“What do you want?”

His experience at war definitely showed.

He was tough and to the point.

“I…” Xia Ruoxin licked her dry lips. Lu Ke’en’s expression was cold, but she had nothing to fear. Like she had said, there was nothing in it for her.

She clenched her fists again.

“I have a daughter. She’s been abducted. The news that we’ve found so far indicated that she died in a mudslide, but I refuse to give up. Therefore, I’ve gotten Mr. Lu to help me find her even if it were her corpse. The price I have to pay is to become Lu Xiaohua and help Madam Lu recover. You can put your mind at ease. I’m a mother.” She placed her hand on her chest. “I know how painful it is to lose your daughter.

“I accepted this identity, and I will fulfill my promise to Mr. Lu. I will treat Madam Lu like my mother and leave after she has recovered.”

Lu Ke’en’s tightly knitted brows seemed to relax a little. However, Xia Ruoxin knew that none of her words would matter. She was still a suspicious figure to Lu Ke’en.

It would not be easy for her to earn everyone’s trust.

However, none of this really mattered to her. She never had any intention of becoming the missy of the Lu family her whole life; neither did she intend to take a cut of the Lu family’s fortune.

…

Jian Qingying suddenly sat up.

“Xiaohua, where’s my Xiaohua?”

Qin Xuejuan was surprised by the sudden movement. She was almost scared out of her wits from that. The madam was a dancer when she was younger. Even though she had already stopped, her foundation was still there. Her spin was still on point.

“Xiaohua, Xuejuan, where’s my Xiaohua? Where’s my Xiaohua?” Jian Qingying grabbed Qin Xuejuan’s hand anxiously. She wanted to go find her daughter. Her daughter did not disappear after she woke up, right? It was not all a dream, was it?

“You mean Missy? She’s talking to Master now.” Qin Xuejuan helped her lie down and put the blanket over her. “Please wait, I’ll go get her. Also, please don’t worry. Our missy has been found; she won’t go anywhere.”

Jian Qingying sighed in relief. She hugged her blanket tightly, but she still could not believe it unless her daughter was right in front of her right now.

After a while, the door opened again.

Jian Qingying gripped her blanket tightly again. The person who entered the room was none other than Lu Xiaohua.

“Xiaohua.” She sat up hurriedly and reached towards her daughter.

Xia Ruoxin gripped Jian Qingying’s hand tightly. She did not know how to face the woman. She had never had much affinity with parents, and her biological mother had not been kind to her.

Her first set of mother’s love stopped when she was four, and she had long forgotten it.

Her second chance of feeling motherly love was from Song Wan, but she ripped that apart.

This third set of motherly love could be felt from the woman before her, but that would never be hers.

She wondered if a woman, who had wanted more than ten years for her daughter, was another version of herself. However, she did not want herself to be hanging by a thread while her daughter was suffering when they reunited.

So she would rather that she died early so that she could have good parents in her next life.

“Xiaohua.” Jian Qingying caressed Xia Ruoxin’s face gently. “It’s my Lu Xiaohua, it is my Xiaohua. Can you call me mommy?” The unfamiliarity in her daughter broke her heart.

She had been missing her daughter for over a decade.

Xia Ruoxin gripped Jian Qingying’s hand tightly. She suddenly looked up.

“Mommy.” The unfamiliar term was something that she had forgotten and not said in a long time.

Yes, mother… someone else’s mother.

“My dear child, my dear child.” Jian Qingying cried as she hugged Xia Ruoxin. She would apologize periodically and say that she had not forgotten her daughter in the years. She remembered her daughter’s birthday every year. She would prepare cakes and presents.

Even though it had been more than ten years, each object represented a year. It represented a past that they have grown older, that their daughter had grown older, too. However, she would never know that her daughter would never grow up. Her Xiaohua had withered. She was forever frozen at seven years old. While they grew old, she was already dead.

“Eat this first.” Xia Ruoxin picked up a bowl of soup for Jian Qingying. Calling her mother had been rather tough. After all, this was not her real mother. She needed time, and she believed Jian Qingying did, too.

Jian Qingying knew that Xia Ruoxin was not too close or enthusiastic towards her. Even though she was a little sad, she knew that some things could not be rushed. After all, their daughter had been away from them for more than a decade.

However, she took all the soup that her daughter fed her. She would even take it if it were poison.

Xia Ruoxin knew that Jian Qingying’s body was in bad shape because of her overthinking. If she had proper meals and rest, things would turn around soon. She herself was a light sleeper, too, until Chu Lui found an old Chinese doctor and taught him ways to soak her feet. It was strange, but she slept well with the help of the herbs.

She helped Xiao Ma prepare the same herbs, and she brewed them before she brought a basin.

“Xiaohua, what is this?”

Jian Qingying caressed her daughter’s face. She really doted on her now-found daughter. She would give the child everything she owned. She even gave Xia Ruoxin her jewelry, but the latter did not take it and returned it to Lu Ke’en. She was not after other people’s things. Besides, those things were not unfamiliar to her so she was not really interested.

Xia Ruoxin placed the basin on the floor and rolled up her sleeves. “This was a method mentioned by an old Chinese doctor. He said that soaking your feet would help with insomnia. Mom, you should do it more.”

“Okay, okay,” Jian Qingying repeated as her voice choked up.

Xia Ruoxin felt that this woman really could cry. She wondered how the Lu family father and son survived all these years. Most of the woman’s time was spent on crying.