Xin Xin.
What did she just say? Her daughter wants to talk to me? How could that be possible?
Su Liumeng was taken aback, but seeing the serious look in the girl’s eyes, she suppressed the towering waves of shock in her heart.
She had always known that Si Xinyan had a super powerful guardian nearby, but she had completely assumed this power belonged to an unborn infant. Now, hearing Si Xinyan’s words so earnestly, she forcibly pushed down the lingering disbelief in her heart.
No matter what, she decided to wait and see for now.
“Alright.”
Su Liumeng replied to me.
I glanced at the girl ahead, and the surrounding space suddenly fell into an eerie silence, as if a layer of invisible, impenetrable filter had been added.
I immediately understood—this was my daughter about to appear. She was preparing to project her divine consciousness while applying a filter to prevent me from eavesdropping.
What could she possibly want to say? And why couldn’t I hear it?
I pursed my lips, feeling a little jealous inside.
I’d wanted to tell Su Liumeng about Zhizhi for a long time.
But communicating with Zhizhi had taken so many words to barely convince the girl.
*****
The space around me seemed folded away as a mysterious and powerful divine technique unfolded. Su Liumeng’s heart was filled with thick shock. This guardian who had silently protected Si Xinyan was even more terrifying than she had imagined.
Before the main figure even appeared, Su Liumeng had already received a warning.
A phantom-like figure appeared—small, no taller than a child’s calf, enveloped in a dense, impenetrable black mist.
Standing before Su Liumeng, this figure dominated the scene with an absolute height that looked down on her.
Seeing the unknown main figure, Su Liumeng froze for a moment. The figure was completely different from what she had imagined.
Could this really be Si Xinyan’s unborn daughter?
“You—are Su Liumeng?”
The soft, childlike voice carried a trace of coldness.
“Yes.” Su Liumeng answered.
“If it’s you, then no mistake, Su Liumeng!!” Zhizhi shouted her name, then sneered coldly. Crossing her little arms with a mock seriousness, she bluntly warned, “Can you stop pestering my mom all the time?”
“Do you know how annoying you really are?”
“When I just want to say a few words to Mother, your shadow is always there. I have to sneak around behind your back, making me feel like the outsider here. It’s really infuriating.”
“Don’t you have your own things to do? Why do you have to cling to my mom all day long?”
That tsundere tone, the way she spoke—it was all so unmistakably Si Xinyan. Suddenly, Su Liumeng realized that this was indeed Si Xinyan’s daughter.
Faced with the accusation, Su Liumeng was silent, unable to retort.
Because this little girl before her was the only daughter of the woman she loved.
“The person I hate most in this world has always been you. Worse, I have to pretend not to hate you in front of my mom, which makes me sick to my stomach.”
“Just because Mother likes you, I have to create chances for you to play hero and save the day. The more I think about it, the angrier I get.”
“I know Mother too well—like today in that alley, when she muttered bad things about herself, wanting to be left alone, she was really just waiting for you to come and comfort her.”
“So, I have to keep giving you chances.”
“Because I can’t let my mom be sad.”
“I hate you so much.” Zhizhi reiterated her feelings, arms folded as she hovered in midair. The more she spoke, the angrier she grew.
“You think it’s me who wants to talk to you? If Mother hadn’t been negotiating with me about Su Liumeng about to marry her, you wouldn’t have seen my shadow today at all.”
At this, Zhizhi suddenly pouted and looked furious again.
“Fine! You want me to talk to you? Then as you wish—I’ll show myself and give you a good scolding.”
She unleashed all the words bottled up inside her, feeling immensely relieved.
Seeing Su Liumeng fall into complete silence, the little bundle glared at her and threw out her final declaration all at once:
“If you don’t really like Mother and are only pretending to be nice to her, I’ll kick you to death right now.”
“Mother likes you and wants to marry you, so you have to be good to her and only her.”
“Did you hear me?”
“I’m warning you, I’m looking for chances in secret just because I hate you.”
Zhizhi was a terrifying angry ghost packed with grudges, her personality more like a fierce demon king. Once away from her mother, she dropped all pretense, revealing an unruly nature.
She didn’t care what others thought. Even if everyone else in the world died, what did that have to do with her?
“If you dare treat her badly, I’ll be the first to make Mother kick you out.”
Having said her piece, Zhizhi felt completely relieved.
She had been holding back these words for months, and now that they were all out, she felt light as air.
Su Liumeng didn’t get angry, only looked thoughtful, her voice low.
“You hate me, and that’s understandable.”
“After all, I took away the one your mother loves.”
“As for what you said at the end—there won’t be such a chance.”
“I will always treat her well.”
“Si Xinyan is my life. Even if it means hurting myself, I would never harm a single hair on her head.”
“Good.” Zhizhi’s small face was cold. “I hope your words match your heart. Don’t give me a chance to catch you.”
“And—don’t tell Mother what I said today, understand?”
Su Liumeng raised her head and looked at the little figure before her.
“Alright. I won’t tell anyone. This is our little secret.”
“Who has secrets with you!!!”
Zhizhi almost exploded on the spot.
After saying this, the little bundle completely vanished into thin air.
Su Liumeng watched as the space slowly returned to normal.
No wonder they were mother and daughter—both had the same tsundere temperament, if not worse.
She could tell that the little girl wasn’t truly bad at heart; otherwise, she wouldn’t have given her chances. It was just that she hated her for taking her mother’s love, hence the slightly extreme tone.
Before the space fully restored, Su Liumeng adjusted her mood and smiled fairly well.
Being scolded by my wife’s unborn daughter was not something to be angry about; in fact, it made her a little happy.
Upon deeper reflection, she realized one thing.
A person beyond cure wouldn’t be scolded by someone close like this, at least not in such a way.
She had been scolded.
Wasn’t that proof she was being gradually accepted?
This was absolutely a good thing.
Having just been warned by a little bundle, Su Liumeng’s shock hadn’t completely faded.
The absurdity of the reality—that she had just been scolded head-on by a ridiculously powerful little girl still in her mother’s womb—was overwhelming.
Life was not a fantasy novel.
Su Liumeng truly felt her experience was somewhat bizarre.
An unborn baby already possessing earth-shaking power—Su Liumeng hadn’t even had time to consider what kind of epoch-defining genius this was before she faced a curious gaze from me, wondering what exactly my daughter and I had just talked about.
There were still many things in this world she couldn’t understand.
And not every event needed a clear cause and effect.
What Su Liumeng thought she should do first was accept this ridiculous outcome, then later try to understand what had happened—how a little girl could have such power and even flatten the entire Su family with a single slap.
I looked at the girl’s smile before me and curled my lips. “Not bad, not bad.”
“Looks like you had a pretty good chat?”
As the one who had pushed this whole event forward, I was naturally most concerned about their exchange.
“Good?!” Su Liumeng’s lips twitched slightly.
She only knew she had been scolded by some little bundle.
Whether she was happy or not was still unclear; but that little bundle was definitely very happy.
So she honestly replied, “Probably happy.”
Su Liumeng was not wrong.
Indeed, someone was very happy.
Deep within the sea of consciousness, upon hearing this, Zhizhi slowly lifted her small chin and softly hummed.
Her tone and expression were identical to someone else, plus her face, which resembled her mother’s, made her look like a miniature version of Si Xinyan.
“Good, you kept your promise. If you dare spill the secret, you’re done for.”
“Have you seen my daughter? Isn’t she cute? And well-behaved too?”
Zhizhi perked up her ears again.
Su Liumeng suddenly fell silent. How was she supposed to answer that?
Could a swirling black mist really be called cute?
The world was vast and tastes varied.
I suppose she could count as the cute type?
Thinking this, her next answer was reasonable: “She is indeed cute and well-behaved, a baby who won’t trouble anyone.”
Hearing Su Liumeng praise Zhizhi, I was in an excited mood and grabbed the girl’s slender arm, “She didn’t want to meet you a few days ago, so I was worried you two might quarrel. But now, seeing Zhizhi not dislike you and even getting along well, I’m very happy…”
As the girl finished speaking, her eyelids fluttered, as if she had been forcing herself awake all this time.
With her tightly held desire fading, sleepiness suddenly surged, and she could no longer hold back her spiritual fatigue.
December 7th.
I was in the Su family’s small garden, basking in the sun, chatting casually with my precious daughter.
“Mama, don’t push yourself. Making clothes is too hard. I’m not picky. Whatever clothes you buy for me, I’ll be happy.”
“No!” I answered firmly, looking at the blood bead on my finger, gently pressing the wound with my thumb, “The first outfit has to be made by me as your mother.”
Just one outfit.
I had many ideas.
One tiny baby garment wouldn’t satisfy the surging motherly love inside me.
I wanted to handmake several clothes myself.
For a beginner, making complete garments was still too challenging.
But that was okay… I regained my fighting spirit, looking at the warm sun on the horizon, thinking, with over two months left, I’d definitely finish the clothes for my baby.
Zhizhi looked troubled, biting her lip, unsure of what to say.
“Well—”
“Be careful then.”
“Don’t keep stabbing your fingers.”
“Don’t worry, I already know how to sew.” I adjusted to a more comfortable position, patting my chest, “Look at what a genius your mama is. A little baby outfit is nothing.”
Genius or not, it didn’t mean every genius was skilled in embroidery!
Indeed, the first garment I challenged myself to make was the hardest type—embroidered silk. I had chosen silk as the material for Zhizhi’s clothes.
With Su Liumeng’s help, I’d collected many colors of silk.
Several orange silks caught my eye the most.
There was also a bright red that I especially liked.
I thought, Zhizhi would look perfect in these, fully showing off the ghost king’s style.
Choosing materials and colors, the repeated cutting was troublesome.
In just two days, I had already ruined a lot of raw materials.
And while sewing, I’d pricked all ten fingers at least once.
It was still a bit hard.
I stared at the needle and thread in my hand and evaluated silently.
But not too hard.
I calmly added that I could already imitate simple embroidery patterns.
That was my first goal. Later, I wanted to learn Su embroidery and other more exquisite and advanced stitching techniques, making all sorts of beautiful clothes for Zhizhi to wear.
In my mind, I already had a future vision.
One day in the future, when Zhizhi walked down the street, passersby would ask whose pretty little girl she was, and such thoughts gave me great motivation.
I was determined to be a qualified mother.
In the busyness of these past days, even Su Liumeng was somewhat neglected.
But she seemed busy with her own matters, constantly going to the Su family’s administration hall, apparently arranging the upcoming wedding.
I had already seen servants carrying festive paper decorations, waiting only for the date to be set to prepare the wedding venue in advance.
Su Liumeng’s wedding would definitely be held in the Su family’s ancestral home.
This was her home.
However, the wedding also included an important bride-receiving ceremony.
I was currently alone and couldn’t just stay at the Su ancestral home forever.
That wouldn’t conform to custom.
How exactly it would be handled depended on Su Liumeng’s plans.
The Su family was an ancient clan, and many traditions were still followed.
The “Three Letters and Six Proposals” ritual was indispensable.
Even if the bride had no family of her own, the bride-receiving ceremony was never skipped—this was proper etiquette.
The first step was to exchange wedding letters.
Then came the bride-price gifts, and so on.
When the bride was formally picked up, the servants would carry the bride’s dowry over.
Dowry was also subject to customs.
The wealthier the family, the more lavish the dowry.
One chest meant one carrying, hundreds of chests meant hundreds of carries, sometimes even including a pre-prepared coffin.
There was a subtle meaning behind the coffin.
It symbolized that the bride’s family had prepared everything she would need from birth to death, without needing to use anything from the groom’s family.
This represented the bride’s bargaining power in her marriage, the strong backing given by her natal family.
Su Liumeng was certainly not the groom’s side; she was the Su family’s young lady.
But judging by the Su family’s response, they seemed prepared to receive me as the bride.
They intended to treat me like their own young lady’s bride, carrying me in a magnificent eight-bearer sedan chair to my new home with great fanfare.
Whether I was the bride or not, I didn’t care much.
As long as I could marry Su Liumeng openly and honorably, being the bride was fine.
I’d just grumble quietly for a day or two and then accept it with ease.