After Rebirth, I Married the Great Demon King

Chapter 20: Chapter 20 So Understanding It Breaks His Heart

Xu Ya couldn’t help but begin reflecting on whether her previous actions had been too cruel.

She had always treated Yun Sisi as the apple of her eye, while constantly neglecting Yun Shifei, who was her biological daughter.

At that moment, Yun Tiancheng came to Yun Shifei’s room and raised his hand to knock on the door.

After a moment, the door opened. Yun Shifei saw Yun Tiancheng and froze for a second: "Dad?"

"Shifei, where did you get the injury on your face? Let me put some medicine on it for you."

"No need, it’s nothing, it’s already been taken care of." Yun Shifei hadn’t expected Yun Tiancheng to ask about her facial injury, but it was just a scrape — it would heal in a few days.

Her understanding demeanor made Yun Tiancheng’s heart ache a bit.

"Stop saying ’it’s nothing.’ Let me take a look."

He walked into Yun Shifei’s room without waiting for her permission.

Xu Ya stood still, wanting to see Yun Shifei’s injury, but her feet felt as though they were weighed down with lead, unable to move.

Earlier, when Yun Shifei had argued with Yun Sisi, she hadn’t even noticed the injury on Yun Shifei’s face. Now, what right did she have to look at it?

The wound had already been treated at the hospital. Though Yun Shifei had taken a fall, it wasn’t in her nature to complain.

At this moment, Yun Tiancheng ripped off the adhesive bandage on Yun Shifei’s face.

Seeing those small wounds, red and swollen, his heart as a father clenched tightly.

While applying medicine, he asked, "Shifei, where did you get these injuries?"

"This morning, on my way to school, it was raining, the roads were slippery, and I accidentally fell."

"Aside from your face, are you injured anywhere else?"

"My knee got scraped a bit, but it’s fine now."

Yun Shifei rolled up her school uniform trousers, showing Yun Tiancheng the injury on her knee. It was covered with medicine and wrapped in gauze, making it hard to see, but the fact it was bandaged like this suggested how serious the fall had been.

Yet, she hadn’t uttered a word. If he hadn’t sought her out, she wouldn’t have said anything.

What kind of child was this? She was so understanding it made him feel pained.

He couldn’t imagine the kind of environment she had lived in before.

Yun Sisi was different.

In the past, even a small cut on Yun Sisi’s hand would make her cry and act spoiled with them.

That was the kind of behavior expected of a girl who had been doted on since she was young.

"Be careful when it’s raining. In the future, if the weather is bad, have the driver take you to school," Yun Tiancheng told Yun Shifei, suppressing the heavy emotions in his heart.

Yun Shifei nodded, quietly allowing Yun Tiancheng to apply medicine for her.

Standing at the door, Xu Ya overheard the conversation between Yun Shifei and Yun Tiancheng, her face full of shock.

This morning, she had accompanied Yun Sisi to attend a competition. She had indeed seen a girl fall on the ground, but they were in such a hurry that they hadn’t stopped to check.

It turned out it was Yun Shifei.

Xu Ya was utterly shocked, a sense of unease growing in her chest.

She couldn’t truly call herself a good mother. If it had been someone else’s mother, they would have recognized their own daughter right away.

But at that moment, her mind had been wholly consumed by Yun Sisi attending the competition. Such a major event had drowned out all other thoughts, so much so that she hadn’t realized it was Yun Shifei.

She wasn’t sure if Yun Shifei had looked up at them or seen the car speeding past her.

If she had seen it, would she have felt utterly abandoned?

Xu Ya’s chest rose and fell heavily, suffocating with discomfort.

After a long while, she saw Yun Tiancheng come out of Yun Shifei’s room. The man’s expression was somewhat grim as he said to Xu Ya, "Xu Ya, we need to talk."

Whenever he addressed her by her full name, Xu Ya knew that Yun Tiancheng was upset.

"This morning, didn’t you take Sisi to the competition? Why didn’t you also take Shifei?"

"I... Shifei went to school earlier. We left later."

"I seem to recall it wasn’t that much earlier, was it? If you had said you wanted to take her, she probably wouldn’t have left so early either."

Yun Tiancheng saw right through Xu Ya’s lie: "Shifei’s been here more than a month now — why are you still unwilling to accept her?"

"Tiancheng, what are you thinking? How could I not accept her? She’s my biological daughter, the one I carried for ten months and gave birth to!" Xu Ya instinctively defended herself.

"But the way you treat Sisi and Shifei — it’s clearly different," Yun Tiancheng pressed his thumb against his temple, feeling exhausted.

These past few days, he had been squeezing in time to prepare for Yun Sisi’s performance while managing his job. He hadn’t been sleeping well.

He hadn’t expected that upon returning home, he’d still have to deal with family issues.

Xu Ya felt aggrieved under Yun Tiancheng’s questioning, but what he said was the truth.

The way she treated Yun Sisi and Yun Shifei was indeed not the same.

"Shifei is our biological daughter. No matter how we treat her, she’s still our biological child — she won’t resent us. But Sisi is different. She’s the one we adopted. Now that we’ve suddenly brought our biological daughter home, Sisi is thoughtful — she’s bound to overthink it."

This was what Xu Ya grappled with most, something Yun Tiancheng didn’t understand.

Because Yun Tiancheng spent most of his time working hard outside, he didn’t show as much care for the children as she did.

After experiencing the trauma of her child being kidnapped, she had poured all her guilt into adoring Yun Sisi, treating her like she was made of glass, afraid she might shatter and protecting her like a treasure.

She had used her overcompensation for not safeguarding her own child to make amends to Yun Sisi.

Over the years, she had already become accustomed to this.

Yun Shifei’s return wouldn’t change this habit of hers.

On the contrary, since Yun Shifei’s return, the guilt Xu Ya felt for her only diminished — the scales still tilted entirely toward Yun Sisi.

That’s how strange human emotions are. Even a child carried for ten months can’t compare to daily companionship.

She couldn’t possibly articulate these thoughts aloud — Yun Tiancheng wouldn’t understand.

As expected, Yun Tiancheng immediately countered Xu Ya: "So our biological daughter deserves to be neglected? Xu Ya, stop being so biased, alright? Why can’t you treat them equally? Shifei has endured so much hardship before finally coming home. I still feel like I can never make up for it, yet you treat her like this."

Yun Tiancheng, in his frustration, started speaking with the authority of someone used to being in charge, scolding Xu Ya to the point where she was speechless.

"I still remember when Shifei first came back and mentioned she wanted her bedroom to be decorated like Sisi’s. You didn’t allow it. After that, she never brought up another request, accepting everything as it was. She must be so disappointed in us."

Xu Ya’s heart trembled. She recalled past memories bit by bit — how Yun Shifei used to be willful, short-tempered, always fighting with Yun Sisi over things, making her headache.

But at some point, Yun Shifei stopped expressing any of her desires.

Whatever she was given, she simply said it was good and would even say thank you.

Faced with such gentle compliance from Yun Shifei, Xu Ya had been comfortable, but she had ignored the reason for Yun Shifei’s change.

Now, after Yun Tiancheng’s reminder, Xu Ya finally realized this.

Yun Shifei must have been utterly disappointed in her — that’s why she stopped asking for anything.