I quickly grabbed hold of Yu Longting's sleeve, casting him a 'don't even think about escaping' glance.

A trace of helplessness flickered in the depths of Yu Longting's eyes as he rubbed my head and pulled me into his embrace.

Yu Rongling searched frantically over his body until he found a jade bottle, "Brother… brother, this is the antidote. I'm giving it to you, you must get back your inner core quickly."

"Are you kidding me?" Yu Longting lazily glanced at Yu Rongling, his eyes clearly looking at a dumbass, "I've never seen someone perfect the art of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted quite like you."

Yu Rongling, holding the jade bottle in his hand, revealed an almost tearful expression, "Brother, it's all my fault. I'm the one who harmed you. The poison in sister-in-law has already been cured; there's no need for her to take any more antidote… I gave the antidote too late…"

"Good that you know it!" Yu Longting gave Yu Rongling a cold look, then leaned in to lightly plant a kiss by my lips, "Wanwan, this mess is all because of that dumbass. It has nothing to do with you."

"What do you mean? Can't you get your inner core back?" I tightened my grip on his sleeve.

Yu Longting chuckled softly, nonchalantly saying, "Everything I have is yours, what does it matter if I can't take it back? Besides, an inner core can be cultivated again. This core had only been cultivated for about a decade or so."

"Your previous inner core… seems to be with me as well, really… there's no way to fix it?" I looked at Yu Longting, then at Yu Rongling.

Yu Rongling's gaze still carried an indescribable loathing towards me as he coldly said, "There's a way. Just let my brother consume you, and that will do it."

"I think consuming you might actually be better for replenishing the body," Yu Longting said, his towering figure appearing in front of Yu Rongling as he delivered a harsh slap to his head.

Yu Rongling screamed miserably, immediately welling up with teary, pitiful eyes, "Brother, you hit my head."

"You're lucky I haven't slaughtered you for daring to harm my wife and child. I think you've grown tired of living."

"Ah, not the face, it hurts to death… Brother, I'm wrong… I truly realize my mistake now, I'll never dare again…"

Yu Rongling was dragged out to the corridor and given a good thrashing.

The entire restaurant was filled with his heart-wrenching screams.

"Wanwan." Yu Longting returned from the hallway.

I hurriedly got off the bed and jogged to his side, looking up at him, "What is it?"

"I will be in seclusion for two days, with Yu Rongling as my protector," Yu Longting pinched my face, "I'm not leaving this time, I'll be right here in the restaurant."

I nodded vigorously, "I'll talk to the boss and make sure they don't disturb you."

"Good girl." Yu Longting rubbed my head.

I couldn't help but wrap my arms around his waist, "Okay."

A feeling indescribable, even foreign to myself, began to overflow within me.

*

My body was almost completely free from major ailments.

Chen Decheng suggested I take time off to recover, but I refused.

Business was booming these past two days, and they were short-staffed, so they didn't insist.

Late at night.

After finishing work, I sat on the curb under the dim streetlight, lost in thought.

I touched my stomach, where I could faintly feel the rhythmic beating of the fetal heartbeat.

Dumpling was still very small, spending most of his time sleeping.

So he couldn't respond all the time.

In my body was also Yu Longting's inner core; he could discard what was most important to him without a second thought, just to save me.

He really was the nicest person to me in this world, even nicer than my own mother.

Liu Hongluan believed I wasn't worth it, and Yu Rongling even more so believed I didn't deserve it.

Yu Longting didn't care about those things at all; his eyes and heart were filled only with me.

As I thought about it, tears blurred my vision.

"Handsome boy, didn't they say that the Snake Immortal and Yuanyuan's boyfriend were on good terms and wouldn't cause trouble anymore? Why are there still snake calamities everywhere?" Xiao Li approached Beichen with some concern, "I heard yesterday that Zhou Ping's wife died?"