Spanking

“Liyana and the others saw everything!”

Aina buried her entire face in Xia Lun’s broad back, the tips of her ears so red they looked ready to drip blood.

The bashful Aina hid behind Xia Lun and began furiously scratching at him.

The effect was minimal.

“Stop fooling around.”

Xia Lun kept a perfectly straight face as he chatted with his son, all while defending himself against Aina’s mischief behind him.

He was truly under attack from both sides.

“Mother! Do you want some candy? Father said you like sweet things.” Xia Yi presented her with a pink slime fruit candy as though it were a precious treasure. “This candy is really sweet!”

“Thank you, Xia Yi.”

“Come on, feed your mother.” Xia Lun took a step forward and lifted Xia Yi into his arms, turning him toward Aina so she couldn’t keep scratching his back.

It was terribly itchy.

Xia Lun didn’t mind Aina scratching his back when she was out of her senses at night, but he couldn’t let her run wild now.

Completely unaware of his mother’s embarrassment, Xia Yi excitedly unwrapped the candy and held it to Aina’s lips.

An overwhelmingly sweet, artificial fragrance washed over her. Aina did love desserts, but the treats she usually ate were all meticulously prepared by the finest pastry chefs, made with premium honey and fresh fruit purée. This inferior, sugar-laden confection was honestly rather difficult for her to swallow.

But when she saw the hopeful look in her son’s eyes, Aina didn’t refuse his kindness.

“Mmm… It’s delicious. I like it very much.” Aina smiled as she popped the candy into her mouth, savoring the rich sweetness as it melted away. Then she patted Xia Yi on the head.

“Really? That’s great!” Xia Yi was delighted, his smile brighter than the sun.

“Let your father try some too.” Aina narrowed her eyes, a mischievous glint flashing through them.

“Of course!”

Xia Lun wasn’t nearly as picky as Aina. Aside from finding the candy a little too cloying, he thought it was fairly decent.

“It tastes pretty good. Did you buy it yourself, Xia Yi?”

“Mm-hmm!” Xia Yi nodded vigorously, looking incredibly proud. “I can buy things by myself now!”

From an angle Xia Yi couldn’t see, Aina kept poking Xia Lun in the side, as if he were a button that dispensed a gold coin every time it was pressed.

Xia Lun understood immediately. He suddenly raised a hand and covered Xia Yi’s eyes. Then he slowly lowered his head, while Aina immediately rose onto her tiptoes and swiftly and precisely passed the candy in her mouth into his.

“Father… why did you suddenly cover my eyes?” Xia Yi asked, utterly confused.

“Nothing.” Xia Lun chuckled, his voice warm and velvety. “I was playing a game with you.”

Xia Lun lowered his hand. Xia Yi blinked his big eyes and suspiciously examined his parents. Aina hurriedly turned her face away, trying to hide the blush spreading across it.

“Father… is this game fun?” Xia Yi tilted his head, looking completely puzzled.

“When you were a baby, you loved playing like this. I’d block your view, and whenever I moved my hand away, you’d start laughing.” Xia Lun stroked Xia Yi’s little head, his fingertips gently combing through his son’s soft hair.

That was true. Xia Yi really had loved the game when he was little.

Xia Yi furrowed his adorable brows and thought hard for a moment. “I don’t remember any of that at all, Father.”

“That’s fine. If you can’t remember, don’t force yourself.”

It was perfectly normal not to remember. Who could recall what they had experienced as a baby?

Xia Lun chewed loudly a few times, crushing the two candies together before swallowing them.

“Father! Do you want more candy?” Xia Yi’s eyes lit up the moment he noticed what Xia Lun had done.

“Uh… no, thank you. Take it home and eat it slowly on the way back.” Xia Lun gave him a slightly troubled look.

“Oh…”

With one arm securely holding his son and one hand tightly clasping Aina’s, Xia Lun and his family strolled through the bustling market. The calls of vendors, lively conversations, and bursts of laughter mingled together into a melody of everyday life, while the three of them seemed to exist in a world of their own.

Xia Yi’s little belly had already been stuffed round by Aunt Liyana.

“Aunt Liyana gave me roast meat, and more roast meat… and all kinds of roast meat!”

The market did indeed have an abundance of roast-meat stalls. Rich aromas filled the air—the favorite scent of adventurers.

“But Aunt Liyana wouldn’t let me drink the wheat-fermented beverage…” Xia Yi sighed, his little mouth jutting out as he complained. “No matter what I said, she wouldn’t let me have any… It looked so delicious, and it even had bubbles in it.”

What wheat beverage? That was obviously beer.

“Do you want your mother to spank you?” Xia Lun tapped Xia Yi on the head.

Xia Yi immediately shook his head like a rattle.

Xia Yi had been spanked by Aina before when he misbehaved… and it had been a truly terrible memory.

“If you dare sneak a drink, your mother definitely won’t let you off easily.” Xia Lun threatened Xia Yi with a fierce expression.

Aina lightly kicked Xia Lun’s shin, though the force was more playful than anything else. She glared at her husband reproachfully, seeming dissatisfied that he was always making her play the strict parent.

“Why does Mother have to spank me?”

For some reason, Xia Yi looked up at Xia Lun and asked, “Father, you’ve never spanked me before.”

Xia Lun had indeed never spanked Xia Yi. He had only spanked Aina. Thinking of Aina blushing as she lay across his knees on certain nights, Xia Lun suddenly felt a stir in his heart.

“Ahem… Do you want me to spank you?” Xia Lun coughed lightly, then gave Xia Yi a strange look, his tone carrying a hint of amusement.

Xia Yi shook his head. “Because Father isn’t scary at all, so I don’t think it would hurt if you spanked me.”

In Xia Yi’s eyes, Xia Lun always seemed calm and gentle, with a faint smile on his lips.

“Oh?” Aina’s voice, cold as frost, rang beside Xia Yi. The temperature around them seemed to drop several degrees. “So you’re saying your mother is scary?”

“Of course not…” Xia Yi nearly shook his little head off. Somewhere deep inside, he suddenly felt a burning sensation on his backside.

The sight of his mother spanking him with an expressionless face was truly terrifying… but Xia Yi didn’t dare say that aloud.

“Mother, you are truly beautiful. You aren’t scary at all.” Xia Yi put on a flattering, ingratiating smile.

Aina paused slightly. The frost on her face gradually melted away, and she muttered under her breath, “Such a smooth talker… I wonder who he inherited that from.”

Xia Lun cheerfully scratched the back of his head.

“Aina… you’re just too adorable.” Almost every day, when they were lying beside each other, Xia Lun would say something like that to her.

Aina quietly tightened her grip on Xia Lun’s hand, her fingertips lightly tracing across his palm, as if hinting at what was going to happen that night.