Just moments ago, Chu Zhao had told Xie Yanlai that even if it meant pain, she wanted to be clearheaded.
When Xie Yanlai said Father was seeing someone and didn’t want her present, she had been very clearheaded, immediately guessing that Mother had come.
Even just now, when she heard the voice inside and recognized who Mother was, though shocked, she was still clearheaded. And all the oddities from before suddenly made sense—the strangeness of Xiao Man and the others, the real bandits who suddenly appeared, the bandit guards who were so easily persuaded—
She was clearheaded enough to deduce Father and Mother’s past from Zhong Changrong’s words—a bandit beauty, a general suppressing bandits, love and hate and passion.
Even clearheaded enough to realize it was actually just a honey trap, with no real love or hate.
If there was anything, it was the General’s shame and the bandit’s victory.
No problem. This truth—as someone who had died once, there was nothing she couldn’t accept.
Until she heard that last sentence. This infant was—fake.
She, this infant—Chu Zhao looked at her own hands. She wasn’t even a byproduct of the honey trap. She wasn’t even her father’s daughter!
Chu Zhao’s mind went blank, a buzzing in her ears. It was very noisy, she couldn’t hear anything, yet it also seemed very quiet—she could hear her own breathing.
Between heaven and earth, only the sound of her own breathing remained.
Until someone shook her forcefully, shouting “Chu Zhao.”
Chu Zhao’s gaze focused and she saw Xie Yanlai’s face—
“Let her smell this,” a voice said.
The scent was pungent. Chu Zhao sneezed, the shock making her ears buzz, then everything cleared. Only then did she realize she had somehow already entered the room.
Still holding her at her side was Xie Yanlai. Before her was Chu Ling, sitting up from the bed. And to one side was—
Seeing Chu Zhao’s gaze turn toward her, the woman took a step back, at a loss, wanting to hide but having nowhere to go. She could only turn away and lower her head.
Meanwhile, Zhong Changrong raised his hand and slapped himself, calling out cautiously: “Ah Zhao, you know Uncle Zhong never knows how to speak properly—only knows how to talk nonsense—”
Chu Zhao looked at him and smiled.
This smile made everyone around her worried again.
“Uncle Zhong, don’t I know what you’re like?” Chu Zhao said with a smile. Without saying more to him, she broke free of Xie Yanlai’s hand and hurried toward Chu Ling. “Father, lie down quickly. No matter how earth-shattering the matter, you cannot sit up right now.”
Chu Ling let her support him and lay down as instructed. Chu Zhao also sat down by the bed.
The room became slightly stagnant.
“I’m fine,” Chu Zhao said, raising her eyes to look at everyone. She didn’t overlook Mu Mianhong either—her gaze even lingered on Mu Mianhong. “After all this time, I’ve only just learned your name. I’ve been calling you Aunt Ding this whole while.”
Mu Mianhong looked at her, her expression both mournful and worried. Her lips moved as she said: “It would be better not to know.”
Chu Zhao shook her head: “Since things in this world have already happened, they should be known.” As she spoke, she rose and bowed to Mu Mianhong. “Thank you.”
Mu Mianhong looked at her without speaking. What was there to say? This child was unreasonably calm—anything said would only agitate her.
Chu Zhao rose, but instead of sitting down, she bowed again.
“Earlier when I was attacked, thank you for saving me,” she said.
Not only Mu Mianhong, but Zhong Changrong and Xie Yanlai all thought she was confused—she appeared clearheaded but was actually still muddled. Otherwise, why would she give thanks twice?
Zhong Changrong even signaled to Xie Yanlai to have Chu Zhao smell that medicine again. Xie Yanlai kept his face cold and ignored him.
Having made a mistake, Zhong Changrong felt guilty and didn’t dare give Xie Yanlai any attitude. He sheepishly withdrew his gaze.
Only Chu Ling smiled: “With these two thanks, you can be at peace in both lives, yes?”
Chu Zhao looked at him, sat down and nodded, raising her hand to wipe away tears: “Father, I’m at peace now. You should be at peace too. Don’t worry about me.”
Chu Ling reached out and patted Chu Zhao’s arm: “I’m not worried. I’ve seen with my own eyes how capable my Ah Zhao is. However, Ah Zhao, since Heaven’s will has let you see and hear this today, you should know everything clearly.”
Chu Zhao lowered her head: “Father, I understand clearly now.”
Chu Ling smiled: “Understand what? That’s called your own understanding of clarity. You should hear me say it myself—Mu Mianhong and I once met by chance, met again and formed a bond, fell in love at third meeting. Though we never had a wedding ceremony, she and I were truly husband and wife. You are my daughter with her.”
Hearing these words, Zhong Changrong turned his head away, while Mu Mianhong raised her hand to wipe away tears.
“Since the General has spoken, I should speak as well,” she said. “The General and I—it wasn’t a chance meeting. I deliberately arranged it. At that time, our mountain stronghold—but let’s not speak of that.”
She looked at Chu Zhao.
“When we first met, I intended to assassinate him, but my skills were insufficient and I failed.”
“After the second meeting, after the third meeting, I stayed by the General’s side. Time passed, longer and longer. The General treated me with sincerity and had feelings for me. I was at a loss, not knowing what to do. When the General showed me the wedding dress—”
As she spoke these words, a trace of reminiscence flashed in her eyes, as if she could still see that red wedding dress personally presented by her beloved.
“I no longer knew what to do, so I could only flee. I thought I would never see the General again in this life.”
“But the mountain stronghold bandits committed many evils, violated the law. The court would not tolerate it. The General suppressed the bandits, surrounding and killing us until we had nowhere to run.”
“I was born in the stronghold—born a bandit. I couldn’t watch my kin die, so I could only step forward and make General Chu let us go—”
She also seemed to see that scene—across blades, spears, and corpses strewn on the ground, that General seeing his beloved reappear before his eyes, the joy on his face, the shock, and the pain.
“Mu Mianhong never dared hope the General would forgive her. Mu Mianhong will not make excuses for her actions.”
She looked at Chu Zhao.
“My life couldn’t threaten the General, so I used my life and his daughter’s life to trade for our survival.”
“I held my daughter on the point of a blade. I used the blade to cut my daughter’s throat. In that moment, I killed my daughter with my own hands.”
“I came today not to see my daughter. I only came to see the General.”
She looked at Chu Ling again.
“The man Mu Mianhong deceived and loved is about to die. I came to see him one more time.”
“Ah Ling, this life we part here. In the next life, let us never meet again.”
She bent her knee in a bow, large tears rolling down. Without waiting for anyone in the room to say more, she hurried away.
The room fell silent.
Zhong Changrong kicked a pillar with a thud, breaking the stagnation.
“That vicious—” He wanted to curse, but ultimately considered Chu Zhao. After all, one couldn’t curse a person’s mother in front of her daughter. But this mother—what kind of mother was this? What had she just said? Not a single word about her daughter, only saying the daughter was dead.
He didn’t allow Mu Mianhong to acknowledge her daughter, but when Mu Mianhong truly didn’t acknowledge her, he was furious.
How bitter! How bitter was the General’s fate! How bitter was Ah Zhao’s fate too!
Zhong Changrong let out a roar and also charged out.
The room fell silent again. In the next moment, Xie Yanlai’s voice sounded.
“I,” he said, pointing outside, “I’ll be outside. If there’s anything, call me.”
Without waiting for the two to speak, he hurried away.
In an instant, only father and daughter remained in the room.
Chu Zhao looked at her father and suddenly laughed: “Father, when you were young, your life was far more exciting than what’s rumored in the capital.”