Rong Qiu was taken aback because of Yao Ling"s reaction. Why did she laugh out loud after she was called an illegitimate child ah~? He thought that she would be feeling offended by that statement.
Yao Ling would never guess that her father would be able to integrate perfectly with Uncle Qiu"s life. His relations.h.i.+p with Wu Cheng was enough proof. She had asked Rong Qiu once... Why did no one notice that Uncle Qiu had changed into Rong Qiu overnight and taken the former"s ident.i.ty ah~?! Rong Qiu remembered one or two things about this matter --- he was still Rong Qiu back then when Aunt Yue made the preparation.
One, this could happen because their appearance almost looked the same, but the people closest to him would certainly notice the difference. Uncle Qiu had noticed this point beforehand so he had given Aunt Yue the list of people that were closest to him and it made everything easier.
Two, his mother helped with her power to tweak the memories of the people closest to him a little bit --- for example, Wu Cheng. He didn"t know what Aunt Yue had done but by the time he had forgotten everything, everything went smoothly and no one noticed the difference.
Rong Heng was still too young at that time so he wasn"t being included inside the list. In a way, he was really brought up by Rong Qiu himself.
Rong Qiu looked at her with questioning eyes, wondering why she was laughing and Yao Ling answered honestly, "Father, Uncle Wu Cheng is so funny..." She was happy to see how refres.h.i.+ng their relations.h.i.+p was. It wasn"t like an ordinary relations.h.i.+p between a master and a servant. They could talk to each other openly, and honestly, it was very rare ah~!
Judging from their interaction, Yao Ling decided to give a face to Wu Cheng and choose to call him Uncle, instead of directly calling his name. She didn"t feel that it was polite, besides, she didn"t want to offend Wu Cheng on their first meeting.
Wu Cheng quickly answered, "No... No... Young Lady... I"m just the head servants here... It"s not good to call me Uncle ah~!" Even though Rong Qiu treated him really well, he had to maintain the formality. No matter what, he had to be conscious of his own position.
Rong Qiu rolled his eyes and told Yao Ling, "We"ve been with each other ever since we are young... I think of him as my own brother. It will be okay to call him Uncle."
Yao Ling got his meaning --- it seemed like Wu Cheng was indeed the real Uncle Qiu"s personal servant. No wonder he was on the list... it was because they grew up together. Aiyo~ This was getting more complicated. Telling Wu Cheng would only break his heart because the real Rong Qiu had been dead for so long, besides, wouldn"t he feel guilty for not noticing this matter? Yao Ling didn"t think that he would be able to accept it.
What more Rong Heng ah~? Somehow, this made Yao Ling feel nervous. She glanced at her father --- no wonder his mood was quite complicated.
Rong Qiu sneered at Wu Cheng. "Since when you are being so decent?" The man had never behaved that polite to him --- the real master ah~!
Wu Cheng, "..."
"What does he mean by that? He isn"t that shameless ah~! After all, he doesn"t know personally this new daughter. How could he behave familiarly with her?" Wu Cheng whined inwardly. He wanted to refute but he could helplessly give up, after all, he still needed to be polite in front of so many outsiders.
"Then, thank you for calling me Uncle," Wu Cheng bowed politely. He was still feeling unconvinced whether she was really his daughter or not --- after all, he knew how loyal his master was.
Wu Cheng looked at Rong Qiu and said, "I heard that you brought a few people home and currently I already give an order to a few servants to prepare their room, but it will still take time for the rooms to be ready. But... we have one more problem... we have no maidservants." He looked apologetically at Yao Ling. How could he let servants serve her?
Rong Qiu slapped his own forehead. "Oh, I forgot about this! There"s no woman in the manor so I have never bothered to hire maidservant. Wu Cheng... What about your wife or daughter? They could temporarily help my daughter first." If he let Wu Cheng"s wife or daughter serve Yao Ling, he would be more a.s.sured because they would certainly treat Yao Ling really good.
Yao Ling quickly chimed in with a gentle smile, "No need to worry about me! I"m not picky, besides, I have Xiao Yu with me. I used to do everything by myself so I"m fine." She preferred to be served by her own people as well --- she could trust them more. Besides, she wouldn"t stay long here and that was also one of the reasons why she didn"t want to make a fuss.
Rong Qiu sighed in relief when he heard this. "Sorry, Father couldn"t do anything for you." He felt guilty for not thinking about Yao Ling"s needs.
Yao Ling started to realize that her father kept feeling sorry for her and it made it even more awkward --- she should find a chance to talk about this matter privately. She had never blamed him so he shouldn"t feel guilty and punish himself over and over again.
"Father, I"m really fine..." Yao Ling helplessly said.
Wu Cheng led them to the main hall of the manor and let them rest there. He had told his people to bring tea and snacks for them. Rong Qiu sat on the main seat while ma.s.saging his forehead tiredly. After being imprisoned, he hadn"t had a proper rest yet and he was feeling really tired.
Wu Cheng stood beside Rong Qiu and he wanted to ask directly about Yao Ling"s sudden appearance but when he saw how tired Rong Qiu was, he decided to wait for the right time. "Master, do you want to rest first?" He asked in a low voice.
Rong Qiu opened his eyes and shook his head. "No, I"m waiting for Rong Heng." He preferred to solve everything first before resting because he knew he couldn"t really sleep due to the nervousness that he felt as well.
Wu Cheng was taken aback. "Young Master is coming home too?!" He asked in surprise. If there was no big event, Rong Heng would never come back home so Wu Cheng felt that something must have happened.
"Master... Is it about the young lady?" He asked in a whisper.
Rong Qiu nodded his head. "Yes..." He whispered back. "I will tell both of you about it at the same time so we need to wait for Rong Heng. Feng Yong Rui told me that Rong Heng will arrive today."
Wu Cheng nodded his head. "Then, I will send people to wait for Young Master at the Capital"s main gate, so when he finally arrives, we will know about it."
"Good idea!" Rong Qiu quickly praised him. If he knew beforehand, he would have more time to prepare himself ah~! "Quick... Quick! Find a person to go ah~!" Rong Qiu urged Wu Cheng.
Wu Cheng was going to say yes when there were sounds of heavy footsteps were heard by them from the outside. Rong Qiu didn"t know whether he should laugh or cry...
They were late ah~!
Not too long after that, they heard a boisterous voice of a man coming from the outside, "Why do you want to do such a bothersome thing? I"m already here!"