Chapter 226 Even if your parents open the coffin lid, they can't take it away
Ma Dahua was in very poor condition. Just over fifty years old, her hair was completely white, and her face was covered with deep and shallow wrinkles, like a melon rind that had lost its moisture. She looked even older than Grandma Sheng.
At this moment, Ma Dahua looked longingly at Xu Jinnian on horseback, her cloudy eyes filled with tears: "My son, I am your mother, you are the child I carried for ten months and gave birth to..."
Inside the carriage, Xu Chenglin, somewhat drunk and confused, suddenly opened his eyes wide and reached out to open the door, startling Xu Cuihua across from him.
Xu Chenglin paused as soon as his hand touched the car door handle. Before Xu Cuilian could speak to persuade him, he silently withdrew his hand and sat back in his original seat, his eyes flickering as if he were thinking about something.
Xu Cuilian secretly breathed a sigh of relief and whispered to comfort him, "Jin Nian was raised by you. Even if your parents opened the coffin lid and crawled out of the grave, they couldn't take him away."
Enraged, Xu Chenglin: "..."
Don't say it, it's creepy.
Outside the carriage, Xu Jinnian, perched on horseback, looked down at Ma Dahua, his deep eyes remaining completely calm: "You want to take me back?"
Ma Dahua's eyes shone with hope, but her voice held a hint of caution:
“You are the flesh of my body, my only son. I have missed you every moment of these years. If it weren’t for your father stopping me, I would have recognized you long ago.”
At this point, Ma Dahua's voice choked up, and her tears flowed even more fiercely. She raised her dirty arm to wipe the tears from the corner of her eye, while secretly observing Xu Jinnian's expression out of the corner of her eye.
Under the bright sun, Xu Jinnian's face was somewhat blurred by the light and shadow, making it difficult for Ma Dahua to see his expression, but she could hear a clear, soft laugh.
There was an unreadable meaning behind the laughter, which made her unconsciously frown and her heart leap into her throat.
"Getting old really does make you forgetful."
Xu Jinnian smiled, but his eyes held a chilling coldness.
“When I was three, I went back to the village with my father to visit my grandparents, and you pinched my arm until it was bruised and purple behind my father’s back; when I was four, I got into a fight with Xu Huaining, and you slapped me twice without asking any questions; when I was five, you pushed me into a pit and cursed me, saying why don’t I just die…”
With each emotionless statement, Xu Jinnian's expression grew increasingly calm, yet his sharp gaze pierced the pale-faced Ma Dahua like the most piercing arrow:
"Is this what you call longing, this call wanting to acknowledge me?"
Startled, Ma Dahua staggered backward, her chapped lips opening and closing, unable to utter a single word for a long time.
He... he actually remembered all of that?
Xu Jinnian found it boring. He glanced at Sheng An beside him, who was looking at him with heartache, and then his sharp eyes disappeared. "Let's go."
Sheng An felt as if a huge rock was lodged in her chest, and she longed to go up and hug this man who had suffered injustice and bullying since childhood.
"Stop right there! Don't move!"
Ma Dahua once again spread her arms, blocking everyone's way. Her face, which had been feigning kindness, became sharp and sarcastic.
"You were born of my own hardship, you owe me your life, a debt you can never repay in this lifetime. You must take me to the city to care for me in my old age and see me off in my final days. Otherwise, I will go to the government and sue you for filial impiety, and have the government strip you of your academic honors!"
Ma Dahua no longer concealed her purpose in blocking the road, her eyes filled with scheming and malice towards Xu Jinnian.
Since Xu Laosan was sent to the mine, Ma Dahua has been living alone, spending her days in a daze with no one to talk to.
Her married daughters were heartbroken by her and rarely came back to visit. Her dozen or so grandchildren also had no affection for Ma Dahua.
Now that she has lost her usefulness, both the Xu family and the Xu couple see her as a burden, and her later years are destined to be difficult.
Ma Dahua had anticipated this and had long regarded Xu Jinnian as her support in her later years. She was willing to risk everything to cling to him and have him take care of her in her old age and see her off in death.
Seeing Xu Chenglin so glamorous today, dressed and adorned like a wealthy gentleman in the city, with things she had never even touched in her life, made her feel incredibly sad, and her resolve to cling to Xu Jinnian for her old age grew stronger!
Xu Chenglin, unable to bear it any longer, opened the carriage door, jumped out, and began to hurl insults at Ma Dahua:
"Go ahead and sue, you vicious woman! If I don't agree, even if the Heavenly King himself comes, you can forget about taking back the son I raised! You vicious woman, if you don't believe me, you're welcome to try!"
Do you really think adoption is a game, that you can just throw a child away or bring them back whenever you want?
Not only would the clan not agree, but the government would also never approve!
Otherwise, wouldn't things fall into chaos?
Who would dare to raise someone else's son in the future?
Let this vicious woman make a scene if she wants. She's old and not afraid of being infamous. She can keep insisting that she won't allow her eldest son to acknowledge his biological parents or take care of them in their old age. What can the authorities do to her?
Ma Dahua was terrified of Xu Chenglin. Seeing his fierce attitude towards her, a look of fear flashed across her face, and all her previous threatening arrogance vanished.
“Jin Nian, Jin Nian is my biological son. He should take care of me in my old age and see me off when I die. Aren’t you afraid that he will hate you and not take care of you in your old age if you stop him from acknowledging me?”
Xu Chenglin straightened his chest and patted it loudly:
"Back then, I adopted him out of pity, because I couldn't bear to see him die at the hands of you and Xu Laosan, those two scumbags. I never thought about taking care of him in his old age!"
These are Xu Chenglin's honest words, reflecting the deep affection between father and son, which has developed through years of genuine interaction.
He also believed that the child he had raised was not the kind of heartless person who would abandon his adoptive father.
Ma Dahua simply didn't believe Xu Chenglin's words, and pointed angrily at his brocade robe and the jade pendant at his waist:
"If you don't let him support you in your old age, where will all this money come from? Why can you be supported by him, but I, your own mother, can't?"
Just as Xu Chenglin was about to retort, Xu Jinnian said firmly:
"Because he is my only father, and you... from the moment you and your wife abandoned me in the mountains, my life was returned to you, and I have nothing to do with you in this life!"
Being born into this woman's womb is the biggest stain on his life.
If he had a choice, he would never want to be born to her.
Ignoring Ma Dahua's pale face and unsteady gait, Xu Jinnian dismounted and helped his father, who was beaming with joy and making no attempt to hide his good mood, onto the carriage.
Finally, Li Tian pulled Ma Dahua, who was blocking the road, away. Only after Sheng An and the others had gone far away did he release the struggling Ma Dahua and quickly chase after them.
Ma Dahua chased after it for a while, but how could she keep up with four legs? She could only watch helplessly as the carriage went further and further away, gradually becoming a black dot and disappearing from sight.
The next moment, a mournful wail echoed across the empty fields, sounding like anger, regret, and despair. The departing person never looked back.
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