T/N: Thank you Wildziva for supporting multiple extra releases (3) of SMM this week!
Xu Xinghe changed his clothes and went downstairs.
By the time he entered the dining room, his brother and sister were already seated at the long table.
The servants arranged the cutlery, and also thoughtfully helped Lily get a small fork and small bowl.
But Ling Changfeng was not there.
Xu Xinghe let out a small breath, raised his hand to look at the time, and turned around to ask He Han, “Have you seen the Marshal?”
He Han was slightly taken aback. “The Marshal just went to find you.”
“Oh… he said go down and wait for him.” Xu Xinghe paused before taking his seat. “He should be here soon, wait for him.”
As soon as he sat down, Chu Yufei rushed over: “Hey, did you smell anything just now?”
Xu Xinghe’s heart skipped a beat, and the residual heat on his cheeks that had just subsided warmed a bit. Now that he was asked, he thought he was exposed.
An inexplicable sense of guilt emerged in his heart, but he feigned calm on the surface: “What smell? Aren’t you not able to smell my pheromones?”
The corners of Chu Yufei’s mouth curled up, and he looked at him with a face of “you just told me everything”. “Ah, I’m not talking about you, so what’s the matter?”
“…Nothing.” Xu Xinghe silently turned his face back, and continued the topic just now: “What did you smell?”
“That’s right, who–” Chu Yufei winked at him, then pointed to the empty main seat.
“What happened to him?” Xu Xinghe asked.
“His pheromone exploded!” Chu Yufei said, reaching out and making an explosive gesture. “I almost thought his susceptible period had relapsed!”
Xu Xinghe was stunned for a few seconds after hearing this, and finally asked the question he was most worried about. “How is he now?”
“It’s much better now, and his pheromone has calmed down very quickly… Uh, but probably only ten minutes have passed.” Chu Yufei said here, his expression was a bit indescribable.
At the end, he winked at Xu Xinghe: “What did you guys do just now? Is it what I thought?”
Xu Xinghe: “…”
“Children should not interfere in adult matters.” He stretched out his hand and pushed his brother’s head away, and then picked up the cup on the table, and pretended to take a sip of water.
“I’m not a child!” Chu Yufei said angrily. “Do you need me to describe it in detail? Such a smell can’t be blocked! He… uh! Woo, uu!”
Xu Xinghe didn’t think at all. After hearing Chu Yufei’s “detailed description” once before, he quickly covered his mouth that was babbling incessantly.
“Be quiet and eat.” Xu Xinghe licked his back teeth and warned in a low voice.
“Hmm… hmm!” Chu Yufei’s eyes widened, seemingly unconvinced.
The two were in a stalemate when they suddenly heard the voice of a servant from the door of the dining hall: “Marshal!”
Ling Changfeng came down after taking a cold shower.
As soon as he stepped into the dining room, he saw such a funny scene of “brother, brother, and sister”.
Little Lily sat on the side with a smile, holding her chin to watch them play, with an expression of almost clapping her hands.
Ling Changfeng: “…”
With his appearance, the farce in the dining hall temporarily came to an end.
Xu Xinghe put down his hand in embarrassment. Before letting go, he did not forget to warn his younger brother in a low voice, “Don’t say nonsense!”
Chu Yufei snorted softly, and actually calmed down.
Although he is often open-mouthed, he can still comprehend what he can say to whom and what he must not say—
If he mentioned ‘it’ had only been 10 minutes in front of Marshal Ling, he would definitely be arrested and killed!
Ling Changfeng silently walked to his seat, sat down silently, and signaled the servants to start serving dinner.
Xu Xinghe looked at him from head to toe and asked, “Are you okay?”
Ling Changfeng raised his eyes and glanced at him. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing… Let’s eat.” Xu Xinghe lowered his head and buried his head to eat.
Dinner was a little silent at first. Those with knowledge were thinking things in their hearts, and none of them took the initiative to speak.
Until Chu Yufei, a small talker, couldn’t remain silent any longer, and began to mention random things with his mouth open.
So, dinner was quite lively.
Although Ling Changfeng had no interest in eating, he did the rare act of eating a little more amid the smile and laughter.
After the dinner, Marshal Ling returned to his study to deal with work, while Xu Xinghe brought his younger brother and sister around for a walk in the manor. It wasn’t until eight o’clock in the evening that he finally returned to the room.
As soon as the door opened, a “meow” sound was heard, and Xiaoqi, who had not seen him for a long time, ran over with small steps, excitedly circling her owner.
“Meow~ Meow!” Xiaoqi stretched out her fluffy front paws and scratched Xu Xinghe’s pant legs.
“You still know how to come back.” Xu Xinghe smiled, bent down and picked up Xiaoqi, straightened his arms and raised her high. “Come on, let me see if you’ve gained weight these days.”
He just returned in the afternoon, and didn’t see Xiaoqi when he returned. After asking the servants, he learned that she was hanging out with Aaron all day, spending most of her time outside.
Xu Xinghe thought that the two cats didn’t have enough fun yet, so he didn’t ask someone to look for them earlier.
Xiaoqi flicked her big fluffy tail, covering her key parts in embarrassment.
Xu Xinghe: “…”
He took Xiaoqi into his arms and reached out and rubbed his cat’s head.
“Let’s go and play with your favorite laser pointer for a while.”
For the next hour or so, Xu Xinghe basically spent his time amusing cats and reading books…
Until half past nine, the alarm sounded.
When Xu Xinghe saw that the time was up, he put down his book and got up to go out.
Unexpectedly, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him as soon as he walked out of the room, and Xu Xinghe’s head almost collided with him. He hurriedly braked, and pressed down the small exclamation of surprise in his throat.
He raised his head in shock, only to see clearly that it was Ling Changfeng.
Wearing dark gray silk pajamas, Marshal Ling had actually been standing outside the door for a while.
He was hesitating.
Normally, he would have knocked on the door and entered.
But now, although his emotions have calmed down, and the residual heat of the susceptible period is gradually fading, but… He doesn’t know whether he should test himself like this.
The smooth and delicate skin on the back of the young man’s neck flashed involuntarily in his mind, and his pupils darkened accordingly.
Just when Ling Changfeng was struggling whether to knock on the door, his little spouse walked out by himself.
As a result, the strange brilliance in the pair of mismatched eyes was replaced by a trace of satisfaction and relief.
Ling Changfeng’s voice was still light, but his tone was more relaxed and casual: “If you didn’t come out, I’d have gone in.”
Xu Xinghe was slightly startled: “Huh?”
Ling Changfeng put his hands behind his back and said, “Go in and speak.”
Xu Xinghe was confused. “Say what?”
Eyes sweeping over, Ling Changfeng asked back: “What were you looking for me for?”
Xu Xinghe was full of question marks: “No… What did I want to say to you? I was going to tell Lily a bedtime story.”
Ling Changfeng: “…”
Xu Xinghe asked him, “What are you doing here?”
Ling Changfeng pursed his thin lips and said, “I’ll accompany you.”
“Uh… …accompany me to tell a bedtime story?”
“Mm.”
“Mm?”
“Let’s go.”
“…Oh.”
When Xu Xinghe and Ling Changfeng entered her room, Lily was already lying on the bed with her doll in her arms. waiting.
An intelligent robot in childcare mode was singing a strange lullaby.
Hearing the sound of the door, Lily turned her head happily, and was surprised to discover two people came over to tell bedtime stories.
She clapped his hands excitedly: “Can I listen to two bedtime stories tonight? Brother Xinghe tells one, Uncle Ling tells another.”
Xu Xinghe: “…”
Ling Changfeng: “…”
Lily, who was told “don’t call him sister-in-law”, chose a more common name this time – anyway, when she met such people in the past, she always called them uncle.
But soon, she saw something was wrong from the expressions of the two.
“What’s wrong?” Lily asked in a low voice, and then added in a glutinous voice, “One is okay too…”
Xu Xinghe felt that it was time to decide on a suitable title for Ling Changfeng.
He nudged Ling Changfeng with his elbow, and threw the problem over: “What do you think she should call you?”
Ling Changfeng: “…”
Marshal Ling, who has always been omnipotent, was also troubled at this moment.
It stands to reason that if Lily calls Xu Xinghe ‘brother’, she should also call him ‘brother.’
However, when he looked at the little girl who was several decades younger than him, he couldn’t open his mouth.
After hearing their conversation, Lily realized that the question of name was still unanswered. She thought about it, then tilted her head and said, “Then brother-in-law?”
Xu Xinghe: “…”
The latter was silent for a few seconds, before a few syllables were squeezed between his teeth: “No way.”
“Then what…” Lily frowned and thought hard for a while. “Can I call you brother? Brother Changfeng?” She snapped her fingers and said. “The one I met during the day. Uncle Qin, he also asked me to call him brother.”
Ling Changfeng: “…” In terms of being shameless, Qin Yuan is number 1.
However, since this title was proposed by the girl herself, Marshal Ling accepted it cheekily.
Although it feels a little strange.
“Can we start the bedtime story then?” Lily looked at the two of them expectantly.
“Yes, yes.” Xu Xinghe sat down beside the bed and asked, “What type do you want to hear?”
“Anything, as long as I haven’t heard it before.” Little Lily smiled and stretched under the covers.
“Well, I just found a collection of bedtime stories from the Yunyin platform. There are many, many fairy tales in it.”
Lily blinked and expressed concern: “My brother also found a lot of bedtime stories on the Internet before… “
“Don’t worry, there are more than 200 stories in this collection…”
Lily tilted her head and asked, “218 chapters?”
Xu Xinghe, who had just opened the bedtime story collection, looked at the “218” in parentheses silently.
He raised his head and asked, “Have you heard of this?”
“If it’s a collection of 218 popular bedtime stories on the Yunyin platform, then I have listened to all of them…”
“All??”
Lily nodded her head.
Xu Xinghe was shocked.
“Then I’ll look for others…” He closed the collection and started looking for new targets.
However, this search lasted half an hour.
Xu Xinghe finally understood the reason for Chu Yufei’s schadenfreude expression when he heard that he was coming to tell his sister a bedtime story.
There are thousands of bedtime stories that Lily has heard, and it doesn’t matter if she’s heard so many. The point is, she remembers everything she’s heard!
In the blink of an eye, Xu Xinghe was about to smash the list of stories on his terminal – he couldn’t find anything she hadn’t heard before.
“I have a bedtime story.”
Just when Xu Xinghe was at a loss, a low and magnetic voice suddenly came from his ear.
The brother and sister pair turned their heads together and looked at Ling Changfeng in the next moment. Lily’s eyes were full of anticipation, while Xu Xinghe’s eyes were shocked.
“You can even tell bedtime stories?”
Ling Changfeng nodded, and then opened his mouth under the eyes of the two of them: “Once upon a time, there was a big house, and a little girl lived in the house. After listening to the story told by adults, the little girl went to bed.”
Xu Xinghe: “…”
Lily: “…”
Lily waited for a long time before confirming he had finished speaking. For a while, her worldview seemed to be impacted.
She asked weakly: “Is this also a bedtime story?”
“Yes.” Ling Changfeng nodded earnestly and solemnly. “The story has a protagonist, a plot, and a happy ending.”
“Okay.” Lily nodded dumbfoundedly. “Then I’m going to sleep, so you should go to bed too.”
Xu Xinghe: “???”
What’s the situation! Coaxing can be done like this??
Can’t he tell hundreds of stories like this?
Xu Xinghe looked at the two of them speechlessly.
However, since his sister said it was okay, he would not take the initiative to make trouble for himself.
“Good night, Lily.”
“Good night, brother.”
After finally coaxing the children to sleep, the two of them walked out of the bedroom lightly.
Then stood in the doorway and fell into a new round of silence.
Xu Xinghe asked tentatively, “Let’s… return to our rooms?”
ROFL – Marshal Ling’s definition of a story.
LCF: Didn’t I just tell a story?
XXH, Lily: …
Us: … [laughing inside]
Want faster releases for SMM? Get faster updates by buying a ko-fi~ Progress towards add’l releases, and to see other ongoing projects, are tracked on my ko-fi page.
