Fast forward to two and a half years old: The villain boss is obsessed with raising cubs

The night is dark and everything is silent.

As soon as Shouyi lay down and closed his eyes, he felt a familiar, chilling aura hovering at the head of the bed.

He opened his eyes reluctantly, and saw He Xuan sitting on the edge of his bed like a cold statue, expressionless, his deep eyes staring at him unblinking in the darkness.

"Brother," Shouyi was nearly on the verge of collapse, rubbing his aching forehead as he sat up. "Could you please be so kind as to let me get some good sleep? Even with you watching over me like this every night, I still can't conjure up an elixir!"

This guy seemed to be stimulated and followed him around whenever he had time.

"You're weird, you know that?"

He Xuan sat in silence, the chill emanating from his body making Shouyi feel like he was covered with an ice blanket instead of a quilt.

After a long while, just when Shouyi thought he was going to sit there forever, He Xuan spoke in a low voice with a barely perceptible hoarseness: "Help me find a solution."

"What do you want to do?" Shouyi asked unhappily, although he knew everything clearly.

"Find a way to prevent me from disappearing." He Xuan's tone was flat, but it revealed an unquestionable stubbornness.

Shouyi sighed deeply, all his anger was extinguished by these words laced with hidden worries.

He grabbed the outer robe beside him and put it on, his tone softening: "He Xuan, I understand how you feel, and I don't want to see Miaomiao sad. I will do my best, search through ancient books, visit old friends, and as long as there is a glimmer of hope, I will never let it go. So..."

He paused, almost pleading, "Can you please go out first? I'm a human being, an old man! I need to rest! Only after I'm well rested can I have the strength to think of a solution for you, right?"

He Xuan stared at him for a few seconds, as if trying to judge the sincerity in his words.

In the end, he said nothing more, and his figure disappeared from the bedside in an instant like smoke blown away by the wind.

Shouyi breathed a sigh of relief and lay down again, but he stared at the curtains above the bed and couldn't fall asleep for a long time. He Xuan's sense of urgency was like a huge rock, pressing down on his heart.

-

Although He Xuan tried his best to conceal it, the unstable condition of his soul and body became increasingly difficult to hide.

That afternoon, he was with Miaomiao in the yard, watching her clumsily watering a small flower, when suddenly, without warning, a familiar feeling of exhaustion, as if his soul and body were about to disintegrate, came over him. His face turned pale (although his face was pale to begin with).

He quickly turned his back and suppressed the negative energy surging in his chest.

"Miao Miao," he said, trying to keep his voice steady, "Can you go play with your building blocks over there for a while? Daddy... let's go see if Grandpa Shouyi's elixir is ready."

Miaomiao held the small kettle and nodded obediently: "Okay~"

He Xuan immediately turned around and walked quickly to the shadow behind the pillars, almost stumbling while holding onto the cold wall.

The moment he disappeared from Miaomiao's sight, his entire figure began to fluctuate violently, like an image with a bad signal, and suddenly became transparent for a moment!

Although it solidified again very quickly, the momentary feeling of nothingness made him feel a palpitation.

He leaned against the wall, breathing slightly, trying to regulate his breathing to suppress the restless ghost energy in his body.

However, he underestimated the child's keenness.

Miaomiao didn't play with the building blocks immediately.

The little cub tilted her head and looked at her father's hurried and even panicked back, her big eyes like black grapes filled with confusion.

Just now... Daddy seemed a little strange?

She put down the kettle, tiptoed over like a curious kitten, and secretly poked half of her head out from under the porch pillar.

She saw her father leaning in the shadows, his head lowered, his shoulders seeming to tremble slightly. Although she couldn't see his detailed appearance, the little girl could feel an uncomfortable and weak feeling coming from her father.

Daddy...it seems like you are hiding something from me?

Miaomiao frowned, her little face full of worry and confusion.