Chapter 3: Father (1)

  She remembers, she remembers everything!

  Chen's family was very strict and harsh towards her. She was later taken in by her paternal great-aunt to live in the main house, where she finally grew up safely.

  That year when she was fifteen, the Sixth Sister of the Long House was unexpectedly chosen by the Third Prince to be his legitimate wife. It was a great honor for the Sixth Sister to become the prince's legitimate wife, and at that time, the Third Prince was likely to inherit the throne, so the Xie family naturally had thoughts about it and did not want to refuse him. However, the Sixth Sister had already been engaged to the son of the Marquis of Longping, which was not a relationship that could be easily broken off. Therefore, in the end, the Third Uncle came up with a plan to substitute one person for another, and she was married off to Lin Yuanzhi instead.

  She can't refuse...

  Because she had eaten the Lang House's food for over a decade and lived in the Lang House's rooms for over a decade, she couldn't refuse! Even if she didn't agree to this marriage, she would have been married off by the Chen family to someone else as a concubine. In comparison, Lin Yuan Zhi was already the best choice among her options. Therefore, she happily and joyfully got married.

  However, in the end, she couldn't even keep her warning.

  So on such days, she clearly knew that the next ones would be like this too. How could she still watch them come back again and again, hurting her family until they were all wounded?

  "I don't want to! I don't want to go back!" she shouted in a shrill voice.

  Her younger brother Xie Yu, who was standing beside her, was startled and immediately hugged her, clumsily comforting her: "A Man, don't be afraid, don't be afraid."

  No matter how she cried and made a fuss, the carriage under her continued to move forward along the road. Xie Shu Ning knew that once they left, the Xie family, which she had barely escaped from, would appear before her eyes again. Even if she ended up dying in the Lin family, she still didn't like the Xie family. In comparison, she would rather return to the Lin family!

  "A' Man..." Song Shi stroked her hair helplessly and said in a low voice, "Nothing will happen, Mother and Father are here, Brother is also here. Even if we live here later, it's the same as when we were in Yanling."

  Xie Shu Ning's eyes turned red as she looked at Song Shi, whose face was filled with anticipation and a hint of nervousness. She then glanced at her brother, who had been comforting himself, and suddenly choked up. The same? How could it be the same?! She grabbed onto Song Shi's arm, about to speak, but her actions suddenly froze.

  Plump little hands, chubby, small fists clenched, and several small dimples immediately appeared on the back of the hand.

  Her hands were slender and white, looking like a thin person, how did they become this way now? Short and fleshy, how could this be her hand? In the midst of shock, an idea suddenly emerged in her mind, she didn't dare to believe it and bit herself, tooth marks appeared, and it hurt badly.

  This is not a dream!

  "Madam, your brother-in-law is here to pick you and the young master and mistress up!"

  The sound of Gui's mother's voice pierced through the carriage curtain and entered Xie Shu'ning's ears.

  Before she could recall whether her father had come to pick them up, she heard her mother softly scold Guima: "We've already arrived in the capital, how can you still call him Young Master, from now on you should call him Old Master."

  Xie Shu Ning heard this and remembered that when her father hadn't recovered his memory and returned to the Xie family, he was a son-in-law of the Song family... If it wasn't for her uncle saving his life, he would have become a pile of white bones. Even more so, whenever her father thought of his surname, her mother had her and her brother change their surname to Xie as well. But the Xie family didn't even want to give them three a chance to live!

  That year when she entered Beijing, she clearly remembered that she was only four years old.

  However, she was precocious and had a good memory, and the things that happened when she was young were all remembered. Nowadays, just recalling a little, can remember most of it. She remembers her mother bringing them back to Xie's house this time, which is the beginning of all the misfortunes. So no matter what this scene in front of her is, she doesn't want to repeat the same mistake again!

  A serious expression that didn't match her age at this time involuntarily appeared on Xiaobai's round face.

  Song's family member on the side found it interesting and lightly tapped her forehead, saying: "What's going on here? Hearing that Father has come, why do you seem unhappy?"

  Happy?

  Xie Shu Ning almost used a disdainful gaze to sweep her mother from head to toe. Until many years later, she was still thinking that when her mother brought her and her brother to Kyoto from afar, hadn't she ever thought about what kind of life awaited them? Wouldn't someone in the Xie family be happy about their arrival?

  "Alas—"

  The horse carriage stopped by the side of the road, the curtain was lifted up, and her father Xie Yuanmao, who was only twenty-five years old at that time, poked his head in and smiled: "Does Ah Man miss her dad?"

  Think?

  Xie Shu Ning coldly gazed at the young man in front of her, who had a slender figure and a handsome face. He wore a crab-shell green robe with a gray mouse fur cloak draped over it, which made him look even more elegant and refined, like a Pan An. However, what she saw through his youthful and handsome appearance was an ugly man who was unreliable, incompetent, and heartless!

  She secretly sneered in her heart, wishing she had never had such a father, and how could she have thought of him?

  "Furong, is everything all right on the way?" Xie Yuanmao saw that she didn't respond and wasn't annoyed, with a smile on his face he asked Song Shi again.

  "Alright, Ah Man and Yi Ge are both fine." Song Shi's words were as gentle as her name suggested, and she almost always spoke in a soft voice. The sudden loud "Ah Man" that interrupted her just now was probably because she was shocked to hear such words coming from the young girl's mouth.

  Xie Yuanmao's smile deepened after hearing Song's words, and he directly got into the carriage, pulled down the curtain and shouted to the outside: "Follow the people in front, go to Beicheng Shi Jing Hutong." After finishing speaking, he squeezed over to sit next to Song, stretched out his hand and was about to hug Xie Shuning.

  Although she and her brother are twins, they don't look alike. As a child, she loved to eat and ate a lot, so she was a chubby kid, white and plump like a steamed bun that had just come out of the oven, with a round head and a round body. Although she looked cute, she was far from being a beauty.

  She couldn't help but resent her several elder sisters who always loved to mock her back then.

  But compared to her brother, the fair and chubby girl was more favored by her father. So even though she is now nearly five years old, her father still habitually picks her up whenever he gets on the carriage. Moreover, in the Song family, there were only her mother and uncle, no elders, and when she was born, her uncle had gone to the border, so at home, there were only her parents, her brother, and herself, this rule naturally didn't apply much. In her memory, during her childhood, her father was extremely doting on her.

  Her heart felt heavy and Xie Shu Ning subconsciously dodged his hand.

  In the past, she would have happily thrown herself into her father's arms. But now...

  She doesn't like him anymore.

  Xie Yuanmao naturally didn't know what she was thinking in her heart, seeing her like this, he only asked Song Shi with a puzzled expression: "What's wrong with Ah Man?"

  "It's probably because I haven't seen you for many days, so I feel a bit unfamiliar." Song Shi looked at her worriedly and shook his head.

  "It's all Father's fault, he should have sent someone to pick you up earlier." Xie Yuanmao heard this and a hint of embarrassment appeared on his face, as he said these words, he reached out and gently patted her head.

  Xie Shu Ning didn't have the heart to care about him, her mind was now preoccupied with the Xie family.