Yu Mingyue looked at her father with a wronged expression. Yu Zeyan felt a pang of guilt under her gaze.
"Did your mother really send you?"
"Father, if you don't believe me, go ask her yourself. But you know mother's temper, she'll never admit it."
Yu Zeyan stroked his beard. That was true.
"It's father's fault."
Yu Zeyan felt like he had only been apologizing to this little girl for the past two days. She had him, her own father, completely under her thumb.
"Father knows best. There's no better woman in this world than mother, yet father made her sad."
"I made your mother sad?"
He admitted he had a bad temper, but he had never done anything to betray Cui Shi. He didn't take concubines or visit prostitutes, nor did he have any maids. Cui Shi was too stubborn.
"Father, don't treat me as a child. I heard what Grandmother and Zhang Momo said." Yu Mingyue swore she had really heard them.
It just wasn't recently.
"Heard what?" Yu Zeyan asked while eating.
The cook in Cui Shi's courtyard had excellent skills, and Yu Zeyan ate with great relish.
She had been cold to him for a year, and he couldn't bring himself to go to her.
Yu Mingyue's little face instantly fell, her eyes reddening. "I finally understand why father is so good to Sister Wanqing. It's because father likes Sister Wanqing's mother, and naturally treats Sister Wanqing as his own daughter. It's just like what the teacher said, 'love me, love my dog'!"
Yu Zeyan felt the chopsticks in his hand suddenly burn, almost knocking over the bowl. "Nonsense, utterly absurd!"
Yu Zeyan was furious. It was only because his daughter was present that he refrained from scolding.
"Father is lying. How could what Grandmother and Zhang Momo say be false? They said Sister Wanqing resembles her cousin, and that cousin was destined to be with father, a perfect match of talent and beauty. It's a shame fate played tricks on them... That's why Cousin Wanqing is always at odds with Yue'er, trying to snatch father away from Yue'er..."
Yu Mingyue's words were interrupted by Yu Zeyan. "What kind of nonsense is this? Your grandmother and Zhang Momo weren't talking about me. Perhaps they were talking about your second or third uncle..."
"Daughter heard it clearly. Father, this is what the teacher calls sophistry."
"What exactly did your teacher teach you?" Yu Zeyan couldn't blame his old mother, so he could only blame the teacher.
"Father is just displacing his anger. The teacher is innocent." Yu Mingyue crossed her arms and pouted.
"..." Yu Zeyan opened his mouth. "That's not true. The one father loves is only your mother."
"Really?" Yu Mingyue's eyes sparkled.
If that were the case, then things would be easily resolved.
She was most afraid that her cousin and cousin truly had some past connection, which would be hard to explain.
"Of course!" Yu Zeyan's tone was firm.
He felt a deep sense of guilt now, feeling that he had hurt Yue'er.
"Mother is so upset about this that she's been crying secretly. Father doesn't care at all." Yu Mingyue exaggerated.
"Your mother really cried?"
After many years of marriage, Yu Zeyan had never seen Cui Shi shed tears.
"No matter how strong mother is, she's still a woman. Father is heartless, only thinking that mother is neglecting you, not asking for the reason, and not comforting mother. Does father truly love Sister Wanqing's mother?"
Yu Mingyue looked at Yu Zeyan pitifully, her expression as if she was about to lose her father.
"Nonsense, nothing of the sort. I don't even remember what she looks like." Yu Zeyan was so anxious he almost swore to the heavens.
The old lady was really something, saying such things for no reason. This was causing discord in their marriage and affecting their father-daughter relationship.
He really didn't want to be Su Wanqing's father.