"Together, we'll create a better future. Thank you, everyone—and happy new year."
The microphone clicked off as the clocks struck midnight. The crowd erupted into cheers, some laughed, others wept openly.
For a fleeting moment, the world near them felt as it had before the outbreak—just a normal New Year's countdown celebration.
Then the dark silhouette of the city on the horizon came back into focus—a sharp, unyielding reminder.
"What do you all think of the speech?"
Xiaoyun curiously asked as he stepped down to the backstage area, behind all the curtains that blocked him from public view.
"Pretty good," Yezi replied first.
"That was so cool, too!"
Nami added as Lily nodded in agreement, both of their eyes filled with admiration as they stared towards his face.
"It's certainly impressive." Wuli and Shuli quietly chimed in.
"What do you three think?"
As he turned over to his three wives, his two sisters didn't look remotely happy at all. It was almost as if he had done something unforgivable.
"So so, could be better," Yuqi replied coldly.
"Yeah, I think it can be improved upon, especially the start, the middle, and the ending of it," Yueyue replied next.
"What? I thought it was very good. What are you two dragging down your husband like this?"
Leyan looked all confused at her two daughters, unable to understand why they were being so mean to him.
"You wouldn't think so if you know what he did... Let's just say we have been sharing some info while he was talking."
As Yuqi clarified, sweat immediately began to fall Xiaoyun's face while Leyan still looked more confused than ever.
"What are you two talking about exactly?" Leyan curiously asked, wanting to dig for more clarification from them.
"Ahem, I'm a little hungry. I'm going to go get something eat now."
Xiaoyun immediately headed towards the buffet in the distance, blending into the rest of the crowd who were just done celebrating.
Seeing Xiaoyun speedwalking away towards the buffet in the distance, both Huayi and Yezi suddenly laughed as if they knew something.
"Why are you two laughing now? Do you two know what happened between the three of them?" Leyan curiously asked.
"Of course not. But we can tell Xiaoyun had done something that upset them. We were just laughing because it was funny to see it happen in real life." Yezi replied.
"A real infighting like those drama shows."
The moment Huayi took the next part, both Yuqi's and Yueyue's faces started blushing as if they began to realize how childish they looked.
"Huh?"
Leyan began to realize something, but at the same time, her brain was more confused than ever as Yuqi and Yueyue refused to elaborate.
"Hey Xiaoyun! What did you do to the two of them?" Leyan asked as Xiaoyun returned with a plate full of food.
"Um, we can explain it at home. I'm eating right now."
Xiaoyun responded as he started stalling by shoving as much of the food into his mouth as possible.
"Fine..."
---
As the celebration ended, most of the people began to head back home, while a small fraction of the volunteer workers remained to clean up afterward.
Despite Xiaoyun volunteering for the cleanup, both Yezi and Huayi pushed him out as if they knew what he was trying to do.
The moment the front door of the house opened, both Yueyue and Yuqi cut right in front of him before heading straight upstairs.
Nami and Lily both looked back at Xiaoyun for a second, their eyes seemingly to be saying good luck before heading upstairs as well.
"What the hell did you do to get them all pissed like this?"
Leyan immediately asked as the two of them sat on the living room sofa, her eyes staring right back at him.
"Do you want to know about it that badly?"
"You had to tell me, now. No more stalling."
After a short standoff, Xiaoyun's brain suddenly remembered something. One that could potentially help him escape punishment.
"C-can I use my wish? Please, just don't get mad at me after I say it." Xiaoyun pleaded, not demanding any further.
"Fine, I won't get mad. Just tell me what happened."
"I um... I accidentally caused a public scandal at the office with Yuqi."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I was just too horny, and I remember she gave me a wish, so I used the wish to let me do it... inside the office."
"You what! In the office? Those walls are thinner than paper! What the hell are you thinking?" Leyan questioned, her face in complete shock.
"Well, it was fine at first; we were able to hide it in secret. B-but I accidentally went overboard and caused her to snap."
"Snap? What could you possibly do to cause her to snap?"
"I um... I accidently unloaded on her face a little too hard while someone was standing a few steps away from the desk.
And then she simply couldn't hold it anymore. S-She was the one who pushed me over and started riding me while moaning out loud inside her office."
Xiaoyun quickly added the last part, wanting to push some of the responsibility away from himself as he started to look a little nervous.
"Wait, why didn't you just didn't stop her? You know how much she cared about her reputation as a boss.
She's going to have a hard time trying to rebuild her character when everyone in the office knows you two..."
As Leyan raised her question, a sweat reappeared on Xiaoyun's forehead once again as he swiped it off with his hand.
"I just couldn't resist her. She was almost like a completely different person, and I fell to temptation." Xiaoyun argued.
"You'd better wish that the office forget about it soon, or she's going to keep giving the cold shoulder from now on," Leyan warned.
"I know... But they weren't like this when we were walking through the festival booth. I thought both of them moved past."
Xiaoyun suddenly brought up the confusion as he still couldn't get why the two would be so mad over something so trivial.
"Both? What did you do with Yueyue?" Leyan questioned, realizing Yueyue was also on Yuqi's side earlier.
"Um... Fine, I-I got distracted looking at other women when I was out with Yueyue. Like, just for a split second.
Then she was worried about her look not being attractive enough. So dragged me to the public restroom and asked me to prove that I still love her."
"And how did you prove it?" Leyan questioned as she started having a bad feeling about it inside her heart.
"She took off my pants and asked me to get hard, so I got hard, and suddenly she started riding me."
Xiaoyun's face looked more nervous than ever as Leyan kept staring at him as if she were interrogating a criminal.
"Doesn't seem that bad. You're looking at other women all the time. The only thing is that the public bathroom is a bit of an odd place for sex.
But why would she be upset over something she did herself... Xiaoyun, are you really telling me the full story?"
Leyan pressed him again as she could feel that the story wasn't complete. It was clear he was trying to hide some crucial details.
"Um... after we climaxed, she asked me to put her down because she had to... pee. But my brain was not thinking right."
"Not thinking right?"
"I used the wish she gave me to let her p-pee... while we did it again."
As Xiaoyun finally spilled the beans, Leyan's face instantly turned disgusted as she couldn't believe what her husband had made her daughter do.
"You... are sick in the head. No wonder they both are giving you the cold shoulder." Leyan quietly murmured.
"I know I fucked up. But why would the two of them get mad now? What difference does it make if they tell each other about it now?"
Xiaoyun questioned back, staring back at Leyan right in the face as he genuinely didn't get the point of them getting angry.
"Because you manipulated them. They realized they aren't the only ones who had dealt with your ridiculous, perverted behavior."
Leyan stood up as she looked back at him in the eyes with a disappointed face, her voice turning colder and colder.
"How can you do this to our daughter? They trusted you and granted you a wish, thinking that you won't abuse it.
Only for you to turn around and coerce them to satisfy your own urges. They are second-trimester pregnant for fuck sake."
As Leyan turned around, Xiaoyun began to realize the mistake he had committed. He had done all of this without caring for their feeling.
"I know they will forgive you at some point. But why don't you try to do something to compensate them rather than just waiting it out this time?"
Xiaoyun sat alone on the sofa as the steps of the staircase echoed in his ear. Leyan had left him with the same cold face as them.
"I-I... really fucked up big time."
Xiaoyun leaned down onto the sofa as he stared towards the ceiling. His heart was feeling more guilty than ever, the more he thought of what he had done.
"How does it always go wrong? I didn't even lie this time or anything... I just used the wishes they granted me."
Xiaoyun rolled onto the side, his mind still trying to defend himself as he didn't feel like he did anything wrong when both Yuqi and Yueyue looked to enjoy it.
"Stop excusing yourself, idiot... Leyan's right. I did betray their trust. They asked me to stop, but I just continued despite them begging me to stop."
Xiaoyun sat back up on the sofa as he stared down at his own hand, feeling a little disgusted by his treatment of them.
"But was this really my fault? Is living in luxury rotting my life? Why did I use their body to seek my own personal thrills?"
As he reflected upon himself more, he started to realize the problem that made him change for the worse towards others.
"The town can sustain itself now. Maybe I should join the rescue team."
Xiaoyun thought to himself as he finally realized why Yezi always wanted to go out. It was the only way to avoid rotting in luxury.
"I need to find a way to make it up to them first, though... Wait, I got it! They would love this when they wake up."
Getting up from the sofa and heading over to the kitchen, he quickly started creating different ingredients out of thin air.
"I need to make the dough first, have to be fresh and not ready-made..." Xiaoyun murmured as several flashbacks appeared in his head.
Back to his part-time job in high school, back when he was much more naive and when the old man was still alive.
"I can do this."
---
Leyan was the first one to wake up early in the morning, dressing up from her pajamas to plain clothes before heading downstairs.
"Hm? Who's there?" Leyan questioned, noticing the noise coming from the kitchen as she arrived in the living room.
"I'm cooking breakfast today. You can go back to sleep if you want. Just a nice change of pace for you guys, I hope."
As she walked into the kitchen, she was a little shocked as the entire table was full of food, all of which seemed to be coming straight out of a morning dim sum.
"I-I must be dreaming... I must be having delusions from the lack of sleep."
Leyan yawned as she disappeared from the kitchen, leaving Xiaoyun to resume cooking the rest of the food.
An hour later...
"Why does it smell so good?"
Nami and Lily were the second to come down as the clock hit eight o'clock. Their faces looked tired, as if they had stayed up all night.
"Because a professional chef here is cooking it," Xiaoyun answered as he put the final food onto the plate.
"Whoa! Xiaoyun, you really woke up early to cook breakfast? What are you trying to do? Bribe someone?" Nami guessed.
"Maybe. Wait, don't start eating yet! Wait for the three of them to come down first." Xiaoyun warned.
"Okay, okay."
Nami immediately stopped her chopsticks, sitting down next to Lily as Xiaoyun himself took a seat as well.
After ten minutes had passed, all three of them came downstairs at the same time. Their faces were full of energy as they said good morning to each other.
"Wait, Mom, you are here. Who's in the kitchen cooking then? I-I still have work later."
Yuqi instantly asked, noticing the sweet smell coming from the kitchen as they started walking towards it.
"So it really wasn't dreaming... Ahem, y-you'll see."
As Leyan left a cliffhanger, the two of them soon saw the food that was laid out on the table.
"Wow... This reminded me of going to a dim sum place! I haven't eaten that for so long!" Yueyue excitedly sat down and started eating.
Leyan, along with Nami and Lily, excitedly started eating as well, except for Yuqi, whose chopsticks remained in the air.
"Xiaoyun, you cooked this?" Yuqi asked.
"Yeah, I just want to apologize to you two, so this is my first compensation for what I had done to you guys."
"Hmph! You think this will so easily sway us two? It's just food." Yuqi answered as she put the chopstick down onto the table.
"This is so good! I-I accept your apology as long as you do this every day!" Yueyue answered as she kept chugging all the food down.
"Yueyue! You can't fall for this so easily—"
Before Yuqi could bash at her sister, Yueyue shoved a dumpling into her mouth, forcing her to chew it down to avoid having it fall onto the ground.
"Hm... This is so good! Leave some for me!"
Yuqi's stance did a 180 as she started catching up to the rest, eating as much as she could before her family could eat them all.
"Brother Xiaoyun... you okay?"
Lily's question was not answered as his head slowly lowered down to the table, with a small bit of drool falling from the corner of his mouth.