Yun'er thought Cheng Xiran had gone mad. Clearly, except for the grandmother, no one else in the Cheng Mansion treated them well. Yet they insisted on putting themselves in an embarrassing situation. She simply couldn't understand such behavior. She wanted to ask Cheng Xiran but saw the determination in her eyes and knew she shouldn't, so she fell silent.
Cheng Xiran had that dream again, that long and sweet dream.
So the next day, even though she woke up before dawn, she was in surprisingly good spirits.
She deliberately chose a simple dress and just casually wore two or three hairpins.
Yun'er had already prepared the necessary things. When Cheng Xiran led Zhuque and the other two out of the newspaper office, the sky was not fully bright yet. It was just cracked open, and the early - morning sunlight was slowly seeping in.
The shopkeeper had just woken up. Seeing them go out, he couldn't help asking, "Miss, do you have something to do?"
"Yes. You have breakfast by yourself. We'll probably be back late because there's a good show to watch!"
Normally, when watching a good show, one should bring some sunflower seeds to munch on. But due to the limited conditions, she only carried some candies with her.
Zhuque and the others were all curious about what the good show Cheng Xiran mentioned was.
When the group arrived at the Cheng Mansion, they were naturally stopped outside.
"Father is really heartless. Now I can't even go back to my own home."
She deliberately raised her voice. Since there were few people on the long street at this time, no one really paid much attention.
"Please don't make things difficult for us, eldest miss."
The guards at the door repeated this sentence for a long time.
Finally, they summoned Steward Wang.
"Eldest miss, what's the matter so early in the morning?"
Steward Wang didn't forget to bow to her.
Cheng Xiran tried her best to look sincere and said earnestly, "To be honest, I'm back today to apologize to father. Now that the emperor has bestowed a marriage, I'll marry into the prince's mansion soon. But no matter what, I'm still a member of the Cheng family. In the future, I'll surely marry from the Cheng Mansion. I don't want our family relationship to be so strained, and I don't want others to laugh at us."
Indeed, many passers - by had already cast curious glances.
Steward Wang noticed it following her gaze and immediately bowed his head respectfully and said, "What the eldest miss said makes some sense. But Lord Cheng hasn't mentioned this matter in the past two days..."
Cheng Xiran said boldly, "I'll wait here today until father lets me in and gives me an explanation."
Steward Wang sighed softly, nodded at her, and then turned around and entered the mansion. Presumably, he was going to ask Lord Cheng for instructions.
She came so early for her own purpose.
Yun'er kept yawning, obviously still sleepy.
Cheng Xiran was infected by her and yawned twice too. If it were on a normal day, she would probably still be lying in bed sleeping in.
After a while, Steward Wang walked over in a hurry and invited her in, "Lord Cheng has just gotten up. Please come in, miss."
Cheng Xiran walked all the way to the front hall and deliberately squeezed out a few tears and hung them on the corners of her eyes.
Lord Cheng had indeed just gotten up. He looked sleepy. When his eyes swept over, he was obviously a bit impatient.
But Cheng Xiran pretended to perform a grand salute and said, "Xiran greets father. I'm here today to apologize to father. I hope father will give Xiran a chance to explain."
"What do you want to explain to me? I still remember clearly what you said the other day. You've changed your mind so quickly..." Lord Cheng said disdainfully. After taking two sips of the green tea, he continued, "Normally, since you've climbed a high branch, you should have left more resolutely. Why did you come back?"
Cheng Xiran didn't care about his attitude towards her at all because she clearly knew her purpose for coming today.
Seeing that the time was not early, she didn't waste any more words. She just said with a slight sob, "Father is joking. Xiran definitely doesn't have such thoughts. Xiran lost her mother when she was young. You've worked so hard to raise me and my younger sister. Now both my sister and I have found good families. I don't want our family relationship to be affected because of some misunderstandings. At the same time, I also hope father won't take what I said before to heart. Those were just angry words and not Xiran's true intention."
As she spoke, she began to sob softly. Unconsciously, she took out a handkerchief from her waist and lowered her eyes to wipe the corners of her eyes.
Lord Cheng's originally tense face relaxed a bit. After a moment, he slowly said, "Get up first."
Seeing that she had succeeded, Cheng Xiran stood up. She winked at Zhuque beside her, and then saw her carry the tonics and good wine in front of him. Then she said, "These were all carefully selected by Xiran for father. It's Xiran's little token of affection. Although it's not worth mentioning and didn't cost much, Xiran hopes father will accept it, forgive Xiran for the sake of the old days, and give Xiran another chance to correct her mistakes."
Perhaps Lord Cheng really remembered the old feelings for Xiran's dead mother. He didn't say anything more at the moment. He just told the young servant beside him to take them and said, "You should haven't had breakfast yet since you got up so early. Sit down and have breakfast together. Then go and see your grandmother later. She misses you very much. Besides, you can choose to live in the mansion or elsewhere. Just take good care of yourself and don't let others gossip."
Cheng Xiran understood the deep meaning in his words. He was obviously afraid that others would gossip about him for not allowing his own daughter to go home. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten up so early just to listen to her talk.
Her father was really scheming.
"Yes..." Cheng Xiran looked around and then changed the topic, "I also picked some gifts for my younger sister as a congratulatory gift. She should be awake by this time. I'll go and call her. Let's have a good breakfast as a family."
She pretended to be happy and walked towards the back yard.
Lord Cheng didn't try to stop her. After all, it was really not early at this time.
When she arrived at the back yard, she happened to meet Sun Yanyan coming out.
"Oh, eldest miss is back. Where are you going?"
Seeing Liu Shi walking over with a slightly strange expression not far away, Cheng Xiran said with a smile, "I'm back to apologize to father. Look, I bought some gifts for my younger sister. I'm just about to send them to her."
Saying so, she walked inside and was soon stopped by Liu Shi.
"It's Xiran. Your younger sister is not feeling well today. She's still sleeping in the inner room. Don't go and disturb her."
Her eyes looked a bit unnatural.
Cheng Xiran looked innocent and calmly said, "That's not right. We were chatting and laughing happily at Prince Qi's mansion last night when we had dinner. Why is she suddenly ill today? Then I must go and have a look."
She ignored the persuasion and was about to walk inside. In desperation, Liu Shi had to scold her, "I've already said that Zhiyue is not feeling well. How many times do I have to say it? She can't be exposed to the wind. Why don't you listen!"
"I just want to go and see her..." Cheng Xiran pretended to be innocent.