Su Su put down Ah Mi and walked to the man.
Over the last thousand years, she has often dreamed of him. Sometimes she would dream of him being locked in purgatory, with black iron pierced through his collar bone. Sometimes she would dream of the memory of when she had crushed the evil bone, and he had held her, tears of blood falling drop by drop from his eyes.
Her tears fell on the back of her hand as she raised it to caress his face gently.
“Tantai Jin, is it you?”
Bai Ziqian raised his eyes and suddenly saw the woman with red teary eyes in front of him. Before his pounding heart could quiet down, he heard the unfamiliar name from her mouth.
He took away the hand on his face and said calmly, “Miss, you have the wrong person.”
“What’s the matter with you?” Liu Dong Yan had also recovered from her stupor and said to Su Su with displeasure, “Ziqian Gege is my fiancé, you stay away from him.”
She spread her arms wide and stood in front of Bai Ziqian.
Bai Ziqian’s gaze fell on Su Su but stayed silent, not contradicting Liu Dong Yan’s words.
Ah Mi looked at this person and then that person before saying in her crisp soft child voice “Mother, you’ve got the wrong person. Uncle Bai is a mortal, he is not Father.”
Ah Mi grew up in the demon realm and was taught since young that her father was a demon god, all-powerful and omnipotent. Her father had by his own power reversed the world of despair, so how could he be a mortal? Even if Ah Mi had never seen her mother cry in her life.
Su Su used her divine eyes to look over Tantai Jin. He indeed has the breath of a mortal but was born a demon.
He was already a god when he died so even in reincarnation, it was not possible for him to be an ordinary mortal.
She doesn’t know what had happened to Tantai Jin in the past thousand years, but since she had already waited this long, she doesn’t mind waiting some more.
Su Su apologized softly, “Sorry, I mistook him for someone else.”
Letting out a sigh of relief after hearing her words, Liu Dongyan said, “Now that we have it cleared up then it’s fine. You are Ah Mi’s mother?” Liu Dong Yan smiled, “Older sister is so beautiful, why would your husband be willing to let you come to our Changle town alone?”
Hearing Liu Dong Yan’s words, the gathered crowd belatedly remembered that Ah Mi had called Su Su mother.
Bai Ziqian’s eyes were dark and gloomy, his thoughts hard to read.
Having experienced someone like Ye Bingshang, Su Su immediately understood Liu Dong Yan’s intentions. The girl thought she had hidden her hostility well but it was actually quite obvious.
Su Su glanced at Tantai Jin and said to Liu Dong Yan, “Thank you miss for your concern. I was coming to Changle to start a business anyway but had to come rushing here after Ah Mi was lost. I am grateful to you for taking care of Ah Mi this last bit.”
Su Su raised her hand, revealing a yellow gold ingot in an embroidered handkerchief.
“This is a thank you gift for you two, please be sure to accept it.”
Her eyes brightening at the sight of the gold, Liu Dong Yan reached out a hand to take it but the man behind her said in a low voice, “No need. I didn’t bring her back for a thank you gift. You can take Ah Mi back now that you have found her.”
Ah Mi made a face at Liu Dong Yan and said, “Uncle Bai was the one who took care of me. You didn’t so Mother is not giving it to you.”
Liu Dong Yan withdrew her outstretched hand with an embarrassed expression.
Su Su smiled and said, “Then I will come by another day to thank you.”
Bai Ziqian moved his lips, wanting to tell her not to come but for some reason, he didn’t say it.
Su Su took Ah Mi’s hand and walked out of the door.
Liu Dong Yan was annoyed that she had been embarrassed and said, “I was doing it for Ziqian Gege. If you had accepted that gold, then wouldn’t you have enough for the dowry?”
Bai Ziqian coldly pursed his lips and ignored her.
He sat down and continued to wipe the bow and arrow but was so distracted this time that he didn’t notice when the still upset Liu Dong Yan had left.
He pressed his lips together tightly and touched where his heart was.
This place that had been like a dead pool of water suddenly started to beat really fast when he saw Su Su. Bai Ziqian had never imagined that he would have such absurd thoughts about a woman he just met. That woman is even married and already has a cute child like Ah Mi.
At that moment, he was even a little jealous of that person.
Bai Ziqian stopped wiping his arrow… even though Ah Mi said that her father had already passed away.
She said that she would come to thank him another day…which day would another day be?
—————————————-
Little Ah Mi spent the whole night digesting the fact that Bai Ziqian is her father Tantai Jin. At dawn, she said to Su Su shyly, “If he is father, why couldn’t he recognize mother and Ah Mi?”
Does Father not love us anymore?
Su Su knew that she longed for her father in her heart but is also afraid that her mischievousness would cause her to be disliked. She touched her little head and said, “Father’s memory had been sealed. He must have suffered a lot in the thousand years so he doesn’t recognize us. Ah Mi knows how lonely it is to be alone, right? When he accepts us and remembers us again, then he can go home with us.”
When Ah Mi thought about how pitiful her father was, any awkwardness she felt instantly disappeared, and quickly told Su Su the way the Liu mama and daughter duo had treated him.
Su Su listened carefully to Ah Mi’s words and turned thoughtful.
To be dragged down by a joke-like engagement. After Bai family had fallen on a hard time, instead of helping Bai family’s young son, the Liu family had instead taunted him and took things from Bai Family as a matter of course.
Mama Liu had long wanted to break the engagement but Liu Dong Yan stubbornly refused to.
“Don’t worry, Mother will take care of it.”
Everything had changed, but the feeling of liking someone will not change. As long as that deep love is still there then no matter how far, he will eventually return to where she is.
This time, it’s her turn to take him home.
The next day, Su Su not only found a place to live that is next Bai Ziqian’s house but she also bought a wine shop in town.
On the day the wine shop opened, she carried two jugs of the best wine and led little Ah Mi to Bai Ziqian’s house.
Bai Ziqian had been heading out with his bow and arrow in hand but silently put them down when he saw the mother and daughter.
Su Su was all smiles, “Master Bai didn’t accept the thank you gift that day so I brought over two jugs of wine from the shop. Please accept it. The wine shop will open its door tonight. If you judge the two jugs of wine to be good, then please come by the shop tonight to join in the festivities.”
Her appearance leaned toward the ice beauty sort but the ice broke when she smiled, causing her to take on a hint of sweet charm.
Bai Ziqian took the two jugs and said, “Hmm.”
He didn’t say if he would go or not. Perhaps he himself is aware of what it would mean if he went.
Ah Mi ran over to hug him, “Uncle Bai, did you miss Ah Mi?”
Bai Ziqian avoided answering, “Since you are home now, don’t go wandering around in the future.”
Ah Mi nodded obediently.
Su Su left with Ah Mi after they handed over the thank-you gift. Ah Mi was very nervous, “Will Father come?”
There was a misty smile in Su Su’s eyes, “He will.”
Yet to their surprise, when the wine shop opened to a rush of customers, Bai Ziqian was nowhere to be found.
Su Su didn’t worry.
The fame of the wine shop owner’s beauty spread through the town within a day. There were many hooligans who came and when Su Su was entertaining the guests with a wine jug in hand, someone had the audacity to make a move.
She pretended not to know and before that hand could touch her arm, a pale hand caught it.
“Ouch, it hurts, it hurts!”
Su Su looked back and sure enough, it was Bai Ziqian who looked to be in a very bad mood.
She looked down and as expected, the hooligan’s wrist had been broken. One can judge how annoyed he is inside by how ruthless he was.
“Sorry for hitting your guest.”
Although it was an apology, there was no regret in his tone, just coldness.
Su Su replied, “You were helping me, how can I blame you.”
She waved a hand and signaled the shop helper to come greet the guests. She turned to Tantai Jin with a smile, “I will treat Master Bai to a drink.”
Bai Ziqian knows that he shouldn’t have anything to do with her.
On the day when he became conscious, there was a voice deep inside that told him to not pursue, to spend his whole life in the ordinary town of Changle in an ordinary way.
In this life, he will not marry, not have children, not take positions of authority, or fight for power.
He had stopped in front of the wine shop. He had not planned on entering but to just look from a distance. In the end, he couldn’t stand to have someone offending her and made his move.
In the twenty-plus year, this is the first time he is feeling this way.
Like an empty heart that had lost something but one day, that something came running back by itself. He can’t help it. He want to take just one look, but then wanted to take another look after that.
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Hi Ninja,
Another curious question as I’ve not read the full novel. They were mean to each other for most of the novel. And of course tantaijin mistook his hate for her most of the time. But when did Ye Xi Wu or Li Su Su fell for him?
Or did she also sometimes mistook her hate for him?
They really did torture each other for most of the book. Moreover, both of them mistakenly thought the other person was in love with someone else. I personally think both of them fell in love slowly over the course of their rather unhealthy relationship but it took Ye Xi Wu’s death for our hero to really look at his own feelings. I think before her death, he didn’t think too much other than “I MUST keep her with me no matter what” but her death and his subsequent understanding of the pain he had caused her, finally allowed him to change his feelings from obsession to real love. As for Ye Xiwu, I think before the demon bone was taken out of Tantai Jin, she really didn’t have the luxury to let her heart soften against Tantai Jin. My personal opinion is that it really wasn’t until our heroine was back being Li Su Su that any of the “might’ve” or “should’ve” feelings from their mortal life finally was able to blossom. Remember, Tantai Jin really did a number on Ye Xiwu so Li Su Su really had to work through some rather horrific psychological traumas before she can truly fall in love with Tantai Jin.