Lu Qianning looked at Yue in astonishment. “Yue, you’re the granddaughter of Duke Anguo?”
Xi Qingyue shook her head. “No. Lan’er and I have no parents, so where would we get a grandfather? Even if we did have one, he’d be a heartless bastard.”
If she remembered correctly, Duke Anguo had only one son, and that son was already married with children. He had nothing to do with the sisters.
After hearing her response, Lu Qianning understood her attitude. She gave Mu Jin a meaningful glance. “Go on. Relay her exact words.”
“Yes, Princess.”
Mu Jin turned and strode away. She would pass along Xi Qingyue’s words exactly as they were, but she would also make sure to find out more about the matter.
Xi Qingyue did not take Duke Anguo’s attempt to claim them seriously at all. Whether it was true or false, it had nothing to do with her and Lan’er. She had only one sister, and aside from her, she had no family.
Lu Qianning picked up a chess piece and placed it on the board. Slowly, she began telling Xi Qingyue about the Duke Anguo’s residence.
“The heir to the Duke of An was found three years ago. As it happens, the heir’s wife was the daughter of the Minister of Revenue. She disappeared from the capital four years ago, and when she finally returned, she was already married and heavily pregnant. The man who came back with her was none other than the heir to the Duke of An.
“Apparently, an old nanny from the Minister’s residence agreed to bring him back because he looked very much like Duke Anguo. I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. All I knew was that the heir had been found in a small town. His foster parents had picked him up while fleeing a famine. Being found and brought back by the duke’s residence could be considered a stroke of luck.”
At that, Xi Qingyue’s expression shifted slightly. “Three years ago? I think my father disappeared more than three years ago. Lan’er has never even seen this so-called father since she was born. Could they be the same person?”
Her gaze turned cold. If that really was her father, then he was a scumbag who had abandoned his wife and daughters. She was better off not acknowledging a father like that.
Lu Qianning patted her head sympathetically. “Don’t rush to conclusions. Let’s find out whether it’s true first. You can decide then whether you want to acknowledge him. You’ll also have to tell Lan’er about it.”
Just then, Xi Weilan came riding toward them from a distance, her face glowing with delight. “Big Sister Lu, were you calling me?”
As soon as she brought the bicycle to a stop, she happily ran over to Xi Qingyue. “Sister, I’m thirsty. I want something to drink.”
Lu Qianning was just about to pour her some water when Xi Qingyue smilingly handed Xi Weilan a strange bottle filled with black liquid.
Xi Weilan’s eyes narrowed into happy crescents as she accepted it. She opened the bottle and began drinking with delight.
Lu Qianning lowered her eyes, deep in thought. What on earth was this black water? They really weren’t hiding anything anymore. Even the bottle it came in was strange—she had never seen such a thing before.
Thinking that Lu Qianning wanted some too, Xi Qingyue handed her another bottle. “Big Sister Lu, here you go.”
Lu Qianning held the strange black drink, her face full of curiosity. Seeing how happily Xi Weilan was drinking, she tilted her head back and took a sip as well.
The moment it touched her tongue, she froze. “What is this? It tingles, but it’s actually quite good.”
As she spoke, she took several large gulps. The more she drank, the more addictive it became. On a hot day like this, such a refreshing drink was truly delicious.
Xi Qingyue replied with a smile, “Happy water. It’s water that makes people happy.”
Before long, Xi Weilan had drained her bottle. She shook the empty bottle, her little face filled with reluctance.
Xi Qingyue patted her head. “Only drink a little at a time. It isn’t good for children to have too much. Sister has something serious to discuss with you, so stop playing for now.”
Hearing that it was something serious, Xi Weilan immediately became solemn. She sat down obediently beside her.
“Lan’er, do you want to find your father? If he’s still alive and comes to take you away, would you go with him?”
Xi Weilan scratched her head, looking confused. “Sister, didn’t Father die? If he’s alive, why hasn’t he come looking for us all this time? When Second Uncle sold me, why didn’t he come save me? I don’t want any father. I only want Sister.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she threw herself into Xi Qingyue’s arms, afraid she was about to be abandoned. Tears welled up in her eyes. “Sister, don’t send me away. I’ll be good.”
Xi Qingyue hugged her and comforted her gently. “Don’t worry. Sister will never send you away. I only suspect that our father may not be dead—that he might still be alive and well. Someone just claimed that we were his granddaughters and said they wanted to take us back. I only wanted to know what you thought.”
Xi Weilan tightened her arms around her sister’s neck. “I’m not going with anyone else. I want to stay with Sister.”
Xi Qingyue nodded with a smile. “That’s right. You’re not going anywhere. As long as Lan’er doesn’t want to leave, no one can take you away.”
She had originally been worried that a child would hear about having a father and willingly go away with him. But her little sister was indeed different. She had never even met the man—why would she go with him?
The sisters’ reactions left Lu Qianning sighing inwardly. She silently mourned for the Duke Anguo’s residence. Their attempt to acknowledge the girls as family would probably end with them making enemies instead.
Mu Jin returned to the pavilion at that moment. She had already learned the general details of the matter, and she felt indignant on behalf of the sisters.
“Princess, Duke Anguo says that he is the girls’ grandfather, and that his son—the heir—is their father. He says that when the heir returned to the capital three years ago, he had lost his memory, which was why he didn’t bring the girls back immediately. He only recovered his memories recently and specifically sent people to look for them. Unfortunately, he was told that they had died in a fire. It was only recently that he discovered they were still alive.”
The moment she finished speaking, Xi Qingyue let out a cold laugh. “He lost his memory? Do they really take us for fools? The little son of the Duke Anguo’s residence is about three years old, and Lan’er is three as well. Where did that child come from? He already had a child with someone else before he disappeared. The more I think about it, the more I suspect that Mother’s death wasn’t an accident.”
Xi Weilan’s little face was also filled with anger. “Sister, I understand now. He’s the scumbag you always talk about! He disappeared on purpose, and he even had Mother killed.”
During their journey, Xi Qingyue had taken her to listen to storytellers recount all kinds of tales. Before bed, she had also told her about various strange social incidents that had happened before the apocalypse. Xi Weilan had absorbed much of it.
At that moment, her little mind was filled with all sorts of conspiracy theories. She decided that her father must have climbed into the favor of some powerful official and ordered someone to kill her mother.
Xi Qingyue had never expected that the subtle influence she had used to keep Xi Weilan from being deceived when she grew up would come in handy so soon.
She turned to Mu Jin and asked, “Has he left?”
Mu Jin shook her head. “Not yet. He said he wouldn’t leave until he had met you both. He also said that the little granddaughters of the duke’s residence must return to their ancestral family.”
Mu Jin felt deeply conflicted. She remembered that the heir’s legs had been crippled at Xi Qingyue’s command. Yet now, the two of them had suddenly become father and daughters. What a strange twist of fate.
Xi Qingyue immediately stood up with Xi Weilan in her arms and walked out of the pavilion. As she went, she said, “Since he wants to meet us, then let’s go see him.”
Now that they had come knocking on her door, she would meet them face-to-face. They had not come early or late—only after word of her identity as a divine physician had spread. What a remarkable coincidence.
