After being universally criticized online, I went viral on military-themed variety shows.

Chapter 757 I Love Myself More, The Unpopular Group

"Um, Mom, Dad, I'm going out for a walk with Hanying."

Li Xingchuan was currently preoccupied with his wife waking up, patting his head, and calling him "silly." He was so happy he was practically bubbling with joy, and he didn't even hear what his son had just said.

Ye Mingxin waved his hand, wanting to say a few words of advice, but then he remembered Jiang Hanying's ability to make gods, humans, and ghosts all avoid her, so he swallowed his words back. "Go, but don't go too far."

There were some things she wanted to talk to Li Xingchuan about alone.

With her adopted son and that little devil Jiang Hanying around, she really couldn't quite put her finger on it.

After the two of them got up hand in hand and strolled out, the reception room was quiet for a moment.

Li Xingchuan kept staring at the person in front of him who was drinking water with his head down, and after a while, he couldn't help but call out, "Mingxin..."

"Stop, let me explain first."

Li Xingchuan instantly adopted the posture of a primary school student, sitting up straight with his hands behind his back: "Okay, Teacher Ye, please go ahead."

Ye Mingxin was taken aback by his action and the way he addressed her as Teacher Ye. She took a sip of water to clear her throat. "If you were able to find your way here, you should know that I lied to you back then. I'm not some orphan. I have my own tribe."

"Yeah, I know, it's okay."

Looking into the undisguised, pure fervor in the eyes before her, Ye Mingxin couldn't resist reaching out to gently touch them, feeling the eyelashes tremble slightly beneath her fingertips. She slowly continued, "Our race possesses an extraordinary sensitivity to plants and animals, or in layman's terms, an affinity. In the outside world's terms, we would be called an alien race."

Seeing that Li Xingchuan didn't react much to the word 'alien race,' Ye Mingxin knew that he had already discovered something before she woke up. "At first, we also wanted to integrate into human society, but after trying for a while, we found that it didn't work. Outsiders could easily fool our people. Because of that experiment, we lost most of our people, and the chief at the time had to recall the rest."

"Were those you saw the entirety of your tribe?"

"Well, including me, there are only thirteen people in total. This is the result of several decades of recuperation. But during these decades, our tribe has not been isolated. Although the practice of integrating into human society has resulted in heavy losses, it has also made us realize the progress of human society. So every ten years, the tribe will conduct an assessment, with the age limit being between eighteen and twenty-six years old. The one who performs best in the assessment will be given a special and important mission."

Li Xingchuan was shocked when he heard this.

Ye Mingxin chuckled at his reaction, "Looks like you guessed it. I received this mission and left the tribe thirty years ago, and that's when I met you."

“Before me, there were people who walked the earth for ten years. Some would return to their tribe after a few years with their understanding of the current society. Others would meet someone they liked along the way and choose to stay, get married, and have children. Still others would find that the relationship was over and decisively leave with their children and return to their tribe.”

Li Xingchuan raised his hand first: "Teacher Ye, I have a question."

"You ask."

Why are there only women in your tribe?

Thinking back to how he was excluded before, and how he wasn't even allowed to see his own wife, he still felt a bit resentful.

“I’ve thought about this issue too. It might be related to our physical constitution, or it might be related to the water we drink, the food we eat, and our living environment. Anyway, before me, almost all the children born in our tribe were daughters, and there were very few boys. And those who could return to the tribe with their mothers were all girls.”

Li Xingchuan thought of the deep-seated flaws that still exist in modern society and immediately fell silent.

Ye Mingxin smiled at him, "I noticed something was wrong after our son was born."

Upon hearing this, Li Xingchuan disregarded his own fellow men's patriarchal views and asked, "Something's not right?"

“There was something that didn’t want our son to live. I even thought about defying the tribe’s prohibition and bringing our son back to the tribe to see the chief, but before I could do it, I was injured by that thing. It was around that time that someone mentioned making a deal with me.”

"That Yue Qingfeng?"

“Hmm.” Ye Mingxin turned to look outside the reception room. “Even though I knew from the beginning that this deal would mean leaving you and our son, I still agreed. I want to live. Brother Xing, I love myself more than I love you.” Her face was gently turned back, and Ye Mingxin looked up to meet a pair of eyes filled with relief and comfort.

She couldn't help but startled.

"You did a great job. No one in this world is more important than yourself."

“You’ve done a great job too. You’ve raised our son to be very outstanding, and he’s even found an amazing girlfriend.”

Li Xingchuan blushed, but fortunately it was not very noticeable because it was covered by his beard.

After hesitating for a moment, he decided to be honest: "Well, actually, all these years I've been so busy looking for you that Shu Heng was raised by my older brother and sister-in-law."

Ye Mingxin: "...Then after we get out, we'll have to thank our elder brother and sister-in-law properly."

Li Xingchuan's eyes lit up instantly. "You're willing to leave here with me?"

"Otherwise, why don't you stay with me?"

"It's not impossible."

"..."

*
Outside the reception area.

Whether it was beforehand or not, Jiang Hanying was now strolling around the cave with her cheap master, and even when they encountered people, they would just nod at them in a friendly manner without driving them away.

Of course, they didn't go out of their way to explore the private living area inside; they simply took a short stroll around the outer public activity area.

However, I saw several young girls holding small animals that were trembling in their arms for some reason. Neither the girl nor her pet dared to come to the public activity area, so they simply turned around and left the cave.

The several pairs of human-pet couples inside the cave breathed a sigh of relief as they watched the figures disappear outside.

Man: It's a man, so scary!

Pet: Killer Star, you're so scary, Pet!
They're finally gone!
The unpopular group returned to the big tree where Li Chengxiao used to sleep.

The fire had been extinguished before they left, and Li Chengxiao wanted to relight it, but Jiang Hanying stopped him.

Yawning, he pointed to the hammock above him and said, "I'm sleepy, I want to go up and take a nap."

"The hammock is tied a bit too roughly; it's a little uncomfortable," Li Chengxiao suggested. "How about I hold you and sleep for a while?"

"I want to lie down, you can be my cushion."

"Row!"

So Li Chengxiao first climbed onto the hammock, which was nearly two meters off the ground, then tidied himself up a bit and reached out to Jiang Hanying, who was waiting below, "Come on."

Jiang Hanying immediately jumped up, grabbed the outstretched hand, and nimbly flipped over, landing right on her cheap owner who was obediently serving as a human cushion.

It was her first time sleeping in such a primitive hammock. After settling down, she couldn't help but twist her body and sway the hammock beneath her. The hammock immediately creaked and swayed from side to side.

Li Chengxiao, who was passively swaying from side to side, was speechless.

I want to slap myself for not realizing the consequences just now!