Chapter 314: Uninvited Parents
But what truly surprised Shi Lan was that, as over-the-top as Jiang Xia and Mu Tangfeng were, Ye Ming and Yan Huoshui were just as bad.
Ye Ming showed up with a huge pile of gifts and snacks, giving something to every single person in the hospital. He announced, "This is to celebrate my wife’s pregnancy."
Yan Huoshui was not to be outdone. He gave every single person a Red Crystal. These were the ones he had rejected after sorting through them for Shi Lan, but their quality was still quite good, worth about twenty to thirty thousand each. They were still incredibly expensive, especially since the weather on Capital Star didn’t require the warmth of Red Crystals at all.
Everyone was astonished and asked him why he was suddenly giving away Red Crystals. He just said, "Consider them a token of affection between my wife and me. Now that she’s pregnant, I wanted to share the good fortune with everyone."
Everyone who received a gift had the same thought: ’Right, we shouldn’t have asked.’
In just a few short days, news of Shi Lan’s pregnancy had spread so far that it felt like the entire internet knew.
Whenever the doctors at the hospital saw her, they would stare as if she were some kind of rare creature. Some would quietly ask Shi Lan if she had any secret tips for getting pregnant, since it was incredibly difficult for females to conceive, even with a Fertility Value.
Shi Lan was taken aback. ’I don’t know either,’ she thought. ’With a Fertility Value of 100, it’d be harder *not* to get pregnant, right?’
In the end, she could only offer some words of comfort. "Just try to relax. I’ll share some of my pregnancy luck with you. Maybe a baby will come when you least expect it."
"Thank you, Doctor Shi."
The doctor hugged her gratefully, but then, under the cold glare of the Beast Husband standing beside her, she cautiously let go, not daring to bother Shi Lan any longer.
Aside from matters at the hospital, Shi Lan was also busy moving. Of course, she didn’t have to lift a finger. Her Beast Husbands and a team of construction robots had everything arranged perfectly. All she had to do was give a few instructions and make some adjustments remotely online, then she could move right in.
Shi Lan’s private villa was the first to be finished. The basic structures for the other Beast Husbands’ houses were also complete, just waiting for the interiors to be done. Yan Huoshui, however, had already begun work on his. Before anyone else could react, he had snatched up the house closest to the left of Shi Lan’s villa. Once he finished the renovations, no one would be able to complain.
Besides, he was the one who had arranged and overseen the entire construction team and designers, so he had put in more effort than anyone.
Once the house was finished, Shi Lan found that things felt completely different.
She was in her own home every day, but her Beast Husbands visited one at a time, each on a different day. It gave her the delightful feeling of being a queen summoning her favorite consorts. Of course, since she was pregnant with a little cub, she didn’t dare do too much—at most, some kissing and cuddling. Taking advantage of the fact they couldn’t do anything to her during her pregnancy, she grew much bolder. For instance, she would make them turn into their beast forms so she could pet them.
One day, Shi Lan would be petting the Bird of Paradise, the next day the Black Panther, the day after that the Pallas’s cat, followed by the Nine-tailed Fox.
When petting the Bird of Paradise, she made sure to stroke its head and the soft tuft of down on its beak, all while admiring its stunningly beautiful beast form.
When petting the Black Panther, she couldn’t resist his pink paw pads. As she pressed down with her fingers, his pads would splay open like a blossoming flower. Meanwhile, his beast form’s owner simply let her do as she pleased, carefully keeping his claws retracted so as not to hurt her.
As for the Pallas’s cat, burying her face in his belly was a must. Jiang Xia’s fur was thick and fluffy all over, but the white down on his stomach was even softer and more comfortable than the fur on his back. Shi Lan couldn’t stop herself from nuzzling her face against it.
Jiang Xia’s body would tremble uncontrollably. A tingling numbness spread through him, and his paws itched with the urge to push her face away. But in the end, he would just gently rest them on her forehead, his body going limp as he lay sprawled out, using only his tail to cover his private parts.
As for the Nine-tailed Fox, Shi Lan had always gone for Yan Huoshui’s nine tails first. Only now did she discover that the fur on his body was just as soft and warm, radiating a pleasant heat and carrying a faint floral scent on every strand.
Shi Lan couldn’t resist burying her face in his fur and inhaling deeply, like some kind of creep.
Yan Huoshui’s red eyes might have maintained the calm dignity of a Beast Husband, but his nine tails had long since followed their master’s true desire, winding around Shi Lan’s wrists and any other exposed skin, intent on making his female carry more of his scent.
Shi Lan was in absolute heaven. As someone with a serious weakness for fluffy things, getting to pet a clean, sweet-smelling, self-sufficient furball every day was the definition of bliss. Her Beast Husbands, on the other hand, had it rough. Each time, they’d have to carefully hide their lower bodies with their tails before inevitably rushing to the bathroom for a cold shower, unable to take it anymore.
But by the time they came out, Shi Lan would already be fast asleep, lying comfortably in bed.
However, Shi Lan’s blissful days didn’t last long. Soon, someone came to disturb her happy life.
One day, Shi Lan was on a day off. Since it was a rest day and she didn’t have a designated Beast Husband companion, she decided to just have them all come over for a meal. She figured an occasional family dinner would be good for household harmony.
Ye Ming was the one cooking, however, with the others acting as his assistants. They immediately shooed Shi Lan out of the kitchen, telling her to just sit on the sofa with a plate of fruit and watch TV.
She was enjoying the TV when the doorbell rang. Activating the chip on her wrist to check the security feed, she saw several people standing at her gate. She instantly recognized the three people in the lead: the Bai Family. Bai Rao was with them.
Shi Lan was baffled. Without opening the gate, she used the intercom. "Hello, can I help you?"
Her tone was polite enough, but the Bai Family didn’t look like they’d come with good intentions. Besides, she’d never had any dealings with them, so she wasn’t in a hurry to open the gate.
But Mrs. Bai’s expression darkened as she stared at the closed gate.
’Just as I thought, an ill-mannered, wild child. She doesn’t even have the basic courtesy to greet her guests.’
But then she remembered that Shi Lan was the only 3S-grade individual, and all the benefits that entailed. Forcibly suppressing her anger, she rubbed her eyes until they turned red, and tears instantly started to fall. "My child, we’ve been looking for you for so long! I can’t believe you’re still alive... Mom is so, so happy."
After speaking, she nudged Mr. Bai, who immediately choked up as well. "Child, I’m your father."
Standing behind them, Bai Rao listened to his parents with a complicated expression. Then, his face grew even more peculiar as a thought about his future relationship with Shi Lan crossed his mind.
"Mom? Dad?"
Shi Lan suppressed her surprise, her eyes filled with doubt and suspicion. ’The book never mentioned anything about this. Could the Bai Family really be the original owner’s parents? But so what if they are? The original owner is gone, and I’m not her. I don’t long for parental affection. Besides, I already suspected the original owner was deliberately abandoned, so I never even considered looking for her biological parents.’
She didn’t press for details, simply stating blandly, "Oh. I’m sorry, but my parents died a long time ago."
Mrs. Bai had assumed Shi Lan would want to acknowledge them, and a hint of joy had just flickered in her eyes. But after hearing that, her face visibly stiffened. She struggled to maintain her gentle facade, and for a moment, her expression twisted into a bizarre grimace.
It was the same for Mr. Bai. ’I’m standing right here, alive and well,’ he thought, ’and this child is cursing me to death.’