Chapter 76: Liu Qingzhang IF Line 2

When Bai Ying was six years old, he went to Shen City to celebrate Yun Ze’s birthday.

He had met Yun Ze at the birthday banquet for Yun Ze’s third birthday. Although Zhong Peide had meticulously written a parenting guide that Liu Qingzhang treated as waste paper, Liu Qingzhang did acknowledge one point: children needed appropriate contact with peers. After personally screening some of the capital city’s noble children, a few had the honor of entering Willow Mansion as playmates for the little snake. Later, when he heard that the little young master of the Yun Family in Shen City was holding a grand birthday banquet, the little snake wanted to go. Liu Qingzhang thought about it and agreed.

What interested Bai Ying wasn’t the Yun Family little young master’s birthday banquet, but Shen City itself.

That was, after all, the place where he was born—his hometown, in a sense. Because of this connection, the Zhong Family’s business had begun expanding into Shen City, so the invitation to the Yun Family little young master’s third birthday banquet had also reached Zhong Peide.

Although Liu Qingzhang traveled to Shen City with Bai Ying, he did not attend the banquet in person. His identity was too special; if he went, the Yun Family would worry endlessly about how to host him. Therefore, only Zhong Peide and his wife, along with the two children Bai Ying and Zhong Qian, participated in the birthday banquet. Liu Qingzhang merely sent a gift.

Although Zhong Peide was publicly the head of the Zhong Family, the Yun Family knew that the mysterious Mr. Liu was the true master of the Zhong Family. Among this group, the one who truly called the shots was Mr. Liu’s little pearl.

Even without that status, the children would have naturally clustered around Bai Ying. He was simply too beautiful. In the past, the teachers at the orphanage had refrained from dressing him up out of concern for his overly striking looks, but once Liu Qingzhang unearthed this pearl of the mortal world, its brilliance could no longer be hidden.

Even the birthday boy, Yun Ze, forgot to look at the little lion he had longed for on his birthday cake, his eyes filled entirely with this “little sister Ying” from the capital.

Little Sister Ying couldn’t speak, but when he took his hand, she let out a warm, soft, pleasant laugh.

Yun Ze couldn’t resist sneaking away from the banquet with him, wanting to take him to see his mother’s rose greenhouse. Xu Yunwei loved flowers, and she had built that greenhouse herself. She usually wouldn’t let Yun Ze inside, but because it was his birthday, she had given him the key.

“Mom said that today, I can pick one flower to take,” Yun Ze said, his cheeks flushed red, too shy to look into Bai Ying’s eyes. “I-I’ll give it to you!”

Thanks to his mother, Yun Ze had learned young how to cut flowers and wrap them. While wrapping the flower, he couldn’t help glancing repeatedly at the “girl” sitting on the wrought-iron swing. She wore a shawl like a cloud, sat obediently with her hands on her fluffy skirt, and her hair was in little curls. Roses of deep red and pale pink surrounded her, but she was even more beautiful than the flowers.

Red was too passionate, white too plain. The little snake, pure white all over, also had a pair of jet-black eyes. Yun Ze deliberated for a long time before selecting a cup-shaped rose with a pale champagne interior and snowy white outer petals. After his childish wrapping, he delivered it into Bai Ying’s arms.

The little snake didn’t know how to say thank you yet; his way of expressing gratitude was to nuzzle and rub, gently bumping his head. Yun Ze, favored with this closeness from Little Sister Ying, flushed bright red, feeling his cheeks burn.

On the way back from the greenhouse to the banquet, however, they encountered a strange person.

Yun Ze recognized him as a Yun Family servant. He said that Yun Ze’s parents had sent him to bring Yun Ze to them, but instead of heading toward the banquet hall, he led them toward the back gate. The just-turned-three-year-old Yun Ze believed him. Bai Ying wanted to follow, but the strange servant repeatedly refused.

This person gave the little snake a very uncomfortable feeling. Bai Ying gripped Yun Ze’s hand tightly. Seeing he couldn’t shake off the child, the servant suddenly changed his attitude.

“Then come along together,” he said, malice lurking beneath his smile.

The servant had taken money from the Yun Family’s enemies to abduct Yun Ze and sell him off to some remote backwater. He hadn’t expected an extra Bai Ying, but since the child had already seen his face—and even if this kid couldn’t speak, he might still identify him—he decided to take Bai Ying as well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

Of course, he didn’t succeed.

The Yun couple hadn’t anticipated a traitor in their household and had relaxed their protection of Yun Ze, but the Zhong Family’s protection of Bai Ying was unwavering.

The moment the man fully revealed his intent to traffic the child, a gun was pressed directly to his forehead.

When the Yun couple learned of the incident, they were terrified and showered the Zhong Family with endless gratitude. Later, whenever Bai Ying attended Yun Ze’s birthday banquets, he received even warmer receptions than the first time.

The little snake, now able to walk, bolted from the car on his little short legs straight to Yun Ze, who waited at the door to greet him. Yun Ze, afraid he would fall, hurried forward and scooped Little Ying into his arms.

“Little Ze!” Bai Ying’s voice was soft and fluffy. He could talk now!

But Yun Ze was stunned. “Little Sister Ying… why aren’t you wearing a skirt today?”

“Because I’m a boy to begin with!” Bai Ying spun happily, showing off his little windbreaker to Yun Ze.

Bai Ying didn’t attend kindergarten; his preschool lessons were taught personally by Liu Qingzhang or by teachers invited to the home. Liu Qingzhang actually wished he could keep the little snake in Willow Mansion forever, always within eyesight, but that was just a thought. He knew what was truly best for the little snake.

He had arranged for Bai Ying’s elementary school. In another year, Bai Ying would start school with a group of children. The little snake had no gender identity issues and would need to wear boys’ clothes then. To help him adjust in advance, Liu Qingzhang, though not yet tired of the skirts, had switched him back to pants.

His hair was also cut short, the soft strands no longer reaching his neck.

The transformation from sister to brother broke more than just Yun Ze’s heart. Qin Juanshu was also stunned for a long time. He had met Bai Ying at Yun Ze’s third birthday banquet as well. The Qin Family and Yun Family were both top-tier clans in Shen City, so they had naturally received an invitation. That night, Qin Juanshu’s mother had taken him; Qin Chi, the head of the Qin Family, had not attended.

Qin Chi had taken a mistress at the time and was busy with her and his illegitimate child.

He Yuan, who discovered this, felt her heart shatter, but she forced a smile in public, even hiding it from her own child. Only when alone did she weep silently, unwittingly witnessed by a little snake. Bai Ying quietly accompanied her for a long time.

The comfort received in her most vulnerable moment gave the sensitive and fragile He Yuan courage.

Once the first step was taken, some things proved not so difficult. Even He Yuan hadn’t expected she would actually divorce Qin Chi. The He Family was also a major clan; their marriage alliance had exchanged shares. Qin Chi couldn’t touch the solid He Family with those shares, but He Yuan allied with Qin Chi’s sister using her own shares to topple him. Suddenly, Qin Chi had no time for his mistress, spending his days frantic to preserve his position.

But these adult conflicts had nothing to do with the children.

He Yuan’s spirits were much improved, and she brought Qin Juanshu to meet Bai Ying. Unlike Yun Ze, who insisted she was still his little sister, the now twelve-year-old Qin Juanshu was more mature. When he approached Bai Ying, he naturally called him Little Brother Ying.

Bai Ying smiled sweetly and called him Brother Juanshu.

Yun Ze also wanted Little Sister Ying to call him brother, but Bai Ying thought they were the same age and only called him Little Ze. Hearing Bai Ying call Qin Juanshu brother made Yun Ze’s heart sour instantly, feeling like his sister was being stolen by Qin Juanshu.

That night, while blowing out candles and making a wish, Yun Ze declared something shocking.

“I…” Yun Ze clenched his fists, his tone firm. “My wish is to marry Little Sister Ying as my wife!”

The adults chuckled indulgently, not taking a child’s bold words seriously, but the other children at the banquet took it to heart.

“I want Little Ying to marry me too…”

“Me too…”

“Mom, can we go to Little Ying’s house to propose?”

The two-year-old little young master of the Lu Family clung tightly to Bai Ying. “Brother, don’t marry him—marry me…”

Qin Juanshu clenched his fists. He was a big kid now and knew boys couldn’t marry boys home as wives, but… if it was Little Ying… he wanted to marry him too…

Zhong Qian watched enviously as these people blurted out whatever they wanted. He liked Little Ying too, but he knew his place.

Bai Ying, who didn’t yet understand marriage or weddings, happily told Liu Qingzhang all about it after leaving the Yun Family.

“Mr. Liu, so many people today said they wanted to marry me!” Little Bai Ying lay in Liu Qingzhang’s arms, chin propped up, little legs kicking idly. “Can I marry all of them?”

A vein throbbed at Liu Qingzhang’s temple. Which damn brats were trying to steal his little snake?

“No,” Liu Qingzhang said, his tone uncharacteristically firm.

Bai Ying misunderstood, thinking it meant he couldn’t marry all of them at once, so he began earnestly selecting.

“Brother Juanshu is so reliable—he’s taller and stronger than the others. When I got tired today, Brother Juanshu carried me. Little Ze said he’d be good to me forever and gave me the prettiest piece of cake. Little Lu said none of them were as good as him—he’d still be young when they were old. And…” Bai Ying counted them off, troubled. “Who should I marry?”

“No one,” Liu Qingzhang said, picking him up to coax him to sleep.

“Why, why?” The little snake asked insistently.

Liu Qingzhang had no particular reason; as an old father figure, he just saw them all as no-good punks. Unable to give a concrete answer, and with the little snake refusing to sleep without one, he blurted out something random.

“Because the little snake is my child bride and can’t marry anyone else.” Liu Qingzhang patted Bai Ying’s bottom. “Now, sleep.”

With the lights off, the bedroom plunged into darkness.

Curled up as a little snake ball in the big snake’s embrace, Bai Ying pondered blankly. No wonder Mr. Liu never let him call him Daddy…

So he wasn’t Mr. Liu’s child—he was Mr. Liu’s child bride…