Chapter 875: Those Bygone Days

When Xia Chuyi followed Huo Shiqian into the study, she was still engulfed in a bewildering mix of emotions.

"Don’t worry, I’m always here." She heard Huo Shiqian’s deep voice resonate by her ear.

Then, she was embraced by Huo Shiqian, strongly yet gently, into his arms.

"Brother Shiqian..." For some reason, upon hearing this, Xia Chuyi felt a slight sting in her nose.

"It’s okay." She heard Huo Shiqian’s gentle whisper reassuring her.

Leaning against Huo Shiqian’s warm and solid chest, Xia Chuyi felt as though she had found support, relaxing entirely into his embrace.

"Brother Shiqian, I..." Xia Chuyi opened her mouth, but felt overwhelmed, unable to find the words.

Images flashed through her mind: battles with the main branch of the Xia family in her youth, Mother Xia’s tear-streaked cries, the heart-wrenching collapse of Mrs. Ou when she arrived in Beijing, and Ou Jun asking her to call him brother...

Yet, everything ultimately froze on the DNA test report Ou Jun had shown her, with its stark black and white: Xia Chuyi is biologically related to Ou Zhenting and Mrs. Ou; Xia Chuyi is not biologically related to Mother Xia.

"Brother Shiqian, I never..." Xia Chuyi blinked, trying to dispel the dryness in her eyes, speaking with a touch of vulnerability and confusion, "I never dared to think... dared to think... that I’m not, not her child..."

The "her" she referred to, without needing to say, was the woman she had always believed to be her biological mother—Mother Xia.

"Since I was little, she was never that kind to me..." She began recounting her past bit by bit, her voice somewhat ethereal, "But... I always thought, maybe I’m not good enough, not obedient, not docile, not as ’gentle’ and ’composed’ as Xia Lan, that’s why she doesn’t like me?"

A child, a child left with only a mother, becomes highly sensitive to her every action, even the smallest gestures.

After a moment of silence in the room, Xia Chuyi softly continued, "Later... I even wondered if she didn’t like me because she believed I had cursed my father to death?"

At her words, she distinctly felt Huo Shiqian’s gentle caress pause for a moment.

"Superstitious nonsense." Huo Shiqian’s voice reached her ears, clear and composed.

It was obvious he was expressing discontent.

Hearing this, Xia Chuyi’s lips involuntarily curled up slightly. She continued slowly, "There is no answer. To this question, there’s simply no answer."

"I, Xia Chuyi, am like a stone in a latrine—foul and unyielding, with a bad temper, not traditional, not gentle, nor compliant..."

Huo Shiqian’s motion paused again, but this time, he said nothing.

Yet, Xia Chuyi seemed to faintly hear him sigh.

"Anyway, since I couldn’t be the gentle, traditional woman she wanted, I simply decided to become resilient, to learn to act out... just so, at least, I could protect her."

When the mother is weak, the child, in turn, strives to protect the mother.

The past that Xia Chuyi thought she had forgotten almost entirely started to surface from deep within her memory.

"I thought that if I acted this way, one day, one day she would change her view of me... but no, she never did..."