I was born a god, the son of the Demon Lord.

From how old they were when they fell in love, to when they got married, to when Hailey was born... and most importantly, how many husbands Hai Zhaoyue will have in the future!

When Hailey said that there was only her father from beginning to end, Wei Shenglan almost died on the spot.

Xu Nanyi could only say, what's the difference between this and getting the answers to the future college entrance exam when you were in junior high school?

Wei Shenglan's expression froze, and her voice lowered even further.

"Because her identity is too special. She said she came from the future, and that Princess Zhaoyue is her mother... That means that in this timeline, Princess Zhaoyue doesn't know her at all."

She was an unregistered mermaid with no identity, not even registered in the ocean. If she were caught by the patrol team, she would be sent back to the surface and expelled according to the rules.

He looked down and touched Hailey's curly hair: "I can only keep her at home for now, and wait until... wait until the time is right."

"Furthermore, today in His Majesty the Sea Emperor's palace, when I saw the projection you put out, I immediately recognized it as my daughter! I was so anxious at the time, I thought you had come to find her and take her away, so I... I just followed you in a moment of impulsiveness."

Lin Qingyue leaned back in her chair and listened to the whole story. She let out a long sigh, rubbed her temples, and felt that the absurdity of the past half-day was almost as much as the amount she had accumulated in the Taiyuan Holy Land over the past ten years.

Xu Nanyi lay on the table, her little hands supporting her cheeks, looking at the silver-haired merman boy opposite her and the little mermaid with blue-silver curly hair next to him.

He glanced at Wei Shenglan's expression, which seemed to say, "I'm content as long as my daughter is still by my side, even though I got a beating," and muttered to himself.

It turns out that some people have already thought of names for their future children from the very first moment they meet. So this saying is true.

Hailey, her little face beaming with pride, chimed in, "My daddy is so nice! You're not allowed to bully him!"

Lin Qingyue looked at the "father and daughter" in front of her, picked up her cup and finished the last sip of tea.

"Alright. Let's sort out Hailey's matter first, and then talk about that strange fairy in the underwater crevice."

A hint of wariness appeared in Wei Shenglan's eyes: "A strange immortal? What strange immortal? In that underwater crevice over there?"

"Um."

Lin Qingyue nodded. "So I really didn't come back to seize the throne. I came to capture the Ghost Immortal. And to take your daughter back to the Taiyuan Holy Land while I'm at it."

Wei Shenglan pulled her daughter closer to her, asking warily, "...Take her back to the Holy Land? Where to? Why?"

Hailey tugged at his sleeve: "Daddy, don't be nervous! Aunt Yue is a good person! I'll be fine going with her!"

Wei Shenglan: "..."

"...Then you'll have to come with me to see Princess Zhaoyue first."

Lin Qingyue raised an eyebrow.

Wei Shenglan's ears turned red, her gaze wandered, and her voice grew softer and softer.

"...Didn't you say she was also a fifth-generation guardian? Then Princess Zhaoyue...shouldn't she have the right to know?"

Looking at the young merman's tense yet expectant expression, Xu Nanyi silently picked up her teacup, took another sip, and sighed inwardly.

Some people haven't even thought of names for their future children yet, but they're already scheming about how to find a wife for their future children.

This world is indeed a huge makeshift operation.

Looking at her own parents, she realized they were still too disappointing and had to rely on their daughter.

……

That evening.

Hailey refused to go back no matter what, clinging to Xu Nanyi's arm and refusing to let go, her tail wrapped around Xu Nanyi's calf, her whole body like an octopus tightly wrapped around him.

"I won't leave! I want to sleep with Yiyi!"

Wei Shenglan stood at the door, looking at her daughter's appearance, feeling both amused and helpless. She squatted down and ruffled her curly hair.

"You still have to go to the crevice with Dad tomorrow, how can you not go back and rest?"

"I can rest here too! Yi Yi's bed is big!"

Xu Nanyi looked down at the coral bed, a standard feature in the inn. It was wide enough that three children could squeeze in comfortably.

She looked up at Wei Shenglan and smiled, "Uncle Wei Sheng, let her stay. We can meet at the inn first thing tomorrow morning, there's enough time."

Wei Shenglan hesitated for a moment, then sighed and nodded, "Alright, I'll come pick you up first thing tomorrow morning. Hailey, don't disturb your sister Yiyi's sleep."

"Okay, okay! Daddy, you should go back now!"

Wei Shenglan glanced at her daughter again before turning and swimming away.

The room fell silent.

The three children lay in a row on the bed. Xu Nanyi was sleeping in the middle, Hailey was on her left, and Shen Xizhou was on her right.

Xu Nanyi turned over, lying on her side facing Hailey, and whispered, "Haley, I have a question for you."

"Hmm? Go ahead and ask."

"Why do you trust Uncle Weisheng so much? It's because... you call him 'Dad' the moment you see him, and you tell him everything. Aren't you afraid he won't believe you, or that he'll think you're crazy and kick you out?"

Hayley blinked her deep blue eyes in the dim light. "Actually... I never met my father when I was a child."

"I only saw his portrait in my mother's bedroom. My mother often talked to the portrait, and I secretly watched it many times when I was a child, hiding behind the curtain."

When she called me "Dad"... her voice was different from usual; it became very soft, as if she was afraid the portrait would shatter if she spoke too loudly.

"My mother told me that my father was a great general of the sea tribe, a very, very powerful one. At that time, a great chaos broke out in the seabed fissure, and monsters poured out of the fissure, unstoppable. He volunteered to guard that place..."

"At that time, my mother was already pregnant. She said that my father went there to protect her and the child in her womb. He didn't want those monsters to rush out and hurt them."

Xu Nanyi didn't say anything, but quietly reached out her little hand and placed it on Hailey's hand.

"After he arrived, he stood guard in front of the rift alone and fought desperately to kill countless monsters."

Later… he died in that place. But before he died, he used his body to create a barrier, sealing the rift. From then on, those monsters never came out again.

The room remained quiet for a long time.

Shen Xizhou rolled over, leaned closer, and whispered, "So you've never... seen him in person?"

"no."

Hailey shook her head, then nodded. "But the Queen Mother's portrait is exceptionally well-painted. I look at it every day, for many, many years. So when I opened my eyes on the beach that day and saw him, I recognized him immediately. He looks exactly like the one in the portrait!"

She smiled again.

"And I had just fallen out of the crevice, and my head was spinning. I didn't want to care about anything, I just wanted to hug him and call out those two words that I had been calling out for so many years but never had the chance to say."