Chapter 182 You Can Choose Your Own Mother
I didn't know before that Yan Siyu is an expert at throwing arrows into the pot. She didn't throw the three arrows one by one, but caught all three arrows together. All three arrows fell into the pot at the same time, causing a round of cheers.
These were things she was tired of playing with. Yan Siyu didn't want to play anymore after throwing two rounds. When she came back, she saw Duan Wanxin standing in her original seat and thought she was causing trouble again.
She walked over in two or three steps and asked unhappily, "What are you doing here?!"
Unexpectedly, Duan Wanxin did not answer her question, but asked her with great interest: "You are really good at throwing pots, who taught you?"
This frightened Yan Siyu so much that she took a step back and asked Shen Yuan quietly, "What's wrong with her? Why is she praising me?"
Shen Yuan suppressed a smile and said, "I am convinced by you and have turned over a new leaf."
Yan Siyu didn't expect that throwing a pot would have such an effect, but she didn't want to hit someone who smiled at her, so she replied, "My father taught me that."
"Your dad is awesome! Even better than my dad."
"...Haha, thank you for praising my father."
Duan Wanxin smiled brightly, "You're welcome."
Yan Siyu: ...Isn't this girl stupid?
The birthday banquet did not begin until the evening. By the time they finished eating, the moon was already high in the sky. They said goodbye briefly at the door and got on their respective carriages to go home.
Before leaving, Liang Qingzi thanked Shen Yuan and others for taking care of Liang Yingkui.
——In the evening, at Zou’s house.
Old Lady Zou asked her daughter-in-law, "Did you see the child today?"
"Yes." The eldest lady of the Zou family also had a look of disbelief on her face. "It turned out that my daughter-in-law didn't dare to believe what my mother said in the letter... I just found out today that the child really looks like Ruirui. If our Ruirui can grow up, he should look like that."
More than two months ago, she and her husband received a letter from her mother, saying that the daughter of the Liang family in the capital, who married the Marquis Xuanping, had adopted a child who looked very much like their daughter Ruirui who had passed away. She originally thought that her mother missed Ruirui too much, and when she saw a child who looked a little bit like her, she took it as a big deal.
Today, when I saw them, I realized that what my mother said was true. It was not just two or three points, but almost seven or eight points similar.
"I think that child is most likely the one Jingjing sent to Mingzhou."
The sister-in-law sent her daughter, who was in poor health, to Minnesota for adoption. When she brought the child back after she grew up, she found out that the child was not her own. When she heard her husband tell her about this, she couldn't believe it.
She said that if anyone should be blamed, it should be her sister-in-law and her husband. They lost a healthy child. If this matter were to be made public, people would talk about it to death. However, as a sister-in-law, she couldn't say anything.
Previously, the mother-in-law had asked her husband to look into the matter of Liang Qingzi's adoption of a child, but the incident happened a few years ago and her husband wasn't a man with connections, so there was no way he could find out anything.
Originally, the eldest lady of the Zou family didn't want to get involved in this matter, but when she saw the child today, it reminded her of her own daughter who died young, and she began to care about the child unconsciously.
"So, how is mother going to tell my sister about this?"
This was also what worried Old Lady Zou. This matter had become a source of worry for her daughter. She had originally thought of clarifying the matter and then discussing with the Liang family privately what to do about it.
But now nothing has been found out. They can't just go to the Liang family and say that your girl is theirs without any evidence, right?
But if they don’t tell us, and the child adopted by the Liang family is really their child, then would he just be left wandering outside like this?
"I need to think about this further."
In the carriage, Liang Qingzi was also asking her daughter if she had a good time today. Liang Yingkui naturally told her mother about meeting the eldest lady of the Zou family today.
"Mom, I still think you're right. It's up to you to decide whether to get married or not."
Liang Qingzi touched her daughter's head and said, "There is no right or wrong in this matter. Everyone has their own opinions. The eldest lady of the Zou family said that because her mother taught her that since she was a child. She also listened to her mother, and you also listened to me, so you can't say who is right or wrong."
"I see."
Liang Qingzi has been secretly paying attention to the Zou and Qin families these days. When she heard that the Qin family brought their daughter back from outside and sent her away again not long after, she felt something was wrong.
Later, she even sent someone to secretly investigate in Mingzhou, and the girl who was sent back by the Qin family seemed to have disappeared without a trace, and there was no news of her.
After all, it is the Duke's Mansion. Even if the daughter is sick and cannot stay in the capital, she should be sent to Mingzhou and taken good care of. How come there is no news at all?
Obviously, many people knew that the girl from the Qin family was brought back to the capital, but who now thinks that the girl is still staying in the capital?
In addition, the Zou family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law's inquiries about Kui'er were obviously not without reason. Liang Qingzi was not a fool, and she still couldn't figure it out.
Liang Qingzi will always remember how Kui'er looked when she was rescued from the human traffickers. She was skinny and small, probably eight or nine years old, and could barely speak clearly. She was beaten all over. Because she was sick, the human traffickers thought she could not be saved, so they were thinking of selling her to anyone who gave them some money. Liang Qingzi was willing to buy her, so the human traffickers were naturally not unhappy.
She gave him a little more silver, and the trafficker told her everything. The girl was sold by her parents. Originally, her parents had no children, so they bought a daughter back home. Unexpectedly, she gave birth to a son and a daughter, and they felt that this was a nuisance.
The human trafficker didn't know the girl was sick at first, but after she was washed clean and looked good, he thought he could make a fortune by buying her and selling her to a wealthy family.
Liang Qingzi initially just felt sorry for the girl and saved her, and she didn't think about asking the little girl to call her mother. In fact, she never wanted to be a mother in this life.
After she bought Kui'er back from the human trafficker, she fainted due to a high fever. She consulted several doctors, but they all said that the child was born with a defect, had a disease in the womb, and had not been properly taken care of, so she might not survive. After much difficulty, she found an old doctor who said he was willing to try his best, but he used strong medicine. If the child survived, she might be able to be cured in the future, but if not, she would die.
Liang Qingzi didn't hesitate too much and let the doctor treat her. There was still a glimmer of hope if she tried. If she didn't try, would she just wait to die?
The child was in a coma for three days. Liang Qingzi didn't dare go anywhere during these three days and named her Liang Yingkui. Later, Kui'er survived and called her mother as soon as she opened her eyes.
From that day on, she understood that although Kui'er was not her daughter, since Kui'er called her mother, she was Kui'er's mother, and no one could change that.
In the shaking carriage, Liang Qingzi gently held her daughter's cool little hand, "Kui'er, mother will take you to Yangzhou in a while, okay? I heard it's very beautiful there."
"Okay, I'll go wherever Mom goes."