Qiu Ling also realized something was wrong with them but he figured he shouldn’t ask either. As for Xiao Dong, he had long gone silent since his king appeared outside and naturally wouldn’t dare to speak up now either if even his king stayed quiet. Thus, the five of them descended into awkward silence.

At this time, Fei Bai Mu had already gone to the room where she sensed Xin Lan and knocked on the door.

He looked up but wasn’t that interested since the other person clearly wasn’t Hua Lin Yu. Still, he called out in response.

Fei Bai Mu opened the door and raised her brows. She didn’t comment on Xin Lan’s appearance and simply gave a faint smile in greeting. “I heard that you were here and even had some kind of … reconnection with Xiao Yu?”

Xin Lan’s lips curled slightly and he gave a hum. “I’m not sure if I should be happy just yet though. He went out to find that Xiao Li immediately after. Still, he at least didn’t directly push me away.”

Fei Bai Mu nodded but stayed at the door. “I think he did realize something though. Give it a bit of time. Anyway, the dragon king and his lover are both here. Since the latter had gone through something similar as Xiao Yu right now probably is, I wanted to have a chat with them. Would you like to join in?”

Xin Lan hesitated but then nodded. To be honest, at the moment when he was holding Hua Lin Yu in his arms, seeing him suffer so much from that vision, and not knowing whether or not he should tell him the full truth … he had hoped that he was more up-to-date on what Qiu Ling’s lover had gone through. It could have helped.

Maybe now, it still wasn’t too late. After all, when Xiao Yu came back later on, he would still need his support. And even if they didn’t directly get back together, knowing more might give him a fighting chance. Yes, he shouldn’t neglect this possibility.

“Well, I don’t think it can hurt. Maybe it’ll help us in supporting Xiao Yu and even if not … it’s better to try than to just ignore this.”

Fei Bai Mu nodded. “That’s what I thought. Anyway, I couldn’t help but think about what you mentioned the other time, about … his past life. I just think that I am not equipped to handle that. I don’t know if you are but I don’t want to leave anything untried.”

“Me neither.” Xin Lan got to his feet and followed her out of the room. “I’ll have to warn you though: Their situation might be similar but it won’t be exactly the same. That Zhong Jing Yi and Qiu Ling had a good relationship in his past life. They were lovers, fiances even. When it comes to Xiao Yu and that guy, it’s different. Not to mention that the person he met isn’t actually that man but just somebody who looks similar to him. You can’t quite compare it.”

Fei Bai Mu gave a hum. “Still, it’s the best we’ll get and we need to start somewhere. To me, this seems like the best course of action that we can take right now.”

Xin Lan couldn’t argue that point. Anyway, he believed the same. He just wanted to make sure that she didn’t get her hopes up too high. They needed to stay vigilant. With Hua Lin Yu being the reincarnation of a fallen god and not a regular trueborn god, there were factors at play that hadn’t been the same for Zhong Jing Yi. They would be foolish to assume they could treat this as a regular trial.

When the two of them made their way over to the room where the others were gathered, Fei Bai Mu raised her brows in puzzlement over the awkward atmosphere.

Xin Lan took a glance at everyone and then simply walked over, taking one of the free seats. “Looks like somebody said something they shouldn’t.” He couldn’t help but glance at Qiu Ling out of habit, feeling that this should be his doing.

On Qiu Ling’s other side, Jing Yi cleared his throat. “Actually, I’m afraid this was me. I brought up a topic rather carelessly.”

On the other side of the table, Shen An De and Ai Hua exchanged a glance. Actually, this felt like it was their fault for probably showing an expression that wasn’t meant to be shown to others.

Shen An De finally cleared his throat. “Don’t worry, you didn’t. It’s just … that it’s a bit of a sensitive topic. You probably don’t know much about demon children.”

Fei Bai Mu also took a seat, choosing the one next to Ai Hua. She had a rough guess of what was going on. Most likely, Jing Yi had asked about the situation with Leng Jin Yu and Jinde, they had talked about children, and that had upset the other couple somehow. While she didn’t know the ins and outs either, she could imagine that a mixed couple like them might have some trouble in that regard.

Jing Yi didn’t know what the problem was either. He simply felt embarrassed that the two now also felt required to explain. He hastily shook his head. “I don’t but it’s alright. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure everything was alright up in the dragon realm. We … really don’t need to talk about the topic any longer.”

Meanwhile, on Qiu Ling’s other side, Xin Lan gave a hum. “Actually … maybe you would like to know about that.”

The others turned to look at him but he simply raised his brows.

“What? I’m old enough to know about the … peculiarities regarding the children of demons. And even though nobody likes to admit it, the dragons are still related to them. So even though it’s unlikely to have a … throwback to our roots, anybody with a dragon lover should know the basics, right?” Saying so, he glanced at Qiu Ling, clearly not thinking about the possibility of a throwback occurring but about what Qiu Ling’s demon blood could mean for his relationships.

Qiu Ling who hadn’t even known about the births of dragon children and certainly had no knowledge about those of the demon race suddenly had a sinking feeling.

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