In the mortal realm, a small coastal town.
They rented an old apartment on the third floor, with an old banyan tree outside the window.
The grandmother downstairs brought over some mung bean soup. "New here, aren't you?"
Wanquan took the bowl. "Thank you."
The grandmother sized them up. "Husband and wife?"
Qianhui nodded.
The grandmother looked at Wanquan again. "What do you do for a living?"
Wanquan thought for a moment. "Run a coffee shop."
The grandmother nodded approvingly. "Not bad, an honest job."
Wanquan said nothing.
In Heaven, he governed Order, Freedom, and Destiny.
Now he had been certified by an old woman as having "an honest job."
Qianhui stifled a laugh beside him.
---
That night, Qianhui asked him, "Do you want children?"
Wanquan was silent for a very long time.
"I don't know."
Qianhui looked at him.
Wanquan continued, "I've never thought... that this would be a choice I'd have."
Qianhui leaned against his shoulder. "Me neither."
Outside the window, cicadas were chirping.
After a while, Wanquan said, "If you want one, then we'll have one."
Qianhui looked up at him. "What about you?"
Wanquan looked at her and said softly, "I want to see you as a mother."
---
Four months later, Qianhui was pregnant.
The moment she took the pregnancy test, Wanquan suddenly understood—
why his father used mortal bodies.
Because some things, you can never truly know without experiencing them through a body.