Father is of the dragon clan and also my partner

The room behind the paper door had an indescribable imposing manner, solemn and mysterious. The interior was a bit dim. The gold-mounted incense burner was emitting a faint fragrance. Hanging from the ceiling were lanterns made of several wooden rings. Jim thought that the wicks inside probably weren't candles or electric lights. The soft and pale yellow light seemed to cast a light veil over the two rows of Chinese-style bookshelves on the left and right, with simple patterns formed by overlapping wooden frames, and the empty spaces were filled with neatly arranged books or porcelain items.

On the rectangular desk in the very center were placed the Four Treasures of the Study and...

A computer?

Sure enough, this isn't a time-traveling situation... Jim couldn't help thinking. =_=||||| A person was sitting behind the desk. Behind him was the only half-moon-shaped carved wooden window lattice in the room. Because of the backlighting, his face couldn't be seen at all. There was also a person standing beside the desk. Judging from the figure, it should be a man.

The child was a bit scared and held the young man's hand even tighter. With his other hand, he grasped the hem of the young man's clothes and half of his body hid behind the young man.

The standing man saw this and walked over, then squatted down to be at eye level with the child. The man was around twenty years old, dressed in a cyan Tang suit, gentle and refined.

"Don't be afraid. I'm your second brother."

His voice was very soft, so gentle that it made one think of the cool breeze on a summer night. Jim thought his pronunciation was a bit unique. Although he was a man, there was a bit of a feminine charm in his voice. The gold-rimmed glasses the man was wearing reflected light, so his eyes couldn't be seen. The corners of his pretty mouth were slightly raised in a nice arc.

The man pointed at the young man in white and said, "He's your third brother."

Finally, he pointed at the person sitting behind the desk and said, "He's Ao Guang, your father."

That man stood up. He was burly and taller than both the young man in white and the man in cyan. In Jim's eyes, he was like a giant. Westerners were generally taller, but this man would surely stand out even among Westerners.

The man looked to be in his thirties. His eyebrows were like two swords slanting into his temples, and his eyes were the darkest black, as if they could embrace everything and also see through everything. His sharp facial features showed determination, and his tightly pursed lips showed restraint. There weren't too many traces of age on his face, only a few fine lines at the corners of his eyes, which added to the charm of a mature man. On his black Tang suit was embroidered a golden flying dragon, coiling up from the bottom and at the chest, the dragon's head turned, looking extremely domineering. The whole person exuded coldness, sternness, and dignity.

The man looked down from above, and Jim felt oppressed by his aura and could hardly breathe. In the place where Jim lived, there were quite a number of single-parent families, and many children were raised by other relatives because of their parents' divorce. So Jim didn't think there was anything wrong with not having parents. He had no concept of a father at all. Unconsciously, he thought: So this is what a 'father' is like, tall and serious, making people feel in awe. Would he be like what Tom said, often playing with me, teaching me many things, and spanking my butt when I did something wrong?

The child defined a father like this according to the image described by his friends. Little did he know that the man was actually completely different on the inside. (Narrator: This is what is meant by: "Never judge a book by its cover.")

Seeing the child looking at him with his big, bright eyes wide open, Ao Guang unconsciously curved the corners of his mouth. Jim didn't notice anything, still looking so innocent that it was almost tempting, but the second son over there saw it clearly. He couldn't help shivering, knowing well that his father's "habit" had flared up again.

Ao Guang bent down and took off the child's glasses and hat. The child resisted a little, his small hands tightly grasping the hem of his clothes and trembling constantly. He didn't know why he suddenly looked like this. He must be a monster in other people's eyes. However, the man wasn't as surprised as he expected. He lifted the child's chin with his finger and said in a low voice, "So beautiful!"

The child's fair skin had a healthy rosy glow. He had the small and delicate facial features of an Easterner, with a bright red dot on his lips, looking so tender and making one think of crystal jelly. His pair of purple-blue eyes were clear and bright, making one think of beautiful gems. But the pupils in his eyes were long and narrow, like those of a cat. Human pupils were usually round, and only animals had long and narrow pupils.

His short black hair was neatly combed, deliberately leaving long sideburns. From the black hair above his ears protruded small horns that were about one finger long and two fingers thick. The tops of the horns were round and forked, a bit like the horns of a little sika deer, making him look extremely cute.

Suddenly, the man bent down and licked the small horns. Jim felt an electric current pass through his body, and his whole body felt numb and weak, as if something was about to burst out in his heart, and his legs went weak.

"Ah... Dad..." The child couldn't help moaning, and his soft childish voice unexpectedly had a hint of sensuality.

"Not 'Dad', it's 'Daddy'. Come on... Call me 'Daddy'." The deep male voice was like a cello playing softly, blending into the gentleness of the night, coaxing the child gently.

"Daddy..." Feeling the man's hot breath around his ears, which tickled, Jim felt his whole body go limp and slumped softly into his father's arms.

"Good~~~ What's your name?"

"I'm Jim, Jim Hua."

"Right, I remember your mother's surname is Hua (hua). Then you can continue to use this surname. Do you have a Chinese name?"

The child shook his head. The man thought for a moment and said, "This year will be a year full of disasters for our Chinese land. Your name will be Tianyou."

The man lifted the child high up, showing a dazzling smile, like the sun shining brightly on the earth.

"Hua Tianyou. I hope Heaven will bless China."

Chapter Four

After that, the man asked his second son to take Tianyou to rest. The young man held his hand and led him to an antique-looking room. There were rattan flower window lattices and rattan wooden furniture, and several palace lanterns were lit in the hall. Tianyou was immediately attracted by the scenery outside the window. Strings of purple wisteria were climbing on the window eaves. The water below the window was tinkling, and purple petals falling into the water created ripples one after another. Colorful koi were vying to play, and beside them, a small waterfall was cascading down.

"This place is called Purple Dream Residence. It will be your residence from now on. Do you like it?" The young man smiled. Unexpectedly, the child jumped up enthusiastically and gave the young man a hard kiss on the cheek, making a smacking sound.

"Yes! Thank you!"

In the West, kissing might be a common etiquette, but in traditional China, it had a different meaning. The young man touched his cheek and was stunned for a moment.

The child lay on the windowsill and looked outside. There was a layer of mist floating on the pool. The colorful koi jumped out of the water and swam freely in the air, their colorful scales shining brightly.

Tianyou was so surprised that his mouth opened wide. What had he seen?

"Um..." He tugged at the sleeve of the person beside him, only to realize that he didn't know what this second brother's name was.

The young man seemed to know what he was thinking. He walked to the desk in the room, picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote two characters on the rice paper, saying, "I'm Ao Lan. Ao is the surname. Lan means the mist in the mountains. In Bai Juyi's poem 'Newly Planted Bamboo', there's a line 'Before nightfall, the green mist enters; before autumn, the white dew forms clusters', which refers to the green mist."

Although he didn't quite understand it, Tianyou thought it should be a very elegant name, just like the young man himself, gentle and refined, not knowing that the word 'Lan' had another meaning in other countries.

The young man continued, "I know that in foreign countries, siblings call each other by their first names directly, but in China, there's a distinction between elders and juniors. You can call me Second Brother."

Tianyou lay on the edge of the desk and asked, "Then, what's the name of that pretty brother?"

"You mean Ling? His name is Ao Ling. 'Ling' means to be dominant or have an overwhelming presence, like in the words'sharp' and 'arrogant'. It also means cold, like in'severe winter' and 'biting cold'."

That really suits him, Tianyou couldn't help thinking.

"A name is very important. There's a Cantonese saying: 'It's not 可怕生坏命,最怕改坏名 '. A name is the first spell given to us by our parents and determines our future abilities."

Tianyou didn't understand the Cantonese that was suddenly inserted in the middle at all. He only knew it was the language of this place and the pronunciation was a bit strange. He could only understand that it probably meant a name was very important. As for 'determining future abilities', he didn't understand it at all.

"By the way, the name of the uncle we met in the lobby is very interesting. He has the same name as the heroes in novels." Speaking of names, Tianyou remembered the man named Linghu Cong.

"You mean Linghu? It's not the 'Chong' as in the other word, but the 'Cong' which means smart." Ao Lan wrote the three characters 'Linghu Cong' on the paper, "'Linghu' means a beautiful fox."

"He's a beautiful and smart fox?" Tianyou thought that when that man smiled, he really did look a bit like a fox. There was a bit of a joking element in these words, but he didn't know that he had actually hit the nail on the head.

"Then what about my name? The name Daddy just gave me." Although he didn't understand why his father was so happy, because of that dazzling smile, he himself began to like this name too.

Ao Lan wrote three more characters on the paper and pointed at them to teach him to read: "Hua Tianyou."

"Hua... Tian... You..." As if thinking of something, Tianyou wrinkled his small eyebrows, "Why is my surname different from Daddy's? Does Daddy not like Tianyou?"

Seeing the child's small, curved eyebrows wrinkled, his little mouth slightly pouting, and his big, clear purple-blue eyes covered with a layer of moisture, he looked even more adorable. Ao Lan's heart ached when he saw this. He touched the child's short hair and was just about to say a few words of comfort when a deep male voice interrupted.