Some Bloody Storms of the Past

During normal days, N City's May Day Square was bearable.

But when holidays arrived, the crowds seemed to sprout straight out of the ground.

People pressed against people, people crammed next to people.

At some of the more famous trendy food stalls in the square, the lines could even stretch across entire streets.

It was a sight terrifying enough to make anyone think twice.

Lin Yu trudged along slowly with the shifting tide of bodies.

He didn't dare weave through the crowded sea as nimbly as those agile young people, darting like fish through the water.

The reasons were twofold: besides Su Yuyao clinging to his side, there was also the Little Monster perched atop his neck.

Little Darling sat on Lin Yu's shoulders like she was riding a horse.

Her little hands clutched two tufts of his hair, as if holding the reins of a steed—looking mightily pleased with herself.

"Mommy!"

"Mommy!"

"Eat!"

Little Darling suddenly grew restless on Lin Yu's shoulders. She stretched out her chubby little hand, pointing at a sweet soup shop by the roadside whose line looked like it could stretch all the way to next year.

Lin Yu glanced in the direction she pointed, saw the massive, seething queue for the sweet soup shop, and could only feel that this little Lin kid certainly knew how to torment her father.

So you just have to eat whatever has the longest line, huh?

Su Yuyao's doting on Little Darling needed no explanation.

Little Darling wanted it!

Little Darling got it!

But she couldn't bear to let Lin Yu suffer under the scorching sun either.

Seeing the fresh beads of sweat on Lin Yu's forehead, she lovingly took out her handkerchief from her bag again and, standing on tiptoe, wiped his forehead once more.

"Let's find another place to eat,"

Lin Yu suggested.

"I remember this sweet soup shop has branches in other places too."

Lin Yu often saw this brand of sweet soup shop all over N City; it was a chain that seemed to be everywhere.

Since Little Darling wanted it, they could just take her to a less crowded branch.

Su Yuyao nodded, agreeing with this solution that suited both sides.

They didn't need to turn around and retrace their steps—they just kept walking forward, and in no time, the three of them had left the packed square.

After sending a message to the driver, who had parked on the other side of the square, they waited by the roadside.

Feeling unbearably hot, Lin Yu simply sat down on one of the round stone barriers acting as roadside obstacles, taking a brief rest.

He lifted Little Darling down from atop his head and looked at her small, flushed face from the heat. A soft smile crept across his lips without him realizing it.

Thinking back now,

that experience half a year ago was nothing short of a nightmare!

Yes.

After more than a year and a half—nearly two years—Lin Yu had finally dawdled and dragged his family along to meet his father-in-law.

As for the meeting process...

...

How should I put it?

Hmm...

Lin Yu thought for a moment, then let out a long, wistful sigh.

That he was still alive was entirely thanks to Su Yuyao!

When they learned that their precious daughter, who was supposed to be studying abroad, had actually dropped out and was secretly raising a child somewhere back home with some "yellow-haired punk"...

Su's dad and mom completely lost it.

That apparently very refined and cultured middle-aged couple stood paralyzed for a brief moment, then erupted in fury.

One of them grabbed an expensive teacup from the table, determined to crack open that yellow-haired punk's skull.

The other thought the teacup was too good for him and headed to the kitchen to fetch a cleaver for her husband.

And it wasn't just them.

In the Su family villa, from the butlers and drivers who had lived with the family for over a decade

down to the maids and bodyguards in the living room—

everyone who learned of Su Yuyao's pregnancy mobilized in an instant.

Everyone had watched the little princess, little Su Yuyao, grow up cradled in a golden spoon.

They had seen her blessed by all, as if born into a fairy tale—beautiful like a princess from a storybook.

Now that she had been "tainted" by a goblin from outside the castle,

everyone grabbed whatever makeshift weapon was at hand, ready to mince that goblin into fine bits.

Lin Yu still remembered being in the villa's first-floor living room, playing a heart-pounding game of "Cat and Mouse."

Only the rules were a bit twisted.

Normally, "Cat and Mouse" is the mother hen against one hawk, with the hen's chicks trailing behind her.

But at that moment in the Su family living room, he was the only "chick."

The mother hens protecting him were two: Su Yuyao and Little Darling.

As for the "hawks"?

The room was full of them!

In the end,

the living room was on the verge of complete chaos when Su Yuyao let out a sharp cry and dropped to her knees with a thud.

Lin Yu still admires how quick-thinking he was back then.

The moment Su Yuyao knelt,

he immediately rushed to her side, grabbed the crying Little Darling, and knelt beside Su Yuyao before her parents.

When he thinks about how Su Yuyao knelt to plead for him, saying she loved him—and the ashen, bloodless expression on her parents' faces—Lin Yu still feels a heavy sense of guilt.

He even felt sorry for them!

Ah!

Put yourself in Su Yuyao's parents' shoes…

Lin Yu discovered that this was truly enough to drive a person to despair.

His precious daughter, whom he had cradled in his hands since she was little, afraid she might fall, and held in his mouth, afraid she might melt—in the very first year of her adulthood—was taken by some wild boar that crawled out of nowhere.

And she was carrying his child!

When Lin Yu decided to slaughter this wild boar to avenge his daughter, his daughter even sided with the wild boar, doing everything she could to protect him.

As a father, just thinking about this kind of thing made Lin Yu feel like he was falling apart.

Mm.

He absolutely had to learn from the experience of his wife’s parents!

He couldn’t let his daughter end up ruined by some punk with dyed hair, the way their daughter had been!

But it was also lucky that Su Yuyao had given birth to a child who was as beautiful as a princess.

Otherwise, Lin Yu felt that Su’s parents would have been utterly heartbroken.

Anyway, long story short.

The meeting with the parents ended without a major disaster, though it was tense.

As for Lin Yu himself, this deadbeat punk with dyed hair wasn’t even kept for a meal, but was directly kicked out.

Su Yuyao and Little Darling, mother and daughter, stayed at the Su family home for a few days. Under their combined efforts—a two-pronged attack—

Su’s father and mother finally accepted the existence of this good-for-nothing son-in-law of theirs.

The one who contributed the most wasn’t even Su Yuyao, but Little Darling!

At the time, she was one year and eight months old.

She could already say a few simple words.

Under Su Yuyao’s guidance, she clung to her grandparents’ feet, speaking in a milky little voice, calling them grandpa and grandma softly over and over again.

According to Su Yuyao, Little Darling was a lot like her father Lin Yu, with extremely thick skin. She just stuck close to Su’s father and mother, refusing to leave no matter what.

Whenever someone else tried to stop her or pick her up, she would strain her voice and cry her heart out.

At first, Su’s father and mother were not very fond of Little Darling, because they couldn’t stand the son-in-law.

But in the end, they couldn’t resist the double whammy of blood ties and Little Darling’s adorable good looks.

In the end, they reluctantly held their noses,

And let Lin Yu through the Su family’s main door to share a meal.

That meal was considered the ceremony acknowledging him as their son-in-law!