Invincible Dad

This "little Fairy" was, of course, Ruan Lan.

Ruan Lan was thrilled to have finally finished her exams. She immediately turned down Yu Xiaoxiao and Li Li's proposal to go out for a celebratory dinner and headed straight for Haitang Court.

It couldn't be helped. She had been living at school to focus on her studies and had lost a full three pounds! The Ruan Lan who once weighed 101 pounds was now only 98.

Ruan Lan had been planning to come home to a feast. But upon entering the house, the first thing she saw was her sister, face flushed red, being held in the arms of her good-for-nothing brother-in-law...

Ruan Lan silently picked up the bag she had dropped on the floor and started waving. "Yiyi, come on out with your auntie. Let's give your mom and dad some space."

"..."

Ruan Tang's face darkened. "Ruan Lan, you get in here!"

"Ahem." Xu Lai coughed and whispered in his wife's ear, "If your sister hadn't come back, I would have taught you a lesson today."

Ruan Tang's face grew hot. I'm going to make this arrogant scoundrel sleep on the floor tonight! He's just infuriating!

"It's fine, it's fine! I know when I'm being a third wheel." Ruan Lan glanced at the time and said seriously, "Um, can I come back in five minutes? If that's not enough time, I can come back in half an hour."

She was getting more and more ridiculous...

Ruan Tang glared. "Get in here and shut the door!"

"Oh." Ruan Lan looked genuinely remorseful for interrupting her sister and brother-in-law's private moment, muttering to herself, "I should have come back later."

"Have you eaten yet?" Xu Lai asked with a smile.

"Nope." Ruan Lan's smile was radiant, and her heart felt warm. "Brother-in-law, you don't have to make anything too fancy. Three dishes and a soup would be great."

This is what a real brother-in-law is like, always worried about whether I'm hungry. Boo-hoo, I'm so touched!

"There's instant ramen in the kitchen. Go make it yourself." Xu Lai, still holding his precious daughter Yiyi, went back to his video game. "Yiyi, let me have this mushroom. You can get the next one."

"No!" Yiyi cried in a panic, quickly maneuvering her character to snatch the mushroom item. Father and daughter had a 'falling out' right then and there.

"..."

Ruan Lan was dumbstruck.

I was willing to stand outside in the cold to give you two some space, and this is how my lousy brother-in-law treats me? Unbelievable!

The sister-in-law huffed, "Brother-in-law, if you don't bribe me with a grand meal, there's something I just might have to tell my sister."

"Go on, tell her." Xu Lai wasn't flustered at all. His conscience was clear; he knew he hadn't done anything to let Ruan Tang down, so he had nothing to fear.

Ruan Lan lowered her voice. "Are you sure, Brother-in-law? This isn't exactly good news."

"Just say it." Xu Lai still didn't seem to care.

Ruan Lan shot Xu Lai a harsh glare. "I gave you a chance, and you didn't take it!" After a pause, she huffed disdainfully, "There's a post on the school forum exposing someone. It says the clinic director played with a woman's feelings, and after she had his child, he refused to take responsibility."

"There's a second clinic director at the school?" Xu Lai asked, surprised. Suddenly, his scalp prickled. "Wait, this director... it's not me, is it?"

Xu Yiyi put down her controller, her eyes welling with tears. "Daddy, did you give Yiyi a little brother or sister with someone else?"

"Absolutely not!" Xu Lai's head throbbed. He quickly comforted Yiyi while turning to explain, "Honey, this is..."

Ruan Tang finished his sentence for him. "Slander."

"Exactly!" Xu Lai nodded vehemently. It's blatant slander!

Ruan Lan gave her a strange look. "Sis, how do you know it's slander? What if it's true?"

"I trust him." Ruan Tang's tone was calm, but those three simple words moved Xu Lai deeply. This was the partner he would walk into the future with. Trust was essential.

Ruan Tang said with a smirk, "After all, your brother-in-law doesn't like to *run*, does he, Xu Lai?"

"..."

Xu Lai's face flushed. He knew his wife was still mad about what happened at the gym.

Ruan Lan added with an air of great seriousness, "Mhm, I agree, it must be fake. My brother-in-law ignores his own beautiful, fairy-like sister-in-law right here at home. Why would he get involved with some common floozy outside?"

Ignoring Ruan Lan's shameless self-praise, Xu Lai frowned. "Who is slandering me?"

"I don't know," Ruan Lan said. "The post is anonymous, but at the end, it says they want to meet you tomorrow at noon at the gates of Dongli University to discuss the child's custody."

"Fine," Xu Lai said. "I'll go tomorrow and see who's trying to sling mud at me."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Ruan Tang took Xu Lai's hand and asked softly. She knew that men weren't always as strong as they appeared on the surface; they needed comfort and companionship, too.

"No, it's okay. You focus on your work tomorrow," Xu Lai said.

"Okay."

"So, brother-in-law, about my dinner..." Ruan Lan rubbed her hands together excitedly.

"There's instant ramen in the kitchen."

"..."

「The next day.」

After dropping his wife and daughter off at her company and the kindergarten, respectively, Xu Lai went to the school clinic. Zhou Feng and Liu Nanwei were both there, and they looked at Xu Lai with expressions of repressed indignation.

Zhou Feng, in particular, looked as if *he* were the one being slandered. "Director Xu, I've already contacted the school to officially deny the rumors. The security guards will definitely catch whoever is spreading them!"

"That's right, Director Xu. We believe you're not that kind of person," Liu Nanwei added, nodding repeatedly.

"It's not a big deal." Xu Lai waved his hand dismissively. "What I want to know is, what's the plan for the holiday break?"

Zhou Feng was speechless. Liu Nanwei was, too. So we were worried about you for nothing?

Liu Nanwei didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Since some students will be staying on campus during the winter break, one school doctor has to remain on duty. It's the rule."

"However, Dr. Li said today that he would be the one staying," Zhou Feng added.

Xu Lai nodded. He had confidence in Li Shouzhong's medical skills.

He began to plan. Once his wife and daughter were on break, where should he take them? It was a rare vacation. He couldn't waste it. They had to go appreciate the magnificent landscapes of the country. And along the way, he could teach Yiyi and Ruan Tang some Cultivation methods.

Even though he had to spend a hundred ordinary years on Earth, the last few months of nutritional supplements had already built a solid foundation for them. Their Cultivation would now be twice as effective with half the effort. It was essential for them to learn some techniques for self-preservation and offense.

Take the youth martial arts tournament a few days ago, for example. The Phoenix that Xu Yiyi condensed from her Spiritual Energy was powerful enough to dominate the other kids, but if Xu Lai hadn't secretly intervened to block the worst of it, they all would have died. His daughter still had a lot of room for improvement when it came to controlling her Spiritual Energy.

The morning passed uneventfully. During that time, quite a few students came to the school clinic to ask Xu Lai if he was the heartless womanizer from the forum post. Most of them were female.

Zhou Feng explained the situation to each of them. Only then did the female students relax, smiling and apologizing profusely to Xu Lai. Many of them considered him their campus idol.

To this, Xu Lai had only one reply: "I'm married and have a child."

The female students' smiles froze on their faces. They left on the verge of tears, lamenting that their "youth was over" and "summer has ended."

"Look at Director Xu, and then look at you!" Liu Nanwei said to Zhou Feng, exasperated. "Useless at everything, but number one at being single."

Zhou Feng was speechless.

BUZZ... BUZZ... BUZZ...

His phone vibrated at just the right moment.