âThe first gift that brother ever gave me was a knife that he carved out with his own hands, he used a stone from around here.â
Xiao Bao canât help but turn his face up to look at Muyan, âNiangqin has a dad? And an older brother?â
âI do! Although weâre not related by blood, they used to be my most cherished family members. Itâs just...â Muyan trails, then she bows her head and smiles, âNiangqinâs dad and brother, Xiao Bao can call them grandpa and uncle, okay?â
Xiao Bao doesnât really understand but he nods.
Thereâs a trace of nostalgia in Muyanâs eyes.
She lived in the Shen family for ten whole years.
Everything about her childhood has already become fuzzy, she can barely remember it.
Her memories and joys began in the Shen family.
However, her pains also began in the Shen family.
When her adoptive father had just brought her back to the Shen family, the mistress still wasnât Su Yuexiang.
It was an extremely gentle and kindhearted woman, Zeng Xiuying.
Her older brother, Shen Jinglin, is Zeng Xiuyingâs biological son.
At the time when Zeng Xiuying was alive, Muyan was very happy and very comfortable.
However, good things donât last forever.
While Zeng Xiuying was pregnant for several months, Su Yuexiang came knocking to their door, holding Shen Xiaoru who was already six years old.
She claimed that Shen Xiaoru is the Shen fatherâs own flesh and blood.
Zeng Xiuying questioned her husband, but he was incoherent and unable to respond until finally, he spoke the words â befuddlement from drinking.
Zeng Xiuying suffered such a blow, her mind received a tremendous shock. Finally, it was one corpse and two lives.
However, Shen father was pressured by the Su family and was ultimately forced to take Su Yuexiang as a wife.
From them on, Muyan and her brotherâs good days had come to an end.
Su Yuexiang even took advantage that Shen father and brother went out travel for experience, and directly sent her to the Su family.
Thereupon she went under the influence of an aphrodisiac, and strayed into the forbidden area...
Wherefore she got pregnant out of wedlock, and the fetus in her belly was targeted...
That past life then...
Muyan closes her eyes.
It is impossible to say that she does not blame the Shen patriarch, that she does not blame the Shen family.
To her however, Shen father still brought her up for more than ten years.
Moreover, she still has a brother within the Shen family, and he had been the best big brother to her since they were kids.
As she slowly opens her eyes, all the emotions have already retracted within her pupils.
Yet in a blink, she sees a tall man with a cane, limping in from the door, and heading towards the front hall.
But before he could pass through the corridor, he is stopped by a person that looks like a steward.
âShoo shoo, is this a place where you can just enter? Hurry and go away!â
Muyan first thinks that this crippled man is a servant of the residence.
âGet out of the way, I want to see Su Yuexiang!â
As the man opens his mouth to speak however, Muyanâs eyes suddenly go wide.
This is... this is her brotherâs voice!
Muyan stares with rapt attention.
The man in front of her is but a youth in his twenties, yet thereâs a deep scar on his face; his looks have undergone great changes, appearing to be extremely thin and pallid.
The most alarming point is how there is no trace of Internal Force fluctuations in his body, and thereâs an ennui between his brows like an evening mist saturated with the essence of death.
But this personâs features and form clearly belong to her big brother, Shen Jinglin.
The Shen familyâs most promising gongzi, Shen Jinglin was already at the peak of Primary Stage when Muyan last saw him.
But now, Shen Jinglin has become a handicapped person who is entirely unable to practice martial arts.
For a moment, Muyan stays rooted in place, blankly staring at that figure. From a lifetime away, waves of sorrow and grief burst into her heart.
Xiao Bao senses Muyanâs emotions, so he gently squeezes her hand, âNiangqin, who is he?â
The soft and childish voice pulls Muyanâs thoughts back.