Chapter 415: Xu Jingxi’s Origins

Chapter 415: Chapter 415: Xu Jingxi’s Origins

At night, a cold wind carried the chill of early winter.

In the small alley leading to Lai Zi’s house, a slender, handsome figure stood in the darkness, his cool eyes glancing toward the alley’s entrance from time to time.

He had already been waiting for a while. As the night deepened, a cold frost began to form on the tips of his hair.

A soft, sweet voice came from overhead, sounding as if it had descended from the heavens.

"Who are you waiting for here?"

Xu Jingxi froze. He quickly looked up to see Shen Ningning, a smile on her face, swinging her little feet as she sat on the highest roof eaves near him!

"You... How are you here?" Xu Jingxi was stunned.

Shen Ningning smiled sweetly, her watery eyes shimmering like starlight.

The vast, starry sky behind the little girl was like the shimmering train of a dress she wore.

"Hmm, I should be the one asking you that. Let me guess, you’re definitely here to warn Liang Yici not to go into Lai Zi’s house, so she doesn’t fall into Xie Yuanjiu’s trap, right?"

Looking at Shen Ningning’s beaming face, Xu Jingxi averted his guilty gaze and replied coolly, "No."

The little girl didn’t believe him for a second.

Hmph, hmph.

’Go on and deny it!’

Shen Ningning propped her chin on her little hands, sitting steadily. "I’m not a three-year-old, you can’t fool me! But why are you being so nice to Liang Yici?"

"Could it be..." she deliberately drew out her soft, sweet words.

Xu Jingxi felt inexplicably nervous.

"Do you like her?" The little girl’s question was startling. Xu Jingxi’s head snapped up, his cool eyes filled with astonishment.

"No!" he denied it instantly. The expression on his face was one she had never seen before.

It was as if what Shen Ningning said was so absurd that even the usually composed and steady Xu Jingxi felt helpless.

Xu Jingxi said, "I just wanted to give her a kind reminder, for the sake of us being classmates at the National Academy."

"Besides, don’t you hate Xie Yuanjiu too? It’s not like you to just watch her succeed in harming someone."

Xu Jingxi was truly sharp and intelligent. When faced with a question he didn’t want to answer, he turned the topic back to Shen Ningning.

But the little girl was incredibly clever. How could she not see through Xu Jingxi’s intentions?

She huffed out a laugh. "That’s just how I am. Besides, Liang Yici won’t appreciate it anyway, so I wasn’t planning on warning her. Whatever Xie Yuanjiu wants to do to her is their business."

As she spoke, the little girl crossed her arms. "I couldn’t care less!"

Xu Jingxi looked up at her, his expression complicated.

’Looks like I won’t get past Shen Ningning today without being honest.’

He sighed discreetly.

"Come down first. I’ll explain everything properly."

Shen Ningning beamed.

’He’s finally going to tell the truth!’

However, the little girl looked back, covered her mouth with her small hands, and exclaimed—

"Oh no! The uncle next door took the ladder away!"

She had run over at dusk to wait for Xu Jingxi.

At the time, the uncle next door had still been fixing his roof, so the little girl borrowed his ladder and huffed and puffed her way up.

Afraid of being discovered by the adults for climbing walls, the little girl had been using a large, nearby tree to hide.

She never imagined the uncle would take the ladder away!

’It must have happened when I accidentally fell asleep leaning on the tree just now. Drat!’

Shen Ningning looked at the ground, which felt as distant as the starry sky.

She glanced helplessly at her two little feet.

’I’m done for! Even if I stretch, I can’t reach.’

Xu Jingxi saw her flustered state on the eaves and couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Can’t get down, can you?" his voice was deep and pleasant.

Shen Ningning pouted and sighed like a little adult. "Aigh~"

Xu Jingxi opened his arms. "Jump down. I’ll catch you."

Shen Ningning hesitated for a moment.

She sized up Xu Jingxi’s slender frame, then glanced at his right hand, which had only recently recovered.

"Am I going to squash you into a pancake?" Shen Ningning imagined herself jumping down and flattening Xu Jingxi.

A resigned, faint smile spread across Xu Jingxi’s handsome face.

"I may be slender, but I’m far from frail. You’ll know if you jump and try."

Shen Ningning let out a breath that smelled of milk. "Okay!"

She leaped down abruptly. The wind whistled in her ears, and by the time she came to her senses, she was already held securely in Xu Jingxi’s arms.

He held her gently like a gentleman, only placing her on the ground after the little girl was safe.

Then, his long fingers plucked a green leaf from the top of her head.

"How long were you waiting here?"

"From dusk until now, almost an hour and a half," Shen Ningning said softly, rubbing her little tummy.

Fortunately, she had the Immortal Realm, so she could eat while she waited and didn’t get bored.

Xu Jingxi watched her with a profound gaze. After a long moment, he sighed and lowered his head.

"I want to tell you something. Something I’ve never told anyone else."

"And that is... I know that I might be Second Master Xie’s son."

Shen Ningning’s eyes grew wide.

Although she’d had a hunch, she never expected that Xu Jingxi had known all along!

"You... you knew you were Second Uncle’s son, so why have I never seen you go to the Xie Mansion, or look for Second Uncle?" the little girl asked in astonishment.

Xu Jingxi took her hand and saw that it was greasy, as if she had just eaten a chicken leg.

He knelt down and used his own clean robes to wipe Shen Ningning’s little hands.

He was as patient and meticulous as an older brother taking care of his younger sister.

"I’m different from you, Ningning." For the first time, his voice turned a little cool.

"Before I was three, I was actually born on the border."

Shen Ningning was shocked to hear this.

"Does that mean... you’re Aunt Qingdai’s... son?! Then you and Liang Yici are..."

Xu Jingxi lowered his head, his expression unreadable. "She and I should be... full siblings."

Shen Ningning covered her mouth with her small hands, her eyes twinkling with astonishment.

’No wonder Xu Jingxi always gave Liang Yici a few extra glances.’

’No wonder their facial features looked somewhat similar.’

’In that case!’

’Fang Qingdai had children with her Second Uncle—two of them!’

Shen Ningning’s little brain was having trouble processing it all.

Xu Jingxi calmly and simply recounted the story.

It turned out that he was old enough to remember things when he left the border.

Xu Jingxi had known since he was a child that the crescent jade pendant he carried was a gift from his father—but that this father was not General Liang.

He remembered that when he was three, news came from the Capital that Second Master Xie had suddenly vomited blood and was on the verge of death.

He had just celebrated his birthday with his sister when General Liang handed him over to a wet nurse, asking her to take him back to the Capital to be acknowledged by his birth father. The matter was kept secret from his mother.

At the time, Xu Jingxi didn’t understand and asked General Liang why his sister wasn’t going with him.

General Liang only stroked his head and said, "Your mother will not be returning to the Capital. Leaving your sister behind will give her something to remember."

Xu Jingxi left with the wet nurse, but he never expected that they would encounter a flash flood on the way. The wet nurse and the accompanying guards all died in the deluge.

When he woke up again, he had been found by Grandpa Xu.

Grandpa Xu’s village had been destroyed by the flash flood. When he heard that the boy was from Lion Head City on the border, he carried him on his back to go find his relatives.

Unexpectedly, they saw the city hung with white spirit banners. Upon asking, they learned that the eldest son born to General Fang and General Liang had passed away.

Xu Jingxi then begged Grandpa Xu to take him to the Capital to find his birth father.

They traveled a thousand miles, arriving in the Capital City covered in dust. Xu Jingxi went to the outside of the Xie Mansion, originally intending to visit the gravely ill Second Master Xie.

Unexpectedly, he saw Second Master Xie in a wheelchair, with Xie Yuanjiu by his side, calling him ’Father’.

He watched helplessly as they boarded the carriage together.

Second Master Xie saw Xu Jingxi, but he never imagined that the little beggar before him, covered in filth, could be his own son.

So, Second Master Xie had the gatekeeper give Xu Jingxi some broken silver, then lowered the carriage curtain and departed.

The gatekeeper urged them to leave. As Xu Jingxi stared at the dust trail of Second Master Xie’s departing carriage, in that moment, he felt as if he had been abandoned.

His mother’s home had already announced his death.

His father’s home had no place for him.

It turned out he no longer had a home.