The little child greeted everyone and stood by the wall for a while, but no one responded to him. Only Wagner, not far behind, was calling for him.
"Wagner, you sleep by yourself. I’m not sleeping!" he called back to Wagner after a moment.
"Come on, Ningning!" Wagner urged again.
"Coming!"
Still not getting a response, the little child turned around, but just as he was about to run off, he caught a glimpse of a handprint on the wall from the corner of his eye.
He paused and called back to Wagner, "You sleep by yourself. I’m not sleeping!"
After brushing Wagner off, the little child stood on tiptoe and placed his chubby hand on the handprint.
Inside the handprint, there was something metallic, like a lock.
He fiddled with it for a while, patting the metal piece with his chubby hand, and eventually, he managed to open a hidden door.
The little child looked at the hidden door and grumbled in his childish voice, "So much trouble just to sleep."
Though this place was quite beautiful, sleeping here wasn’t nearly as comfortable as being in the room with his dad.
Muttering to himself, the little child pushed the door open and walked inside.
Outside, a few of the others who had fallen asleep on thick blankets didn’t notice anything.
Inside the door...
The little child waddled forward on his short legs, making his way inside.
Then he saw it—a huge bed!
The bed was a deep crimson red, and the surroundings were decorated in a very antique style, with all sorts of wooden furniture that looked expensive just from the feel of them.
The little child stretched out his chubby hand, touching the wardrobe, then the table, and finally reached the edge of the bed.
A gauzy curtain hung over the bed, not as pretty as Uncle An Nuo's curtains, but this one gave off a sense of authority.
Boldly, the little child stood in front of the bed, which was almost taller than him, and tugged on the curtain. He pulled it open.
After pulling the curtain aside, he didn’t see anyone come out. So, he dragged over a small stool, stood on it, and looked up at the bed.
What he saw left him stunned.
There really was someone on the bed.
The person lying there was dressed in black, with black hair. Even though his eyes were tightly closed, his face was still sharp and cold. He was very handsome, but more than his good looks, it was the aura of authority he exuded that was impossible to ignore.
The little child stared at the black-clad, black-haired man, his heart pounding like a drum.
"So handsome," he whispered.
The little child didn’t really know why, but there was a strange feeling in his chest. He stood on the chair for a while, then climbed onto the bed.
The bed was big and comfortable.
The man was cold but very handsome.
The little child wanted to touch the man’s hair, but didn’t dare to. Instead, he extended his chubby hand and touched the man’s hand.
The man’s hand was cold.
The little child grabbed onto one of the man’s fingers, then plopped down and snuggled up next to him, falling asleep.
Zhan Xi, the father, knew better than anyone how restless his little child was when sleeping. If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t tie the child down while sleeping, Zhan Xi would have already tried securing his little child’s short arms and legs before bedtime.
The night might start off with the little child sleeping properly, but by morning, his butt was often on his dad’s head.
Zhan Xi had lost count of the number of mornings where, after waking up, the first thing he did was feel around on his head for his little child.
But this time, Zhan Xi didn’t need to feel around on his head because his little child, now asleep, had crawled onto someone else’s head.
In the stillness of the room, the little child’s soft snoring filled the air.
No one knew how long the gentle snoring had been going on, but the man with black hair, who was lying next to the little child’s butt, slowly opened his eyes.
The moment he opened his eyes, his large hands abruptly grabbed the chubby thigh that the little child had kicked onto his head.
The thigh was too chubby—one hand couldn’t even hold it completely.
The man’s gaze shifted upward, and this time his cold hand grasped the little child’s neck.
This little brat was pushing his luck.
The man’s dark, pitch-black eyes stared at the little child’s face, his gaze as cold as a deep spring, devoid of any emotion.
He had already indulged this little child when it started digging holes in his territory.
Today was the Day of Ancestral Worship. The tribe here was celebrating the festival.
Given that he had almost wiped out this tribe the last time he woke up, he had planned to temper his temper and spare the tribe’s child.
But some child was just too chubby and too presumptuous.
The man was still looking down at the little child. The little child, now uncomfortable from the grip on his neck, furrowed his soft, dough-like pale face and began to whimper.
His small hand yanked away the man's hand, then his two chubby little legs kicked a couple of times on the bed. Finally, with his chubby little bottom sticking up, he went right back to sleep.
The man: "..."
He had never seen such a reckless brat.
A flash of malice crossed the man's eyes. As he briefly considered whether or not to show leniency to the tribe, before he could make up his mind, the little child turned over again and rolled onto him.
"Daddy, don't spank me," the little child murmured in his sleep, his baby voice sounding like he was on the verge of tears. "I won’t throw my backpack again."
The man: "..."
His disdain for the little child deepened even further.
As the two of them maintained this delicate balance, the little child stopped whimpering and suddenly raised his chubby hand to rub his eyes.
This movement made the man’s eyelid twitch.
Though he had no experience with coaxing children, he had read a bit about them. His sharp instinct told him that the little child rubbing his eyes meant he was about to wake up.
Children tend to get fussy when they wake up.
The man didn’t want to see the child throwing a tantrum in front of him. He stared coldly at the little child and threatened, "Don't wake up. If you dare wake up, I'll feed you to the wolves."
The little child: "..."
Dazed, the little child lowered his chubby hand that had been rubbing his eyes, then, under the man's gaze, sprawled his little body out and continued sleeping.
The child slept without a care in the world. You could say he was trusting, or you could call it foolish. For a child this naive, his parents bore some responsibility for their lack of attention.
The man continued to observe the little child.
Little did he know, this was the first time the little child had ever held a stranger’s hand while sleeping. The little child, who had been taught by his father and the uncles on the barren planet, was not an unguarded child by any means.
Even the little child himself couldn’t quite explain why he was holding this man’s hand to sleep.
