Chang'an had no choice but to face a very serious problem.

Shi Xia had already grown up. Completely, fully grown. She was no longer that girl from back then, the one who needed his approval for everything and always listened with obediently perked ears.

She had clearly become... a woman.

The night was quiet, but Chang'an's nerves were unusually sharp.

By his ear came breaths as faint and fragrant as orchids. In the unseen shadows, fabric softly brushed together. Her long thighs had almost no extra cloth covering them, pale and smooth like congealed cream.

Chang'an had no idea why Shi Xia's nightgown was only that thin, flimsy layer. It barely reached the tops of her thighs. He could even vaguely make out her black panties with frilled edges.

So... that trim... was it lace?

Black lace panties...

I don't remember my Shi Xia turning into this kind of woman!

Thump, thump, thump...

He couldn't even tell whose heartbeat it was anymore.

Or maybe it was both of theirs.

The air was thick with a cloying sweetness. Shi Xia's breathing couldn't help growing faster. Her body was warmer than usual too. Even in such thin sleepwear, she was still so nervous that she couldn't stop herself from sweating.

Victory... victory underwear and all that.

Why isn't it working at all?!

Dad should be a hot-blooded seventeen-year-old boy... a guy whose desires should be pretty strong in every way, right?

She'd already changed into her sleepwear right in front of him. Did he really not have a single thought about it?

Even lying in the same bed, sharing the same pillow, she still couldn't see Dad's expression, because he'd directly turned to his side and gone to sleep.

All she could do was move as close to him as possible. But the closer she got, the more her father shifted toward the edge of the bed.

She moved closer, he moved farther.

She moved closer, he moved farther...

What kind of result that would lead to hardly needed saying. By now, Chang'an's body had already been pushed all the way to the bed's cliff-like edge.

“Dad...” A dissatisfied call slipped out.

There was even anger in it, a little sulking. Annoyed, Shi Xia moved back to the spot where she'd originally been sleeping, leaving Chang'an alone at the bedside.

The clock hanging on the wall ticked, ticked. It was the kind of sound you could only hear in absolute silence.

Shi Xia was sulking.

That Shi Xia who had always been so good, the big sister among the children, was actually sulking.

Should he go comfort her?

Even though he was the reason for it...

But if he gave in just like this, he'd get "eaten" alive.

Please forgive Ye Chang'an. Other than interacting with the older sisters in his own family, he'd never really dealt with any other mature women.

Girls older than him were, to him, ultimate lifeforms covered in question marks.

Maybe it was because he'd been fair, soft, delicate, and very cute since childhood. Maybe it was because he was also a rare otaku in the family.

Whether from branch families or the main line, his older sisters had always loved teasing him. They'd make all kinds of flirtatious moves just to laugh at him and amuse themselves.

Back then, little brother Ye Chang'an didn't understand any of it at all.

But he did remember one thing. Older sisters were pretty monsters that "ate children."

When he was little, he really had been fooled by that. On top of that, after watching Journey to the West, he'd actually believed his sisters were monsters in disguise.

After all, they kept saying things like, "I really want to eat cute little Chang'an up." Back then, the clueless Chang'an had taken it seriously and gotten genuinely scared!

Women with that mature big-sis aura were a terrifying species... They had faces so beautiful and figures that made people swallow hard, but they were way too scary...

The reason Chang'an could still act relatively composed in front of Shi Xia was mainly because of how they'd been before.

Maybe deep down, Chang'an still thought of Shi Xia as that caring older girl from back then, a young maiden in her first bloom, his little sister.

But once night came, or rather, once they were in bed—

It was nothing like that at all!

Women are all big liars!

But then again, getting pushed down by a mature beauty—what the hell are you even dissatisfied about, you idiot?! Damn it!

Second by second, time slipped by. On the surface, it looked like the two of them were about to fall into a cold war.

But the sulkiness in Shi Xia's heart actually vanished in no time.

As for why—

Just the fact that Dad had finally come back was already enough.

【Good night...】 she could only murmur in her heart, then try her best to drift off to sleep.

Being the goddess of the Foundation wasn't easy. Every day of Shi Xia's was busy and full.

That was how it should've been. Good night, sweet dreams.

Until the next moment, Shi Xia suddenly felt someone's arm wrap around her waist.

Her heart instantly started pounding. In the darkness, her fair cheeks flushed red at once.

“...No more overstepping.”

“You're my girl. You growing into a woman without me knowing... I don't like that...”

“From now on, only I'm allowed to hold you... okay?”

In truth, refusing was already impossible.

So she let out the kind of soft sound a kitten would make, curled up beside its owner, comfortable and shy.

“Mhm...”

Shi Xia was already prepared to accept from Dad... her coming-of-age ceremony.

In the darkness, she blushed for a long, long time.

But what came wasn't gentleness, nor roughness.

It was Chang'an's steady breathing.

“...”

“...Dad, you idiot!”

Since Chang'an couldn't hear her anyway, she gave up and muttered it under her breath.

No one noticed the faint curve that quietly lifted at the corner of the boy's lips.