Oh no! Seven kids at the start, all yellow and skinny.

Chapter 306 Xia Miaomiao's Confession

Xia Miaomiao lowered her head and rubbed the hem of her clothes, remaining silent for a long time.

Yunyi could only sigh, "If you don't want to talk about it, then forget it. Go back. My pets have all gone back to the mountains these past few days. Maybe the one that appeared wasn't my pet." With that, she turned and left.

"Wait for me!" Xia Miaomiao suddenly became frightened and hurriedly caught up with Yun Yi. If other wild animals appeared here, she would be in danger.

Although she was rejected by the man she liked, she didn't think about dying.

Yunyi's lips curled up slightly, and she slowed her pace a little.

"Yunyi." When they reached the village entrance, Xia Miaomiao called out to Yunyi, "I...I want to talk to you about something."

"Go ahead and speak," Yunyi nodded.

"I like Brother Xiao, but he doesn't like me." Xia Miaomiao bit her lip, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"He's not Brother Xiao, he's Brother Xiao the Second."

"what?"

“He has an older brother. In this generation, he is the second son of the Xiao family.”

"Oh." Xia Miaomiao couldn't help but shrink her neck.

Do you know what kind of family the Xiao family is?

Xia Miaomiao shook her head.

“That’s the Empress’s maternal family. Xiao Lingshan should call the Empress her aunt.”

Xia Miaomiao's eyes widened instantly.

"His grandfather was the headmaster of the largest academy in Jiangnan, and his father was known as a child prodigy. He obtained the title of Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examination) at the age of twelve and the title of Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examination) at the age of fifteen, both times ranking first. If he hadn't stopped taking the imperial examinations, it would have been easy for him to achieve the triple crown of the imperial examinations."

Xia Miaomiao's expression had calmed down by now.

"If the Xiao family doesn't run into trouble, then Xiao Linshan will be a handsome young man who is both scholarly and martial, and he can choose any noble lady he wants, even a princess."

Xia Miaomiao lowered her head: "But isn't the Xiao family in dire straits now? Why can't he like me?"

“Miaomiao, it’s not wrong to like beautiful people, but you can’t be bound by such an unequal relationship.” Yunyi patted Xia Miaomiao’s head. “Although he is down on his luck, his character does not allow him to harm others casually. Therefore, he clearly rejected you. This is his responsibility to you.”

"But I don't mind, I..."

Yunyi frowned. Another love-struck fool. This is such a headache. "It's getting late. Let's go back." With that, she walked away.

Xia Miaomiao couldn't help but slap herself. What had she just said? Would Yun Yi misunderstand her as a promiscuous and immoral person? What should she do?

Suddenly she burst into tears.

This time, she wasn't crying because she was rejected, but because she was afraid Yunyi would misunderstand.

"Hey girl? Why are you crying here? Who bullied you?" After some time, someone walked over.

Xia Miaomiao quickly wiped away her tears and stood up: "Thank... thank you, brother? I... I'm fine."

Xie Axiang scratched his head, turned around and grabbed a handful of licorice root. After working on it for a while, he wove a lifelike grasshopper and handed it to Xia Miaomiao: "Here, don't cry. It's so cold. If you cry, your face will look chapped and you won't look good."

Xia Miaomiao's face flushed instantly. She glanced at Xie Axiang, then reached out and took the grasshopper from him. "Thank you, I'm fine now. I'll be going now," she said, and hurriedly ran off.

Xie Axiang watched Xia Miaomiao's retreating figure and curled the corners of his lips slightly. Then he sighed. If his sister were still alive, she would be this age by now. It's just a pity... He then shook his head and walked towards the hillside, where there was plenty of firewood to gather.

Xia Miaomiao ran home in one breath and ran into her grandmother coming out of the house. When she saw her, her grandmother first glared at her, then turned to her son and daughter-in-law and said, "It's settled then. She'll bring her family over in a few days. Since we all know each other, we can just pick a date for the wedding."

“Mother, you…” Xia Jinshan was still trying to persuade his mother.

But Xia Fanshi left directly.

"Dad, what did Grandma say?" Xia Miaomiao suddenly had a bad feeling.

“She’s dreaming.” Niu Cui’er took a deep breath. “That uncle and nephew of her family looks like a monkey, and he’s already in his mid-twenties and still not married. Isn’t he crazy? Now he actually wants Miao Miao to marry into that family. Let me tell you, Xia Jinshan, if you dare to agree, I’ll take Miao Miao and leave this place. Then you can find a wife and have a son again.”

After saying that, he turned and went into the house.

Xia Jinshan hurriedly went into the house to coax his wife: "Don't worry, Miaomiao is also my daughter, I won't agree to it."

But Xia Miaomiao, standing in the courtyard, felt ice-cold all over. The person in the pacifier was named Fan Dadong. He had been here before. Not only was he not good-looking, but he was also extremely cruel.

She witnessed him skinning a frog and dismembering a stray cat. She was terrified when he found out and threatened to skin her too if she told anyone. She had nightmares about it for months.

She'd rather die than marry someone like that.

Hearing her mother and father sighing inside, Xia Miaomiao immediately ran out again; she really didn't want to stay at home.

"Miao Miao, why haven't you gone back yet?" Just as they reached the village entrance, they encountered Xie Axiang, who was carrying firewood back.

"It's nothing." Xia Miaomiao quickly wiped away her tears. "I'll go back now." After saying that, she turned around and walked away in the other direction.

Xie Axiang frowned but didn't say anything. He continued walking back and soon ran into Gu Sui. He quickly handed him the firewood, saying, "Take this back first."

"where are you going?"

"I have something to do, I'll be back in a bit." Xie Axiang chased after Xia Miaomiao and ran over.

Xia Miaomiao ran all the way to the edge of Mirror Lake, panting heavily. Perhaps because she had worked up a sweat, she felt much better.

"Miao Miao!" Xie Axiang caught up and saw that Xia Miao Miao was about to jump into the river, so he hurriedly shouted.

Xia Miaomiao didn't intend to jump into the river. She saw a pretty stone on the ground, took two steps forward to pick it up, but was startled by a shout from behind, lost her footing, and fell in.

Without a second thought, Xie Axiang jumped down and pulled the person up in his arms: "Why did you have to be so foolish?"

Xia Miaomiao was actually confused. She could swim, but this person... She hurriedly struggled to get down.

But Xie Axiang thought she was still suicidal, so he hugged her even tighter: "Don't worry, I'll take you to see a doctor right away." He then started running, shouting as he ran, "Girl, hurry and save someone..."

It was already dark and there weren't many people around, but Xie Axiang's urgent shout attracted a lot of people out.