When she heard this, Xi Xiaye's brows furrowed into a knot. She could tell that Mu Zixi must have been quite an unyielding person.

"Now that we think about it, it was our fault back then. We failed to guide her. Otherwise, the tragedy wouldn't have happened."

When Mu Yinan talked about this, he could not remain calm. His aged eyes were filled with indescribable pain and struggle. "This incident has always been a thorn in your grandmother's heart. It's best if you never talk about this in front of her. Xiaye, you're a sensible child. Just be good and stay by Chen Er's side. Don't think about all of these things of the past anymore. It's not a bad thing to be able to live a calm life like you do now. Knowing too much about some things will only make it become a kind of burden."

"As the eldest brother, Chen Er has always been very protective of Lingtian and Lingshi, but Lingtian... This incident... Everyone knows that we can't blame him because..."

"What are you two talking about? Xiaye, you were free to come back today!" This sudden cheerful voice interrupted Mu Yinan's words. The two of them quickly turned and saw that Wang Hui was walking over to them.

"Grandmother!" Xi Xiaye immediately stood up.

"Sit, sit. I've been waiting for you two to come by for a while now. I was quite surprised to hear the butler say that you were back. You must've been extremely busy recently. What do you want to eat? We'll make it for the two of you."

"Don't busy yourself now, Grandfather and Grandmother. We're just back to visit you two."

Xi Xiaye smiled. "Let me go back to pack up some of Ah Shi's things first. She asked me to take a few books for her."

"Go then, but have dinner here before going back."

"Mmm, okay." Xi Xiaye responded before turning to leave.

...

"What did you say to her? What about Lingtian? Why did you talk about these things to her? Are you trying to add trouble for her?"

Wang Hui had vaguely heard them mention Lingtian earlier, so she shot Mu Yinan a warning glare.

"It's nothing. Ah Chen has never forgotten about Lingtian's incident. Today is Lingtian's birthday, and they've just been to Qingshan Cemetery... Sigh, I keep feeling that perhaps this matter should just be talked about openly. Do you think that the children would be willing to just let it be if we don't talk about it?"

Mu Yinan sighed as he got up and walked to the other end of the corridor with his arms behind his back, looking frustrated.

Wang Hui's expression darkened and shifted while she followed him too.

"It's been so many years now. The children have all grown up and are sensible now. We can't just keep interfering and controlling them. A few days ago, we already received news. We know that Lingshi was trying to find out about Zixi. You should know very well why," Mu Yinan expressed softly.

"Hmph, so what if we found that person? She's already dead! What's the point of finding out who he is? The biggest failure of my life was giving birth to such a disappointing daughter! I let you down!" Wang Hui took a deep breath. The pain that surged up her chest was so suffocating that she could barely breathe, causing an indescribable tightness of distress.

"That's enough. What are you saying now? You didn't have the child alone. If we are to blame, we can only blame ourselves for caring about her too little back then, and for indulging her too much."

"I just feel quite bad... I..."

"Enough, let's not talk about this anymore. It's in the past now, so why are we talking about this now? Only causing trouble!"

Mu Yinan turned to look at Wang Hui with a sigh. "Just let the children worry about these things. We don't have to care. Our grandson would have the fortune of a descendant. Let's just see how it goes."

...

On the other end, after Xi Xiaye heard Mu Yinan speak, she did not manage to get anything useful, so she kept feeling a little disappointed, yet she also understood that Mu Yinan did not actually want to let her know too much about the past. Just as what Mu Yuchen said, this topic was practically a taboo in the Mu family.

Xi Xiaye pushed open Mu Lingshi's door and followed the instructions from Mu Lingshi's call earlier. She began to pack the things to bring over.

It was just a few books and a gift box from the drawer.

The book was about music and a huge stack of musical scores was slotted in between the pages. Xi Xiaye naturally could not read it.

While the gift box contained a very unique pen, it had white porcelain as its body and blue gems embedded it all over. It looked rather expensive.

"That was a present that Aunty gave him during Lingtian's first birthday. When he did the one-year-old grab [1], she hoped that he would be a learned and knowledgeable scholar when he grew up."

Just as Xi Xiaye was lost in thought as she stared at the pen in the gift box, the man's deep and calm voice was suddenly heard. She turned and saw that he was standing behind her.

"This pen is beautiful," Xi Xiaye exclaimed, handing the gift box to him.

"Mmm, this is also the only present that my aunt left for Lingtian who always treasured it. After he passed away, Lingshi safeguarded it. This gift has a unique meaning to them. Back then, Lingtian didn't even allow anyone to touch it."

Mu Yuchen reached out to take it. He held the pen and carefully examined it while the gem flickered and sparkles reflected in the light. It looked a little lonely and bleak when the light bounced off his handsome face.

"That means Lingtian should be quite protective of Aunty." As Xi Xiaye said this, she picked the pen up and carefully scrutinized it. "Mmm? What do these two letters mean?"

She had stroked it for a while when she suddenly noticed that there seemed to be two little letters 'ZX' engraved into the inner part of the cap.

"Zixi?"

She thought for a moment before handing the pen to Mu Yuchen.

Mu Yuchen took it and studied it for a while too. His handsome brows furrowed slightly as he pondered for a while before putting it back.

"Quickly pack up." He closed the gift box and handed it back to her.

"I'm almost done. Ah Shi doesn't have many things."

Xi Xiaye looked around the empty bedroom. Mu Lingshi's entire room was a gloomy coffee-colored design and suited her personality.

"I remember when this room used to be filled with all sorts of toys and dolls. Lingshi loved Barbie dolls. She also loved collecting all sorts of musical boxes, and now...

"She's probably grown up, so she doesn't play with those things anymore. I used to love folding stars too. Now that I think about it, I think it was quite corny, so don't think too much into it."

When she realized what he would say next, her beautiful face flashed with a smile and she quickly interrupted him, "Stars?"

He squinted as he seemed to recall something before he stared at her in amusement. "Back then, you were all little girls, so you liked playing with these things, especially to give to boys that you admired. Did you also do the same?"

Xi Xiaye wanted to refute his statement. However, a scene played back in her mind.

On a certain night on Han Yifeng's birthday, she did give him a full jar of folded paper stars, and then...

She went quiet.

He already knew the answer just by looking at her reaction.

He had to admit that he was jealous of Han Yifeng. What had he done to deserve so much attention from her?

"If I had met you earlier, I would've folded tonnes of paper stars for you." She sighed after a while as she looked at him seriously.

He smiled and patted on her head. "With that determination of yours, it's a much better gift than tonnes and tonnes of folded paper stars."

She leaned against the side of his body and smiled. "Well, I can start folding later..."

He chuckled as he patted her more firmly. "We're not young anymore. Do you still think you're a teenage girl?"

"Who said only young people can do that? Well, I do think we're still pretty young after all."

Xi Xiaye stared at him. Then, she went to the table after casually grabbing a thick book and flipped through it. It was a collection of poems. The pages still felt pretty new. After flipping through several pages, just when she was about to close it, a photo slipped out and gently fell beside her feet.

Frowning slightly, she squatted down to pick it up. Then, she realized it was a photo that had turned yellow. It was kind of blurry, but the people in the photo were still identifiable — Mu Zi, also known as Mu Zixi!

It seemed to be a photo of a gathering. The photo consisted of her and three other people, one woman and two handsome-looking guys with sunglasses on. They seemed to be pretty close to Mu Zixi.

When Xi Xiaye wanted to get a better look at it, a large hand came over and grabbed the photo.

"It's Aunty... and some others. Can you recognize them?" Xi Xiaye looked at him and asked.

Mu Yuchen stared at the photo for some time as he pondered quietly. The light in his eyes faded a little and he shook his head. "It's not very clear."

They wore sunglasses and hardly any facial features could be distinguished although they did look rather handsome just like that.

"Aunty was really beautiful when she was young!" Xi Xiaye studied the woman in the photo. Indeed, she was a charismatic lady.

"My grandparents were really good-looking when they were young too. Of course, my aunt inherited it from them," Mu Yuchen replied as he kept his eyes glued onto the photo.

"Can we find the woman inside the photo? She seems very close to Aunty. We might be able to find something out from her," suggested Xi Xiaye after giving it some thought.

Mu Yuchen frowned slightly. He grabbed a chair and sat down as he held a corner of the photo and continued staring at it without replying.

"There are some words on the back!" Xi Xiaye glanced over and saw a line of words on the back. Immediately, Mu Yuchen flipped the photo over and saw the line which looked like the handwriting of a woman.

At times, you look at me. At times, you look at the clouds. I think that it's far when you look at me, and it's near when you look at the clouds.

Xi Xiaye snuggled over and read the text out loud. She was surprised. "This is very familiar. It sounds like Gu Cheng's 'Far and Near', but what does it mean?"

Mu Yuchen had some doubts. He studied the photo back and forth several times and still could not figure it out.

"Is this Aunty's handwriting? Or Ah Shi's?" Xi Xiaye raised her eyebrows as she asked.

He took a deep breath as he put the photo on the table. "It should be Aunty's. Lingshi's handwriting is really illegible."

"Mmm, the ink looks like it's been there for many years. Why is this photo inside here? And this line of words..."

"Let's not think about it now. Pack up and check if there's anything else we need to bring." Mu Yuchen put the photo back into the book and left it there. "Remember to take this book out later on."

Xi Xiaye nodded while her eyes were still focused on the book. "Can we find out a bit more? That lady just now looked a little familiar. Maybe she's a good friend within the industry."

"We'll find out soon. Are you done?" He went up to her as she carried a thick stack of books.

"I'm done. Let's go. There's nothing much here, just a few books. As for these music scores, I don't understand them either Hmm, did Ah Shi inherit her musical talent from Aunty as well? I remember that Aunty has a nice voice. She was very highly praised in the industry for her marvelous singing. Many of the popular songs that were trending back then were written by herself. To a certain extent, she was really talented in music too."

Xi Xiaye somewhat remembered some of the information that she had read up on Mu Zi.

"Mmm, she's indeed musically talented. She joined many competitions while she was still in school and easily won numerous awards. My grandparents were really proud of her."

"Ah Shi seems like her now. She's really enjoying being a DJ, and she's managing the Imperial Sky Entertainment Club well."

"As long as she likes it. After all, she learned a lot from working in several clubs in New York and France in the past few years, so it's best for her to apply what she's learned." Mu Yuchen felt comforted when they talked about this and his face softened.

She followed behind him with a stack of books as she said, "How can you not worry about leaving a girl like her at those places?"

"Lingshi is strong, and always being reliant on others isn't going to last long. Most importantly, she needs to know how to protect herself," he replied as he put an arm over her shoulder and his other hand into his pocket as they strolled.

They planned to have dinner at the Mu Residence before heading back, but when they were done packing up, Mu Yuchen's phone started ringing.

It was a call from the Provincial Government Department about something urgent, and they wanted Mu Yuchen to go over for dinner.

Mu Yuchen wanted to decline, but Xi Xiaye asked him to go. At the same time, she wanted him to deliver the things to Mu Lingshi as well. She had already loaded them into the car this morning. Coincidentally, her drop-off place was on the way to his destination.

"Leave me at the junction ahead. You can bring the people with you," Mu Yuchen spoke up as they arrived at an entertainment club and he unbuckled his safety belt.

"It's okay. You should bring them. Don't appear alone in public. They are supposed to follow you anyway."

There was another car with the bodyguards following them behind.

Things had not been really peaceful lately. Since Ah Mo and Li Si insisted, Mu Yuchen would bring the bodyguards with him whenever he went out just to avoid similar incidents like the one in City B from happening again. He also planned to get a female bodyguard for Xi Xiaye. Ah Mo was recruiting for this position and the bodyguard would soon be ready when he got back.

The car arrived at the entrance and stopped just when Xi Xiaye said, "It's alright. I'll just stay there for a while. I'll be back to fetch you at around 9.30 pm."

"Be careful on your own. Is your phone fully charged?"

Xi Xiaye could be pretty forgetful, so it was not uncommon for her to have her battery dead.

She searched through her bag and grabbed her phone. The battery icon showed a full bar, but after just a glance, the man took it from her and handed her his phone. "Let it charge in the car and be careful."

He swiftly got out of the car and went into the building. The bodyguards went with him as well.

Xi Xiaye started the car again after his figure vanished inside and she continued forward.

The sky turned dark when she arrived at Ah Mo and Mu Lingshi's villa. The world seemed depressingly gray.

The villas here were pretty high-class while the environment around there was peaceful and calm. The street lamps started to light up as the sky turned dark, so it still felt like day time with all the bright lights around.

"Sister-in-law!" Mu Lingshi came up to Xi Xiaye as she just parked her car.

Xi Xiaye picked the bags beside the trunk up and opened the door. "Have you been waiting for long?"

"It's alright. We just finished dinner between the two of us. Let's have a barbeque. My friend came back from north-western China and brought me some beef steaks which tastes pretty amazing. Try them later and bring some back for my brother."

Mu Lingshi took the bags from Xi Xiaye. After stealing a glance inside, she looked at her gratefully. "You brought them all here?"

Xi Xiaye closed the door and locked the car. "Mmm, we just came over from the Mu Residence. We wanted to have dinner with Grandfather and Grandmother, but your brother had a sudden appointment nearby, so I dropped by. I've never really been to your place. I almost got lost on my way here even with the GPS system."

"The land around here is only starting to get developed, but the views at night are great. How about we take a stroll around after dinner? It's only 7 p.m. now. We can head out at around 8 p.m. since it's too hot during the day. It's much better at night."

"Let's head in now. I have to pick your brother up later. I'm not sure if I can make time for it."

It had been some time since Xi Xiaye last visited a night market. Su Nan always asked her out to visit one before she got married, but now that Su Nan was pregnant and married, they spent less time with each other. Most nights, she would just watch TV or some sports matches with Mu Yuchen after dinner. Otherwise, they would be busy working until late at night before heading to bed.

"Sister-in-law, I notice that you and my brother prefer to always stay at home. You two rarely go out. Recently, a pretty decent band is playing at the club with some dancers, both street and pole dance. This is all in the midnight show. Are you guys interested?" Mu Lingshi shot Xi Xiaye a glance as she whispered beside her ear.

Xi Xiaye raised her eyebrows and looked at Mu Lingshi.

A smile appeared on Mu Lingshi's face. "Don't look at me like that. While my brother is a good man, you have to think of something to keep that passion and freshness alive for him. We're both women. There's no need to be shy about it."

She chuckled when she saw Xi Xiaye blushing. Sometimes, she felt the little girl in her sister-in-law was oddly similar to Mu Yuchen's old man personality. No wonder they matched each other so well.

"You little brat, you sure do know a lot, huh? What about you and Ah Mo?" Xi Xiaye shot her a look before walking into the villa with a grin.

"I'm serious here. You have the assets, so why waste it?" Mu Lingshi caught up with her and said in a serious tone.

"It'd be a miracle if your brother doesn't think of me as crazy. You'd better save that up for Ah Mo."

"Sister-in-law, do you listen to everything my brother says at home?"

"Of course not! He listens to my orders!"

He said it himself — she was in charge at home.

...

Mu Lingshi loved steamboat or barbeque, especially with one or two good friends and a few iced whiskeys, top-grade lamb, secret-sauce beef steaks, and some pumpkin porridge, which were all of her favorites.

"That pen is really beautiful and unique."

At the dining table, Xi Xiaye put a beef steak on Mu Lingshi's plate as she glanced at the girl who was rummaging through her bag.

Mu Lingshi was stunned for a moment. She then picked the box up and opened it.

"Mmm, this is the only gift Mother left for Lingtian. There's nothing else."

Holding the exquisite pen in her hand, she could feel the chill of the metal through her fingertips. That temperature and weight felt like it was passed from several centuries before. It was very distant, as if it were a dream-like daze.