“I…” the little girl hesitated, unable to finish her sentence.
Mu Anxiao untied the ropes as she spoke, “Since your mother is alive, I won’t play with you anymore. We shall never meet again.” With that, she dropped the rope at the girl’s feet.
Piao still couldn’t understand the little girl.
Feng Qishi was equally bewildered.
Yan watched the Rabbit Queen’s furrowed brow and asked, “What’s wrong?”
The Rabbit Queen snorted, “Humans are all like this, changing their tune so quickly. Even this child is just the same. It’s hateful.”
“I haven’t seen my mother for a long time,” the little girl suddenly said.
“What do you mean?” Mu Anxiao’s heart stirred, and she asked.
“I haven’t seen her since she left. Every day, I sneak out,” the girl said, lowering her head. “When I saw you just now, I was really startled, but when I thought of my mother, I wasn’t afraid anymore.”
“Did your father not chase you out of here?” Mu Anxiao pointed at the mansion’s gate.
The little girl looked up at Mu Anxiao and said, “No, but I don’t want to be with my father. He’s always mean to me. He says every time he sees me, it’s like seeing my mother, which is annoying.” As she spoke, the girl’s eyes began to well up with tears.
Mu Anxiao squatted down, looking at the little girl’s pitiful appearance. She couldn’t help but recall the stories Hun Ling had told, then paused and looked up at the Rabbit Queen.
The Rabbit Queen averted her gaze.
“What time is it here?” Piao suddenly asked.
The Rabbit Queen replied, “It’s… when I first started searching for Soul Breath.”
“What?” Feng Qishi was taken aback and glanced at Mu Anxiao, saying, “I thought this was the day your sister left.”
“No,” the Rabbit Queen said, shaking her head slightly as she looked at Mu Anxiao.
Listening to the Rabbit Queen, Mu Anxiao frowned and looked down at the little girl, “When did your mother leave?”
“A month ago,” the little girl said.
“In this past month, how many cultivators like me have you seen…?” Mu Anxiao paused, then continued, “How many people like me? Tell me the truth.”
“One. She was very kind to me, but she refused to come back with me. She said she didn’t know my mother,” the girl said. “Do you know my mother?”
“No,” Mu Anxiao shook her head.
The little girl nodded slightly, “I see. You can go now.”
“Does your father… really want to cultivate that badly?” Mu Anxiao suddenly asked.
The little girl blinked and said, “If it’s not someone your mother sent, my father won’t acknowledge you.”
“Does it have to be your mother?” Mu Anxiao asked.
The little girl nodded, then gave a wry smile and said, “When my mother left, she said cultivating wasn’t as easy as my father thought, but to stay with me, she agreed to my father’s unreasonable request.”
“You…”
Before Mu Anxiao could finish speaking, a carriage suddenly stopped. Following that, a man in his thirties and a woman dressed in fine clothes stepped out of the carriage. Upon seeing the man, the little girl quickly hid behind Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao glanced at the little girl, then turned to look at the man in his thirties who was staring at her, frowning.
“Who are you?” the man in his thirties asked as he walked up to Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao looked down at the hem of her skirt, which the little girl was tightly clutching, and said, “I am a passerby.”
“You look so familiar,” the man in his thirties said.
Mu Anxiao replied, “You don’t look familiar to me.”
“You…”
Just as the man in his thirties uttered a word, the woman in fine clothes called out, “Husband, are you ready?”
Upon hearing this, the man in his thirties grinned and then glared at Mu Anxiao before turning to the woman and saying, “Ready. Let’s go inside.” He walked to the woman’s side and offered his arm.
The woman in fine clothes took his arm, and they walked into the mansion together.
After the servants and the carriage had left, the little girl breathed a sigh of relief and rounded back in front of Mu Anxiao.
“Don’t tell me that’s your father?” Mu Anxiao asked, looking down.
The little girl nodded, “That’s my father.”
“Your father didn’t even see you,” Mu Anxiao said in disbelief.
“My father habitually ignores me, so naturally, he doesn’t see me.”
“How old are you?” Mu Anxiao suddenly asked.
The little girl hesitated for a moment and said, “I’m nine years old this year.”
“Nine years old,” Mu Anxiao repeated, looking down at the girl’s height in surprise, “That’s not right. How can a nine-year-old be so short?”
“My father just disliked that I was small, so he sent my mother away,” the little girl said softly.
Hearing the girl’s words, Mu Anxiao squatted down and asked, “Little one, which of your words are true, and which are false?”
“The people in the mansion said I was sickly and small, so my father thought my mother would give birth to an unhealthy brother too, and he sent my mother away. But my mother told me that my father wanted to cultivate, and she went to find a master for him so she could return. There’s also a saying that the young madam disliked my mother and forced my father to divorce her,” the little girl stated with great clarity.
Feng Qishi crossed his arms and said, “I see. It must be the last one and the first one.”
Upon hearing this, Mu Anxiao glanced at Feng Qishi and said, “I understand.”
“Do you think my mother will come back?” the little girl asked.
Mu Anxiao reached out and placed her hands on the girl’s shoulders, saying, “If I can, I can help you find your mother.”
“Don’t look,” the Rabbit Queen suddenly said.
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao did not turn around. She gently patted the little girl’s shoulder and said, “Alright, you go back first. Meet me at the back door of your house tomorrow. Otherwise, it won’t be good if you run into your young madam and your father.”
“Mm.” The little girl nodded, then turned and ran towards the back door.
Mu Anxiao watched the girl’s hurried departure, sighed, and stood up, looking at the Rabbit Queen, “Is this your intended destination?”
“Yes,” the Rabbit Queen nodded.
“Why did you bring us here?” Mu Anxiao walked up to the Rabbit Queen and asked.
The Rabbit Queen glanced sideways in the direction the little girl had run and said, “There are many things I want to see clearly.”
“Don’t you want to understand your sister?” Mu Anxiao asked.
“The moment I gave up hurting you, and after hearing what you said, I no longer do. I now want to understand that child,” the Rabbit Queen said calmly.
“You know that child?” Mu Anxiao frowned.
“Yes,” the Rabbit Queen nodded.
“What do you think about what that child said, which parts are true and which are false?” Mu Anxiao asked deliberately.
The Rabbit Queen let out a cold laugh and said, “What I want to say is, it’s all false. Do you believe me?”
“No,” Mu Anxiao shook her head.
Yan asked, “Didn’t you just say that humans are all like this, changing their tune so quickly, and even this child is the same? Why do you now say you want to understand the child? You’re so strange.”