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

To get from Sanpinju to Wen Mansion, one has to go through four long streets and make three turns. It’s not far by carriage, but it’s not close by foot either.

Yuan Ge felt helpless and confused, walking and stopping, not even knowing how he was walking, until he heard Wen Changling's surprised voice, "Qianqian? What's wrong with you..."

Only then did he realize that he had unknowingly walked to the gate of the Wen Mansion.

She seemed to be awakened from a nightmare. After a moment of confusion, her eyes gradually regained clarity and she called out in a low voice, "Father."

In Wen Changling's eyes, this expression looked like he was about to cry.

Wen Changling hurriedly led the person inside, and while instructing the servants to prepare snacks, he asked with concern, "What happened? Why are you so absent-minded? From a distance, he looked like you, but I couldn't recognize him... Where's Song Wenyuan? Did you have a fight?"

The last time they met, Wen Changling felt that the little girl had lost a lot of weight and looked ugly. He thought that she had not recovered from her injury, so he did not say anything. Unexpectedly, when he saw her today, her condition seemed to be worse. He felt distressed and a little angry, "What's wrong? Why did you walk back by yourself? The Song family didn't even let you use the carriage?"

"We didn't quarrel." When she came out of Sanpinju, she said she wanted to take a walk and asked the driver to go back first. She lowered her head and fiddled with her fingernails, explaining in a low voice, "I... my daughter just dreamed of her mother, and I felt upset."

Wen Changling was stunned for a moment, but then he breathed a sigh of relief, "So that's how it is...You were only two years old when your mother passed away, and I thought you didn't remember anything. Tell me, what did you dream about?"

Naturally, I have never dreamed of anything. Whether it is Wen Qian's mother or my own mother, they have never appeared in my dreams in these years... When I was wronged as a child, I always hoped to dream of her, so I went to bed early, but I never dreamed of her. My brother said that it was because I had never seen her, so naturally I could not dream of her.

She lowered her head and rolled up the handkerchief in her hand, rolling it up and down, and asked Wen Changling, "Father, do you know where my grandparents' home is?"

"Why do you think of asking this?" Although he was a little curious about the topic that was brought up rashly, it was not a secret, so Wen Changling said frankly, "Your mother never mentioned it, and I haven't seen them visit in these years. I think they don't have a good relationship."

"What's the mother's last name? Does the father know?"

Perhaps because she asked too eagerly, Wen Changling tilted his head to look at her with a scrutinizing look in his eyes. After a while, he shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter what her last name is. She is my wife. After she married me, she took my last name and was called Rou'er... What happened to you today? Did you hear anything?"

"No..." She lowered her head, her voice hoarse, and she seemed a little listless. "I dreamed of my mother last night. I woke up just after midnight, and couldn't fall asleep no matter what. So I couldn't help thinking a lot, wondering what kind of person she was, where she came from, and how she disappeared..." The last word was drowned in her throat.

Twin sisters, born of the same mother, died one after another. Was it a coincidence or was it man-made? Except for their biological mother who was seriously ill, no one in the entire Murong family seemed to care about the sisters. The younger sister ran away from home, but the older sister was married in a formal way. Why was there no one to see her off even at her funeral? What about her resurrection? Along the way, she was forced to sweat coldly by these thoughts. The moment she looked up and saw Wen Changling, she suddenly remembered what she had heard before. Wen Changling insisted from the beginning to the end that his wife was murdered...

But the only answer she got was silence and a gaze weighing heavily on her head.

She knew she was asking too hastily. Wen Changling was so alert that he must have noticed something was wrong...

"I met the housekeeper halfway and realized it was you. You left in a hurry last time, and I forgot to give you this scar-relief cream." The stepmother came in with a plate of snacks. Her expression was as indifferent as always, but her voice was much gentler. "Last time I saw that you looked unwell. By chance, I got some high-quality bird's nests here. You can take them back with you... You are still young, and you can't be careless about your health. If you neglect it for a while and develop a disease, you will suffer for decades to come."

The slightly heavy and depressing atmosphere just now was broken in an instant, and the topic naturally came to an abrupt end.

"I have them all. Aunt Gui prepares them for me every day."

Yuan Ge stood up to decline, but Wen Changling waved his hand, "Take it. Aunt Gui's problem is hers, but these are the attitudes of our Wen family. We value you, and you will not be neglected in the Song family. It just so happened that we were busy in the house when you were injured. Your grandmother was ill, and Zhuozhuo was going to be included in the family tree. Your mother was too busy to visit you... Please don't mind it."

"Father, please don't say such polite words. I know that my brother has come to visit me. It's unfilial of me to make the elders worry. How can I mind?" After saying these polite words, she bent down and took the bird's nests. "Thank you for your concern, mother."

Next, according to convention, they should chat about some trivial personal matters for a while, then serve tea and see the guest off.

But this time it was different. The stepmother did not sit down. Instead, she smiled and asked Yuan Ge, "Just now, Madam made Tremella soup. I was greedy and ate half a bowl more. Now I feel bloated in my stomach... Ningning is not here, why don't you accompany me for a walk?"

Yuan Ge was startled, looked up, and ran into the other party's meaningful gaze. After a while, he nodded hesitantly, "Okay."

So Yuan Ge said goodbye to Wen Changling and left with his stepmother.

For the first time ever, a half-acquainted mother and son walked side by side in their own back garden. There were no small talk, no polite words, and no detailed instructions. They were just frank and forthright, "I was chosen by your mother to be her concubine two months before she left... Over the years, I have always thought that she probably knew that she would never come back."

Yuan Ge's feet were fixed in place.

The dizziness caused by the sun came again. The sounds around her gradually faded away. She could hear her heartbeat like a drum, beating against her chest, making her whole body hurt and numb. She opened her mouth, her voice hoarse and dry, "She...didn't she say that she was hit by a drowning on her way back home to visit her relatives..."

"Yes. Everyone says so." The other party turned around and looked at me, her eyes calm with familiar indifference, "But she left you behind... A girl who has been away from home for many years returns home to visit her relatives without her husband or her little daughter, and she is alone? I am a wife and a mother... Over the years, every time I think of this matter, I feel puzzled, but I saw that you never mentioned it, so I thought you were too young to remember it, and I didn't want to add to your troubles. Now that you have mentioned it, I can't hide it anymore. I always feel that... your mother knows that she may not come back."