"Dad, I thought you knew my name! Grandma named me Qingyu."
Ye Qingyu puffed out her cheeks somewhat proudly, looking at her bargain-bin father with a face full of resentment.
Ye Lei rubbed his hands awkwardly. After all, fifteen years had passed, and he had only recovered this sliver of a remnant soul. He knew nothing of everything that had happened over those fifteen years.
"Qingyu... that's a good name. Now that you mention it, I kind of want to eat the braised pig trotters and bone broth your great-grandmother makes. Your dad hasn't eaten anything for a full fifteen years. I'm dying of cravings."
As if he had remembered something, Ye Lei eagerly swallowed a mouthful of nonexistent saliva. Specks of starlight seemed to shimmer in his blue-gold eyes.
"Your dad doesn't regret what he did fifteen years ago, but... I miss home too. I want to go back and see my parents, and I want to be filial to them. Of course, what I want most, most of all, is to sleep while holding your mom!"
The first half of Ye Lei's homesick words moved Ye Qingyu slightly, but he could not maintain that serious act for long. His final remark made her little face flush red.
Her bargain-bin dad looked pretty proper, so why did he keep speeding straight into inappropriate territory? She was still a child, okay!
"Oh, right. Are these all your companions?"
"Won't you introduce them to your dad?"
Looking at the seven children lying around them, Ye Lei grew curious. With a casual wave of his hand, countless blue-gold vines sprouted from the clearing, carrying all seven children before him.
"Today is the first outdoor training session for our academy's new students. Grandpa arranged all my teammates. They said they wanted to cultivate