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Chapitre 144

"How could we possibly know about royal matters? Alright, Gouwa's mother, stop asking useless questions. Let's hurry back. Look, Gouwa is shivering with cold. If we don't go back soon, the child will catch a cold..."

He grabbed Rongyue's arm again and dragged her stiff body along the forest path...

Volume Three: Looking Back to Where My Heart Has Always Been, Chapter Two: Who Is the Child's Father?

That woman's surname was Liu, and she was known as Aunt Liu.

After listening to her rambling on and on for a while, Rongyue finally understood her current absurd situation a little better.

A year ago, a destitute woman arrived in the sparsely populated Yonghe Village with her son, Gouwa, who was not yet two years old. She settled there and lived there for a year. No one in the village knew where she came from. They only saw her disheveled appearance and assumed she was a homeless refugee who had come to the mountains to make a living because she could not survive.

Although Aunt Liu's explanation was obscure and somewhat evasive, she vaguely sensed from her words that "she" was truly disliked by the villagers. Having lived in the village for over a year, she never spoke to anyone except Aunt Liu, always haughty and arrogant, her haughty demeanor as if she were a noble young lady. The villagers had many complaints about "her," and many gossiped behind her back; her superior attitude was especially disliked. Therefore, "she" was practically isolated in the village, and her desolate courtyard was almost entirely ignored.

From Aunt Liu, she also learned that "she" seemed to dislike the child very much. As her neighbor, Aunt Liu often heard "her" beating and scolding the child. When the beating was severe, the neighbors could hear the child's heart-wrenching cries, howling from midnight until dawn. To the surrounding neighbors, this was commonplace and nothing unusual.

Hearing this, Rongyue felt a little heavy-hearted.

Why does 'she' dislike this child so much? Could it be that this child isn't 'her' biological child?

After carefully examining Gouwa, who was blinking innocently and looking at her timidly, she immediately dismissed her earlier assumption. The assumption was invalid. Gouwa's bright almond-shaped eyes were exactly like hers; if she were told that Gouwa wasn't her child, she would be the first to stand up and refute it.

The only remaining reason is that the child's father is someone 'she' dislikes.

The child's father? The thought made her inexplicably uneasy. What had this body done during the three years she was gone? Where did this child come from?

My gaze returned to Gouwa's face.

She had delicate, arched eyebrows like willow leaves, large almond-shaped eyes, a straight and small nose, rosy lips, a chubby little face, and fair skin with a rosy glow. At first glance, one could immediately tell who her mother was, but not who her father was.

Tuoba Chen? A sense of anticipation mixed with a strange feeling of unease filled him. After staring at him for a while, it seemed unlikely.

Dongfang Lie? Although he had been given a sterilization drug, his master was a master among masters, and she believed that the Tianshan Taoist should be able to cure the poison. Most importantly, before she fainted, the person in front of her was Dongfang Lie… Her heart skipped a beat, and cold sweat crept onto her palms. If he really had sown the seed, she probably would have wanted to bang her head against a wall! Fortunately, Gouwa, who bore no resemblance to Dongfang Lie, relieved her. It seemed that Gouwa wasn't Dongfang Lie's either.

Could it be… Chu Xuyao's?! This thought terrified her. She pressed Gouwa's head down, looking him up and down, but no matter how she looked at it, it had absolutely no connection to that cold-faced, iron-willed man. Thank goodness, thank goodness, she patted her chest, feeling as if she had escaped a calamity.

Dongfang Yao? No, no, it doesn't seem like him...

In addition to my child...

Unexpectedly, a ghostly phrase popped into my head!

Tuoba... Tuoba Jie?!

My heart trembled slightly as I looked shakily into her large, almond-shaped eyes, trying to find any trace of redness in the clear, bottomless lake...

Whew - -

It doesn't seem like it either.

In the end, Rongyue came to the conclusion that the child was only her own!

The cool night breeze occasionally wafted into the bare thatched hut through the holes in the roof, making the bells hanging on the large bed ring.

The little child beside her shifted restlessly, her face furrowing as if annoyed by the noisy bell. With a soft sigh, Rongyue sat up and gently untied the bell from the curtain. She patted the child's back lightly, and the child's expression relaxed, settling down.

By the moonlight, Rongyue took another look at the dilapidated thatched hut that let in the wind and rain, and a small anger rose up from the bottom of her heart!

They were now within the territory of the Southern Kingdom, and Yonghe Village, in essence, belonged to the imperial city of Ye. A carriage ride would take no more than three hours to reach the capital. What did this signify? It meant that Tuoba Chen was aware of her current predicament, yet he ignored it, leaving her to fend for herself! Although she knew he wasn't targeting her, she was still incredibly furious! He was enjoying a life of luxury in the palace, pampered with gourmet food and beautiful women, while she, with a helpless infant who couldn't find his father, was left in a desolate mountain village, eating simple meals and enduring hardship. How could she not be angry? Even if that 'she' had committed many wrongdoings in the past three years, shouldn't he at least remember their past relationship and provide 'her' with a comfortable place to stay, so that she could have a more comfortable life upon her return?

The more Rongyue thought about it, the more indignant she became. She decided that at daybreak she would take Gouwa to Ziye and demand an explanation from Tuoba Chen!

The next morning, Rongyue, mustering her courage, begged a bowl of thin porridge from Aunt Liu next door. After a few bites with Gouwa, Rongyue packed up, intending to take her to Ziye. But just before leaving, she suddenly realized that without money, how could she hire Wang Er's horse-drawn carriage from the village entrance to go to Ziye?

Just as she was hesitating whether she should shamelessly knock on the neighbor's door again to borrow money, Gouwa's giggling laughter kept coming from the bedside.

It's better to be a child, carefree and innocent, that kind of naivety is something adults envy!

Lamenting the passing of her childhood, Rongyue's eyes swept across the room and inadvertently caught sight of the beads Gouwa was playing with. Her eyes immediately lit up!

agate!

He took two steps in three strides and snatched the agate from Gouwa's hand.

"Mother..." The timid voice held a dissatisfaction at having everything taken away. Looking at the shimmering agate, her chubby little hand was raised lightly, as if she wanted to take it, but dared not.

Where did you get it?

"Gouwa took it... from under the bed..." The chubby salesman pointed to the dark underside of the bed, looking at Rongyue with innocent eyes.

Her almond-shaped eyes lit up again. No wonder she had searched for so long without finding a single coin; it turned out they were hidden under the bed!

With a quick movement, Rongyue crawled under the bed, using both hands and feet. From the bed, Gouwa's childish voice clapped and cheered, "Mommy crawls through the hole, Mommy crawls through the hole..."

She pulled out a blue coarse cloth bundle. Before she could even brush the dust off her clothes, Rongyue eagerly opened it. Instantly, the shimmering golden light dazzled her eyes.

Gold, silver, jewelry, agate, jade, and all sorts of other valuables added up to no less than hundreds of thousands! Shocked was the deep doubt in the city: why did she, with so much wealth, still live such a poor life?

Having taken some gold and a few loose silver coins, Rongyue picked up Gouwa and headed towards the village entrance. She hired a carriage for a tael of silver, and with Gouwa in her arms, they sat in Wu Peng's simple carriage, which creaked and groaned as it swayed towards the bustling city of Ziye…

"Steamed buns, freshly baked steamed buns!"

"Candied hawthorn berries, candied hawthorn berries - -"

"Auntie, have a piece of glutinous rice cake, it's so fragrant, I guarantee you'll want to eat it again and again!"

"Miss, would you like a round fan?"

"Sun and moon, heaven and earth, five elements and eight trigrams, who wants to tell fortunes? Find me, the Half-Immortal!"