City Lord's Office -
"I do hope our children are getting along together, the only way for us to be ready for when the Organisation moves is for us all to be united together to defend against them. Anyway, have you noticed anything strange occurring in your clan recently? I know that some of the branch members are trying to force you to step down but you should be lucky that all the other Elders of your clan still want you to remain in position. It might be possible for the Organisation to convert them for their cause against you. So you should step your foot down on any strange activities that may occur within the clan."
"I'm already looking into them so don't worry, and shouldn't you be the one who is supposed to be worrying about the state of the city? You are the City Lord so it should be your responsibility to root out the Organisation."
"Do you think it's that easy? Also, it's not like I'm not trying but I have to deal with other problems too you know." The tiredness could be seen in Xiao San's face. "I've been planning to give the seal over to my son for safekeeping in the future when he becomes the City Lord. He knows about this whole situation because he overheard my wife and I talking about it a year ago. Now he's constantly training without bothering to live his life like an actual child would. I'm hoping your son would be able to cure him of that habit…"
Ye Qiu started laughing nervously, "I don't think you should so much hope on him. My son's pretty similar to your son in a way. Ever since my son has managed to learn to read and walk, he's been going to the library every day to learn more about the world. Recently, he's even started training his body because he found a Cultivation Technique for him to train in at an early age."
"Do you want to know what's worse? My son wants to travel the world, and you don't know how afraid I am for him. I, myself had wanted to travel the entire world but after seeing the clan my wife was from, I just came back to settle down. As the saying goes, there's always a bigger fish out there." continued his rant until Xiao San cut in.
"Let's just hope the best for the future, shall we not? You did say that your son's talent level was pretty high, what was it? 8, I think?"
"Yeah, it is a talent level of 8. How about your son? With your talent, your son should've inherited at least a part of it." Ye Qiu asked his friend wondering just how great his son's talent was and whether he could shove it in his face otherwise because he knew that when they were younger, Xiao San was the one with the higher talent but eventually Ye Qiu was the one who surpassed his cultivation realm.
"My son only has a talent level of six, it isn't bad nor is it great. I'm sure with the effort my son puts into his training he'll be able to stay at a similar level as my son. After all, I'm the one who taught him!" Xiao San started to boast shamelessly.
Ye Qiu's eyebrows started to twitch violently at that statement and he couldn't hold in his laughter anymore, "HA HA HA, you think that with your teachings your son can surpass mine? Oh my, that's a funny statement to make. I seem to remember I'm the one who became stronger than you in the end through sheer effort?"
Trying to send a biting remark back, the words suddenly got stuck in Xiao San's throat. Seeing that Xiao San had no reply to his jibe, he looked at him and cocked his head sideways with a petty smirk on his face. "Why are you looking at me like that? Cat's got your tongue or are you just simply speechless to the point you can't come up with a comeback to that; or is it the fact that you admit my superiority?"
The more Ye Qiu's words started to get to Xiao San, the more scarlet his face started to become. "Well if it wasn't for me stopping my cultivation for a period of a few years then I wouldn't be behind you now would I?!
"Trying to save yourself from a desperate situation now aren't you Xiao San? Also, it's not my fault you went around trying to seduce the prettiest girl in that country we had visited. If you weren't so invested in trying to woo her then you wouldn't be in this situation where I can tease you easily now would it? Knowing his friend was trying his best to save himself from an embarrassing situation he kept on shooting his pride so he couldn't bring it back up anymore when the three sharp knocks sounded from the door and a voice called out.
"Ye Qiu let me in right now! I can hear you teasing Xiao San without me! Did you forget that we were the best tag team when it came to pissing all the people off in the countries we visited? I can clearly remember with vivid clarity that it was me which saved the both of you from getting into trouble with the ladies for being perverted. Also, if that perverted nature gets anywhere close to my baby, I'm going to tan your backside so hard that you won't be able to walk for days!" Ye Qiu's face instantly turned pale when he heard the voice. He quickly whispered to Xiao San.
"I thought Mei Ling was out of the city for the next few months?!? That's why I decided to visit now because I know that every time that I'm around she likes to threaten me!"
Chuckling nervously, "She said that she would be leaving for a few months, how on earth would I know that she would come back so suddenly? And you think you're scared? I live with the woman, I'm basically whipped!" Xiao San started hissing the last sentence before walking towards the door to open it. "Hey, welcome back from your trip. Why'd you come back so early?"
"I realised half-way into the journey that I forgot something important so I came back to get it." Mei Ling rubbed her neck sheepishly.
Xiao San just looked at his wife and asked, "What could be so important for you to come back to get it personally?"
Mei Ling squealed in delight when she remembered the item she had to retrieve, "Well, it's obviously the most important item in the trip; it's the ballroom dress! I have to look my best if I want to impress all my other friends that I haven't met in such a long time. Most of them were jealous after I got engaged with you after all." She poked her husband's head fiercely, "Don't you remember? All my friends were the girls who were chasing the both of you around like headless chickens. They were absolutely crazed about you and you seem to have forgotten them?"
Trying to save himself Xiao San started to speak with an attempt to not stutter, "It's been so long, how could I possibly remember them? It's not like I was very familiar with them after all?"
"What do you mean not being familiar with them! I know that I personally introduced to you to them one by one! Oh, I know now! You must have been so infatuated with me at the time that you simply weren't listening to me at the time, weren't you?" Mei Ling asked with a questioning look on her face.
"Yeah, obviously... I had finally managed to convince you to be my girlfriend after years of chasing and I was busy thinking of our life together!"
With a smile on her face, she spoke slowly and clearly, "Since that's the case, then how about when Ye Qiu and his family leave after today, that I bring our entire family out together to the event. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Now I don't have to wait for a few months to see my baby again. We can spend our time together and it'll be so much fun. I can also continue teaching my baby everything I know about fashion!"
Ye Qiu suddenly blurted out, "You're teaching your son about fashion? Fashion is for girls and for guys who like to flaunt their wealth. It would be better for you to teach him how to identify things in the wilderness." He quickly put his hands over his mouth but the damage was done.
A vein was bulging on the forehead of Mei Ling and she looked absolutely enraged. "I seem to hear somebody making fun of fashion... I wonder who that person is? I wonder if he likes to get his head smashed in by an angry female named Mei Ling." Her lips started to curl upwards into a cruel sadistic smile, "That fly also seems to think that it can teach me what I should teach my baby. It simply just doesn't want to live anymore now does he?"
Ye Qiu quickly apologised, "Please accept my apologies, your Highness."
Her face going back to her easy-going smile, "That's what I thought. Now, where's your wife Ye Qiu? I'm going to go catch up with her."
"She's probably in the kitchen cooking something up for dinner."
"Ooh, I'll go help her!" Mei Ling ran out of the room in a split second leaving the two men standing there silently.
Nudging his friend whilst speaking, "I bet you feel sorry for marrying her now don't you?"
"She's great in bed though so I can't complain."
"Is that the only reason why you are even able to survive that madness?"
"Pretty much."
"Perverted as always. Just like me. I'm so glad my wife isn't like that."
"Go away. I'd trade your wife for mine any day."
They both stood there silently.
- City Lord's Kitchen -
Screams could be heard throughout the residence, "YU ER, I'M HERE TO SEE YOU!"
Startled by the sudden scream, Yu Er brought out her spear and pointed it at the said person screaming, "Oh, It's just you Mei Ling, you scared me a for a moment there. What are you doing back here anyway? I heard you had gone on a vacation to see your friends for an event."
"I left my dress at home so I came back to get it!"
"Why couldn't you just ask somebody else to bring it to you?" Yu Er asked confusedly.
"Yu Er, did you forget how many times my dresses have been ripped because of mishandling? Well, not this time! This time I'm personally bringing so there is absolutely no chance of it being ripped at all!" Mei Ling proclaimed loudly.
"You truly haven't changed after all these years have you, Mei Ling? That's good, you should always stay with your hyperactive self." Yu Er smiled happily recalling the memories that she had with Mei Ling. "Anyway, why'd you come here to the kitchen?"
Mei Ling put her hands on her hips, "I'm obviously here to help you prepare dinner! Don't you think I'm the best cook? I was the one who cooked all our meals after all during our journey!"
Yu Er's face started to pale and she thought, 'Anything but Mei Ling cooking! There was a reason why we had several food poisonings happening to us!' Quickly trying to steer Mei Ling away from trying to help her cook she started to slyly shift the conversation towards a different topic, "How's your son, Mei Ling? He must be a kind and generous boy just like you."
"My baby is the best! He's absolutely adorable with his chubby cheeks, I just love pinching them. For some reason, he seems to always groan when I do that to him though." Mei Ling wondered in sadness. Her cheery mood came back suddenly, "My boy is always lonely but I bet he will be great friends with your son just like us, right?!?" Mei Ling was by Yu Er's side in a split second when she said this.
"Yes Mei, Yes he will be great friends with your son just like us."
"That's wonderful! Oh, I just remembered something! I wanted to ask you if you wanted to bring your family with me to come on a vacation? It'd be fantastic to have us, four buddies, together again and the best part is that we have our children with us! I can dress up your son with my son and they'd be so cute together." Mei Ling started squealing that last sentence making Yu Er's ears ring.
"That's a wonderful idea. I haven't had a break in such a long time and it'd be nice to have everyone back together." Yu Er nodded to the idea. "Let's tell our husbands at dinner which is finished cooking! Mei, could you help me set it up at the table?"
"Sure! I'd love to help!" Mei Ling started to move the dishes to the dining table at an incredible speed.
Yu Er just watched her place everything neatly and thought, 'Even though she's such a hyperactive knucklehead, she is still careful with anything she does besides cooking.' Yu Er just smiled happily knowing that the vacation was never going to have a dull moment with Mei Ling around.
Mei Ling shouted loud enough for everyone in the residence and training ground to hear her, "IT'S DINNER TIME BOYS! COME BACK AND EAT YOU GRUB!"
In a few minutes, everybody had gathered even the boys even though they looked to be slightly sweating. Yu Er told everyone to sit down and enjoy the food. Conversations started to flow with food to give energy to everybody. Yu Er could see the two boys chatting quietly to each other whilst eating their food. Whilst everybody was enjoying the food, Mei Ling decided that it was a good time to announce the people coming with her on vacation.
"Everybody listen up! Yu Er and I have decided that we will have a joint family vacation to my friends' event! Everybody will be going together! Isn't that great?"
Ye Qiu spat out his food whilst Xiao Tu dropped his cutlery in surprise and shock. Xiao San was laughing loudly when he saw the expression on his friend's face.
Ye Qiu spoke once he got his face back to his normal neutral face, "Would you mind repeating that again? I'm not quite sure I heard you properly."
Mei Ling looked at him and repeated her sentence, "Didn't you hear me? I'm pretty sure I said that clearly. Well, no matter, I said that we were going on a joint family vacation!"
Ye Qiu sighed, " Mind giving me 2 days to get my matters settled before I join you guys on the journey?"
Mei Ling just smiled, "Of course you can! But if I don't see you on that day, I'll come for your backside!"
Ye Xiu poked Xiao Tu and whispered into his ear, "Why are you all so shocked about going on a vacation?"
Xiao Tu responded discreetly so his mother couldn't hear him, "She's going to make us both her dress-up dolls." Both Xiao Tu and Ye Xiu shuddered simultaneously. Dinner was then finished in a peaceful manner after the reveal of the vacation.