Feng Tianxing was happily eating the hibiscus egg and yam and minced meat porridge her mother had prepared for her, savoring every bite.
How many years had it been since she'd tasted such delicious food?
But when she saw the little boy across from her, the same age as her, also eating with an expression of enjoyment, she felt a bit uncomfortable inside.
What should be done about this kid?
Feng Tianxing didn't want to quarrel with a small child, but she was also a small child now! Even if her mental age was two hundred and three.
Looking back on the past, it was truly too painful to recall.
She had been a Saint-level Alchemist in the Cultivation World, with a powerful Spiritual Plant Space.
She had already reached the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, but she had perished during her tribulation.
Her soul had been struck by a violent bolt of lightning and hurled into this Mortal Realm called the Chiyan Kingdom.
Her soul drifted in the sky for twenty years, watching this family's tragic fate: the third child, just born, was swapped out by the stepmother, strangled, and thrown away; the eldest son was crippled in a fall; the second son died early.
Feng Zuwen died in battle, and it was all the Second Household's doing.
In the end, the title was inherited by the third son—who was actually the Second Household's child.
Song Shuqing was sent to a convent to become a nun, and the eldest son was driven out of the household.
She had also seen many other things in the Chiyan Kingdom.
Feng Tianxing hadn't expected that the schemes and struggles in the Mortal Realm could be so intense.
The eldest household's family bond was especially deep, making her, who had never enjoyed familial love, yearn for it greatly.
In her past life, her parents only knew cultivation and rarely paid attention to her. She was raised by servants, and her cultivation was taught by the Artifact Spirit of the space.
She wanted to enjoy this family's love and change their fate, so she had Xiao Hei use his last bit of spiritual power to send her back twenty years, to when the child was just born, pushing aside the original soul and entering the fetus.
As it turned out, she suffered the same fate—strangled and thrown away. Fortunately, it was her, and she wasn't strangled to death. She was then picked up by unknown people who poisoned her mute, and a hunter raised her.
There were surely schemes wrapped within schemes along the way.
But she could no longer enter her Spiritual Plant Space, so she had to endure abuse at her adoptive parents' home until she was three, when the space finally opened, allowing Xiao Hei's spiritual power to recover somewhat. Only then did she escape to find her birth parents.
Xiao Hei was her Soul Contract Beast, a black phoenix. Thank goodness Xiao Hei had come along with her.
Feng Tianxing didn't put down her spoon until she was stuffed.
Meanwhile, Feng Yuanji across from her needed someone to wait on him from time to time.
The child was innocent, but this fellow wouldn't grow up to be a good person.
A typical ungrateful wretch—he'd actually sent his mother to a nunnery.
Or maybe… should she raise him to be useless? Giving him back to the Second Household was impossible.
With her, Feng Tianxing, around, the Second Household could forget about having any more children.
Suddenly, Xiao Hei's voice sounded in her mind.
[Master, the woman who strangled you and threw you into the grass back then is in Old Madam's room.]
What? She's still here? She'd thought the woman had been dealt with.
Feng Tianxing looked at the sky outside. Yes, it was dark.
A moonless, windy night—perfect for getting things done.
[Keep an eye on her. When she leaves, I'll have Daddy catch her.]
Feng Tianxing looked at Song Shuqing, who was wiping her mouth, and smiled sweetly.
Having a mother is wonderful!
After wiping her mouth, her mother even wiped her hands.
This was a mother's love.
Feng Tianxing slid down from the table, pointed in the direction of Feng Zuwen's bedroom with her finger, and pitter-pattered away.
【Mommy, I'm going to find Daddy for some business.】
Although she couldn't speak, she would always unconsciously think the words she wanted to say.
Song Shuqing watched the small running figure with a gentle smile.
The child was too thin. From now on, she would make more delicious food and fatten the child up.
Feng Tianxing came to the bedside just as Feng Zuwen set down his bowl. His body was still wrapped in that bloodstained gauze.
But Feng Tianxing knew he was now no different from a normal person.
Feng Tianxing picked up the clothes at the head of the bed and struggled to hand them to Feng Zuwen, gesturing for him to put them on.
[Daddy, hurry and get dressed, come help me catch someone. The maid who strangled me and threw me away back then is in Old Madam's courtyard.]
Feng Tianxing was beside herself with urgency, straining to lift the clothes higher.
Hearing the child's inner voice, Feng Zuwen was startled too, and immediately took the clothes and put them on. But then his hands paused, and he took them off again.
He got out of bed, rummaged through the wardrobe, and put on a black outfit. Then he took another black garment and wrapped Feng Tianxing in it as well.
He had suddenly remembered that he couldn't let the child discover he could hear her inner voice.
Feng Zuwen deliberately crouched down: "Tianxing, what do you need Daddy to do?"
Feng Tianxing pointed outside, tugging at his hand to pull him along.
Feng Zuwen scooped her up and quietly left Luoxia Courtyard.
Song Shuqing, who had followed them, saw father and daughter leave and pretended not to notice.
The moment they were out of Luoxia Courtyard, Feng Tianxing wanted to be put down. She led Feng Zuwen, dodging the household servants, as they quietly made their way to Renshou Courtyard.
Just as they reached the back wall of the outer room of Old Madam's bedchamber, they heard Old Madam's voice from inside: "Nanny Zhao, sell off Lǜchá's whole family. The farther away, the better."
"Yes, Madam."
"Old Madam, please spare my family. I will absolutely never speak of that matter, I swear." Lǜchá kowtowed repeatedly, begging for mercy.
Outside the wall, Feng Zuwen, holding Feng Tianxing, leapt up onto the roof and gently pried loose a tile to look down.
Feng Tianxing also poked her head over. It really was the woman who had strangled her back then. Although her eyesight had been very poor at the time, the woman had been very close when she strangled her, so Feng Tianxing had still seen her clearly enough—seven or eight parts out of ten.
"Gag her mouth and drag her away. Be careful not to make a stir. Best to get her out of the residence tonight, and go handle it first thing tomorrow morning. There must be no mistakes," Ruan Ruoying ordered coldly.
"Rest assured, Old Madam. I will see this done properly."
After Feng Zuwen brought Feng Tianxing down from the roof, she began to gesture.
She knelt and kowtowed, then strangled her own neck with her hands, then made motions of throwing something away.
[Daddy, that woman kneeling on the ground just now is the maid who strangled me back then and threw me into the grass on the mountain outside the city. Hurry and help me catch her.]
Watching the child straining to convey her meaning—though he had heard her inner voice, Feng Tianxing didn't know that, and kept gesturing earnestly—Feng Zuwen finally scooped her up and only set her down after moving a certain distance away.
"Sweetheart, you mean that Lǜchá is the one who threw you away back then?" Feng Zuwen disguised it as a guess.
Feng Tianxing nodded frantically.
[Daddy is as clever as Mommy.] Feng Tianxing smiled.
Then she made a gesture of tying someone up.
[If we catch her, we can find out the truth of what happened back then.]
"You want Daddy to capture her?"
Another nod.
"Sweetheart, let's play the long game and catch them all in one net later, shall we? Isn't Nanny Zhao planning to sell them? I'll buy the whole family and hide them away quietly. How about that?" Feng Zuwen had a better idea.
Hearing this, Feng Tianxing happily gave a thumbs-up.
Father and daughter then quietly made their way to Honghao Courtyard, the outer courtyard where Feng Yuanhao lived.
At that moment, Feng Yuanhao had just been helped into bed by a servant boy. He had spent the whole previous night pretending, his emotions rising and falling, and it had taken him an entire day to digest the information he had received.
Planning to rest early tonight.
Just as the servant closed the door, the back window opened and shut, and a tall figure slipped inside.
Afraid that Feng Yuanhao would make a sound, Feng Zuwen immediately spoke up: "It's me."
"Dad?"
Feng Zuwen found a chair and sat down.
Without lighting a lamp.
"Eldest, use having some business as an excuse to call Yu Changfang to your room." Feng Zuwen lifted Feng Tianxing onto his lap, even adjusting her sitting position to make her more comfortable, before speaking.