CHAPTER 122: CHAPTER 122; THAT’S BECAUSE SHE DIDN’T

She hugged her tightly in her arms until the little girl whizzed in pain.

Jin Shuren’s voice came low from behind her, not for the others, only for her to hear. "No one will take her from you again, don’t hug her too painfully, she is delicate and tiny... Be careful with her..."

The warmth of his cedarwood scent lingered in the air between them, and despite the chaos around her, Yueyao felt an unfamiliar certainty, it was dangerous to trust him, but it was far more dangerous not to.

"Yueyao... She is not your baby! We have only one child! That’s Shen Xuan... They are lying to you.." Shen Xiao was getting frustrated. With her mental health spiraling, it was easy to feed her fantasy.

"I have only one child... Yueqin... She is my child... My little baby..." She instinctively turned her face, and when Shen Xiao saw that face, he almost had a heart attack. She was Yueyao’s mini copy... They looked exactly like each other... You didn’t need a DNA test to confirm that they were a mother and daughter.

How was this possible? The girl looked a bit smaller than Shen Xuan, where did this girl come from? When did she give birth to another baby? He was lost, frustrated, and heartbroken.

Shen Xiao’s voice cut through the moment like a blade.

"Where did she come from, Yueyao?" His tone was low at first, almost strangled, but there was a rising edge beneath it, the sound of a man whose pride was being gutted.

His eyes flicked to the child in her arms, then to Jin Shuren, and back again. "We were married. Tell me... how did you have another man’s child while you were still my wife?"

The maids shifted uncomfortably at the venom in his voice, but neither dared speak.

Yueyao didn’t look at him, her cheek pressed protectively to the little girl’s hair. Her arms tightened just enough for the child to cling to her in return, as if sensing the hostility in the air.

"Answer me!" Shen Xiao’s voice cracked, frustration flaring into something uglier. "Was it him?" His glare burned toward Jin Shuren, who remained unmoving, his jade mask tilting slightly as though studying a particularly unremarkable insect.

Jin Shuren didn’t bother denying it. He let the question hang, let the silence work like a vise on Shen Xiao’s temper.

Yueyao’s breath was uneven and all she could see was her Yueqin. "She’s mine," she said finally, her voice hoarse. "She is mine... Just mine..." You could hear some obsession laced in her voice.

"Yours?" Shen Xiao’s laugh was short, bitter, almost feral. "Yueyao, do you hear yourself? We were together for years, and you got pregnant with another man..." His words caught, choked by the sight of her holding the girl closer, the way she angled her body to shield the child from him as if he were the threat.

"Who is the father of that child? Tell me... Who is it?" Shen Xiao growled as he glared at her.

"Mine... My little princess...." Did she care where the baby came from? All she knew was the girl in front of her was hers and no one would snatch her away from her.

Jin Shuren noticed she was losing her rationality and immediately knocked her out. She fell unconscious onto his arms before he picked her up with the girl in his arms.

"Let go of my wife..."

"Let go of her..."

"Jin Zhou, cripple those two, make sure they will be in a wheelchair forever... And that face, work on it.... I don’t like it at all..." With that, he strolled out of that room onto the corridor before taking the stairs down.

"Father..."

Her small voice broke the tension quite as they descended the stairs.

"Father... you’re angry," Yueqin said softly, her head turning slightly in his arm so she could peek at his face, or rather, the jade mask that concealed it. Her tiny fingers curled in the lapel of his coat, as if holding on could soothe whatever storm she sensed in him.

Jin Shuren adjusted his hold so she rested more comfortably against his chest, his stride never faltering. "Not at you," he murmured, his tone low but steady. "Never at you."

She studied him for a moment, her eyes wide, searching the curve of the mask as if trying to see the expression beneath. "Then at them?" she asked, tilting her head toward the muffled sounds of struggle echoing faintly from the room they’d left behind.

A faint, almost imperceptible hum came from his throat, not quite an answer, but enough for her to know she was right. She didn’t press further; instead, she shifted closer, resting her cheek over the steady beat of his heart.

Her small voice piped up halfway down the stairs again, hesitant at first, as if she was still deciding whether to speak.

"Father... is she really my mother?" Yueqin’s big eyes blinked up at him, her tone curious but tinged with the uncertain awe of a child piecing together something new.

Jin Shuren glanced down at her, the jade mask hiding any flicker of emotion. "Yes," he said simply, his voice low but certain.

Yueqin’s small hands clung to the front of Yueyao’s robe, her little head tucked under her mother’s chin.

She kept sneaking glances upward, studying the face so close to hers, the soft hair brushing her cheek, the faint scent of medicine and something warmer that she couldn’t name.

"Father," she murmured, her voice carrying in the quiet corridor. "She’s very pretty."

Jin Shuren glanced down at her from behind the jade mask but said nothing, letting her speak in her own time.

"She didn’t say anything to me," Yueqin went on, her tone uncertain, almost shy. "But she held me very tight... like she didn’t want to let go."

"That’s because she didn’t," Jin Shuren said evenly. "She’s your mother. She’s been waiting to hold you for a long time."

The little girl looked at Yueyao’s sleeping face again, her brows furrowing as if puzzling over something important. "Will she still hold me like that when she wakes up?"