Chapter 21: Chapter 20: Picnic with Sui-er

I arrived first at the promised location so I picked a nice spot and took out a sheet to sit on. By the time Sui-er found me, I had a teapot of steaming jasmine tea ready - Thanks to my spiritual energy - 

“Shin-ge! I was not sure you would come early. I thought you would be late and chose to bring cafeteria food just in case”

“No. I am really curious about your father’s culinary skills. And I promised him I would try his food” 

“... most people who meet him would ask me first why we have different surnames,” said an embarrassed Sui-er. It seems he wanted to start talking about that.

“well…I am curious, but it is your decision to tell me about it or not. Either way, show me the food!” I was hungry and food was more important than curiosity.

“OK! here it is” There were 2 bento-style boxes, one for each of us. This was the first time I saw this type of box in this world. Usually, you get one box per dish and everyone eats together. Sui-er’s boxes were cutely decorated just like the bento boxes my mother would prepare for my siblings and me when we were young. 

Based on the look, there was very little to no oil in uncle Qin's food. The boxes were packed with green vegetables. The turnip was cut into a star shape and the meat was shredded for easy digestion. The rice was decorated with edible flowers and the overall showed a green cat sleeping on a flower bed under a starry night. The taste was light, it had less salt than I would have liked and no other heavy spices.

A wave of nostalgia hit me. Throughout my second life, my mother would make this type of bland food because of my poor digestive system. She would also take the time to make different shapes of vegetables and cute cartoons to cheer me up.

Sui-er who did not start eating was looking at me apprehensively. He was either scared of my review or concerned that I was forcing myself into finishing the meal. I was a little envious of him, he did not know how lucky he was to have a father who took the time to make healthy and nutritious food for him every day. Even if his body was healthy enough to eat whatever he wanted. I did not talk, just took my time savoring the taste. Seeing this, Sui-er exhaled as if eased then started eating...

When I was done, Sui-er asked “So what do you think?”

“This food is proof of your father’s love” I summed it up. Sui-er eyes misted a bit and smiled “A lot of people know my story so it is not a secret.

My mother died giving birth to me, at least this is what my father thought at that time. He gave me her surname and vowed that he will not have another wife. A few years later he found out that my mother was poisoned to death” Sui-er stopped for a few seconds to let me digest this information  

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“Before I was 5 years old, my father was always absent due to his busy schedule. He worked hard to take care of the Qin family's numerous businesses. I was bullied often. The servants would even forget to feed me thinking that dad hated me for killing my mother. One day, he came unexpectedly early from one of his business trips and was furious when he found out how I was treated in his absence. Instead of believing the family's explanations and accepting their apologies, he cut ties with them and moved us to another house. This is when he found out that I had traces of poison in my body. After an investigation that took over a year, he found out that my mother was poisoned when pregnant with me and my uncle, his half-brother, was the one who ordered it” Sui-er took a long breath before continuing 

"You see, his half-brother, as the Di sonSon from the main wife, thought he would inherit the Qin's properties eventually but my father is a genius in business, he multiplied the Qin family fortune many times over the years. When he married my mother and was about to have a descendant, my uncle panicked. He could not hurt the golden goose genius half-brother so he turned to his pregnant wife... To avoid being suspected, he did not touch me after her death" Sui-er smiled before saying

"Too bad for him, his children loved bullying me behind his back and paid the servants to do the same... My father, who started a business from scratch after cutting ties, avenged my mother and took over the part of the Qin family businesses that he created initially" He said the last part with pride

"Anyway, we moved to this city shortly after my uncle's death to stay away from the remaining noisy family. This city is very safe and prosperous and my dad opened some businesses here too. Since he learned about the poison, he cooked personally all our meals” After finishing his story, Sui-er looked at me with weary eyes.

These kinds of stories were not the norm in this world. At least not the norm for most cultivators who thought that running a business to make money was a waste of time. With the possibility of living for thousands of years, some did not even care about descendants. Having a half-brother working hard to give you the resources to cultivate should have been enough for that scum uncle. It seems his jealousy made him dumb

For example, my eldest uncle only cared about cultivation and let his 3rd brother deal with the family business. If old lady Yu did not force him to marry, he would just have cultivated without other thoughts. It was my dear aunt, his wife, who wanted the power to manage the family. She was also the one who wanted children and only got Yu JinLi, my she-wolf cousin.

"How about the poison in your body?" I asked

"All gone shortly after we moved here. I just hope that my dad would start trusting the food from the school cafeteria or at least make the meals less bland" said Sui-er with a helpless smile

“I am sorry that your mother is dead but I think you are lucky to have a father who loves you and protected you when you needed it the most. You must take good care of him when you grow up”            

Sui-er looked at me, smiled and said with a tear falling down his left cheek 

“I know and I will”