When Luo Qi woke up, he opened his eyes and saw Ye Mu looking at him with knitted brows.
He asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
As soon as he spoke, he realized his voice was very hoarse. He coughed twice and reached to rub his eyes, but Ye Mu caught his hand.
Ye Mu looked at him with a furrowed brow, "Why were you crying in your dream?"
After the evening activities last night, Ye Mu had, as usual, cleaned up Luo Qi, who was already half-asleep, placed him on the bed, and tucked him in before going to sleep himself.
In the middle of the night, he heard Luo Qi suddenly start crying in his sleep, and he couldn't wake him up no matter how hard he tried.
Ye Mu was scared half to death, so he quickly got out of bed and found a doctor. After half the night of fussing, they came to a conclusion that was both amusing and frustrating:
"His Highness the little prince probably just had a nightmare."
While Ye Mu found it both amusing and frustrating, he was also relieved. He gently wiped away Luo Qi's tears and stayed with him until he woke up.
Luo Qi thought carefully about the dream he had yesterday but couldn't remember anything. He only knew it wasn't a nightmare, but a happy, pleasant dream.
He sat up and smiled at Ye Mu, "It's nothing."
Ye Mu pursed his lips, his tone a little self-reproachful, "It's all my fault. You clearly told me to stop, but I was only thinking about my own pleasure, which made you unhappy, right?"
Luo Qi's face turned red, and he raised his hand to cover Ye Mu's mouth, "What are you talking about?"
Ye Mu's eyes were still filled with guilt. He clearly considered Luo Qi crying in his dream to be his own responsibility. As for why Luo Qi didn't say anything, it must be because Luo Qi was enduring hardship and didn't want to cause conflict between them as a couple.
Luo Qi couldn't be bothered to say more to this fool. He lay down again and turned his back to Ye Mu.
Ye Mu blinked and lay down with Luo Qi, kissed his hair, and asked with a smile, "Are you hungry?"
Luo Qi turned over and hugged Ye Mu, "A little."
Ye Mu glanced at the time, "The porridge should be ready soon. I'll go down and get it in a moment."
Luo Qi closed his eyes and hummed in response.
The couple had tossed and turned all night and were feeling sleepy again. Just as they were about to fall asleep, the door was suddenly opened from the outside.
Luo Qi buried his face in the quilt and let out a few unconscious whimpers.
Ye Mu opened one eye and looked at the person at the door. He saw Cesi standing at the doorway with his hands on his hips.
He quickly got up and asked in a low voice, "Dad, what's wrong?"
Cesi didn't even look at him. He walked to the bed, pulled down Luo Qi's quilt, grabbed him under his armpits, and picked him up as if he were holding a child.
The sudden lift startled Luo Qi awake. As soon as he opened his eyes, he met his father's complex gaze, which seemed to carry a hint of happiness mixed with a sigh, or perhaps relief mixed with a touch of melancholy.
Luo Qi, being held by his father's pinching grip, shrugged his shoulders, his legs dangling. He was quite impressed that he could discern so many emotions.
"Dad, what exactly happened?"
Cesi paused, then said, "The Mother Tree has awakened again. It looks like it's your and... Ye Mu's child."
With a "splat," the dignified human chairman stepped on his right foot with his left foot and fell in his own bedroom. However, he ignored his sore backside and looked up blankly, "What do you mean?"
Ten minutes later, Cesi led Luo Qi and Ye Mu to the Mother Tree.
This Mother Tree, which was fundamental to the existence of the insect race, appeared before an outsider for the first time, apart from the insect race itself.
Amidst the entanglement of pale blue vines, an oval, semi-transparent "egg" of a deeper color was suspended in the center.
A faint glow flowed around the oval "egg." They couldn't see clearly from the outside, only a small shadow.
Ye Mu's hand hovered over the shadow, and at this moment, he felt a sense of reality, "This is our child?"
From the day he fell in love with Luo Qi, he knew that he might never have his own children in this life. He never expected that the insect race and Luo Qi could give him such a great surprise.
Luo Qi held Ye Mu's hand, a smile spreading across his eyes and brows, "I was born like this when I was little too."
Ye Mu squeezed his hand back, "That's wonderful. We'll accompany him, just like I accompanied you as you grew up again."
From that day on, in addition to taking care of Luo Qi and handling affairs on Earth, Ye Mu had one more daily must-do: to visit the Mother Tree to see their future child.
When he went to see the little cub, Ye Mu would also bring two insect race parenting books, although such things only appeared after Luo Qi's birth, when Cesi needed to raise a child.
Ye Mu also named the cub. It only took the human chairman five seconds to decide on the name: Ye Luo.
Ye Luo and Luo Qi would be the most cherished treasures of his life.
This thought continued until a week after little Ye Luo was born.
Unlike Luo Qi, who was already two years old when he was born, little Ye Luo was still a baby when he was born.
His temper was probably inherited from Ye Mu. He smiled at everyone and rarely cried, but when he did cry, he was genuinely aggrieved, his voice so loud it could probably be heard outside the royal palace.
After being woken up by the little brat's crying in the middle of the night once again, Luo Qi bundled up Ye Mu and the little cub and kicked them out of the bedroom.
At the bedroom door, Ye Mu and Ye Luo stared at each other. Ye Mu gently pinched his son's cheek, "Look, you overdid it, didn't you?"
Ye Luo, who just wanted to attract his darling daddy's attention, whimpered, "Awu awu." He felt a bit awkward.
Ye Mu had no choice but to carry Ye Luo towards the guest bedroom, where he ran into Cesi, who had come out for a drink of water in the middle of the night.
Cesi glanced disdainfully at his cheap son-in-law, who was worse at coaxing children than he was, and his footsteps carried an indescribable smugness.
Ye Mu's eyes lit up. Cesi was alone, but he could coax Luo Qi very well. So, the cheap son-in-law "shamelessly asked for advice," "Dad, what should I do when the cub cries all the time?"
Cesi crossed his arms and ignored Ye Mu, "How would I know? My son didn't cry all the time when he was little."
Ye Mu: "..."
After finally coaxing Ye Luo to sleep, when he returned to the bedroom, Luo Qi was already asleep. Ye Mu gently placed a kiss on Luo Qi's forehead and carefully lay down beside him.
Luo Qi habitually turned over and nestled into Ye Mu's embrace.
"Luo Luo, goodnight."