Shen Xiaoyan returned to the main room and saw Zheng Wei already sitting on the kang bed in the east side room. Shen Xiaoyan walked over and sat beside Zheng Wei, saying, "Why so soon?"
"This is fast? I haven't even had lunch yet. Is Mǐmi trying to starve your husband to death?" Zheng Wei said, looking at Shen Xiaoyan with a wronged expression.
"How could I want to starve you? If you're hungry, just come out and eat something yourself."
Shen Xiaoyan wasn't going to fall for his act. She wasn't a child anymore; did she need to be called to eat?
Zheng Wei had his ways for Shen Xiaoyan not taking the bait.
He pouted slightly, looking at Shen Xiaoyan with accusing eyes, and said aggrievedly, "Mǐmi truly doesn't love me, that's why you'd let me starve. Alas, I'm truly getting old."
Shen Xiaoyan was almost amused to tears by Zheng Wei's words. What did he mean he was getting old, and she didn't love him?
"Am I that shallow a person?" Shen Xiaoyan said, feigning anger.
Hearing the wrong tone in Shen Xiaoyan's voice, Zheng Wei immediately realized he had spoken incorrectly. He quickly begged for forgiveness, "No, no, I misspoke. Mǐmi is so good, how could you be a shallow person?"
"Then what did you mean just now?" Shen Xiaoyan continued to ask.
"I meant... Mǐmi didn't want me to eat so that I could fulfill my wish," Zheng Wei's eyes darted, he quickly thought of an answer and spoke it out.
"Oh?" Shen Xiaoyan was surprised. How did she not know Zheng Wei had a wish that could only be fulfilled by not eating?
"Mǐmi forgot, you always complained that your husband was too fat. Your husband swore he would lose weight," Zheng Wei said earnestly.
At the moment Zheng Wei finished speaking, Shen Xiaoyan felt her worldview crumbling a little. She never imagined he could be this kind of Zheng Wei.
"That's enough," Shen Xiaoyan gritted her teeth.
"Enough? Not enough. Skipping just one meal, how can that be? It should be at least ten days to half a month, right, Mǐmi?"
Shen Xiaoyan was really amused to the point of being angry. She really shouldn't have let Zheng Wei watch those internet memes from her previous life. Was he preparing to become a meme creator now?
But besides her, who else could understand his implied meaning?
"Mǐmi is afraid others won't understand?"
Zheng Wei had been observing Shen Xiaoyan's expression. Seeing her like this, he roughly guessed what she was thinking and immediately said, "It doesn't matter if others don't understand. As long as you understand, it's fine. I'm only speaking to you, Mǐmi."
Zheng Wei's voice was exceptionally gentle, and the warm breath from his mouth sprayed all over Shen Xiaoyan's ears as he spoke, giving her the illusion of spring arriving.
If it wasn't spring, why would she feel so hot?
"Wow..."
Suddenly, a cry broke the increasingly heated atmosphere between the two.
Shen Xiaoyan looked up, smiled at Zheng Wei, and said, "Then you go ahead and lose weight. Until you succeed, you'll have to sleep here first."
After speaking, Shen Xiaoyan quickly slipped into the inner room, leaving Zheng Wei stunned on the spot.
Had he lifted a rock only to drop it on his own foot?
Days without being able to sleep with Shen Xiaoyan felt like billions of light-years.
Shen Xiaoyan arrived in the inner room and saw four children sitting side-by-side, with thin blankets draped haphazardly over them. They were unhappily pulling them down and tearing them aside.
"What are you doing?" Shen Xiaoyan said with a smile as she walked over and gently removed the blankets from them.
"Mama..."
Ruanruan, upon seeing Shen Xiaoyan enter, immediately stretched out her hand and called out to Shen Xiaoyan, asking her to hold her.
Shen Xiaoyan walked over and picked Ruanruan up, pinching her little cheek.
Likely because she had just woken up, Ruanruan's smiling face was rosy and warm, feeling exceptionally comfortable to the touch.
Ruanruan, held in Shen Xiaoyan's arms, was overjoyed. She hugged Shen Xiaoyan's head and kissed Shen Xiaoyan's face.
When Zheng Wei walked in, he saw exactly this scene and his heart instantly felt a warmth.
This feeling was simply too good.
Just as Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei finished dressing the four children, Yue Qingxin and Sima Han entered together.
"I figured they should have woken up by now. I didn't expect their clothes to be on already," Yue Qingxin said with a smile.
Shen Xiaoyan noticed her cheeks were red. She didn't know if it was from crying earlier or for some other reason, but she looked like she was in a good mood.
"After you awakened your spirit, how did you feel?" Zheng Wei asked Sima Han after looking at him for a while.
"I felt my senses were sharper, and my speed seemed to have increased significantly," Sima Han said after thinking for a moment.
Zheng Wei exchanged a look with Shen Xiaoyan upon hearing this, and they both thought, is it really like this?
Shen Xiaoyan then asked Yue Qingxin, "Then Sister, when will you awaken your spirit?"
Upon hearing Shen Xiaoyan's question, Sima Han and Yue Qingxin fell silent simultaneously.
Sima Han had already gone through it himself and naturally did not want Yue Qingxin to experience the same pain.
However, if she didn't awaken her spirit, it wouldn't be of any benefit to Yue Qingxin either.
Although a short, sharp pain was better than a long drawn-out one, and hesitation would eventually lead to suffering during the awakening, it was better to be decisive. Yet, Sima Han still couldn't bring himself to be firm.
"Tonight."
Yue Qingxin suddenly looked up and said. After speaking, she looked at Sima Han and nodded, continuing, "I know that awakening your spirit will definitely involve a lot of pain, which is why Ah Han you are so hesitant and indecisive. But I can't always wait behind you for protection."
"Although, according to Fujiwara Shiori, there aren't many cultivators on this continent, who can predict the future? If they can all come, then others can certainly come too. If I don't have the ability to protect myself then, I can only become a burden to you."
"I don't want to be a dodder flower behind you. I want to fight alongside you, to be someone who can stand with you."
After listening to Yue Qingxin's words, Sima Han remained silent for a long time.
He knew that if he thought he was protecting Yue Qingxin by not letting her awaken her spirit, he was actually not doing her any good.
After hesitating for a long while, Sima Han hardened his heart and nodded, "Okay, but I will be with you."
Yue Qingxin wanted to refuse, but seeing Sima Han's determined expression, she knew that refusal would be futile. Thus, she simply stopped speaking.
Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei had been watching from the side, offering no opinion or interjecting.
This was ultimately their own matter. Although Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei were friends, they were still outsiders, and it was not appropriate for them to make decisions for them at this time.
"I used to say I would train Sister into a peerless master, but unfortunately, too many things happened, and it was delayed until now," Shen Xiaoyan said with a smile.
"Yes, not long after you said that, I had Rong'er. This delay lasted two years," Yue Qingxin also said with emotion. She never thought that two years would pass so quickly.