Genshin Impact: The Sharpshooter of Teyvat

第1398章 3天1小蹭、5天1大蹭

In high spirits, Shao Yun gently rocked Xi in his arms, leaned close to her, and said expectantly:

"Come on, baby, say 'Daddy'! You can say 'Mommy' clearly now, so say 'Daddy' too, okay?"

Xi blinked her bright eyes, looked at Shao Yun's expectant expression, grinned, revealing her pearly white teeth, and giggled, responding crisply, "Yes!"

This "Hey" stunned Shao Yun.

He looked at his daughter in his arms, who was smiling and looking him over, and for a moment he was both amused and exasperated, feeling as if he had been wronged for no reason.

He raised an eyebrow slightly, a hint of confusion in his eyes, then turned to look at Ying, who was already trembling with suppressed laughter, and asked in a helpless tone:

"This...did my daughter just take advantage of me? I told her to call me 'Dad,' and she actually did it."

Ying couldn't hold back any longer and covered her mouth to chuckle, teasingly saying:

"Is it because you don't spend enough time with your baby? Your baby can clearly call you 'Mommy' and 'Shenhe Mommy', but he can't call you 'Dad' yet. Tell me, are you not close to your child?"

As she spoke, she reached out and gently poked Shao Yun's arm.

When Ying made that comment, Shao Yun's expression instantly became a little strange, and the corners of his mouth drooped slightly.

He admitted that he did not spend every day with his daughter like Shen He did, but he was by no means indifferent to her. Whenever he had time, he would play with Xi and make her happy.

He held Xi in his arms, gently rocked her, and said with a very aggrieved expression:

“I play with my daughter all the time when I have nothing to do... How come I’m not close to her anymore? She always smiles so happily when I play with her.”

As he spoke, Shao Yun, still unwilling to give up, leaned closer to Xi and patiently repeated himself over and over again:

"Baby, say 'Daddy'~ It's Daddy! Daddy—Daddy—"

He deliberately slowed down his speech, teaching her word by word, afraid that Xi wouldn't hear him clearly or learn him, his eyes full of expectation.

Xi blinked her big, round eyes and replied in her clear, crisp voice, "Yes!"

Once, twice, three times... no matter how patiently Shao Yun taught her, Xi's response was always the same sweet "Hey".

Looking at her daughter in her arms, who was all smiles and clearly taking advantage of her, Shao Yun finally lost her temper and sighed helplessly.

He temporarily gave up the idea of ​​having his daughter call him "Dad".

Being taken advantage of by my own daughter like this left me with mixed feelings; it wasn't so much anger as helplessness.

Who taught this kid to do that?! Could it be that Barzebu reincarnated and is here to collect a debt from me?! Please, no way!

Shao Yun gently pinched Xi's soft little face and said softly, "This... never mind, never mind, I won't teach you anymore."

"It is better than anything else for a child to grow up healthy and happy, to be able to speak and play normally."

"There's plenty of time in the future, plenty of time to hear you call me Dad. No rush, we'll take it slow."

Afterwards, Shao Yun held Xi in his arms for a while longer, gently scratching her chin with his fingers, making Xi giggle.

Finally, Shao Yun carried her to Shen He, gently placed her in her arms, and said softly, "Thank you for your hard work, Shen He."

Shen He gently took Xi, patted her back softly, and nodded with a smile.

"It's not hard work at all, I'm very happy!"

……

While waiting for Ningguang to make lunch, someone arrived—unexpectedly, yet predictably…

Sitella was still sitting steadily on her signature flying pillow, slowly floating to the ranch yard. Unlike usual, today she was carrying a bulging brown paper package, which looked like it contained a lot of good things.

Cecilia, who arrived with a gift, lightly jumped off the flying cushion and walked briskly to the living room door. Without any hesitation, she pushed open the door to Shao Yun's living room and casually waved the paper package in her hand.

"Mr. Shao Yun, Ms. Ying, I've come to see your baby! I brought some treats, all of them are children's cookies suitable for little ones!"

As she called out, she strode into the living room, her eyes quickly scanning the room before landing on Xi in Shen He's arms. She then walked straight toward the sofa.

Seeing how familiar and at ease Cecilia was with her home, Shao Yun couldn't help but roll her eyes. She wasn't really angry, but she still spoke bluntly and revealed the real reason for Cecilia's visit at this time.

"Grandma Cetalli, stop pretending. I bet you're not here to see the baby at all, but to freeload off the baby, right?"

That's absolutely true.

Since the battle of Floating Feather Bay ended, Shao Yun's family has been living a peaceful life at Nata Ranch for more than a year. Xiterali has become a regular visitor here, and it is common for her to freeload meals. It is no exaggeration to say that she freeloads every three days or every five days.

However, Shao Yun never really cared about it.

After all, money was just an insignificant number to him; feeding one more person wouldn't cost much.

Moreover, the arrival of Cetalli will liven up the ranch, so why not?

Not to mention, this will solve the problem of tutoring children in the future.

At this moment, Cecilia's little thoughts were directly exposed by Shao Yun. Her carefree demeanor just now instantly became restrained, and she even revealed a bit of girlish shyness.

The old man blushed, shyly drew a few circles on the clean floor with his toes, and his tone softened.

"What nonsense are you talking about! I'm not here to freeload; I'm here to visit your daughter properly! When your family went to Zhidong, I was the one who helped your Shenhe take care of the baby. You can't wrong me!"

When the topic turned to taking care of Xi, Celestella instantly shed her shyness. She straightened her back, lifted her chest, and raised her head, her face full of pride and smugness. Her tone also became much firmer, as if she had made a great contribution.

"Speaking of which, you should thank me! If I hadn't offered to help, Shen He would have had such a hard time taking care of the baby all by himself. I've been a huge help to your family!"

Shen He held Xi in his arms, sat down beside her, nodded gently, and softly echoed, "It was indeed a lot of trouble for Miss Sylvia. We were very grateful to you during that time."

Naïve, she only remembered Cetalli's kindness and didn't think much about those messy little incidents.

At this moment, as Shao Yun listened to Cecilia boasting about her achievements with a smug look on her face, the scenes that Yuan Shang had reported to him back then flashed through his mind, and he couldn't help but smile helplessly.

Sitella's words weren't entirely a joke.

Back when he took Ying and Paimon to Winter to obtain ice elemental power, this Obsidian Grandma actually took the initiative to come to the ranch and accompany Shen He to take care of Xi.

However, this "help" was more of a hindrance than a help.

During the time he was away from home, seventy percent of the chaos on the ranch was caused by Sitalei, and Fuchi had to clean up her messes almost every day.

The most outrageous time was when Sitella wanted to prepare breakfast for Shen He and volunteered to rush into the kitchen. However, she didn't even know how to use the ranch's phlox stove. She fiddled with it for a while and almost blew up the whole kitchen. Shen He was so scared that he quickly picked up Xi and hid in the yard.

Another time, she learned how to start a fire, but she heated the oil until it was scalding hot, and in a moment of impulsiveness, she poured a bowl of water into the oil pan. Instantly, oil splattered everywhere, scaring her so much that she instinctively activated an ice shield, the kind that doesn't require chanting, which froze the kitchen floor into a layer of ice.

There were far too many similar incidents, and Shao Yun felt a headache just thinking about them, so he simply stopped recalling those unpleasant scenes.

Fortunately, Yuan Shang, the all-knowing and capable one, was there to help. He managed to clean up all the messes that Sitella had caused, preventing her from actually setting the house on fire.

Thinking of all the trouble Cecilia had caused, Shao Yun narrowed his eyes, gave Cecilia a half-smile, and then mercilessly criticized her:

"You still have the nerve to call it helping? I heard Yuan Shang's report that during that time, Shen He, Ning Guang, and Yuan Shang not only had to take care of my daughter, but also had to keep an eye on you and look after you at all times. This is not helping, it's clearly making things worse and causing more trouble!"

These words exposed Sitella's true colors, causing her face to flush bright red instantly, the redness spreading from her cheeks to her ears, even making her ears feel hot.

She's a person who cares about her reputation! Being exposed by Shao Yun in public, in front of Shen He and Ying, made her feel extremely ashamed.

But Celeste was not about to admit defeat, much less lose face.

She frowned, racking her brains for a reason to refute, but quickly thought of her "merit" in "guarding the house," and immediately straightened her back, boasting to Shao Yun:

"Then, then I'll guard your house and property! With Grandma here at the ranch, what arrogant scoundrel would dare to come to your house to cause trouble or covet your wealth?"

Upon hearing this, Shao Yun felt that her words were really patting herself on the back.

If they can't defeat the thieves on the abyss, Cecilia doesn't need to worry; but if they can defeat the enemies on the abyss... then Cecilia has even less to worry about, and that's something Shao Yun needs to handle.

Thinking this, Shao Yun deliberately put on a dramatic smile and said slowly, "Are you sure? You're guarding the house by throwing your light novels around, aren't you?"

"I heard that last time a little Hidden Leaf Dragon broke in, you just threw a light novel at it, which stunned the dragon?"

"However, that little dragon is my potato pancake's dragon friend... Because of this, potato pancake seems to have been giving you the cold shoulder for three days and has been yelling at you the whole time."

These words struck a nerve with Sitella, leaving her speechless and her face flushing even more, both angry and embarrassed.

That Shao Yun guy is so disrespectful, he tells everyone all sorts of embarrassing stories!

In desperation, Cetalli quickly raised her hand and tightly gripped the paper package she was carrying, as if grasping at a last straw, but her words were somewhat far-fetched, using it as an excuse to argue:

"How would I know if that little leaf dragon was a friend of your dragon or came to steal your food?"

"Besides, I came to visit with gifts, not empty-handed to freeload! As the saying goes, you can't hit a smiling face, and I even brought some delicious children's cookies for the baby, so you can't complain about me anymore!"

As she spoke, she deliberately held the paper package up in front of her, as if afraid that Shao Yun wouldn't see it. Her arrogant yet embarrassed appearance made Ying and Shen He, who were standing next to her, cover their mouths and chuckle.

Seeing that Cecilia was eager to use a gift as an excuse, Shao Yun decided to take advantage of the situation and play along. He deliberately put on a serious face and said:

"Oh, so you came here specifically to see the child. That's perfect. We won't prepare a meal for you today. After all, you're here to give a gift, not to freeload."

These words struck like a bolt from the blue. Upon hearing Shao Yun say he wouldn't feed her anymore, Celestella's previously feigned toughness vanished instantly, replaced by a fawning expression. She even deliberately adopted a soft, girlish tone, saying with a playful grin:

"No, Mr. Shao Yun! We still need to eat, right? It's true that I came to see the baby, and it's also true that I'm having lunch with you all. It's killing two birds with one stone!"

Looking at Cecilia's girlish demeanor, Shao Yun turned to Ying, who was trying not to laugh, and gestured with his chin.

"See? I told you, she came to our house just to freeload. All that talk about seeing the baby and bringing gifts was just an excuse."