Ruan Qiuping helped Little Yu Huan up and leaned him against a pillar, then stood up and looked at Qi Yue, asking, "What's the punishment for breaking the rules?"
"The punishment is given by the teachers. I'm only responsible for reporting your violation and dealing with the aftermath."
"How do you deal with the aftermath?"
"Naturally, by erasing their memories."
"Their?" Ruan Qiuping glanced at Little Yu Huan. "But when I was invisible, this kid had his eyes closed the whole time. He didn't see anything."
"You shouldn't have interacted with him in the first place. You're just a recorder. The moment you got involved in someone's life, you made a mistake."
Ruan Qiuping particularly disliked Qi Yue's condescending, expressionless way of speaking, as if he were some kind of judge.
"If we have to erase mortals' memories every time we interact with them, why does the bracelet allow us to turn off invisibility? Why not just set it to permanent invisibility?" Ruan Qiuping smiled and continued, "Senior Qi Yue, don't you think you're overstepping your bounds?"
Qi Yue frowned. "I'm just fulfilling my duties."
"Is that so?" Ruan Qiuping raised an eyebrow, with a half-smile. "I thought you were deliberately targeting me, just like you used to."
Qi Yue's lips tightened, but he didn't speak.
Ruan Qiuping sighed and said slowly, "Oh, I guess I'm just being petty. Senior Qi Yue, you've completely forgotten about all that. Why am I even bringing it up? It just makes everyone uncomfortable."
Qi Yue was silent for a moment, then lowered his eyes and said, "... I'll pretend I didn't see anything today. Be more careful in the future."
"Oh my! I should thank you properly then! Take care, Senior Qi Yue!" Ruan Qiuping called out loudly.
Qi Yue clenched one hand into a fist and quickly relaxed it. He lowered his head to erase part of the kidnapper's memory on the ground, then turned and left.
Seeing Qi Yue leave, Ruan Qiuping finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Thanks to his quick thinking in bringing up the old incident, making Qi Yue feel guilty, he had narrowly escaped punishment.
In fact, what Qi Yue had done to him back then wasn't really a major offense.
When Ruan Qiuping was just beginning to understand things, he didn't really grasp his identity. After all, at home, his father was carefree, and although his mother was very depressed about his misfortune, she never scolded or insulted him to his face.
At the time, Ruan Qiuping thought that his parents, apart from not holding or touching him, weren't much different from other people's parents.
Back then, the Ruan family still had neighbors, and Qi Yue was a few years older than them, the leader of the children in that area.
Ruan Qiuping had once naively run over, wanting to play with them, but was rejected.
It was Qi Yue who told him he was a God of Misfortune.
It was Qi Yue who pushed him to the ground with a mud-covered stick.
It was also Qi Yue who led the group of children to throw rotten fruit at his front door.
On Ruan Qiuping's long journey through life, Qi Yue was the first to tell him clearly: just how unlucky he was.
But that was a long, long time ago, like a piece of tattered cloth stored in some corner for hundreds of years, shaken out to release a cloud of dust. If he hadn't been afraid of Qi Yue erasing Little Yu Huan's memories, he wouldn't have bothered to bring it up again.
Little Yu Huan was still unconscious. Ruan Qiuping walked over, crouched down, wiped the tear stains from Little Yu Huan's face, and couldn't help but smile: "Luckily, I managed to preserve your memories."
The kidnapper was still unconscious, and the sound of police sirens could be heard outside.
Ruan Qiuping picked up a piece of glass from somewhere else and placed it next to the broken rope, creating the illusion that he had cut the rope with the glass. Just as Ruan Qiuping was about to pick up Little Yu Huan and leave, he suddenly noticed his own blood on a table leg on the ground.
Ruan Qiuping used magic to retrieve the drop of blood, but where the blood had been on the table leg, a small gray-black pit had been corroded. Ruan Qiuping gently rubbed the small pit with his finger, then stood up and carried Little Yu Huan out of there.
"Qiuping! Dinner!" Ruan Shengfeng shouted from downstairs.
"Coming right away!"
Although Ruan Qiuping said he was coming right away, it took a full ten minutes before he arrived at the dining table.
Ruan Shengfeng was stunned. His eldest son, who usually wore a T-shirt and shorts around the house, was now dressed in a water-blue robe, his hair magically lengthened and tied with a dark blue cloud-patterned ribbon, making him look even more handsome and elegant.
Well... although his son's luck and magical abilities weren't great, at least he had good looks.
Despite thinking this, he said, "Have you lost your mind? We're just having dinner, why are you dressed like this?"
"Big brother looks so cool!" Ruan Dongdong was very supportive, raising her little hands and clapping vigorously.
"Do you notice anything different about me?" Ruan Qiuping turned around on the spot.
Ruan Shengfeng frowned. "What's different? Isn't this the only proper robe in your wardrobe? It's not like it's grown flowers... Wait, where did you buy that jade ring on your waist? Don't tell me you bought another fake..."
"You mean it looks unique and beautiful, right?" Ruan Qiuping interrupted, holding the jade ring and grinning.
"...Where did you get it?" Ruan Shengfeng sensed something was off.
"A gift from someone." Ruan Qiuping sat down and started eating.
A gift from someone? A man or a woman?
Ruan Shengfeng pondered.
Ruan Qiuping took a couple of bites, then turned to look at the bright white sky outside and sighed, "Time passes so slowly. Why won't tomorrow come sooner?"
Ruan Qiuping poked at the white rice in his bowl with his chopsticks, feeling that the rice looked just like the white hospital gown Little Yu Huan was wearing when he waved goodbye to him from the bed.
Speaking of white hospital gowns, he was reminded of how Little Yu Huan refused to close his eyes when the doctor said he urgently needed rest, saying he was afraid Ruan Qiuping would disappear if he fell asleep.
At the time, Ruan Qiuping sat by the hospital bed and comforted Little Yu Huan for a long time before finally lulling him to sleep.
But even in his sleep, the little one held onto his hand. If he moved even slightly, the child would start to wake up.
... So clingy.
As he thought about it, Ruan Qiuping couldn't help but smile again.
After finishing dinner, Ruan Qiuping went to the back mountain for his daily cultivation.
After he left, Ruan Dongdong looked at the smile on Ruan Shengfeng's face and asked in confusion, "Dad, what are you smiling about?"
Ruan Shengfeng pinched Ruan Dongdong's little face and chuckled, "Dongdong, I think your brother might be in love."
After observing for the next few days, Ruan Shengfeng was pretty much convinced of his theory.
He noticed that his son was most eager to go to the academy every day, and his mood changed the most when he came back, sometimes melancholic, sometimes content.
He also noticed that his son often brought things home.
One day he brought back a bunch of candy, saying it was a gift from someone.
The next day he brought back a potted flower, saying it was a gift from someone.
The day after that, he brought back a hat, again a gift from someone.
So, his daughter-in-law must be his son's classmate.
Moreover, during this time, Fate Academy was conducting group practical courses in the mortal world.
Ruan Shengfeng, being experienced, naturally knew that for these group practices, they usually just spent a few minutes completing the task, and the rest of the time was free activity. When having free time in the mortal world, one person couldn't have much fun alone, so they usually went out to play in groups or with several people. As they played together, feelings would naturally develop. That's how he and Xia Fushui had met back in the day.
Therefore, his daughter-in-law must be a member of the same group as his son.
So, on the eighth day, Ruan Shengfeng cleared his throat a couple of times and asked, seemingly casually but actually with a well-thought-out plan, "Qiuping, what's the name of the prettiest girl in your group?"
"Oh, I'm in a group by myself."
...
Ruan Shengfeng: "... Huh???"
"By the way, Dad," Ruan Qiuping looked in the mirror, standing on his tiptoes slightly, "Am I short?"
Ruan Shengfeng was still a bit dazed and answered absentmindedly, "Not short..."
Ruan Qiuping looked in the mirror and also felt that his height of 181 cm wasn't too short.
Sigh, the problem was that Little Yu Huan had grown so much in the past two years. When he saw Little Yu Huan yesterday, he was already a bit taller than him. Who knows if he would grow even taller today.
If Little Yu Huan became much taller than him, wouldn't that be embarrassing?
"Dad, I'm leaving. Goodbye, Dongdong."
Ruan Qiuping sighed, shouldered his backpack, and grabbed a bun from the table, holding it in his mouth as he left.
Ruan Shengfeng watched his son's retreating figure, his eyes filled with confusion.
If you're in a group by yourself, who exactly are you dating?
At Yusen High School's opening ceremony.
The new student representative was giving a speech on the podium.
He was a young man about fifteen or sixteen years old, with an upright posture and handsome features. He wore the same blue and white school uniform as everyone else, yet somehow looked exceptionally good in it.
Thousands of students in the audience listened attentively to his speech. No one was chattering or whispering. Only a few bold girls quietly took out their phones to record the young man's entire speech.
As the speech entered its final stage, the young man suddenly seemed to spot something. His voice abruptly halted, and his eyes fixed intently on the back rows of the auditorium.
Then, the young man suddenly lowered his head and smiled.
The moment he smiled, everyone's hearts began to race. It was as if color had been added to a black and white painting, breathtakingly beautiful. The auditorium instantly filled with the sound of gasps and camera shutters.
The young man put down his speech notes, omitting over a hundred words of lengthy text, and simply said with a smile, "Finally, I hope everyone has an enjoyable high school life."
As soon as he finished speaking, he put down the microphone and walked off the stage, almost impatiently.
His steps became faster and faster until he finally broke into a run, his long legs carrying him swiftly.
The head teacher walked up to the podium and continued speaking into the microphone. But most of the students' attention was drawn to the running young man.
The young man ran to the very back of the auditorium. He stretched out his long arms and tightly embraced a man wearing a baseball cap. Lowering his head, he hugged him even tighter, almost overcome with joy as he softly called out:
"Ruan Ruan!"