Expelled from the Duke's mansion, the fake heiress is richer than a country.

Yu Man was sullen all day.

Ji Chunhua watched over the man for a while, only to find him sitting alone, looking dejected and lost in thought. Seeing no danger, she stopped caring and directed her daughter, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter to continue packing.

Despite his injuries, Yu Wenbin still had to work in the fields. Fortunately, Yu Wenrong didn't have to go to the private school these past two days and could lend him a hand.

In the evening, Zhu Xiaozhen made a big pot of thick noodles, and each person had a boiled egg and a large chopstick of cabbage. These things are hard to carry, so we'll try to finish them before moving.

As for the chicken, Ji Chunhua was determined to bring it to her new home, no matter how long the journey.

After a long day of work, the family went to bed early. No one noticed that in the middle of the night, Yu Man quietly got up, fiddled around in the kitchen for a while, picked up a bag, and left the house alone.

Yanqing slept during the day and kept watch at night, and was the first to notice his master's father's abnormal behavior.

They wanted to follow and see, but felt they hadn't truly integrated into the family. The master's treatment of them was noticeably different from before, his scrutinizing gaze carrying a hint of distance.

I'm afraid that interfering in my master's family affairs would displease him.

So he changed his mind and went to knock on Yu Wanran's window.

A moment later, Yu Wanran got up, put on her clothes, opened the window, and looked at him questioningly.

"Master, I just saw that the master has run away from home!"

Yu Wanran's weariness vanished instantly, and she quickly asked him, "Which direction did you see him go?"

"Mountain."

Yan Qing gave a brief report, then looked at his frowning master and asked, "Master, should I go and bring the master back?"

Yu Wanran frowned. She thought that her father had gone up the mountain so late at night, probably to avoid being disturbed, and sighed.

"No need, you stay and guard the house, I'm going to find my father!"

Instead of using the main entrance, he placed his hand on the windowsill and jumped from the room into the yard. He went to the kitchen, found a piece of pine wood, wrapped it with strips of cloth, applied a layer of grease, lit it, and made a makeshift torch. He then carried the torch up the mountain.

Yu Man was born and raised there; he could find his way up the mountain even with his eyes closed, but she couldn't. The cemetery behind the old house held the remains of many of the village's elderly. Without lighting, she was afraid of getting lost and causing an accident while picking up her father.

They didn't waste much time, but they couldn't catch up with Yu Man's shadow along the way.

Following the freshly scattered paper money and messy footprints along the mountain path, she jogged to Grandma Yu's grave. Sure enough, she saw Yu Man sitting in front of the grave, her head buried deep between her knees, a pair of wine gourds kicked over at her feet.

Alone, his hunched figure seemed to blend into the night.

A pang of sadness welled up in her heart for no apparent reason.

I went over to take a look and saw that Yu was covered in the smell of alcohol, and both bottles of wine were completely empty. These were her father's treasured wines, which he hadn't been willing to eat for over ten years.

Yu Wanran stuck the torch in the ground, gently patted her father's shoulder, and called out softly.

"father?"

Yu Man nuzzled his head against her arm. After a while, he slowly raised his head and looked at her with a pair of bloodshot eyes.

"Ranran, what brings you here? It's cold up here, go back quickly!"

Noticing that his daughter hadn't moved, he couldn't help but explain, "Dad just couldn't sleep, so I came to talk to your grandparents..."

Yu Wanran didn't know how to comfort her father and help him resolve his inner turmoil. After a slight hesitation, she plopped down next to Yu Man.

"Dad, if you do this, Grandpa and Grandma will be sad!"

Yu Man shook his head. A surge of alcohol rose within him, and his clear eyes gradually became muddled. After a while, he murmured, as if confiding in someone, or perhaps talking to himself.

“Your grandfather valued your eldest uncle the most when he was alive. Your grandmother always felt sorry for your third uncle. The family was poor, which caused him to marry into the Chen family and become a son-in-law who could never hold his head up high.”

His reddened eyes stared intently at the tombstone.

“In their eyes, I am the most useless one! Originally, Dad thought that this time he would definitely bring your grandma to Huangshan County so that she could enjoy a few years of peace and happiness.”

His gaze shifted to Yu Wanran.

"Let her know that although her second son is useless, he gave her the most outstanding granddaughter! But..."

He sighed hoarsely and reached out to touch the cold tombstone.

"Your grandma is so heartless... she wouldn't even give me my last chance!"

Cloudy tears welled up in his eyes. He wanted to say something, but his throat ached so much he couldn't make a sound. He just trembled, turned his face away, and tried his best to retain the last bit of dignity of a father in front of his daughter.

Yu Wanran listened silently.

Nighttime is when people are most vulnerable, and when they drink too much, they tend to speak their true feelings.

She had no idea how many years her father had kept these words bottled up inside. Perhaps he would forget what he had said by tomorrow. But at least, let him vent now.

"Actually, I've always been jealous of your eldest uncle and disgusted by your third uncle!"

After a long while, Yu Man calmed down slightly, his eyes revealing indifference as he spoke.

He was jealous of his older brother's favoritism from their father and his younger brother's doting affection from their mother. Witnessing this excessive favoritism cast a shadow over his entire childhood, into adulthood, and into marriage and the birth of his own children.

I thought I had already let it go, but I haven't.

He spent his entire life trying to prove something to his parents, but he failed. And he will never have another chance.

When he learned the truth about his mother's death and couldn't control himself, he punched his older brother in the face. He knew he had broken down.

What he cared about most and what he held onto throughout his life was worthless in their eyes!

"Ranran, do you also think your father is useless?"

Yu Man smiled silently, tilting his head back to hold back the bitter tears in his eyes.

"Dad was just a peasant, he lived a miserable life, all he knew was farming. He couldn't even support his wife, children, and elderly parents, and in the end, he had to rely on his daughter... Dad was really useless, no wonder your grandparents didn't like him!"

"father!"

Yu Wanran massaged Yu Man's back with her palms to help him catch his breath.

"Who says you're useless? You're the backbone of our family!"

Thinking of everything that happened in her previous life, her heart was filled with unspeakable pain.

“I was so immature before. Even though our family was so poor, I still forced you to give me a good life. You and my older brother did it all for my sake…”

She couldn't help but hug Yu Man's arm tightly. She thought back to when her father and brothers died tragically; had they hated her or resented her before their deaths?

Yu was momentarily stunned, unable to understand when her daughter had ever pressured her. Since returning from the Duke's mansion, she had always been obedient and filial; how could she be so disobedient?

He was probably really drunk and misunderstood his daughter's words.

But the father and daughter had never been so close before! Feeling his daughter nestled beside him, the trust she had in him, the sense that she relied on him, slowly warmed his cold body.

Yup!

Let bygones be bygones!

He has his own family. There are always people in this world who truly care about him!

Yu Wanran suppressed her emotions and supported Yu Man's increasingly heavy body with her hand. A short while later, she heard Yu Man's loud snoring beside her.

A moment of silence, followed by a moment of silent laughter.

The night is so hot.

It's not good to let his father get so drunk and sleep in front of the grave.

She bent down, carried Yu Man on her back, picked up the torch from the ground, and carefully walked down the mountain step by step.