Jiang Xia raised his hand and flexed his fingers.

"I found a great doctor. There are no lasting effects; it’s good as new."

An Ning nodded in understanding.

"That’s wonderful."

An Ning followed Jiang Xia into the sedan.

In the back seat, Grandpa Jiang smiled kindly at An Ning and asked how things were at her home.

An Ning answered dutifully, and the two of them—one old, one young—chatted harmoniously.

A few minutes later, the sedan drove into the village.

This time, however, there were no children chasing after it, and the adults weren’t making such a big fuss either.

It was just a car, after all. One would show up here from time to time.

The villagers now even felt that these sedans weren’t as good as three-wheeled carts.

The driver, Jiang Xia’s childhood friend with the baby face, seemed a little out of place as he pulled up to Jiangxia’s house. The candy in his pocket remained undistributed.

"Jiang Xia, where are all the kids around here?"

"I still have candy for them."

Jiang Xia unbuckled his seatbelt with one hand. As he pushed the car door open, he said, "Their parents told them not to take candy from strange uncles."

The baby-faced young man pouted from the driver’s seat.

"Hey, how did I become an ’uncle’? You get back here and explain yourself! With a face like mine, how could I possibly be an ’uncle’?"

The baby-faced man pushed open his door, got out, and chased after Jiang Xia, relentlessly pestering him about it.

"I should be a ’big brother’ at worst, right? If I looked as old as you, I’d accept being called ’uncle.’ But this face? How could anyone call this the face of an ’uncle’?"

Clearly, the baby-faced man was very hung up on this issue, and Jiang Xia was getting tired of being asked.

"Da Huang, go play with him for a bit."

The moment Da Huang saw Jiang Xia return, he became unbearably excited.

He leaped right at Jiang Xia, but upon hearing the command, he turned and lunged toward the baby-faced man instead.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa—no! I’m scared of dogs!"

The baby-faced man and Da Huang faced off, a half-meter of distance between them.

Jiang Xia grinned smugly. "Da Huang, watch him."

Da Huang looked at the baby-faced man, then back at Jiang Xia, lifted his head, and walked away.

This time, it was Jiang Xia’s turn to be dumbfounded.

’Is that still my Da Huang?’

Da Huang was never disobedient.

An Ning, who was helping with the luggage, said knowingly, "Da Huang thinks you abandoned him."

An Ning’s words made a pang of regret stir in Jiang Xia’s heart.

’Oh well,’ he thought. ’It’s my dog, so I’ll be the one to coax him.’

Jiang Xia put down his luggage, ignored Da Huang’s struggles, and held the dog’s head to start coaxing him.

"Da Huang, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have left without saying goodbye."

"I was injured, you know? I really just forgot. Can you forgive me?"

As Jiang Xia coaxed Da Huang in a soft, gentle voice, the people in the yard stopped moving. Even the one who was scared of dogs wasn’t scared anymore.

Everyone was staring at the scene. The baby-faced man and Li Chengze had the exact same thought.

’Why didn’t we bring a camera!’

’How much money could we make selling a picture of Jiang Xia like this?’

It’s hard to say if it was Jiang Xia’s coaxing or Da Huang’s forgiving nature, but in the end, the dog nuzzled against Jiang Xia, showing that all was well.

"If only women were as easy to coax as Da Huang."

The baby-faced man’s casual sigh revealed a lot.

Most importantly, why was Master Tang, who was standing at the door, also nodding along?

’What’s with that look of complete agreement on his face?’

With Jiang Xia and Grandpa Jiang back, the Jiang family home grew lively.

After helping with the luggage, An Ning returned to the An family’s home.

As soon as she entered the An family’s gate, An Ning greeted the large rooster standing nearby.

"Hello there."

The rooster was so startled by An Ning’s enthusiasm that it backed up several steps, even abandoning its delicious food.

’What’s going on? Is the young mistress finally going to do me in?’

In the past few days, An Ning had been restless and agitated without even realizing it herself, and as the family’s rooster, it had felt this most keenly.

Because it had lost two of its consorts in a row—both of them its most favored hens.

They had both been personally captured by An Ning and, it was said, given a "hot bath."

"CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK—"

The rooster made a strategic retreat, its eyes warily watching An Ning.

But then, An Ning just walked away.

’Huh?’ The rooster was confused. Its tiny brain couldn’t comprehend.

An Ning walked into the kitchen, casually grabbed a small stool, and sat in front of the stove pit. She said to Lin Cuihua, who was chopping vegetables, "Mom, I’ll tend the fire."

"Oh? Okay."

Lin Cuihua also noticed that An Ning was different, but she didn’t connect it to Jiang Xia.

’Lin Cuihua had always thought An Ning was just under too much stress. Did she sell a lot of vegetables today? Sold them well, so the stress is gone?’

In truth, that reason felt a bit far-fetched.

But she couldn’t think of a better one.

An Ning tended the fire and greeted everyone in a cheerful tone. She even praised Hei Dan’er so much that her sister-in-law got embarrassed.

The key thing was, she praised Hei Dan’er for being fair-skinned.

When it came to the child Hei Dan’er, other things about him might have changed, but any change in his skin tone was truly invisible to the naked eye.

Hei Dan’er, "Little Black Egg," really lived up to his name.

Because the current Hei Dan wasn’t just dark, he was also fat.

A round, dark ball.

When dinner at the An family’s home was almost ready, An Guoqing and An Sancheng returned from their work outside.

Lin Cuihua began to set the table, while An Ning brought out the dishes.

As soon as An Guoqing entered the house, he saw his round little Hei Dan’er in a wooden playpen, gurgling as he chewed on his little hand.

"Looks like Hei Dan’er is gnawing on a pig’s trotter."

An Ning was amused by An Guoqing’s joke about his own son.

"Big Brother, is Hei Dan’er really your son?"

"I don’t know either. To this day, I still suspect he’s a little monkey. But even a monkey should have grown into his features a bit by now. How is he still so dark?"

An Guoqing’s disdain was so blatant that Hei Dan’er probably felt it. The baby made a great effort to roll over, presenting his bottom to An Guoqing.

"Little Sis, look, his butt isn’t even red."

"Hahahaha! He’s as fat as a ball."

An Ning watched as An Guoqing poked Hei Dan’er with a finger.

When Hei Dan’er rolled away, he would poke him back.

When Hei Dan’er rolled away again, he’d poke him back again.

Hei Dan’er was incredibly stubborn. No matter how many times An Guoqing poked him, he wouldn’t cry, determined to roll over.

An Ning couldn’t bear to watch anymore. She walked over and said, "Big Brother, why don’t you go wash up for dinner?"

"Alright!"

An Guoqing got up to wash his face. An Ning picked up Hei Dan’er and gently touched his little cheek with her finger.

"Our little Hei Dan’er has such nice skin, doesn’t he? So smooth."

Hei Dan’er seemed to really like An Ning. Her spiritual power gave him a very comfortable feeling, and he lay contentedly in her arms.

He kept smiling up at An Ning.

"Toothless little Hei Dan’er."

An Guoping came over, another person to tease Hei Dan’er.

An Ning felt that it wasn’t so much that Hei Dan’er liked her, but that everyone else in the family made her look good by comparison.

"BEEP BEEP BEEP—"

A car horn sounded at the main gate. Lin Cuihua looked outside.

"Second Son, you’re back."