They had been constantly searching for a way out, but unfortunately, they had found nothing.
Luckily, by a stroke of fortune, they saw Little Serpent today. Otherwise, they would have given up on leaving and resigned themselves to living here.
"Aunt, An’an is on the way. Don’t worry, An’an will take us back home."
Mo Yan comforted Mo Yan for a bit, then suddenly remembered something. "Aunt, before Uncle Xiao Yun left the exiled land, he gave a fruit pit to An’an. That pit has already grown into a small tree and borne fruit..."
"Really?!"
The door to the room was suddenly pushed open. Han Xiaoyun was wrapped up tightly, but anyone could feel his excitement.
Little Serpent had been quietly listening to the adults talk when he was suddenly startled, immediately changing back to his beast form and darting into Mo Yan’s arms.
Mo Yan’s expression instantly darkened. "What are you shouting for? Trying to show off how loud you are?!"
Han Xiaoyun shrank back and gave an embarrassed smile. "A yuan, I was just... too excited."
He had been a skeleton for so long that hearing about a chance to recover made him momentarily overcome with excitement.
He hurried over, but stopped and took two steps back when he reached Little Serpent. "Xiao Yan, your uncle is a bit scary right now. I’ll just step out. You all can talk."
Before Mo Yan could speak, Little Serpent poked his head out from his arms. "Granduncle, I want to see what you look like."
He was very curious. He’d always heard the adults say that his granduncle’s appearance was not fit to be seen, the kind that could scare children to tears, which only made him more curious.
Han Xiaoyun hesitated for a moment. Mo Yan smiled and said, "Uncle, just let him see. Zaizai is very brave."
"If you don’t let him have a look, he probably won’t be able to sleep for the next few days."
Hearing this, Han Xiaoyun nodded slightly and pulled back a small corner of the robe that enveloped his entire body, revealing an arm.
When Little Serpent saw it, not only was he not afraid, he jumped onto him excitedly. "Wow! Granduncle, you’re so cool! Your arm is made of bones!"
After seeing Han Xiaoyun’s full body, he became even more excited and pestered Han Xiaoyun to play with him.
Well, playing by detaching bones and throwing them around.
Han Xiaoyun was quite flattered, but then he remembered the reactions of Da Hu and the other two and understood.
None of Little Serpent’s three older brothers were afraid of his skeletal body, so naturally, Little Serpent wasn’t afraid either.
For a moment, ribs, hand bones, and kneecaps flew about the courtyard. Little Serpent let out periodic cries of amazement, and Han Xiaoyun threw them with even more gusto.
Mo Yan sighed helplessly. "This child..."
"Let him play," Mo Yan said with a gentle smile. "Little Serpent likes playing with him. A shao couldn’t ask for more."
Han Fengyun chimed in sourly from the side, "Yeah, yeah. Later, who knows how he’ll brag to me that Zaizai likes him more than me!"
Mo Yan chuckled. He told Mo Yan and Han Fengyun to get some rest, and went to the kitchen to cook.
The guards Ao Si had left behind went from initial horror to numbness. They would even occasionally help pick up the bones that were thrown too far.
Then they would be rewarded with Zaizai’s soft "Thank you, big brother" or "Thank you, big sister."
’Heh heh, I hope the Hall Master comes later,’ they thought. ’We want to spend a little more time with the Fourth Young Master.’
Not to mention, Mo Yan cooked for them himself every day. In just a few days, they had each gained about five pounds!
The happiness level of the guards who stayed in Qing City skyrocketed, but the guards following Ao Er had it much harder.
They searched all along the way, either finding no one or finding the wrong people. When Ao Si sent a message by carrier pigeon to Ao Er, Ao Er still hadn’t found a single trace of anyone.
"Hall Master, ahead is the easternmost edge of the Endless Land. If we still don’t find any trace of Lord Ao and the young miss, we’ll have to change direction."
Having searched every city in the east without finding them, Ao Er was already losing hope.
But since this was the last city, he told his guards to rally their spirits and search diligently.
Every time they reached a new city, Ao Er would have the local branch Hall Master post portraits of Yu An everywhere, pasting them in every street and alley, trying to make sure even the rats in their holes would know.
If Ao Wu saw it, he would surely come to them on his own initiative, just like Han Li did, which was far more convenient than them searching door-to-door.
This last city was no exception. After handing the portraits to the Fei City branch Hall Master, Ao Er led his men to search the streets as usual.
They had all seen the portraits of Ao Wu and Fuzai. Ao Wu was handsome, and he had a cute little girl with him. If they saw them on the street, they would recognize them in an instant.
Ao Er had the guards split up to search, but when they regrouped after combing through every street and alley of Qing City, they had found nothing.
Night was falling. He was just about to go to the branch hall to ask if anyone had come looking for them today when a fierce wind suddenly kicked up.
"Why has the wind started blowing? It’s so strong!"
"My blanket! My blanket!"
"Forget the blanket! Grab your child, the child is about to be blown away!!!"
A sharp cry rang in his ears. In his peripheral vision, Ao Er caught a glimpse of a child being blown into midair. He immediately leaped up and caught the child, bringing them back down.
Just as he landed, a guard exclaimed, "Hall Master, look at the sky! It’s a dragon!"
Ao Er instinctively looked up. Sure enough, a dragon was flying in the sky. He felt the dragon looked a bit familiar, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember where he had seen it before.
"Hey, there’s a person on the dragon! It’s... it’s a child, and he looks a lot like the young miss!"
