7 Chapter 7 | Your Father (1/2)
Yue Mian road her horse all the way to the market area, she stopped in front before the entrance and looked over, there were too many people ahead, so she couldn't ride her horse in. She jumped off and walked with him beside her. The big horse made it awkward for her to pass through without being glared at by the citizens.
She managed to arrive safely at her destination and went around to the back, she tied her horses reins to a pole and walked into the store from the back entrance. As she walked in she was greeted with a smile from the lady who worked for her mother, she was currently mixing the ingredients for lemongrass tea and she could smell the pungent flavour the lemongrass was giving off.
She smiled lightly at the lady and asked, ”Is my mother out front?” to which the lady smiled and nodded indicating that she was correct. Yue Mian walked past her and met her grandmother in front who was looking through the stores' supply list and crossing some items out.
She walked over to her grandmother who was surprised to see her and smiled, ”YuMi, you're here? What a wonderful surprise this is, come, sit with me and tell grandmama what brings you here.” She sat down opposite her grandmother and slouched, her chin was placed on the inside of her palm that was supported by her arm that was placed on the table with her elbow supporting her head up.
Her grandmother frowned and said, ”Young lady sit up straight! Where is your table manners? What did I tell you about your elbows being on the table?”
Yue Mian looked at her grandmother and smiled, she sat up straight with her back against the chair rest and cupped her right hand with her left inside her sleeves and looked at her grandmother with an innocent face and asked, ”Like this grandmama?”
Her grandmother Ye Ning couldn't help, but laugh, this grandchild of hers was truly silly and adorable. ”Mn, now young lady, does your grandfather know you are here?” Yue Mian smiled awkwardly and shook her head then slouched again into her previous position and said, ”Grandfather is with Emperor An and the Naiad Empire's Emperor, I came here because I wanted to speak to mama about something.”
Ye Ning smiled naughtily and said, ”Is it because you found your husband-to-be?” Yue Mian's eye widened and she frowned, she hit her hands slightly against the table annoyed and said, ”Grandmama, how can you think of such a thing? Do you really want this granddaughter of yours to belong to someone else and never see me again?”
Ye Ning chuckled behind her sleeve and answered, ”Of cause not child, you know grandmama doesn't want you to leave my side, this old lady will be lonely without my naughty grandchild around.”
”Grandmama, I'm not naughty,” she said while pouting. ”Alright alright, your mother is out front with the customers, go say hello to her, I still have things to finish up before we go home, you must let me know if you want anything alright YuMi?”Yue Mian nodded her head then left to see her mother.
Arriving at the front of the store she frowned, it was bustling with chatter; sitting at the tables, there were many people, men, woman, old and young speaking to their heart's content with smiles on their faces while sipping on the refreshments and nibbling on the passion fruit buns that were made this morning.
One of the employees noticed Yue Mian and told her mother. Ni Xing's attention went to Yue Mian and she smiled, she motioned with her hand for her to come over and she did. She hugged her mother tightly placing her head right under Ni Xing's breasts.
Giving her mother a little squeeze she said, ”Mama, don't work too hard today.” Ni Xing smiled and patted her daughter on the back while saying, ”YuMi, have you come to visit me today?” she brushed the hair that was dangling infront on Yue Mian's right eye away and smiled gently waiting for a reply.
She let go of her mother and looked at her; Ni Xing knelt down and held on to the sides of Yue Mian's arms, with an awkward smile she smiled at her mother and nodded, ”Mama, I no longer want to be the Emperor's goddaughter.”
Ni Xing's eye widened, ”Silly child.” She got up and greeted her customers one last time then took Yue Mian by the hands and led her to the back where her grandmother was; when they reached the back her grandmother wasn't there anymore, it was just the two of them.
The two of them sat down on the cushioned chairs and gazed at each other; this mother and daughter pair had a strange relationship that only the two of them understood.
Breaking the silence Ni Xing asked, ”What happened?” Yue Mian hesitated before answering; before she never cared about how she came into this world, nor did she care about other human beings, she just cared about her martial arts, the rest were just formalities and things she needed to do in order to live a little longer.
”An Cheng called me a fatherless bastard,” she said after lowering her head, today was the first time she was called this and felt hurt, she wanted to beat him up, but he was the Crown Prince of the Empire and hurting him would cause trouble for her grandparents and mother. She did not want to implicate them and held back all her anger.
”Mama, who is he?”, she looked back up at her mother with glossy eyes and asked. Ni Xing's heart trembled, seeing her daughter like this was a first for her. Yue Mian was fidgeting the whole time and biting on her bottom lip and was not looking at her making eye contact like normal.
In the beginning, she wanted to tell Yue Mian who her father was, but since she had no interest before, she never mentioned it.
”YuMi, are you sure you want to know? she asked confirming her daughter's previous question. Yue Mian hesitated before nodding her head slowly with a raised brow.
Ni Xing smiled and was about to say something when her thoughts stopped, [How do I say this so she can understand?] she thought. She was stuck inside her head and was brought back when Yue Mian called out to her, ”Mama?”
Ni Xing smiled then said, ”Should I start from the beginning or do you want to know who he is?”