Chapter 243: Chapter 243: Saw a Shooting Star in the Daytime
His mischievous hand was stilled. The mood was romantic, the bed warm and cozy, but the topic of conversation was a complete turn-off.
Lan Ying gave her a mournful look. "An’an, can we please not talk about other men right now?"
"Hurry up and tell me," Yu An urged, toying with his scales. "Lan Yin hasn’t appeared at all since that time we used Instant Teleportation to the Mist Forest. Did something happen to him?"
"What could happen to him?"
Lan Ying coughed lightly. "It’s just... well..."
Yu An patted his palm. "Out with it. Stop stalling."
"He just... overused his Talent Ability, so he can’t wake up for now..."
Yu An asked doubtfully, "He still hasn’t recovered after so long?"
"No," Lan Ying’s voice grew quiet. "We share a body, so... I can use his Talent Ability, too."
Yu An paused, and her mind flashed to the few people who had suddenly disappeared from among the hundred. A suspicion began to form.
"You used Lan Yin’s Talent Ability to teleport those people away? But that’s not right. Only a few of them disappeared suddenly. Logically, it shouldn’t have..."
Lan Ying said in a small voice, "To ensure the Instant Teleportation would work, I practiced a few extra times."
After he spoke, he stared at the ceiling, avoiding her gaze.
’A few extra times?’
’When someone doesn’t give a specific number, you might as well assume it was a billion.’
Yu An laughed in exasperation. "No wonder Lan Yin is still out... Oh, forget it."
She was helpless, but there was nothing to be done. "You are not to use it again. Otherwise, Lan Yin can forget about ever waking up!"
"It’d be better if he never woke up," Lan Ying muttered, then nuzzled up to her like a puppy. "An’an, I’ll be with you the whole time, then. How long can you stay?"
Yu An pushed his head away. "Probably three or four days. It won’t be for long. The main temple is in Beast God City, after all."
Lan Ying was extremely envious of Feng Xuan’s good luck, landing right in Beast God City from the very beginning.
"An’an, you have to be with me day and night while you’re here. Otherwise, I’ll be facing lonely, sleepless nights all over again after you leave."
Lan Ying painted himself as the most pitiful creature alive, and Yu An almost fell for it. But she decided to turn a blind eye, letting a certain fish who had been sleeping alone for far too long have his way.
With her superpower reaching its maximum level and her fusion with the Demon, Yu An felt her physical condition getting better and better.
She had endless energy every day, so it was a good opportunity to burn some of it off.
For the next few days, Yu An rarely left the courtyard. She still hadn’t figured out why Lan Ying and Xiao Yu were unable to leave the vicinity of Qi Yuan City, so she could only stay and spend as much time as she could with the father and son.
But no matter how much she hated to part with them, Yu An ultimately had to return once she finished her business in Qi Yuan City.
It didn’t really matter whether she returned to Beast God City, as there was nothing urgent to handle there. The main issue was that she still needed to find Mo Yan and the other two, as well as the Zaizai, so she couldn’t remain in Qi Yuan City indefinitely.
Though reluctant, Xiao Yu was sensible enough to understand. He and Lan Ying saw Yu An off at the gates of Qi Yuan City.
Ao Yi was somewhat confused. "Hall Master, why are Lord Lan and the Second Young Master to remain here?"
’Qi Yuan City is fine, but it’s nothing compared to the main temple of the Beast God Hall. Does leaving the father and son here mean they’ve fallen out of the Hall Master’s favor?’
’No, that can’t be right. Never mind Lord Lan, but I thought the Hall Master was quite fond of the Second Young Master.’
Yu An thought for a moment, then made an excuse. "East Hall Master, you aren’t married, so you wouldn’t understand. When the ’back courtyard’ gets too crowded, it’s easy for... hm, fires to break out."
"I need to go inform Feng Xuan first. If I don’t, he’ll raise a fuss... Ugh!"
Yu An wore a look of utter exhaustion.
The corner of Ao Yi’s mouth twitched, and he didn’t press the matter.
Lan Ying had been clinging to her day and night, so Yu An had forgotten to write ahead to inform Feng Xuan. As a result, she felt a strange pang of guilt when she finally saw him.
When Ao Yi saw her expression, he became even more convinced of the excuse she had given him.
Feng Xuan noticed the strange way Ao Yi was looking at him, but he didn’t dwell on it. After being apart for several days, his yearning for her had only intensified.
’Huh? Why does An’an seem a little different than before she left?’
Da Hu and Xiao Hu had also missed Yu An terribly. They clung to her as she returned to the Beast God Hall, and it wasn’t until the door was shut that she mentioned Lan Ying and Xiao Yu to them.
"Beast Father Lan Ying and Xiao Yu... Female Mother, why didn’t they come back with you?"
Yu An ruffled Da Hu’s hair and sighed. "They’re like you guys; they can’t leave the vicinity of Qi Yuan City. But don’t worry, Female Mother will find a way."
Da Hu was disappointed for a brief moment, then quickly began asking about her adventures in Qi Yuan City.
Xiao Hu wasn’t interested in such things. Now that he was with Yu An again, he grew drowsy and snuggled into her arms for a deep sleep.
"Asleep again," Yu An chuckled. "You little lazy tiger."
"My brother is so lazy," Da Hu complained to Yu An. "Female Mother, Xiao Hu has been sleeping this whole time, and Beast Father has been busy with official duties. I’ve been so bored!"
"Well, Female Mother is back now, isn’t she?" Yu An said, picking him up and placing him on her lap. "Female Mother will play with you, okay?"
Even before, she had been unwilling to deal with tedious official business. Now that her memories had returned, she was even more opposed to the idea of being stuck inside all day.
Yu An had no idea what the Heaven and Earth Stone was thinking, making someone like her, who couldn’t stand being idle, the administrator of the Beastman World.
’Well, she’d actually had it all figured out back then. She’d find a whole host of subordinates, handle the major issues herself, and delegate the minor tasks. After all, no matter how vast heaven and earth were, nothing was greater than her, the Beast God.’
’Unfortunately, this current Beast God had stuck his nose in and shattered her plan...’
Da Hu was still chattering excitedly. "Female Mother, Female Mother! I saw a shooting star a few days ago! I even saw it in the daytime."
"Beast Father said I must have seen it wrong and that there are no shooting stars in the daytime, but I really don’t think I was mistaken! It was a shooting star, exactly like the ones I’ve seen before—all sparkly..."
Yu An found this quite interesting and listened in silence. Children have short attention spans; once he started talking about something else, the matter was completely forgotten.
Lan Ying remained in Qi Yuan City for two reasons: one, he couldn’t leave, and two, Yu An had given him a mission.
Since she would one day reclaim her position as the Beast God, Yu An figured she shouldn’t let the Beast God Hall go to waste. She might as well start putting it to good use right away.
Yu An wrote down a simplified table of ancient government positions and had Lan Ying use it to restructure Qi Yuan City. Before, the city had been run entirely by messengers from the branch temple. Henceforth, there would be all sorts of officials, each with their own specific duties.
As the city closest to Beast God City, and the first to undergo this restructuring, Qi Yuan City would serve as a model for all the others.
Beast God City needed reforming as well, a task Yu An assigned to Feng Xuan and the Four Great Hall Masters.
When she first mentioned it to Ao Yi, he objected out of instinct. But later, perhaps realizing that this new system would be a better way to govern the Endless Land—or perhaps due to the inexplicable urge to obey her every word—he no longer opposed it.
’Strange. Why is it that I can’t bring myself to object to anything the Hall Master says?’
Ao Yi mulled it over but couldn’t figure it out. In the end, he could only attribute it to the natural authority the Hall Master held over the other Hall Masters.
Once he was on board, the other three fell in line instantly, not one of them raising an objection.
The three of them had their own take: ’We have no idea. We just get the feeling that if we don’t listen to the Hall Master, we’re going to get beaten to a pulp by a certain pair of figures whose faces we can’t quite make out!’
