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The cart ride had certainly been the best alternative, but it was still excruciating to be bounced along with a very broken leg. Mobei-Jun seemed to have a destination in mind though, and Shang Qinghua was pretty certain he'd pushed enough buttons already.
He'd made so many demands and yelled out his heart's content at the one person he didn't want to piss off! Short of Binghe, actually, or any of the other demons… current developments really had reinforced how Mobei-Jun had been, in his own way… gentle, with Qinghua? Was he just too worried about breaking the fragile little human that had been so useful over the years? His current situation, sitting in the cart while Mobei-Jun hauled him over hell and high water, seemed to show he was at least safe from dying.
He wisely decided to finally shut his mouth, distracting himself by ruminating on a new pen name to restart his writing under, until they came to the edge of a small farming village. It was small but luckily had at least an inn for travellers coming by, and though Mobei-Jun was truly terrifying, the innkeeper seemed to suddenly grow a soft expression when the demon king demanded that the local healer come and see to the injured man he brought in. He allowed the innkeeper and her husband - the local bonesetter it turned out - to remove Qinghua from the cart and carry him into a quaint but clean room to address his injuries.
With some (more or less) proper medical care, Qinghua was assigned to lie in bed, cycle his qi if he was able, and recover for at least a week, which they would give him a very kind discount on the room since he was rather stuck there. Clever, he thought, but he hardly wanted to argue - he told them to bill it to An Ding Peak and settled into the bed with a shaky sigh.
It was hard to rest though, when Demon King Mobei-Jun was standing on the other side of the room, arms crossed while he stared.
Qinghua closed his eyes, wondering if he could just pretend he passed out and avoid conversation that way, but he visibly jolted when Mobei-Jun spoke.
"Daddy." He said it as a simple statement, but Qinghua's heart seized. Nope, he sure didn't like that tone at all!
"Wh,what?" Was the best that Qinghua could reply with, startled and trying to sit up enough to look at him squarely.
"When you raged before," Mobei explained patiently, his arms still crossed. "You said to call you 'Daddy.' Why is that?"
Ooh no. He had really lost his mind during that rant - what was he thinking saying that to his king? Of course he wouldn't forget! In the moment it had been a reach, he knew, some semblance of control over this world he created that had schooled him at every possible turn. But he also learned quickly that maybe considering this huge, imposing, impressive as his son was not exactly the relation he wanted.
"O,oh, my king, please don't," he sputtered, trying to wave away the thought with his hand. "It was… I mean I was… in the moment…"
As he floundered, Mobei-Jun raised an eyebrow. "So you don't like it."
Deflated, Qinghua nodded. "It sounds… too odd coming from you. My king. Please, don't take anything I said to heart. I was… distracted with other things."
There was a rustle, and then quiet Mobei was kneeling at Qinghua's bedside, his gaze solid as a glacier. "I don't like it when you're distracted. You're right where you should be now." In a rare bit of clarification, he continued. "With me."
Qinghua stared in response, not fully processing what this meant. "...With you? My king?"
Mobei-Jun simply nodded. "You ran away. But I finally found you. I like a hunt as much as the next but it was frustrating. Don't hide so well next time."
Struck fairly speechless at this, Qinghua tried instead to focus on the dull ache of his leg. That made more sense right now, but he managed at least a nod, and Mobei seemed satisfied enough to actually let him keep the bed, while the demon king settled to sleep on the floor by his side.
Qinghua's racing thoughts didn't give him much sleep that night.