After dinner, Li Xun came in carrying four or five wooden brocade boxes.
These were gold and silver jewelry pieces that Xiao Heye had bought from Wanbaolou some time ago.
Su Tiyue frowned as she looked at the row of brocade boxes in front of her, filled with all sorts of trinkets that young ladies would like: "Why did you buy so many all at once?"
"I did this to make you happy, but... Yue'er doesn't like it?"
"It's not that I don't like them, it's just that I've never seen gifts given like this before. If I'm not mistaken, Minister Xiao bought these things without even glancing at them?"
As if scolding her extravagant husband, she said earnestly, "You didn't even bother to choose carefully. The gifts are expensive, but they lack sincerity."
After hearing what she said, Xiao Heye felt somewhat wronged.
Who said he didn't have a choice?
In the private room of Wanbaolou, didn't he pick out a few dishes that he didn't like?
Furthermore, the golden begonia bead hairpin that he sincerely chose for Su Tiyue is unique in Yong'an and even in Beiliang, but we still have to wait a little longer, don't we?
Xiao Heye frowned and patiently replied, "Yue'er is right to teach me a lesson. Next time I send Yue'er something, I will definitely choose carefully and never be perfunctory."
Su Tiyue said, "That's more like it."
"By the way, I have something important to tell you." Since they had just finished dinner, the two of them were sitting around the square table, but still some distance apart.
When Su Tiyue said this, she leaned closer to him.
Seeing this, Xiao Heye stretched out his arm and pulled her and the chair she was sitting on closer to him: "What is it?"
Su Tiyue said, "I want to... meet Xiao Zhangyin's relatives."
“I’ve already met Han Zhou. Master Xiao mentioned before that your godfather also lives in Qiushui Residence. I’ve been there so many times, but I haven’t been able to pay my respects to him yet…”
Xiao Heye's eyes gradually darkened, and he asked in a low voice, "You really want to see me?"
"Of course it's true. When Master Xiao has time, take me there, okay?"
"If you really want to see it, Yue'er, you don't have to wait. I'll take you to Qiushui Residence first thing tomorrow morning, and we can also check on Hanzhou's hand."
Su Tiyue nodded and asked him curiously, "What is the relationship between Master Xiao and my godfather? Is it good or bad?"
Xiao Heye shook his head: "Not all parents in the world will dote on and care for their children, especially... Hanzhou and I are his adopted sons. My godfather is not a kind and gentle person either."
“He was very strict and his temperament was extremely unstable. Even if Hanzhou and I did nothing wrong, we would still be beaten for no reason.”
“In the dead of winter, we were tied to stakes outside the house, shirtless, with thorny vines soaked in salt water and chili water for two or three hours before being beaten hard on our bodies.”
“That feeling…” He paused, his voice sounding broken: “My heart was cold, but the wounds on my body, where I had been whipped to the point of excruciating pain, were burning and stinging.”
"..."
"My godfather said he did it for our own good..."
He didn't continue, but there were many, many more such stories. Too many to be told in just a few words.
After enduring so much hardship and pain, in the end, my godfather just coldly said, "It's for your own good."
Tsk.
Now, when Xiao Heye thinks about it, all he feels is hatred.
Xiao Heye's adoptive father, Pei Fu, was the previous head of the Eastern Depot, a powerful and ruthless man.
Pei Fu, like Xiao Heye, is an extremely cold-blooded villain.
After returning to Yong'an from Suzhou that year, Xiao Heye and Hanzhou officially became Pei Fu's adopted sons.
After years of wandering and begging, years of hardship and suffering, what awaited the two brothers was not a bright future.
It remains an endless darkness, a bottomless abyss.
It was a long and unbearable winter with blizzards.
How could Su Tiyue, who was pampered and raised in a greenhouse since childhood, possibly understand these cruel experiences?
Su Tiyue had only ever read Xiao Heye's words in storybooks.
It's heartbreaking, it's devastating.
Her brow furrowed: "I'm sorry, I..."
It's something that shouldn't be mentioned or asked.
"Does the handprint hurt?" Su Tiyue asked him softly, her eyes reddening.
Xiao Heye swallowed hard, his large, thick hand covering her face, his expression filled with worry: "Yue'er, the past has already hurt me once, and it won't hurt me again, not even with pain."
"But I'm afraid I'll frighten you... my past, my experiences, and my godfather..."
Su Tiyue asked him, "What does the phrase 'holding the seal' mean?"
Xiao Heye said, "Do you remember what I once told you? It was, 'Those I've knelt before haven't fared well.'"
She replied, "I remember... if Yue'er remembers correctly, the people Xiao Zhangyin knelt to were the late emperor, your godfather, and... me."
As Su Tiyue spoke, her heart involuntarily jumped into her throat.
She looked up, her bright, clear eyes gazing at him timidly.
Xiao Heye pinched her chubby cheeks with his hand: "Of course I would not do anything to hurt Yue'er."
Xiao Heye only said half of what he said.
The second half of the sentence is true, but it may not be true for others.
Considering the fate of the late emperor, it's not hard to guess Pei Fu's current predicament.
Pei Fu is indeed still alive, but his fate is certainly not good.
Because on the day Xiao Heye stepped over Pei Fu's head to climb to the position of head of the Eastern Depot, he and Han Zhou imprisoned Pei Fu in the cellar of Qiushui Residence.
The once-powerful head of the Eastern Depot was imprisoned, tortured, and made to suffer a fate worse than death by the adopted son he had personally raised...
This scene is truly indecent.
If this delicate little thing in front of me were to see this, it would probably faint from fright, right?
Xiao Heye couldn't bear to do it.
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