Chapter 671 Lotus (2)

After the carriage stopped, Lu Qiniang walked through several narrow and dirty alleys with a light breeze and came to a low and dilapidated mud house.

The door panel was crooked, and the paper covering the windows was already tattered and rustled in the wind, revealing the suffocating darkness inside.

Pushing open the creaking door, a mixture of musty, medicinal and decaying smells hit me in the face.

There was almost no decent furniture in the house, and some broken items were piled up in the corners.

The only light came from the few rays of sunlight leaking through the roof, shining on a "bed" against the wall that was covered with thin straw and worn cotton wool.

The lotus was curled up in the pile of straw.

She was so thin that she looked like a skeleton covered with skin. Her eye sockets were deep and dark, her cheekbones were high and protruding, and her face was a sallow and grayish color.

The face that was once quite handsome now only bears the traces deeply carved by suffering and illness.

A thin quilt of unknown color was draped over her, but it looked empty and it was almost impossible to see a human figure underneath.

Hearing the noise, He Fei rolled her cloudy eyes with great effort.

When he saw clearly that it was Lu Qiniang, his dead eyes suddenly burst into light.

——Lu Qinniang really hasn't changed much from before.

Love nourishes her and makes her look energetic even when she is displaced.

Lotus struggled to sit up, making a hoarse sound in her throat, and her skinny hands stretched forward eagerly.

"Abandon...abandon my mother..." Her voice was hoarse and weak, like an old bellows.

"Sister Hehua, it's me, I'm here." Lu Qinniang's heart tightened, and she quickly walked to the bedside, squatted down, and held the icy, bony hand.

She has always known how difficult it is for women.

But every time I see the different sufferings of women with my own eyes, I still feel heartbroken.

These sufferings cannot be understood by the high-ranking officials, nor can they even be sympathized by ordinary men.

How difficult is it to be a woman?

Qingfeng silently placed the scallion pancakes he brought on the only rickety stool beside the bed.

"Go... let her... go..." Hehua looked at Qingfeng anxiously, and her fingers scratched the back of Lu Qiniang's hand with a little force.

Lu Qiniang understood and nodded to Qingfeng.

Qingfeng retreated silently, closed the door gently, and stood guard outside.

There were only two women left in the small, dilapidated house.

In the dim light, Lotus was breathing rapidly, and every breath seemed to exhaust all her strength.

She held Lu Qiniang's hand tightly, as if it was the only piece of driftwood she could hold on to.

"Abandoned Mother... I... I can't hold on any longer..."

She spoke with difficulty, each word accompanied by heavy breathing.

"Don't talk nonsense. I brought some cakes. Would you like to try some?" Lu Qiniang suppressed her nasal tears and picked up a piece of cake to feed her.

But He Hua shook her head vigorously, staring at Lu Qiniang with an almost desperate plea: "No...eat...listen...listen to me..."

"Okay, you talk and I'm listening." Lu Qiniang put down the cake and held her cold hand with both hands.

Lotus took a deep breath, as if to gather all the strength in her body: "Abandoned mother...you...your San Ya...she...she..."

Lu Qinniang's heart skipped a beat, and she was overwhelmed by an ominous premonition.

"She... is my... third daughter..." Lotus finally uttered the words that had been weighing on her heart for over a decade. Turbid tears instantly welled up and rolled down her sunken eye sockets. "Back then, Liu Hema forced me... to drown... I couldn't bear to let her... I couldn't bear to let her go..."

She started coughing violently, and Lu Qiniang hurried to help her calm down, only to feel cold all over.

He Hua took a deep breath and clutched Lu Qiniang tightly, as if afraid she would run away. Her voice was low and urgent, with a dying urgency: "It was snowing heavily that day... I... I secretly wrapped her up... wrapped her in an old coat... left by my mother... and put... left it at your doorstep..."

"I, I know you, you... have a good heart. Daya... Erya were all bought by you... you..."

"I put a coin in there... just one coin... I only have one coin..."

"Her legs, there are two red moles at the base of her legs..."

Lotus's voice was as soft as a gossamer, but it clearly revealed the details that only those who were closest to the child knew.

She knew that placing it at the doorstep of Lu Qi's mother's house was her daughter's only hope of survival.

There was a "boom" in Lu Qinniang's head.

On that cold snowy night more than ten years ago, there was a faint cry like a kitten outside the door, and the baby girl’s face was blue and purple from the cold.

All the details became clear in an instant.

That old coat, that coin, and the red mole on Sanya's leg...

If we talk about the first two, maybe she will tell them out loud someday.

But outsiders cannot possibly know about those two red moles.

Lu Qinniang was trembling all over. Great shock and grief swept over her. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She could only hold Hehua's hand tightly, tears streaming down her face.

She understands.

She has given birth to a child and she knows what it feels like to be separated from a child.

"Abandoned mother... I'm sorry to her... and... to you..." Tears welled up in He Hua's eyes, filled with endless guilt and pain.

"I'm useless... I can't protect her... I don't have the face to recognize her. I beg you... after I die... never... never let her know... don't let her recognize her..."

This is the secret she has kept in her heart for more than ten years.

She wanted to take this secret to her grave.

But she was also afraid that if something unexpected happened in the future, the Liu family would know that San Ya was their flesh and blood.

When the time comes, this family will come and suck her daughter's blood.

No, never!

She has been harmed by them in her life.

She ate the Liu family's food and gave it back to them with her life.

But her daughter never ate a single meal from the Liu family.

Her daughter, now a great general, has a mighty father, a kind mother, capable and loving sisters, and has the brightest future.

She would not allow anyone from the Liu family to take advantage.

"Abandoned Mother, please... please, don't even tell San Ya about this. Please..."

She did nothing for her daughter.

She also doesn't want her daughter to have any regrets in her life.

"Sister Hehua..." Lu Qiniang finally burst into tears. It wasn't sobbing, but uncontrollable, heart-wrenching howling.

She cried for Lotus' miserable and hopeless life, for the child who was helplessly abandoned by her own mother and then sent to her by fate, and for the woman in front of her who, at the end of her life, used up her last bit of strength to build a wall to keep out wolves for her daughter.

Why didn't she know it earlier?

Obviously, the days of lotus flowers can be a little sweet.