CHAPTER 157: CHAPTER 157; BUT DADDY....

Yueyao blinked at her, caught between laughter and embarrassment. "Yueqin..." she began gently.

But her daughter only puffed up more, her round cheeks turning pink. "Mommy, you are squeezing me out. Daddy’s lap is for me. You can sit on the chair next to him, or on the sofa. Big girls sit by themselves!"

Her small hands balled into fists as she turned her gaze up at her father, eyes glistening like glass beads. "Daddy... tell Mommy. Tell her she’s stealing my spot."

Jin Shuren’s lips twitched at the edges, the faintest crack in his cold composure. His hand continued its steady rhythm on Yueyao’s back, but his eyes softened as they fell on his little girl.

Yueyao narrowed her eyes at her daughter, her voice light with teasing. "Stealing? Hm. Last I checked, Yueqin, he’s my husband. I was here first. Shouldn’t Daddy’s lap belong to me?"

The child’s mouth fell open at such outrageous logic, and she let out a little gasp. "No! Daddy’s lap is mine!" she declared, darting forward to tug gently at her mother’s arm as though trying to pry her free. "You already have Daddy’s hand, hugs, and kisses. But his lap, his lap is mine!"

For a heartbeat, Yueqin simply stood there, clutching the banister with her tiny hand. Her lips parted, her eyes bright and searching.

"Daddy..." she whispered at last, soft and careful, yet threaded with the innocence of a child who knew she held his heart.

Jin Shuren’s hand stilled for only a moment on Yueyao’s back before resuming its slow, steady circles. His gaze flicked to his daughter, sharp, unreadable to anyone else, but softened by the faintest warmth at the edges.

"Come here," he said simply, voice low, calm, as if the world itself was obliged to obey.

Yueqin padded closer, but her gaze darted to Yueyao first, hesitant, almost wary.

Yueyao’s fingers tightened against Jin Shuren’s sleeve. Possessiveness curled hot in her chest. That tiny girl, with just one word, could call him away from her, could place herself where Yueyao wanted to be.

When Yueqin reached the seat and lifted her arms for him, Yueyao’s voice slipped out before she could stop it, soft but sharp around the edges.

"Seems like Daddy doesn’t belong to me alone."

Jin Shuren turned his head slightly, the faintest flicker in his eyes, stern to the world, but warmer than steel when fixed on her.

His arm tightened around her waist as if to lock her against him. Only then did he reach out his other hand, drawing Yueqin up into his lap.

Now he held them both, the woman whose voice trembled with jealousy, and the child who leaned against him trustingly.

His tone when he spoke to Yueyao was quiet, meant only for her, "You forget too easily," he murmured, his thumb brushing the back of her hand, "that I am yours first."

Yueyao’s lips pressed together, the sting of his reassurance both soothing and aching. His words wrapped around her like silk, but the warmth of Yueqin’s small body against his chest only deepened the knot twisting in her stomach.

Her daughter had nestled in with the ease of ownership, cheek pressed to Jin Shuren’s shoulder, eyes fluttering shut as though she had found her rightful throne.

One arm slipped around his neck, clinging, not with shyness, but with the unshakable certainty of a child who believed he belonged to her alone.

Yueyao’s fingers fisted lightly in his sleeve, jealousy and tenderness warring inside her. She loved Yueqin, yet seeing her in his arms, seeing her claim the space Yueyao longed to keep for herself, burned in ways she couldn’t admit.

Yueqin peeked one eye open, as if sensing the tension, and stuck her tongue out at her mother with childish triumph. "See, Mommy? Daddy’s lap is big enough for me. He’s mine, too."

Yueyao’s jaw tightened. She leaned in closer to Jin Shuren, her voice a silken murmur edged with bitterness. "Even my daughter wants to take you away from me. Should I be worried, Shuren?"

His pen scratched across a paper he had pulled close, his other hand steady on Yueyao’s waist. He did not look rattled, not even by the fire in her words. Instead, he shifted his hand to cover hers, his thumb stroking slow, deliberate circles into her palm, a reminder, a claim.

Without lifting his gaze from the laptop, his voice flowed smoothly and unshaken, "You should worry about nothing."

Then his eyes flicked to her at last, a fleeting glance of such intensity that her breath caught. "Because no one, not even she....." his gaze dipped meaningfully toward their daughter, "will ever come before you."

Yueqin’s little brows furrowed at that, confusion sparking in her eyes as she clutched at his collar. "Daddy..." she whispered, almost sulky, as if sensing she had been gently pushed from the center of his world.

But Jin Shuren only tightened his arm around Yueyao, pulling her infinitesimally closer, as though staking a silent claim for them both to feel.

The men on the other side of the meeting droned on, unaware that the emperor they feared was now holding court not over empires, but over the two souls who warred quietly for his heart.

Yueqin’s lips trembled, caught between indignation and confusion. She tightened her little arms around his neck, burying her face against him as though to reclaim what had been quietly taken away.

"But Daddy," she mumbled, her voice muffled against his shirt, "I’m small... Mommy is big. You should hold me more, I’m more fragile..."

Her words pierced Yueyao like a pin. She straightened slightly, her pride stung. "Small or big, Yueqin," she countered softly but firmly, "Daddy belongs to me first. You have him every day already. You sleep in his arms, you climb into his lap whenever you like. But me?" Her voice lowered, almost trembling, "I only get these moments when he allows it."

The admission slipped free before she could stop herself, and her fingers curled tighter into Jin Shuren’s sleeve as though anchoring him by force.