The silence lasted for a full half minute.

Xu Lai quietly withdrew his hand and changed the subject. "Look at the moon tonight, it's so beautiful."

"Hmm."

Ruan Tang kept her head down, her voice betraying no emotion.

"The moon is so big and round."

"..."

The full moon was indeed very round. But to say this under the current circumstances seemed a bit strange, so Xu Lai quickly explained, "Don't misunderstand."

Ruan Tang silently lay down under the covers and turned her back to Xu Lai. "Go to sleep."

Xu Lai secretly breathed a sigh of relief and lay down as well.

The room was so quiet they could hear each other's heartbeats.

Just then, Ruan Tang spoke again. "Tomorrow, let Yiyi see you one last time. Then I'll send you to the palace to serve the Emperor."

"My dear wife, times have changed. There is no emperor anymore..."

"Then I'll still have you castrated!"

"..."

Xu Lai felt helpless.

To be fair, he hadn't done it on purpose.

If anyone was to blame, it had to be the moon.

How could the moonlight be so dim? If it were just a little brighter, my hand wouldn't have landed in the wrong place!

That night.

Despite having the man she disliked sleeping beside her, especially after he had just taken advantage of her, Ruan Tang found herself in a strange situation. For some reason, even though I'm so angry, I'm sleeping exceptionally soundly and feel particularly safe. I can normally only ever sleep in my own bed at home; I can't sleep anywhere else. How strange.

「The next day.」

Ruan Tang finally woke when the sunlight filtered through the wooden window, warmly spilling onto her.

She opened her eyes and saw Xu Lai sitting on the edge of the brick bed, staring out the window in a daze.

The sunlight illuminated his profile, making for a surprisingly pleasant sight, like a scenic painting.

Ruan Tang rested her head on the pillow and silently watched him.

Xu Lai suddenly spoke. "Breakfast is ready. Go ahead and eat."

Ruan Tang was a little surprised. "How did you know I was awake?"

"Take a guess."

"Guess if I'm going to."

"Guess if I think you're going to."

"..."

Tired of playing his game of tongue twisters, Ruan Tang called out in a delicate voice, "Wei Qing, do you have any scissors? A small knife would work too!"

"Alright, alright, stop," Xu Lai said quickly. "I'll tell you."

Ruan Tang turned her head to look at him.

"I heard your breathing. It's lighter than when you're asleep, so if I'm not mistaken, you were secretly watching me just now."

Xu Lai's words made Ruan Tang's heart skip a beat, but she stubbornly retorted, "Oh, you guessed wrong."

"Let me listen to your heart. Then I'll know if I'm right or wrong."

"How would you do that?"

"I'll just put my hand on your heart."

"..."

Ruan Tang flushed with shame and anger.

This bastard! Taking advantage of me yesterday wasn't enough, now he wants to do it again? Does he really think I'm that easy to bully?!

Ruan Tang launched herself at Xu Lai and bit his neck again.

Xu Lai's face darkened like the bottom of a pot. Why does my wife love biting people so much!

Unfortunately, Wei Qing chose that moment to push the door open. "Ruan Tang, you were calling me... hmm, never mind. You two carry on."

Wei Qing saw Ruan Tang lying affectionately in Xu Lai's arms, seemingly kissing his neck...

This made her blush, and she quickly backed out of the room. At the same time, she muttered to herself. It had only been one night; had they really gotten close that quickly?

"Wei Qing, don't go!"

Ruan Tang was mortified and tried to go after her, but Xu Lai held her back. "Explaining will only make things worse. Go wash up and eat."

Ruan Tang glared at him, pouting, but she just looked adorable.

Xu Lai suppressed the urge to tweak her nose and stopped himself from the suicidal act of ruffling her hair. Instead, he put on a serious face.

"Be good."

"In your dreams!"

A pillow came flying from Ruan Tang's direction.

After breakfast, Ruan Tang chatted with Wei Qing for a while longer before waving goodbye, preparing to leave the small village. She was worried about whether her sister, Ruan Lan, could properly take care of Xu Yiyi.

Before they left, Wei Qing leaned close to Ruan Tang's ear and whispered, "I think you and Xu Lai are a good match. Don't let what happened five years ago create a rift between you two."

"We've already talked that through," Ruan Tang said.

"Have you really?"

Wei Qing gave Ruan Tang a deep look. "Some opportunities, once missed, are gone for a lifetime. Don't do anything you'll regret."

Ruan Tang changed the subject. "If you ever come to East Sea City, be sure to find me."

"Mhmm."

Wei Qing nodded with a smile. We might not see each other again for decades, or even centuries. Our next meeting might be somewhere in the vast, starry sky. Or perhaps, there won't be a next time. Wei Qing wasn't even sure how long she could survive in the Immortal Domain, but the world outside was dazzling and splendid. She wanted to see it, even if it meant paying with her life.

After leaving the village, Xu Lai drove toward East Sea City with Ruan Tang sitting in the passenger seat, pondering Wei Qing's words.

Suddenly thinking of something, she casually asked, "Xu Lai, how many years have you been driving?"

"I don't have a license."

On the surface, Xu Lai appeared to be driving, but he was actually using Spiritual Energy to make the car fly, much like a flying Magic Artifact.

Ruan Tang panicked. "Pull over! I'll drive!"

"It's fine, I'm an old hand at this."

"Pull over!"

At Ruan Tang's insistence, the two of them eventually swapped places.

Ruan Tang pressed a hand to her forehead. "I know the principal of a driving school. If you don't have anything to do today, you should go there and start learning. Once you get your license, I'll buy you a car."

"Okay."

Xu Lai didn't refuse, even though he didn't need a car.

As for what happened last night, they both had a tacit understanding not to bring it up again.

It was already half past eight in the morning when they got home.

Xu Yiyi was saying in a soft voice, "Auntie, when will your fried eggs be ready?"

"...Soon, very soon!"

Ruan Lan's voice drifted from the kitchen. She stared at the egg in her hand with a gloomy expression. For the last half-hour, she had been trying to crack it.

However—

It was unbreakable!

The egg was as hard as a rock.

Ruan Lan even suspected that Xu Lai had deliberately placed a rock-hard egg in the refrigerator as a prank.

"Auntie, I'm going to be late for school!"

"Just a moment, just a moment."

Ruan Lan placed the egg on the chopping board and slammed a kitchen knife down on it.

DING—

The force of the blow made her arm go numb. She threw the knife aside, frustrated. "Let's just go out to eat."

"Ah! Daddy, Mommy!" Xu Yiyi heard the front door open and ran over joyfully.

Ruan Lan quickly came out of the kitchen, complaining, "Brother-in-law, your eggs are so hard."

Ruan Tang shot Xu Lai a confused look.

Xu Lai's scalp tingled. Is my sister-in-law trying to get me killed?!

Seeing the baffled expressions on her sister and brother-in-law's faces, Ruan Lan quickly corrected herself.

"I mean, the eggs my brother-in-law bought won't crack. I've been struggling with them for half an hour."

Ruan Tang breathed a sigh of relief.

Xu Lai said helplessly, "Those are phoenix eggs, of course they're hard... uh, of course you can't break them."

With that, Xu Lai easily cracked two eggs and made breakfast for Ruan Lan and Yiyi. Then, Ruan Tang shooed him off to driving school.

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