The three children, dressed similarly, were kneeling at his feet, heads bowed and silent.

At this moment, the old man sitting next to Jin Shu spoke up.

“Since you can’t choose, then I’ll choose for you. I think Ah Zhao is a good kid, quite like Mingqian when he was young. Perhaps it’s fate.”

Jin Shu was still confused about the situation, but she could roughly guess from the old lady's few words that she was going to choose a son for her to raise.

She pursed her lips and didn't speak, glancing at the young boy closest to her. He kept his head down the whole time, but his back was very straight.

The boy named A-Zhao, who was just mentioned, has looked up and is looking over.

Jin Shu glanced at him, then shook her head.

"I'm not feeling well tonight, and my vision is blurry. Let's talk about it tomorrow."

After speaking, Jin Shu coughed twice more, her thin body swaying precariously as if she would collapse at any moment.

The old woman in brocade seemed a little anxious when she saw her like this.

“Your health isn’t good, so why don’t we just settle down now? That way you won’t have to worry about it every day.”

"I need to think this over carefully. Let's call it a day and get some rest."

Seeing that Jin Shu was unmoved by reason, the old lady had no choice but to give up, leaving behind the words "Then you should rest well" before getting up and leaving.

The three children also left.

Jin Shu noticed that the child who had been closest to her had a limp in his right leg and swayed slightly when he walked.

Even so, he walked straight, clearly trying to correct his posture.

The boy named A-Zhao respectfully kowtowed to Jin Shu before leaving last.

After everyone left, Jin Shu was the only one left in the room. She breathed a slight sigh of relief and lay back on the couch.

Arno's voice rang out.

"Story transmission in progress, please check."

Jin Shu closed her eyes and silently accepted a memory that did not belong to her.

The original owner, Jin Shu, was a noble lady from a prominent family in the capital. At the age of fifteen, she married into the Dingguo Duke's mansion, which was also a prominent family, and became the principal wife of Lu Mingqian, the eldest son of the Dingguo Duke.

The Jin and Lu families already had a close relationship, and the original owner and Lu Mingqian were childhood sweethearts, having been betrothed since they were little.

However, in the first year after the original owner married into the family, Lu Mingqian was ordered to go on a military expedition. In the same year, the Duke of Dingguo passed away, and the huge Duke's mansion fell on the shoulders of the old lady.

The old lady was in poor health and spent all her time taking medicine, leaving her with no time to manage the household affairs.

Left with no other choice, the newlywed Jin Shu took on all the household affairs and trivial matters of the Duke's mansion by herself.

With the passing of the Duke of Dingguo and his eldest son Lu Mingqian's constant fighting abroad, the Duke's mansion's status declined, and all of the Lu family's businesses in the private sector were affected, with most of them closing down.

In the end, the original owner used her dowry to support all the food, drink and daily expenses in the huge Duke's mansion, and painstakingly managed a number of shops in the private sector, just to fulfill the promise she made to Lu Mingqian back then.

Five years later, the original owner was almost exhausted from overwork. Just when she was still hoping for news of Lu Mingqian's return from the war, she received the news that he had died on the battlefield.

In an instant, the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, which had already been bullied and exploited by foreign tribes, became the target of everyone's criticism. With the direct line of the family cut off, all the aristocratic families in the capital could come and kick them while they were down.

The original owner was so heartbroken that she tried to commit suicide several times, but in the end she held on because she couldn't bear to leave the Duke's mansion.

It was at this time that the old lady took the initiative to propose adopting a child from a collateral branch of the Lu family and giving him to Jin Shu as her son. This way, Jin Shu could continue the Lu family line and prevent the direct line of the Lu family from being completely cut off.

The original owner did not refuse, and the old lady selected three children from the collateral relatives who were of excellent age, character, and appearance for the original owner to choose from.

Thus, the scene that unfolded when Jin Shu first arrived took place.

According to the original storyline, the original owner adopted a child named A-Zhao at the suggestion of the old lady.

Because of the child, the original owner found a reason to live again. So, for the next ten years, she devoted herself to raising Lu Zhao and used all the connections of her family to give Lu Zhao the opportunity to talk about nature with famous people from all over the world at a young age.

Ten years later, Lu Zhao inherited the Duke of Dingguo's mansion and lived up to expectations by gaining the Emperor's favor. He entered the court as an official and rose rapidly through the ranks.

At this time, the original owner's body was already depleted due to more than ten years of overwork, and he was on his last legs.

She thought that with Lu Zhao's protection, she could put everything aside and recuperate properly. However, not long after Lu Zhao put on his official robes and took a high position, Lu Mingqian, who had died on the battlefield, returned.

He was accompanied by a pretty girl, as vibrant as a flower.

Her name was Deng Qiao. She was generous, cheerful, and outgoing. Her speech and mannerisms were all in words that the original owner couldn't understand. The two of them held hands and stood in front of the original owner together with Lu Zhao.

Lu Mingqian: "You've worked hard all these years, and you've been exhausted for over a decade. Now you should take a good rest."

Lu Zhao: "You tormented me for ten years. During those ten years, I couldn't eat or sleep well, and I even dreamed about reviewing my textbooks. You vented all the bitterness and resentment you had accumulated over the years on me. You not only forced me to separate from the person I loved, but you also locked me at home to reflect on my actions, causing the person I loved to marry someone else!"

Jin Shu, now your retribution has come!

Deng Qiao: "What killed you was this evil feudal era. Now you've become a feudal patriarch. There's always a reason why someone is pitiful, but you probably don't understand what I mean. Sigh... A woman like you can only be trapped in this grand mansion for the rest of her life."

The three people, each word spoken, were like sharp knives, piercing the original owner's heart.

But the final, fatal blow came when Lu Zhao turned around and knelt before Lu Mingqian and Deng Qiao.

"Father, Mother, your child can finally be reunited with your family!"

Lu Mingqian: "Azhao is my child with Qiao'er. We have long since retired to the mountains, but the Duke of Dingguo's mansion cannot be without an heir, so we have no choice but to send him here with a heavy heart."

Deng Qiao: "My poor child has been tormented by you for ten years. Fortunately, the three of us were finally reunited. Jin Shu, you have been driven mad by this feudal era! Look at my child, look what you have done to him!"

Lu Zhao: "All these hundred-plus lashes on my body were inflicted by you, Jin Shu. You are the person I hate the most in this life."

"puff--!"

A mouthful of blood extinguished all of the original owner's hopes. Through a blur of bloody tears, she cried in despair, a fire burning in her heart, but in the end, she didn't even have the strength to speak.