To this day, Xie Zhifei still remembered the scene from ten years ago when Mother stood at the window.

At that time, separated by the gauze window screen, he couldn’t see the expression on Mother’s face, but he vaguely sensed that Mother was somewhat unhappy.

And at this moment, Xie Zhifei stood right beside Zhao shi. Every inch of expression on Zhao shi’s face was right under his eyelids.

Those eyes of hers that curved like crescent moons when she smiled flashed with a trace of resentful, venomous pain, then quickly dissolved into a sheet of calm.

Xie Zhifei followed her gaze toward the person at the end of her line of sight—it was none other than Huaiyou!

But Zhao shi’s voice remained gentle: “Huaizuo, stop bothering your sister. Come help Mother thread a needle.”

“Oh!”

Little Huaizuo, seeing that Mother didn’t scold him, was naturally willing to do anything.

Just as he stood up to walk out, he suddenly thought of something. He picked up the characters Huaiyou was writing, rushed to the window, and showed them to Zhao shi like presenting a treasure.

“Mother, look at Sister’s characters. Are they written well?”

Zhao Qingyun’s scallion-like fingers tapped her son’s forehead. “When will you ever have your sister’s cleverness and obedience?”

“Mother, look at the characters quickly!”

“Mother doesn’t even need to look to know your sister has improved again.”

Zhao Qingyun urged: “Quickly, return them to your sister.”

Little Huaizuo ran back to the study in a patter, placed the paper on the desk, and silently mouthed to Huaiyou: “See, I told you it could be glossed over.”

Then he pattered out again.

“Mother, who are you doing needlework for?”

“For you and your father, a pair of shoes for each.”

“Why doesn’t Sister have any?”

“Sister’s shoes need embroidery. Mother’s embroidery isn’t as beautiful as what the embroiderers in the manor can do.”

Zhao Qingyun took her son’s hand: “In a moment, take off your shoes and socks so Mother can measure your feet to see if they’ve grown…”

Xie Zhifei didn’t follow them.

He passed through the wall and entered the study.

In the study, Huaiyou sat down silently. Her left hand smoothed out that sheet of paper, her right hand picked up the brush, dipped it in some ink, and lowered her head to write.

Writing and writing, a teardrop fell.

With the first drop came the second… Soon, the characters on the paper were all blurred.

Xie Zhifei crouched down in front of her.

Eight-year-old Huaiyou had already begun to grow taller. On her childishly round face, one could clearly see the rudimentary outline of a future beauty.

This face, in eight-year-old little Huaizuo’s eyes, was equivalent to a pig’s head, but in adult Xie Zhifei’s eyes, it was extraordinarily beautiful.

“Why doesn’t Mother like me? Am I not her biological child?”

Xie Zhifei habitually reached out to wipe her tears, only to discover his hand couldn’t touch her.

Clever people are also more sensitive than others.

Mother didn’t like Huaiyou—Huaiyou had always known this. After it happened many times, she began to have doubts.

But they were only doubts.

Twins—people who came into this world one after the other—how could the son be biological while the daughter wasn’t?

Little Huaiyou wiped her tears, crumpled the blurred paper into a ball and threw it away, then took another sheet of white paper and began copying model calligraphy.

She copied with focus and devotion. When tears filled her eyes, she wiped them away with her sleeve.

Because she wiped tears so many times, it rubbed against the skin of her cheeks. Her whole face became flushed red, and besides grievance, it also revealed a thread of resilience.

As if… if she wrote this page of characters well, Mother would like her.

Or as if… she clearly knew Mother wouldn’t like her, but still wanted to write the characters to perfection.

Xie Zhifei didn’t know whether the feeling in his heart at this moment was more heartache or more gratification.

This girl’s temperament was so like Shen Duruo!

…

After Huaizuo was called away by Zhao shi, he never returned.

After Huaiyou finished copying the characters, she began reading books.

She was reading “The Book of Later Han,” entirely abstruse and difficult to understand. Xie Zhifei still hadn’t finished reading it to this day, but Huaiyou just flipped through it page by page, reading with great interest.

It wasn’t until Huaizuo came to call her for dinner that she closed the book.

Seeing this, Xie Zhifei suddenly understood one thing: dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and a mouse’s son knows how to burrow.

It was said that among the Zheng family’s grandchildren generation, not one liked reading—they all practiced martial arts.

The meal was sent from the front courtyard.

Knowing today was the twins’ birthday, the dishes were especially sumptuous—a full eight dishes and one soup, plus some seasonal fresh fruits and snacks.

During meals there should be no conversation; during sleep there should be no talk.

This dull meal continued to the end. When Huaizuo took the mouthful of leftover rice Huaiyou handed him, Xie Zhifei saw Zhao shi’s face change slightly.

Huaizuo stuffed all the leftover rice into his mouth, grabbed Huaiyou’s arm and stood up, his voice muffled by the food.

“Mother, I’m taking Sister to walk off our meal. Sister, let’s walk an extra round today.”

“Why?”

“Father will definitely bring us something delicious when he returns. Your little belly won’t be able to hold it…”

“I’m not afraid—I have Brother!”

Zhao shi’s face changed from red to white, then from white to black.

Xie Zhifei crouched in front of Zhao shi, looking at her with an incredulous gaze.

Why?

Before, when I ate Sister’s leftover mouthful of rice, weren’t you quite happy about it? Why are you showing a black face now?

Mother, what are you thinking in your heart?

Zhao shi stood up, collected the dishes into the food box, then carried the food box outside the courtyard. After looking around several times, she closed the door.

On a late summer afternoon, even the cicadas had fallen asleep.

Zhao shi’s afternoon nap was short, just the time it took to drink a cup of tea. She got up and re-combed her hair, collected the sun-dried clothes from the courtyard, and folded them one by one.

After folding them, she first went to her son’s room to deliver clothes.

Huaizuo was sprawled on the bed in all directions, exposing half his little belly.

Zhao shi shook her head, took the thin blanket from the foot of the bed, and covered his stomach. After covering him, she sat down by the bedside.

She sat motionless, her eyes fixed, as if gazing at some peerless treasure.

Time passed bit by bit.

When Huaizuo on the bed turned over, only then did Zhao shi stand up and walk out.

When she reached the doorway, she turned her head and smiled slightly. That smile slowly unfurled before Xie Zhifei’s eyes, her brows and eyes curved downward, truly like a crescent moon.

Zhao shi didn’t enter Huaiyou’s room. She left the clothes in the study.

Turning to leave, her gaze inadvertently swept over the paper on the desk. She first froze, then her eyes revealed amazement.

Xie Zhifei didn’t need to lower his head to know this was a piece of fine calligraphy that even Father, upon seeing it, couldn’t help but praise for half a day.

However, her amazement flashed past in an instant. At the same time, those eyes that had been curved like crescent moons suddenly became sharp and severe, her pupils cold as ice.

Mother was literate and was considered a talented woman within a hundred li radius.

Mother’s calligraphy was very good. She said she had practiced hard since childhood. Xie Zhifei had also seen it, but compared to this piece of calligraphy by Huaiyou, it was still far inferior.

Was Mother jealous?

At this moment, Zhao shi’s gaze slowly moved to that copy of “The Book of Later Han.” Her scallion-like fingers casually flipped through it, and the expression on her face suddenly became fierce and distorted, like a ghost or demon.

A chill rose from the bottom of Xie Zhifei’s heart.

This was a Zhao shi he had never seen before. Not only had he never seen her like this, he wouldn’t even dare to imagine it.

He clearly realized:

This was jealousy!