In the kitchen, Xue Dongting looked at Yuansheng, who was prancing about, and she shook her head. “You"re not a little girl anymore, can"t you settle down a bit?”

Yuansheng wasn"t having it. “Second Sis, you don"t understand, this is what"s called a genuine personality. Are you saying that only unmarried girls who are mincing are virtuous and proper?”

Xue Dongting thought of something and asked, “Then tell me, with your personality, who would be able to keep you under control?”

“I don"t want to be controlled, I want to control others.” She looked very pleased with herself.

Xue Dongting sighed inwardly, thinking, “In the future, if you go with a scholar, what will Mama Qiao say?”

“Yuansheng, do you want to go to the capital?”

Yuansheng nodded at once. “Yes, oh yes! Only… just now, Brother-in-law said the capital was no good, but I still want to go. I often think of it so much I keep feeling close to it, as if some important person is waiting for me there.”

Xue Dongting was suddenly alarmed. She recalled that strange dream and what that blue-clad scholar had said. He said there would be a man riding a donkey who would come and take someone away. Could that person be Yuansheng?

Yuansheng blinked her big, s.h.i.+mmering eyes. “Sis, what are you thinking about?”

Xue Dongting paused and collected herself and forced a smile. “Yuansheng, what kind of man do you like? Tell your Second Sister.”

A blush appeared on Yuansheng"s face. She said bashfully, “I haven"t really thought about it too much…”

“That"s alright, just say it, I want to hear.”

“Mm… I like someone who is gentle and refined, and best if he"s funny, otherwise he"d be boring.”

Xue Dongting"s mind was in turmoil. More and more she kept feeling that Yuansheng, this coming autumn, would be taken away by that man from the capital riding a donkey. And that man might be Third Prince. Could it be that when she was reborn, that prophecy of “he who obtained the Dongting girl by the eastern sea would have the world” could have changed? Or rather, maybe the prophecy had been a false one drawn up by Mama Qiao and someone in the capital together. If she had elected to marry a fisherman in her past life, would the prophecy never have come out at all?

She was at her wit"s end. She didn"t know how all these fates would be changed, she didn"t even know if the reason she had been reborn would vanish as well or not. It was like she was dangling from a cliff, only holding onto a rope. She didn"t know if the rope was st.u.r.dy or not or when it would snap. She wanted to change things, but she didn"t know where to begin, she could only dangle and sway in the cold wind from the high cliff.

Xue Dongting smiled wearily. “Yuansheng, you have to remember what I"m about to say. In the future, if you encounter something that you can"t discuss with Mama Qiao, then don"t act on your own, come tell me, okay?”

Yuansheng was a bit confused, but she nodded and comforted her. “Second Sis, I always listen to Mama Qiao.”

Xue Dongting laughed. “If you ever meet a man you really like, then you might become a different person. Yuansheng, you have to know, in this world there might be a man who treats you really really well, but he can never treat you as well as Mama Qiao. Mama Qiao took us as her own daughters. In this world, a mother"s love is the purest.”

Yuansheng nodded, laughing. “Second Sis, when did you become so motherly and fussy? You"re just like Mama Qiao!”

Xue Dongting laughed. “I"ll tell you some good news, but aside from Mama Qiao, you can"t tell anyone else.”

Yuansheng"s eyes gleamed. “What good news?”