Chapter 242: Chapter 242: Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Lan Ying was deeply resentful, but he was the type of person who’d just climb through the window if you didn’t let him use the door.
Once the night grew still and he figured Xiao Yu was asleep, he expertly climbed in through the window and moved the boy to one side in the darkness.
In the darkness, Yu An suddenly kicked him. Lan Ying caught her ankle and leaned in closer.
"An’an," he said, nuzzling up to her clingily. "Send Xiao Yu into the space. I’ll sleep with you."
Yu An huffed softly but didn’t say anything. Seeing his chance, Lan Ying wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his embrace.
"I missed you. I missed you so, so much. My dear Hall Master, won’t you dote on me...?"
He guided Yu An’s hand under his robes, pressing it against his scorching-hot skin.
Yu An stroked him a few times, and a barely suppressed gasp escaped Lan Ying’s lips, startlingly loud in the silence.
She jumped, quickly clamping a hand over the shameless fish’s mouth. "Xiao Yu is still here! Have you no shame?"
"Nope," Lan Ying said, pressing against her with a cheeky grin. "An’an, send Xiao Yu into the space. You know I don’t like to hold back. What if we wake him...?"
Yu An figured she could live another eight hundred years and still never be as thick-skinned as Lan Ying. The moment she sent Xiao Yu into the space, Lan Ying was pulling her up.
Moonlight poured into the room, illuminating a large, glittering tail spread across the bed.
Lan Ying pulled Yu An down to sit on it. He tilted his head up to look at her slightly flushed face, his voice laced with a seductive lilt. "Ying asks for the Hall Master to be gentle~"
’He’s putting on an act?’
"Gentle?"
"This Hall Master is not one to be gentle with delicate beauties. If this beauty wants to be cherished, he should look elsewhere..."
"As long as it’s you, Hall Master, anything is fine."
Lan Ying wrapped his arms around her neck, and the distance between them closed rapidly, until... there was none.
His cool lips slowly grew warm, and the scales beneath her gradually became scorching, almost searing hot.
The saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" had never been more appropriate.
Remembering she had a mountain of things to deal with tomorrow, Yu An whispered for him to take it easy. Lan Ying agreed, only to forget again in the heat of their kisses.
He wheedled for more again and again, and things only stopped for the night when Yu An finally lost her temper.
"You’re helping me with my work tomorrow," Yu An said, too exhausted to even kick him. "No, you’re doing all of it!"
"Alright, alright," Lan Ying said, stealing another kiss, an irrepressible smile spreading across his face. "I’ll handle it. You can sleep as late as you want tomorrow."
The two didn’t discuss the matter of her memories at all. They were so in sync during their intimacy that if Lan Ying still couldn’t guess she hadn’t lost her memory, he might as well give up and let Lan Yin take control of his body for good.
’Speaking of which, why hasn’t Lan Yin appeared at all?’
Yu An was too sleepy to keep her eyes open. She yawned, making a mental note to ask about it tomorrow. Then, ignoring whatever Lan Ying was doing, she simply tilted her head to the side and fell asleep.
Lan Ying wasn’t doing much of anything, either. He just gazed at her sleeping face, watching her endlessly, unable to bear closing his own eyes.
This whole ordeal had terrified him. He was deathly afraid that someone would take Yu An away again, just like last time.
It wasn’t just him; Xiao Yu was the same. The little one had been waking up from nightmares frequently.
If not for the extraordinary warmth of his Female Mother’s embrace, Xiao Yu would have been too reluctant to sleep at all.
So when he woke up to find that the person sleeping beside him had turned into the Red Fox, the little guy’s world came crashing down!
He knew without a doubt that the culprit had to be his Beast Father. Unfortunately, Yu An wasn’t awake yet, so Xiao Yu couldn’t leave the space. He had no choice but to play with the Red Fox for the time being.
The little guy spent a good while complaining to the Red Fox about his bad Beast Father, and the Red Fox heartily agreed.
It had been sound asleep when a Zaizai was suddenly tossed on top of it. Goodness knows what a fright it had given the fox!
That couple was so thoughtless! They didn’t even think to cover the child with a blanket. In the end, it was the fox who had to huff and puff as it dragged a blanket over to cover Xiao Yu.
He hadn’t been in the space for a while. After chatting for a bit, Xiao Yu went out to see the Cloud Beasts. Aside from feeling a little deserted, the space hadn’t changed much.
The single fruit on the little tree had ripened; it was a bright, tempting red.
Xiao Yu strolled over for a look, his hands clasped behind his back. His sharp eyes spotted a new fruit sprouting.
He made a careful mental note of it, planning to tell his Female Mother once he got out.
Looking at the small, green fruit, Xiao Yu scooped up a ladleful of Divine Spring Water and watered the little tree. The Divine Spring hadn’t been used much lately, so its water level had risen a little.
He checked the time. It was already noon, and still, no one had come to let him out. Xiao Yu decided to just sit by the Divine Spring and space out.
"So boring, so boring, so boring... I want to go out and find my Female Mother..."
He muttered to himself, grabbing a twig and idly drawing little figures in the dirt.
He had just finished the third one when, as he started to draw a fourth, the twig hit something hard and snapped with a CRACK.
"Hm?"
Xiao Yu tilted his head. Without bothering to find a tool, he started digging at the spot with his bare hands.
After just a few scrapes, a stone came into view.
The stone was smooth and round. It wasn’t large, but for Xiao Yu, it still took both hands to lift.
There were words carved on it. Xiao Yu wiped it clean and, looking at the three words, involuntarily read them aloud: "Heaven... Earth... Stone..."
The moment he spoke, the stone suddenly shattered. One fragment flew into his body while the rest vanished into thin air.
Xiao Yu froze for a moment, then looked down at his grubby little hands.
"So dirty. Why was I digging in the dirt?"
He muttered to himself and went to a nearby stream to wash his hands clean.
Yu An didn’t let Xiao Yu out until she got up that afternoon. The little guy was starving and scarfed down two whole bowls of rice.
In between bites, he didn’t forget to lodge a complaint about his Beast Father spiriting him away in the middle of the night. Lan Ying, however, felt not an ounce of guilt.
"Your Female Mother keeps you company for the first half of the night, so your Beast Father should get the second half. Fifty-fifty. It’s perfectly fair."
Xiao Yu scratched his head. ’Is that how it works?’
Yu An shot Lan Ying an exasperated glare. He just shrugged and started peeling shrimp for the mother and son.
"Oh, right," Xiao Yu said, puzzling over it for a moment before setting the matter aside for something else. "Female Mother, the little tree is growing a second fruit."
"Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed."
During the day, Yu An deliberately maintained a certain distance from Lan Ying in her words and actions, though she didn’t have to do so with Xiao Yu.
She and Xiao Yu began discussing the little tree, leaving Lan Ying out in the cold.
During their passionate reunion last night, Yu An had mentioned her worries to Lan Ying. She was afraid Lu Lu would realize she had regained her memory and go snitch to the Beast God.
Although Yu An didn’t really think Lu Lu would do something like that, Lu Lu had betrayed her once before, and she couldn’t guarantee there wouldn’t be a second time.
That’s why they had agreed last night to put on an act when necessary.
Watching the mother and son huddled together, Lan Ying felt utterly dejected. He tried to chime in occasionally, but most of the time, he was completely ignored.
’Oh well,’ he thought. ’I’ll just have to make up for it tonight!’
Yu An had meant to ask about Lan Yin’s condition, but the afternoon was so busy that the matter was pushed back until evening.
Who knows what Lan Ying told Xiao Yu, but the little guy obediently went to sleep in the adjacent room by himself.
Lan Ying, that big bad wolf... no, that big-tailed fish, pulled her right into the room.
