Chapter 406: 406: Stolen Destiny

“Big Brother is dead, and Second Brother and Third Brother also couldn’t escape death’s grasp. Living to this day, I have stolen the years from my brothers and borrowed ten more from the heavens! If you want to kill me, just take my life! However…”

“You! ”

Elder Leisure wanted to speak, but the words got stuck in his throat.

Nan Tianzong suddenly turned his head, his sharp gaze shooting straight into Elder Leisure’s eyes: “As long as I, Nan Tianzong, live for one more day, I will never allow you to hurt her! Hurt my only family in this world! Otherwise, whether it’s regicide or parricide, I, Nan Tianzong, don’t mind trying!”

After he finished speaking, he didn’t wait for the other party to respond, and immediately rose up and flew away.

With a high-pitched roar, he leaped onto the tip of a plum tree, stepped once more, and shot up into the sky. When he landed again, he was already dozens of feet away. After a few leaps and bounds, he disappeared into the depths of the plum grove.

“You! You…damn bastard!”

Elder Leisure, who was left behind, took a while to shout out in anger! He clutched his chest in pain, gasping for breath.

After a while, he stood in place with a dejected expression, murmuring to himself.

“Xin’er, did I do wrong?”

“For so many years, I have been filled with regret for what happened back then. But why can’t he try to understand me! They were my children too… Losing them, my heart…”

“Xin’er, did you see it just now? Our child has grown up. I promised you at the beginning that I would send her to an ordinary farmer’s family, allow her to live a safe and carefree life like an ordinary person.”

“I thought that she was, after all, my descendant, and that a phoenix would still be a phoenix even if it fell into a chicken coop. It was only at this moment that I discovered I had overestimated her!”

“She is afraid of me, and she is on guard against me! I want to tell her that I am her father, but…I promised you that I would never reveal her true identity. I promised to never disturb her life for the rest of her life. But this time, she brought it upon herself. I did not break my promise.”

“Xin’er, is it cold over there? Wait for me to pick another plum branch for you. Slow down, and wait for me. Once I fulfill my long-cherished wish, I’ll definitely come down to accompany you…”

The heavy snow was still falling, fluttering down to the ground.

Liu Sisi followed the two maids as they walked out of the plum grove. The maids finally stopped their steps.

“Young Lord, walk straight ahead, and you will find the back hill of the Goddess of Mercy’s temple. We won’t send you any further. Take care.”

Liu Sisi hurriedly bowed in gratitude: “Thank you, girls, for the escort.”

However, there was no one speaking out in front of her. Liu Sisi looked up and only saw messy footprints on the ground. The two maids had already disappeared from sight.

Following the direction the two maids pointed out earlier, Liu Sisi started walking while pondering all the events that happened today. Suddenly, she remembered something.

Where did that person wearing the judge’s mask go?

She hadn’t walked far when she arrived at the back hill of the Zen temple. Soon, she encountered a few frantic people who were looking for someone on the hill.

Seeing her figure, Di Yelei didn’t care about the others around. He directly embraced her without a word, almost crushing her entire being into his body.

“I know it was my fault, I shouldn’t have lied to you yesterday. But I really didn’t mean to lie! The 100 taels of silver were really given to me by Zuo Xingyu, and last night, actually, I did… I did have something important to do…”

Di Yelei was shivering all over and kept talking into her ear, repeating many sentences incoherently.

“Alright, alright! Let go of me, everyone is watching you…”

Liu Sisi struggled twice but couldn’t break free from his embrace.

Thankfully, this was the back hill of the Zen temple, and there were very few passers-by. Otherwise, who knows what kind of scandal would have been caused.

“Sisi, I really care about you, I really didn’t mean to deceive you, I…”

Di Yelei’s expression remained incredibly agitated and couldn’t calm down. He still clung tightly to her, and a warm liquid trickled down his face and into her neck, burning her heart. Her heartbeat became inexplicably disordered for several beats!

“Don’t cry! Ye Lei, don’t be sad. I didn’t blame you, really! My leaving has nothing to do with you, I… I was kidnapped…”

“What did you say?”

Di Yelei finally let her go but suddenly raised his voice by several octaves. Without caring about his tears, he pushed her away from his arms and looked at her face.

The people nearby all turned to look at the commotion.

Di Yelei snapped back to reality, didn’t care about anything else, and quickly took Liu Sisi with him, calling everyone else to hurry down the hill.

“Let’s go! We’ll talk when we get home!”

He had a feeling that the content of what Liu Sisi was about to say was of utmost importance!

The group returned to where the carriage was parked, got in, and headed home quickly without any delay. Once they reached home, Liu Sisi silently entered the house.

Upon arriving home, Di Yelei didn’t bother with anything else. He jumped off the horse, didn’t even bother tying it up, and pulled Liu Sisi inside, shutting the room door behind them.

“Sisi, what on earth is going on? Who kidnapped you? How did you escape danger and return safely?”

He had thousands of questions and didn’t know where to start.

“It was the old man who gifted us the painting scroll back then. He was the one who kidnapped me. Here’s how it happened: I went to the restroom and came out, and a child handed me a strip of paper…”

Liu Sisi didn’t hide anything and quickly recounted everything from going to the restroom to receiving the paper strip, then going to the back hill and meeting the old man.

After hearing her story, Di Yelei took the plum blossom from Liu Sisi’s hair and threw it to the ground.

Finally, his eyes fell on the mink fur long banner on Liu Sisi’s body, and his gaze instantly dimmed. Who would have thought that it would be such an invaluable object? Why was that person treating Sisi so well? What was his real intention?

“So you’re saying that the old man who gifted us the painting at the lake is the former Crown Prince, and it was because of the seal on the painting that those people recognized you and spared your life? And the Gan family also recognized you as their goddaughter after that?…”

Liu Sisi nodded vehemently: “Yes, although it sounds long-winded, I think it’s mostly true after thinking about it!”

Even if her deduction was wrong, it shouldn’t be too far off.