Chapter 61 "Yunzhu, why won't you be with Azhi..."
Xiao Mingzhang squatted on the ground and remained silent for a full quarter of an hour before a bitter smile finally appeared on his lips.
He asked his daughter as calmly as possible, without showing any hostility: "You want me to leave? Azhi, why do you suddenly want me to leave? Did something happen at the Zhang family's house today?"
Mu Zhaozhi pursed her lips and remained silent.
She didn't want to tell anyone what happened at the Zhang family today. She was very clear that her purpose in standing here was to get Xiao Mingzhang to leave, so she didn't say anything unnecessary.
But she was still young and hadn't learned to hide her emotions, so when Xiao Mingzhang questioned her like that, the trembling on her cheeks became very obvious.
Xiao Mingzhang immediately understood.
He squatted down again, waiting for his daughter's reply for a moment. Seeing that she still didn't say anything, he took the initiative to say, "Azhi, I don't know why you suddenly asked about this, but I can tell you that unless you and your mother are willing to come back to Yunzhou with me, I cannot easily leave this place, nor can I easily leave you."
"You are despicable and shameless! You are a scoundrel!"
Mu Zhaozhi hadn't heard many swear words growing up; these three words were all ones she'd heard from her classmates, and in an instant, she used them all on Xiao Mingzhang.
Xiao Mingzhang remained noncommittal. Regardless of how his daughter scolded him, he already knew from Mu Zhaozhi's behavior that something must have happened to her today, which was why she had come to tell him all this.
He then calmed down and said to his daughter, "Azhi, I don't care what happened to you today, but I'm telling you the truth. You're very smart, I know that. Your mother doesn't tell you many things, but there are many things you've already guessed yourself, haven't you?"
"Azhi, as long as you can persuade your mother to come home with me, I promise you, once we return to Yunzhou, you will be the most powerful and influential young lady in the city. In the future, you might even become the most noble princess in the world in Jinling..."
"I don't want to be a princess!"
Xiao Mingzhang tried to persuade her gently, but Mu Zhaozhi was not buying it at all. She didn't know what those things meant, such as "young lady of Yunzhou City" or "most noble princess of Jinling City," and she didn't want them at all.
All she knew was that Xiao Mingzhang's existence had caused her a lot of trouble. It was because of Xiao Mingzhang that her mother and Aunt Yan had suddenly become so strange recently; it was because of Xiao Mingzhang that Zhang Helai had repeatedly asked her about things she didn't care about at all; it was because of Xiao Mingzhang that many of her classmates had been asking her these past few days about her so-called uncle—who he was and why he lived in such a nice house…
Mu Zhaozhi didn't want to hear anyone mention Xiao Mingzhang at all.
However, Mu Zhaozhi also knew that as long as Xiao Mingzhang was here, people would inevitably keep asking who he was.
Zhang Helai was the first, but perhaps not the last.
She didn't want to live like this anymore, nor did she want to go home with Xiao Mingzhang. No matter how high Xiao Mingzhang's official rank was, she just wanted to stay with her mother and Aunt Yan for a long, long time.
After she yelled at Xiao Mingzhang, for some reason, tears suddenly streamed down her face.
Xiao Mingzhang was stunned. He had prepared a lot of words to persuade his daughter, but seeing her suddenly burst into tears, his heart felt like it was being clenched, and he instantly became helpless.
Mu Zhaozhi looked remarkably like Yunzhu, with the same large, grape-like eyes and the same bright, spirited radiance. When she shed tears, the large, endless drops resembled an open box of pearls.
Xiao Mingzhang held all the pearls his daughter had dropped in his palms. After a long, flustered moment, he asked Mu Zhaozhi, "Azhi, did your father say something wrong? Did I upset you?"
"You are not my father!"
One wrong step leads to another. Xiao Mingzhang's momentary carelessness immediately drew even fiercer rebuttals from Mu Zhaozhi.
Xiao Mingzhang was speechless.
Mu Zhaozhi's eyes were red from crying, and she gritted her teeth. After speaking, it seemed that she never wanted to see the person in front of her again. She pushed Xiao Mingzhang hard and turned to run out of the courtyard gate.
This time, Xiao Mingzhang reacted quickly and immediately followed his daughter after her.
"Ah Zhi!"
He followed Mu Zhaozhi out the door, just as Ayan was returning from the Zhang family.
Worried about not finding the bracelet, Ayan was walking down the alley when she looked up and saw Mu Zhaozhi running out of Xiao Mingzhang's courtyard, with Xiao Mingzhang following behind her. Without hesitation, she stepped forward and shielded Mu Zhaozhi behind her.
"Aunt Yan!" Mu Zhaozhi cried as she threw herself into A-Yan's arms.
Ayan glanced at Mu Zhaozhi's appearance and saw that her small cheeks were covered with tears and her eyes were red. She had run out of Xiao Mingzhang's courtyard. In an instant, she was furious and shouted at Xiao Mingzhang: "You, surnamed Xiao, what have you done to our Azhi!"
Mu Zhaozhi usually lived under the protection of her and Yunzhu and almost never cried. Even if she bumped or hurt herself, she never cried so fiercely.
Ayan was heartbroken.
Xiao Mingzhang retorted absurdly, "She's my daughter, what do you think I would do to her?"
"That's hard to say!" Ayan said fiercely, as if she were about to fight Xiao Mingzhang for three hundred rounds. But for some reason, when she spoke, Mu Zhaozhi burst into tears and cried even more fiercely.
Ayan looked at Mu Zhaozhi with a puzzled expression. A child's cheeks are the most delicate and tender. As she cried, her thin cheeks became redder than eggs at a wedding banquet, like a monkey's bottom. Her tears fell in large swaths, and since no one caught them, they flowed like trickles, landing on her clothes in front of her and on the dry yellow mud, creating an unusual pattern on the ground.
"Azhi, tell Aunt Yan, what did this person do to you? Did he bully you?" Ayan clung to Mu Zhaozhi's thin arm, determined to get to the bottom of it.
But Mu Zhaozhi cried, yet she didn't say a word.
This greatly worried Ayan. If she didn't speak, she couldn't convict her and Xiao Mingzhang.
She coaxed Mu Zhaozhi gently, offering all sorts of comforting words, but Mu Zhaozhi still refused to say why she was crying.
Finally, seeing that Mu Zhaozhi was crying harder and harder, Ayan had no choice but to take Mu Zhaozhi home temporarily.
Even though she couldn't be convicted, before going home, Ayan still made sure to say something harsh to Xiao Mingzhang: "We won't let this go easily! When Miss returns, we'll settle accounts with you!"
Xiao Mingzhang watched coldly. He could bow down and bend his head whenever he wanted when facing Mu Zhaozhi, but to be honest, he didn't have much emotion towards Ayan.
He watched as Ayan led Mu Zhaozhi into the house first. He stood quietly outside the door, thinking that before Yunzhu returned home, he might need to have a proper talk with someone else.
—
Yunzhu finished her lessons at sunset, when the orange-red sunset spread across the grassland, not even sparing the most remote corners.
She rode gracefully on horseback, letting the setting sun stretch her shadow infinitely until she saw the person approaching. Only then did she pause, and then remained frozen in place.
"Xiao Mingzhang?" Yunzhu remembered that she had told him this morning that he didn't need to come and follow her again in the evening. This persistent accompaniment was really annoying.
She thought that Xiao Mingzhang would say some trivial things to her again before taking her home, but to her surprise, this time Xiao Mingzhang went straight to the point, also on horseback, and said, "Yunzhu, I want to talk to you about Azhi."
"Azhi?"
If there's anything in this world that could instantly stir Yunzhu's heartstrings, it would undoubtedly be something related to her daughter.
She immediately transformed into a hedgehog, covered in sharp quills, and asked, "What do you want with Azhi?"
Xiao Mingzhang was puzzled as to why neither Yunzhu nor Ayan would immediately become hateful and righteous as soon as they saw him having any contact with Mu Zhaozhi, as if they were afraid that he was someone who would harm the child.
But he is Mu Zhaozhi's father. Even tigers don't eat their cubs. What harm could he possibly do to his child?
"Don't worry, I won't do anything to Azhi, nor will I take her away from you," Xiao Mingzhang said gently.
"Then what do you want to say?" Even though Xiao Mingzhang said that, Yunzhu still couldn't rest easy.
She was always extremely cautious about matters concerning Xiao Mingzhang and her daughter, never hesitating to speculate about Xiao Mingzhang with the worst possible assumptions.
Xiao Mingzhang said helplessly, "Tell me about what happened to her today, and... her psychological problems."
Yunzhu was taken aback, as if she did not understand what Xiao Mingzhang meant by "these two things".
Xiao Mingzhang then told Yunzhu in detail everything he had learned about what had happened at the Zhang family banquet that day.
Upon hearing this, Yunzhu's eyes were filled with shock and anger that surpassed everything else.
Xiao Mingzhang said, "I have punished all the members of the Zhang family, but Yunzhu, I understand that it's not just the Zhang family now. Even ordinary classmates have mentioned me to Azhi, and when they ask too many questions about my existence, Azhi's expression changes..."
"Isn't this all your fault?!" Yunzhu's heart was already aching when she heard her daughter crying, and now, hearing Xiao Mingzhang say these things, she directly questioned him, "If you had left earlier, would this have happened?"
"Yes, it's my fault..." Having spent so much time with Yunzhu again, Xiao Mingzhang now knew that speaking softly to Yunzhu was always much more effective than speaking harshly.
As soon as he lowered his head to admit his mistake, Yunzhu's anger immediately subsided.
She looked intently at Xiao Mingzhang and listened as he said, "But Yunzhu, things have come to this point. The most important thing I need to do is to make amends, right? It's impossible to get Azhi's friends to take back what they said. What we need to do now is to make sure that group of children never mention my existence in front of Azhi again."
"How can we control a group of children?" Yunzhu subconsciously objected to Xiao Mingzhang's idea, but then she immediately thought of something.
Who is naturally able to control a group of children?
Isn't she the child's teacher now?
So this is why Xiao Mingzhang came to see her today? Yunzhu's eyes darted around, and she met Xiao Mingzhang's gaze.
Xiao Mingzhang seemed to be able to read her mind. Just when Yunzhu thought everything was clear, he cast a shadow over her at just the right moment.
“Disciplining children can be a method, but I feel that with A-Zhi’s intelligence, this method is far from enough… Actually, I’ve come here today to ask about something…”
"Yunzhu, why do you still refuse to acknowledge my identity to Azhi?"
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