After Zhou Yongli left, Zhou Yuqing opened her eyes, her gaze filled with desolation.

"As long as your mother is here, remember her words: if someone doesn't care about you, you don't need to care about them."

Zhou Yuqing looked at his mother in surprise again; his mother seemed to be really different.

"Mother has truly come to her senses now. As long as you're alright, nothing else matters. It doesn't matter if your father values ​​Zhou Shuqing more, since you, as the legitimate son, will be the only one to inherit the Zhou family business in the future. Even if it's just for Mother's sake, you have to get better, okay?"

Zhou Yuqing nodded unconsciously, but no matter what, there was still a touch of loneliness in her heart.

Song Xia continued, "Your father favors Concubine Liu, not your mother. So no matter what you do, he will only favor Zhou Shuqing, the son of Concubine Liu. This has nothing to do with whether you are outstanding or not, understand?"

"But my second brother is indeed better at studying than I am."

"A person's strengths are not necessarily in academics, and we don't have to compare our weaknesses with others' strengths."

"What other strengths do I have?"

“Who said there isn’t?” Ye Wanrou quickly retorted, “For example, Yu Ge’er, your appearance is unparalleled in the world, and your personality is also gentle and tolerant.”

Zhou Yuqing was both amused and exasperated: "How can a grown man make such a fuss about appearance and personality?"

Ye Wanrou replied matter-of-factly, "Why not? If your father wasn't good-looking, would your mother have fallen for him? If your uncle didn't listen to his aunt, she wouldn't have married such a rough and uncultured man like him."

Song Xia nodded and said, "Your aunt is right. Even the third-ranked scholar has to choose the best-looking one from several people with similar talents. Looks are an advantage from birth, so there's no need to be embarrassed. Besides, although you are not as good at studying as Zhou Shuqing, your painting is much better than his."

"Painting is just a minor skill."

"Mother apologizes to you. This was a mistake I made before. Painting is no trivial matter. Look at the paintings passed down by the Sage of Painting. Even the royal family treasures them. How can painting be a trivial matter? From now on, you can paint whenever you want. Mother will never stop you again, as long as you take care of your health."

Zhou Yuqing's eyes sparkled: "Really?"

“It’s true, I’ve never told you this before, but I’ve always treasured your drawings from when you were little.”

This was something Zhou Yuqing hadn't expected; he thought his mother had burned all his paintings.

Song Xia gently stroked his hair: "Those words were all lies I told you. How could I bear to burn your calligraphy?"

Zhou Yuqing felt warm inside, even a little elated. In the past, his mother never talked to him about anything, only forcing him to study. He thought his mother didn't care about him, only about his studies and whether he had caught up with his second brother. He never expected his mother to care about him so much.

Ye Wanrou exclaimed, "I had no idea that Yuqing had such a talent for painting. I must take a good look at it."

Song Xia smiled faintly, also wanting to show her son her true feelings, so she instructed the maid, "Go and bring all my boxes here."

Zhou Yuqing struggled to get up. She had just drunk some porridge and rested for a while, and now she felt much better.

The box was brought over quickly; the maids couldn't lift it, so two servants carried it.

Song Xia locked it, and the key was in her purse. Opening it revealed a whole box full of stuff.

Ye Wanrou eagerly opened it, and Song Xia said casually, "This was painted by him last year. The chrysanthemums hadn't withered yet when the first snow fell. Look, isn't it very artistic?"

"This painting is really good. I don't remember Yuqing ever hiring a famous painter?"

"No, he learned it by studying the ancient paintings in the Zhou family's storeroom."

“It would be an understatement to call her a prodigy. I’ve been hiring court painters for Bao Ning since she was little. Every time she attends a banquet, people praise her endlessly. I don’t think she can even compare to Yu Qing in three points.”

Ye Wanrou was born into a prestigious family, and prestigious families are known for their rich heritage. The Ye family is one of the families with the largest collection of books and paintings. Growing up surrounded by such culture, she developed a keen eye for discernment, which is why she was so amazed.

"Song Xia, you almost delayed Yu Ge'er! Let me look at the others."

She opened another painting, and Song Xia said again, "This is from the year I went out to participate in the horse racing event. On the way back, I saw a young child begging an old man for candy."

Zhou Yuqing finally couldn't help but say, "Mother, you even remember this?"

Song Xia chuckled: "When it comes to you, what doesn't your mother care?"

So, I'm actually that important to my mother? I'm not just a tool for her to make her proud?

The head maidservant seized the opportunity to say, "It's fortunate that you've woken up this time, young master. Madam has been taking care of you day and night without taking off her clothes. We were really afraid that if you didn't wake up, Madam would follow you. In this mansion, only Madam truly cares about you."

Song Xia said in a low voice, "Why are you saying these things to Yu-ge'er? Aren't you worried enough about him already?"

The head maid bowed her head: "This servant knows her mistake. This servant just didn't want the young master to misunderstand you, madam."

Zhou Yuqing looked up and noticed that his mother already had wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. Although his aunt was several years older than his mother, his mother looked much more haggard than his aunt, which showed that his mother had indeed been working very hard for him.

Zhou Yuqing secretly vowed that even for his mother's sake, he must live on.

Just like Sister Furong said, he must never misunderstand his mother again. If something happens to him, his mother will only have a harder time in this family.

His father disliked him, his grandmother found fault with him, and his second brother and Ying'er were born to Aunt Liu. He only had his mother, but didn't his mother only have him?

Mother just wanted to have more foothold in the world, so she forced him to study and didn't want him to fall too far behind his second brother, right?

Zhou Yuqing thought Song Xia was in a difficult position, but little did she know that Song Xia controlled the Zhou family's household management and had the Prince Cheng's Mansion as her backing. In fact, the remaining members of the Zhou family could not really threaten her and dared not be too presumptuous in front of her.

It has to be said that this misunderstanding was truly wonderful, and it brought Song Xia and his mother's relationship to a new level.

"Mother, don't blame Sister Furong. Sister Furong serves you the best."

"Okay, Mother will listen to you and won't blame her."

Zhou Yuqing smiled easily, completely unaware that he had been tricked by his mother and Furong and her servant. Furong was Song Xia's confidante, so how could she be punished?

Ye Wanrou flipped through the paintings, becoming more and more alarmed. Then she solemnly said to Song Xia, "You must never stop Yu-ge'er from painting again. Yu-ge'er, I wonder if you would be interested in meeting my unreliable older brother?"

Zhou Yuqing's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, then she exclaimed with delight, "Is this Mr. Ye Xiangwen?"

"He's not some respectable gentleman, just a free-spirited and unruly fellow. But his paintings do have a certain reputation. Letting him guide you shouldn't be a disgrace to your talent."

Zhou Yuqing looked at Song Xia. Song Xia knew his sister-in-law's elder brother. He was not just a nobody; he was the kind of person who dared to refuse the Emperor's invitation to enter the palace. And the Emperor was not angry at all, only saying that he would come to the capital when he had time. This shows Ye Xiangwen's status in the art world.

So she quickly agreed on behalf of Yu Ge'er. Seeing Yu Ge'er beaming with joy, she was also very grateful to her sister-in-law. If her sister-in-law hadn't said so, who would have been able to invite Master Ye?

"Then I'll just take two of Yu Ge'er's paintings with me. He won't bother showing up unless he sees them for himself."