Severing family ties

"You complain that I keep my distance from you, but have you ever considered who pulled away first? I wanted to be close to you, but you rejected me at every turn.

"Your actions told me you didn't welcome me, but I didn't want to give up the chance to finally be close to my family.

"Again and again, I offered you warmth, only to be met with cold indifference. Eventually, I grew tired and fed up.

"Since you don't want anything to do with me, we might as well be strangers."

The Earl of Everlasting Prosperity froze at Xu Qing's words. He still failed to recognize their mistakes. "If you hadn't targeted Zhenzhen, why would we have kept our distance? You wanted to send her away on your very first day back, but she was just as innocent as you. She knew nothing about the babies being switched.

"Besides, we raised her for so many years. Even if she isn't our flesh and blood, she's as good as our own. How could we bear to send her back?

"As for the couple who hurt you, they did wrong, but they still raised you. The debt you owe those who raised you is greater than heaven itself. How can you be so petty?"

Seeing that he still had the nerve to say such things, Xu Qing cried heatedly, "She's innocent? The moment she took my identity and enjoyed the life that should have been mine, she stopped being innocent!

"Keeping her by your side only reminds me at every turn of all the suffering I endured.

"Do you know that after switching us, that couple wanted to kill me? If my grandmother hadn't arrived in time, I would have died long ago.

"I lived with my grandmother until I was seven, but that year, she fell gravely ill and died. That couple took me back, and from then on, my life was nothing but misery.

"I was only seven. I didn't even come up to your thigh, yet I had to get up before dawn every day to wash their clothes, cook their meals, and wait on them.

"Once I arrived, they stopped wanting to work. They put every household expense on my shoulders. At that young age, I had to work in the fields every day, weeding under the blazing sun.

"Other people hired oxen to plow their fields, but they wouldn't spend the money. They made me haul the plow myself. I was a living, breathing person doing an ox's work.

"But even after all that work, I never had enough to eat. And if the food I cooked wasn't to their liking, they beat me viciously.

"If someone upset them outside, they would come home and beat me for that, too. There was never an uninjured patch of skin on my body.

"Even now, I still bear the scars from their beatings."

In front of everyone, Xu Qing yanked back her sleeve, revealing a thin, frail arm covered in old scars.

Even outsiders like Shen Shixu and his companions could not help feeling furious and filled with pity for Xu Qing.

An Chengyu and Jiang Bin were both sons of noble families. They had hardly suffered any grievances growing up. The worst hardship they had endured was being scolded by their elders.

They had never imagined that while they were enjoying their comfortable lives, someone else could be suffering so terribly.

It was also the first time the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity had heard about this. He stammered, "Y-you suffered so much. Why... why did you never tell us?"

At his question, Xu Qing turned her head away. "I didn't tell you about my suffering because I didn't want to break your hearts. But now I see I was only flattering myself. Why would you ever feel sorry for me?"

At that moment, Shen Shixu could not help interjecting. "You actually have the nerve to ask why Miss Xu never told you, Earl of Everlasting Prosperity? She spent so many years away from home. As her father, did you never think to investigate what kind of life she had led? In the end, you simply didn't care enough to make an effort for her."

His words left the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity speechless. In truth, he did not care much about this daughter who had grown up away from him.

In the entire Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence, the only person who truly cared about Xu Qing was his married younger sister.

Even the Lady of the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity, Xu Qing's birth mother, felt little affection for this daughter. What she felt was mostly guilt.

Later, the Lady of the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity had become afraid of seeing Xu Qing. The sight of her reminded her that her own negligence had forced this child to grow up enduring hardship away from home.

She would involuntarily sink into irritation and guilt. Over time, she had even developed an aversion to Xu Qing.

All in all, neither husband nor wife was a decent person, and there was something wrong with their heads, too.

Xu Qing did not want to drag this out any longer. She told the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity bluntly, "I'm not telling you all this to make you feel guilty. I want to sever our family ties. From now on, we will have nothing to do with each other!

"I am not your daughter, and you are not my father. I am cutting all ties with the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence!"

At those words, Xu Zhen felt both shocked and delighted. She could not keep a look of secret glee from appearing on her face. She tried to suppress it, but an expression born of such genuine feeling could not be controlled at once, leaving her face looking especially comical.

The Earl of Everlasting Prosperity instinctively protested, "No! I won't agree to sever our family ties. I know you've suffered, and we'll make it up to you from now on. But don't even think about cutting ties."

Despite his firm tone, Xu Qing did not believe he was reluctant to lose her as his daughter. What he truly could not bear to lose was her betrothal to Yan Weixuan.

"I insist on severing our family ties! I want nothing you've given me, including my betrothal to Yan Weixuan.

"And I know you haven't entered my name in the family genealogy. You may not even have transferred my household registration here, so I don't need your permission to leave the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence.

"I only thought I should tell you because you are, after all, my birth father.

"And if you refuse to sever our family ties, I'll go outside right now and announce to everyone that I'm your daughter, that Xu Zhen is a false heiress, and that your household spent over a decade raising someone else's daughter. I'll make the entire Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence the laughingstock of the Capital."

In the end, the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity agreed to Xu Qing's demand. He had wanted to offer her some compensation, but she refused. She wanted no further entanglements with these people.

With Shen Shixu and his companions as witnesses, father and daughter signed a document severing their family ties. Looking at the signed document bearing their fingerprints, Xu Qing shed tears of joy.

"I... I can finally be myself again."

Clutching the document after its ink had dried in the shade, Xu Qing bowed to Shen Shixu and his companions. "Thank you all so much for your help!"

Something occurred to Shen Shixu, and he asked Xu Qing, "I've been looking for a cook lately. Would you be willing to come work as a cook at my residence, Miss Xu?"

Xu Qing paused at the question, then broke into a delighted smile. "Of course! Would you like me to make a couple of dishes for you to try first?"

Shen Shixu shook his head. "There's no need. It isn't convenient while we're out. Once we get back this evening, I'll trouble you to show us your cooking, Miss Xu."