"Are you sure you don't want to live with me?"

Fang Jinghe asked softly, with a hint of coquetry in her tone.

"Hmm, Sister Jinghe, it's okay for me to live alone. I've been living abroad for so long, you don't need to worry," Yu Rou replied.

Yu Rou's words revealed a mature and sensible demeanor.

But I would rather she not be mature, I would rather she always be a child.

But a child without parents, without reliance, without anyone to support her.

I have seen her being ostracized by peers, isolated by roommates, enduring tears bit by bit.

She has managed to bear it all on her own.

I just hate myself for being useless.

I can't help her at all.

Fang Jinghe raised her hand and rubbed Yu Rou's head.

"Call me if you need anything."

After saying that, she put down a large bag of daily necessities and snacks that she had bought early and left the house.

I followed Yu Rou and looked around the house, finally fixing my gaze on a height measurement wall chart in the corner.

Yu Rou walked over and tiptoed.

She reached out and drew a horizontal line at a certain position.

I couldn't help but smile.

"Cheating doesn't count, you know."

Then my thoughts went back to when she was a child.

Yu Rou furrowed her brow, hands on her waist, watching her husband draw a line at the height of 1 meter.

She grumbled in frustration and pushed her husband away, refusing to admit defeat.

She stood on her tiptoes and said with effort that she wasn't short.

Her husband indulgently lifted her up and put her on his neck.

He picked up a pen and drew a line above Yu Rou's head.

"Okay, okay, my good baby, you're not short, you're the tallest princess in the family."

Now, Yu Rou was happy.

Sitting on her husband's neck, she asked to be carried higher.

I held a spatula and stood pretending to be serious at the kitchen door.

"Cheating doesn't count, you know."

Then the two of them blushed and hid behind the sofa.

As for me, I followed behind them with the spatula.

A whole family in chaos.

And at this moment, in the quiet room, only the daughter stared at the wall in a daze.

She looked at it for a long time, then pointed at the freshly drawn line and looked towards the kitchen.

"Look, I cheated."

There was no response from the kitchen.

Then she jumped up and drew another line on the wall.

"Look, I really cheated, oh, I'm now 1.8 meters tall."

She repeated this several times before stopping.

"Mom, I really cheated, come and hit me, okay?"

"Dad, I also want to be carried high."

"I really... miss you guys."

"You're so mean that even in my dreams, you don't come to see me."

With hollow eyes, she stared at the room, still receiving a hollow response.

Yu Rou squatted down, sobbing uncontrollably.

Since her husband crossed the Naihe Bridge and broke the rules of the underworld.

To punish me, the gods have forbidden me the right to enter Yu Rou's dreams.

So, I can no longer embrace her in my dreams, hear her call me "mom" in my ear.