Chapter 1550: Why So Wronged?

Uncle Qing didn’t close the door when he left, leaving it slightly ajar. She wasn’t sure if it was intentional, but the wind blowing through the gap caught her directly, making her feet cold within a minute. She got up to close the door, hesitated for a moment, then gathered the courage to open the gap a bit wider. Suddenly a gust of wind slammed the wooden doors, making them creak loudly. She was startled and quickly pushed the door shut with a bang.

She went back to kneeling, looking sheepishly at the grand row of ancestral tablets on the altar, unable to resist rubbing her arms.

“My dear ancestors, I’m the most conscientious in our family, accompanying you since I was a child. Let’s get along tonight, okay? Please don’t scare me, I’m really timid. If you frighten me to death, you won’t have a great-great-great-granddaughter left to worship you!”

“Heh…”

A soft chuckle drifted over, and Xu Tingting was scared stiff in an instant.

She didn’t dare look around, clutched her head, and buried it in the mat in front, crying and pleading, “We agreed you wouldn’t scare me, what’s going on!”

“It’s me.”

“I don’t care who you are, you can’t take me away! I still have a long life to live!”

A sigh fell from above her head, laced with amusement. In the next second, a hand rested on her shoulder.

Xu Tingting was so frightened her body nearly shot up. Then a male voice beside her took on clarity: “It’s me, your big brother, not your ancestor.”

She was momentarily stunned, then suddenly turned her head, glaring at him.

She burst into tears, “You should have come earlier! Why’d you sneak up on me? I almost died of fright!”

As soon as she started crying, she leaned into his arms. Xu Shu was on one knee, and she threw herself at him, knocking him over. Luckily, he reacted quickly, bracing himself on the ground to catch their weight.

“Feeling so wronged?”

“Why don’t you try kneeling all night and see if you feel wronged,” she deliberately wiped her tears on him, “Second Brother always uses this trick, never changing! The only improvement is he doesn’t beat me like when I was young.”

“How could your Second Brother bear to? Such a pretty girl, any marks on you would make people feel pity.”

“Pity my ass! When we were kids, he’d whip me, the thing was this thick!”

Xu Tingting sat up and gestured to show him, “Look, it was as thick as a bowl. It hurt so much when he hit me, at that time he never thought little girls’ wounds would scar.”

The width she indicated wasn’t just the size of a bowl, it was like the size of a basin!

“Exaggerating, huh.”

Xu Shu brought over a mat, sat next to her, and from his pocket, he pulled out two custard buns, broke one in half, and handed it to her.

Xu Tingting took a bite, tears of gratitude welling up, “Is there any warm stuff?”

Xu Shu flicked her forehead playfully, “Be content, will you? Bringing in something here, don’t you think Second Brother doesn’t know? Want it warm too? I might as well build a bonfire and roast you a whole lamb!”

“That’d be great!”

“Great, nothing. Once you’re done eating, continue kneeling.”

He said it without a shred of authority. Who could blame him, always shielding her since they were little? If Second Brother were there, she’d be kneeling upright for sure, but in front of Xu Shu, she sat cross-legged.

After a couple of bites, she lost her appetite, “I ate too much for dinner…”

Xu Shu finished the two custard buns in a few bites.

Xu Tingting looked around for water, worrying he’d choke, but where could you find drinking water in a shrine? She wouldn’t dare touch the offerings on the altar.

“Didn’t you eat dinner?”

Xu Shu glanced at her, “Just a little, got called for an emergency, and by the time I was done with the surgery it was cold, didn’t feel like eating.”