Yu Di raised his hands in the air, dropping the pair of chopsticks.

  “I swear you have the wrong person.”

  Honestly, Yu Di had no idea whether or not this woman was speaking the truth. In those long years of running away from his enemies, he never had time to form any relationships. Everyone he met had been either a means of escape or a means to break his curse. There was no reason why he would have ever meet with Fairy Wong... unless…

  “Then let me prove it to you. You have a birthmark on your rear. It is in the shape of a rabbit.”

  “No I don’t.” Yu Di did. He knew he did. His mother had told him when he was young it was the reason why he was always trying to run away. But he couldn't admit to that.

  There was no way someone as proper as Fairy Wong would force him to strip right? Especially in the middle of a restaurant.

  Fairy Wong shook her head.

  “You won’t cry until you’ve seen the coffin.”

  Fairy Wong unhooked her sword with the butterfly hilt. She put it under Yu Di and lifted him up from his seat like a child.

  Yu Di pushed against his robe as much as possible.

  “You can’t do this. Emperor’s laws still govern this village. This is assault!”

  With a flick of her wrist, Fairy Wong slammed Yu Di onto the table with his ass sticking up.

  “Last chance,” Fairy Wong said.

  “I have no idea what you are talking about,” Yu Di said. He held down his robe as hard as he could. “Let me go!”

  None of the other mortals moved.

  Yu Di was reaching for one of his items to stop this woman before he felt a strong gale blowing up his robe. His ass was on display.

  “This is harassment!” Yu Di scrambled off the table, covering himself.

  Fairy Wong stood with her arms crossed. No, she was no fairy. She was a demon.

  “So it is you. What happened? How did such a powerful Immortal turn into such a sniveling coward?”

  All the mortals scrambled out of the restaurant except for Old Wong. Hopefully no one saw his ass and more importantly, no one heard the part where he was an Immortal.

  “Why do we have to bring up the past?” Yu Di asked. “Just leave me alone to die here. I didn’t do anything to you that you didn’t ask for.”

  “What is he talking about?” Old Wong asked.

  Fairy Wong grimaced.

  “I made a deal with him.”

  “That she did. I remember you too. While I would have loved to brag that I seduced many women in my life, I only ever had one tryst and it was trying to solve my curse. I have little use for romantic entanglements or the needs of the flesh. Such a waste of time.”

  Old Wong reared up and grabbed Yu Di by the neck.

  “Did you just say my daughter was a waste of time?”

  “No, Old Wong.” Yu Di broke from his grasp. “I meant all sexual desires are a waste of time. It’s like a hunger that can never be satisfied. I rose above that. So our tryst meant nothing. You can either kill me for that or be on your way.”

  “I ought to beat you up for defiling my daughter.” Old Wong tried to grab Yu Di again.

  Yu Di had scrambled around the large tables on the other side. Despite sobering from the wine, Old Wong was still too old to catch him so easily.

  “No, he is right,” Fairy Wong said. Finally, a shred of decency from these two monsters. “We had a deal. He offered me power in the form of items and a cultivation manual. And as much as I hate to admit it, that tryst also gave me a strong boost in my cultivation.”

  “So in a way, it could be said that I’m your benefactor,” Yu Di said. He turned toward Old Wong. “Is that how you teach your daughter to treat their benefactors?”

  Old Wong sobered up some more and sat on the chair.

  “My precious daughter. Defiled and ruined. No, you two need to get married right now.”

  Yu Di laughed. He quickly covered his mouth when he saw Fairy Wong glare at him.

  “I’m sorry, but asking for that is the biggest joke in the history of Immortals. One look at her and you can already tell she is head and shoulders above me. It would be like asking the goddess to marry the common beggar on the street.

  “Besides, it looks like she didn’t come all the way back to this remote village in the farthest corner of the Empire to marry me or find revenge. She didn’t even recognize me at first. No, she’s here for something else and for once, it has nothing to do with me. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll take my leave to finish my dinner.”

  “No, you sit.” Fairy Wong waved her hand and strong Qi pushed Yu Di back down onto the seat.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  This again? So disrespectful. If Yu Di didn’t feel that she wasn’t here for him, he might have used one of his items to teach this little Immortal a lesson.

  “Father, the man is right. I am not here for him.” Fairy Wong’s words slowed and became more precise, as if she was thinking about how to say every word before she said it. “I am here because I need someone I trust to care for my daughter.”

  Yu Di’s mouth was open.

  “Your daughter?” Old Wong asked.

  “What? Wait a second,” Yu Di said. “That’s not possible. You and I had a small tryst and based on my alchemy skills, there is no way you and I had a child. My Immortal body would have prevented that.”

  “Are you saying that I am lying?” Fairy Wong asked.

  The surrounding air around Yu Di heated up hotter than a blacksmith’s coal furnace.

  “I’m saying I want proof,” Yu Di said. “The last thing I want is to be blamed for something I didn’t do.”

  Fairy Wong grimaced before speaking slowly and precisely, “I have not had any other relations other than with you. It is your daughter. I swear upon my mother’s grave.”

  Yu Di gaped again. His mind went blank for a moment. How could this have happened? It wasn’t possible with his Immortal body unless…

  The curse.

  It had already weakened him at that point where he couldn’t control his own body. Coupled with his desperation to break the curse, he didn’t care. Curse that foolish Hao Sect manual in putting the idea of dual cultivation to break his curse. Now he’s got a new problem.

  “Fine,” Yu Di said. “Let’s say I believe you. What do you want from a sniveling weak coward like me?”

  Fairy Wong smiled and for a brief moment, Yu Di remembered why he had chosen her in the first place. He remembered her eagerness and how they shared a hometown. Another thing that bit him in the ass.

  “All I want from you is to take care of your daughter,” Fairy Wong said. “With the help of my father, you two grown men should be able to handle her.”

  “I don’t know how to take care of a baby,” Yu Di said.

  “I don’t know either, but I’m willing to learn,” Old Wong said. “I would love to hold my granddaughter.”

  “Good news,” Fairy Wong said. “Lin is three and doesn't need two foolish men trying to feed her. All she needs is someone to watch over her.”

  That sounded about right. It had been about four years since he went on the run again after meeting with Fairy Wong.

  “Where is she?” Old Wong asked.

  “Follow me.” Fairy Wong walked gracefully out of the restaurant with measured steps. The two men followed.

  All the mortals gawked when they saw the trio. Yu Di’s hair and clothes were probably still a mess. Well, more than usual. Hopefully no one was around to see his bare ass or hear that he was an Immortal. The embarrassment would make him run from this village. There weren’t many other places he could go except to Annam and that place was all jungles. It’s hot and sweaty like a fat man’s armpits.

  No one wanted that.

  They didn’t walk too far before reaching one of the larger huts near the marketplace. A gaggle of children chased each other around with sticks and mud.

  Right away Yu Di recognized his daughter. Not only was she wearing high quality pink silks, her face and smile reminded Yu Di of his mother. It had been over eighty years since he’d seen his mother and seeing it on a small, cute face brought a tear to Yu Di’s eyes.

  “What’s her name?” Yu Di asked.

  “Wong Lin,” Fairy Wong said.

  Upon hearing her name, the little girl looked up at Fairy Wong. She froze and dropped her stick. She ran over to her mother, trying very hard to clean off her clothes. But the more she tried, the more the mud smeared everywhere.

  “I’m sorry, Mother,” Wong Lin said. Her voice was tiny and it was the cutest thing Yu Di had ever heard.

  Fairy Wong grimaced and then smiled.

  “It’s okay, little Lin.” She bent down to the little girl’s level and patted her on the head. “Mommy is going to leave you with these two. One is your father and the other is your grandpa. You listen to them as you would me, alright?”

  Little Lin looked between the two men and nodded.

  “When are you coming back?”

  “Mommy will be back soon. I need to fix something with Uncle Yeung and then I will be back for you.”

  Little Lin looked to the ground.

  “Okay.”

  “You be a good girl. Give mommy a hug.”

  Fairy Wong opened her arms. At first little Lin didn’t want to, but she eventually barreled into her mother. Even for an Immortal it was almost impossible for her to stay up from such a hit.

  “Now, keep playing with auntie and her children. Afterwards, your father and grandpa will pick you up. Bye.”

  Little Lin didn’t move from her spot and sobbed. Tears streamed down her little face. Her tiny hands wiped away the tears. Her hair stuck to her face. It was too much even for Yu Di who just met her.

  “Can I talk with you, Fairy Wong?” Yu Di stepped aside as Old Wong squatted down to talk with Little Lin.

  Fairy Wong got up, fixed her face, and walked over. Her gestures weren’t so precise anymore.

  “What is it?”

  “Why are you leaving her?” Yu Di asked. “You and I both know that it might be years before you fix whatever it is you think you need to fix. An Immortal’s problems are never measured in days, but mortal lifetimes.”

  For the first time Fairy Wong’s visage cracked. She bit her lips and a tear came down her cheek.

  “I can’t keep her with me,” Fairy Wong whispered. “She has no talent for cultivating. She wouldn’t last in the world of Immortals.”

  Yu Di cupped Fairy Wong by the chin, tilting her head back to look him in the eyes.

  “That’s a lie.”

  Fairy Wong smacked his hand away.

  Yu Di rubbed his quickly bruising hand.

  “And what do I get out of this arrangement?”

  Fairy Wong stood up straight and stared at Yu Di. That cold, strict face of an Immortal looked down at him as if he was an ant.

  “How about I start with not murdering you.”

  Yu Di took two steps back and then laughed.

  “You wouldn’t. You can’t. You don’t have it in you.” Yu Di crossed his arms. “What else do you have?”

  “She’s your daughter,” Fairy Wong said. “The least you could do is take care of her.”

  “I can die tomorrow from my curse.”

  Fairy Wong narrowed her eyes.

  “Then fine. Take care of her or I tell every one of those sects where to find you.”

  “But your daughter is here. So is your father.”

  “And I’m an Immortal. I can pack up my child and father today. You won’t make it out of this village by tonight.”

  Yu Di could have argued that he could pack up faster than her. But honestly, he saw two major reasons why he couldn’t take the little girl. The first was that she would slow him down should he try to run from his enemies. None of his plans included carrying a three year old with him, especially not one that would include jumping off a cliff.

  The last was that he had no clue how to take care of a little human and it terrified him.

  “Well, what’s your answer?” Fairy Wong asked.