“Thank you, Brother Shen.”
In his past life, Li Chuan came from a household where his mother was dominant and his father submissive. His mother worked as a manager at a state-owned enterprise, deeply devoted to her career. Just two months after giving birth to Li Chuan, she returned to work, leaving his father in charge of caring for him.
Up until the age of three, it was his father who managed all the household chores.
Li Chuan hadn’t possessed photographic memory in his past life, so he couldn’t recall his father’s exact appearance. He only remembered that his father had been a tall man, always wearing an apron as he bustled around doing housework.
Sometimes, when Li Chuan had played too wildly and ended up with a dirty little face, his father would gently wipe it clean with a towel.
Everything in his memory aligned with Shen Nianxiang’s behavior.
But in truth, Li Chuan’s father had only stood 171 cm tall. Shen Nianxiang was a full 185 cm. Their heights were entirely different.
The towering father in his memories had simply been a result of Li Chuan’s perspective at the time—after all, in the eyes of a three-year-old, all fathers seemed tall.
Of course, height didn’t matter.
What mattered was that when Li Chuan had been in immense pain, someone had carried him home from the streets, wiped the dirt and ash from his body, comforted him, cooked for him—filling the home with the aroma of food. Who else could that be, if not a father?
While bathing, Li Chuan carefully reflected on his situation.
He only remembered his life up to the age of three, but that didn’t mean he now had the intelligence of a three-year-old. He still possessed the reasoning ability of an adult. Once the pain subsided, he noticed that he was tall, his hands had grown larger, and his arms were longer.
He was no longer a three-year-old child!
But he only remembered being three years old—what should he do?
Li Chuan felt a pang of panic. Thankfully, the 45-degree bathwater, which to his heat-resistant body felt like ice, helped him calm down. The cold water splashing on his face cleared his mind.
“Though I don’t know exactly what happened, I must have lost my memory,” Li Chuan analyzed calmly.
After his bath, while getting dressed, he tried to estimate how many years of memory he’d lost.
Li Chuan measured his height and thought in surprise, “I’m so tall—taller than the fifth-grade boy next door. I must be in middle school by now!”
He counted on his fingers to calculate his age. He could count really well—what a smart kid!
After struggling, he figured out that 7 + 6 = 13. He must be at least thirteen years old now.
“I’ve lost ten years of memory. I have to tell Dad about this so he can explain what’s happened in those ten years,” he thought.
Even though he’d made up his mind, reasoning was one thing—feelings were another.
In his three-year-old mind, he thought: I ran around and came home filthy, and Dad didn’t even bathe me—he must be mad.
He’d better wait until Dad wasn’t angry before bringing it up.
So Li Chuan tiptoed out of the bathroom. When he saw “Dad” still mopping the floor and tidying up, even helping dry his hair like usual, he let out a small breath of relief.
“Dad” was still willing to dry his hair—he must not be angry anymore.
Li Chuan smiled at him and asked, “You’re not mad at me anymore?”
He heard “Dad” say, “I was never angry with you. Come, let’s eat.”
Dad isn’t mad anymore—that’s great!
Suddenly, Li Chuan felt deeply wronged.
He had been kidnapped, injected with something, and his entire body ached—he had held back tears until now. That was already very brave of him.
He threw his arms around “Dad,” promised to behave and not run off again, and even sneakily wiped his tears and snot on “Dad’s” shirt.
According to his memories, whenever he did this, “Dad” would always scoop him up and wipe his tears.
After that, he could talk about the memory loss.
But things didn’t go according to Li Chuan’s script. “Dad” immediately shoved him away with a frightened expression and exclaimed, “What did you just call me?!”
“Dad,” Li Chuan said, heartbroken.
Shen Nianxiang took a deep breath and stepped back to keep some distance. “Don’t call me that.”
Li Chuan asked, “Didn’t you say you weren’t mad at me?”
“Dad” had never said anything so harsh before. But Li Chuan remembered that when Mom used to get mad, Dad would hold her hand and call her “wife,” and she’d shake his hand off and say, “Don’t call me that—I’m not your wife.”
So maybe “Dad” was still mad?
Li Chuan bit his lip and told himself, “I’m already thirteen years old. I’m a man—I can’t cry.”
He sniffled, took a deep breath, and bravely sat at the table, slurping down all the food “Dad” had made.
Growing up really made a difference—he ate much more than he used to and wasn’t picky at all.
After finishing everything on the table, Li Chuan still wasn’t full. He looked at Shen Nianxiang.
Shen Nianxiang, who was still keeping his distance, tossed a bottled energy potion to Li Chuan and said cautiously, “Still hungry? Drink this.”
Li Chuan caught the bottle and said, “I can’t open it.”
Shen Nianxiang replied, “Try first.”
What a joke. Someone whose body was enhanced with Earth Dragon Marrow should have ten times the strength of an ordinary person. How could he not open a little bottle?
Li Chuan nodded solemnly. “Right. I’m already an adult. I should open it myself.”
He gave the cap a twist and easily opened it.
Li Chuan took a few gulps of the energy potion, then frowned. “It tastes bad.”
“It cost 110 coins. Stop whining and drink it!” Shen Nianxiang snapped.
Li Chuan could count, but only up to 100. Hearing such a big number, he was shocked. “So expensive? I better not waste it.”
Pinching his nose, he downed the whole bottle in one go. He handed the empty bottle to Shen Nianxiang and patted his chest. “I finished it!”
He looked so proud, like he had accomplished something amazing.
Shen Nianxiang took the bottle, staring at Li Chuan’s expression and thinking, Does this little master want me to praise him?
He gave it a try: “You drank it all in one go. Good job.”
Li Chuan beamed, head held high. “I’m awesome!”
Shen Nianxiang: “……”
Something wasn’t right—very not right. The Earth Dragon Marrow treatment was done, and he’d just had an energy supplement. Why was he still acting like he didn’t understand anything?
He finished the energy potion… and his brain still hasn’t rebooted?
Shen Nianxiang shook the empty bottle in front of Li Chuan and said, “I bought this. It cost 110 Heavenly Coins. It was expensive.”
“I drank the whole thing! I didn’t waste any!” Li Chuan quickly promised.
But Shen Nianxiang noticed he showed no intention of paying for it. That made him nervous.
He sat across from Li Chuan. When the boy leaned forward, he immediately raised a hand. “Stay where you are. Don’t move.”
“Are you going to buy me some oranges?” Li Chuan asked.
He often heard his father say: “Stay here, don’t move. I’ll go buy you some oranges.”
Sometimes his father brought them back. Sometimes he didn’t and just laughed instead.
Li Chuan never understood the joke, but he knew that when Dad said it, he meant, Don’t move.
But Shen Nianxiang took a deep breath and said, “Oranges? You still want expensive fruit like that? Those things are ten coins each!”
Transporting goods from the human world to the Heavenly Realm incurred massive fees from the Myriad Realms Council. Fruit was biological, so the transport cost was even higher.
Shen Nianxiang, a patrol officer in the main city, earned only 200 Heavenly Coins a month. That meant he could only afford 20 oranges in total. He had never even eaten one.
And now this little master wanted several.
Hearing that, Shen Nianxiang felt dizzy. He must have gotten himself into serious trouble.
Li Chuan looked at him, his previously obedient expression hardening.
He doesn’t know the orange joke. He’s not Dad!
