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Published at 6th of April 2022 06:04:15 PM


Chapter 369: A Difficult Choice

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Shi Junhe put on a long face and planned to rebuke Shi Qingxue if she didn’t listen to his advice.

In the end, Shi Qingxue was obedient beyond expectation this time, but her attitude…

It was beyond expression.

Anyway the father was unhappy and glared at Shi Qingxue’s receding figure.

Dong Hui stopped Shi Junhe and advised, “You know well about your daughter. It’s great that she listened to you. Don’t bother about her too much.”

“Judging from her attitude, it seems that she didn’t listen to me sincerely,” Shi Junhe said doubtfully.

Shi Qingxue had done many things to agree to his face but oppose secretly.

Dong Hui chuckled. “Fine. I have something to tell her. She will understand you.”

She patted Shi Junhe’s hand and then went to the Luotong Boudoir.

When Dong Hui arrived, Shi Qingxue was writing something at the desk. As soon as she saw her mother come, she hid the brush pen and paper behind her back in panic.

Before Dong Hui approached her, Qingxue walked out in a hurry and showed a bright smile. “Mother, what brought you here?”

Dong Hui saw Shi Qingxue’s actions yet turned a blind eye. She just joked, “What’s up? Don’t you welcome your mother now?”

Shi Qingxue wouldn’t fall into the trap. She stuck out her tongue naughtily, saying with a smile, “Mother, you just like to tease me. You know that I don’t mean it.”

“Fine. I won’t tease you. You are not busy now. Come and sit with me for a while.” Dong Hui grabbed Shi Qingxue’s hand and pulled her to sit at the table.

Shi Qingxue had a guilty conscience and thought that Dong Hui wouldn’t do something good.

She was restless and couldn’t help but ask as soon as she sat down, “Mother, what do you want to tell me?”

“Do you live in comfort in the Luotong Boudoir these days?” Dong Hui started, as if to have a small talk with her.

Shi Qingxue had to answer obediently, “I have lived in the Luotong Boudoir for nearly ten years, so it’s certainly nice to live here.”

Dong Hui nodded with satisfaction and then asked, “How is it compared with the Lanxun Villa?”

Qingxue paused for a moment, with hesitation flashing in her eyes, while she still nodded and told the truth. “East or west, home is best.”

Dong Hui smiled again but didn’t speak.

She just grabbed Qingxue’s hand and placated her gently, as if enjoying the rare closeness between the mother and daughter.

In the beginning, Shi Qingxue was nervous and waited for Dong Hui’s next words, yet while waiting, she relaxed gradually and couldn’t help but lean against her mother’s arms like before, behaving in a spoiled manner.

“Mother, I miss you,” Qingxue murmured and unconsciously showed what she was thinking about.

After the lunar New Year’s Eve, she was busy all the time. She went to pray for her mother on Tan Mountain and then stayed in the Lanxun Villa, looking after her brother.

She had few chances to meet her mother, not to mention staying with her alone and whispering to each other.

Earlier, especially when she saw that Dong Hui expelled Shi Qingmin without mercy, Shi Qingxue didn’t dare to imagine that she and Dong Hui could be intimate someday as before.

Shi Qingxue was touched and couldn’t help feeling that her eyes were hot. She hurriedly buried her head on Dong Hui’s shoulder and concealed her tears.

Dong Hui felt that it was hot on her shoulder and just reached out her arms to hug her daughter’s shoulders, saying with a smile, “Well. How old are you? You still act like a spoilt child.”

Shi Qingxue didn’t raise her head but expressed gloomily, “No matter how old I am, I am your daughter.”

Dong Hui couldn’t help laughing. Why did she think that Shi Qingxue had grown up? It appeared that she was still a baby.

Qingxue was ridiculed by her mother, and her face blushed. She murmured with displeasure, “I am not a baby. Brothers are babies. I have grown up.”

Dong Hui was stunned and then caressed Shi Qingxue’s smooth long hair with a smile, sighing with emotion. “Yes, you have grown up. You are getting married.”

Shi Qingxue retorted, “Not so soon. The country is unstable now. If the rebellion can’t be settled, the whole capital city won’t be peaceful, let alone our family.”

Dong Hui looked at Shi Qingxue helplessly. “Do you still want to go to the northern border in person?”

Shi Qingxue didn’t answer.

She was seen through and didn’t want to cheat Dong Hui, so she had to lower her head in silence.

“Alas!”

Dong Hui shook her head with a bitter smile. She knew that her daughter was as obstinate as a mule, so she didn’t get angry but sighed with emotion. “You and Baoning are my daughters, yet you are completely different from each other in character. She marries a general but wishes that she will never be related to a war, while you are still unmarried but want to go to the battlefield to court death. I don’t know what to do.”

Shi Qingxue didn’t think so. She pouted. “Mother, you know the family rules. We are not afraid of dying on the battlefield but of being a deserter, and even the girls should know the rules in the Shi Army. The members of the Shi family will never have a reason to shrink back.”

Looking at her daughter’s fearless expression, Dong Hui was in a daze.

She could understand Shi Baoning who wanted to shrink back. Nobody hoped that her baby would lose its father before it was born, and the fear could almost envelop her.

When she was pregnant with Shi Baoning, Shi Junhe went out to suppress the bandits once and she was left at home, so she was restless all day long and couldn’t fall asleep at night, keeping thinking about when he could come back.

From time to time, she thought about what she should do if Shi Junhe died.

She had felt such fear once and didn’t want to experience it for the second time.

However, the men in the Shi family…

Shi Junhe and Weiren Chi were not afraid of death, while she couldn’t stop them from courting death.

It was because these were the ancestral rules of the Shi family and the Shi Army, and they couldn’t be changed.

So on the one hand, Dong Hui was proud of Qingxue’s braveness and resolution, and she raised a daughter who was tougher than a man, while on the other hand, as a mother, she was more worried about her children.

She thought that Shi Qingxue wasn’t afraid because she was so young that she hadn’t experienced the pain and suffer of the separation between loved ones in life or death.

She was ignorant, so she was fearless.

However, if Shi Qingxue knew Dong Hui’s worry, she would surely retort her loudly.

Speaking of which, she could understand death even more than Dong Hui.

However, would they cease to advance because they would die?

Shi Qingxue wouldn’t do that.

She raised her chin haughtily like every proud member of the Shi family, taking an oath with her determination.

Of course, Shi Qingxue wasn’t a brainless person.

She understood her mother’s worry. Seeing that Dong Hui looked pale, she hurriedly reached out her hand to hold Dong Hui’s wrist and said with a sweet smile, “Mother, don’t worry. Although I am still reluctant, I have agreed with Father, so I will do it. I won’t do anything arbitrarily.”

Last time, she disobeyed Dong Hui regardless of anything and ran away from home sneakily because she had no choice but to save her father and brother.

Nevertheless, it was different this time. She wanted to capture Mo Junhao in person, yet when she couldn’t do it, she wouldn’t force herself.

Mo Junhao didn’t deserve her great effort.

Hearing Shi Qingxue’s promise, Dong Hui finally showed a smile on her face, while she was still worried, so she demanded involuntarily, “Since you agree with your father, why not move back and live at home?”

“Didn’t I…” Shi Qingxue opened her mouth and then understood what her mother meant when she met Dong Hui’s eyes with excitement.

She was stunned and kept quiet.

Although Dong Hui had never driven her away, Shi Qingxue stayed outside much longer than staying at home these days.

She even tacitly approved that she would live outside in the future.

However, Dong Hui told her to move back to the mansion.

Shi Qingxue was joyful, but then she felt more depressed.

She lowered her head and stayed silent for quite a while.

Then she asked in a low and gloomy voice, “Mother, don’t you want to separate me from my brother-in-law?”

Dong Hui looked flurried and blurted out, “How did you know it?”

She covered her mouth at once and stopped herself from saying something that she shouldn’t say.

However, what she had said was enough to prove everything.

“Sure enough.” Shi Qingxue looked as if she understood.

She had just guessed it in the past, yet now she confirmed it.

Now it was Dong Hui’s turn to feel restless.

She cautiously observed Shi Qingxue’s expression and then felt surprised as she saw that the girl didn’t get angry obviously.

She couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you angry?”

Shi Qingxue kept silent for a while and then shook her head. “I am not angry. You just consider for my sister’s marriage, right?”

In some sense, Dong Hui indeed chose to protect Shi Baoning’s marriage and give up Shi Qingxue.

Even though she could be courageous with sufficient reasons earlier, when she faced Shi Qingxue, she couldn’t help feeling guilty. “I am sorry. I…”

Dong Hui hesitated for a long time yet couldn’t find proper words.

She had done it, and it seemed unnecessary to explain away, but she would expose herself unwittingly while trying to cover up.

“No need to say sorry,” Shi Qingxue answered indifferently.

Dong Hui was guilty and anxious. She pulled Shi Qingxue’s arm and wanted to say more, yet Qingxue stopped her in advance and smiled. “Mother, I mean it. You really don’t need to say sorry. I understand you, but…”

While speaking, Shi Qingxue stopped smiling and looked serious, adding solemnly, “But I must tell you that I and Chi are just siblings, and there is no secret relationship between us. Please don’t misunderstand us, Mother.”

She said so calmly and seriously, and it made Dong Hui think that she had dirty thoughts in the past.

She felt ashamed yet meanwhile smiled with relief. “Fine. I trust you. I have raised you, so I certainly trust your moral quality. Let it pass, and we will never mention it, okay? Move back home, will you?”

Dong Hui felt guilty in front of Shi Qingxue, so she wanted to compensate this daughter.

Shi Qingxue still furrowed her arch eyebrows slightly.

She looked at Dong Hui in silence for a while and then spoke haltingly. “Mother, I won’t leave Qingmin alone. If I move back, how will you treat him?”

Shi Qingxue believed Dong Hui’s love for her, while she didn’t know what her mother would choose between her love for Qingxue and her disgust with Qingmin.




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