Chapter Text
Ning Yingying felt remorse. She saw her Shizun end up like this. She cried while smiling gratefully at Shizun's mangled body. Finally, Shizun was no longer suffering. But for some reason, her bastard husband seemed hurt by Shizun's death, even though he himself had caused this. How dare he demand the life of his deceased baba?
So Ning Yingying put the finishing touches on him by cruelly killing him with hundreds of poisons mixed together.
And in the end, she smiled, at least Baba could rest easy seeing this ungrateful disciple finally die.
"Baba, if there's a next life, Yingying won't be so naive anymore."
•••
"Oh, A-Jiu, look, he's finally awake."
"Well, at least she doesn't have a fever anymore," said someone Ning Yingying missed dearly.
What? Wait, why is baba here? And I-
"Oh, Xiao Ying is crying again."
"Yingying, it's okay, your Jiujiu is here. Don't cry, okay? Let your pain go away." Shen Jiu said softly, gently patting the child in his lap.
No, it can't be that baba is here. He's hugging me, he's here.
Ning Yingying clutched his robe tightly, refusing to let go. Her vision was blurry, but she could still make out the faint memory of her first home at the brothel in the voices of the women who were her aunts.
Mei Lian, watching Shen Jiu tighten his grip on Ning Yingying, remained silent, considering it was already noon.
"A-Jiu, the sun is high. Are you sure you won't be back?"
"Don't go..." Ning Yingying said hoarsely.
"No, Mei-jie, I'll stay with Ying'er today," Shen Jiu replied, unable to bear seeing his niece struggling with her fever. Moreover, he had promised his sister that he would take care of Yingying.
Shen Jiu gently tucked his niece back into bed to rest.
•••
Ning Yingying woke up to the sound of loud screams and the rumbling of things.
“Brute! Leave me alone! Go away!”
“Not until you continue to embarrass the sect and ruin your cultivation!”
“Just shut up and go!”
Ning Yingying, seeing this situation, immediately realized what was happening. She knew her baba would be dragged to the sect and wouldn’t return for over a month. She didn’t want that to happen.
So she rubbed her eyes with her small hands and whimpered.
The two men, noticing the small cries, immediately turned their heads and saw the child, who was now awake.
“Ma-mama…” Ning Yingying whimpered as she struggled to get up and head towards Shen Jiu. She had deliberately called him mama instead of baba.
“Mama?” Liu Qingge frowned. He watched Shen Jiu grab the girl and hold her on his lap.
While Shen Jiu grinned, he saw his Shidi’s confused face. So let’s go with that assumption. Maybe it will silence that brute one.
“Oh, Ying’er, don’t cry, mama's here. You must be scared by this rude person. It’s okay, mama will chase him away,” Shen Qingqiu said jokingly, clearly seeing Liu Qingge blush.
“Shen Qingqiu, you!”
“What? I told you to go away, don’t bother me and my daughter.”
The women in the warm red pavilion smiled understandingly. They then began to shoo Liu Qingge out of the room.
“Go away, you’re bothering them!”
“Don’t you feel sorry for Yingying, who finally gets to see her mama after so long!”
“Don’t bother them!”
The door closed, leaving Ning Yingying in Shen Qingqiu’s arms.
“Ying’er, why do you call me mommy? I’m your jiujiu.”
“Ying’er wants mama. My jiujiu is as good as my mama, so my jiujiu is my mama.”
Shen Jiu sighed. But what was wrong with being his niece’s mama? Especially since that would allow him to take Yingying to the mountains.
“Okay, then you are Shen Yingying now, the daughter of Shen Qingqiu, the lord of Qing Jing Peak,” Shen Jiu affirmed. At least that would dispel the rumors of him going to a brothel.
Ning— Shen Yingying smiled. She had a new name and, of course, a new mother.
•••
Meanwhile, Liu Qingge walked fast up to Qian Cao Peak and asked a question that made Mu Qingfang pause and drop the medicine he was holding.
“Shen Qingqiu is a woman?”
“What?”