"Yes, my back always gets sore during pregnancy. The later it gets, the sorer my back is, and my belly feels bloated. I just want to lie in bed and rest."
"You’ve been working hard, Sang’er." Lou Xianyue gently rubbed and massaged her waist and abdon. He then produced a bottle of milky-white ointnt from sowhere and applied it to her belly, easing the uncomfortable bloating.
"It’s been less than a month, but your belly is so much bigger than before," he said.
Just over twenty days ago, Sang Luo’s belly had been the size of a two- or three-month human pregnancy. Now, it was already close to six or seven months. This little one was making up for its previously stunted growth in the mid-to-late stages of the pregnancy.
Sang Luo snuggled in Lou Xianyue’s arms, hooking her arm around his neck and whispering in his ear, "Do you want another son, or a little girl this ti?"
"As long as you’re the one giving birth, I’ll love them either way."
"You have to pick one!"
Lou Xianyue thought about it seriously, his smile as warm as a spring breeze. "I’d like a daughter. Little An is more like , so I’d like a daughter who’s like you."
"Haha, Little An has been talking nonstop about wanting a little sister, too. I was afraid he’d be sad, so I told him it was a sister."
"Maybe... it really is a sister."
"Really? Are you sure?" Sang Luo’s eyes sparkled as she gazed at him. She was also curious whether she was carrying a girl or a boy this ti.
Seeing her expectant look, Lou Xianyue lowered his head and kissed her eyes, nodding with a smile. "I’m the child’s father beast. I can sense it. The longer the baby develops, the stronger my feeling gets. This one feels different from when you were carrying Little An. It’s probably a little sister."
"Listen again?"
Lou Xianyue did as she asked and pressed his ear to her belly. The next second, he seed to be gently kicked. He was speechless with excitent. "Sang’er, did the baby just move? It... it sensed too, right?"
Sang Luo also gently cradled her belly, smiling as she watched him in this rare state of discomposure. "This one is more active than Little An was."
She had barely felt any kicks when she was pregnant with Little An.
Speaking of which, Lou Xianyue sounded both regretful and blissful. "Last ti, when you were pregnant with Little An, I couldn’t be by your side. This ti, I’m definitely staying."
"Then it’s a promise. No leaving again."
"Okay. I won’t leave."
The two of them shared a tender mont. Then, Sang Luo rembered sothing and asked him, "By the way, what’s the situation with the Eye of the Ruins? You’re not going to..."
"The Eye of the Ruins has been sealed again."
"Was it really Fei Yuan?" Sang Luo recalled what he had said before she left the Void Demon Realm.
’I owe him my life.’
’This ti, I really owe him a huge favor. It won’t be easy to repay.’
Lou Xianyue nodded, though he was also confused. "I don’t know how the Phoenix Emperor managed it, but the price for sealing the Eye of the Ruins is imnse. I’m afraid he..."
Sang Luo’s heart sank. "After a while, when I go back to the East Continent, I’ll thank him properly."
"I’m the one who should personally visit him with lavish gifts to express my gratitude."
The two of them dawdled for a long ti. After finishing breakfast... which was basically lunch by then, they went to Chengen Hall and saw Zai Xin tutoring Blue Eucalyptus. Ever since Sang Luo made a three-point agreent with him, he had been studying with incredible diligence.
Sang Luo reached out and pulled back Lou Xianyue, who was about to enter, and shook her head. She hadn’t wanted to disturb her son’s studies, but unexpectedly, as if on the sa wavelength, Little An glanced toward the door and called out cheerfully, "Mother, Father, what are you two doing sneaking around?"
The two had no choice but to enter the hall.
"Greetings, Your Majesty. Greetings, Queen." Zai Xin bowed, intending to excuse himself.
Sang Luo quickly raised a hand to stop him. "Elder Zai, please don’t mind us. Ah Ze and I are just here to take a look. We’ll be leaving soon."
Lou Xianyue flipped through the books on the table. "Ledgers?"
"Indeed. The Young Master is extrely intelligent; he understands things instantly. This old servant brought a few old treasury ledgers to teach the Young Master so accounting."
Sang Luo also picked up a ledger to look at it and imdiately saw sothing was wrong. Just in the few pages she casually flipped through, several entries had incorrect figures. It was obvious that an official below had been embezzling funds.
And these were last year’s ledgers, when Lou Xianyue was still on the throne!
Sang Luo shot him a look. "Look at this ss of accounts from when you were reigning. You’ve left this whole disaster for our son."
Lou Xianyue rubbed his nose. "I... I don’t really look at this stuff."
He was either in deep sleep or practicing Artifact Refining. He left boring matters like this to his subordinates.
"You’re such an incompetent Sea Emperor. The corrupt officials must have been ecstatic." Sang Luo was so angry she wanted to kick him.
Sang Luo flipped back to the previous pages of the ledger and saw that all the unreasonable entries had been corrected and marked. She quickly said, "Elder Zai, you’ve worked hard."
Zai Xin chuckled. "I wasn’t the one who corrected them. The Little Majesty did."
"Son, you corrected these?" Sang Luo looked at Blue Eucalyptus in pleasant surprise.
Little An blushed. "Mother, did I do it wrong?"
Zai Xin said, "The Little Majesty is the most intelligent child this old servant has ever t. Many adult Beastn can’t make heads or tails of these accounts, yet the Little Majesty calculates them quickly and accurately, without a single mistake."
Sang Luo’s face blood into a wide smile. "My son is so smart, much better than his muddle-headed father!"
Lou Xianyue was caught in the crossfire, unable to refute a single word. "That choosing ceremony... was quite telling, it seems."
"Hmph! That’s because my son is brilliant!" Sang Luo hugged Little An and gave him a kiss. Feeling very assured about her son’s studies, she and Lou Xianyue didn’t stay long, so as not to distract him.
「After leaving the hall.」
Sang Luo lightly pinched Lou Xianyue’s pale, jade-like earlobe, chiding him, "Do you even want this throne anymore? Little An is still so young. You’re not really planning to just wash your hands of it all for good, are you?"
Before, Lou Xianyue had been determined to die, which was why he had been in such a hurry to pass on the throne. It was a move born of desperation. But now he was back alive and wasn’t going to die anyti soon. Logically, he should have taken back the throne, but seeing his leisurely and carefree deanor, he showed no intention of doing so.
"Experiencing two changes in leadership in such a short ti could easily cause unrest among the people of the South Sea. I think maybe it’s better if..." Lou Xianyue’s voice trailed off.
Sang Luo was fuming. "Little An isn’t even three years old! He can’t even recognize all his words yet!"
She touched her belly and huffed. "You’re such an unreliable father. When this baby is born, I’m not letting you raise it!"
"You can’t do that! I’ll go draft a new edict right now!" Lou Xianyue was suddenly frantic.
It was true that he didn’t care much for the throne, but it was more because he now had important people and attachnts in his life and wanted to spend more ti with Sang Luo and the children... However, his son really was too young. At the very least, he would have to wait until Little An had his shape-shifting transformation before abdicating in his favor.
"Now that’s more like it!"
Sang Luo was satisfied. Seeing the man’s beautiful earlobe, now pink from being pinched, his lotus earring slightly askew, she felt her heart itch again. She stepped forward and kissed it, then clasped her hands behind her back, a dangerous smile on her face. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
Lou Xianyue returned to his study, drafted a new edict, and issued the decree to reascend the throne of the Sea Emperor.
As for the corrupt officials and Beastn under him, he had long been aware of them. He was rely playing the long ga to catch a bigger fish. He had them all arrested and their assets seized, adding a considerable sum to the national treasury.
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