Chapter 99

On second thought, she had been away from home for so many years, it was quite normal for Mu Wanyi to get married and have children.

It's just unknown what kind of person Mu Wanyi will marry after her dream of marrying the Third Prince and becoming his concubine. Now that the Third Prince has been demoted to a commoner and gone mad, Mu Wanyi's dream has been shattered.

Given the current state of the Mu family, it would be difficult for Mu Wanyi to marry an ordinary merchant. And based on Mu Yulu's understanding of her, she would never be willing to marry a commoner.

She couldn't imagine what kind of person Mu Wanyi would marry and have a child with.

Mu Yulu pondered in silence for a while, then turned and handed some silver to the coachman, indicating that he should buy some vegetables for Mu Zhaoshi. She then walked towards the mansion.

Knowing she couldn't stop her, Mu Zhaoshi simply gave up and followed Mu Yulu shakily inside.

The courtyard in front of her felt both familiar and strange to Mu Yulu.

In the front courtyard where she was once forced to kneel as punishment, the weeds now grow up to her ankles, making it slightly slippery to walk on.

Clearly, Mu Zhaoshi had hired people to manage these weeds, but unfortunately, there are hardly any people living in this mansion now, and it's devoid of any human presence. Mu Zhaoshi probably only hires people to manage it once every six months or so, which is why the courtyard is in its current state.

Mu Yulu looked up and saw that the paint on the pillars of the covered corridor had peeled off, revealing the grayish-white wooden core inside. Several roof tiles had also collapsed, revealing dark holes. Spider webs were hanging under the eaves, swaying slightly in the wind that passed through the corridor.

Mu Yulu paused briefly, glancing at the desolation before taking another step toward the backyard, but was stopped by Mu Zhaoshi.

She glared at Mu Yulu, her eyes filled with hatred: "What exactly do you want to do back here? Just to see us make a fool of ourselves?"

Mu Yulu stopped insisting and calmly looked down at Mu Zhaoshi. "Now that my life is finally better, you seem quite unhappy?"

She asked Mu Zhaoshi, "Now that I'm no longer a problem for you, what is it that you still hate?"

"What am I hating?" Mu Zhao's voice was hoarse. "I should be asking you. Why do you hate your parents so much? Why do you hate your sister so much?" She raised her eyes, which were empty yet seemed to be filled with ice. "You betrayed your own family, harmed your father, and harmed your sister. And now you still have the nerve to ask me what I hate?"

Mu Yulu was too lazy to argue with her. She glanced at the empty courtyard and asked, "What's wrong with Mu Wanyi?"

It would have been better if Mu Wanyi's name hadn't been mentioned. As soon as Mu Zhaoshi heard her name, she went crazy and rushed up to Mu Yulu, hitting and cursing her: "If it weren't for you, she might already be a concubine in the palace. It's because you helped Mu Qinhan harm her husband that she had to marry a butcher and died in childbirth!"

Mu Zhaoshi is no longer what she used to be. She is now too thin and weak, and her punches can barely hurt Mu Yulu.

Mu Yulu stood still for a while before saying, "I'm afraid she was forced to marry a butcher by you, right? I can guess what you said back then. You probably told her that women still need to find a man to rely on, especially someone like her in her current situation. She should find a man to take care of her and stop being picky, right?"

Mu Yulu's words were merciless, hitting Mu Zhaoshi's sore spot immediately. Seeing Mu Zhaoshi stunned, she continued, "Besides, did I force her to have the child? Does becoming a concubine in the palace mean there's no possibility of a difficult childbirth? I don't accept these accusations you've listed."

Mu Zhao seemed surprised that Mu Yulu could say such a thing. She clutched her chest and gasped for breath before finally saying, "You came all this way just to anger me to death?"

She pointed at Mu Yulu's nose again and scolded, "As the eldest sister, have you ever fulfilled any of your responsibilities? If you had had any conscience when you left the Vermilion Bird Kingdom, and thought of your sister, she wouldn't have had to endure so many years of hardship and die such a pitiful death in the end!"

Mu Zhao shook her head tremblingly: "I am also the eldest sister, and I have a younger sister. Before I was married, I took care of my sister, and the family favored her more. This is only right. But when it comes to you, you insist on arguing with your sister. You don't respect your parents, nor do you take care of your younger sister, and you dare to ask me why I favor your sister. How can I love a daughter like you?"

As Mu Yulu listened, she sensed something was amiss.

She stared at Mu Zhaoshi for a long while, then pondered and said, "It is said that the eldest sister is like a mother. You have taken care of Aunt Pu since you were a child, and the family has always favored her. Have you never had any resentment?"

Mu Zhao said firmly, "I am not like you, who is disrespectful to his elders and unfilial to his parents. The eldest brother is like a father and the eldest sister is like a mother. This is what the eldest sister should bear. How can I have any resentment?"

Mu Yulu nodded repeatedly, "I understand. That's how my maternal grandparents fooled you too."

However, she did not believe that Mu Zhaoshi had never harbored any resentment since childhood; it was just that those resentments had quietly taken root in her heart and were then projected onto her own daughter.

Just as the mother and daughter were facing off, a very slight friction sound came from the hanging flower archway leading to the inner courtyard.

The two stopped making a sound and turned to look in the direction from which it came.

Two small heads timidly peeked out from behind the door frame. The larger one had two crooked buns and a small face that was only the size of a palm, but its eyes were unusually bright, like those of a frightened fawn, staring unblinkingly at the two people in the corridor who were on the verge of fighting.

A smaller figure was hidden beside her, the little girl clinging tightly to her sister's side, one small hand gripping the hem of her sister's clothes tightly.

Mu Yulu took a closer look and found that the older child was about six or seven years old, while the younger one's age was hard to tell. She looked about the same age as her older sister, but her figure was much smaller. Mu Yulu guessed that it was because she was born with a weak constitution.

She immediately realized that the two girls must be Mu Wanyi's children, and that Mu Wanyi had died in childbirth while giving birth to her second child.

Upon seeing the two children, Mu Zhao immediately scolded them: "Yao Nan! Why did you bring your sister to the front hall? Didn't you hear that someone came to visit today?"

The girl named Yao Nan shrank back and then instinctively shielded her younger sister behind her.

Mu Yulu watched this scene in silence. Suddenly, she felt that she had many questions she wanted to ask, but suddenly she didn't want to speak anymore and didn't want to say anything.

Seeing that she was staring straight at the two sisters hiding under the doorway, Mu Zhaoshi took two steps forward defensively and shielded them behind her.

Yao Nan was clearly bolder than her sister. After being blocked by her grandmother, she peeked out again, curiously looking in Mu Yulu's direction.

Mu Yulu exchanged a glance with her, and before turning to leave, she gave Mu Zhaoshi one last instruction: "If one day you are too weak to take care of them, you can send them to me."

But Mu Zhaoshi said from behind her, "I will not hand Wanyi's daughter over to you. You have hated her since she was a child. How could I possibly give her child to you?"

Mu Yulu stopped in her tracks, and just then, sparse raindrops began to fall, hitting her cheeks with a touch of early autumn chill.

She looked up, took a deep breath, and said, "You know, I told myself a long time ago not to have any expectations of someone who doesn't love me."

"I have actually done that all these years. I have even stopped expecting so-called fatherly love. But I admit that it is only with you that I still cannot let go."

Her voice trembled slightly, as if she had shivered in the rain: "I still can't understand it. Shouldn't a mother be born to love her daughter? I pride myself on not having done anything immoral in this life, so why won't you love me?"

Mu Zhaoshi clearly didn't understand what Mu Yulu was saying. She took two steps back, making sure the two sisters under the doorway were even more firmly behind her.

After saying these words that had been bottled up in her heart for many years, Mu Yulu felt much better. She was just expressing these thoughts that she couldn't let go of, and she didn't expect Mu Zhaoshi's response.

“You don’t believe me, but that doesn’t matter. The cycle of fate has ended with me.”

She didn't look at her mother behind her again, nor at the two pairs of eyes behind the hanging flower gate, and left straight away in the rain.

She pushed open the creaking door, and through the rain, a pink figure, like a wisp of smoke, appeared before her.

When the man saw her come out, he took two steps forward, tilted his umbrella, and moved it over her head to shield her from the rain.

Mu Yulu composed herself, raised her hand to grasp his hand holding the umbrella, and her voice softened: "Didn't I tell you to wait for me in the carriage? What are you doing out in the rain?"

Sanzhou Jinse smiled gently: "Because I guessed you didn't want to ride in a carriage right now, but rather wanted to walk in the rain."

Mu Yulu laughed too: "How did you know? Besides, I really want to eat something sweet right now."

Sanzhou Jinse's gaze fell on her face, his eyes so gentle that even the surrounding rain seemed less cold. He tilted his head slightly and gestured towards the alley entrance: "I just took a walk around this area and saw a new pastry shop called Tianxiangju that opened at the street corner ahead. Their jade dew dumplings look pretty good. I'll take you to try them?"

Mu Yulu nodded and followed him down the steps. When Sanzhou Jinse turned around, he subtly moved the umbrella closer to her to ensure that not a single drop of the cold rain would fall on her.

The two figures walked side by side under the same umbrella toward the alley entrance.

The heavy vermilion gate behind them gradually blurred into a dim outline in the increasingly heavy rain, while the dark clouds in the sky in front of them suddenly dispersed, revealing a dazzling ray of light in the rain.