Little Pink Starfish

“Liu Xuan and the other two are back at the Qingdao hotel. The people are in place, and the bait’s been cast—we just wait for the fish to bite…”

On New Year’s Eve, Pei Qing said this while making dumplings. Ever since they borrowed the immortality elixir from Qin Shihuang, the group had been planning how to set a trap for the Nine-Tails. Now was the perfect moment—strike while he’s weak. Zhang Qiu immediately thought of Liu Xuan and his two brothers. They sent Li Shu to release a bit of information: that the trio had entered the pit in Lintong, found a secret door but couldn’t get in, and finally had to leave in a rush.

“You think the Nine-Tails will buy it?” Zhang Qiu fished a meatball from the hotpot and popped it in his mouth, puffing from the heat.

Li Shu passed him some juice and said calmly, “He’s desperate and grasping at straws now. Plus, the tunnel those three dug is still there. His spies must’ve found it too. Just a little asking around and he’s bound to fall for it.”

That woman Du definitely hadn’t returned empty-handed. She’d have found the tunnel—Liu Xuan and his brothers weren’t professionals, and the tunnel wasn’t well hidden. Even if the Nine-Tails was paranoid, once his people checked, they’d know.

All that was left now was to wait for the fish to bite, and then smack it dead.

“It’s ready—Pei Qing, the dumplings are done, veggies are cooked too, come eat.” Zhang Qiu called out to the dumpling-making Pei Qing.

New Year’s Eve, sitting around the hotpot with friends, with fresh dumplings—Little Jiangshi was over the moon.

It was the first New Year for the two little ones. That morning, Zhang Qiu had taken them out to buy new clothes. Little Jiangshi was dressed like a lucky charm child, holding an orange lantern Pei Qing had made, Little Fei on his head. He ran out with a patter of footsteps, then soon ran back in and chirped, “Daddy, where are my fireworks!”

Fireworks were banned in Xi’an city, so Zhang Qiu bought him a box of poppers and sparkler sticks—just to give them a taste of New Year fun. Unexpectedly, both little brothers really liked them. Before Zhang Qiu could speak, Qi Xi, with his usual playfulness, gobbled down a dumpling and said, “Come on, handsome big bro will take you to play with fireworks!”

“Qixi, have you no shame? Big bro, my ass!” Pei Qing fished out a dumpling and laughed-scolded.

Qi Xi turned back with a grin, “What, am I not handsome enough?!”

Pei Qing had no comeback. Qi Xi, victorious, quickly ran off. Soon, loud poppers sounded in the yard, along with Little Jiangshi’s cheers. Inside, Zhang Yushui held the pink egg in his arms and said helplessly, “My Little Pink wants in on the fun too.”

Everyone saw the pink egg flash and flash—it was eager to go play.

So good daddy Zhang Yushui took the egg out to play too. Soon after the fireworks were done, the group returned, still unsatisfied. Zhang Qiu touched his son’s face—frozen red. But the little guy didn’t feel cold himself, and Little Fei’s eyes were sparkling too.

“Come eat now. Tomorrow daddy will buy more.” Zhang Qiu coaxed the sweaty, tired Little Jiangshi to eat.

Little Jiangshi was hungry too. He carefully reached up to pluck Little Fei from his head like a good big brother and said, “Little brother, time to eat!”

Zhang Qiu prepared small bowls for both of them, scooping food from the three-flavor hotpot. Little Jiangshi happily dug in and even took care of Little Fei now and then. Zhang Qiu didn’t interfere.

In the living room, the Spring Festival Gala had started. It was a New Year’s Eve tradition—no matter how busy, people always listened. After dinner, no one bothered cleaning up. They all lounged on the sofa watching TV. No one knew who started it, but soon the youngest family members were each stuffed with red envelopes—even the pink egg and Lingdang’s unborn dragon baby got theirs. Lingdang was teary-eyed, touched deeply. His family had been so poor they sold him into the palace as a eunuch—no one had ever given him a red envelope, even if this one was technically for the baby.

Pei Qing felt bad and hugged Lingdang tightly, kissing him hard. “From now on, every year I’ll give you the biggest red envelope.”

“Big bro is the best.” Lingdang said softly.

Zhang Qiu didn’t look at those two being all mushy. Just as things were getting emotional, it started drifting toward something more steamy. He turned his head and focused on the thick stack of red envelopes in Little Jiangshi’s hands. Little Fei’s red envelopes had already disappeared into the red mist. Zhang Qiu narrowed his eyes and grinned, “Good son, let daddy keep your red envelopes safe—we’ll use it for school later.”
This sounded so familiar… Pretty sure his own mom had used the same line on him. But whatever!

“School’s not fun.” Little Jiangshi was dissatisfied with that reason.

Like a big bad wolf, Zhang Qiu continued conning the little white rabbit: “You’re too young to carry it. Daddy will hold it for you. However you want to spend it, I’ll keep it for you. How’s that?”

“Really?”

My son is just too cute and innocent!

“Zhang Qiu, look at yourself, can’t bear to watch.” Qi Xi tsked from the side.

Zhang Qiu snorted, “Jealous that I have a son with red envelopes? Go have a kid already.” Then he turned back to sweet-talk Little Jiangshi. In no time at all, he’d coaxed all the envelopes over. Little Jiangshi even helped persuade his brother. Little Fei thought for a bit and spat his out. When Zhang Qiu turned back to count, he found Little Fei had sneakily kept one. So he gave it back to Little Jiangshi and said, “Here, spend it how you like. Daddy trusts you won’t waste it.”

Little Jiangshi was thrilled, bouncing over to Little Fei. “Little brother, I’m older. Daddy doesn’t trust you yet, but I’ve got money. Whatever you want, I’ll buy it for you.” Implying that Daddy only gave him money, and Little Fei was still just a baby.

Zhang Qiu facepalmed. Little Fei is way craftier than you, buddy.

Qi Xi, having been red envelope-blocked by Zhang Qiu, sulked his way over to Qi Zhirong’s room. Pei Qing and Lingdang were stuck together. Soon, everyone who had been watching the gala had scattered—after all, it was New Year, a special holiday.

Li Shu carried Little Jiangshi off—he didn’t want to watch TV anymore.

“Time to sleep,” Zhang Qiu used nonsense to coax the kid.

That was Little Jiangshi’s soft spot. He immediately nodded. Once in the room, Zhang Qiu said, “You’re big now. Wash up and sleep with Little Fei early.”

“Okay, big Daddy.” Little Jiangshi nodded.

The door closed with a bang. Li Shu returned to the room. Hearing water in the bathroom, he chuckled and followed in.

Zhang Qiu was brushing his teeth. Hearing the sound, he turned and saw Li Shu grinning, “Happy New Year, coward.”

He was touched—for like, a second—until Li Shu added, “I got you a New Year’s gift. You’re going to love it.”

Zhang Qiu: Bad feeling incoming.

When he saw what Li Shu pulled out, Zhang Qiu really wanted to kneel, cry “Daddy,” and crawl out the door. Why must I be worked to the bone on New Year’s?!

The next day, Zhang Qiu didn’t get up until afternoon. Lunch was served in bed by a very attentive Li Shu.

“Get it away. You beast in human skin!” Zhang Qiu croaked.

Li Shu looked a little guilty. Zhang Qiu thought, Now you know guilt? Hmph. Too late. Then he heard Li Shu say with a smile, “But last night it was the coward clinging to me, begging me to go faster—”

“Shut up already!” Zhang Qiu’s face turned bright red—he did not want to talk about last night.

Li Shu gave him a kiss and said, “Alright, the beast is going to feed the coward his meal now.”

You’re not the real Li Shu!

Zhang Qiu thought he’d get to rest for a couple days. Unexpectedly, that evening, Liu Xuan called—the fish had taken the bait.

“…Yeah, like you said, they snuck the stuff out from inside. Very well-hidden. Sure enough, someone came looking. She was polite, didn’t threaten us, even paid well. You told me to give it to them, so I did. She’s a woman, short—maybe just over 1.6 meters, looked quite dainty. They called her Miss Du. She stared at me for a long time—I got goosebumps. I thought I might’ve been found out, but then she just offered money and asked me to lead her back into the pit.”

Liu Xuan’s voice dropped, “I have a feeling she’s killed before. Very creepy. I used to just want to get rich, but after last time, I’ve given up on that.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.” Li Shu gave him a safety charm.

Liu Xuan instantly relaxed and said, “They said they’re flying to Xi’an tomorrow morning.”

After the call, everyone had heard what Liu Xuan said. Pei Qing smiled, “Looks like Li Shu was right. That Nine-Tails is desperate. They’ll probably enter the pit tomorrow night. We should get ready too.”

There wasn’t much to prepare. They already had the tools at home, just some touch-ups. Zhang Qiu, still sore, stayed behind as logistics support. He was nervous about facing the Nine-Tails again, but seeing how calm and composed Li Shu was, Zhang Qiu’s anxiety faded. It’s just a dying big bird!

That evening, everyone turned in early. The next morning, they got a text from Liu Xuan—he’d already landed in Xi’an and headed straight for Lintong.

“Looks like they won’t wait till dark?” Pei Qing said. “That Nine-Tails really is in a rush.”

Qi Xi added, “We’d better go first and hide in the Heavenly Palace.”

Good idea. They packed up and hit the road. Lingdang hid in the Soul Orb. After an hour, they reached the village in Lintong. To avoid alerting the enemy, they looped around and approached from behind. Little Fei swallowed the car into his red mist. They entered from the tunnel Liu Xuan had dug. It was a smooth trip straight to the Heavenly Palace.

Along the way, they saw scattered fresh skeletons—probably tomb raiders from the past few days, all dead.

“Seriously, it’s New Year’s and they choose tomb raiding? Now they’re dead.” Zhang Qiu sighed.

Arriving at the Heavenly Palace again, they were once more awed by its grandeur. They went behind the main hall. Lingdang emerged from the Soul Orb. The strong yin energy actually made him feel much better. He floated around bravely while Pei Qing trailed behind nervously.

Thanks to Liu Xuan, Li Shu planned to tail the Nine-Tails and his people. There were still many traps inside that hadn’t been triggered. Since he’d promised Liu Xuan safety, he had to keep it.

Zhang Qiu was worried, but Li Shu smiled. “Trust me.”

“Alright.”

They hid in the Heavenly Palace. Time crawled by. Qi Xi tried telling some jokes, but no one was in the mood. Soon, the palace fell silent. No one knew how long passed before Zhang Qiu stood up and looked outside.

“Something’s happening. Do you hear the front gate?”

Zhang Yushui looked and saw nothing unusual. Pei Qing squinted and said, “They’re here. They used explosives.”

“They’re crazy,” Zhang Qiu said, worried about Li Shu outside. Then came a muffled boom—but clearly ineffective. The two jade doors stood firmly shut. “What now? The Nine-Tails can’t get in. I forgot all about this.”

Zhang Yushui shook his head. “They probably have a backup plan. Remember the Yin Soldier Token fragments from the sea?”

“If they have those, why use explosives?”

“Probably paranoid.”

While they talked, the blasts outside finally stopped. Zhang Qiu peeked through a window and saw ghost soldiers opening the gate. The doors slowly opened. Leading the group was Liu Xuan, with a woman beside him—likely the “Miss Du” he’d mentioned.

Zhang Qiu thought she looked familiar. After a moment, he whispered, “Don’t you think Miss Du looks a bit like Du Yu?”

“But Du Yu’s dead.”

“She just looks similar… and that woman went in and never came out—” Zhang Yushui thought for a moment and said, “The way she walks—more like a man.”

Zhang Qiu suddenly got it. “Du Qiao?!”

There were about ten people. Liu Xuan led the way, Miss Du beside him. Behind them were black-clad bodyguards. Zhang Qiu scanned the group but didn’t see anyone resembling the Nine-Tails. He frowned, “Could the Nine-Tails not have come?”