Chapter 184 Scars
He kept a straight face, trying his best to maintain the demeanor of a strict father, but he couldn't hide the smile and satisfaction in his eyes. He just coughed and said, "Nonsense! If you do this again, Dad will be angry!" His tone sounded fierce, but it had no deterrent effect whatsoever.
"Okay." Xie Sangning replied with a smile, and took her father's arm, half-pushing and half-pulling him into the warm main hall. "Dad, come in quickly, it's cold outside. Your daughter had someone make you some bird's nest soup, and it's been kept warm."
With his daughter holding his arm, Xie Zhenting had long forgotten his anger.
As he followed his daughter's lead into the house, he finally had a chance to take a look at the general's mansion, which he hadn't seen for ten years.
As far as the eye can see, the hall is spacious and bright, with clean windows and tables.
The furnishings exude an air of grandeur and composure.
The most eye-catching thing is the several flags hanging on the walls on both sides!
That was no ordinary decoration; each side represented a bloody battle and a victory!
Xie Zhenting stopped in his tracks.
His eyes were fixed on the battle flags, and his chest felt as if it had been suddenly struck by something, aching and burning.
This was an arrangement that no old servant in the manor could have come up with, much less something that a fool like Xie Chengzong would have put up.
Only Ningning.
Only his daughter understood what these flags meant to him!
That was half a lifetime of military service, the glory that countless brothers risked their lives for!
He slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on Xie Sangning beside him.
How old was his daughter when he left home?
For ten years, he corresponded with his daughter. He only knew that she was intelligent, but he never thought that she could understand him so deeply and the meaning behind these flags!
This dedication and understanding warmed his heart more than any treasure.
"Ningning..." Xie Zhenting's voice was slightly hoarse, and his throat was a little tight.
A thousand words stuck in his throat, "...Very good. Father likes it very much."
Xie Sangning's eyes lit up instantly: "As long as Father likes them, I think that now that you're back, you should see them."
At this moment, a maid brought in a steaming bowl of bird's nest and gently placed it on a small sandalwood table next to her.
"Father, please drink some while it's hot." Xie Sangning let go of her father's hand, picked up a cup herself, and carefully presented it to Xie Zhenting.
Xie Zhenting looked at the small white porcelain cup his daughter handed him, the crystal-clear bird's nest soup inside emitting a warm, sweet fragrance.
Just as he reached out to take it, Xie Sangning's sleeve slipped down slightly by an inch due to the movement.
Xie Zhenting's gaze froze instantly!
On the inside of that fair wrist, near the wrist bone, there was a scar about an inch long, its color faded but still hideous, like an ugly centipede, which was exposed in front of you!
Xie Sangning's heart skipped a beat, and in a flash he realized what had been exposed!
Almost instinctively, she wanted to pull her wrist back and cover the mark with her wide sleeve.
But Xie Zhenting was even faster!
"What is this?!" Xie Zhenting stared intently at the scar. "Who did this?!"
Xie Sangning knew she couldn't hide it anymore.
This scar is the deepest stain on her heart that she least wants to show to others.
Over the years, every letter she wrote to her father and brothers was filled with sunshine, carefully concealing all cracks and shadows.
Living a life of constant danger and risk, there is no room for distraction.
If her father, with his violent temper, knew that she had suffered injustice in the capital… Xie Sangning could hardly imagine the bloody consequences that would ensue.
That foolish couple from the second wife insulted her so badly at the city gate today, touching her father's sore spot. It would be a miracle if they even live to see next month.
The father would not personally get his hands dirty with his own brothers' blood, but for him, there were countless ways to make the two disappear silently, without leaving any trace.
But this scar... this scar is her choice, a mark of her weakness, and has nothing to do with anyone else.
Xie Sangning raised her other hand and gently placed it on her father's large, trembling hand with its veins bulging. The gesture was meant to soothe him.
"Father, you've frightened your daughter."
“This scar… was inflicted by my daughter herself.”
Xie Zhenting's pupils suddenly contracted!
The grip on her daughter's wrist loosened subconsciously for a moment.
“That year, Mother had just passed away…and you and my brother also left.”
Xie Sangning's voice was soft, and her eyes were somewhat unfocused, as if she had pierced through time and seen her younger, helpless self.
"It's very cold in the mansion. The servants treat people differently based on their status, and Madam Wang is especially smug. She told me personally that my father is in a dangerous situation at the border, where swords and spears have no eyes, and he may never come back... saying that I've become an unwanted orphan..."
She felt her father's fingers tighten suddenly on her wrist. She took a breath and continued:
"I was too young then, and I was scared. I felt like the sky was falling, and all that was left in my life was despair. My mind was blank, and all I could think about was... maybe that way, at least I could see my mother again."
Xie Sangning's voice was soft, but her calm narration was more unsettling than any loud sobbing.
“I took a shard of porcelain…” She lowered her eyes slightly, her long eyelashes casting a small shadow beneath them, “and then I slashed hard across this wrist…”
"It hurts...it really hurts..." Her voice trembled slightly, "I suddenly remembered..."
Xie Sangning raised her head and looked at her father:
"I remember how much my father loved me... He said, how could he bear to never come back? How could he abandon me?"
“My daughter was confused and bewitched by those words.” She shook her head gently, as if trying to shake off that unbearable memory. “When I woke up in pain and was scared, I covered my bleeding hand tightly and ran out of the mansion to find the pharmacy.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the large main hall fell into a deathly silence.
Xie Zhenting's hand, which was holding his daughter's wrist, had lost its previous strength.
Those eyes, once filled with murderous intent, now held only pain, self-blame, and lingering fear!
He imagined... how his little, jade-like daughter, trembling and huddled in a cold corner, despairing at the thought of losing her mother's protection and learning that her father and brothers might never return...
How was it that the words of that poisonous woman, Wang, drove them to a dead end...?
How did she pick up the sharp shard of porcelain and, with a resolute yet bewildered expression, slash it at her slender wrist...?
After she endured all of this, the letters she sent to him always read, "My daughter is doing well."
The valiant general, who had dedicated half his life to protecting the nation, shed scalding tears for his daughter at this moment.
"Ningning...it's all my fault...it's all my fault that you've suffered..."
Xie Sangning didn't say anything, but simply reached out and patted his father's broad back repeatedly, as if comforting a wronged child.
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