Everyone: ...
Fine, fine, whatever you say.
You were little, you were amazing, and everything you said was right.
"Father, Mother!"
Xia Wanwan pattered toward Xia Siheng and Liu Wan in the crowd on her little feet.
Xia Siheng stepped forward first, smiling as he reached out to catch his baby.
But.
Xia Wanwan's little feet veered sideways, and she flung herself into Liu Wan's arms.
"Mother, a day apart feels like a whole day! Wanwan missed you so much!"
Xia Siheng: ...
The corner of his mouth twitched. He kept walking and tucked Zi Xing under his arm. "Zi Xing, tell me. Where do you want to go?"
Liu Zi Xing nearly choked in his grip. He struggled a little, then looked up.
"Master, I want to go to Duke Yan's Residence."
Xia Siheng's lips curved slightly. He glanced at Duke Yan, then patted Zi Xing's shoulder. "It isn't so easy to march into someone else's home and stir up trouble."
Liu Zi Xing lowered his eyes, only to hear Xia Siheng change tack. "But I can help you do it. I just have one tiny condition."
"What condition?" the little boy asked.
"Stop calling me Master."
"Why?"
"Call me Father, like your little sister and your elder brother." Xia Siheng lowered his voice and smiled faintly. "What? Is calling me Father so difficult for you?"
"N-no..."
Liu Zi Xing's eyes reddened at once.
Ever since his mother had married the Ninth Prince, he and his elder brother had tactfully kept their distance from the family.
Even though they lived under the same roof, he knew all too well that his lowly status made him unworthy of all these wonderful things.
So he often deliberately distanced himself from their family. He had even discussed it with his elder brother,