Song of Silent Promise

4. Fu Siblings

Outside, a woman not looking any older than thirty was respectfully standing. Her attire was tidy and of soft colors, adding charm to her tender looks. She folded her hands in front of her dress in a respectful gesture and her tone was soft and gentle, but Xu Yejing thought she could still hear the reproach in the older female's tone,

"Seventh Young Miss, the Lord cannot entertain Young Master Qin's men any longer. It's best if Young Miss leave now, before it is high noon. Let alone visiting an unmarried bachelor's place, a respectful maiden must also not stay outside her maiden house overnight."

Fu Yan's face grew cold, "This concubine... ," he paused, searching in his brain for a name. The older female was Xu Yejing's birth mother, so surely he could pull out that obscure name out of his already full brain?

The older female replied, smiling tenderly. Her limpid eyes darted shyly towards Fu Yan, before looking towards the ground with a bashful expression, "This humble one's name is Gu Yuan."

Xu Yejing immediately forgot about her slight bitterness when she saw Fu Yan's hand slightly twitch. She could even hear Fu Yan's inner thoughts, due to the jade bangle's power to link both minds' affinity towards each other. Normally, without the person's explicit wish to transfer their inner thoughts across, the other person would not be able to hear it. However, Fu Yan must be thoroughly discomforted at the moment, he subconsciously let go of all his defenses on his mind.

"F*ck, this woman. This great one is your daughter's bodyguard alright. And what's with your sparkling eyes. I don't care if you're a 'yuan' or a 'yuan'(1). Why don't you act your age!"

Xu Yejing was amused, "Yan-xiong, it's the first 'yuan'." She really did not have to say it, but she wanted to let Fu Yan know his mind was quite entertaining at the moment. Besides, Gu Yuan was indeed a beauty. None of Marquis Xu's women was lacking in appearance, but Gu Yuan was even more beautiful than the main wife.

More over, although Fu Yan complained about Gu Yuan not acting her age, Xu Yejing's birth mother was still young and pretty, only four or five years older than Fu Yan. With how Marquis Xu was quickly tired of his women as soon as they were pregnant, no wonder Gu Yuan was attracted to Fu Yan who kept hovering by her own daughter's side.

Fu Yan immediately blocked his mind to prevent Xu Yejing from hearing his trail of curses towards her own birth mother, "Anyway, Concubine Gu, Yejing is not allowed out the residence without my or my sister's escort. You know this. I don't care if it's Young Master Qin or Young Master Qun, they can only go back empty handed if neither of us are here to escort her."

Gu Yuan bit her lower lips, looking every bit wronged, "But... the Lord cannot offend Duke Qin's residence... ."

Fu Yan gritted through his teeth, "Marquis Xu cannot offend our Flaming Cauldron Sect more!"

Gu Yuan's gaze darted towards Xu Yejing, her brows slightly raised in mocking. Fu Yan did not want to taint his eye sight more and directly pulled Xu Yejing by her hand. Xu Yejing merely nodded towards Gu Yuan in passing as her way of expressing farewell.

Truth be told, she did not have any deep feelings towards her birth mother. For as long as she could remember, the Marquis had put her under the care of the main wife, thus making her as distant as possible from Gu Yuan. Gu Yuan did not express any objections as well. For the cost of giving birth to Xu Yejing, the mute and tender-looking girl, her living condition was suddenly alleviated above the rest of the concubines.

Xu Yejing knew it was because the Marquis put a lot of importance to the backing force behind Xu Yejing - the so called Flaming Cauldron Sect. However lately she had been disheartened. Save for Fu Yan and Fu Chun, who had been looking after her in turn, no other news or people came from this powerhouse.