Chapter 77: Extra Child

However, beneath the perfect appearance, there is always someone who cannot fit in - Shen Laixi.

Chen Laixi is already ten years old. She has grown taller, her eyebrows and eyes have grown more mature, and she has become an increasingly clear fusion of Wen Youqing's beauty and Cui Junji's handsomeness.

He is sensitive and precocious, knowing what happened in the mansion. He just thought his mother had lost her memory and didn't remember that he was not the master's child. He lived cautiously between his "father" Cui Junji and his mother Wen Youqing.

Cui Junji treated him lightly, providing him with education and martial arts, and taking good care of his food, clothing and other expenses. He even hired some excellent teachers and brought him along as his mentor, just like his biological father.

And Wen Youqing, the mother he had longed for for so many years, was now gentle and loving to him, concerned about his studies and willing to play with him. But every time he saw Master talking to his mother, he felt like interrupting, wanting to tell her the truth: he was not Master's child, and his mother couldn't treat him the same way Master treated her own son.

It seems that only this child remembers that his surname is Shen, and that he is the son of his mother's "deceased husband" Shen Zijie.

Therefore, the better the relationship between his mother and master, the more he felt like an outsider and could never fit in.

He hated his biological father whom he could not find in his memory, hated the fact that he had his blood in him, and hated his reputation which was both praised and criticized.

But bloodline cannot be changed, so Shen Laixi works hard, practicing both literature and martial arts, hoping to perform well enough to be worthy of this family and to be truly recognized by her master. She also longs to tell her mother her last name, Shen, without any scruples, instead of being like a child who is afraid to be seen in public.

The disparity between this desire and reality often left the young man feeling powerless, lost, and insecure. He became unusually well-behaved and sensible, never making any excessive demands and striving to minimize his presence, fearing that any inadequacy would disrupt this hard-earned, fragile peace.

In the autumn of that year, a young man from a noble family in Chu who was an old acquaintance of Cui Junji passed by and came to visit him specially.

Cui Junji had no way to refuse, so he had to receive the guests in the flower hall and asked Wen Youqing to come out to meet the guests.

They talked happily during the meal, mostly reminiscing about the past and talking about interesting stories from the court and the public.

Wen Youqing sat quietly beside Cui Junji, a gentle and decent hostess with just the right smile on her lips.

She felt unfamiliar with these topics and vaguely irritated. Those words about aristocratic families and officialdom were like pebbles dropped into the calm lake of her heart, stirring up subtle but not insignificant ripples. But she had long been accustomed to it.

After three rounds of drinks, the official was clearly tipsy. He smiled and raised his glass to Cui Junji, his tone teasing with a familiarity, "Brother Zihe is truly blessed to be in this paradise with his wife. Your love is so deep that it's the envy of others! Thinking back to those days in Xunyang... ahem," he seemed to realize his slip of the tongue and stopped himself in time, then smiled, "I won't say anymore. After all the hardship comes happiness."

However, the moment these words fell into Wen Youqing's ears, something in his brain seemed to snap with a clang!

Xunyang?

A blurry picture flashed without warning: it seemed to be a similar occasion, with bright lights, noisy voices, and a man whose face could not be seen clearly, standing beside her.

Then came a severe headache, accompanied by a deep-seated nausea. Her face turned pale, and the teacup in her hand fell to the ground with a clang, shattering into pieces.

"Aqing!" Cui Junji's face changed drastically and he immediately stood up to support her shaky body.

The friend was also startled, sobered up a lot, and apologized repeatedly.

Wen Youqing covered her forehead, sweat dripping down her face as her vision went black. Those forgotten fragments, like wild beasts freed from their cages, raced wildly through her mind.

The chill of the dungeon... the heaviness of the chains... an old, majestic voice... and... and the man before her, Cui Junji. That handsome face had, at one point, been filled with a heart-wrenching madness and despair she had never seen before...

"I... I don't feel well... Maybe I drank too much." She leaned weakly in Cui Junji's arms, her voice trembling.

Cui Junji's heart was already in turmoil. He forced himself to remain calm, his eyes gleaming as he glanced at his friend, but he still smiled and apologized. He ordered the butler to entertain them and quickly carried Wen Youqing back to the inner room. He held her hand tightly, feeling the coldness of her fingertips, which were still trembling.

"Honey, what's wrong? Is your head hurting again?" He tried to comfort her with his usual gentleness, but there was a hint of imperceptible tension in his voice.

Wen Youqing raised her head and looked at him. Her eyes, once filled with trust, were now filled with confusion, fear, and... a hint of clear doubt.

"He... that man just now..." She gasped, struggling to organize her words, "He said 'Xunyang'... I... I seem to have heard of it... What kind of place is this..."

Cui Junji's heart sank. The effects of the Forget Worry Powder weren't a panacea after all. The intense stimulation still managed to pry open the cracks in his memory.

"That's natural," he quickly interjected, trying to keep his tone calm. "When you and I were newlyweds, I went to Xunyang to take up my post and you followed me. Naturally, you are familiar with this place. But you must have forgotten it due to illness, and it sounded familiar to you at first, which triggered a headache. Don't be afraid, it's a good thing if you remember it." He reached out to hold her in his arms.

Wen Youqing suddenly pushed him away!

"Good news?" She stared at him, her eyes sharp. "Cui Junji, tell me, how did your political enemies secretly plot against me and cause me to lose my memory? Why do you always evade the main point every time I try to get to the bottom of it?"

She grew increasingly agitated as she spoke. Years of pent-up doubts intertwined with the chaotic fragments in her mind, causing her to lose control of her emotions. She grabbed a pillow and a teacup nearby and threw them at Cui Junji, crying, "Why on earth?! Why don't you tell me?"

This was the first time in five years that Wen Youqing had resisted and questioned so fiercely. Cui Junji was pushed and shoved by her, and things hit him. It didn't hurt, but his heart felt like it was being fried in oil.

He looked at her collapse before him, as if he saw the hatred-filled Wen Youqing in the dungeon. That kind of hatred, penetrating the fear of near death, was determined to kill him.

A great fear seized him—he was about to lose her, this illusion of peace that he had spent so much effort to create.

He can't lose her!

"Wife! Calm down!" He rushed forward, ignoring her beatings, and hugged her tightly in his arms. His voice was hoarse with despair, "I didn't lie to you! How could I lie to you? You are my wife, the one I love most in my life! I feel the most pain than anyone else that you have forgotten everything we experienced together! You have lost your memory, and I wish I could take your place!"

He cupped her face and forced her to look into his eyes, which were filled with pain and deep affection. "Yes, I admit, I didn't tell you some things in detail because I was afraid it would upset you, that it would make you feel even more uncomfortable if you remembered those things! Misfortunes often bring blessings, perhaps this is God's mercy on you? Wouldn't it be better if we could live a peaceful life and forget those painful experiences that have caused you so much pain?"

His tears fell, dripping onto Wen Youqing's face, then slid down her face to the ground. These tears were half genuine fear, half a carefully performed performance.

"Think about these past five years," he pleaded in a low voice, like a wounded beast. "How have I treated you? Have I ever done anything wrong? Isn't this family warm? Lai Xi...isn't our child adorable? Why must we cling to the past that we can't remember? What we have now is real!"

He mentioned "home," "children," and the warmth of the past five years. These were the "truths" Wen Youqing had personally experienced, the only things filling the blanks in her memory.

Her struggle gradually weakened. Looking at his red eyes and the tear marks on his face, the hardness in her heart began to soften.

Yes, in the past five years, he had been incredibly good to her, so good that there was no fault to be found. Could it be... that I was really overthinking it? Were those blurry fragments just hallucinations caused by illness?

Cui Junji keenly noticed her hesitation, softened his posture, patted her back gently, let her vent, and wrapped her in a warm embrace and familiar breath.

Finally, under his almost hypnotic comfort, Wen Youqing slowly stopped crying and leaned tiredly in his arms, as if she had exhausted all her strength.

A storm seemed to be temporarily calmed.

Cui Junji personally served her some calming soup, and only after watching her fall into a deep sleep did he breathe a sigh of relief, his back already drenched in cold sweat.

He sat by the bed, staring at Wen Youqing's brows, which were still slightly furrowed in her sleep, with a complex and unreadable look in his eyes. He knew that cracks had appeared, and simple comfort and lies would probably no longer be completely effective.

He must let her "see" some of the past events with her own eyes.

Wen Youqing, who seemed to have been deceived, had a very faint, cold clarity flashing in the depths of his eyes just before he fell into a deep sleep.

The words of her friends, the fragments of flashbacks in her mind, Cui Junji's overly eager explanations and tears... all of this was too unusual. She was no longer as completely ignorant as she had been five years ago. Five years of living as Mrs. Cui had taught her to observe and to conceal.

This incident was partly a loss of control of my true nature, and partly... an intentional or unintentional test.

Cui Junji's reaction confirmed her guess - he was hiding a huge secret about her past.

In that case...

Wen Youqing unconsciously curled up in her sleep. The outline of a plan began to quietly grow in her heart.

She didn't need to dig out the truth herself, as Cui Junji would definitely take action first.

But the heat wasn't yet high enough, and next time, it wouldn't be just a small fight or a cry. She wanted a big enough storm, big enough to tear off all the pretense and reveal the truth.

Outside the window, the moonlight was hazy, just like every seemingly peaceful night in the past five years. But an undercurrent had begun to surge.

Neither of them noticed that Shen Lai Xi was hiding in the shadow of the corridor column and heard the quarrel and his mother's crying coming from his parents' room. He hugged his knees tightly and buried his face in them, his small body trembling slightly due to the suppression.

He didn't understand the complex world of adults. He only felt that the seemingly warm home he had carefully maintained was beginning to crumble. And he, the "outsider" child, was still the first to feel the storm, but was powerless to do anything about it.