Yanran tilted her head and looked at the man in front of her.
His hair was gray, and his complexion was dull and lifeless. Even his mother told him that judging his age by his eyes was no longer accurate.
In short, the man was very old and listless, and looked twenty or thirty years older than his actual age.
As for why Yanran knew his actual age, it was because she guessed the person's identity.
She looked very much like Noble Consort Jia, and the man in front of her also had very obvious features of the Xiao Family in his eyes and brows.
"Did you need something?" Yanran touched Jiaojiao's back to prevent it from baring its teeth at the stranger.
"Yanran." The man's eyes reddened, and he reached out his bark-like hand, wanting to touch her head.
Yanran said, "Don't reach out. I barely managed to stop Jiaojiao from attacking you."
A look of disappointment crossed the man's face, and he slowly withdrew his hand.
"Yanran." His Adam's apple bobbed, his gaze lingering on her face, overwhelmed with emotion.
Yanran, on the other hand, was much more straightforward.
She said, "How should I address you? Let me think, you are my father's cousin, so I should call you Uncle?"
The man was deeply shocked. "You... you know who I am?"
"I just guessed it," Yanran said. "I've been learning medicine from my mother, though I'm not very diligent, I still manage to learn a little bit."
The man before me was clearly in a state of being controlled by drugs for a long time.
Given his hesitant yet excited demeanor when facing her, it was hard for Yanran not to guess what was going on.
Xiao Pang.
"Did my father release you, or did you sneak out on your own?" Yanran asked calmly.
Xiao Pang had imagined the scene of father and daughter recognizing each other countless times.
He had imagined the emotional moment of father and daughter embracing and weeping, but he had also considered the potential blame and grievances he might face.
But what I didn't expect was that Yanran would be so calm, as if recognizing her relatives was a trivial matter to her.
Why did it turn out like this?
However, Xiao Pang couldn't help but answer his biological daughter's question.
He said, "I have regained control of myself. I begged your father, and now I can move around freely."
This is a border town, and revisiting this familiar place evoked countless emotions in him.
The first half of my life was but a grand dream.
"Oh," Yanran said, "Why don't you continue shopping? I'll go have dinner with my mother."
There's nothing else important, we just don't see eye to eye, and I don't really want to talk to you.
Xiao Pang was somewhat excited and said, "Actually, there's something I want to tell you."
"Hmm? Then tell me, I'm listening." Yanran's expression was calm, a stark contrast to Xiao Pang's excitement.
Neither overt nor overbearing, treating each other like any other ordinary passerby.
Xiao Pang felt a pang of sorrow in his heart.
"How much do you know about what happened back then?" he couldn't help but ask.
"If you mean that you are my biological father, and my biological mother thought you were dead and chose to commit suicide for you, then I know the whole story."
Even though Xiao Pang was somewhat prepared, he was still shocked by Yanran's calmness.
Why would a seven or eight-year-old child be so indifferent to their biological parents?
Doesn't she feel any longing for her biological parents at all?
Thinking this, he couldn't help but ask the question.
Yanran stroked the thick, soft fur on Jiaojiao's back and said softly, "If my father, mother, and brother hadn't given me so much, perhaps I would have longed for more."
"But," she looked at Xiao Pang with her clear eyes, almost cruelly, "There are no 'ifs'."
The few remaining lights in Xiao Pang's eyes dimmed instantly.
He murmured, "I will pay them back."
He knew that the Prince of Jin had raised his daughter for him, and had done so very well.
The Jingjing light in the little girl's eyes powerfully testifies to how well she has been raised.
And the wild beasts at her side... How much pampering does it take to give her such lenient freedom?
"My mother doesn't need you to repay me," Yanran said. "I am her daughter; it's only right that she raises me."
Xiao Pang: "You, you can't..."
"You came to me just because of my origins?" Yanran said, a hint of impatience in her voice, though she tried her best to control herself. "Then I'll tell you, I know you gave me life."
"I owe you," she admitted, and she didn't run away from it.
"When you get old, I will find someone to take care of you and give you money to spend. You don't need to worry about being destitute in your old age." She fulfilled her obligations.
Anyway, she's not short of money.
"Yanran..." Xiao Pang called her name over and over again, his lips trembling, unable to utter anything else.
"I will give you the money you are entitled to. But my companionship can only be given to my father and mother, and that is also perfectly natural."
A few shimmering tears finally appeared in Yanran's eyes.
The person she was most grateful to in this world was her mother.
Her mother changed her life.
Her mother gave her so much, giving her the courage to face the world that had once filled her with fear.
Now, she has everything that other children have, and she has even more.
"Yanran, I had my reasons back then..."
"I know," Yanran said. "You have your reasons, and my biological mother has hers too. Perhaps you're doing it for the sake of the Xiao Family, and perhaps she's doing it for you?"
Xiao Pang nodded.
"But whatever makes you happy," Yanran changed the subject, "It has nothing to do with me."
"Who lives without their own troubles?" She looked at Xiao Pang, her gaze revealing a clarity beyond her years. "Didn't my mother have hers? Why did she have to be my stepmother? Couldn't she have found someone without any burdens?"
"So you see, I understand your predicament; but I remember even more all that my mother did for me."
"When you get old, and when I grow up, I'll also have my own troubles."
He was given back her story.
She returned everything she had to her mother.
What's so complicated about life? It's all just a matter of what goes around comes around, it's that simple.
"Yanran, are you actually blaming me?"
"No," Yanran replied quickly. "My mother said that hatred and resentment are too draining. If you can't get over it, take revenge; otherwise, just forget about it."
So he was forgotten by his own daughter?
Yanran paused for a moment and then said, "Whether you sacrificed yourselves for righteousness or died for love back then, I understand, and I thank you for making such arrangements for me. I have no hatred, no resentment."
I will reciprocate and give you the best arrangement I can provide.
"When I grow up, there will probably be many things I want to do."
So please, don't blame me.
Xiao Pang laughed self-deprecatingly.
He's lived so many years, yet he hasn't understood a single child as well.
He couldn't find a single mistake in what Yanran said.
"So here's the question," Yanran tilted her head and looked at him, "Besides saying all this, is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"
If not, she has to leave.