My big brother’s face changed dramatically, hurriedly saying: “A Yao, I’ve always treated you like a real sister, don’t you know that in your heart?” My mother helplessly glared at my big brother. “You child, how can you be so foolish?”
My big brother was six years older than me and was clearly also in the know.
My heart felt empty, and then I steadied myself, unable to describe my feelings.
So I really was not my parents’ biological daughter.
Miao Yin looked at us three in shock. “What… is going on?”
“At this point, you should just tell her,” my father walked out from inside the room, stroking his beard and sighing. “The wrong things you’ve done, the child will eventually know.”
My mother lowered her head, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes.
Twenty years ago. At that time, my parents still lived in Yao Town, my father was a scholar, burying himself in study to prepare for the triennial imperial examination. My mother ran a small grocery store in town, doing small business to maintain the family. At that time, they only had one son, my big brother Xiao Wang.
A middle-aged woman moved in next door to our home. This woman was raising a female infant alone, rarely going out, never interacting with neighbors. My mother, born with a lively personality, would occasionally visit and chat. Gradually, they became friends.
The woman only said the infant was her granddaughter, pitying her son and daughter-in-law who died early, leaving only her and this granddaughter dependent on each other. They had encountered a natural disaster and had to move away from their hometown. Not long after, she passed away.
Before dying, she entrusted the female infant and a dark, shiny small token to my mother, repeatedly begging her to take good care of the child and this keepsake.
This female infant was me.
My parents agreed to the woman’s request and brought me home, raising me as their own daughter. Because the small token was engraved with a yao flower, my mother simply named me “Yao”.
Soon after handling the woman’s funeral, my father passed the imperial examinations and entered the Hanlin Academy as a junior scholar. So my parents bid farewell to their rural relatives and the family moved to the capital, Yan Feng.
