After rebirth, she became the favorite of the powerful minister.

Yuan Junfeng looked at her sideways. He was not sure why the little girl asked this question, so he didn't know what answer to give her.

After all, she had never asked such a question in all these years.

"Haven't you always known this?" The old man couldn't tell the depth of the matter, so he asked tentatively, "Why are you asking this suddenly?"

Yuan Ge leaned against a rock and said, "Nothing, I just keep thinking about my mother lately, imagining what she would look like if she were still alive... You said I look a lot like my mother, so did my mother look like me when she was young..."

It turned out to be the case.

I have been getting more and more jumpy lately. The old man secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Yes, you look more like your mother, but your mother is much quieter than you, and your father is not like that either. I don't know who you resemble with your rascally personality..." He shook his head and chuckled, "But it's better for a girl to be more lively, so that she won't keep it to herself when she's bullied or wronged."

Yuan Ge suddenly turned his head and looked straight into the other person's eyes, which were still smiling. "Maybe he looks like a relative from my maternal grandfather's side?"

The old man's eyes suddenly darkened, not in the sense of being secretive, but in the sense of impending storms, which reminded people of the heaviness and oppression of dark clouds over the city. The dark color disappeared so quickly that it seemed as if the change in his eyes at that moment was just Yuan Ge's own illusion. The dark color disappeared, and the old man's eyes were full of mischievous smiles, "My little girl went down the mountain and her horizons were broadened. She began to dislike her grandfather. Now that she has a pretty boy husband down the mountain, it would be fine, but she still wants to find her grandfather... What, is the grandfather outside better than the grandfather at home?"

This is the first time I heard "外祖" interpreted as "outside grandfather".

However, Yuan Ge was very clear that his grandfather's depression and violence at that moment were not a misunderstanding. There were indeed some conflicts between the Yuan and Murong families that he was not aware of, and this conflict led to the two families never having any contact with each other again.

"Of course, there is no one better than Grandfather in this world." Yuan Ge leaned his head against his grandfather's shoulder with a gentle look in his eyes, "My mother's surname is Murong, and her maiden name is Murong Shaoai, right?"

"Yes."

"Grandfather..." She stroked the teacup in her hand. The noise in front was faintly transmitted here, making this place even quieter and more breathtaking. An invisible barrier seemed to be erected between the grandfather and grandson sitting side by side, making people subconsciously hold their breathing, as if a heavy weight was pressing on their chest.

But some things have to be said, and some whitewashed peace has to be broken.

Yuan Ge sighed softly, raised her head to look at the sky, and said softly, "Grandfather, this body is somewhat similar to me. Her name is Wen Qian, the daughter of the Minister of Revenue of Shengjing City. She and I have some connection. Her mother who died young..." She looked at the old man who seemed to have expected something and looked particularly serious, and said slowly, "Her name is Murong Shaorou, my mother's twin sister."

"Really..." The old man closed his eyes slightly, lowered his head and put the wine jar beside him, and then said, "Your mother never said that. She rarely talked about her family. As an elder, I don't ask too much. No wonder you two look alike. So, there are indeed some inexplicable coincidences in the dark that are beyond human control."

It was obvious that he was talking about something else.

Yuan Ge continued to ask, "Then do you know why she died?"

"This is the first time I've heard of her name, so how can I know why she passed away?" He raised his hand and gently stroked Yuan Ge's hair, took the wine glass from her hand and put it aside, and gently advised, "You can drink a lot, but you shouldn't drink too much. Nan Yin's wine tastes sweet at first, but it has a strong aftertaste. Drink less, or you might wake up with a headache tomorrow."

He still didn't want to say it and lightly avoided the topic. When he took the cup from her hand, his fingertips touched hers inadvertently, and it was bone-chillingly cold.

Yuan Ge pursed his lips, curled up his legs and hugged his knees, resting his chin on the back of his hands and whispered, "Fourteen years ago, she received a letter from Murong Shaoai in Shengjing City, so she went to Zhixuan Mountain alone to visit her relatives. On the way back, she was hit by a falling rock and died..."

"Nonsense! I, an old man, have never seen her! Besides, fourteen years ago...your mother has been dead for four years, how could you write to her?" The old man denied without hesitation, "Girl, you never liked to go down the mountain in the past, so you don't know the complicated people's hearts down there. Don't be silly and believe everything. Seeing is not necessarily the truth. How can you take these hearsay things seriously? How your mother passed away is known to everyone in the entire Zhixuan Mountain, how could this be false?"

Yes, how could this be false? Moreover, if my mother had not died in childbirth, how could my grandfather have watched helplessly as the reputation of "unlucky father, unlucky mother, and unlucky brother" weighed heavily on his shoulders for so many years without any explanation?

Yuan Ge hugged his knees and remained silent, unless...

The old man was surprised at such a coincidence and encounter, but he just patted Yuan Ge on the shoulder and comforted him softly, "Grandfather has indeed never seen your mother's twin sister, and has never even heard her mention her. The letter may have been sent by someone else in your mother's name... Well, now that you are back, don't think too much. I know you are the kindest child. You must take on the other person's affairs to make up for the little debt you have occupied someone else's body for no reason, but when have you ever owed anything? Think about it from another perspective. She is already dead, and you survived for her. Isn't this another kind of gift to her?"

The old man patted her head kindly, "Grandfather never lied to my Ge'er, right?"

Yuan Ge rested her head on her arms and looked at her grandfather. Yes, he never lied to her and never hurt her, unless... it was to better protect her.

Yuan Ge had been sitting here since early this morning. She thought about a lot of things, including her grandfather, her brother, her parents whom she had never met, and the past events on Zhixuan Mountain. She realized belatedly that many of her memories before she was four were vague and intermittent. No matter how hard she tried to recall, it was like looking at flowers in the fog. When she was four years old, her teacher went to Zhixuan Mountain. Since then, her memory has always been clear. Even though she has forgotten some details, she has never had the strange feeling of missing a long period of memory.

She once thought that the fragmented memories were because she was still young at the time, but when such a clear dividing line appeared before her eyes, she vaguely realized something.

Her teacher, Feng Qingtan, is an expert in both medicine and poison, and is good at treating heart diseases.