Chapter 22: Master Lu: I Hate!

Elder Lu said, "You've come just in time. Take a look at this. Mianmian dug it up in our yard."

Lu Jinqiao took the object, then glanced at the wooden box in An’an’s hands, his forehead twitching slightly.

This thing looked strangely familiar.

"The box is mine. I don't know when I lost it, but as for this, I really have no idea."

The box had originally come with a jade bracelet Lu Jinqiao had bought. Later, when the bracelet was accidentally broken, the box was set aside, and eventually, he lost track of where it had gone.

He never imagined it had been buried in their own courtyard. And it contained a "tree root"?

Lu Jinqiao said, "Since Mianmian dug it up for An’an, let An’an decide what to do with it, shall we?"

An’an nodded. "Okay!"

Mianmian barked, "Woof!" (Okay.)

Lu Jinqiao handed the items to An’an, and Mianmian leaned in to sniff them. "Woof woof! Woof!" (Okay, keep it!)

An’an nodded in agreement. "Okay. Daddy, Mianmian says it’s good and wants me to keep it."

Lu Jinqiao nodded. "Then we’ll keep it. Do you want to use that box to store it, An’an?"

Once An’an had everything tidied away, Cheng Han carried her off to take a bath.

An’an currently still slept with Lu Jinqiao, though he had been trying to train her to sleep on her own. The results, however, were minimal; every time An’an looked at him with those big eyes, saying nothing, his heart would soften, and he would end up bringing her back.

But tonight, Elder Lu clearly wanted to sleep with An’an, and An’an was reluctant to leave Lu Jinqiao. So, when Lu Jinqiao stepped out of the bathroom with his hands dried, he saw Elder Lu standing before his bed, clutching a pillow and staring intently at him.

Lu Jinqiao’s gaze sharpened. He took half a step back and looked at Elder Lu. "What are you doing?"

Elder Lu smiled ingratiatingly. "Oh, nothing much."

"It’s just that, you know... well, since that’s the way it is... could we maybe just do that for tonight?"

Lu Jinqiao felt a headache coming on. "You want to sleep here?"

Elder Lu nodded sheepishly, his old face flushing red. "Yes, exactly."

Lu Jinqiao understood. "Fine. Then An’an and I will go sleep in the other room."

Elder Lu threw his pillow down and glared. "Go where? I came here specifically to sleep with An’an! If you take her away, what the hell am I supposed to do?"

Lu Jinqiao sighed. "You could have just said so instead of beating around the bush."

Elder Lu was embarrassed into anger. "Shut up!"

"Oh," replied Lu Jinqiao.

An’an was lying on the bed, her eyes darting left and right, speaking to the System in her mind. "System Su-su, Great-Grandpa and Daddy are so childish."

[The System nodded sagely: Yes, they are.]

"System Su-su, goodnight. An’an is going to sleep now."

[System: Goodnight, An’an. Have sweet dreams.]

After saying goodnight to the System, An’an let out a yawn, whispered goodnight to Elder Lu and Lu Jinqiao, and, unable to fight off the drowsiness, quickly drifted off to sleep.

Once An’an was asleep, Elder Lu and Lu Jinqiao stopped bickering. They tucked An’an between them and drifted off as well.

*

"Grandpa, I told you, that’s Lu’s kid. Stop obsessing over it, okay?"

Yin Yuanxun had been arguing with Elder Yin since early morning.

It started because Elder Yin had seen Elder Lu’s social media updates the night before—a series of posts showing off the child. Elder