After Shi Fa Ke left, Xu Feiqiong turned to look at her son, seeing his brows tightly furrowed, not knowing what he was contemplating.

Lu Zhuxi was thinking about Zhu Yanyan.

He thought again of what she had said last night.

Even after knowing he was from Feiqiong Stronghold on Qianya Mountain, that silly girl still wholeheartedly wanted to marry him.

That silly girl had opened her heart to him, saying she had saved personal silver and a generous dowry, wanting to live well with him. She had hesitantly asked if he could avoid banditry… and afraid he would get angry, clearly very frightened, she had said through tears that she would listen to him in everything.

How could there be such a silly girl?

Now that she knew Madam Zhu wanted to call off the marriage, he didn’t know what state she was in… Just thinking about it made Lu Zhuxi feel as if his heart was being squeezed by someone, aching terribly.

Thinking of this, he lifted his leg to walk outside.

“Zhuxi, where are you going?” Xu Feiqiong called out to stop him.

Lu Zhuxi paused in his steps: “I…”

“Are you going to the Zhu residence?” Xu Feiqiong continued.

Lu Zhuxi lowered his gaze: “Mm.”

Xu Feiqiong sighed: “If you go like this, are you sure you won’t be thrown out?”

Lu Zhuxi naturally knew this, but even knowing… he still wanted to go.

He had learned about this marriage from Lu Chi. From beginning to end, she had been the one making efforts and planning, despite having such a delicate body… Now it was time for him to do something.

“I’m thinking, even if Madam Zhu wanted to change her mind, there should be a reason.” Xu Feiqiong stroked her chin thoughtfully. “From what I can see, the Zhu family’s young lady wanted to deceive her mother with a substitution scheme. How did Madam Zhu discover it?”

Lu Zhuxi stiffened slightly.

Xu Feiqiong suddenly understood, looking meaningfully at Lu Zhuxi’s dejected expression: “Last night, couldn’t contain yourself and went night-visiting her boudoir?”

Xu Feiqiong smiled kindly, but her question was somewhat scandalous.

Lu Zhuxi’s expression was a bit awkward. He coughed lightly, his gaze somewhat evasive, and explained with some embarrassment: “I just wanted to get a definitive answer, and… I had to let her know what kind of person she was preparing to marry, and what kind of life she would face in the future. That way… it would be fair to her.”

At this point, Lu Zhuxi’s expression was somewhat bitter.

“Zhuxi is really thoughtful, better than your father.” Xu Feiqiong nodded with approval.

Lu Zhuxi was surprised.

Over there, Lu Ting, who had been pretending not to notice the commotion here and concentrating on reminiscing with Shen Qing, finally couldn’t hold back. He turned around and said defiantly: “How am I inferior!”

“Hah, Zhuxi knows to let the girl know what kind of person she’s marrying, and to let her know what kind of life she’ll face in the future. Did certain people think of this back then?” Xu Feiqiong smiled slightly and said coolly.

Bringing up this old matter, Lu Ting immediately lost his confidence. He couldn’t help but secretly glare daggers at his son who had inadvertently made him look bad. This stinky boy had the dog’s luck to have a girl eagerly waiting to marry him – he didn’t have that! If he didn’t snatch her, what else could he do? If he didn’t snatch her, how could he have married such a beautiful and desirable wife!

Of course… these were just internal grumblings that he dared not voice.

He was cowardly and admitted it.

“What are you glaring at my son for? Am I wrong?” Xu Feiqiong raised an eyebrow, frost covering her powdered face.

“Who told him to be so meddlesome, and his skills weren’t good enough so he exposed himself. Now he’s been refused marriage.” Lu Ting muttered quietly, looking quite gleeful.

Lu Zhuxi choked – this was his real father!

“How is it meddlesome? This matter would have been a hidden danger sooner or later. Now that it’s brought out in the open, it’s perfect for resolving it. Our Zhuxi is going to marry the Zhu family’s young lady honorably and openly.” Xu Feiqiong snorted heavily, then turned to Lu Zhuxi gently: “Zhuxi, you don’t need to worry, and you don’t need to rush to the Zhu residence. Going there now would only add fuel to the fire and won’t solve the problem. Leave this matter to Mother – I’ll go see Madam Zhu later.”

Lu Zhuxi felt warmth in his heart. Compared to his real father, Mother was indeed the best.

“Thank you for the trouble, Mother.”

Xu Feiqiong waved her hand: “Why be polite with Mother?”

Very domineering indeed.

Lu Zhuxi looked at her with warm eyes.

Actually, Lu Chi was Mother’s biological son, while he was just a stepson. He had been a motherless wild child since he could remember, and his father was extremely unreliable, so his childhood was quite miserable.

Until Mother was kidnapped up the mountain.

At that time, he heard people say he was going to have a stepmother. They said that having a stepmother meant having a stepfather, and from then on he would become a pitiful little thing who couldn’t get enough to eat or wear, and would be beaten three times a day… He was both angry and afraid, so on the day she married his father, he deliberately dressed dirty and ragged and appeared at her wedding, hugging her leg tightly.

He was deliberately trying to disgust her.

But the result… Father got a good beating from his new wife.

The situation at that time was like this…

“Who are you?” The beautiful bride lifted her red veil and looked down at the child hugging her thigh tightly.

“I… my father is Lu Ting.” The dirty child sniffled, looking very unsightly, and deliberately wiped his pitch-black little hands on her wedding dress.

Sure enough, the bride’s face immediately darkened.

“Lu Zhuxi, get back here!” Lu Ting’s face also darkened as he roared angrily.

The child stuck out his tongue at him but hugged the thigh even tighter.

“Who are you yelling at!” The bride glared at the groom and questioned angrily: “Lu Ting, whose child is this?”

“Aqiong…” Lu Ting immediately weakened.

He had finally worn her down to agree to marry him – how could he dare let her know he had such a big son!

Then the bride took off her red embroidered shoe and used the sole to beat the groom until he fled with his head covered, while beating and scolding: “You turtle bastard! Look what you’ve done to this child! What season is it, and he’s still wearing single clothes! How long has it been since you changed these dirty clothes! You heartless, ungrateful thing! I knew you were a black-hearted bad man!”

At that time, the wedding guests were all rough men from the mountain. Seeing their tall, imposing, and majestic stronghold leader being beaten like a grandson by the beautiful bride, they immediately applauded enthusiastically with thunderous applause…

This legendary wedding was talked about for a long time and is still passed down by word of mouth in the stronghold…

But at that time… he was terrified.

He just thought he would be the next one to get beaten – stepmothers were indeed terrible creatures, even Father was no match for her! Imagining having to make a living under this female tyrant’s hands in the future, he trembled with fear.

Then the bride, having finished beating his father, turned to look at him. Noticing he was trembling, she glared fiercely at the groom who had been beaten black and blue: “Look how you’ve frozen the child! He’s trembling!”

No… he was scared!

Then she extended her hand to him.

He shrank his neck and closed his eyes tightly in despair, thinking it was finally his turn to be beaten.

But what awaited him was not a beating, but a gentle embrace.

“Come, it’s cold outside. Come inside with Mother.” She held him and said, even her voice was gentle.

He stared at her in a daze.

From then on, he also had a mother.