Second Master Xie quickly lay flat.

Xu Jingxi and Liang Yici rushed in one after the other, worry etched on both their faces.

Fang Qingdai coughed lightly, her face flushing. “You’re here. I was just about to send for you. Second Master Xie is fine now.”

Xu Jingxi’s concerned gaze softened when he saw Second Master Xie awake, and he finally nodded in relief.

Second Master Xie said, “Jingxi, don’t worry. I wasn’t seriously injured, and I feel fine now.”

Xu Jingxi breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Just now, Auntie went to fetch some Spiritual Medicine. She said it was to help calm Father’s nerves.”

As he spoke, he caught sight of Liang Yici standing behind him out of the corner of his eye.

While Second Master Xie had been unconscious, Shen Siyi had taken it upon herself to tell Liang Yici the truth.

Now, Liang Yici stood with her head bowed, biting her lower lip and fiddling with her fingertips, looking downcast, as if she wanted to speak but was hesitating.

Xu Jingxi took the initiative and said to Fang Qingdai, “General Fang, I’d like to ask you to come with me and see if Auntie needs any help.”

The implication was to give Second Master Xie and his daughter, Liang Yici, some time alone.

Some things were useless for outsiders to say; they needed to communicate properly on their own.

Fang Qingdai understood. She stood up, but as she walked over to Liang Yici, she hesitated.

Ever since she could remember, Liang Yici had been by General Liang’s side, and she only recognized him as her father.

Fang Qingdai worried that she might refuse to acknowledge Second Master Xie.

“Yici,” Fang Qingdai said after a moment of thought, “when you speak with Second Master Xie, please have a better attitude. After all, he saved your life without a second thought.”

Liang Yici said nothing, her complex gaze shifting between Fang Qingdai’s face and Second Master Xie’s.

Second Master Xie’s heart ached for his daughter, and he was even less willing to force her.

So he said, “I’m fine. Let Jingxi take you to the front hall to rest. I’m very sorry that my affairs have caused you children so much worry and trouble.”

However, Liang Yici didn’t leave. Instead, she suddenly spoke up. “They told me you gave your only chance of survival directly to me. Why? Aren’t you afraid of death?”

Fang Qingdai and Xu Jingxi exchanged a look, then quietly left the room one after another.

Seeing the desperate search for answers in Liang Yici’s expression, Second Master Xie gave a helpless smile.

“Who isn’t afraid of death? Of course I am. But you… it’s more important that you live.”

Liang Yici looked at him, and for some reason, her eyes began to redden.

“I don’t understand. If you cared so much about me and my mother, why didn’t you take responsibility back then and marry her?”

A jolt went through Second Master Xie. He looked at Liang Yici. “You… you know everything?”

“Brother told me everything. When Mother left you, she was pregnant. You were framed and forced to marry someone else, so Mother left heartbroken and I was born at the border.”

As Liang Yici spoke, tears of grievance had already filled her eyes.

Second Master Xie lowered his head and sighed sorrowfully.

“Yes. The truth of what happened back then has been uncovered. It was all a misunderstanding. But we were both too headstrong, which is why we wasted so many years and… and hurt you and your brother.”

Liang Yici closed her eyes, a tear tracing a path down her cheek.

She quickly wiped it away and said in a stuffy, nasal voice, “When I was little, every time I left the military barracks, I would hear the common people gossiping. They said I didn’t look like my father, and that I was supposed to have a brother.”

“I asked Mother about it, but she said none of it was true. Only today did I finally learn that I really do have a brother, and that my father was far away in the Capital City.”

Second Master Xie looked at her, his expression filled with guilt.

“Because of what happened back then, I wasn’t there to watch you grow up, and I let you and your brother suffer. I feel incredibly guilty. So, Yici, please don’t feel any pressure.”

“We originally didn’t plan to tell you, for fear it would be a burden. But since you know now, there’s no need to be formal about it.”

“I won’t disturb your peaceful life. You don’t have to think of me as your father. From now on, I’ll protect you from the shadows, without adding to your burdens.”

Liang Yici’s tear-filled eyes widened. “You still don’t want to acknowledge us and bring us home?”

Second Master Xie was startled. “That’s not what I meant at all! I was just afraid you wouldn’t be willing.”

With red-rimmed eyes, Liang Yici stared at him for a long moment.

Suddenly, she said, “It’s all water under the bridge.”

Second Master Xie was confused.

Liang Yici wiped away the fresh tears welling in her eyes. “My hatred and resentment for you—it’s all water under the bridge. Actually, when I first came back to the Capital City, I already had my suspicions when I saw you with Brother.”

“But I didn’t want to convince myself to believe it. Because you were once the Little Martial God of Cangyun Country. I couldn’t believe that my father could be so capable, yet let my mother leave for the border while pregnant. So I resented you. I both hoped and feared that you were my father.”

As she spoke, she gave a bitter smile.

“So all of you knew and were just keeping it from me. If I hadn’t almost fallen off that cliff, would you have planned to keep it from me forever?”

Second Master Xie lowered his head in shame.

Just then, Liang Yici knelt.

Startled, Second Master Xie immediately threw off the covers and scrambled to help her up.

“Yici, what are you doing?”

“Father.” She cried, but the word was filled with the sincerest emotion.

A tremor ran through Second Master Xie, as if his very heart had been struck.

Liang Yici wiped her tears. “I forgive you.”

“Yici…” Second Master Xie was deeply moved.

The man who had shed blood on the battlefield now shed two streams of clear tears because of Liang Yici’s few short words.

「Meanwhile.」

Peeking from the doorway where she had been eavesdropping, Fang Qingdai broke into a gratified smile.

Xu Jingxi stood behind her. Watching his mother’s actions, he couldn’t help but comment dryly.

“Mother, isn’t it wrong to eavesdrop?”

Fang Qingdai shot upright and turned to look at him in astonishment. “What did you call me?”

Xu Jingxi hadn’t expected her to be so direct, and he suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

“Nothing… I’m going to the front courtyard to see if Auntie and Little Sister are done.” He turned and walked away.

Fang Qingdai quickly chased after him, her smile as radiant as a blooming flower.

“Good son, say it again!”

Xu Jingxi’s face flushed red. He waved his hand awkwardly. “You heard wrong. I didn’t say anything.”

Fang Qingdai dragged him to the front courtyard, and upon seeing a servant, she was about to announce with a laugh, “My son called me Mother! Not General, not Mrs. Fang—he called me Mother!”

「At the same time.」

In the front courtyard, Shen Ningning, along with Mo Lingwei and the Black Wolf King, was receiving an audience of several small monkeys.

They had run down from the mountains into the city and had specifically sought out the Xie Mansion.

Shen Ningning was utterly astonished.

“How did you all find this place? And why are you dragging a sack?”

The three little monkeys chittered proudly. The one in the lead said, “We just asked the birds for directions along the way.”

With that, they opened the sack and pulled out a rat snake.

“Your Majesty, we’ve found the culprit that bit your friend. How do you wish to dispose of it?”

After the monkey finished speaking, both Shen Ningning and Mo Lingwei were stunned.

‘When did I become the king of the monkeys?!’

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