Li Zhao smiled and said, "Back then, when you took me back to Huichun Hall to save me in order to cover for the Xiao family boy, in a daze, I thought I saw your mother again. At that time, I already guessed a bit."
Jiang Mian was truly a bit surprised.
Had Li Zhao recognized her so early?
As if answering the question in her heart, Li Zhao said, "Child, you look eight - tenths alike with your mother."
"Even though you used means to cover your true appearance at that time, your eyes are almost exactly the same as hers."
Li Zhao's eyes and eyebrows were gentle. "When you looked at me with concern, I thought it was your mother coming to find me."
Jiang Mian couldn't help but reach out and touch her face.
Did she really look that much like her mother?
"Later, I tentatively asked you some questions. You said you only had your mother and no father, and I already guessed a bit in my heart. After that, it was just a matter of confirmation again and again, until I saw you running towards your mother with my own eyes that I truly reunited with her."
Jiang Mian's heart tightened. "Since you recognized me so early, why didn't you tell me?"
Li Zhao's emotions fluctuated, and he couldn't help but cough. Jiang Mian quickly got up to pour him a glass of water, handed it to his hand, and patted his back.
Li Zhao drank some warm water, which alleviated his condition a bit. Looking at the concerned girl, he finally couldn't help but raise his hand and place it on her head.
"The great catastrophe that the Li family encountered many years ago forced me to become a lost soul who couldn't even tell others my name. I had neither wealth nor a house. I didn't know how much longer my broken body could last. After recognizing you, should I let you and your mother suffer with me?"
His words made Jiang Mian shed tears involuntarily, and her heart ached.
"If I could, I'd rather hide my identity. Whether it's being the accountant of Huichun Hall or being your second master, as long as I can stay by your side and protect you, that's enough."
Li Zhao's big hand gently stroked her hair, both to soothe and to try to touch his child up close as a father.
"But seeing your mother like this now and almost being poisoned, I regret so much that I didn't recognize you at first. I regret not immediately taking her by my side to take care of her, which made her suffer again."
"I regret it too." Jiang Mian's nasal voice was extremely heavy. "I regret not taking mother by my side to take care of her earlier. Otherwise, she wouldn't have encountered this disaster. I always thought that I should wait until I was truly capable to rescue her from that small yard. Otherwise, she would only suffer by following me."
"Now I understand that some things can't wait. As long as you think of something, you should do it, so that you can try your best not to leave any regrets."
She opened her arms and tightly hugged Li Zhao's neck, pressing her forehead tightly against his cheek.
"Just like now, I don't want to call you Uncle Li anymore. I just want to call you Daddy. I've always wanted a daddy who can protect me everywhere and won't scold or punish me for the slightest thing."
Her days in the Ye family weren't too bad, but perhaps because she really had no blood relationship with that family, whether it was with Ye Yushi, Lady Ye, or her two elder brothers, there was always a gap between them, and she just couldn't get close to them. So when that incident happened, they simply didn't believe her from the bottom of their hearts.
If you really calculate, the days when she suffered were only these two years.
But her daddy and her mother had suffered for more than a decade! In comparison, what she had experienced back then was nothing.
"Daddy, from now on, let's live a good life with mother." Jiang Mian said crying. "You and mother will surely live a long life. Daughter wants to accompany you for a lifetime."
Her tears wet Li Zhao's cheek and the side of his neck. Her sobs were like hammers hitting his heart.
Li Zhao gently patted her shoulder, looked at the rain curtain outside the window, and his voice became hoarse. "Okay, our family will be together for a lifetime and will never be separated again."
After the father - daughter conversation, Jiang Mian felt happy again.
From now on, she was also a girl with a father and a mother!
She let go of Li Zhao, wiped away her tears, and her eyes were firm.
"Daddy, don't worry. I will surely find a way to cure mother. We also have to find out clearly about the matter of the babies being switched back then. Ye Wanxing obviously never came to Dongli Town. It's not what the Ye family said at all."
"They lied to me that my parents were dead. If I hadn't escaped to Dongli Town, I would never have known that mother was still alive. And those two people didn't take mother's life for all these years, but now they attacked her. Obviously, they were instigated by others."
She was very perceptive.
Xiao Jingcheng didn't mention Ye Wanxing to her, but she deduced it herself based on the details she saw that day.
After Ye Wanxing came to Dongli Town, she never had the intention to kill anyone. She remembered that Xiao Yixuan mentioned that one of the purposes of the Ye siblings coming to Dongli Town was to meet Master Huaihai in Ling'an Temple.
But that Master Huaihai didn't seem to be in the temple, so Ye Wanxing and Ye Huan had always been staying in Liuxiang Tower following Xiao Yixuan.
"I think the answer should lie in Ling'an Temple and that Master Huaihai!" Jiang Mian said firmly.
"The pillow that mother often hugged had a piece of an old cassock wrapped in it!"
Li Zhao said, "Naturally. I will avenge all the grievances you and your mother have suffered over the years. But for now, the most important thing is to let your mother accept your existence as soon as possible."
Jiang Mian frowned. "But mother..."
Li Zhao gently patted her. "Don't worry. I have a way. Just listen to me."
Jiang Zhiqing was very dependent on Li Zhao. In the past, the first thing she did after waking up was to find the "child" and hold it in her arms to soothe herself. But now, after waking up, she looked around for Li Zhao's figure everywhere.
"My lord, my lord..."
After Li Zhao and Jiang Mian had a heart - to - heart talk and recognized each other as father and daughter, he went back to the room to accompany Jiang Zhiqing.
So he immediately stepped forward and hugged the panicked woman into his arms, saying very gently, "Yingniang, I'm here. I'm with you. Don't be afraid."
Jiang Zhiqing was thus soothed. Only then did she think of the "child".
She turned her head and looked around. "Child, child..."
The surroundings were empty. Where was there any trace of that pillow?
Jiang Zhiqing's emotions became restless again. At this time, the door softly creaked, and Jiang Mian pushed the door open and slowly walked towards them.
There was suddenly a strange face in the room. Jiang Zhiqing immediately forgot about looking for the pillow. She was a bit scared and hid behind Li Zhao, tightly grabbing his sleeve.