One moment, Yuanyuan had been happily playing, but the next, her head drooped, her eyes reddening with tears. “My lion brother doesn’t have a mommy. Then his daddy disappeared, and he was left all alone… The bad guys always bullied him. He had such a hard time by himself. But he was always so nice to me.”

As she spoke, her voice started to tremble with a sob, and she lowered her head, resting her chin on the plush lion.

“Yuanyuan really misses her lion brother.”

“Wait, so… in your story, you had a brother too?” Yu Yingze laughed in disbelief, “Wow, I didn’t know you could make up stories like this!”

Yuanyuan immediately panicked. She waved her little hands, emphasizing, “It’s not made up! Yuanyuan really has a brother, a lion brother! And… and a black panther brother too! Just like… just like you guys!”

What?!

Both Yu Mingxi and Yu Yingze were completely dumbfounded.

They were part of Yuanyuan’s fairy tale?

“You… you mean I’m the black panther?!” Yu Yingze suddenly perked up, standing up straighter, trying to suppress the grin tugging at his lips.

“Yes! Both big brother and second brother are super cool black panthers!” Yuanyuan exclaimed with admiration, raising her hands in a playful gesture, “Roar! Daddy is also a black panther, and he’s super cool too!”

Yu Yingze folded his arms, his chin lifting in pride.

Since he was the super cool black panther in her story, he decided he wouldn’t tease her anymore!

“Young master, we’ve finished preparing a room for Yuanyuan,” one of the maids announced, knocking softly on the door.

“Thank you, Aunt Chen,” Yu Mingxi nodded gratefully before turning to Yuanyuan. He gently ruffled her hair. “Yuanyuan, are you sleepy yet? Do you want to go to bed?”

“Yuanyuan is not… Yuanyuan is sleepy,” she quickly corrected herself, her round, dark eyes reflecting the warmth of the room’s soft light. “Does big brother feel sleepy too? Yuanyuan knows that good little kids go to bed at 8 o’clock, or else the monsters will come for them if they’re still awake.”

Yu Mingxi chuckled and picked her up, gently bouncing her in his arms. “Will you be scared sleeping alone?”

Yuanyuan proudly puffed up her chest. “Yuanyuan is very brave! Yuanyuan isn’t afraid.”

In the corner, Yu Yingze stood up lazily, raising his hands high and deepening his voice, “The ghost is coming to get the kids! The ghost loves to catch little kids who sleep alone!”

“Ahh—” Yuanyuan squealed in fright, turning her face away and clutching Yu Mingxi’s neck tightly. “Don’t catch Yuanyuan! Yuanyuan is a good girl!”

“Heh, being good won’t stop the ghost,” Yu Yingze scoffed, but when he glanced up, he saw half of Yuanyuan’s little head peeking out from where she was buried in Yu Mingxi’s shoulder.

She was obviously scared, trying to hide in Yu Mingxi’s arms, but at the same time, she was too curious about Yu Yingze to look away.

She was both scared and intrigued, her head half-hidden like a little mushroom sprouting from the earth.

Cute things and people always had a way of melting even the coldest of hearts.

For some reason, Yu Yingze felt a warm sensation spread through his chest, like someone had poured hot cocoa straight into his heart, making him feel sweet and warm. It was an odd feeling, one that seemed to control what he said next.

“You’re so good, the ghost won’t come for you,” he blurted out, wincing inwardly at how uncool that sounded. “And if it does come, I’ll catch it and… and beat it up! Then it won’t dare come back for you.”

“Wow, wow, wow! Yingze-gege is amazing!!” Yuanyuan cheered, lifting her arms in excitement.

Yu Mingxi’s smile froze in place, and he asked in disbelief, “Yuanyuan, how… how do you know Yingze’s name?”

After all, since she’d arrived, none of them had mentioned his name.

How did she know what it was?