After thrashing those guys, Si Xie turned around, ready to claim some credit, only to be met with a sight that made his blood pressure skyrocket.

He sprinted over, pried her hand away from the boy’s ear, and glared at her furiously, his silver-white eyes practically shooting fire.

Jiang Yunnuan was taken aback by his intense reaction.

"He’s my brother, so what if I touched his ear? You’re making way too big a deal out of this."

Si Xie grew even angrier. He grabbed her hand and, through gritted teeth, placed it on his own ear.

"Damn woman, a Beastman’s ears aren’t something you can just touch whenever you feel like it! Not even a brother’s! If you want to touch ears, touch mine. Aren’t my ears enough for you? Why do you want to touch every pair of ears you see?"

Jiang Yunnuan: "..."

’He gets jealous just from me touching an ear? This guy’s jealousy is off the charts.’

’He could almost give Jun Yao a run for his money.’

She took the opportunity to stroke his ear and placated him with a sigh. "Fine, I won’t go around touching ears anymore."

"You’d better keep your word. Otherwise, I *will* get angry!"

He narrowed his eyes, warning her with a grin. ’Heh, so what if I’m super jealous?’

’If I’m not jealous, how am I supposed to compete for her affection?’

’Am I supposed to just hand my wife over to someone else?’

[DING. Si Xie’s affinity has increased. Current affinity: 70.]

Jiang Yunnuan: "???"

’Huh? His affinity went up again.’

’Looks like this guy likes being coaxed. I’ll have to coax him more in the future. I need to hurry up and max out his affinity to 100 to complete the conquest mission.’

Si Xie: "..."

His handsome face fell, and his lips pressed into a thin line. He was instantly unhappy.

’So, her plan to coax me in the future is just for that so-called conquest mission.’

But less than three seconds later, he sighed and talked himself into a better mood. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

’What’s the point of dwelling on it?’

’I should look at it from another angle. It’s a good thing I’m her conquest mission. Otherwise, she probably wouldn’t even spare me a glance, let alone plan to coax me.’

His mood instantly improved at the thought.

Watching the interaction between the two, Jiang Tang paused for a moment before a faint smile graced her lips.

’This Beastman must be Sister’s Contractor. He seems to really like her, and she gets along so well with him. That’s wonderful.’

’Brother would be happy for her too, wouldn’t he?’

Her gaze shifted to the young man in black. At some point, his eyes had closed. He looked incredibly weak, and with some of his wounds still oozing blood, it was a truly miserable sight.

Jiang Tang’s heart instantly ached for him, and tears began to fall. She reached out and carefully tugged on the corner of Jiang Yunnuan’s sleeve.

When Jiang Yunnuan looked over, she was startled to see Jiang Tang’s tear-streaked face, a picture of pitiable beauty.

"Why are you crying?"

"Sister, do you have any medicine for his injuries? Brother... he’s still bleeding..."

The girl bit her lip, mustering her courage to look at her with hopeful eyes, her voice small and fragile.

’So that’s why she’s crying!’

’It seems this kid Jiang Wang’s injuries scared her.’

’Although the kid’s injuries are severe and look scary, nothing vital was hit.’

’Besides, with me here, even if a vital spot had been hit, it wouldn’t be a big deal.’

Listening to her thoughts, Si Xie watched as she reached out and gently patted the girl’s head.

"Don’t cry. Jiang Wang will be fine."

’This kid looks so cold on the outside, but he’s really soft on the inside.’

’The original owner never once treated him well, but he still cared a lot about this sister of his.’

’Back at the rearing center, the original owner was bullied. Besides her Energy Liquid, even her newly issued clothes, accessories, and allowance would be stolen. Jiang Tang, in trying to protect her, would sometimes have her things taken too.’

’When that happened, this kid would secretly use the Star Coins he’d saved up to buy Energy Liquid and clothes for Jiang Tang, telling her to share them with the original owner.’

The Empire has specialized rearing centers for raising the children of large families.

This system exists because, under the large-family model, most parents don’t feel a strong emotional bond with their children.

Many children are sent to rearing centers right after birth to be raised by robots.

The government raises the girls until they reach adulthood, providing them with regular distributions of Energy Liquid, clothes, daily necessities, allowance money, and so on.

The Beastmen, however, had it much worse.

From their very first day in a rearing center, they began to accumulate fees. Some Beastmen had parents who would cover these costs.

Most, however, were met with indifference and neglect.

Beastmen whose parents didn’t cover the fees were placed on a "debt-based rearing" model, forcing them into debt from an early age.

These Beastmen received the worst of everything—food, drink, and daily supplies. Furthermore, starting at age eight, they were assigned simple tasks to earn Star Coins and pay back their debt to the rearing center.