Wait?

Chu Zhao looked up at Xie Yanlai.

Zhong Changrong was the person Father trusted most. Given Father’s current condition, if Zhong Changrong was shouting for people—

Anyone would frantically rush to where Chu Ling was.

Yet Xie Yanlai was stopping her!

Stopping her—

Chu Zhao grabbed Xie Yanlai’s arm: “What are you hiding from me? You’re lying to me!”

What nonsense about wanting his little rabbit, about wanting her to make soup!

Chu Zhao shook him frantically, tears blurring her eyes: “You’re lying to me! Why are you lying to me too! Why are you also lying to me!”

Xie Yanlai looked at the girl’s unprecedented frenzy. Hearing these words, what did she mean by “you also”? What was so strange about him lying to her? Why couldn’t he lie to her—

Xie Yanlai gritted his teeth and held the girl fast.

“Chu Zhao, listen to me,” he shouted.

The rabbit took the opportunity to escape. A’Le had also wanted to run toward where Chu Ling was, but didn’t know whether she should leave Miss behind—

“Is my father dead? You’re lying to me, you’re lying to me,” Chu Zhao cried out, struggling forcefully to break free.

Hearing this, A’Le no longer hesitated and sprinted away. She was Miss’s eyes—she had to see the General one more time for Miss!

“No!” Xie Yanlai said, holding down the struggling Chu Zhao and making her look into his eyes. “No. Your father wants to see someone. He doesn’t want you to know. He’s fine.”

Chu Zhao looked at him. In the half-lit, shadowy light, the young man’s eyes were cold and solemn.

Father wanted to see someone and didn’t want her to know? So he had Xie Yanlai trick her away—

“Who?” Chu Zhao asked. “Who wouldn’t my father let me see?”

Xie Yanlai looked at her without speaking.

“Xie Yanlai!” Chu Zhao grabbed him. “You never lie to me—you’re the only one who doesn’t lie to me. I know it, and you know it. My father means well for me, but I’ve been confused my whole life—I can’t be confused anymore. I died and came back to life precisely to understand how all of this came to be—”

The girl’s eyes were full of tears, her words seemingly confused. Xie Yanlai couldn’t bear to look.

But Chu Zhao wouldn’t let him look away. She simply reached up to cup his face.

“Xie Yanlai, I know, and you know—is it better to be a confused fool, or is it better to live clearly and knowingly even if it means pain?”

“If you were me, you would want to know. If I were you, I wouldn’t hide it either.”

Actually, he didn’t need to say it—her appearance clearly showed she’d guessed. Having guessed, she didn’t dare say it and insisted someone else confirm it for her. This showed how important those two words “mother” were to her—

In this life, it was impossible not to get hurt.

Xie Yanlai pressed down on the girl’s hands, pulling them away, and said: “Your mother has come.”

Chu Zhao looked deeply at him, then turned and ran outside.

“Wait,” Xie Yanlai called again, reaching out to grab her. But this time, instead of restraining the girl, he led her forward. “Come with me.”

Chu Zhao didn’t struggle anymore and let him hold her hand as they hurried along.

……

……

Xie Yanlai brought Chu Zhao over the wall from another side into Chu Ling’s quarters. As they went over the wall, Chu Zhao saw A’Le being blocked at the door.

“—I need to see the Master!” A’Le stamped her foot.

The guard remained unmoved: “Vice General Zhong has ordered that no one may enter.”

Her body lightened as Xie Yanlai swept her up and jumped down. Even with an additional person, Xie Yanlai landed lightly and soundlessly.

Outside, martial law had been declared. The surrounding area had been cleared. The courtyard was empty. Xie Yanlai pulled Chu Zhao silently toward the window.

Zhong Changrong was no longer roaring, but even through the window, the agitation in his voice could be felt.

“—Mu Mianhong, what face do you have to come here! What do you want!”

“To see the General’s miserable state as he dies!”

“Oh, oh, no—that’s not right. You, Mu Mianhong, are cunning as a fox, most skilled at bewitching people’s hearts. How could you do something so foolish?”

“Once the General dies, you come to shed a few tears, reminisce about old feelings, twist right and wrong, and trick Ah Zhao into acknowledging you as her mother.”

As Zhong Changrong’s words reached this point, a female voice sounded from inside the room.

“Big Brother Changrong, that’s not what I meant.”

……

……

The girl leaning by the window trembled, about to spring up. Fortunately, the person beside her pressed her down in time, holding her firmly in place.

Xie Yanlai watched the girl’s face flush red in an instant, full of disbelief, her breathing nearly stopped. He knew she’d recognized whose voice this was.

After traveling together all this way, although that Aunt Ding didn’t often appear before Chu Zhao, there were only three women in the group. With such a distinctive woman, how could Chu Zhao not be familiar with her?

She must have guessed that Aunt Ding’s identity was unusual, that Aunt Ding had ulterior motives—for wealth or power.

He had gone even further, guessing that Aunt Ding also had designs on Chu Ling—that she was a spy bought by some faction, Prince Zhongshan perhaps, or even the Xi Liang people.

But no matter how much they guessed, neither of them had guessed this was Chu Zhao’s mother, Chu Ling’s deceased wife.

……

……

“Ha!”

Zhong Changrong seemed to have heard something utterly ridiculous.

“You don’t mean that? Then what could you mean? Mu Mianhong—”

“Don’t think I don’t know. All these years you’ve watched Ah Zhao every day. Which gathering didn’t have you there?”

“Except for not daring to come to Luo City, where haven’t you been?”

“Day after day you watch her—isn’t it just waiting for the General to die so you can happily acknowledge your daughter and enjoy family bliss?”

“Put your hand on your conscience and tell me—don’t you want to?”

Mu Mianhong looked at Zhong Changrong. She still knelt by the bed. Facing the seemingly crazed Zhong Changrong, whether he cursed, rebuked, or questioned her, she remained calm, neither crying nor angry, not shouting or yelling, only occasionally offering a word in defense.

She placed her hand over her heart and said frankly: “Hand on my conscience—what mother in this world wouldn’t want to acknowledge her daughter?”

Zhong Changrong sneered coldly: “But no mother in this world would hang her newborn daughter on a blade’s point, threatening to dash her to death!”

“Changrong!”

The silent Chu Ling raised his voice sharply.

But this couldn’t stop the furious Zhong Changrong at all.

“General, I truly cannot forget that scene!” He beat his chest. “Never in my life did I expect to witness such a thing.”

“She held such a tiny infant, shrieking that if you, Chu Ling, didn’t listen to her, she would dash the infant to death on the spot—”

“Such a tiny infant, coldly held on the point of her blade—”

“This woman—she first pretended to be someone in distress, bewitched the General. After the General’s affections took deep root and he didn’t care about her unclear origins, told his family, even reported to the Emperor that he would marry her—what happened? She slipped away without a trace.”

“Disappeared for so long, then reappeared as the bandit chief Mu Mianhong.”

“Not only did she refuse to surrender and confess, she used your illicit affair to threaten you.”

“Seeing you weren’t afraid of threats, she produced an infant.”

“How ridiculous—how could it be the General’s daughter? She never even married you. Who knows where this child came from—”

Chu Ling sat up from the bed: “Zhong Changrong! Shut your mouth!—Ah Zhao!”

Ah Zhao?

Zhong Changrong froze. Mu Mianhong, kneeling on the ground, also turned pale, her soft but resilient willow waist breaking in an instant—

Outside the window, Xie Yanlai held Chu Zhao tightly, but still couldn’t stop the girl’s trembling.

Her whole body shook so badly she couldn’t stand—

How could this infant be the General’s daughter? She never even married the General—who knows where this child came from—