When Xu Ziling arrived at the dining room of the general’s manor, she cried “Mother” with a smile.
Dressed in orange attire, Madam Xu was a pretty and charming woman who looked around thirty years old. She had a slightly round face and wore a golden hairpin. Xu Ziling really resembled her. Seeing Xu Ziling had arrived, Madam Xu smiled. “Ling’Er, why have you come so late?”
A thought crossed Xu Ziling’s mind and her face looked slightly uncomfortable, as she took her seat at the table. “I was just so sleepy, so I got some rest,” she said.
Besides Madam Xu, there were three other boys at the table of around ten years old. The slightly older boy who wore a white robe with golden embroidery was around thirteen to fourteen years old and had long, shapely eyes brows, and eyes. He looked like an incompetent, noble son who only cared about eating and couldn’t care less about Xu Ziling in the slightest.
The other boy seemed around eleven or twelve years old. He wore black attire with silver embroidery and had a pair of round, affectionate eyes with a small mouth. He looked cute and intelligent as he smiled at Xu Ziling. “Big sister, you’re so lazy!”
“What’s it to you?!” Fired Xu Ziling back in bad mood.
Madam Xu also had a son who looked around six or seven years old in purple attire. He had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. The boy looked quite daring and bold, as he sat at the table properly and ate his food well-behaved.
Madam Xu looked at her three sons and one daughter with love and affection in her eyes, then picked up some food with her chopsticks and placed it into Xu Ziling’s bowl. “Ling’Er, since you’ve returned from the border, you look like you’ve got so much skinnier! Eat more, eat more!” She said with a smile.
Xu Ziling smiled simply back at Madam Xu and said, “Thank you, Mother.” With that said, she continued to happily eat her food.
Madam Xu smiled, then looked over at her eldest son and her face immediately fell. She reached her chopsticks out and tapped her son’s hand. “How do you still have the gall to eat? You’re almost fourteen years old and you haven’t learned a thing. All you know how to do is laze around, eat, drink, and have fun! Tell me, where did you go in the morning?”
Xu Jianfeng suddenly furrowed his elegant brows, as annoyance suddenly appeared on his fair, clear oval face. He took one glance at Xu Ziling and said, “Why don’t you deal with my big sister? I learned my lazy ways from her, so if you want to blame someone, then blame her. What’s it got to do with me?”
Madam Xu fiercely conked Xu Jianfeng’s little head and yelled, “You rascal! I should have never given birth to you!”
Xu Jianfeng rubbed his own head and looked at Madam Xu accusingly. Then, he scoffed softly and got up to leave. Fine, he wouldn’t eat!
All of a sudden, Madam Xu couldn’t hold her anger back. “Don’t bother with that good-for-nothing. Children, take your time to eat!”
Xu Ziling wore a faint smile on her face and seemed to enjoy the drama.
Xu Jianchen looked at Xu Ziling’s smile, then helplessly grinned. “Big sister, quit smiling. You’re showing your teeth and it makes you look so ugly.”
Xu Ziling looked at Madam Xu as if she was mistreated. “Mother, you must get justice for me! How am I ugly? I clearly look just as good as you, mother!”
Madam Xu looked at how offended Xu Ziling looked, then averted her gaze to Xu Jianchen. “How could you say that about your older sister? From now on, you can’t call her ugly, you got that?”
Xu Jianchen grinned in secret, then put his head down and concentrated on eating in silence. The favoritism was a little too obvious…
“Mother, I want to eat fish,” said Xu Jianyao, whilst pointing at the fish.
Madam Xu shook her head helplessly at Xu Jianchen, before picking up a piece of boneless fish and placing it into Xu Jianyao’s bowl. “Yao’er, if you want to eat anything else, I’ll help you get it,” she said in a gentle voice.