Chapter 191: Chapter 191: The Reward for Obedience

Lan Ying trembled with excitement. ’Am I... am I the first?’

Seeing his hesitation, Yu An feared he had seen through her plan. The hand holding the wine cup trembled.

’Calm down,’ she told herself. ’He won’t. The wine will mask the scent of the Divine Spring Water. Lan Ying won’t smell a thing.’

She composed herself and feigned confusion. "You don’t want to drink it? In that case..."

"I’ll drink," Lan Ying said, quickly taking the cup. "An’an, I just... I can’t believe I’m the first to marry you."

Beastmen didn’t place much importance on ceremonies. Usually, they considered someone their partner after sleeping together.

"That’s right. You’re the first."

Yu An breathed a sigh of relief and said with a bright smile, "None of the others have. At first, I thought we should wait until our whole family was reunited to have one big wedding ceremony. But then I decided it would be better to have one with just you."

Lan Ying looked a little puzzled. "Why?" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Yu An’s voice softened. "Because I feel I owe you so much. You and Lan Yin were supposed to take turns, which already gave you much less time with me than the others. And Lan Yin often broke his promise, monopolizing your body and refusing to let you out."

"He went too far this time," she said, slamming her hand on the table indignantly. "From now on, even if he does come out, I’m not going to pay him any mind."

"I was even planning to drink the wedding wine with both of you, but now..."

She raised her cup and huffed, "We’ll drink!"

Lan Ying lifted his cup to his lips but suddenly paused. "An’an, did you add something to this wine...?"

’Why can I smell a hint of Divine Spring Water?’

"You’re doing it wrong."

Yu An took a mouthful of wine from her own cup, then leaned over and pressed her lips to his.

As the wine flowed into his mouth, Lan Ying froze completely.

’Oh no, so there really is something in the wine...’

Yu An poured another cup. "This is the right way to drink it... Want more?"

Lan Ying nodded decisively. "I do!"

With each sip, Lan Ying’s gaze grew more dazed. Yu An clearly saw a golden light flash in his pupils.

"No more... I can’t..."

"Are you sure you don’t want more?"

Yu An held the cup, downed the wine in one gulp, and Lan Ying’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He couldn’t stop himself from kissing her, drawing the sweet liquid from her lips.

When they were both breathless, Yu An pulled away and pointed to the bed. "Over there."

The lust in Lan Ying’s eyes had completely overpowered the golden light. Without a moment’s hesitation, he carried her over.

In the dim light, Yu An draped her arms around his neck, staring straight into his eyes.

"A Ying, look at me. Who do you listen to?"

"You," Lan Ying panted, gradually losing control. "I listen to you... listen to... An’an..."

"Good," Yu An said, watching the golden light get devoured bit by bit. She kissed the corner of his mouth as a reward. "Only listen to me. Don’t let anyone else control you ever again, okay?"

"Okay... I’ll listen to you... I want another reward..."

The night was long, giving him plenty of time to claim the reward for his obedience.

...

’A sore back and aching waist were inevitable, but as long as Lan Ying was back to normal, it was all worth it.’

When they woke up in the morning, Lan Ying held Yu An close, leaning against the headboard as he explained why he had lost control.

"The plan was for me to lure away the guards and then rendezvous with Lan Yin and the others."

He rubbed his temples. "But I accidentally fell into a pool and couldn’t get out, no matter how hard I tried. I was soaking in there for so long that my consciousness grew muddled."

He was lucid, but a voice in his mind was deluding him, amplifying his possessiveness.

So when he saw Yu An, all he could think about was having her to himself. When he saw her other Beast Husbands, and even Lan Yin inside his own body, he just wanted to eliminate them all.

Yu An toyed with a lock of his hair. "So, that day in the hot spring... the second time, was that you or Lan Yin?"

"It was me," Lan Ying said, touching his nose sheepishly. "It was me the whole time after that. When Lan Yin tried to switch with me, I had already sealed him away inside my body, forcing him into a deep sleep."

Yu An was surprised. "You’re that powerful?"

"Not really," Lan Ying said, shaking his head. "I vaguely sensed a power helping me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to make Lan Yin fall asleep so easily."

"Don’t worry, An’an. Lan Yin will wake up soon."

"It’s all my fault," he said, his head hanging low. "I’m the one who did all those things. When he wakes up, I’ll relinquish control of our body to him."

Yu An patted his shoulder. "How can it be your fault? You didn’t want to be controlled, either. We’ll just go back to how things were before, one of you out each day."

"But I wasn’t completely controlled. An’an, you must have noticed something was wrong with me, right?"

Yu An guessed, "You mean that excuse you gave, about Lan Yin refusing to come out because he was afraid I’d scold him?"

’There were plenty of better excuses for why Lan Yin couldn’t come out, but he just had to pick that one. It sounded so fake.’

Lan Ying nodded. "Also, I could have hidden my true emotions, but I deliberately chose not to. They all should have noticed something was wrong with me."

It was his call for help to Yu An and the others. He couldn’t escape the golden light’s control on his own; he needed outside help.

"We noticed," Yu An said with a shrug. "Just from the way you were glaring at the Zaizai. If the others hadn’t realized something was off with you, they probably would have beaten you up by now."

Lan Ying smiled sheepishly and changed the subject. "Also, I have a feeling that if I had stayed in that pool any longer, my own consciousness might have never woken up again."

’So what exactly is that pool water... or rather, that golden light? It not only suppresses the Beast God, but it can also control a person’s mind. If I had known, I would have collected a sample to study.’

A nagging worry crept into Yu An’s mind. ’What if someone else gets controlled by the golden light, and we don’t realize it?’

Yesterday, no one held it against Lan Ying because he was "possessed," but today, Mo Yan and the others weren’t holding back, ordering him to do all sorts of chores.

Lan Ying knew he was in the wrong. Last night, while everyone else was working, he had just sat in a corner like a mindless puppet.

Da Hu even led his younger siblings to take turns having Lan Ying hug them and lift them up high. Lan Ying, eager to be close to them again, happily obliged every single one.

Little Wolf tilted his head and sniffed. "Beast Father Lan Ying, you don’t smell stinky anymore."

Lan Ying was taken aback. "Was your Beast Father stinky yesterday?"

Little Wolf nodded. "Yep. Yesterday you smelled stinky, but today you smell nice."

Lan Ying paused in thought for a moment, said a quick word to the other Zaizai waiting to be lifted high, and then took Little Wolf to find Yu An.

The little guy, still a ball of pure white fur, hadn’t yet taken human form. After Lan Ying finished explaining, Han Li spoke up before Yu An could. "I thought I smelled something foul yesterday, too. So it was coming from you. The smell is gone today."

"As expected of my Zaizai," Han Li said, taking Little Wolf and giving him a kiss. "Both of us, father and son, could smell it."

Yu An rubbed her chin. "So, why are you two able to smell who’s being controlled by the golden light?"

Han Li and Little Wolf looked at her and shook their heads in unison. "We don’t know."

"There must be something special about you two."

Yu An’s eyes darted between the two of them. "Come on, let me run some checks."

For some reason, Han Li’s face flushed red. "An’an, you can just... check me."

"What are you thinking about?" Yu An snapped. "Get your mind out of the gutter!"

Han Li pouted. "Oh."