How About Making Some Childhood Memories?

Looking at the warmly smiling face before him, Bei Bei somewhat timidly took Ye Qing's hand and answered softly.

"Hello, my name is Bei Bei."

Friendship between children was actually very easy to build, especially when one of them was "sunny and outgoing" and had a gift for gab. Bei Bei quickly took a liking to Ye Qing. After just a few minutes together, he was already much less reserved around him.

As for why...

That was simple too. No child at this age disliked playing. Childhood was when curiosity about the world burned brightest; only as children passed through adolescence toward adulthood did they gradually settle down.

Some people grew more flighty and unreliable because of their surroundings, but most became numb under life's trampling, their curiosity gradually reined in.

Bei Bei, who was only five, clearly did not fall into that category.

Or rather, having lost both parents at a young age just like Ye Qing, he had no real playmates and practically no resistance to anything new and interesting.

When he saw Ye Qing and Mu En start fishing, he naturally came over too. As Ye Qing kneaded the bait, he kept chattering away with Bei Bei about this and that, until even Ye Qing had no idea what he was saying.

The whole thing boiled down to one word-showboating.

Just show off. That was all it took.

Look, I know about this, and you don't. I know more than you. Aren't I amazing?

Having returned to a child's age, Ye Qing seemed to have rediscovered the feeling of childhood over the past few years. That was also why he could no longer bear reading. After a year of studying, every time he sat down with a book, he felt as though ants were crawling all over him.

He constantly wanted to go out and play.

So, after enduring that torment long enough to memorize the basics of Douluo and ensure he would not be completely ignorant of the Douluo Continent, Ye Qing let himself loose and started playing.

The old geezer Ye Feng had never scolded him for it, either. As far as the old geezer was concerned, children were supposed to love playing. Ye Qing's earlier dedication to his studies had instead left him as baffled as a ten-foot monk trying to scratch his own head.

The nonsense he had just been spouting to Bei Bei mostly came from his recent adventures messing around all over Sea God Island. But those things adults would find utterly boring were just right for a five-year-old little squirt like Bei Bei.

You're amazing!

Even though Bei Bei had not said those words aloud, Ye Qing could already read them in his eyes.

It was strange. He could clearly count himself as a middle-aged geezer, yet the adoring gaze of a little squirt like Bei Bei actually made Ye Qing feel proud.

Too weird.

He quickly noticed his own state of mind. After a slightly awkward cough, he shoved the baited fishing rod into Bei Bei's hands.

"It's your first time here, so you get to fish today."

"But I don't know how..." Bei Bei looked hesitant as he took the rod.

"It's fine. Nobody's born knowing how to do everything. Just have fun," Ye Qing said casually, then began teaching him with a remarkably convincing air.

"When it comes to fishing, the first thing is to stay calm. You need plenty of patience..."

Holding a fishing rod himself, Mu En watched Ye Qing and Bei Bei getting along, a faint smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

As he watched Bei Bei's lifeless air fade little by little while he spent time with Ye Qing, and saw a child's carefree smile appear on that wooden face, Mu En suddenly felt deeply thankful for his decision-thankful that he had let Bei Bei meet this little fellow.

Ye Qing.

He was old. Though he doted on this great-great-grandson, an elder's company was clearly different from friendship with someone the same age. Even with his cultivation as a Limit Douluo, Mu En could not cure an ailment of the heart.

Bei Bei's ailment was loneliness.

Having lost his parents and lacking any friends, Bei Bei would only become increasingly withdrawn and extreme. That was hardly a good thing for the Radiant Sacred Dragon bloodline within him.

Those aligned with light should have broad hearts and open dispositions.

Extremism, stubbornness, petty-mindedness, inner darkness, brutality, bloodlust... all such negative influences were deadly poisons to a light-attribute Soul Master.

(Pointedly calling out a certain dean surnamed Yan.)

Mu En had worried himself sick over Bei Bei's growth, hoping he could have happy memories of childhood so that, in the future, his past would not leave him stranded at some cultivation realm, unable to advance an inch.

Did that count as using Ye Qing?

In a sense, yes. After all, Mu En really had no better choice at the moment. On all of Sea God Island, Ye Qing was the only suitable playmate close to Bei Bei's age. Moreover, he was a bona fide Shrek boy through and through, someone Mu En could trust completely.

But calling it exploitation did not quite fit either. It was true that he was relying on Ye Qing to draw Bei Bei out of his shell, but it was equally true that Ye Qing had accepted benefits from Mu En and owed him a favor.

Setting aside their connection through Shrek, perhaps it could be called an unconventional exchange of interests. Both sides got what they wanted, and neither lost anything. A win-win.

Yet in emotional terms, Ye Qing had come out ahead again.

Not only had his relationship with Mu En improved, but he had also laid the foundation for a friendship with Bei Bei. The true worth of a childhood best friend only became clear once you grew up. Many brothers bound by that kind of friendship would entrust each other with their lives.

A lot of things could not be separated so neatly.

As for how far things would develop in the future...

Did that even need saying? This was the Douluo Continent, after all. (Meaningful look.)

Of course, Ye Qing was not thinking that far ahead right now. Returning to a younger age had already made him much more playful. Now that he had Bei Bei to play with, his enthusiasm naturally kept rising.

Clearly, the unlucky Bei Bei had never experienced this sort of aimless fun with a playmate either. He was a little restrained at first, but later he too unleashed the nature that should have belonged to a child his age.

From that day onward, the Inner Court's Sea God Island gained two little terrors.

"How about making some childhood memories?" Ye Qing said to Bei Bei.

And so, apart from the Sea God Pavilion, which neither of them had visited, every corner of Sea God Island bore their footprints.

The two played pretty wildly: climbing trees and picking flowers in one elder's backyard today, rooting through another elder's vegetable patch like wild boars tomorrow, then fishing, gathering snails, and catching crabs at Sea God Lake the day after.

It got to the point where even Mu En had to consider whether all this wild fun might pose a safety risk.

Overall, though, the old man was deeply gratified to see Bei Bei gradually becoming more cheerful. Even the amount of tea he gave Ye Qing increased considerably whenever the boy came looking to squeeze some gold coins out of him.

With Bei Bei's problem resolved, Mu En began making plans for another matter.

According to the latest news, that Evil Soul Master of Soul Douluo rank had revealed his whereabouts in a city in the Heaven Dou Empire.