The mistress who remarried has returned.

Su's mother said, "Go and do your things, Xixi. I'll just ask your father for the money."

Su Yunxi's eyes suddenly reddened. "I'll go ask for it! Why won't you listen? I won't let you go! You're going to help them heat up their bathwater, aren't you?"

Mother Su hurriedly said, "Don't be so red-eyed. Swollen eyes won't make you pretty. I'll listen to you, but there's one thing: no matter what the other person says, just ignore it. Don't argue and make yourself suffer. Be patient for a while, take a step back, and talk about it when things get better. No one suffers forever. This is all temporary."

Su Yunxi nodded and went to the front yard, where her father happened to be away.

Wang Guirong was stuffing candy into her son's mouth when she saw Su Yunxi. She glared at her. Everyone in the backyard is a dog, they come running as soon as they smell something being bought here!

Pah, don't even think about it! I'd rather throw it away than let them waste my stuff!

After leaving the mansion, Su's father hurried towards the alley entrance. Upon arriving at the carriage parked there, he immediately recognized Liu Shun, the attendant of the Protector General. He bowed deeply to the carriage and said, "How honored I am to have encountered General Qin at the alley entrance! It would be an even greater honor to meet him."

Upon hearing the voice, Qin Huai parted the carriage curtain with his fingers, revealing his handsome face. He saw Su's father bowing and scraping beside the carriage and said in a low voice, "It is Lord Su."

"General, it's freezing cold. Are you waiting for someone here?"

"Yes."

"If you don't mind, why don't you come to my humble abode for a cup of warm tea and sit and wait?" Su's father wondered. What kind of person would put on such airs as to make General Qin wait at the alley entrance in the winter? Any other man would probably have left impatiently long ago. Was he waiting for someone very important?

Qin Huai smiled but remained silent.

Liu Shun said in a deep voice, "No official in the court doesn't want to associate with the general. Everyone wants to ride this wave of opportunity, so give up that idea as soon as possible! Besides, don't you know what your eldest daughter has done?!"

Su's father's scheme was exposed without any politeness. If the general entered the mansion, everyone in the court would know that his Su family was different. He hurriedly bowed and took two steps forward, looking like a servant. "In earlier years, because of my daughter Xixi, I was protected by you and I also gained a lot of face in the court."

As he spoke, he said bitterly, "Four years ago, my unfilial daughter committed such an ungrateful act against the General. I have always hoped to come and apologize, but I was afraid of offending the General. I take this opportunity to sincerely apologize to you. That unfilial daughter was born to a cloth seller, and her improper behavior had little to do with me. I hope the General will not hold a grudge against me."

Qin Huai had witnessed the father slapping his daughter's hand away from the jujube specialty shop from afar, and scoffed, "Lord Su, you're trying to absolve yourself quite easily. Without you, could the cloth seller have given birth to a living person on her own?"

Su's father broke out in a cold sweat, fearing that he would be implicated by his daughter's past misdeeds and incur the wrath of the Protector General's Mansion. It would be too easy for General Qin to make him unable to continue working in the court.

Now that the little vixen has lost the Crown Prince as her backer, she has fallen into the hands of the Protector General. If the Protector General wants to control her, it will be as easy as stepping on an ant. He quickly made up a story, "Don't laugh at me, but Xixi was born from an affair between a cloth seller and someone else. She is not my biological child."

Qin Huai's face was so pale that he didn't even have the desire to open his mouth.

In my memory, a girl whispered to him: "Father said he knows he was wrong and will treat us well in the future. I'm going to give Father a chance. Qin Huai, I'll have a father to love me from now on. Father said he'll never hit me again."

At this moment, a young man came down to the school carrying a schoolbag. He was dressed in coarse cloth clothes, but his heroic spirit could not be concealed. However, there was no childishness in his eyes. He had already shown signs of hardship at a young age.

The young man walked step by step into the Su residence. After hearing his father's words about his sister, the hatred in his eyes was hard to conceal.

The boy walked straight past his father and Qin Huai, ignoring them completely and not even sparing them a glance.

Qin Huai recognized the person as Su Yunze, who used to ride on his shoulders and call him brother-in-law when they were little. He had grown quite a bit taller in the four years since then.

"Come and call for help!" Father Su scolded Su Yunze, "You arrogant brat, you've wasted your time studying the classics. Su Yuanzhou is an honest and upright man, how did you all drag him down to this state..."

Su Yunze didn't pause, nor did he greet Qin Huai. He remembered that Qin Huai had slapped his sister four years ago, and he would never forget it.

Her sister loved him so much. He had insomnia, and his sister made sandalwood incense every day, spending all her own money and even suffering from wrist injuries. He didn't understand why Qin Huai would hit her sister.

He'll get his sister's revenge sooner or later.

Su's father was very dissatisfied with Su Yunze's impolite behavior, and then said to Qin Huai, "My son is impolite, General, please don't mind. This boy was born from an affair between a cloth seller and someone else. I really didn't kick him out because of face. You know, officials are all concerned about face. I am a man of honor and loyalty, and I have raised these two boys for many years, so I have some affection for them."

"Liu Shun thinks both he and his sister are good people. Liu Shun still has doubts about whether it was me who impulsively misunderstood Xixi back then." Qin Huai didn't want to continue talking to Su's father, so he lowered the car curtain. "You, as a father, are not as humane as my subordinates."

Liu Shun sighed. Consort Liang had been so good to him, even lending him money when his family faced difficulties. He was too proud to ask his friends for help, but Consort Liang, being observant, noticed something amiss and offered assistance. How could she have so easily used them to climb the social ladder to the Eastern Palace? In the end, he wasn't as decisive as the Emperor. He kept wondering if Consort Liang had been wronged by the Emperor.

But given Liangdi's personality, she would argue her case even when wrongly accused of stealing a gold pendant, so how could she remain silent when wrongly accused of adultery?

Su's father realized that his flattery had backfired, displeasing the Protector General and making him appear cold-blooded and selfish. He immediately understood that he needed to cool down and that continuing to fawn over the general would be counterproductive. He broke out in a cold sweat and slunk back to the Su residence.

Questionable.

Su's father kept pondering these two words; they were so full of stories, and perhaps Xixi would still be useful to him.

If young Master Liu Shun frequently utters the words "doubtful" in front of the general, will the general also become doubtful?

Su Yunxi stood quietly in front of the front gate, waiting for her father.

This used to be the courtyard where her mother lived. Now it belongs to someone else. On the day the crown prince was deposed, her mother and younger brother were driven to the backyard.

Su Yunxi rushed back to stop him, but was beaten by her father. Her father had clearly said to Qin Huai that he would never hit her again after Qin Huai took her in that year.

In front of Qin Huai, her father knelt before her mother, begging for her forgiveness and promising to treat her mother well for the rest of his life.

Father himself forgot what he had said.

This house was bought jointly by my mother and father, with my mother contributing more money. Wang Guirong did not contribute any money.

Su's father returned from the alleyway, came over, looked his daughter up and down, and asked in a low voice, "Is the distinguished guest in the carriage at the alleyway waiting for you?"