Chapter 8

In the most upscale Fugui Inn in Huo City, several men who looked like waiters brought in several women in tattered clothes who looked like beggars.

The waiter in the inn saw this and immediately ran over to drive him away, shouting, "You're begging for food, don't you even know where you are?"

The leading waiter stopped the waiter and glared at him, saying, "Do you know who these people are? Not only do they not invite us in, they actually dare to chase us out?"

After saying that, he whispered in the waiter's ear.

The waiter was so frightened that he staggered, ran to the shopkeeper with a pale face, and repeated to him what the waiter had said.

When the shopkeeper heard this, he almost lost his balance. He immediately ran over attentively and respectfully led the women to the best upper room in the inn.

In a short while, Song Zhehao arrived at the Fugui Inn surrounded by several people.

The shopkeeper saw the distinguished guest and smiled respectfully. He ran over and bowed politely, saying, "Master Song, the distinguished guests of your mansion are all being served in the superior rooms of our hotel."

After saying that, he asked the waiter to lead the way to Song Zhehao.

Song Zhehao arrived at the door of the guest room and pushed it open. He saw several women sitting inside, two old and two young. They were all dressed in rags, with haggard faces and dull expressions. It was obvious that they were suffering from long-term malnutrition.

Song Zhehao took a look. Although the people dressed and looked similar, he still saw the shadow of Wen Xiaoqiu in the older woman among them.

Song Zhehao thought to himself, yes, she should be Wen Xiaoqiu’s biological mother - Wen’s mother!

Finding Wen Xiaoqiu's surviving family has been Song Zhehao's wish since he became the original owner.

At that time, Wen Xiaoqiu's family committed a crime and their house was ransacked. All the male members of the family were executed, and all the female members were exiled and sold. Wen Xiaoqiu was exactly three years old that year.

Later, Wen Xiaoqiu moved to Song Zhehao's home. Although the appearance of her family members in her mind was blurry, her longing for them did not diminish at all.

Many times, Wen Xiaoqiu woke up crying from her dreams, saying that she had dreamed of her mother again. She was sold to a cold and bitter place, tortured by her master, and her life was worse than death. She asked him for help in her dream.

Moreover, ever since Wen Xiaoqiu came to Huocheng, she has lived a life of luxury and seems happy on the surface, but in fact, that is all for the people around her, as she doesn't want them to worry about her.

In fact, the more comfortable Wen Xiaoqiu lived, the more he missed his mother and family, and the deeper his sense of guilt became.

But Wen Xiaoqiu didn't dare mention this to Song Zhehao, and didn't dare ask him to find the whereabouts of his surviving family members.

Knowing that many years had passed since the incident in his family, he almost forgot what his family looked like. Asking Song Zhehao to search for them was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Wen Xiaoqiu naturally knew how much Song Zhehao cared about her, but she was afraid that if she couldn't find him, Song Zhehao would blame himself and feel guilty about it.

Therefore, although Wen Xiaoqiu missed his family very much, he never dared to say it out loud.

Song Zhehao knew all of this, but he didn't mention it to Wen Xiaoqiu.

Song Zhehao didn't mention it, not because he didn't care about Wen Xiaoqiu, nor because he wanted to create a surprise, but because it was too difficult to find the whereabouts of Wen Xiaoqiu's family.

If I tell Wen Xiaoqiu rashly, she will definitely be looking forward to it. If the search is fruitless, it will only make her feel more lost. It is better to keep silent for the time being and send people to search secretly. After the results are out, it will not be too late to let Wen Xiaoqiu recognize her surviving family members.

Hard work pays off. Over the years, in order to find their whereabouts, Song Zhehao spent a lot of energy and money, mobilized various forces from the court and gangs, and finally found the clue.

On the way to the inn, his attendant had already explained the situation to him.

At the beginning, after the women of the Wen family were exiled, more than half of them died of illness along the way. Later, after they arrived at the place of exile, the survivors were all sold.

Over the years, some of the women who were sold died of illness, and some committed suicide due to the torture, leaving only four people alive.

These four people are Wen Xiaoqiu's biological mother, Wen Xiaoqiu's great aunt, her eldest daughter, and her second aunt's youngest daughter.

There were only four of them left.

Over the years, they have lived an extremely miserable life. After being trafficked to those families, they were treated like slaves and were often beaten and scolded. They barely survived the day.

Wen Xiaoqiu's biological mother had the best experience. She was sold to an old widower. After raising the widower's son and daughter, the widower passed away. The man's biological mother came back to the house, and Wen's mother was driven out.

The homeless Wen's mother almost died of hunger and cold. Later, a kind-hearted wealthy family took her in and made her a servant in their home. It was a peaceful ending for her!

The other three people also had a rough and tortuous life, with more suffering than happiness. When the people sent to pick them up told them that Wen Xiaoqiu was still alive and had married a wealthy son-in-law, and that the son-in-law was going to take them to enjoy a good life, they said they couldn't believe it and thought it must be an excuse to sell them again.

Finally, it took a lot of effort to settle them down, and they spent a lot of money to redeem them and brought them to Huo City.

At this time, they had experienced such a fantastic experience that it seemed unreal like a dream. It was like a dream to come from that hot and humid place to this magnificent inn.

Now, looking at the handsome and gorgeously dressed Song Zhehao in front of them, several people were actually frightened. After being at a loss for a while, they quickly knelt down and kowtowed, shouting, "Greetings, Master!"

Song Zhehao quickly helped him up, looked at Wen's mother's face, and said gently: "Mother-in-law, I am Xiaoqiu's husband. If you kneel to me, won't it shorten my life?"

Mother Wen couldn't believe what she heard. She choked up and asked, "Xiaoqiu, my daughter, is she still alive?"

When asking this question, Wen's mother no longer had the fear she had just now. She tightly grabbed Song Zhehao's sleeve, her wrinkled cheeks were full of sadness, and her eyes were filled with sadness and tears.

Song Zhehao grabbed Wen's mother's hand and said softly, "Xiaoqiu is alive and well. I'll take you to see her right away, okay?"

After hearing this, Wen's mother nodded quickly. The remaining three people also choked up and said they wanted to see their relatives.

Song Zhehao immediately sent someone to call four sedan chairs from the mansion. After taking the four people to the mansion, he immediately ordered the servants to prepare four bathtubs for the four of them to wash away the dust, and assigned two maids to serve each of them.

Then she picked out four suitable sets of clothes and asked Wen's mother and the other four people to change into them. Only then did Tao Hui go to visit her mother-in-law and others.

Song Zhehao did this not because he despised their poverty, but because although the Wen family had fallen on hard times, they were once high-ranking officials, and Wen's mother was born into a family of officials. When they were in trouble, they didn't care about these things and just wanted to have something to eat.

Now that he had escaped those hard days, if he went to see Tao Hui like this, Wen's mother and others would inevitably think that he was inferior to her. Doing this actually preserved their dignity.

Furthermore, if Wen Xiaoqiu saw her mother like this, she would definitely think of the suffering her mother had endured and resent herself for not rescuing her mother earlier, which would only increase her sense of guilt.

After changing and washing, all these concerns will disappear.

Tao Hui was holding the hands of Wen's mother and others, and while they were greeting each other in the hall, Song Zhehao immediately sent someone to call Wen Xiaoqiu home.

He told the servant who was about to leave that a distinguished guest had arrived at home and asked her to go home quickly to entertain the guest.

Wen Xiaoqiu always knew what was going on. When he saw Song Zhehao calling for help so nervously, he knew that an important guest must be coming, so he hurried over in a panic.

As soon as he entered the hall and saw Wen's mother and others, his expression froze instantly.

When Wen's mother saw Wen Xiaoqiu, the teacup in her hand suddenly fell to the ground. Wen's mother slowly stood up and stared at Wen Xiaoqiu.

Although Wen Xiaoqiu has changed a lot over the years, she still looks a bit like her childhood, especially her eyes, which are a replica of her mother's.

As for Wen's mother, she has experienced many vicissitudes of life over the years, and her appearance has naturally changed a lot, but even if she has changed, you can still see the similarities with Wen Xiaoqiu.

Even though her appearance had changed, her voice was the same as the mother's in Wen Xiaoqiu's memory.

"Xiaoqiu..."

Wen's mother cried out while sobbing.

This time, Wen Xiaoqiu completely believed that the woman in front of him was his mother.

Wen Xiaoqiu rushed towards his mother, then dropped to his knees and hugged her legs, crying out heartbreakingly, "Mother, you're still alive. I'm unfilial for not looking for you. I'm unfilial!"

Wen's mother shook her head fiercely and choked up, saying, "I am your mother and I feel sorry for you. It's my fault that I didn't have the ability to protect you. As a result, you were sold at such a young age..."

The painful experiences of the past cannot be recalled. When they think of them, all the sadness comes flooding back. The mother and daughter hug each other tightly, and their cries fill the whole room.

The cries of the mother and daughter as they recognized each other were so sad and touching. Aunt Wen and the others also recalled their past experiences and burst into tears.

Tao Hui and Grandma Tao looked at the mother and son who had recognized each other, and thought of Wen Xiaoqiu's usual filial piety, as well as the difficult and tortuous experience, and they all shed tears.

Song Zhehao looked at the room full of crying people, and the worry in his heart was finally put to rest.

After everyone cried for a while, they were helped up by the servants and then sat down at their tables.

Although the Song family was well-off, they never indulged in extravagance and usually only ate home-cooked meals that were cooked a little more delicately.

Now that Wen's mother and others had just arrived at the Song family, it would not be appropriate to eat some vegetarian dishes, so she asked the kitchen to prepare some meat dishes as well.

The family sat together. Mother Wen was still immersed in the joy of reuniting with her family and had no interest in the food on the table. Aunt Wen and her two cousins ​​had lived a hard life over the years, and they all started to salivate when they saw these delicacies that they could only see in dreams.

Song Zhehao saw this and asked them to pick up their chopsticks, but the Song family members were very reserved when eating, so they couldn't eat freely.

Song Zhehao's family ate a few bites and were full. Aunt Wen and the others saw this and reluctantly put down their chopsticks, then exchanged looks of lingering desire.

Song Zhehao glanced at them and said that they were tired after traveling all the way, so why not rest early!

Aunt Wen and the others returned to their bedroom, and Song Zhehao instructed the kitchen to prepare a midnight snack for each of them. Considering that too greasy food would cause stomach discomfort, he asked the kitchen to make something lighter.

I thought to myself, this is great, I can eat in my bedroom without any worries and can eat to my heart’s content.

That night, Song Zhehao asked Wen Xiaoqiu to sleep with Wen's mother, saying that the mother and daughter had just met today and must have a lot of things to say to each other, so they should talk it out tonight!

Seeing Song Zhehao being so thoughtful, Wen Xiaoqiu, who was not used to saying sweet words, said, "Your kindness today is like a rebirth. I, Wen Xiaoqiu, will repay you for the rest of my life."

Song Zhehao's handsome face showed a smug smile, and he said, "I don't want you to be my slave, just be my wife Song."

Under the bright moonlight, the couple smiled at each other.