Men naturally had protective tendencies, and one was duty-bound to protect one’s younger sisters. At first, Nie Qingyun wasn’t very close to Nie Sangyu until he accidentally overheard a conversation between his mother and a servant girl.

  Chen Suqin was shaking in anger in her room as she said, “That woman is already dead, but Old Master still longs for her. Does he need to go that far? She just had a slightly more seductive appearance.

  The servant girl tried to persuade her, “You’re already the main wife now. It doesn’t matter if the Old Master misses her.”


  “You don’t understand.” Chen Suqin was somewhat hysterical. “I’ve been competing with her for half of my life. I finally killed her off, but she still lives on in Xiangyuan’s heart…… This type of feeling…… It’s as if I can never win against her.”


  “Madam……” The servant girl lowered her voice as if to signal her master to keep her voice down.

  Chen Suqin paused before sneering. “So what if I say that aloud? I was the one that killed Chen Suxin with a bottle of poison. My only regret is that I couldn’t grind down her bones and scatter her ashes. And that Xiangyuan still remembers her and thinks of her!”


  The servant girl sighed and quietly said, “You and Old Master still have the rest of your lives together while the previous madam can only watch the two of you from the underworld. If you think of it that way, you’ll feel more at ease.”


  Nie Qingyun widened his eyes. At that time, he was only a child, but he understood the meaning of these words and ran away.

  His mother was a murderer. She killed his maternal aunt just for his father’s heart?

  A young child wasn’t that good with distinguishing between right and wrong, but his heart was very clean. He knew that killing someone meant you were a bad person. His mother was a bad person.

  After running to the garden, he saw Nie Sangyu crying behind a rock. She had only recently learned how to speak, but because she couldn’t find her mother, she would frequently pitifully cry.

  Nie Qingyun ran over to her and pulled her up.

  “My mother did something unforgivable to your mother, so I’ll do my best to protect you in the future,” said the little boy, “I’ll return everything that’s owed to you.”


  Since that day, Nie Sangyu gained a small shadow.

  —


  Nie Qingyun was the only boy in the household, and he was now the son of the main wife. With Chen-shi sheltering him and Old Master Nie could be considered to like him, no one dared to deceive or take unfair advantage of him. Some of his concubine-born sisters tried to bully Nie Sangyu after she lost her mother, but Nie Qingyun always stood behind her and supported her.

  “You can regard me as your mother,” said Nie Qingyun with a serious expression, “I’ll definitely be the same as your mother.”


  Nie Sangyu grabbed the edge of his clothes and happily clapped.

  Nie Sangyu no longer had a mother, but she was safely protected by her older brother. Nie Qingyun really did perform his role as her mother perfectly. He didn’t give anyone even the slightest chance to harm her. If she wanted something, he would ask his father for it. Even if Chen-shi occasionally attempted to give Nie Sangyu a hard time, Nie Sangyu still grew up carefree and without worries.

  That’s why she still ended up being spoiled rotten.

  —


  Nie Sangyu wasn’t favored by the marquis, so Nie Qingyun repeatedly went over there to stick his head out for her. Even if other people said his actions were inappropriate and even though he was only a few years older than her, he felt that Sangyu was still the child that he had raised. He couldn’t bear to see her hurt, thus Nie Qingyun ignored what other people said about him.

  —


  However, later on, Nie Sangyu changed in a sensible woman that didn’t need his protection. Nie Qingyun felt somewhat lost, but he was happy. If she could happily live her life, then he could feel a bit more at ease.

  After he had accompanied Sangyu in growing up for the past many years, his mother’s sin could be considered paid off. And yet, he had the lingering mindset of a parent, he couldn’t help but continue to worry about Sangyu.

  Anyone would feel uneasy about her entanglement with Marquis Moyu. Ning Yuxuan didn’t like her. It was pointless for her to forcibly keep him in a marriage, but because of the relationship between their families, their marriage couldn’t be broken off.

  At this time, Sangyu said to him, “Errong is actually a very good girl.”


  Ning Errong, he had known about this person before. She was Marquis Jingwen’s junzhu daughter. He could see that Sangyu wanted to matchmake them, but he hadn’t made any significant achievements yet. For him to marry a titled lady, he didn’t have the confidence.

  —


  “Qingyun wants to establish my career first, then start a family,” he answered.

  The faintly blushing young woman’s eyes dimmed. She silently left. Nie Qingyun watched her back figure and had a tiny impulse to ask her to stay. He sighed. After all, he was already at this age.

  However, he felt it wouldn’t be right to call out to stop her. Even though everyone knew there would be many benefits to marry Ning Errong, he didn’t want to rely on a woman.

  —


  As a result, Sangyu came over to act as the go-between. Nie Qingyun felt he was truly too shameless. Even though he had already assented a hundred times in his mind, he still showed a calm expression and hesitated. Finally, he used the excuse that he was doing this for Sangyu’s well-being and agreed.

  Too shameless.

  —


  Errong was so happy. Circling around him and smiling happily like a child, she asked him, “You won’t go back on your word, right?”


  “This one won’t. This one is willing to marry the junzhu,” he answered.

  Errong gigled. She stuffed a handkerchief into his hand and scurried away. He calmly put the handkerchief away. Since that time, he always kept that handkerchief on him.

  If they were together, it could be considered a good match? Nie Qingyun thought; it would be fine. He would work hard and rise to a fourth-rank official this year in order to not be a disappointment to the junzhu and her choice.

  However, it seemed that Errong had misunderstood many things.