Chapter 5

When I returned to my room, Li Mang was back as well. He said he had heard Ren Suihuan crying from far away.

I said, “That Young Master Xu is remarkably rigid. He only recognizes a daughter by blood. But Suihuan has been raised in this household for years. She is no different from a true daughter.”

Li Mang shook his head. “I disagree. I think Xu did the right thing. Blood is blood. Either it is there or it isn’t.”

A quiet cough sounded at the door.

Li Mang looked over and immediately stood. “Elder Brother.”

Ren Jinying had arrived.

He looked at Li Mang. “I would like a word with Suixi.”

Li Mang tactfully left.

Ren Jinying’s gaze settled on me. “I heard you two discussing Suihuan just now.”

I hastened to explain, “We weren’t speaking ill of her. If we criticized anyone, it was Young Master Xu.”

Ren Jinying smiled. “Don’t be nervous. I came to speak to you about Suihuan too.”

“Oh?”

“She has been in a terrible mood these past two days. Even Father and Mother cannot console her. Who knows how long she will nurse her resentment? If she loses her head and says something spiteful to you, don’t hesitate to discipline her. You are older than she is.”

“That’s easy. Let her go hungry for two meals and she’ll behave.”

Ren Jinying stared, then fell into thought. “We have never disciplined her that way.”

I paused too, wondering whether I had said too much.

Then he said, “But perhaps we ought to try it.”

What?

After a moment, it occurred to me to ask, “Does Suihuan resent me?”

“This family has searched for you all these years. Finding you was only a matter of time. She has no say in it.”

I hesitated. “It is a blessing to be reunited with my birth parents. But perhaps I didn’t have to return. That might have been better for both sides.”

“Better?” Ice suddenly entered Ren Jinying’s voice. “Has your life not fallen low enough? If we had not brought you home, the next time hardship struck, would you have leased yourself out again to be another man’s wife and bear another man’s child?”

His face had taken on a severity I had never seen before.

Perhaps he frightened me, or perhaps the contempt in his words left me shaken. Either way, a dull pain suddenly began in my belly.

Ren Jinying realized the shock had disturbed the child and panicked. He reached for me. “Suixi!”

Weakly, I said, “Take me to a clinic…”

“I’ll summon a physician.”

“No. The clinic where Zhao Zisong is staying…”

Ren Jinying understood my little scheme at once, but the situation was urgent, so he had no choice but to indulge me.