Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Her father stooped down next to her and looked adoringly at her brother as he tousled her brother’s hair. He said sternly, “Yiran, we will be back very soon. You are older than your sister, and you’re going to become a man soon, so you must be responsible for protecting your younger sister. Understand?”
Feng Yiran looked back at Feng Xiaotian seriously. “Father, don’t worry! I will protect Qingcheng!”
Feng Qingcheng was still buried in Xia Qingyu’s warm embrace and wasn’t willing to let go of her mother, but she still tried to look understanding and smiled as she said, “Ok, Qingcheng will be a good girl.”
But as she watched her parents slowly disappear into the distance, she still couldn’t help but cry. Feng Yiran held her hand and consoled her, saying, “Qingcheng, don’t cry. I’ll take care of you and protect you. Let’s go back in.” He was clearly still a young boy himself, but he made Feng Qingcheng feel strangely at ease.
She wiped away the tears on her face, and her childish voice replied, “Ok, Elder Brother.”
A middle-aged man wearing a long gray robe with a small belly walked over and stood in front of her. He was their uncle, Feng Qiming. His gaze was cold as he glanced at the two siblings.
Feng Qingcheng immediately felt a sense of terror overwhelm her heart, and she didn’t dare to make any more noise.
A cold and impatient voice was heard saying, “Stop crying! Your parents have left, and I’ll take good care of the two of you. Go back in!” Then he didn’t bother himself with the two siblings anymore and left through the main door.
Feng Qingcheng didn’t know that this was the last time she would see her parents again. Three months later, there was news that her parents had gone missing, and some even said that they were dead.
She didn’t know what to do and didn’t know what she could do, so she just cried miserably every day. Only Feng Yiran continued to stay by her side, and her grandfather continued to console her. But she could also slowly sense that the people around them were beginning to have a change in attitude towards them.
A cousin who was three years older than her, Feng Qingling, used to come over to play with her all the time, but now she rarely came over. Her other cousin, who was four years older than her, Feng Qingyan, was someone she had seldom seen in the first place. But now, whenever he saw her and Feng Yiran, he always looked at them with coldness and disgust.
The prince, Dongfang Moqi, would still come and visit her from time to time. Every time the prince arrived at the Feng residence, Feng Qiming’s wife, Li Xuerou, would welcome him warmly and get her children, Feng Qingling and Feng Qingyan, to bring the prince around. And more often than not, Feng Qingyan would think of all ways possible to get Feng Qingcheng out of the way so that only Feng Qingling was left with the prince.
The only person in the whole family whom the siblings could feel any love from was their grandfather, and he was the only person who was kind to the siblings. And because he cared for them, everyone else didn’t dare to do anything that crossed the line even though their attitudes were poor. However, the old man’s health was slowly failing as the days went by.
According to the clan rules, any descendant who reached the age of eight had to go through a test of their natural gifting. Feng Yiran was eight and had to go through the test. The test result showed that he had a constitution with four attributes and was a rare genius that only came about once every hundred years.
Feng Qiming said that he wanted to send Feng Yiran to a major sect to learn from them. That way, he could become stronger and more powerful.
Feng Yiran didn’t want to leave at first, but after he considered how he could better protect Feng Qingcheng in the future, he agreed to it.
When he left, Feng Yiran said very seriously to Feng Qingcheng, “Qingcheng, you must take good care of yourself. I will work hard and cultivate, and I’ll come back to look for you as soon as possible.” After that, he reluctantly gave her one last glance and got onto the horse-drawn carriage that soon left the house.
Besides accompanying her grandfather every day, she always hoped that the prince would visit her. She also often looked out the door with hopeful eyes, as if she was waiting for someone to come back.
When Feng Qingcheng turned eight, she, too, had to go through the test of her natural gifting according to family tradition. But to everyone’s surprise, no matter what she did, the stone used for testing her gifting refused to react at all. So, the elders in the clan had no choice but to declare that she had no gifting for cultivation at all.
From that day onwards, Feng Qingcheng became known as a good-for-nothing. It affected her badly. She was very upset by this, so she hid in her room all by herself and refused to come out. Even though her grandfather consoled her and told her that it was alright, she was still unable to accept this and even secretly tried to cultivate, but to no avail.
Even the servants in the Feng household started laughing at her, and they would mock her to her face.
After a very long period of time, Dongfang Moqi finally came to the Feng residence again. She didn’t know about it at first until she happened to overhear some of the servant girls talking about it. So, she secretly ran over to the garden to find the prince walking closely with Feng Qingling. They were strolling together, talking and laughing merrily. She couldn’t understand why her Brother Prince was now ignoring her and hadn’t bothered with her when he used to ask after her and show concern in the past. And now, he had come to the house, but he didn’t look for her now either.
She simply couldn’t stand the hurt she felt inside, so she plucked up her courage and walked over to the prince. Her tears streamed down her face as she said to the prince, “Brother Prince, it’s been a long time since you last came to see Qingcheng. Why didn’t you look for me now that you’re here? Did I do something to make you unhappy?”
Dongfang Moqi hadn’t expected her to appear suddenly. Feng Qingling was next to him, and her smiling eyes grew cold. They seemed to glare at Feng Qingcheng with great hatred.
The prince felt a little awkward and froze for a moment, but he soon regained his usual warm smile. “That’s not true. Qingcheng, you’ve overthought this. I have something important to discuss with Qingling, and I was going to see you once I’m done talking to her.” He looked at how Feng Qingcheng was crying so miserably and looked as though he felt bad for her.
Feng Qingling noticed how the prince was looking at Feng Qingcheng, but no matter how upset she was inside, she didn’t dare to flare up.
She put on an apologetic expression, and her voice was gentle as she said, “Qingcheng, the prince and I need to discuss something important, and there’s nothing else. It’s all my fault that you’ve gotten so upset that you came to question His Highness. I will keep my distance from him in the future. Your Highness, please forgive Qingcheng for being rude. She’s still young.”
Feng Qingcheng quickly cut in, “No, that’s not true, Qingling. You don’t have to be responsible for any of this. I’m the one who was rude and disturbed your discussion with Brother Prince.”
After that, she gave the prince a beautiful smile, which dazzled Dongfang Moqi for a moment. This made Feng Qingling even angrier, and she nearly tore up the handkerchief in her hands.
“Qingcheng will take her leave now. I won’t disrupt your discussion. I will go back first.” Then she turned around and happily left the garden.
A dark glint flashed across Feng Qingling’s eyes as she watched Feng Qingcheng walk away. Then she put her charming smile back on as she looked at the prince again. “Your Highness, let’s continue our walk…” Her expression was a little shy, and her gentle voice snapped the prince out of his thoughts.
The prince nodded and complimented her, saying, “Sure. Qingling, you’re really a gentle and demure lady.”
These words made Feng Qingling so happy that all the unhappiness she felt earlier was gone, and her lips curled upwards. But, the next thing that the prince said made her unable to feel happy after.
“You can take your leave now; I’ll go over and take a look at Qingcheng. After all, everything that has happened recently has affected her quite badly. You don’t have to come with me.” After the prince said that, he turned and walked back out.
Feng Qingling was stunned as she stood where she was. She finally snapped out of it after the prince had already disappeared. “It was so rare for the prince to turn up! That little sl*t ruined everything!” Her eyes stared poisonously into the distance, and eventually, she stomped her feet and left in indignation.