And her son who was too smart for his good tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand a thing she was saying, amused but not surprised, she poked the tip of her nail on his forehead and said, ” Don’t play smart with me, I know just how much of a mastermind you are, okay?”

Her son only sighed and then sat back down without any complaints, once she was sure he wasn’t going to run away, she turned her attention back to the sand and said, ” Now we are going to have a little competition,” she said catching the attention of the children right away, she raised the shovel up and then used her long-forgotten experience to make what she thought was a miniature castle and beamed in arrogance when she saw that the children were all hooked, looking at her with shiny eyes as if she has made what one would say making a miracle happen. ” Did you see how I did it? Make sure you use wet sand and if it dries out then you have to pour water in it, let it drain and once you are done you can make any structures you want by pounding and making the sand submit under your punches. Got it?”

The children all nodded simultaneously and Yu Dong smiled as she stood up from the sand and helped Lang Hui down the shore of the ocean and made him seat on the folding chair that Zhu Qian has packed at the back of the wheelchair and placed it on the ground before helping Lang Hui sit on it comfortably. ” Now back to the competition,” she said with a dramatic grin. ” I won’t group you all in pairs because that will only cause hindrance to each other, now what you need to do is make a structure out of the sand, anything that comes to your mind, it can be a castle like mine or you can even make a figurine somehow if you are careful with the tools, the one who makes the best sand structure will get to eat the dishes of his choices for three days and I will even gift them our special strawberry frozen yoghurt, I bet you wouldn’t have eaten it before.”

There were a few simple reasons she asked the children to make these sand structures, firstly they would be able to develop their motor skills, especially Little bun and Yu Mai who laze around all day, secondly, they will get a rerun so that they will be able to sharpen their imagination and lastly they will have fun while doing all that.

Yu Dong’s competition flared up the competitive spirit among the kids, though they didn’t know how Yu Dong did it but everything that she cooked was delightfully delicious even if it was simple and this so-called frozen yoghurt seemed a lot more interesting than anything they have heard before, so the children picked their weapons and started working on the structure.

For their convenience, Yu Dong dug a small pit that was filled with water from the ocean so that the children didn’t have to get near the ocean and would be able to get whatever they wanted, though she and Fang Chi weren’t sitting far away, she still didn’t want to take any unnecessary risk, so it was better to take as many precautions as possible.

Once the children were busy playing with the sand, Yu Dong came to sit next to Fang Chi who was staring at the sight of the children playing with affection. Maybe it was because he was going to be a daddy soon. After all, he definitely started to have some sort of what one could loving instincts towards children even if they weren’t his own —— seeing them play in the sand and despite getting their clothes dirty in the process, he found it all adorable.

Turning to look at Yu Dong he spoke in a sing-song voice, ” You are going to have another mess to clean up soon.”

”It’s fine as long as they are having fun,” said Yu Dong as she snuck out a small bottle of strawberry wine and poured a little for herself and some strawberry milk for Fang Chi who took it with a snort. “Drinking in front of a pregnant mer that’s not very gentlemanly is it?”

” I can be a real hellion if you want me to,” shot back Yu Dong as she reached her hand to Fang Chi’s hair and tugged it a little teasingly. ” Don’t try me when I am practically starving you got that?”

” For sure,” Fang Chi chuckled as he drank his milk and left Yu Dong and her alcohol alone, he knew that she would often drink these days to calm herself down. Though she never said anything, he knew that at night when she was alone in the silence she worried about Shen Li and the others, she obviously missed them but refused to write back to their letters every time she received one.

When he asked why she was doing it, she simply said, ‘ They need to grow up more and without me, once I realise they are done growing up, I will respond until then they have to learn to leave without me.’

And if that wasn’t a torment for all of them.