Looking at the young lady sitting in front of him, leisurely eating, Fan Hui Zhong couldn't help but let out an exasperated sigh.
"Xia'er, what did I say about drinking during the day?"
"You said not to?" she answered cheekily, as she looked at him with an innocent expression on her face with wide eyes shining with amusement making him shake his head.
"Yet you were drinking so early in the morning!" Fan Hui Zhong exclaimed, his agitation written so clearly in his face making her giggle.
Fan Hui Zhong's increasingly darkening expression would usually send most people's heart racing with a sense of fear but to Zhu Xia, it only made her want to tease him more!
"I had started drinking last night! It just so happens that it lasted until dawn..." she answered coquetishly, batting her eyelashes up at him.
Hearing her teasing words, Fan Hui Zhong felt his temple throb so early in the morning as he started ranting, "Zhu Xia, how many times do I have ask you to limit your drinking? Do you need me to beg before you even listen?"
Seeing Fan Hui Zhong so worried about her, her teasing mood left her and she felt the usual guilt she felt whenever she worried him. She knew that Fan Hui Zhong always worried after her well-being ever since he found her, acting more and more fatherly towards her to the point that he even offered to officially take her in and adopt her to give her a new identity and make sure the threats she faced in the past will have a harder time to find a connection to the new her and she is kept safe.
This was something that she couldn't decline nor had she wanted to refuse.
Aside from saving her, Fan Hui Zhong also became her family, a safe haven that she can always return to.
Fan Hui Zhong really did become a father to her and treated her as if she was truly his daughter.
This thought made the guilt she felt over worrying him grow all the more bigger.
Putting down her chopsticks before gently wiping her lips, she then gave him a small apologetic smile and sincerely apologized.
"Father, Xia'er is truly sorry for causing you to worry but this is really something Xia'er couldn't help. No matter how much you dislike it, the wine keeps away the dreams and memories that I would rather not see."
"Did you dream again last night?" Fan Hui Zhong asked, concern heavily laced his words as he looked at her with a mixture of worry and helplessness.
With an almost lazy shrug, Zhu Xia gave him a resigned smile before she said, "It is nothing to worry about, I am used to it. The wine just helps me cope..."
"Is there anything this old man can do?" he asked, his voice sounding gruffer than usual as he gazed at the young girl sitting in front of him.
Even while talking about a topic that she would rather not recall, let alone discuss, Zhu Xia still reclined on the seat languidly, the intoxicated blush on her cheeks leaving it look rosy, making her look like an innocent young maiden with the small curving smile on her cherry lips yet her eyes betrayed her true emotion as they shimmered with unshed tears that she tried her best to blink away.
Her usual impenetrable mask of aloofness showing small signs of cracks in front of Fan Hui Zhong.
It wasn't because she felt intimidated by Fan Hui Zhong's gaze but it was because she had lost the feeling of needing to be on guard against him a long, long time ago.
It was because of moments like this and times where she dreamt or remembered things in her past that she felt like her control over her emotions was crumbling.
It was only in front of this man who she had grown to see as a father did she let this vulnerable side of her peek out from her usually cold and aloof shell but it was also because she thought of him as a father that she tries to keep her mask in place to keep him from worrying.
After all, Zhu Xia has worried him enough!
Looking away, Zhu Xia was itching to take a jug out and drink wine to drown herself out again but instead she had to settle on masking the lingering pain from her past before sending a bright, reassuring smile towards Fan Hui Zhong.
Completely oblivious, Zhu Xia did not realize that the fleeting emotions on her face did not escape Fan Hui Zhong's sharp discerning eyes.
Slightly shaking his head, Fan Hui Zhong stretched out a hand and patted the head of the young lady in front of him affectionately before he said, "Nevermind then, just try to limit it. Now go ahead and make sure you have everything ready and also saddle the horses I bought. After I clean up here, we'll be setting off."
With a nod, Zhu Xia stood up and was about to go out when Fan Hui Zhong suddenly called out.
"Xia'er, remember that from this day on, you're past self is something that only the two of us will know. From now on, you will be Fan Zhu Xia, a daughter I had adopted since young, understand?"
"Yes Father, Xia'er understands."