What is not meant to be, one should not force.

Spirit rice peanuts were discovered and brought back by the twins during an inadvertent trip into a dungeon.

They looked very much like regular peanuts and tasted like them too.

However, they grew on trees, and unlike ordinary peanuts, they contained a decent amount of spiritual energy. Yu Yan really enjoyed tossing a handful into her mouth to chew when she had nothing to do. Looking at Chen Biqin's ingratiating expression, Yu Yan sighed inwardly in her heart.

She could guarantee that this mother of hers would not truly take what happened today to heart.

Next time someone cried, begged, and acted pitifully enough, Chen Biqin would still lead all sorts of messy people back into the home.

Right now, her trembling was merely out of fear that Yu Yan would lose her temper.

For some inexplicable reason, a surge of dark irritation rose within Yu Yan. "Yuhui, Duoduo, from now on we will eat at our own place; we won't be eating here anymore."

Since there was no place to sleep at Chen Biqin's, it was impossible for Yu Yan to keep having Duoduo and Lou Yuhui sleep in tents all the time.

More than twenty days ago, she had already found a suitable vacant house nearby to live in.

With these words spoken, it meant she was formally separating the household.

Chen Biqin panicked slightly. "Yan'er, you didn't like Uncle Liu, and I've already dismissed him for you. Why are you still holding a grudge against your mom? Won't it do if Mom is wrong? At worst, we can just find another cooking instructor, and I'll only hire them once you agree."

"For such a small matter, is there any need to stop eating together?"

Heh, you'll only hire them once I agree?

Just based on how rushed you were and your subconscious slip of the tongue calling him "Uncle Liu," if I were to continue living with you, it would mean I thought my life was too peaceful and deliberately wanted to find a bunch of things to get mad about. Lou Yuhui and the others had spent over a month helping her establish the most basic majesty of the Sovereign.

Making the members of the hunting team stop treating her like the little girl she used to be.

Yet in front of Chen Biqin, her Sovereign majesty would evaporate in a split second.

Uncle Liu?

Whose uncle?

Did Liu Chengping even deserve to be her uncle?

What kind of uncle was he? Even her biological uncle, Yu Yongde's own younger brother, wouldn't dare run up to her and demand she call him uncle.

Once, when they crossed paths on the road, Yu Yan addressed him as junior uncle, and the man's legs went so weak he almost knelt to her.

The reason Liu Chengping was so audacious...

was inextricably linked to his belief that Chen Biqin had his back.

If Yu Yan hadn't been considerate of not wanting Chen Biqin to lose too much face, she wouldn't have agreed to let him stay as a cook the very first time she saw him. It was an indescribable feeling; she simply disliked this person.

"Mom, say no more. My mind is made up."

She had so many things to busy herself with; she didn't want to work herself to the bone all day only to come home and face this kind of aggravating nonsense.

Children grow up, and naturally, they are meant to live separately.

She and Chen Biqin truly couldn't get along under the same roof. As long as they lived apart, whatever trivial matters Chen Biqin chose to handle would have nothing to do with her. Anyway, given Chen Biqin's strength as a Tier 2 mid-grade fire-attribute bloodline awakener, coupled with the twins by her side,

others at most might take slight advantage of her, but no one could truly bully her.

In the dungeon world, nothing matters except death!

She didn't need to stress herself out so much for Chen Biqin's sake.

"..."

Chen Biqin looked aggrievedly toward the twins, hoping they would put in a good word for her.

One of the twins looked to the left, and the other looked to the right, turning themselves into gourds with stitched lips. Chen Biqin glared at the unreliable twins. "Alright then, if you insist on doing this, Yan'er, there's nothing I can do with you."

"But during major holidays and festivals, you'll still come home, won't you?"

"That goes without saying."

Chen Biqin let out a breath of relief. As long as she came home, that was fine.

Because of this eldest daughter, she was now quite prestigious in the village. Wherever she went, everyone held her in high regard; she certainly didn't want her relationship with her eldest daughter to turn too sour! However, living with her eldest daughter was indeed rather uncomfortable.

Every now and then, without knowing how she had offended her, the girl would pull a long face and glare at her.

Sometimes Chen Biqin even doubted whether she was Yu Yan's mother or if Yu Yan was her mother.

Why was there a feeling of their roles being reversed?

Yet whenever she met Yu Yan's half-smiling gaze, for some reason, she would feel a shudder of dread straight from the bottom of her heart.

Living apart like this now actually had one benefit.

She finally wouldn't have to live in daily trepidation, constantly terrified that her eldest daughter would fly into a rage at her—even though, for as long as Yu Yan had been home, she didn't seem to have lost her temper seriously even once. Yet whenever Yu Yan's expression darkened even slightly, Chen Biqin always had the feeling that the sky was falling in.

That was far more terrifying than when Zhang Zhenye got angry and shouted at her!

"Yan'er, should I help you pack your things then?"

Actually, there wasn't much to pack.

Whatever belongings Yu Yan had that were slightly valuable or important were always carried on her person.

Plus, every night she would bring Yunduorou and Lou Yuhui back to her own residence, so in the end, Chen Biqin simply packed a pile of food. Things like the fragrant, roasted spirit rice peanuts, and earth-bear meat soup stewed until it was completely tender.

Chen Biqin packed as much as she possibly could!
She knew her eldest daughter's portable spatial storage was much larger than her own.

Moreover, space could preserve the freshness of food, so no matter how much she gave, Yu Yan would be able to fit it all.

Watching Chen Biqin bustling about packing, Yu Yan felt an increasing sense of desolation in her heart. In the past, she had always told herself that as long as Chen Biqin was willing to play along with her act and put on an appearance of pampering and cherishing her, what did it matter what she thought in her heart?

After all, the hardest thing to look directly at in this world was the human heart.

Living in this world, blissful ignorance is a blessing.

If you want to get by, you have to possess the tolerance of a great statesman!

Yet when Chen Biqin truly grew more accustomed to it day by day and "performed" better and better, Yu Yan felt that she could find less and less meaning for her existence in this household.

So be it; some things once lost are simply lost.

The moment the twins were born, her ties as mother and daughter with Chen Biqin were already exhausted.

What is not meant to be by fate should not be forced.

Yu Yan took the items handed over by Chen Biqin, her mind shifting slightly to store them into the illusion-lotus space, and smiled faintly at Chen Biqin. "Thank you, Mom."

Then she turned and strode toward the door. "Duoduo, Yuhui, let's go!"

"Yan'er?"

Chen Biqin instinctively called out to Yu Yan.

For some reason, a trace of unease flickered through her heart. "You..."

"What is it, Mom?"

Yu Yan turned back, looking at Chen Biqin with a faint smile.

She couldn't quite describe the feeling, but Chen Biqin just felt as though something was different.

"No, nothing."

"Then I'm off!"

Yu Yan waved her hand. "Take care of yourself, Mom."

That was it—this was the feeling of total, unburdened freedom!

Watching Yu Yan's retreating, confident figure, Chen Biqin finally figured out what was wrong.

In the past, whenever Yu Yan faced her, she could always vaguely sense Yu Yan's dissatisfaction and yearning toward her. This dissatisfaction sometimes wasn't even because she had done anything wrong; it seemed as though simply standing there was a mistake in itself.

Her eldest daughter had always kept the unfair treatment she received bottled up inside!

Constantly hoping that she, as a mother, would treat her fairly!

To love her just as much as she loved the twins.

Yet for Chen Biqin, this was practically an impossible mission.

It wasn't that she didn't want to, but the moment she met Yu Yan's clear, piercing eyes, every single thing she had done to Yu Yan in the past would well up in her mind, constantly reminding her of how unqualified a mother she was.

The suffocating weight of guilt would overwhelm her, leaving her with only one choice: evasion.

Evading the responsibilities and obligations a mother ought to bear, and evading that pair of eyes with which Yu Yan yearned for familial affection.

Because only by doing so could she avoid facing her own inner self.

That's right, she was simply a weakling and a coward in life!

Unable to shoulder her own life, she had shifted a portion of the heavy burden of living onto her eldest daughter.

And because of her guilt and inability to face it, one wrong step led to every subsequent step being wrong.

Until one day, Yu Yan's gaze no longer pursued her, no longer hungered to obtain the maternal love that should have been hers from the start. Yet for the very first time, Chen Biqin discovered that she felt not a single shred of relief...