Rose had no imdiate answer for the questions her mother was asking and she also couldn’t decide if letting Mingzhe do as suggested was the right choice.
The funny thing was that Mingzhe himself had just made the sa offer and she did not give him a firm answer. Despite this, Rose had a feeling that her brother’s imperial soldiers and her family’s bodyguards were already keeping an eye on her biological mother and her family.
"It is weird seeing her after ten years of cutting off all contact with ." Rose said softly.
Her mother had hidden her away from the world because she was the daughter she gave birth to in secret. A child born out of love with a man whose background was not worthy of marrying into the Arican royal family.
For twelve years, Rose had grown up believing that she was the daughter of a maid. But the older she grew, the more the resemblance between her and her birth mother grew.
Then one day, she was brought into a green house. Her mother revealed the truth and sent her off with Chi Lian who would be her new mother. It was all done in the na of protecting her.
After she left Arica, her mother married a Russian Oligarch with ties to the Russian royal family. Every once in a while, she would call or visit the Chinese empire under the disguise of political or economic necessity.
They were careful never to be seen together even if they t physically. Each of their reunions lasted no more than thirty minutes as her mother feared that they would be seen together.
And then ten years ago, her mother had cut off contact.
Chi Lian and Muyang had visited the Russian empire to et with her and find out what was happening behind the scenes. When they returned, they had no answers, just fake smiles and consolation words.
Rose knew then. The secret had possibly been discovered, Maybe her mother’s biological husband had told her to make a choice and she chose that family.
Rose had never known how to feel about it. Seeing her biological mother again physically had brought up so old resentnt in her. Especially seeing her openly showing off her other children.
"Weird good or weird bad?" Chi Lian asked her.
Rose twisted her lips from side to side and then shook her head. "I am not sure. With or without her, I have lived a very wholeso life. I have great parents and wonderful siblings. I have a dotting husband and amazing brilliant children. I am the CEO of a group worth billions. I do not lack for love or money." She stretched her hand and her fingers brushed against Chi Lian’s hand which was was about to scoop more ice cream. "I do not need her as a mother. I already have a mother that loves . One that was there for the most important monts of my life. One that is willing to give a bath even when I am thirty nine years old."
Chi Lian turned her face to the side and smiled more. The words coming from Rose were heavy and beautiful. It as not a competition for which mother she loved more, but it was nice to hear that she was the mother that mattered.
"So...." Rose continued, "When you are old and your arms and legs don’t work like they used to before, I will give you a bath whenever I can. I will brush your hair and read you to sleep. I will feed you and go with you to doctor’s appointnts.
I will be your arms and legs. I will be your eyes and ears.
I will take care of my younger siblings and continue wrangling them in line.
I will make sure that i i never runs off on her own. Mingzhe gets married, Jun Lei and Jun Jie do not fall for the sa girl ever again.
Lastly, I will make sure that Jun Yi does not turn our ancestral ho into a zoo."
Chi Lian laughed. "How is this the sweetest thing I have heard all week and the funniest at the sa ti? Are you working with your sister to make Mingzhe date that singer?"
Rose leaned forward, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Mom, don’t say it out loud or Mingzhe might overhear us. He walks like a cat on the hunt, you never hear him coming until he is standing behind you, eyebrows raised and those brown eyes gazing at you with disapproval."
"I refuse to tone down my voice in fear of my own son." Chi Lian waved her spoon like a sword. "Will anyone be placing bets on i i’s success or failure in her match making attempt?"
Rose shook her head. "No bets. Mingzhe will find out about it. I hope i i succeeds. It will be interesting to see Mingzhe in his dating era. Will he go at it as the dominant rich man that slays all dragons for his woman like my husband. Or will he be the cute wolf or puppy always nodding yes to everything she wants like i i’s Jingzhe?"
"And still slaying dragons for her." Chi Lian threw in. "i i’s puppy is no joke when it cos to protecting her. He is already looking for ways to acquire shares in the royal courts stables so that he can prevent Xu Ren from ever racing again."
Rose was impressed. It sounded easy but it was not because you needed to be noble and have a residence in the royal courts to own shares in the stables. Even that alone did not guarantee ownership because the top families owned majority of the shares. Most nobles did not even have one.
What Jingzhe wanted to accomplish was like the horses in the Vermillion derby climbing that steep hill.
"I heard Xu Ren’s prize horses also went missing an hour before the race." Rose said. "Do you think that he had anything to do with it?"
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