"The Han Emperor indeed wanted to take your father to the capital, but I did something before that," Aunt Yue admitted hesitantly.
"What did you do?" Yao Ling asked. Somehow, she felt that from the somber atmosphere that there was more to it.
"Your father... didn"t go to the capital... he"s still here... right beside me," Aunt Yue said briefly.
"What do you mean?!" Yao Ling asked in surprise.
Aunt Yue answered, "Do you remember about how I said Little Qiu kept helping our people back then?"
"Errr... Little Qiu?" Yao Ling didn"t seem to remember this person. But a figure fleeted in her mind... was it Uncle Qiu? Xiao Fang"s G.o.dfather?
Aunt Yue nodded. "He was sent to retrieve the soil as well..."
Yao Ling gasped in surprise... "Grandmother, do you mean...?"
Yao Ling remembered that her grandmother had said... everyone was dead after the expedition --- including, the one that was able to come back.
Aunt Yue nodded. "The real Little Qiu was dead at that time!"
"But then... how... how...?" Yao Ling was flabbergasted. Was Uncle Qiu who was Xiao Fang"s G.o.dfather... her father or the real Uncle Qiu? This matter was confusing to her. She didn"t know how Xiao Fang would react when she heard about this matter.
Aunt Yue explained to Yao Ling. At that time, the real Uncle Qiu knew that his time was limited. He had no wife, but he had a son and he needed someone to take care of his son. He knew that the Han Emperor would take Rong Qiu as a hostage, thus, he offered a deal. He would give his ident.i.ty to Rong Qiu, but he had to raise his son with love. After all, if he was dead, his unreliable family would certainly devour his wealth and kill his son.
That was why he met up with them before his demise.
Yao Ling asked, "Did father agree? Didn"t he want to leave and find my mother?"
Aunt Yue looked down guiltily. "This is the tricky part..."
Yao Ling"s eyes widened and she gasped in surprise. "Grandmother... Don"t tell me... Oh no!" Yao Ling covered up her mouth when she realized what her grandmother had done.
Aunt Yue nodded her head. "I... I deliberately make him forget everything and a.s.sumed the real Little Qiu"s ident.i.ty..."
Yao Ling felt a headache coming. "This..."
Yao Ling understood how worried her grandmother actually was. She did this selfishly, but she was thinking of her father"s wellbeing. But what about her mother and her? Did it mean that she had already abandoned them at that time?
"Grandmother... did you...?" Yao Ling didn"t know how to ask the question whether she had abandoned Su Wan and her or not.
Aunt Yue sighed. Without needing Yao Ling to say anything else, she understood what Yao Ling meant. She shook her head sadly, "I don"t have a plan to abandon both of you, after all, I have loved you even before you were born. The real Little Qiu has taken the job to take care of your mother. However, I can"t let her be seen together with your father --- or else, people would start targeting you. But... I"m also not sure what went wrong back then. I thought both you have been living safely together..."
Yao Ling noticed her grandmother"s predicament, but she knew that she thought of everything not only as a mother but also as the leader of the Bei Yue clan. Could she blame her? No, she couldn"t. If it was Yao Ling who only stayed at the village without any experiences, she would certainly blame her grandmother.
However, once she stepped foot into w.a.n.g Fu and involved herself with the Mi Hui and Xiao Fang"s matter, she naturally understood that she couldn"t see everything from one perspective. Each person would make a different choice and the pros and cons that they thought also would be different.
Yao Ling hugged Aunt Yue and comforted her, "It"s okay, Grandma..."
Aunt Yue felt the warmth when Yao Ling hugged and comforted her. How long had it been since the last time she felt this way? She always yearned her family, but Rong Qiu didn"t remember about her at all --- their interaction was quite awkward sometimes, but she still appreciated that he was still alive.
"What about the person that became the hostage?" Yao Ling asked.
"All of it was handled by the real Little Qiu," Aunt Yue admitted. Without the real Little Qiu"s help, they couldn"t do anything even if the Han Emperor took away Rong Qiu.
"What about the face?" Yao Ling asked. She didn"t believe that there was a crazy coincidence in which they had the same face --- that would be crazy!
Aunt Yue answered, "I changed Rong Qiu"s face so he looked like the real Little Qiu by embedding a human skin on his face and he didn"t realize it due to my power too..."
Yao Ling felt that it was all too magical, but she couldn"t refute it. After all, the proof was right in front of her eyes ah~! Everything made sense now... why Uncle Qiu decided to stay here, instead of hanging around with his own son in the capital. But... didn"t he forget about everything?
"Grandma... why did father come here to guard the sacred pet? Didn"t he forget about everything?" Yao Ling asked curiously.
"Even though he doesn"t remember anything, he is still able to feel the familiarity with me and Bao Bei," Aunt Yue explained. Bao Bei was actually Su Wan"s beloved horse and Rong Qiu was Su Wan"s childhood sweetheart, so naturally, he was also close to Bao Bei. Not only that, even if he was in the capital, his heart would always yearn for this soil --- the soil of his homeland. That was also the reason why Aunt Yue agreed to the real Little Qiu"s arrangement, because sooner or later... Rong Qiu would come back to her side, even though he didn"t remember anything.
"Will my father be able to remember his past once again?" Yao Ling asked seriously. She wanted his father"s love and she hoped both of them could find her mother together, but she also needed to pay attention to Xiao Fang"s feelings.
"Yes, he can. I will teach you how," Aunt Yue said.
"Why don"t you do it yourself, Grandmother?" Yao Ling asked in surprise.
Aunt Yue smiled softly and patted Yao Ling"s head, "I don"t think I have that much time left..."
"What do you mean?" Yao Ling asked.
Aunt Yue touched Yao Ling"s forehead and let her fall asleep, she gave her a little imprint so she would know how to break the spell that she had given to Rong Qiu. While talking, Aunt Yue had been using her power all the time to wake Yao Ling up and the latter didn"t even realize that there was a surge of warmth that kept rotating inside her body, because she was too engrossed in their talk.
Aunt Yue actually had already exhausted almost all her power and she knew that she couldn"t hold on much longer. She still needed to preserve her energies, knowing that man would come and attack them if they were too late. She could try to cheat his senses, but her power had grown weaker. In the end, he would have known that something wasn"t right in here.
Aunt Yue changed her mind and decided to just imprint everything in Yao Ling"s mind about their power, not only how to wake Rong Qiu up.
She used her final power to push Yao Ling away from her dream and finally... Yao Ling woke up from her comatose state.
The trio was surprised when they saw an abnormality on Aunt Yue and Yao Ling"s body... The white glowing like with the golden thread on it vanished all of a sudden.
They quickly stood beside the bed and looked at both of them more clearly.