"Let's all take a seat first. We can chat it out like adults... It's not like there's a rush to address every problem in the world."

Li Fa reluctantly sat down before the two of them as Xiaoyun took a seat right next to Yuqi, whose face still looked a little confused about what was happening.

"So, you said earlier the judges have no power to investigate if a polyamorous marriage should be approved in terms of abuse, right?"

Li Fa nodded his head, waiting for him to continue.

"Didn't I already mention in the same TV speech that the police are supposed to do a background check before it can go up to the courts in the first place?"

As Yuqi finally gets what's happening, Li Fa was quick to come up with a counter-argument as if he was waiting for this exact moment.

"I already asked Li Zhen, and he doesn't know what the check is supposed to be. There's zero guideline telling what they need to look for."

"Okay, so guidelines... Yuqi, can you make a list of guidelines that a police officer could look out for in case the polyamorous marriage is abusive in some ways?"

Xiaoyun's sudden request made her freeze for a second, but she eventually nodded her head in agreement.

"Ideally, make it as strict as possible. Make it almost impossible unless they are willing to go through various kinds of hoops to achieve it."

"Why?" Yuqi curiously asked, with Li Fa looking just as intrigued by Xiaoyun's add-on comment.

"To avoid abuse, as Li Fa had said... This kind of marriage can go wrong fast, like if one side feels unfairly treated."

Xiaoyun paused for a second as he dug through his memories before coming up with a reason.

"Besides, before the outbreak, the divorce rate was already skyrocketing... Marriage, especially marriage with multiple people, needs careful consideration."

Both Yuqi and Li Fa were a little surprised by his stance and knowledge on this issue, but they respected it as they didn't reject his argument outright.

"Li Fa, you happy now? Yuqi and I will write all the guidelines that prevent as many abuses as possible, like you wanted."

"At this point, why don't you just change the marriage law to incorporate the guidelines into it?"

Li Fa's counter-question caught Xiaoyun a little off guard, but he still recovered from it as he gave a lukewarm answer.

"Now is not a good time... But in the future, there may be further reforms. For now, the guideline would be good enough."

"When will the police department get this guideline to help us determine if the cases should be heard?"

"By the end of next week. And don't worry, the police aren't going to be the only check. There will be other checks outside that detect abuses."

"If you say so..."

As Li Fa got up from his seat and left the room, Yuqi immediately turned around before punching Xiaoyun right in the chest.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"Who told you to tell Li Fa that this is going to be completed by the end of next week? You know how long it would take for me to complete this?"

Yuqi's face looked extremely unhappy as she questioned him in anger. It was almost as if Xiaoyun had just set himself into another powder keg.

"It can't be that long. Don't worry, I'll help you make this draft——"

"You can fuck right off. No man is going to write guidelines on things that women had to sacrifice to put up with men's selfishness."

The words made Xiaoyun's heart ache, with no way to argue back, as the truth is that men were most likely to be the ones practicing polygamy.

"Okay, okay. I'll just go deal with other work. You can focus on fleshing the guideline out... So angry all of a sudden."

As Xiaoyun murmured the last part to himself before getting up, Yuqi immediately raised her voice once again.

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing! I just thought you should probably ask what others think. I-I'm not talking about me, but like everyone in the general population.

And you know, people like Leyan and Yueyue. Or Lingang's wives or the two wives of that guy in the newspaper."

Hearing him give actual advice, Yuqi's anger subsided a little. But she still looked a little annoyed as she let out a hmph sound.

"Ahem, I-I'll go check up on the prison reform. I'll just leave the key here. You can have your car back."

---

As Xiaoyun stormed out of the office before Yuqi could lash out her anger again, his forehead was sweating like crazy.

He could feel the genuine anger in Yuqi's voice. It was clear to him that she was not remotely happy with making the guideline at all.

The reasoning behind it?

He could only think of one thing... She felt embrassed by it—an independent, strong woman like her being forced to write something like this.

Not to mention, as the deputy governor, a woman who's supposed to be the 2nd in charge, writing things that look almost like putting chains on all women.

If there was a world where Yuqi could enforce her as his only wife, she was more than happy to enforce it.

The possibility scared Xiaoyun for a second. But thinking about it further made all the worries disappear.

Their love may be strong, but Yuqi's love for her family was even stronger. There was no turning back for her or him at this point.

Only forward remained, watching the boat coasting along the current and heading towards what seemed to be the promised land of eternal happiness.

"Hey, Governor, long time no see."

As the familiar voice snapped Xiaoyun out of his thoughts, he was a little surprised to see Renqin walking right by him.

More importantly, a woman was holding Renqin's arm. One that he couldn't recognize at all.

"Oh, hey Renqin. This is?"

"This is my wife, Lisa."

"Nice to meet you, Governor."

"Nice to meet you, too, Mrs. Lisa... You two going to go shopping?" Xiaoyun curiously asked, noticing the bag in their hand.

"We just came back from shopping. We're just heading back home right now... What are you doing walking in the street, Governor?"

"Just going for a little walk... Anyway, not going to bother your guys' time. See you next time."

"See you."

As Xiaoyun walked off into the distance, his mind suddenly got a weird feeling as he thought back to the conversation earlier.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it..."

---

As the evening quickly flew by, Xiaoyun and Yuqi both drove back home in the same car, arriving just in time for dinner.

"Welcome back. What took you two so long today?" Lily curiously asked as she opened the door for the two.

"Just some work stuff... Anyway, where's Leyan?"

"In the kitchen... Brother Xiaoyun, Sister Yuqi, did you guys do anything interesting today?"

"W-Why do you ask?" Yuqi asked, her face suddenly looking a little nervous as they headed inside the living room.

"Just a little bored sitting at home all day."

"Maybe it's time to find you a part-time job for the summer. Or some summer classes." Xiaoyun suggested as he gently patted her on the head.

"Hell no!"

Lily quickly ran away, going towards the kitchen as the two of them quickly caught up to her.

"Finally, you two are here."

Everyone was already at the dining table, getting ready to eat, as they were all waiting for them to come home.

"Yuqi, you okay? Your face looks a little red." Leyan concerningly asked as she handed the two of them a bowl of rice.

"The sun was a little bright when I was driving back home... Xiaoyun, you should tell what happened to you today."

As Yuqi redirected everyone's attention towards him, he didn't mind it at all as he began telling his story.

"You all wouldn't believe what happened to my car today... I just finished driving Tianci from the hospital and am heading towards the administrative building.

And then boom, the car just breaks down. I was stranded in the middle of the road, forcing me to walk on foot back to Guangzhou."

"How did your car break down?" Wuli questioned.

"Just something wrong with the engine. Ahem, anyway, luckily, there was a cop car that happened to drive by.

They were more than happy to drive me there before dropping me off at work... But then I had to go to the police station afterward."

"Police station? For what?" Nami curiously asked.

"It's going to get covered in the news today... You'll all get to see it later."

Xiaoyun's answer didn't really satisfy their curiosity, but he refused to elaborate any further as he started eating the food on the table.

"Whatever. Tianci, how was your checkup today? Was everything good?" Nami asked as she redirected everyone's attention away from him.

"Everything was fine..."