Chapter 419 Exposing the Lies

They found a decent inn; although it only had two floors, it looked bright and clean.

It looks like it's made of loess and mud bricks from the outside, but the windows are large and the beds, tables and chairs in the room are very clean.

The second and fourth brothers shared a room, while Song Chunxue booked a room by herself, costing 160 coins per room.

The second child was heartbroken.

"One hundred and sixty coins is enough to buy a lot of white flour steamed buns. The room I just stayed in only cost three hundred coins in half a year."

Song Chunxue sat in the chair, looking at him with a serious expression.

The second son immediately sat up straight. "Mother, scold me if you want. It was I who took it upon myself to see Lord Xie. Lin Chuncheng is the brother of the girl you just saw. He is a sixth-rank military officer. Although his official rank is not high, I am just his subordinate."

Song Chunxue looked at him with great interest, a slight smile playing on her lips, her eyes carrying a hint of coldness.

In her past life, she never had the chance to ask him about this.

"So in order to get close to him, you agreed to marry his sister, become his live-in son-in-law, and take his sister back to their hometown to take care of his elderly mother?"

She remained composed, but her speech grew faster and faster, and she spoke with great emphasis. Her arms trembled slightly from excitement.

Upon closer inspection, one can see that the fingers are trembling slightly due to intense emotions.

The second brother lowered his head and said, "This is just a temporary measure. He is having a hard time in the army. At the beginning, he was almost kicked out of the army because of his poor physical strength. If it weren't for him, I would probably have been eliminated long ago."

Song Chunxue crossed her arms over her chest, thinking to herself that he was lying!

"So what if you're eliminated? You'd rather go far away than come back to Li Family Village, right?" Song Chunxue smiled faintly. "Someone helped you, and you repay them by taking care of their mother, while I raised you with great difficulty, and you abandon me without hesitation?"

The second son looked up and vehemently denied it, "I didn't, Mother. I only agreed because that girl pestered me so much."

Song Chunxue took a deep breath. There was no point in pursuing this now; she had already died.

"Then how did you get hit?"

The second brother pursed his lips.

He didn't know before, but now Song Chunxue understands clearly, and he's thinking about how to put it more nicely.

"It's because they know you sought out Lord Xie and got you a good job. In other words, you broke your promise and went against your word."

The second son lowered his head and did not deny it.

“I never intended to betray him, nor did I agree to become a live-in son-in-law. Miss Lin promised me that she would stay in Jincheng. But Lin Chuncheng forced me to go home to take care of his parents, and said that he had already found me a good job in my hometown.”

At this point, the second brother clenched his fists and said angrily, "Otherwise, I would have sent him to be a target for bandit suppression. He is ruthless and a man of his word. I had no choice but to go to Lord Xie."

Song Chunxue asked calmly, "Tell me, how did you find him?"

The second brother stole a glance at Song Chunxue, then lowered his head, looking like he was ready to be dealt with at any time.

"That day, Lin Chuncheng found me and said it was a final warning: if I still didn't agree to take Lin Chunjiao to Jingzhou, he would accuse me of desertion..."

"Just when I was at my wit's end, I heard that Lord Xie from Liangzhou came to the military camp. I secretly found an opportunity to appear in front of him and mentioned my mother's name. He was a little surprised and immediately agreed to help me."

"Bang!"

Song Chunxue slammed her hand on the table. "So you tried to be clever and said you weren't doing well in the army?"

The second brother bit his lip, forcing back the stinging in his nose, "I'm almost driven to the brink of despair. What's wrong with using tricks? Do you really expect me to break my arms and legs and kick me out of the army?"

Song Chunxue remained silent; she was unaware of the other matters.

She didn't know whether she could trust what her second son said.

However, she could imagine that there might have been some embellishment, but it was true that Lin Chuncheng forced the second son to make a decision.

After all, the second brother had promised to marry his sister, and his sudden change of heart would be tantamount to ruining her reputation.

If Lin Chuncheng had other candidates, the second son's behavior would be ungrateful and dishonest.

Even without Xie Zheng's presence, he still agreed and took Miss Lin to Jingzhou.

The second son kept this a secret from him for two years. By the time she found out, he was already in Jingzhou, and his wife was pregnant with his child.

Perhaps the second son's situation in the military was difficult, and his choices were all out of necessity, but his actions were by no means honorable.

If he had just told her in his heart before agreeing to Lin Chuncheng's request, she wouldn't have been so angry.

"So, after learning that you actually knew Lord Xie and that Lin Chuncheng couldn't do anything to you, he got so angry that he had you beaten up?" Song Chunxue sneered. "I think he already showed mercy. If he were really as ruthless as you say, he would have broken your legs if he had known that you abandoned your sister."

“I told him that Lord Xie would seek justice for me and that he would lose his official position, otherwise my leg would really be broken.”

The second child sniffed, wiped away tears with a sob in his voice, and looked extremely sad.

“I thought Mother would comfort me and be very distressed to seek justice for me… I didn’t expect you to blame me for seeking out Lord Xie, making you owe him a favor.”

He hadn't seen his mother for three years. He thought she would always be on his side, but ever since they last met, she had been doubting and blaming him.

Thinking of this, the second son buried his head in his arms and couldn't help but cry.

The fourth brother stood aside, not daring to speak. He knew that in his mother's eyes, he was just like the second brother—disobedient and dishonest, and the more he said, the more mistakes he would make.

Let my second brother explain it himself.

“I know it’s not easy for you, but you knew you couldn’t do it, so why did you agree to marry her? At first, you thought it was a temporary measure, but from the beginning, she must have mentioned that you should go to Jingzhou with Miss Lin. You also understood that it was almost like being a live-in son-in-law, but you still agreed.”

Song Chunxue coldly exposed his true thoughts, "You lied from the beginning to make yourself feel better. You knew you might not be able to escape in the end, but you never intended to discuss it with me."

"I don't……"

“You do, second son. I gave birth to you. I can see your large intestine when you open your mouth. Don’t try to fool me. Your mother isn’t that easy to fool, and I know that if you hadn’t met Xie Zheng, you would have eventually agreed to go to Jingzhou and abandoned your old mother.”

The second brother, with red eyes, remained silent.

"Moreover, you planned to keep it a secret for as long as possible. At first, you lied and said that you had gone to another place with the army, trying to delay as long as possible. Then, when she got pregnant with your child and it was too late for me to accept it, you finally told me the truth, right?"

The second son stared blankly at Song Chunxue, not expecting his mother to think so far ahead.

Actually, he had this thought before he met Lord Xie, when Lin Chuncheng forced him to make a choice.

How did Mother find out?

“See? You admit it,” Song Chunxue scolded him. “So it’s all your own fault from beginning to end. You deserve it. I think you didn’t hit me hard enough.”

The second child bit his lip, feeling angry and aggrieved, stubbornly refusing to let himself cry.

"Mother, don't say that about Second Brother. What if he hadn't done anything? He would have died on the battlefield long ago." Fourth Brother whispered. "Everyone wants to serve their country with utmost loyalty, but when it comes down to it, everyone is afraid of death."