Chapter 322 All for naught
When the broom swept across my face, I smelled a strong stench of feces.
Ke Xinrui finally realized what had been thrown at her, and she was practically going crazy.
"You old man..."
"mother!"
Just as she was about to utter a curse, Tao Mingzhu, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly ran over to protect Ke Xinrui and seized the opportunity to speak, "Mother, you should quickly apologize to Grandmother, and Grandmother will forgive you!"
Remembering her daughter's repeated instructions, Ke Xinrui suddenly knelt down and screamed like a madwoman.
“Mother, I was wrong about what happened back then. You gave birth to me and raised me, but I also have a daughter. I have to think about my daughter, which is why I said those hurtful things.”
"It's only right that you resent and hate me now, Mother. I just beg you to have pity on my child, your granddaughter. She's so young... The cold I caught a while ago was like my heart was being fried in oil! It was like my heart was being ripped out!"
Tao Mingzhu kowtowed repeatedly to Aunt Cai, saying, "Grandmother, hit me if you want! It's all because of me that you and your mother have developed a rift! As long as you can calm down, even if you beat me to death, I will have no regrets!"
"Cough cough cough..."
After saying that sentence in one breath, Tao Mingzhu coughed violently. Her originally pale face was now bright red, as if she was about to choke on her breath.
Aunt Cai sneered and threw the broom in her hand at her feet. "You're quite good with words."
During the years she lived in the city, she had seen all sorts of tricks. Did Tao Mingzhu really think she couldn't see through this trick?
Ye Wan took a hot cloth and wiped Cai Da Niang's hands.
This dispelled the anger that had been building up in Aunt Cai's heart.
A flash of resentment crossed Tao Mingzhu's eyes as she repeatedly kowtowed on the ground, "Grandmother, it's not that I'm eloquent, but this is my true feeling, cough cough..."
Ke Xinrui felt sorry for her. "Yes, Mother, look at Zhu'er. In the dead of winter, she doesn't even have a decent cotton-padded coat. I know I was wrong. I really know I was wrong!"
"Mother, even if you don't acknowledge me, please have some pity for your granddaughter, I beg you, Mother!"
Tao Mingzhu, tears streaming down her face, her forehead bleeding from kowtowing, said, "Mother, please don't say that. If it weren't for me back then, you wouldn't have argued with your own parents. I...I..."
This dramatic scene moved even the onlookers.
"Parents love their children and plan far ahead for them. The mother is not wrong. Back then, when the great scholar Fang was wrongfully imprisoned, if she hadn't distanced herself from him, would she have taken her young daughter to prison with her?"
"Then why didn't you help your parents later?"
"I guess they can't get in touch with him. So many people have looked for Fang Daru but haven't been able to find him, let alone Ke Xinrui who is far away in Jiangnan."
The crowd was talking amongst themselves, and the number of onlookers was growing.
Ke Xinrui's reputation wasn't particularly prominent in Beijing back then, but because she was Fang Daru's daughter, quite a few people knew her.
I also know that she was infatuated with love and that her parents were stabbed.
Ye Wan looked at the mother and daughter.
"Since you chose the Tao family without hesitation back then, you are a member of the Tao family. Why make such a fuss now?"
"Even if you want your parents to forgive you, you can ask them through the back door or do something else to make amends. Why make such a big fuss? Are you afraid that no one will know?"
"You can't have it all. Look at the hatred in your eyes, it's almost impossible to hide. Why are you kneeling here pretending to be pitiful?"
Ye Wan's sudden remark made those nearby notice Ke Xinrui's gaze.
Ke Xinrui frantically tried to dodge, but it was too late; quite a few people had already seen her.
"Good heavens, this is like raising a thankless wretch!"
"I knew it! If it were my parents, no matter how hard or difficult things were, I would never turn around and bite back. How could a great scholar raise such a thing!"
"How dare they come here to beg? If they were truly concerned for the sake of a great scholar, they should have asked secretly. This is tarnishing the reputation of a great scholar."
"Pah! I almost fell for that wicked woman's trick!"
Many intellectuals took a one-sided stance, some were even radicalized, and started cursing right away.
Tao Mingzhu was so angry she was about to vomit blood.
idiot!
What an idiot! Can't you even act?
How could she have such a stupid mother?
With tears streaming down her face, Tao Mingzhu asked Ye Wan, "May I ask who you are, madam? Are you saying this because you're afraid my mother will be recognized as her again? How vicious you are!"
He casually pinched Ke Xinrui, who suddenly turned around and pointed at Ye Wan, cursing.
"You usurper, what exactly are you trying to do by staying by my parents' side?"
"Those are my father and mother! Aren't you an orphan? You're stealing other people's parents! You have no shame!"
Aunt Cai frowned. "This is my daughter. I think you're the shameless one!"
Just then, Lin Anyuan and Fang Daru, who had been watching from the doorway for a while, came out.
"father?!"
Ke Xinrui's eyes lit up when she saw Lin Anyuan next to Fang Daru. Her father hadn't changed much from back then.
"Father, your daughter begs for your forgiveness!"
Ke Xinrui didn't even bother to look at Lin Anyuan before kowtowing to Fang Daru.
She insisted on coming in today.
Fang Daru sighed, "Get up and go home early. You're not my daughter, and I still have to entertain my son-in-law."
"Father!" Ke Xinrui's voice was shrill.
Tao Mingzhu pinched her, and Ke Xinrui started crying.
The crying stopped abruptly the next second.
Because she heard Fang Daru say, "You are not my biological daughter."
"How is this possible?!"
After her initial shock, Ke Xinrui burst into tears again. "Dad, even if you're angry or resentful towards me, you can't say things like that! I'm the child you raised from childhood, how could I not be your daughter!"
"I know I disappointed you, but I really had no choice back then. I was wrong, please forgive me this time."
Fang Daru looked at the mother and daughter kneeling on the ground and sighed deeply.
“I’m not kidding, you really are not my biological daughter.”
"My wife and I did have a daughter back then, but she was born with a weak constitution and passed away a few days later."
"I don't know how to comfort my wife who is still in her postpartum period. When we went to bury our daughter in the freezing cold, we found her on the road..."
Ke Xinrui interrupted Fang Daru directly, "That's impossible! I am your daughter, how could I not be! Father! You're lying to me, you're lying to me, aren't you!"
The Tao family is certainly not as prosperous as it used to be.
Tao Zhe didn't have much patience for her either. She didn't have a son to rely on. If she didn't have the identity of being Fang Daru's biological daughter, could she still maintain her noble status?
Therefore, she must be Fang Daru's biological daughter.
Tao Mingzhu was also stunned. If he wasn't her biological son, then all of this would have been for nothing.
What should she do?
"Grandfather..."
Aunt Cai interrupted her, saying sarcastically, "Stop yelling. You're much smarter than your stupid mother. Even if I owed her in my past life, I should have paid it back by now."
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