Tears welled up in Ye Xi's eyes. When she chased after them, although she had guessed that the Yun family might have their own difficulties, she never expected them to be this serious.
Seeing Liu Jingyue blaming herself so much, all the previous pettiness had vanished.
Ye Xi took out a silk handkerchief and wiped away Liu Jingyue's tears while consoling her.
"It was my own fault for putting myself in danger while looking for something. It has nothing to do with you all."
"On the contrary, it was precisely because you came back early that you were able to rescue me. This is clearly a blessing, not a disaster."
Liu Jingyue had already learned the whole story about Ye Xi using herself as bait to find the Wu'ai Fruit from Yun Qi.
But the words of Master Qingyi had been lingering in her mind for more than a decade, almost becoming a mental demon. Whenever something happened to Ye Xi, she couldn't help but blame herself, always feeling that it was the bad luck brought by the Yun family.
Now seeing Ye Xi so considerate and consoling her, Liu Jingyue felt extremely warm - hearted. She gradually stopped crying and forced a smile.
"Even so, Master Qingyi never lies. Since it concerns your safety, I can't take it lightly."
With extreme guilt, she stroked Ye Xi's fair hand. Liu Jingyue looked at Ye Xi cautiously.
"Yingying, I'm really sorry. Your mother can't take you back to the Yun family yet. But there are only a few months left until your eighteenth birthday. Soon we can officially recognize each other. Please... please don't resent me, okay?"
"Of course not."
Ye Xi replied without hesitation. So it was better to clarify doubts immediately to avoid misunderstandings.
Now that she understood the truth about why the Yun family sent her away, Ye Xi was no longer awkward. She began to ask the question in her mind.
"Since you sent me away back then, did you specifically find Yun Qianying later to replace me and confuse the outside world?"
Liu Jingyue shook her head.
"Of course not. It would be a sin to make someone else's family separated just to let them bear the disaster for you."
"We met Xiaoying on our way to the south - western border. When we saw her, she was all alone, dirty like a little kitten, as if she had been deliberately abandoned by the roadside."
Recalling the scene of that year, Liu Jingyue couldn't help sighing.
"I felt really sorry for her, so I went up and asked a few questions. She was about the same age as you. She only remembered her name was Qianying and nothing else."
"At that time, we had just sent you away, and our hearts were really in great pain. Seeing Xiaoying, I always felt that God had sent her to me as a comfort. And she could also temporarily take your place. So I discussed with your father, gave Xiaoying a new name, and took her to the border."
"Because of this, your elder brother was angry with us for a long time. He thought we didn't want you because of Xiaoying. He was so angry that he went on a hunger strike for several meals. It wasn't until he got seriously ill later that, after he recovered, he forgot about it and regarded Xiaoying as you. Then they got along well for more than a decade."
So that's how it was.
Thinking of the always - serious little Yun Qi angrily confronting Liu Jingyue and her husband, Ye Xi felt both warm - hearted and amused.
However, after Liu Jingyue's explanation, Ye Xi suddenly remembered the matter of her name. She asked with a faint smile.
"Speaking of which, I don't even know my real name. Is it Yun Ying?"
"No,"
Now that everything had been said, Liu Jingyue felt much more relaxed. She took Ye Xi's arm and walked a few steps to stretch herself.
"Yingying is your nickname. Only your father and I call you that. Your given name is just Xi, Yun Xi."
"When I gave birth to you, the dawn broke through the clouds, and the sky was filled with rosy clouds. The whole sky was like a large piece of colorful jade, extremely beautiful. So your father named you Xi, with the nickname Yingying."
"Yun Xi..."
Ye Xi, no, it should be Yun Xi. She murmured her name, feeling very strange and a bit unaccustomed.
Blinking shyly, Yun Xi, who had temporarily accepted her real name, suddenly thought of something.
"But my name is so different from Yun Qianying's. Why didn't others find it strange?"
"Because your father and I deliberately held a name - changing banquet."
The smile on Liu Jingyue's face faded slightly.
"You are you, and Xiaoying is Xiaoying. The two cannot be confused. And Xiaoying has already lost her original identity. She shouldn't lose her name too."
"So we wrote a letter back to the capital, saying that 'you' were not acclimatized in the border area and needed to change your name to suppress the bad luck. We announced Xiaoying's name widely. As time passed and we were in the south - west, everyone just thought that Qianying was your original name."
"Oh—"
Yun Xi suddenly understood.
The two talked about a few more past events. Liu Jingyue lovingly patted Yun Xi's slender arm and said painfully.
"You've really suffered all these years. When that mysterious person took you away from You Shang, you must have been extremely scared..."
"You Shang?"
Yun Xi suddenly turned to look at Liu Jingyue.
When she was in a hurry to learn about her own life experience, she had briefly mentioned the Ye family part. She only said that the Ye family thought Ye Jueyao had a life - threatening calamity and found a mysterious person to kidnap her to transfer the curse and block the calamity for Ye Jueyao. She didn't mention the matter of Nanny Xi.
At first, when Liu Jingyue mentioned this "You Shang", she didn't pay much attention and thought it was Nanny Xi's name. But now that Liu Jingyue mentioned it again, Yun Xi detected something wrong.
The intimacy in these words didn't sound like referring to someone else's servant. Only someone she trusted completely could have such a natural and intimate feeling.
"Is this Aunt You Shang really named You Shang, or does she have another surname?"
Yun Xi asked cautiously.
Liu Jingyue looked at Ye Xi strangely and replied with a smile.
"Of course her name is You Shang. How could she have another surname?"
Confirming her speculation, Yun Xi's face suddenly changed slightly.
"What's wrong?"
This change in expression was so obvious that Liu Jingyue couldn't help but notice. She immediately asked.
"Is there any problem?"
Yun Xi's pink lips moved. After much hesitation, she finally frowned and said.
"That mysterious person didn't snatch me away from You Shang. It was Nanny Xi... who sent me into their hands."
"What!?"
Liu Jingyue was shocked and unconsciously tightened her grip on Yun Xi's arm.
"Nanny Xi? Which Nanny Xi?"
"You Shang's kung fu is no less than Qiong Niang's. Not everyone can fight against her."
It seemed that Liu Jingyue had been away from the capital for a long time and had forgotten about Nanny Xi.
Yun Xi moved her arm, which was a bit painful from being grabbed by Liu Jingyue, and said.
"I don't know her full name either. I haven't had time to investigate. I only know that she was under the command of the Third Lady Liu."
Liu Jingyue was stunned for a moment. After thinking for a while, she remembered that there was indeed such a person.
And Yun Xi's words clearly indicated that she was "sent" into the hands of those thieves. So this Nanny Xi must have done it deliberately.
But at that time, the matter of sending Yingying away was done secretly and carefully. How did a servant like Nanny Xi know about it?
There must be someone behind this, instructing and scheming!
The most likely person, of course, was Nanny Xi's master - the Third Lady Liu, Zhang Huan.
But why?
Liu Jingyue couldn't figure it out.
Her third sister - in - law had always been on good terms with her and they had never had a quarrel.