Seeing this, the old woman excitedly directed her unfamiliar granddaughter, "Lihua, hurry up and take your aunt back to the house. Don't let her leave. If she leaves, you'll be left without a mother."
Then, Zhao Lihua turned a deaf ear to the old woman's words and remained unmoved. She just stared at her aunt with tears in her eyes and said:
"Auntie, aren't you going to take Lihua with you? Daddy won't let us go after you and the other concubines leave, and Lihua doesn't want to be sold!
Auntie, please take me with you! I promise to be obedient and not cause you any trouble. "
After all, she was her own child, and she had been raising her by her side for all these years. How could Aunt Hong bear to abandon her? "But Mom can barely protect herself now. It will be very difficult for you to follow Mom. Aren't you afraid?"
Zhao Lihua shook her head stubbornly. "Lihua is not afraid. No matter how hard it is, Lihua is willing to follow Auntie. If I follow Daddy, being sold to those old men for a few taels of silver by him would be my nightmare."
Upon hearing her daughter's words, Concubine Hong felt even more reluctant to let her go. Even if she was still in the Duke's Mansion, her Lihua was just a little concubine's daughter.
If she is lucky, she can marry into a small family and become the main wife. If she is unlucky, she can only be a stepping stone for Zhao Qianhua, the legitimate daughter, and be a lowly concubine for the benefit of Zhao Ningsong, wasting her life like her.
What's more, now that Zhao Ningsong has been kicked out of the Duke's Mansion, his official career is basically hopeless. He can't even marry his daughter into a small family as a wife, or into a wealthy family as a concubine.
It is really possible that he would sell her for a few taels of silver as his daughter said.
"Okay, mother will take you away." Aunt Hong couldn't bear to leave her daughter in the end.
Zhao Lihua was so overjoyed that she didn't even bother to put away her things. She walked forward and held her mother's hand, and the two of them walked out of the old and dilapidated yard together.
"It's a rebellion, it's all rebellion..." The old woman never expected that even her own granddaughter would despise her and her mother. She was so angry that she almost vomited blood.
The other concubines' daughters followed suit and begged their mothers to take them away.
But in a short while, the only ones left in the yard were Zhao Ningsong's only illegitimate son and his concubine.
Seeing this, the old woman hurried forward to hold her only grandson, "Hao'er, grandma loves you the most, you can't abandon grandma and your father!"
Zhao Shenghao is Zhao Ningsong's only son. As of now, it is impossible for Zhao Ningsong to remarry in his current condition. If Zhao Shenghao passes away, Zhao Ningsong will be without descendants.
In order to save Zhao Ningsong's only son, the old woman risked her dignity and sat down on the snow, holding Zhao Shenghao's legs tightly and refusing to let go.
"Hao'er! Just think of it as grandma begging you, please don't leave!"
Fortunately, Zhao Shenghao did not let him down. He bent down and helped her up. "Don't worry, grandma, Shenghao will not leave. Shenghao will support this family in the future."
After saying that, he looked at his aunt and said, "Aunt, please go! Shenghao will get you into trouble if he follows you. Don't worry, grandma and dad are very good to me and will not treat me unfairly."
Zhao Shenghao's aunt knew that he was the lifeblood of the old woman and Zhao Ningsong. Sons were not like daughters, and Zhao Ningsong would not give up so easily. If she insisted on taking her son with her, she would not be able to leave.
What's more, if her son follows her, he will definitely suffer, so it would be better for him to follow Zhao Ningsong.
This is his only son. No matter what, he will never treat his only son unfairly.
After quickly figuring it out, she made up her mind and said goodbye, "Son, don't blame me. I really have no choice." After that, she took one last look at her son and left the courtyard, looking back every few steps.
Seeing his mother leave, the eleven or twelve-year-old Zhao Shenghao finally shed tears. He turned around and threw himself sadly into the arms of the old woman, "Wow, grandma, my aunt is gone. Shenghao no longer has a mother."
The old woman breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her precious grandson tightly, "It's okay, Hao'er, you still have your father and your grandmother, we will all love you.
Your mother is not a good person. She is so evil-hearted that she dares not want our Hao brother. If she doesn’t want him, then just don’t want him! We don’t want her either.”
Listening to his grandmother constantly speaking ill of his mother, Zhao Shenghao bared his teeth at her like a wolf cub, "Don't say that about my mother. She is the best mother in the world."
The old woman was stunned and quickly changed her words, "Yes, yes, grandma was wrong. Grandma shouldn't have said that about your mother."
Seeing that she changed her mind, Zhao Shenghao stopped and turned around to start crying sadly again.
The old woman took great pains to coax him to sleep.
The house was left empty, and Zhao Ningsong, who went to the government office to report the crime, suffered the same fate.
The division of the Zhao family was no secret. Although they did not publicize it, everyone who should know it knew it.
Everyone knows about Zhao Ningsong, and that's it. In the past, with the support of Duke Zhao's Mansion, he could be considered the second uncle of Duke Zhao's Mansion. Now that the family has split up, he is just a useless person.
People in the yamen respectfully called him Uncle Zhao Er, but in reality, no one looked down on him.
He went to report to the authorities, but the serious officials in the yamen didn't even meet him. They just randomly called a yamen runner to deal with him perfunctorily.
"Uncle Zhao, it's Chinese New Year, and the elders are all on vacation. We are the only ones left here. Don't worry, we have recorded your report. After the New Year, when the elders go to the government office, we will report it. As long as they approve it, we will immediately send someone to find the person for you."
"What? We have to wait until after the Chinese New Year? By the time the Chinese New Year is over, the flowers will be cold and everyone will have disappeared. Where are you going to find them?"
No, you have to send someone out to find someone for me now."
Zhao Ningsong thought he was still the Duke of Zhao! He raised his head, put his hands behind his back and began to boss the yamen runners around.
The yamen runner curled his lips in disdain where no one could see, then turned around and said in a very talkative manner: "Second uncle, you are making things difficult for us! I am just a small yamen runner, how can I have such rights!
Besides, today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and the adults don’t know where to visit relatives and friends! Where can we find someone to review your application?
After arguing with the yamen runner for a long time, the other party kept trying to smooth things over. No matter how much he tried to persuade him, he just refused to help him find the person or report it.
In desperation, he could only say a few harsh words that were neither harmful nor itchy, and left angrily with a flick of his sleeves.
As soon as he left, the yamen runner immediately went to the back hall to report, "Sir, he's gone."
The official nodded indifferently and continued with his work. "If he comes again in the future, as long as no lives are lost, there's no need to report him. Just find an excuse to send him away."
Zhao Ningsong was already full of anger in the yamen, but when he returned, he found that only a few people were left in the originally crowded mansion.
Apart from Zhao Shenghao and his mother, there were only three or two servants whose indentures were in his mother's hands and who could not escape.
I almost fainted from lack of breath.
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