Chapter Text
Case 1 - Bian Fei Wei Bao
Squinting his eyes, Zao An furrowed his eyebrows as he looked around him, observing his surroundings.
“What in the actual Fu Longfei is this…” Zao An mumbled to himself, his head resting on his hand while he scrunched up his face. He really didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this moment.
As he sat on the random chair he woke up in, in front of his eyes he watched the drama unfold in front of him.
“Why are you ignoring me?” The person on the right side of the table shouted with tears stained on his face to the other person on the left side of the table, “Do you not love me? Is our marriage a joke to you? Are our children a joke to you?” the person had shouted loudly, pain laced within their voice, to which the other person replied with total silence.
To anyone, it would be a usual married couple fighting in the household, but it wasn't like that.
As Zao An brought a hand to pinch his nose in disappointment, he tried holding his laugh back with all his willpower. In front of him were his supposed parents, Jing Long and Fu Xinbo.
Biting his lip to not let a chuckle or even a smile escape his lips, he watched as Jing Long rushed over to Fu Xinbo's side, placing a hand on his shoulder, to which Fu Xinbo shook off.
“Bao bei, please,” Jing Long went back to his own seat without taking his eyes of Fu Xinbo, his hands on the table, “What would Xiao Zao and Xia Xia do without us?
Cringing at being called Xiao Zao by the person that was supposed to be younger than him, he shook his head in confusion. Just what in the Fu Longfei was happening?
Jing Long had stood up and made his way over to Zao An, who took the largest breath in to try and not lose it.
“Hey Xiao Zao,” Jing Long bent next to Zao An, bringing up a hand to place it tenderly in the ‘younger’ person's hair and ruffling it up, causing Zao An to cringe so much he felt 早不安. “Go to your room and check up on your brother, me and your dad have parent things to discuss.”
Zao An died inside as he felt the warmth of his ‘parent’ Jing Long's hand caress his hair- wait what, what is even happening? When he slept the previous night, he was sure to sleep in his own bed, not in a grey stone-like chair in a random grey house which had similarities to the Bian Fei Wei Bao stage… wait is this what it is? Where was he even?
Looking up at Jing Long's face, which had tears in his eyes, Zao An had no idea whether to feel bad for his supposed parent's crying, or to laugh at the absurdity of this situation.
Nodding a tiny bit, Zao An immediately shot out of his chair and dashed quickly down a random hallway, hopefully heading to his bedroom. He let out a silent laugh as soon as he was out of the fighting couple's view, his face scrunched up from trying to not let out a sound from his mouth, before leaning against the wall, unable to handle the confusing situation. What was even happening?
“A-Are you okay Zao An?” A shaky voice towards the left of Zao An was heard before Zao An could even start trying to process what was happening. Turning to the left of him, he spotted a figure who was hugging their legs to themselves, their eyes looking through their glasses straight at Zao An. After a few seconds of looking at this person, Zao An had realised who they were.
“Hu Xia?”
As Zao An slowly made his way into the stone room, he noticed two comfy beds in the room, one this child Hu Xia was on, and the other one he assumed belonged to him. Sitting next to the small Hu Xia, he had only just realised by the limited sunlight illuminating the other's face, that he was in fact crying.
“Zao An,” Hu Xia called out, sniffling a bit, “W-Why do dad and mum always have to fight all the time?”
As soon as Zao An had heard Hu Xia refer to Jing Long and Fu Xinbo as those words, he couldn't help but choke on his own saliva. Coughing aggressively, Zao An tried breathing but failed.
“Hu cough Xia-ge,” Zao An coughed as he held one hand over his chest, while the other planted on Hu Xia's shoulder, “I'm sure our cough parents are cough fine.” Giving a small reassuring smile through the pain of referring to the Fu Longfei pair as parents, he awkwardly patted Hu Xia on the shoulder while coughing, before Hu Xia had aggressively pulled Zao An in.
Suddenly in Hu Xia's embrace, he felt the other's shaking figure hugging him, as Zao An slowly felt the cloth of his shoulder slowly dampen. As Zao An relaxed in this tiny Hu Xia's hug, he raised an eyebrow as he hugged back. If this was fake, that means this doppelganger small Hu Xia had really good acting. If this was real, Zao An was confused as hell (no).
Returning the hug, Zao An wrapped his arms around Hu Xia, still confused. Had he somehow gone into the stage of Bian Fei Wei Bao and didn't know it?
“Please check the notification.”
A sudden automated voice was heard, as Zao An looked up at a random bright light, still in Hu Xia's embrace. Adjusting his glasses to see whether he saw it right, or if he was just hallucinating, the light had suddenly disappeared, before a hologram screen appeared in front of him, behind Hu Xia.
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New Year's Special: Case 1 - Bian Fei Wei Bao
Participant: Sun Yang (Zao An)
To obtain the case details, find the room.
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What case? Briefcase? Room? There's so many rooms, what room do you want? Picky ahh notification.
Wait, what even is this notification?
“I am here to guide you through solving your cases.”
‘Well you aren't guiding me very well, I don't even know what is going on!’ Zao An thought aggressively (how do you even think aggressively). ‘How are you even reading my mind? What are you?’
“You can call me Xiao Du,” the automated voice replied in response to Zao An's thoughts, “I'm looking forward to assisting you.”
What in the actual world? Before Zao An had any time to argue back, he felt Hu Xia pull away from their embrace.
“Haha, sorry Zao An,” Hu Xia awkwardly laughed, while bringing a hand to wipe his tears away from under his eyes, “I'm just really worried for mum and dad, thanks for being here.”
“No problem Hu Xia…” Zao An tried his best to muster up a smile, before noticing a capybara plush on the ground next to his bed. Turning around to go pick it up, Zao An looked back to the tear stained face of the older, before handing the plush to him, “Here Hu Xia-ge, everything will soon get better, no hardships last forever.” As Hu Xia slowly took the capybara and hugged it tight, Zao An quickly got off the bed and left the room, his face cringing from saying those words. Never saying that again.
Walking around these new surroundings of this stone house, he tried looking for the room. Xiao Du didn't give any more information than that, how is Zao An possibly gonna find that room?
As Zao An ventured around the house, walking into multiple different rooms including Jing Long and Fu Xinbo's room, he assumed, the laundry, the kitchen, past the Fu Xinbo giving Jing Long silent treatment, Zao An had made his way to the front door.
Placing a hand on the handle, a high pitched beeping sound was heard.
“Warning! Warning! The participant cannot leave during the investigation of the case.” The automated voice was once again audible to Zao An's ears.
‘Aiya Xiao Du Xiao Du ah, I can't even go home, no? If I'm tired, why can't I go back to my bed? You haven't even told me where I am!’
“You have your room with Hu Xia, I did not place a time limit on this case. The kitchen is free to use as well if you know how to cook. If you want more details on the case, please find the room.”
‘If you want to give information to me, at least make it useful! There's no point in even asking you…”
As Zao An pinched his nose, annoyed at the limited information that he had received, he then began to finally use his brain cells.
Walking around the house once again, Zao An started to analyse the structure of the rooms. If he had to find the room, it wouldn't be out in the open, or easily one of the rooms he could easily walk into, so it would be most likely a secret room.
Walking past the scene that was too similar to Bian Fei Wei Bao, Zao An immediately recognised the scene that was just about to play out in front of him.
With a pillow in hand, Jing Long lifted it above Fu Xinbo's head, before swinging his arm down, slamming the pillow onto Fu Xinbo's back. By instinct, Zao An felt the need to start rapping his part of the performance, however he was shutted up by a clump of feathers that flew straight into Zao An's mouth, causing him to choke and splutter once again.
Feathers that glowed from the light slowly fluttered down, as Jing Long looked at Fu Xinbo's unmoving figure in pain, and Zao An tried to breathe despite having 700k feathers in his mouth.
Successfully being able to pull the feathers out from his mouth, Zao An had mouthed the last lyric of his rap under his breath, “你还想不相信会有那一天...”
Blankly looking at the scene, Zao An stood there as Jing Long faced Fu Xinbo with shaking eyes, not knowing whether to feel upset or confused. Walking away with the scene while picking out a white feather from his hair, he suddenly spotted a few small shards of broken glass.
“Eh? Xiao Du, whatever your case is, I'm sure this has something to do with it?” Zao An muttered under his breath, before approaching the broken pieces of glass scattered on the stone floor. Despite the lack of response, Zao An had squatted down in the hallway and inspected the piece of glass, which led up to a photo frame that was placed face down. Bringing a hand to grab the top of it, he pulled it up, revealing more broken glass from a smashed photo frame with a picture inside.
“Fu Xinbo-ge with… Xu Haiqiao-ge?” Zao An mumbled under his breath as he picked up the picture frame, seeing a picture of the recognisable faces of Haiqiao and Fu Xinbo together. “Is this the reason why Jing Long and Fu Xinbo are fighting?”
Looking at the photos, he then realised that the smaller broken particles of glass along with dust near the frame was being blown away from the wall. It couldn't be, right?
As soon Zao An had noticed this small detail, he quickly jumped up, before backing away from the wall in front of him. It was weird; according to the normal structure of a house, with the kitchen to the left of this room and his shared bedroom with Hu Xia on the right, what was in this empty space? And if the dust particles would move when in front of this wall, surely it was the room, right?
“Congratulations, Participant Zao An,” the automated Xiao Du's voice sounded in his ears, “You have successfully found the room. Smart of you to know the different temperatures in the hallway in comparison to the secret room, which has an uneven pressure which then causes air to flow through. You have a brain cell.”
‘Only one singular brain cell? What do you mean by that?’
Hearing no response from the unknown entity, Zao An sighed, before looking up at the wall. How is he even supposed to open this?
“...Open sesame.”
…
Why did he think that was gonna work…
Scoffing, he went back to take a look at the photo that was now propped up against the wall. Leaning forward to grab the photo, he looked close at it, before hearing a small quiet voice to the left of him.
“Xiao Zao…”
Turning his head to face the left, Zao An tilted his head to see that a silent crying Jing Long in his Bian Fei Wei Bao outfit was standing there, seeming like all the energy had been sucked out of him. As Zao An looked up at his ‘parental figure,’ he tried not cringing at the nickname once again from the person who was supposed to be his di di. Quite an interesting way Xiao Du has interpreted the performance…
Approaching Zao An, Jing Long grabbed Zao An's arm gently, lifting him into his arms. Before Zao An could process anything, Jing Long had picked up Zao An and carried him like a parent would carry a child. How young was Zao An really in his parent Jing Long's eyes?
“Sorry your parents have to be like this Xiao Zao…” Jing Long wiped his tears with one hand while still carrying Zao An with his other arm. Giving a small smile through the pain written all over his face, Jing Long then ran a hand through Zao An's fluffy hair, causing him to tense up.
‘Jing Long, I swear whatever you're crying about is stupid just tell me bro I don't even understand what's going on.’
That's what Zao An had wanted to say. However Xiao Du had different plans for him.
“OOC warning! Changing dialogue…”
“Ba~~ you can tell Xiao Zao what happened, Xiao Zao would understand and you can feel better by telling me!”
Zao An wanted to throw up at this point. He wanted to clean his mouth, cry from cringe and collapse on the ground from even letting that tone of words come out of his mouth.
Sniffling and unaware of his beloved Xiao Zao's feeling of cringe, Jing Long smiled and let out a chuckle that had gotten stuck in his throat, coughing from the uncomfortable feeling. “Thank you Zao An… I'm not so sure anymore…”
Still in the arms of Jing Long, the scientifically younger person had carried the ‘child’ to the bedroom that Zao An assumed the Fu Longfei pair shared, and sat on the bed.
“Recently I've been spotting your father hanging out way too much with other people… usually I'd be okay with it but he's starting to reject me for this specific person, Xu Haiqiao. He's a lot more handsome than me, it's reasonable for Bao Zi to go after him- It's not normal… and I don't know what to do about it,” Jing Long sniffled and laughed weakly, before looking towards Zao An. “I don't know why I'm even talking to my own child about my problems, I'm just that pathetic yeah?”
Shaking his head in tiny, Zao An tried to comfort his ‘parent’ without Xiao Du interfering, “Ba, you are already good looking, and that is why… other ba is ignoring you?”
Suddenly, Zao An had quickly remembered something. “JING LON- BA! I THINK I'VE GOT IT!”
Jumpscaring the poor male who let go of Zao An, Jing Long had no time to react before Zao An had grabbed his so-called father's arm, dragging him out of the stone bedroom into the dining room, where Fu Xinbo was still there, covered in feathers.
Running up to Fu Xinbo, still dragging Jing Long behind him, Zao An stood next to Fu Xinbo and said a simple, “An He Qiao.”
“What?”
As soon as Jing Long had heard Fu Xinbo's voice, he froze in his tracks while no longer being pulled by Zao An. It had been ages since he had even heard his husband's voice, and somehow his youngest son had just managed to make him speak with three syllables.
“Why don't you just make it clear to Jing- ba that you are just trying to help… Uncle Haiqiao to get with… Uncle Wei Li'an? Why do you have to keep it from us! X-Xiao Zao also wan to help!” He cringed once again as that tone was intertwined with his words. I swear Xiao Du I'm gonna find your family and-
“How did you know?” Fu Xinbo had turned around in his chair, facing Zao An, before grabbing his tiny arms (wait why were his arms so tiny).”
“First, you love us! You trusted Jing Long even though he was slamming you with a pillow to the point that you didn't move a bit, but when he goes to touch you, you throw him off. That's mean, but you still have us as your lockscreen!” Zao An felt himself pout and he immediately wanted to throw up again, “Second, I noticed the photo frame. The way you and… uncle Haiqiao pose together isn't like how a couple would - however I've seen a few photos of u-uncle Haiqiao and… uncle Wei Li'an together, and I've noticed the way the corner of Haiqiao's eyes crinkle and the micro expressions in his smile is more relaxed and in a way - in love.” And also it was just way too obvious during the Call Me By Fire S4 days. “So-”
“Since when did our little Xiao Zao get so smart!” Fu Xinbo smiled as he brought Zao An close to him and hugged him tight, aggressively ruffling his hair as well, unaware from how much Zao An was done with life at this moment. “I'm so sorry bao bei… Haiqiao-ge told me to not tell anyone else that we were planning for a way for him to confess to Wei Li'an, I just wanted to keep it a surprise for everyone… I didn't mean to hurt you too… I'm so sorry…”
Smiling, Jing Long managed to wipe the rest of his tears away, before joining in on the hug, “That's so stupid of you Bao Zi, you could of told me sooner,” Jing Long chuckled, and then placed a small peck on Fu Xinbo’s cheek while Zao An was squished in between them.
Well, poor Zao An is gonna have nightmares soon!
After finally being able to escape the married couple's embrace (to which Zao An cringed at the idea), Zao An had quickly ran into the hallway, and to the shared bedroom he and Hu Xia had.
“Xia-ge, they've made up now! It's all okay!” Zao An gave a reassuring smile to Hu Xia, who had immediately sprung out of the bed, quickly gave Zao An a quick hug and ‘thank you,’ before dashing off to the dining room.
As he was left alone again, Zao An felt his mind reeling with thoughts and confusion. Now he had had find the room. Wow why were there so many things to do?
Going back in front of the stone wall where the broken picture sat, he awkwardly stood there, not knowing what to do.
‘Xiao Du Xiao Du, what do I do now?’ Zao An laid against the wall, facing the room that held his answers. ‘Did you just basically put me into a Bian Fei Wei Biao Simulator?’
“Bian Fei Wei Bao…” as soon Zao An had muttered these words, the wall in front of him had clicked opened.
Oh? Was that somehow the password for this room?
Walking into the room, which was not made of stone, but was surrounded with a dim white glow for walls, Zao An found himself in front of a table with a hovering screen.
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New Year's Special: Case 1 - Bian Fei Wei Bao
Participant: Sun Yang (Zao An)
Time Limit: None
Characteristics: A small child.
Case details: Married couple, Fu Xinbo and Jing Long have been fighting for a long period of time. Figure out what is causing their dispute and solve the relationship.
Status: Completed ✔
Bonus task: Comfort Hu Xia and solve his emotional struggles with the situation. ✔
Next Case - ??? (Unlocks in 8 hours)
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