The girl in pink looked displeased and glared coldly at He Jinran.

He thought to himself, "This young boy is utterly inexplicable."

She wondered, could he really be her brother?

No, that can't be right, that's too outrageous.

So many years have passed, and she had no idea that she had a family.

In her fourteen years of life, she only had her godfather and Aunt Su. She had never heard of having any brothers, let alone any other family members.

All she knew was that she had been an orphan since childhood and had been adopted by her godfather.

Besides, she's used to being alone and doesn't need an older brother at all.

Li Zheng was originally sitting in the courtyard, lost in thought.

Because of He Jinran's sudden words and actions, he abruptly stood up.

What you see is He Jinran, bound hand and foot, carrying the girl in pink.

The instant I saw the girl in pink,

He stared blankly, his gaze falling on the girl in pink, his eyes reddening.

For a moment,

He felt that his Shu'er had returned.

He confirmed it without even thinking.

The little girl in front of him must be his granddaughter.

There's no other reason than that he and his daughter, Shu'er, are practically identical.

Even their eyes are almost identical.

The girl in pink, who had been furious, inexplicably calmed down the moment she saw Li Zheng.

Finally, He Jinran spoke first.

"Grandpa? She's my sister, right?"

"Xiao Ran, how could you treat your own sister like this?" As soon as Li Zheng finished speaking, he stepped forward and took the girl in pink from He Jinran's shoulder. After setting her down on the ground, he pulled the gag out of her mouth.

"Don't be afraid," Li Zheng said, his voice full of tenderness.

Then, he slowly untied the ropes binding the girl in pink, staring blankly into her eyes once more.

On the other hand, the girl in pink met Li Zheng's gaze, then quickly looked away.

"No, I am not his sister."

“Sister, even if you don’t acknowledge it, it’s still true,” He Jinran confirmed.

The girl in pink paused, turned around, but didn't know what to say.

The moment Li Zheng untied her, she instinctively tried to escape.

But He Jinran firmly grasped his elbow and wrist.

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng's gaze fell on He Jinran. He knew without a doubt that the first meeting between the long-separated siblings must have been somewhat unpleasant.

"Xiao Ran, bring your sister inside to talk." Li Zheng was full of questions and urgently needed He Jinran to answer them.

Of course, he didn't want his granddaughter to leave either.

"This is house arrest!" the girl in pink said, her voice icy cold, like frost in March.

She turned to leave again, but He Jinran grabbed her arm once more.

“There’s no house arrest. You can leave whenever you want,” He Jin then belatedly realized that his actions of carrying his sister to his master had been somewhat abrupt.

If it were him, he would definitely be very angry too.

However, he had been so focused on the beginning that he hadn't considered the consequences, which led to what happened just now.

"But little sister, even now, you still haven't told us your name."

The girl in pink realized that the old man and grandson in front of her were just anxious to find someone and had no ill intentions towards her, so she softened her expression.

"Li Sisi," she said, revealing her name.

"Li... Sisi." Upon hearing this, Li Zheng's eyes suddenly filled with tears.

"Sisi, can you tell Grandpa how you've been all these years?"

He suddenly felt that he had failed as a father and even as a grandfather.

All these years, he had no idea that Shu'er had a daughter outside.

"Sorry, I have to go now. Until we meet again." After saying that, Li Sisi turned around and left.

Should I just casually claim kinship with her? Of course not.

At the very least, she needs to figure out what's going on.

She was an orphan girl picked up by her adoptive father. She had no parents and no brothers or sisters since childhood.

Her adoptive father always treated her like his own daughter.

Now that such a strange thing has happened, of course I have to ask my godfather.

"Sisi!" He Jinran called out urgently, about to give chase.

Li Zheng then pressed down on his shoulder.

"Never mind, if she wants to leave, you can't stop her."

"Even if she wanted to stay, she wouldn't leave." He Jinran quickened his pace, blocking Li Sisi's path.

"Li Sisi, don't you want to know who he is?" He Jinran said unhappily, his gaze falling on Li Zheng.

“He was our maternal grandfather, the former General Li, and right now, where you and I are, is the place where our mother grew up.”

Li Zheng listened quietly and nodded silently.

Li Sisi shook her head and said calmly:

"Young master, we are complete strangers, why are you asking this? You have your family, but I have mine." She genuinely felt that He Jinran was being completely unreasonable.

"Have you considered how my family would react if I rashly claimed kinship today?"

Even if we want to acknowledge kinship, there needs to be some explanation.

“You’re wrong, we’ve known each other since we were born!” He Jinran corrected. “Sister, our two families can coexist, just like me…”

"Where's the evidence?" Before He Jinran could finish his sentence, Li Sisi interrupted him, "You say I'm your sister, what proof do you have?" Li Sisi felt that this matter required solid evidence.

Honey, it's not something you can just recognize easily.

"Just based on... your appearance!" He Jinran had never met his birth mother and had only seen her portrait.

"That's it? According to you, all people in this world who look alike are brothers and sisters?" Li Sisi retorted, leaving He Jinran speechless.

After all, he really had no evidence.

There is something, but it's just a sense of familiarity that comes out of nowhere.

"Sister, I know what you're worried about. You're afraid I'll tell Father about this. Don't worry, I won't betray him!"

Li Sisi suddenly looked up.

What was that young master just saying?

She couldn't understand a single word.

What father?

Li Sisi didn't press the matter. Filled with doubt, she left without looking back.

If you must ask, ask your godfather.

As Li Sisi turned around, she bumped right into Qiu Xu.

Then, she looked away and finally left.

Li Zheng glanced at Qiu Xu, who had arrived late, and then fell silent again.

However, my mood improved unexpectedly.

In his view, it didn't matter whether his granddaughter acknowledged him or not.

After all these years, he had never known of her existence, let alone raised her.

He Jinran, however, did not receive the response she wanted and became depressed.

"Xiao Ran, how did you find your sister?" Having been interrupted, Li Zheng forgot to ask the important question.

"A brothel." He Jinran didn't want to say it, but he didn't want to hide it from his grandfather.

"A brothel?" Li Zheng's expression changed, and he then looked at Qiu Xu.

"You just came from there?" He seemed to have guessed what had happened.

Qiu Xu nodded and spoke frankly:

"I just bumped into His Majesty outside the brothel."