The Prime Minister's residence and the General's residence were separated by two main streets. As mother and daughter walked along the road, a swift horse came galloping toward them with a rhythmic clatter of hooves.
The rider wore a round-collared robe of deep crimson embroidered with golden medallion patterns, black leather boots on his feet. His bearing was striking and elegant, his demeanor bright and spirited.
It was the third young master of the General's residence—Xie Xinglang.
As the horse drew up beside them, Xie Xinglang leaped down, exclaiming with delight, "Mother, you've brought little sister back? What a coincidence—I just won a pot of Yao Yellow peonies for her, so no need to send them over to the Prime Minister's residence."
Xie Suisui had loved flowers since she was little—even a single wildflower could make her happy for half a day.
Meeting again across two lifetimes, Xie Suisui looked into her third brother's bright eyes and felt a suffocating ache in her chest.
Xie Sanlang had been mischievous since childhood. Nearly every young heir or young master of the noble families had been beaten by him, and he was already on Emperor Guangzong's radar.
But Xie Suisui knew that Xie Sanlang—whom Emperor Guangzong had called "an unrepentant rascal"—never bullied common folk.
The ones he beat were always lawless brutes who terrorized others.
Her third brother was blessed with handsome looks—broad shoulders, a tall frame, sword-shaped brows, phoenix eyes, a high straight nose, sharply defined features, and a chiseled face that was both defiant and beautiful.
When he smiled, he was wild, roguish, and dazzling. Especially his two dimples, brimming with mirth—handsome, yet with an irrepressible hint of mischief.
The vibrant, unrestrained Xie Sanlang before her eyes had met such a tragic end in her previous life.
The relief of having him back, of not having lost him, seized Xie Suisui instantly.
Her tears burst forth like a broken dam.
"Third brother… it's been so long…"
"Why are you crying? From now on, no one's taking you away—not even the Emperor of Heaven himself!" The grinning Xie Sanlang suddenly radiated fierce menace.
Luo Sheng reached out a hand and patted Xie Suisui's bottom. "Suisui, don't cry. These past few days you've been gone, your third brother has been moping around—why, even a blade of grass by the roadside was offending him."
Luo Sheng knew just how close these two siblings were.
When Xie Xinglang was four years old, he'd been so mischievous that Luo Sheng gave him a beating. In a fit of pique, he slung the little bow his father had made for him over his shoulder and ran away from home.
"Hmph, don't try to stop me—I'm going to make my own way in the world!"
He ran from the General's residence all the way to the mountains outside the city. He hadn't found any game, but in a hollow he heard a faint, intermittent whimpering sound.
Thinking it might be wolf cubs or bear cubs, he notched his little bow and slid straight down the hillside—only to spot a tiny swaddled bundle in the grass.
Hearing the thin, weak cries from within the bundle, he said disdainfully, "You must be a mouse. Hmph, crying so quietly."
Suddenly, a tiny fist poked out from the swaddling cloth!
He walked over, lifted the cloth, and—oh—it was a little baby.
Xie Sanlang figured it must be a little sister, because only little sisters cried like squeaking mice.
As he later told Luo Sheng: "The first time I saw little sister, she was so ugly, and there were ants crawling on her face…"
He waited a while, and the baby in the swaddling cloth whimpered a few more times, each cry weaker than the last.
He couldn't stand it anymore: What if she dies?
Well, no one had come looking for her. Why not just take her back to his own home?
He wrinkled his little nose and decided she belonged to his family now.
It wasn't that he was going home to admit defeat—no, he was bringing a little sister home to the family.
"You little wretch! Running away from home at your age?" Luo Sheng, hearing that her runaway son had returned after two days, came out wielding a rolling pin.
When she saw he was carrying a small bundle in his arms, she asked suspiciously, "What are you carrying?"
His short little legs scurried over to Luo Sheng, and he announced proudly, "Mother! I found a little sis—ter!"
"What? Found a little sister?"
"Mother, keep your voice down—don't scare her!"
"You… where did you steal this from?"
"I found her."
Xie Xinglang handed the bundle to Luo Sheng and, in his babyish voice, recounted the whole story of how he'd "found" his little sister, waiting for Luo Sheng's praise.
Luo Sheng opened the bundle and immediately cursed: "What cruelty—no clothes, the umbilical cord not even cut. She was abandoned the moment she was born!"
Though she hadn't wanted to raise another child, Luo Sheng didn't hesitate. She hurriedly called for a physician, bathed the baby, cut the cord, and sent people out to find someone who could nurse the child.
Xie Xinglang was overjoyed—Mother said it really was a little sister.
Seeing him sitting still so obediently for once, Luo Sheng said to him, "Sanlang, this little sister was found by you, so you must take responsibility for raising her. You must train hard in martial arts and study hard, so that in the future you'll have the ability to earn silver to buy her clothes, jewelry, and food."
"So I need to go hunting to support her now?"
"Hunting, my foot! From now on, you take good care of your little sister—don't let her get bumped or hurt, and don't let any kidnapper snatch her away."
"Does she eat meat?"
"Little sister is too young—she needs milk. She can't eat meat, and she can't eat rice either."
Xie Xinglang was troubled. He was still small—he didn't have any milk!
"You need to study hard and earn silver. At the very least, buy a milk goat, right? She has no clothes either—you must buy her some. You can't let your little sister run around naked!"
Little sister running around with her bottom bare? He shuddered at the thought! Xie Xinglang's little face scrunched up in distress. No, no, that won't do!
But he patted his empty pockets—no silver!
A little lad, sitting on the doorstep, pondering every day how to earn some coin. What's the use of earning coin? Earning coin to raise little sister…
By the time Xie Suisui was over half a year old, able to sit up and understand what people said, Xie Xinglang took to carrying his little sister out to play every single day.
Seeing other kids playing leapfrog, his eyes went greedy, and he asked Xie Suisui, "Do you want to leapfrog?"
Xie Suisui babbled vaguely, grinning with her drooling little mouth, waving excitedly: "Da, da…"
So Third Brother Xie sat his sister down, pressed on her shoulders, and went "whoosh" leaping over her—but before he could even ask if she liked it, his sister had already face-planted, nose hitting the ground, crying with a face smeared in tears and dirt.
He was terrified, wiping her tears with his own sleeve, turning her face into a little tabby cat. Wiping too hard hurt her face, and she cried again. Third Brother Xie panicked, flipping somersaults in front of her, playing the monkey—heh heh, his sister laughed.
He simply stretched out his long leg and stepped sideways over Xie Suisui's head in one stride.
A gust of wind swept past, and Xie Suisui thought her brother was playing a new game with her, clapping her little palms, grinning approvingly: "Da~"
Giggling foolishly.
When she laughed, Third Brother Xie stepped with even more gusto, over and over again over her head.
He worked up a sweat, his little legs nearly blurring into afterimages.
And wouldn't you know it—Luo Sheng saw this scene!!
Furious, she grabbed a rolling pin and chased Xie Xinglang down three streets, nearly beating him to death.
"You little wretch, stepping over a child's head stunts their growth!"
Whether heaven was deliberately messing with Xie Xinglang or not, Xie Suisui had always been on the short side—even now at twelve, she didn't reach Xie Xinglang's armpit.
Whenever anyone brought up height, Luo Sheng would chase Xie Xinglang with a rolling pin once more.
Luo Sheng was exasperated by the endless mischief brewing in Xie Xinglang's head, so she simply sent him off to the academy.
Once Xie Xinglang started at the academy, he couldn't stop worrying about Xie Suisui. One day he said to Luo Sheng, "Mother, I don't want to carry a book satchel anymore. The people taking the imperial exams all carry baskets—from now on I'll carry a basket to the academy too."
Luo Sheng was rough-and-tumble by nature anyway; as long as Xie Xinglang went to the academy properly, whether he carried a satchel or a basket didn't matter—just as long as he studied well.
Who would have guessed—Xie Xinglang lined the bottom of the basket with cotton, put Xie Suisui inside, used his books as a pillow for her head, and covered her with a cloth.
"Sister, do you want to come to the academy with me?"
Xie Suisui grinned with her one-tooth mouth: "Da~"
Mm-hmm, playing with Third Brother, going to the academy.
So five-year-old Xie Xinglang carried his not-yet-one-year-old Xie Suisui to the academy.
At the academy, his sister was right at his feet. He swayed his head reciting his lessons while his eyes kept darting to the basket.
Was his sister suffocating?
Would she get hungry?
Would she pee or poop?
His sister made no sound at all—she wasn't… dead, was she?
Finally, when he heard the teacher say, "Everyone, take a short rest," he hurriedly lifted the cloth off the basket. Xie Suisui's pair of jet-black peach-blossom eyes looked up at him with a grin, letting out a heavenly sound: "Da~"
Oh my—every student in the academy whipped their heads around in unison, and a moment later, the screech of chairs scraping filled the air.
Xie Xinglang lifted the basket onto his desk, and everyone crowded around in a big circle, staring at the fair, pink little baby inside.
"Xinglang, is she hungry?"
"Xinglang, will she pee or poop?"
Xie Xinglang put on a carefree face, but inside he was bursting with pride, answering everyone's questions one by one.
Until—
"She's so pretty. My father said when I grow up, he'll find me a noble lady from a high family as my wife. Your sister is awfully cute—when she grows up, let her be my wife, I'll…"
Xie Xinglang whirled around, smile gone, staring hard at the speaker.
The speaker was Chu Qianxing, the second legitimate son of the Chu family—imperial merchants of Jin Province, supplying tea and silk exclusively to the royal family.
In the entire academy, Chu Qianxing was the richest, often treating Xie Xinglang and the others to meals.
But today, that one sentence had poked a hornet's nest.
Chu Qianxing actually wanted his sister to be his wife!
Xie Xinglang was livid, like a fierce little wolf, slamming Chu Qianxing to the ground and pummeling him relentlessly.
Chu Qianxing got angry too, fighting back: "My family's rich, I want to treat her well—what right do you have to hit me?"
The two fought until their faces were caked in dirt, hair disheveled, overturning the academy's desks and chairs.
The teacher had only stepped out for a sip of water, and when he returned, he found the entire academy in shambles. Furious, he took the ferule and struck them one by one.
After asking what had happened, he learned that Xie Xinglang had secretly brought his sister along.
The teacher hurried to check the basket—if the child had been trampled to death, Master Xie would tear his bones apart!
"Da~"
In the basket, the little baby yawned, blew a bubble, and gave him a drowsy, gap-toothed grin before tilting her head… and falling asleep.
Half the teacher's anger drained away: "Your third brother nearly tore down the academy, and here you are sleeping like a dream."
The teacher sent for Luo Sheng.
Luo Sheng compensated the academy, then looked at Xie Suisui, who was sleeping groggily in the basket. She quickly scooped her up to check—the bottom of the basket was damp in a small patch, and the baby's tender little bottom was red from the basket's wicker ridges.
Furious, Luo Sheng gave Xie Xinglang another beating.
Once she learned the reason for the fight, Luo Sheng gave Chu Qianxing a disdainful look. Hmph, only six years old and already coveting her little girl?
After that, Luo Sheng forbade this child from ever setting foot in the general's mansion again.
…
When they grew a bit older, the person who gave Luo Sheng a headache became two.
She had painstakingly found a female tutor to teach Xie Suisui the arts of qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but in the blink of an eye, the tutor would say, "The young miss has gone missing again."
Frequently, people on three streets around the general's mansion would hear Luo Sheng's roar: "Xie Sanlang, you're leading your sister astray again…"
Throughout the entire capital, whether man or woman, everyone knew that the third young master of the general's mansion was a reckless troublemaker who feared neither heaven nor earth.
Throughout the entire capital, everyone also knew that Xie Sanlang had one soft spot.
…
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