「Half an hour later.」

At the Sea Temple B&B, Liu Nanwei happily held up a bowl. "This turtle soup is so fresh! Director Xu, you're incredible for managing to catch a sea turtle."

The B&B's owner, Lu Xiaoxue, looked puzzled. Aren't there any sea turtles in these waters? That can't be right. If there aren't any, where did Xu Lai catch one? Gazing at the snow-white, fragrant soup in her bowl, she fell into deep thought.

She was born and raised on Sea Temple Island, where a local rumor claimed that a group of terrifying monsters were suppressed beneath the island. One of them... was a giant sea turtle!

Lu Xiaoxue couldn't help but pinch her cheeks and laugh at herself. Lu Xiaoxue, Lu Xiaoxue, what nonsense are you thinking? If it were really a monster, would you be drinking its soup? You'd be the one getting eaten!

She decided to stop overthinking it. After downing the soup in her bowl, Lu Xiaoxue served herself another large one. "Director Xu, this soup is amazing!" she said. "It smells so good."

Meanwhile, Zhou Feng, Li Shouzhong, and the other doctors' eyes lit up as they exclaimed how satisfying the soup was. The moment they drank it, they felt their fatigue vanish, and even their stooped backs seemed to straighten a bit. It might have been their imagination, but Li Shouzhong and Yan Gui both thought the other seemed to have fewer gray hairs.

Of course, it wasn't an illusion. The turtle had lived for at least a thousand years, and its life essence was incredibly rich, making it a powerful tonic.

It was of no use to Xu Lai, of course. But for ordinary middle-aged and elderly people like Yan Gui, it was no less than a priceless treasure, capable of extending one's life by two or three years without issue.

Only Ruan Tang gave Xu Lai a glare. "Sea turtles are protected animals!"

She was furious. She had let Xu Lai out of her sight for just a little while, and the jerk had already caught a sea turtle. If she gave him another half an hour, would he come back with a shark? If he got arrested and thrown in jail, wouldn't she become a widow?

Wait, that's not right... A widow is someone whose spouse has died. Ruan Tang scratched her head. Ah, whatever, it's not important. I'll just consider him dead.

Little did Xu Lai know that in Ruan Tang's mind, he had already "died" once.

"Yiyi, that turtle was incredible! It was bigger than the bank tower in the city," Qian Xiao said, waving his arms and legs excitedly. "You should have seen it! Uncle Xu was so powerful! He rescued me first, and then..." The boy rambled on and on.

Xu Yiyi listened attentively, her gaze shifting between admiration for her father and a hint of grievance. "Dad," she pouted, "you went to fight little monsters without me."

"It was a monster, not a *little* monster," Xu Lai corrected with a wry smile. I'm not Ultraman.

Ruan Tang rolled her eyes. She didn't take Qian Xiao's words seriously at all, assuming the boy was just exaggerating to get her daughter Yiyi's attention.

From morning until now, a light rain had been falling continuously over East Sea City, yet not a single drop had touched Sea Temple Island.

Xu Lai waved his hand, creating two "dark cloud candies" as an after-dinner dessert for Yiyi and Qian Xiao.

After dinner, the group lit a bonfire on the beach. They sang and danced, with Liu Nanwei being the main one dancing. Li Mi, however, was sweating nervously the entire time because his wife was pregnant, even though it was still early. After a great deal of persuasion, he finally got Liu Nanwei to sit down on a pile of clothes he had arranged for her.

"I'm not at the most delicate stage of pregnancy yet," Liu Nanwei said, feeling helpless. Men are always such worrywarts.

By the time the party broke up, it was already ten o'clock at night. Xu Yiyi and Qian Xiao had both fallen asleep. Under the brilliant, starry sky, Xu Lai and Ruan Tang decided to head home rather than stay the night on Sea Temple Island like everyone else.

"Uncle Xu... can you check on my mom when you have time? She's been gagging a lot lately... feels sick when she eats anything... says she has no appetite and wants to throw up..." Qian Xiao mumbled in his sleep.

Xu Lai was speechless.

Ruan Tang stopped in her tracks and asked suspiciously, "Luo Chu couldn't be pregnant too, could she?"

"Too!?" Xu Lai's gaze fell to the flat stomach beneath Ruan Tang's clothes. His look made her blush with a mix of embarrassment and anger, and she started pummeling him with her small fists. "Isn't Liu Nanwei from your school's infirmary pregnant? And Xu Yaoyao too!"

"I just wish you were included in that 'too'," Xu Lai said wistfully. He knew that having Yiyi was already an immense blessing, and he couldn't ask for more.

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Mr. Xu," Ruan Tang said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I would rather die than have a second child!" Having endured the agony of childbirth once, she was determined not to go through it again.

Xu Lai felt a pang of regret. Yiyi had always wanted a younger brother or sister. The greater regret was that, for him, having another child wasn't something that could be achieved just by trying. Otherwise, in one hundred thousand years, he wouldn't have ended up with only Yiyi as his little treasure. It was truly an unexpected miracle.

As he thought about the past, Xu Lai, carrying a child on each shoulder, suddenly stopped walking. His voice was incredibly gentle as he said, "Honey, thank you. Thank you for giving me a home."

Ruan Tang froze. Under the moonlight, her beautiful eyes glittered as she said warily, "Thanking me still isn't going to get you a second child."

Xu Lai didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Alright, alright, we won't have another one, okay?"

My daughter is the apple of my eye, but my wife is too. I have to cherish them both.

Ruan Tang huffed. "That's more like it." Wait a minute. Why did that sound as if something had already happened between me and Xu Lai?

「Back at home.」

Xu Lai put Yiyi and Qian Xiao to bed in separate rooms. While Ruan Tang was taking a shower, her younger sister, Ruan Lan, appeared furtively on the second floor.

"Brother-in-law, come here, quick!" Ruan Lan beckoned.

Looking puzzled, Xu Lai went upstairs. Ruan Lan immediately tried to drag him into her room without any explanation. "Brother-in-law," she said excitedly, "I have something cool to show you, but you can't tell my sister, okay?"

Xu Lai stopped at the doorway, his tone grave. "I'd better not. Your sister will kill me."

"Huh?" Ruan Lan blinked, suddenly realizing her words could be taken the wrong way. A blush crept up her cheeks.

But being Ruan Lan, she rolled her eyes despite her embarrassment. "Jeez, Brother-in-law, what are you thinking!"

"It's not...?"

"Of course not!"

"In that case, I'm not interested," Xu Lai said, his tone flat.

Ruan Lan was speechless. She bit her lip and huffed, "Fine, don't look. See if I care. Just don't regret it. It's a present for Yiyi, after all!"

As soon as he heard it involved his daughter, Xu Lai's interest was piqued. He pushed the door open and walked in. "Well, I suppose taking a look wouldn't hurt."

Ruan Lan smirked. "Tch. Men."

Hmph. Some people. On the surface, they act terrified of their wives, but deep down, they're a complete sucker for their daughters!

After entering the room, Xu Lai saw the "clothes" laid out on the bed, and his lips immediately began to twitch.

"So? What do you think?" Ruan Lan asked, looking at Xu Lai expectantly, her expression practically begging for praise.

Xu Lai let out a heavy sigh. This... *this* was the gift Ruan Lan got for her niece? He was suddenly filled with regret. He regretted trusting Ruan Lan. What kind of "clothes" even were these?

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