Xiao Shan's hands twitched a few times, wanting to support Ling Yao's belly, but he finally gave up.
"Can you stop jumping around!"
"I'm not jumping!" Ling Yao swayed the braised pork knuckle in her hand, turning to see Xiao Shan with a awkward expression like an old man.
"Why aren't you happy that I won the match?"
Was there anything to be happy about? He was scared to death.
She hadn't grown taller, but her appetite seemed to increase daily.
Could she be the legendary mythical beast, Taotie?
"Your previous father, the one who gave you the fire spirit pearl, he wasn't human, was he?"
"What are you saying? You're the one who's not human!"
"I mean he was a god, an immortal." Xiao Shan quickly tried to correct himself.
"In our homeland, people are like this. They cultivate spiritual power from birth. There's no such thing as gods or immortals."
Oh, so she wasn't a mythical beast then.
As Xiao Shan was about to say something else, he heard the persistent sound from behind getting closer, and his gaze turned cold.
They had been followed since the Dongfeng Restaurant. He initially thought it was someone going the same way, but it turned out not to be. He deliberately took a branching alley, but the person still followed for two streets.
Turning around, he saw an old man with a head full of white hair. Due to his age, he was following with some difficulty and seemed a bit anxious at the moment.
Xiao Shan was somewhat surprised.
Who was this person?
Ling Yao, patting her belly, followed Xiao Shan's gaze to the old man hurrying over on tiptoe, "Who is it?"
"I don't know. They've been following us."
The old man was very thin, with an air of scholarly refinement, and not particularly strong. He finally arrived in front of the two, his silvery white beard trembling as he panted, his gaze complexly fixed on Ling Yao.
"Excuse me, are you, are you surnamed Feng?"
Feng was the imperial surname. Since Ling Yao's nirvana and rebirth, apart from Xiao Shan, no one should have known her true identity. How did this old man know?
Xiao Shan's lowered guard was raised again, although he truly appeared to be a completely non-threatening elder.
But the old man's next words were even more astonishing.
"Are you, are you the Goddess?"
Ling Yao did not answer, looking at Xiao Shan.
The old man became a little agitated, "I, my surname is Futu, Futu Suo! Futu Luohua and Lan Ruo are my daughters, you, are you... no, no, the age is wrong, but you are exactly the same, exactly the same as the Goddess!"
Xiao Shan and Ling Yao's expressions changed, "Futu Suo?"
"Grandfather?"
Ling Yao's involuntary exclamation of "Grandfather" made the old man's eyes widen.
"Didn't the Goddess appear eighteen years ago? Why... why... is what I heard not true?" He was very confused, but not doubting Ling Yao's identity.
"Wait a moment." Xiao Shan stared at Futu Suo, "You say you are Futu Suo, the father of the former Empress and the Consort, what proof do you have?"
The surname Futu was rare. He had investigated the former Empress's maternal family before, and apart from a distant branch, he had not found the true Futu lineage.
This was a reclusive family that had never entered the mortal world, he had always believed.
How could it be such a coincidence that an old man claiming to be the former Empress's father suddenly appeared?
The old man smiled sadly, "With such an identity, would anyone impersonate me?"
What did that mean?
A look of reminiscence appeared in Ling Yao's eyes. Through the old man, she seemed to see the adoptive father who had raised her for eight years in her past life.
She hadn't even seen him when he died.
"How do you know I am exactly like the Goddess?"
In this world, apart from Xiao Shan, no one should recognize her in this appearance, except for the descendants of the Futu family.
"Our ancestors left behind a portrait, showing the Goddess at the age of ten, a family of three."
She looked a little older than now, but her appearance was the same, those eyes, unforgettable.
A family of three.
She remembered that when she was ten, her adoptive father celebrated the day he brought her home as her birthday and specifically took her and Brother Luo Xuan to the town to have a painting done.
Could it be that painting?
"A Shan, I want to go home and see," she looked at Xiao Shan.
Her eyes, clear to the bottom, held a hint of moisture.
Xiao Shan held her hand, "Okay."
She used the word "home."
This showed how deep her memories of her past life were, unlike him, who only had fragmented recollections.
It was also an opportunity, as he was very curious about this mysterious Futu family.
Futu Suo's attitude towards Ling Yao was respectful, yet also felt distant. That was understandable, as he had never met Ling Yao before.
His health was indeed not good, and his face was somewhat sickly pale. Upon hearing that Ling Yao wanted to visit his home, his eyes lingered for a moment.
They took a carriage.
Unexpectedly, the Futu family did not live in the deep mountains or forests, nor were they a reclusive family. Instead, they resided in a large mansion on the outskirts of Lucheng, with no neighbors around.
This was strange.
Why had he been unable to find anything when he investigated for so long back then?
Xiao Shan fell into thought, looking at the mansion without a plaque. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
The vast courtyard was empty, divided into two by a wall, with only a moon gate in the middle.
An elderly servant was sweeping fallen leaves in the courtyard. When they entered, he didn't greet them, keeping his head down as if he hadn't heard anything.
"It's strange, isn't it? Actually, many people used to live here." Futu Suo's tone carried a hint of mockery.
Xiao Shan glanced at him. The old man's expression was desolate, devoid of life.
What had happened to the Futu family?
Here, Ling Yao couldn't find any trace of her past life, feeling a bit disappointed.
Five hundred years had passed, and things had changed.
"Goddess, let's go to the ancestral hall. That painting is in the ancestral hall."
With Xiao Shan's hearing, the mansion was indeed so quiet that the entire courtyard, apart from Futu Suo and the sweeping old servant, should have contained only two other people.
He just didn't know if there was anyone in the courtyard on the other side of the wall.
His heart was filled with questions. The daughters of the Futu family were destined to marry into royalty and become Empresses upon entering the palace. Such a family should have been extremely prominent, so why had it declined to this point?
"Grandfather," Ling Yao called out.
"Please don't, Goddess. Please call me by my name." Futu Suo was even more distant than he had been outside.
Xiao Shan frowned, took Ling Yao's hand, and followed Futu Suo into the inner chamber, the ancestral hall.
Opening the door, the table was filled with memorial tablets.
In the first row, Ling Yao saw the names Futu Gaoli and Futu Luoxuan.
The distant, blurry faces now became clear.
Her honest, dark-skinned father and her well-behaved, sensible, and taciturn elder brother, returning from the battlefield.
Futu Suo lit incense and placed it in the incense burner.
"A few days ago, a young man came. He asked if the portrait painted of the Goddess on her tenth birthday was still here. I didn't know who he was, but he knew all the admonitions left by the Futu ancestors."
Ling Yao was astonished, and Xiao Shan even more so.
When did the matter of the Goddess become common knowledge?
Others knew things he didn't.
Who was that young man?
As Futu Suo offered incense, he continued, "He asked: Our ancestors warned that descendants should not have any involvement with the royal family. Why, for five hundred years, has there been constant entanglement and connection?"