Chapter Text
[Time skip! 8+ years]
Shen Yuan couldn’t believe it… he was pregnant again!! He took the right precautions, and he made sure Binghe behaved… What the hell happened?! Whatever it was, he knew it had to be Shang Qinghua's fault.
Binghe was currently crying on his shoulder, holding him tight around the waist and proudly bearing a giant bruise on his forehead after another beating from his dear husband.
“Binghe!!!!”
Luo Binghe pouted, doing his best to look up to his Shixiong with the cutest puppy eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that, Binghe. That doesn’t work on me anymore.”
Luo Binghe cried harder. Ever since the first two kids, none of his manipulative tactics worked on his Shixiong.
“But Shixiong, I said I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t change the fact that we already have another one coming.”
Shen Yuan stood and walked over to his closet. He didn’t even know why he had a fucking closet. He wore the same thing every single day: the same green, dark navy blue, and white robes adorned in a silver belt and hair crown. And yet Luo Binghe insisted on getting Shen Yuan more robes than he could count. He felt like Sofia the First.
“Binghe, start on breakfast if you wanna sleep on the bed tonight.”
Luo Binghe pouted once more, nodding sorrowfully and skipping off.
Once Shen Yuan finished getting dressed, he went over to the children’s hall. So far they’ve only had boys—four boys—and they needed a girl just this one time, because there was no way he was raising four miniature Binghe’s alone without his own mini me… because that’s what they were: pouty, pathetic, adorable copies of their father, from the dragon tail to the unruly hair.
Shen Yuan loved them, of course. They were just absolutely adorable! The problem was that one Binghe was enough.
He opened their shared room. Despite Luo Binghe having built twelve rooms in the singular hall—which, by the way, each room was the size of Shen Yuan’s old apartment—they all insisted on sleeping in one bedroom because apparently it was better that way.
Shen Yuan sighed. They were all in their separate corners of the room, and wrapped in their arms and legs was a fish plushy. Shen Yuan could tell somewhere in their minds that he was the fish, but he could care less.
The moment that the sun had hit the boys’ eyes, they shot up and yelled, “MAMA!” and all four boys tackled Shen Yuan’s legs.
“Good morning, boys,” he sighed tiredly, patting their fluffy curls.
Luo Leyang, Luo Zhong, Luo Aiwen, and Luo Fenhua, ages seven, five, four, and one and a half. In that order.
Shen Yuan sighed and picked Luo Fenhua up first. Though the boys were all different in their own special ways—Luo Leyang being the most honest, Luo Zhong the crybaby, Luo Aiwen throwing tantrums whenever he pleased, and Luo Fenhua being the best behaved—Shen Yuan was sure they had one thing they all had in common with Binghe and each other, and that was the fact that they were all easily jealous.
“Don’t do anything to your brother, boys. He can’t exactly fight back… wait till he’s around A-Wen’s age, okay?”
The boys nodded and agreed.
“Okay, Mama.”
He sighed and led them down the steps, grabbing the giant basket of hair oil and brushes, planning to do their hair during breakfast. It was a calm and domestic scene.
But life still hates Shen Yuan, so life decided that Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang should visit.
They lived in their own separate part of the palace, mainly because Shen Yuan insisted that the kids get to know their grandpa, and also because they needed some live-in babysitters on hand any time Shen Yuan needed a break.
“YEYE!” The boys cheered, their feet pattering on the ground as they ran to greet Tianlang-Jun.
“Ahhh!!! My little monsters!” He scooped them all up and gathered them into his arms. “Have you been behaving for your mother?”
“Yes, Yeye!”
“I suppose that means you all get a little treat!” he cheered tangling a jar of alcohol.
“Tianlang-Jun,” Shen Yuan reprimanded with a motherly gaze that meant ‘put the kids down, you overzealous mutt.’
“Yes, Shen Yuan.”
The boys giggled and ran back to their soggy breakfast as Tianlang-Jun took Luo Fenhua into his arms.
“Where is my son?”
Shen Yuan looked up from braiding Luo Zhong’s hair. “Oh, him.”
“What’s with that disdainful tone? Don’t tell me… you’re pregnant!?”
Shen Yuan nodded dismissively , but Tianlang-Jun patted his back, as if that could make Shen Yuan feel any better.
“My son has knocked you up yet again! I’m so proud! You know, if Su Xiyan was still with me, I would’ve given Binghe a couple hundred siblings!”
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes and let the man ramble on about Su Xiyan.
Once he was done doing the boys’ hair, he got them all cleaned up and sent them off to play wherever they wished to play today.
“Shen Yuan,” a meek voice peeped out.
“Ahh, Zhuzhi-Lang. How have you been?”
“I’ve been alright.” The snake man twiddled with his fingers, waiting for some kind of permission.
Shen Yuan smiled and pointed to where the boys were playing in the garden. “You can play with them. Don’t worry, they won’t turn into stone this time, I promise.”
Shen Yuan laughed as the medusa went slithering away to bond with his nephews.
Soon Luo Binghe joined them, and seeing that his father had his son, he instantly snatched Luo Fenhua away from his father’s clutches.
“Binghe, we have discussed this,” Shen Yuan said, hands on his hips and brows furrowed.
Luo Binghe’s lip trembled before giving his son back to his father.
“Fine.”
Shen Yuan sighed and sat on the dining table next to Binghe as he served the food for that morning.
“Shixiong.”
“Yes, Binghe.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“Only a little.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t worry, it was my fault too. I just hope to gods it’s a girl.”
Luo Binghe smiled.
“I do too. I don’t think I like the boys.”
At that remark, he received a hit on the head with the silver handle of Shen Yuan’s fan.
“Binghe!”
“I don’t like how they’re stealing all the attention!!!!”
“That’s your own fault, Binghe! They’re mini yous—deal with it!”
Luo Binghe pouted and ate his congee with a face not even his Shixiong would fall for.
It was a calm afternoon. The boys were hopefully safe, playing with their uncle, while their youngest was taking a nap on Tianlang-Jun’s chest.
Until he heard the familiar cry of Mama.
“MAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
…it was from all three of the eldest boys.
“What’s wrong now?” Shen Yuan stepped outside to see Zhuzhi-Lang holding three very muddy, very tearful boys by their collars.
Shen Yuan looked up to see if it was about to rain.
“It’s as dry as the desert. Where did you boys find mud?”
They shrugged.
Shen Yuan asked the question he dreaded to know the answer to.
“Who’s fault was it now?”
All three boys pointed at one another.
“Binghe!” Shen Yuan called.
“Coming!” a voice inside chirped.
The moment Luo Binghe saw the boys, he just stared, eyes glinting at the chance he was given.
“…corner,” he said matter-of-factly.
The boys teared up.
“Noooo, Baba!!!”
Luo Binghe took them from his cousin’s hands and held them up. “Bath, then corner.”
The boys thrashed about, and Luo Binghe shook them, trying to get the rest of the dirt off them.
Shen Yuan shook his head. “Binghe, you can’t seriously be doing the corner thing again. How about you actually try talking to them first?”
“But I want alone time with Shixiong~”
Shen Yuan hit him over the head once more.
“Binghe!”
Luo Binghe stopped shaking them, and one unlucky blob of mud hit Shen Yuan on the face.
All four puppies shrunk.
Shen Yuan wiped himself clean and laughed. Once he was done, he huffed.
“All four of you in the corner.”
“Me too, Shixiong?”
“Yes, you… especially you.”