Chapter 73: A New Incident in the White Tower. A Collective Misstep.
Meng Wu came into the cockpit, with Xue Xiaohai riding on his neck, her two hands holding his head. She shouted to Xue Yu, “Mommy, I’m taller! So tall! It’s so fun!”
Xue Yu hurried forward and picked up Xue Xiaohai, effortlessly swinging her up to ride on her neck instead. “Just ride on Mommy. Don’t ride on others. It’s not polite.”
“But Mommy will be tired,” Xue Xiaohai’s two small hands covered Xue Yu’s eyes.
“Mommy is not tired.”
Xue Yu looked down at Meng Wu’s calf. “You have a fracture. You should rest and recover. Don’t get bumped. Xiaohai is naughty. I should take her.”
“It’s just a small injury, not serious,” Meng Wu raised his arm and pulled away Xue Xiaohai’s small hands that were covering Xue Yu’s. He then asked, “Should we set off now?”
Xue Yu nodded, took Xue Xiaohai down, and put her on the ground. She said to Meng Wu, “You help me watch the three children. Don’t let them run around. I’m going to the anchor chain locker to weigh anchor.”
“Okay.”
Meng Wu took Xue Xiaohai’s hand and led her back to the cabin next door.
Xue Yu had already laid out a foam mat in this cabin and had surrounded it with a child’s playpen. Xiaobei and Xiaonan were playing with plush dolls inside.
Meng Wu picked up Xue Xiaohai and also entered the playpen.
Xue Xiaohai picked up a rubber ball from the corner, placed it in the middle of the foam mat between Xiaobei and Xiaonan, and said loudly, “Let’s play together! I’ll sit here, Xiaobei will sit there, and Xiaonan will sit here.”
Xue Xiaobei and Xue Xiaonan gathered around and put their hands on the rubber ball, hitting it hard. They sang as they hit it, the same few lines over and over.
Meng Wu sat on the side and watched them play. He was quite impressed with Xue Xiaohai. This little doll could actually tell Xue Xiaobei and Xue Xiaonan apart.
Although the sisters Xiaobei and Xiaonan were born one after another, one premature and one late, they still looked exactly the same, with no difference in their size or face.
It was one thing for them to look the same, but Feng Qizhou also liked to dress them in the same clothes. The two children were like a copy-paste.
Meng Wu suspected that even Feng Qizhou himself sometimes couldn’t tell which of the two children was which.
The last time he went to Feng Qizhou’s apartment, Feng Qizhou was feeding the two children and kept muttering, “Why isn’t Xiaobei eating? Your sister has already finished. Why aren’t you eating yours?”
Then, Xue Xiaohai, who was running around on the side, came over with a rubber ball and reminded him, “Uncle Qizhou, you’ve already fed Xiaobei twice, and you haven’t fed Xiaonan once.”
Only then did Feng Qizhou realize that he had indeed made a mistake.
Meng Wu sat by the children and fiddled with Xue Xiaohai’s hair. Her hair had grown a lot. It must have been trimmed by Zhou Siyan. It looked like a funny bowl cut.
“Xiaohai, do you know how many people are in the family?” Meng Wu asked softly.
Xue Xiaohai replied while hitting the rubber ball, “Mommy, Daddy, and Xue Xiaohai! I’m Xue Xiaohai.”
Meng Wu pointed to the two children on the side. “And these two?”
Xue Xiaohai pointed to the one on the left. “Xue Xiaobei.”
She then pointed to the one on the right. “Xue Xiaonan.”
Meng Wu: “And what about the uncles? Do you know any other uncles?”
Xue Xiaohai: “Uncle Qizhou, Uncle Jasmine Flower. We’re all a family.”
Meng Wu: “I’m Uncle Meng Wu. I’m also a family with you. Does Xiaohai like Uncle Meng Wu? Your mother likes me very much.”
Xue Xiaohai pouted in confusion. “My daddy said that Mommy likes him the most.”
Xue Xiaobei listened with her little head tilted. She sensed that something was wrong. She couldn’t speak as fluently as Xue Xiaohai, but she was very anxious. “No, Mommy likes Daddy.”
Xue Xiaohai: “That’s right! She likes my daddy the most.”
Xue Xiaobei: “It’s my daddy.”
Xue Xiaonan also said, “Yes, my daddy.”
Xue Xiaohai: “It’s my daddy!”
The three children chattered and argued. Finally, they were tired. Xue Xiaohai continued to hit the rubber ball. “Talking is so tiring. Let’s just sing ‘Jasmine Flower’.”
“Okay!”
So, the three babies happily abandoned the previous topic and once again sang “Jasmine Flower” with great enthusiasm.
Meng Wu thought to himself, Xue Yu’s favorite should be Mo Li.
Soon, the ship’s hull began to shake. Xue Yu had started the ship.
The three children were a little nervous, feeling this kind of shaking for the first time. Meng Wu held the three of them in his arms. “Don’t be afraid. We’re on a ship. It will be fine.”
Xue Xiaohai held onto Meng Wu’s sleeve with one hand and raised her chin proudly. “Mommy is driving a big ship, taking me and Daddy out to play, and also Xiaobei and Xiaonan, and Uncle Qizhou, and Uncle Jasmine Flower, all to play together!”
Xue Xiaobei held her sister’s hand tightly and said loudly, “Play! See the sky! See the sea!”
Xue Xiaonan: “Sky, sea.”
Xue Yu was busy in the cockpit. The ship’s hull was all straightened out, and it entered the channel, sailing smoothly for ten minutes. Only then did she change the driving mode from manual to automatic.
After confirming that everything was fine, she went to the cabin to see the children. The children all rushed to her. “Mommy, the ship is moving!”
Xue Yu kicked off her slippers, sat cross-legged on the foam mat, and hugged all three babies. “Yes, Mommy has started the ship. I’ll take you out to play, okay?”
“Mommy is amazing!” Xue Xiaohai wrapped her arms around Xue Yu’s neck. “Let’s go out and play! I want to eat delicious food.”
Xue Yu kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll give Xiaohai a big shrimp, a very big shrimp. Does Xiaohai dare to eat it?”
“I do! I want to eat a lot.”
Xue Xiaobei and Xue Xiaonan said in unison, “Mommy, we want to eat too.”
Xue Yu kissed them again. “You can all eat. Eat a lot. Mommy will go and catch shrimp and fish for you every day. You’ll grow up big and strong.”
“Yay!”
The cockpit could not be left unattended. Xue Yu and Meng Wu moved the children to the cockpit again.
They hadn’t completely left the White Tower yet, so Xue Yu didn’t dare to let the children play on the deck. She only let them stay in the cockpit.
Even so, for the children who had always been kept in a safe and at home since they were born, the cockpit was still a novelty. They could see the sea outside through the glass.
The children were so happy that they ran around. When they were tired, Xue Yu mixed formula for them to drink.
The three little ones’ batteries were depleted. They lay on the foam mat, sleeping in a disheveled state.
Xue Yu could finally take a breath. She wiped her face with a tissue and looked at Meng Wu, who was covering the children with a blanket. She said, “You’ve experienced it now. Taking care of children is very tiring. Do you really want to have one?”
“Tired? It’s alright,” Meng Wu said with a relaxed expression. “I’m very happy with them.”
The children were all asleep. Xue Yu had a chance to have a heart-to-heart talk with Meng Wu.
She secretly glanced at the bruise on Meng Wu’s wrist. The night before last, she had tied Meng Wu up for a full five hours, with a belt. She had even applied the special medicine that Feng Qizhou had given her, but the “criminal evidence” had not yet disappeared. It was clear how serious it was.
As soon as she saw this bruise, Xue Yu’s heart was not at ease.
She was a little horny, but she had always had a lustful heart but no lustful guts. She was really an honest person, a proper honest person.
Normally, if a handsome man stood naked in front of her, she might only dare to steal a few glances and then run away, afraid that it was a honey trap.
But that night, how could she have been so crazy, to do such a shocking thing, to force herself on Meng Wu like that?
And at that time, Meng Wu was really rejecting her, rejecting her very strongly. When her knee accidentally hit his abdomen, he kept begging her to be gentle, afraid of hurting the child.
Now, thinking back, Xue Yu felt that she was simply not human.
Despicable, shameless! How could she ravage Meng Wu like that?
“Sir, I’ve wronged you,” Xue Yu apologized awkwardly, rubbing her eyes in anguish. “If time could be turned back, I would definitely, I would definitely…”
Meng Wu pulled down her hand. “Xue Yu, actually, I was quite happy that you did that to me.”
Xue Yu glanced at him from the corner of her eye. A masochist?
Meng Wu did not explain immediately but asked, “Are you still afraid of me now, or are you still afraid of my spirit body?”
Previously, whenever Xue Yu saw his lizard, her fear was palpable.
Meng Wu continued, “I’ve said it before. If my presence makes you feel nervous and scared, that’s my problem, not yours. I hope that this time, by gaining such a huge upper hand over me, you can eliminate your fear of reptiles.”
Xue Yu looked at the dark lizard in the corner again, meeting its cold eyes. She no longer felt fear.
Her originally heavy heart suddenly felt much lighter. This thing is not so bad after all.
Meng Wu observed Xue Yu’s expression and easily saw through her thoughts. “So, do you think lizards are actually quite cute?”
Xue Yu smiled. “They’re alright.”
Meng Wu whistled, and the lizard crawled to Xue Yu’s feet. He said, “It’s very obedient and gentle. I heard that before the apocalypse, some people even kept lizards as pets. They were called something like reptile pets.”
The lizard rubbed against Xue Yu’s ankle and slowly crawled into her arms.
Xue Yu summoned her courage and stroked its scales. This was the first time she had truly touched a reptile. The scales were very smooth, cool and icy. It was completely different from the furry touch of the black panther and the arctic fox.
“So, is it fun? Is it very gentle?” Meng Wu asked.
Xue Yu nodded. “It’s great. It can be a cooling artifact. I won’t need to turn on the air conditioner at night if I sleep with this guy.”
Familiarity breeds fondness. Xue Yu became more and more enthusiastic as she petted it, from the lizard’s head to its tail, and then from its tail to its head.
Meng Wu cleared his throat and stood up. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
The ship sailed downstream along the moat.
When it was completely dark, Xue Yu slowed the ship to its slowest speed and lowered a rope ladder from the deck. Mo Li, Zhou Siyan, and Feng Qizhou swam over one after another and climbed onto the ship.
Xue Yu gave each of them a towel. “Wipe yourselves down, and then go and take a shower.”
After the three men had showered and changed their clothes, Meng Wu had already cooked a large pot of noodles. The soup base was made with fish, and the aroma was overflowing and very delicious.
Before the noodles were even served, Xue Xiaohai was already drooling. She held her bowl and waited eagerly. “Mommy, dinner! Hurry up, dinner!”
Xue Yu first served her a bowl and placed it far away. “Wait a minute. It’s too hot. We’ll eat when it’s cooled down.”
Everyone sat down. Xue Xiaohai was the most gluttonous. Zhou Siyan didn’t even have time to drink a sip of water before he blew on the noodles to cool them down and fed them to Xue Xiaohai.
Feng Qizhou had two babies and couldn’t handle them.
Xue Yu sat down next to one of the children and fed her noodles. Feng Qizhou was stunned. “Huh? Is this Xiaobei or Xiaonan you’re feeding?”
Xue Yu was at a loss. “I don’t know.”
Xiaobei and Xiaonan seemed to be deliberately teasing their parents. They didn’t say a word and just held hands under the table.
Xue Xiaohai swallowed the fish in her mouth and said loudly, “The one next to Mommy is Xiaonan.”
Feng Qizhou carefully identified her. It was indeed her. He pinched Xue Xiaohai’s cheek. “You little devil, how are you so smart?”
Xue Xiaohai’s mouth was wide open. “Mommy said that if you eat a lot, you’ll become smart. I want to eat a lot.”
The smile on Zhou Siyan’s lips couldn’t be suppressed. He brought the deboned fish to her mouth. “Alright, Xiaohai, eat your food. Don’t talk anymore.”
“Oh.”
The ship only needed one captain, not sailors.
The large space on the ship was all used as a cargo hold to transport goods. There was no dedicated dormitory cabin. The captain’s accommodation was also directly in the cockpit, so that he could keep an eye on the ship’s navigation at any time.
Xue Yu said, “There are no dorms, but I’ve laid out inflatable mattresses in the cabin behind. You can take the children to sleep in the cabin behind. I have to stay in the cockpit. The cockpit can’t be left unattended.”
Feng Qizhou looked around the cockpit. The space was actually very spacious.
“I’ll go and move the inflatable mattresses over. I’ll stay here with the child and you.”
Zhou Siyan said, “Let’s all sleep on the floor here. The space is so big. It’s not a problem to sleep here.”
Everyone agreed. Away from the White Tower, it was best not to be separated.
The few men got to work, moved all the inflatable mattresses to the cockpit, and laid them out in a row.
The three children ran around on the mattresses, hiding under the covers and playing hide-and-seek. This was their first time out to play, and they were too happy to sleep.
It took a long time to finally lull the children to sleep.
Xue Yu definitely had to sleep on the far side. This was the closest to the cockpit. She had to stay in this position to be able to check the ship’s navigation at any time.
Zhou Siyan picked up Xue Xiaohai and lay down beside Xue Yu, occupying the best position.
Feng Qizhou snorted coldly, placed Xiaobei and Xiaonan next to Zhou Siyan, and also lay down.
Meng Wu didn’t care so much and just found a place to sleep.
Mo Li, on the other hand, didn’t like to be crowded together with everyone. He had his own military sleeping bag.
After telling Xue Yu, he took his sleeping bag to the open-air deck outside to sleep, saying that he would keep watch outside.
“Then we’ll go to sleep. I’m turning off the lights,” Xue Yu said.
Zhou Siyan: “Okay.”
Xue Yu lay beside Zhou Siyan.
After a day of being chaste, her body suddenly became hot, and waves of restlessness surged in her chest. She eagerly suppressed it. The more she suppressed it, the hotter it became. Her reason disintegrated, and her mind was out of control.
She quietly got up and went to the bathroom to wash her face with cold water.
When she came back, she accidentally stepped on Feng Qizhou’s foot and fell limply onto him. “Oh my, I’m sorry. I fell on you. I didn’t crush you, did I?”
Feng Qizhou held her waist and held her down. “What are you up to?”
Xue Yu was so ashamed she couldn’t be so shameless. She said softly, “Nothing. I just fell accidentally. You go to sleep. I’m going back.”
She got up, touched her hot face, and returned to her original position to lie down.
She tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She was in a state of high excitement, not entirely a matter of libido, but extreme excitement, wanting to find something to do.
She touched Xue Xiaohai. “Xiaohai, are you asleep?”
Xue Xiaohai hummed in her sleep and moved but did not wake up.
“Xiaohai, if you’re not asleep, get up and talk to Mommy,” Xue Yu scooped up the sleeping child and held her in her arms. “Mommy will teach you to sing, okay? How can you sleep at your age?”
Xue Xiaohai woke up, pouted, and rubbed her eyes. “Sleep. Mommy, sleep.”
Zhou Siyan, Feng Qizhou, and Meng Wu were all awake but did not make a sound, just wanting to know what Xue Yu was up to.
Xue Yu put down Xue Xiaohai and fumbled to crawl to Feng Qizhou’s side. “Xiaobei, Xiaonan, Mommy’s good babies, are you asleep? Do you want Mommy to tell you a story to lull you to sleep?”
The two children were sound asleep and completely ignored her.
Feng Qizhou sat up. “Why don’t I tell you a story to lull you to sleep?”
Xue Yu gave a dry laugh. “You go to sleep. Don’t mind me. I was just worried that the children wouldn’t be used to sleeping out for the first time, so I came to check on them.”
Feng Qizhou held her hand and whispered in her ear, “Should I take care of it for you?”
“What are you thinking? Am I that kind of person?”
Feng Qizhou forcibly pulled her away and went to the bathroom, about to kneel down.
Xue Yu suddenly felt nothing. The restlessness and heat from just now had vanished. It had come in a hurry and gone in a hurry. In an instant, she had returned to a state of calm.
“No, no, no,” she tightened her waistband and pushed Feng Qizhou’s shoulders hard. “Let’s not do it. I don’t want to anymore. Don’t do this.”
Feng Qizhou stood up and held her, the two of them pressed very close. “Is it the S-class suppressant? Why is it so up and down, with no warning at all?”
Xue Yu was also in a difficult situation. “I don’t know what’s going on. Let’s go back first. Maybe it will be fine in a day or two.”
The two of them returned to the cockpit and lay down in their respective positions. Zhou Siyan was slightly surprised and whispered in her ear, “Is it over so soon?”
Xue Yu: “No, nothing happened between us. Let’s go to sleep. I’m so sleepy.”
That night, Xue Yu had to grit her teeth and get through it.
She didn’t know what was wrong with her body. Her desire fluctuated greatly. One moment, she was completely chaste, and the next, she was in a bestial frenzy, going back and forth between ice and fire.
She didn’t want to act like a hungry pervert and gritted her teeth to endure the torment.
If there was only one man around, she could have opened her heart and frankly stated her predicament, and done it openly.
But now there were so many men. If she favored one over the other and couldn’t be fair, it would surely make them feel uncomfortable.
This time, Xue Yu wanted to take the children out to have a good time and didn’t want to ruin everyone’s mood because of this.
Fortunately, the next day, her body had calmed down a lot.
She pulled Zhou Siyan to a corner and briefly explained her changes, mainly because she was worried that the White Tower’s rash promotion of this suppressant would cause some kind of commotion.
Zhou Siyan gently rubbed her waist. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about this. You’re not the only drug trial subject in the White Tower. Your trial data is just one reference sample, not a decisive factor.”
Xue Yu: “Then why is my reaction so strong? It’s so annoying.”
Zhou Siyan: “It might be related to your spiritual power. The source of your spiritual power is your reproductive power, which is very rare.”
Zhou Siyan told Xue Yu to tell him if she wanted it and not to hold it in.
For the next period of time, Xue Yu’s reaction was not very strong, and she returned to her previous level.
After completely leaving the White Tower, the children could finally come out and run around on the deck. They turned their heads to look at the sky and saw the blue sky and white clouds. They then looked at the water in the distance, and occasionally, a fish would jump out of the water.
“Mommy, I want to play outside all the time. I don’t want to go home,” Xue Xiaohai held Xue Yu’s hand and kept shaking it. “Okay, Mommy?”
Xue Yu: “Xiaohai, don’t worry. Mommy will definitely let you all play everywhere.”
Xiaobei and Xiaonan held hands. “Mommy, we want to play too.”
Xue Yu picked them all up. “Okay, okay. You can all play.”
Three days later, they had completely entered the sea.
In the afternoon, the sunset was dim yellow. Everyone was sitting on the deck, chatting. Zhou Siyan was holding Xue Xiaohai on his lap, and Feng Qizhou was also holding his two children. Meng Wu was sitting by himself, reading a parenting book.
Zhou Siyan, Feng Qizhou, and Meng Wu were talking about the situation in the White Tower, and the topic was all about the conflict between the open-minded and the conservatives.
Xue Yu didn’t understand and didn’t want to listen. She had no sense of belonging to the White Tower, and the future of the White Tower had nothing to do with her.
Mo Li didn’t seem to be interested either and went to the stern to fish by himself.
Xue Yu stood up and stretched, then went to the stern to play with Mo Li. The two of them leaned against each other, their hearts as calm as still water, watching the sunset.
Xue Xiaohai hadn’t taken a nap and was very sleepy. She raised her hand and covered Zhou Siyan’s mouth. “Daddy, stop talking. Can you sing a song?”
“What song does Xiaohai want to hear?”
He had brought a harmonica and a violin, wanting to cultivate Xue Xiaohai’s artistic cells, but it was a headache. Xue Xiaohai’s favorite songs were still “Jasmine Flower” and “Where Has the Time Gone?”. It was probably related to Xue Yu’s prenatal education.
After staying with Mo Li for a while, Xue Yu received a message from Yan Wantang: You good-for-nothing Xue, hide your baby and don’t come back to the White Tower for now. It’s a mess here. Something big might happen.
Xue Yu didn’t understand and quickly replied, What happened?
Yan Wantang did not reply to her again.
Xue Yu opened the White Tower’s news network. Everything was very calm. Nothing had happened.
She then went to the social forum and found a few posts about the S-class suppressant. Everyone was praising the effect of this new suppressant.
The extreme sexual conservatives and the fanatical conservatives were especially full of praise for this suppressant, claiming that it was the best suppressant ever developed by the White Tower.
Xue Yu also received messages from Lu Sen and Bai Qi.
Lu Sen sent her a short video of himself injecting the new suppressant and said, I asked you to lose my virginity with Bai Qi before, but you were unwilling. Now we’re not interested anymore. Do you regret it?
Xue Yu replied, Is this thing good?
Lu Sen: Especially good. One shot and you’re immediately chaste.
Xue Yu: Good luck.
A few days later, Xue Yu and the others had already landed on the island.
Xue Yu saw several reports on the White Tower’s news network. They were all about conservatives being arrested in large numbers for not abiding by the rules.
The case reports were very vague, just a few sentences, with no specific details.
The signal for ordinary communication tools on the island was very weak. Xue Yu could only use the ship’s fixed-line phone to contact Lu Sen and try to ask about the specific content of these cases.
Lu Sen’s laughter was very strange, perverted and crazed. “Hahaha, that group of people were actually having a group orgy. It’s hilarious. I was the one who caught them. These shameless things all deserve to die!”
He then smiled and said, “It’s a good thing you didn’t come back. Otherwise, you would have definitely joined them and gone astray.”