Lan Du's concerns

Lan Du sat in the lounge room, she had an empty expression as she leaned her head back and looked up at the ceiling, her eyes were empty, and she exerted no feelings whatsoever.

Mother Xie walked in and sat down beside her.

"I'm pathetic, aren't I? I couldn't even contain my emotions properly" Lan Du muttered when she saw Mother Xie

Mother Xie shook her head

"You're still young, it's normal for you to be throwing your temper a bit" She replied

Lan Du frowned

"It's just hard when what they said only brought back some bad memories...though I don't want to forget them either, or I'll lose the source that allows me to walk forward" Lan Du sighed and said

Mother Xie was honestly bewildered by how deep Lan DU's thought process was. This wasn't something she had expected from a twelve-year old.

"What may that memory be" Her hands clenched slightly without her own notice

Lan Du glanced at her

"It wouldn't matter if I told you or not, it's a family matter" Lan Du mutteredMother Xie sat closer

"We will be family soon, how can I not ask, Lan Du, if you really wish to be family, then you should at the very least tell me" She said in a concerned manner

Lan Du nodded

"I hope this won't enter the twin's ears" She said slowly

Mother Xie nodded her head

"I...have never met my father, nor did he know of my existence until I said the word mother in front of him, it's funny, isn't it? He has a son, yet he didn't know of his existence until he called out to his mother" Lan Du smiled bitterly as he sighed

Mother Xie was shocked, she felt not only anger but also sympathy for Lan Du.

'He must have lived a hard life'

"I later heard a piece of news...he found a new woman and had a son, only a year younger than me...do you know what that means?" Lan Du turned to mother Xie and said with watery eyes.

Mother Xie felt anger rising

"How can he do such a thing!" She roared

Lan Du shook her head

"So when they asked me if I have done the same with other girls...it just made me realise, I'm still my father's son, I'm related to the bastard who not only was clueless about my existence, he also has another son who is only one year younger than me" Lan Du gritted her teeth and clenched her hands tightly

"I don't wish to be like him... I hate being compared to him, but whenever something reminds me of him, I compare myself to him" Lan Du's body shook as she said

Mother Xie embraced her

"You're so young, yet you've been through so much, I won't tell the twins, but you must tell them in the future" She said

Lan Du nodded

"I understand now, don't worry, my daughters didn't mean what they said"

"No, I'm to blame for getting too emotional, I've hoped to cut off this emotion ever since it happened the first time, but it seems I'm still too immature" Lan Du said solemnly

She remained seated and glanced at Mother Xie

"I'll take some time to cool my head, I should be back to normal before dinner" Lan Du gave her a light smile before leaning her head back and staring at the ceiling.

Mother Xie sighed and nodded, it was then Lan Du's eyes became strange

"I-Is something burning?" She asked

Mother Xie sniffed the air and her eyes widened

"The stew!" She exclaimed and dashed for the kitchen

Lan Du smiled, now, she just felt a bit tired, but apart from that, she felt much more relaxed than before. Her heart no longer weighed down as much, and she felt much calmer.

"Yuan Min... I will make you regret it one day, no matter how you treat e, no matter how kind you are to me, I will only ever repay you as an acquaintance, never as a daughter" Lan Du said coldly, her eyes were sharp as rage burned in her heart.

Mother Xie who was preparing the food would glance at Lan Du with a concerned expression

'What has he been through to want to erase an emotion? I must talk to the girls later, I can't let walk this path any longer, it will crush his spirit some day'

She then saw Lan Du walk into the kitchen

"Though I'm hopeless when it comes to cooking, I can still cut the ingredients pretty well" Lan Du smiled, her mood seemed to have improved which put Mother Xie at ease.

She nodded her head

"I have some vegetables at the side, can you cut them to thin strips?" She asked gently

Lan Du rolled up her sleeves and held a knife in her hand. She stood in front of the vegetables with a serious expression, as if she was preparing for the fight of her life. Mother Xie giggled when she saw her expression.

'That lad, does he think chopping vegetables is a war zone?'

She chuckled and continued to cook

She then heard rapid chopping, when she turned her head, on the table was no longer vegetables. It was a pile of threads.

'Threads!? Where's the strips? How in the world did he cut them to threads!? Is that even humanly possible?'

Lan Du scratched the side of her face

"Um...is this thin enough?" She turned her head and asked

Mother Xie covered her face

"I-I should have told you the width I wanted, Lan Du, 3 cm is good enough, you didn't have to cut them to the point where they can even fit in a needle" She said with a deep sigh

"Eh! I-I thought the thinner, the better, so I just did it instinctively" Lan Du began to fluster, she almost dropped the knife at that point.

Mother Xie chuckled

"It's fine, I have some spare vegetables at the back, go fetch them and don't cut them so thin this time" She smiled and said in a jolly mood.

She always thought Lan Du was always very mature and composed, yet the way she seems her now is much more childish.

'He is still a child after all' She smiled warmly as she watched Lan Du trying to cut the vegetables once again. This time, she was much slower and the slices she made was almost perfect.

"Is this good?" Lan Du said shyly, she felt slightly embarrassed by what she did previously

"It's much better this time" Mother Xie laughed and plated the vegetables as she began 

preparing them for the next dish.

"Lan Du, what made you like my daughters?" Mother Xie glanced at her and asked

Lan Du scratched her face shyly

"I guess it's because they didn't run in fear when they saw me fight" Lan Du said with an embarrassed expression, the tip of her ears were red as she spoke as this wasn't something she should be proud of in front of the twin's mother.

"Eh? Fight? Why would your fights cause them to run in fear?" Mother Xie asked in confusion and interest.

Lan Du smiled wryly

"I tend to take things a bit far when I get angry, at one point, the principal almost suspended me for traumatising over 20 students, but I couldn't be blamed, they attacked me first, who would have thought they'd get traumatised from getting sent to the hospital one time" Lan Du said as she tried to defend herself

Mother Xie stared at her with a baffled gaze

"You what?" She asked for confirmation

"I sent some kids who were too arrogant for their own good to the hospital" Lan Du replied casually

Mother Xie didn't know whether to laugh or cry, Lan Du's actions were indeed a bit extreme but looking at Lan Du's current child like behaviour, she smiled and her heart warmed.

"You are just precious, but did you get hurt?" She asked

Lan Du nodded

"Or course, I'm not an invincible fighter, injuries are normal, but I guess what traumatised those lads was my blood appearance, I did have blood over my face from getting my head struck by a bat, but would it really be that scary?" Lan Du chuckled and said lightly, as if everything she just said was natural.

Mother Xie was now speechless

'Does this lad have a heart of stone? He doesn't even show anything when speaking about injuries like that?' She thought to herself.

"D-Do you need to go to the hospital to make sure nothing is wrong?" She asked Lan Du with a concerned expression

"Don't worry, I've already gone there once, I made sure to threaten those kids, so they won't seek revenge" Lan Du replied, completely misunderstanding mother Xie's meaning.

Mother Xie was now completely wordless as for how she should speak with Lan Du now, Lan Du was just too strange in some aspects.

"You're joking, right?" Mother Xie laughed awkwardly

Lan Du nodded

"Of course it was a joke, I actually went there to tell them that I beat up their older brother as well, and they'll be seeing him soon" Lan Du shrugged her shoulders and repliedIt was at that moment that mother Xie decided to just pretend the whole conversation never happened. She smiled brightly and rejected the truth from her heart as she continued to make the food.

"Ah, Lan Du, can you go call my girls? Since you helped prepare the ingredients, they should prepare the tableware" She smiled lightly and said

Mother Xie has now completely blocked off the memory of the past ten minutes, everything that Lan Du had said was locked away at the very back of her head, never to be remembered again.

"Alright" Lan Du nodded her head and went upstairs to call the twins.

Lan Du approached the door, the inside of the room was now silent, there was no sound. She frowned lightly and gently knocked on the door.

She took in a deep breath and opened the door, she wore a big smile on her face now as she looked inside.

"Lil lassies, time for dinner" Lan Du said cheerfully

Xie Jing and Xie Ying sat on the bed with a concerned expression, when they heard Lan Du, they turned their heads and saw her cheerful smile.

"Lan Du, about before, we-"

"Now now, don't talk about the past, come on, your mother prepared some of your favourite dishes for you, don't worry, I never touched the pan, so food poisoning is out of the question"

Hearing her, they felt their mood improve a bit, the worry in their heart slowly disappeared as they stared at Lan Du.

"Alright" They stood up and walked over to the door.

When they walked by Lan Du, they paused for a moment

"L-Lan Du, we still want to apologise for what happened earlier" They tilted their heads down slightly and had an apologetic look on their faces.

Lan Du smiled sweetly as she patted their heads

"Emotions can affect the taste of food, we should talk about these after we eat" Lan Du chuckled and walked down with them.

The two still felt a little guilty, they would often take short glances at Lan Du's expressions to see if there is any changes. But she had a constant smile on her face and she seemed to be quite energetic at the moment as well.

They began setting up the table and sat down. Lan Du sat on one side of the table whilst the twins sat on the other side together. Mother Xie carried in bowls of rice as she handed each of them a bowl.

"Eat up, this is the first time you are with us so I made sure to put in extra effort for today's meals" Mother Xie smiled and picked some meat for Lan Du.

Lan Du ate happily, she then realised the twins were a bit quiet.

"Hm? Why aren't you two eating, ah, could it be..." Lan Du chuckled and leaned closer as she used her chopsticks to pick up a small piece of meat.

She then reached it out and held it in front of Xie Jing.

"Should I feed the two of you? Don't leave me hanging" Lan Du giggled as she said teasingly

Xie Jing blushed, Mother Xie took this chance to snap a photo of this scene as she giggled to herself.

Xie Jing glanced at Xie Ying who was just as flustered as she was.

"Come on, it's not the first time I did this for you two, ah, could it be you want me to feed you two by mouth instead? Last time you two ran off before I could do it"

Mother Xie covered her mouth

'Could they have developped os fast already?'

Xie Jing and Xie Ying's face both became redder than a tomato, they covered thier faces as they burrowed their heads into their hands.

"Shy now are we? Since you two are now in the mood, lets eat, shall we?" Lan Du smiled lightly and leaned back

The two nodded their heads and started eating, Mother Xie gave Lan Du a thumbs up before she also started eating.

"Lan Du, do you always tease them like this?" Mother Xie lifted her brows and asked out of curiosity, Lan Du's way of teasing was beyond her expectations of a twelve year old.

"Yep, they are just too cute, if I don't tease them, I'd be wasting my life" Lan Du chuckled and replied cheekily, she threw the twins a glance as she spoke.

Mother gave her an approaving nod

"Yes, my daughters can't be left unteased, otherwise, their cuteness is wasted"

Hearing the two of them converse so csually about this subject, Xie Jing and Xie Ying both blushed

"L-Lan Du, d-don't talk about those t-things so freely" Xie Ying mumbled

Lan Du tilted her head

"Oh? Then should I talk about that time you two pushed me down onto a bed, aiya, just thinking about it makes me blush, you two are so cute, even when you make such an agressive move on me" Lan Du said in a playful manner, she wiggled around and winked at them.

This news came like thunder upon mother Xie

"Wah, I knew my genetics will pass on to you two, such a fierce move at such a young age, mommy is proud" She gave them a thumbs up and said cheekily.

"Mum!" The twins covered their faces, they burried their faces deep into their hands and didn't dare look up anymore.

"Hahaha, don't be shy, I still want to know more about my daughters" She laughed heatfully

Lan Du soon finished her bowl and stood up as she took the bowls over to the kitchen. She then came back and sat down, her expression was casual and calm.

"I will wait in the loungeroom for when you two finish, until then, just continue to enjoy the meal your mother prepared" Lan Du then left after speaking she sat down on the couch and covered her eyes with one arm.

Her eyes were closed and her mind slowly drifted off without her notice.

After 20 minutes, Xie Jing and Xie Ying both finished their meals, they turned their heads to the cough and saw La Du sleeping, her arm dropped down a while ago and her peaceful expression gave her a pure feeling. Mother Xie washed up the plates and walked over to them.

"He has been quite busy these days, I heard from him, he rushed to save you the moment he found out you were in trouble" She glanced at Xie Jing and smiled

Xie Jing nodded her head

"I gave him a call yet he arrived in less than a few hours, durig the time, he even called upon many of his friends to search for sister" Xie Ying giggled and sat down beside Lan Du.

Xie Jing also sat down on the other side, they both placed a hand on Lan Du's hand, their eyes filled with warth and gentleness. Mother Xie smiled to herself.

'My girls have found a strong backing, that lad, he will have a long road ahead of him, I hope my daughters will be able to tread that road along with him and not fall behind him'

The twins reached out their hands and stroked Lan Du's delicate face, her eyelids trembled slightly before she muttered out.

"Mother...when will you wake up" Lan Du's expression became dark as a drop of tear rolled down the side of her face.

The twins were suprised, they wiped the tear and held her hands gently. As if she could feel them, Lan Du's expression lightened.

"Poor child, his mother is in a coma and he doesn't have anyone to lean on in this situation, Jing'er, Ying'er, I hope you two can become someone Lan Du can lean on in the future"