Mrs. Zhou stood up immediately before she finished listening. She looked at him in shock, her eyes filled with disbelief. She pointed at him and asked tremblingly, "How do you know about Liu Xizhi? She came to see you? You know everything? Then why are you going back to the Zhou family?"
Zhang Guoqing stopped his mother-in-law from coming forward and signaled her to be quiet. Lin Lishan looked at them in confusion. She had just come out of the inner room and saw the old lady in this state.
"I knew it when the old patriarch was still alive." Zhou Xiaozheng didn't mention that he still hadn't found her. He had joined the army to find Liu Xizhi; he had a hunch that she was very important to him. But decades later, he hadn't even found a trace of her.
"Mom, please sit down and let's talk slowly. I was still young at that time. I only remember the old patriarch touching my head and whispering, "What a pity, pitiful!" I still remember that look in his eyes.
By the time I learned the name Liu Xizhi, the old patriarch had passed away, and I had no one to ask. Who has the genealogy of our Zhou family? When Jiaojiao was born, I asked my father to enter the family tree. Is my daughter Zhou Jiao included in the family tree?
Mrs. Zhou took a deep breath, sat down, looked at him and said, "You've long suspected that you weren't our biological child? But you never told me in advance."
Zhou Xiaozheng looked at her with a wry smile, "How can I say it? How could I not know how you treated me? What's the difference between being your biological child and being raised by someone else? If Jiaojiao hadn't suffered so much injustice and you hadn't been so embarrassed, I wouldn't even want to mention it now. But I'm old too, and I also want to know who my parents are.
Why is it that whenever I go back to my hometown and mention ancestor worship or the family tree, my father's face changes, and he tries every possible way to stop me? For example, this time when I came back, I didn't even mention ancestor worship. Logically, since I survived a disaster and Jiaojiao gave birth to a son, I should go and burn incense, but who am I? What kind of incense should I burn?
"No, you should be the one burning incense. I've already burned incense for you. You're not a member of the Zhou family, you're not a descendant of the Zhou family, so who has the right to say they're a member of the Zhou family?"
Zhou Xiaozheng stepped forward and squatted in front of her, looking her straight in the eye. "Mother, since I am of Zhou family blood, whose child am I? Why doesn't anyone in the clan know? Is Liu Xizhi the one who gave birth to me? Did she give me my amulet? That's why you repeatedly told me not to lose it, saying I might need it in the future? I checked. I went out when I was fifteen, but I couldn't find anyone. The amulet was obtained from the Lingyin Temple in Jiangnan. The brocade bag on the outside is not commonly used in temples. The material is very precious, and it uses Suzhou embroidery. This technique is not embroidered by you."
Old Mrs. Zhou touched his head, looked at his expectant eyes, and nodded, "Decades have passed. If you want to know, it's time to tell you. We owe you, and we are sorry for you.
This is a long story. At first, I had to keep it a secret. Then, slowly, I couldn't bear to leave you, and I couldn't wait for anyone to come pick you up. As time went on, I even forgot you weren't my child. It wasn't until Jiaojiao grew older and more and more like me that I finally woke up, but you were gone. If you hadn't told me today, I still wouldn't have. It's been over forty years now, and I think she'd be long gone. Those days were so chaotic, it wasn't easy to survive, let alone such a remarkable woman. What's the point of telling you now that she's gone? Why bother making you sad?
This story has to start with your great-grandfather. Sit down and listen carefully. You'll understand our selfish motives and the reasons we didn't want to tell you. You'll also understand why your father loves and hates you. He's just taking his anger out on you.
The Zhou family is considered an aristocratic family. Their ancestors have always served in officialdom since the Ming Dynasty. While the clansmen have separated, the eldest son of the principal wife has always remained in the capital. After your great-grandfather gave birth to your grandfather, his eldest son by his first wife, he went on to have two illegitimate sons. With only three sons in his life, he paid special attention to their upbringing. Despite having the same father but different mothers, they had a close relationship, without any of the filthy ways of wealthy families. That's why, after your great-grandfather passed away, your grandfather disagreed with his two younger brothers returning to their ancestral home. Furthermore, with only five sons from the three brothers, the family seemed small. So, with the exception of the eldest son of the principal wife, all the rest of the Zhou family in the capital remained.
The most outstanding children of the Zhou family over the years have always been the legitimate sons and grandsons of the main wife. This is not surprising in this generation. Your grandfather only has two sons, but each one is more outstanding than the other. The eldest son, Zhou Jiayi, has a unique vision. He saw that the current situation was unstable and refused several invitations from the authorities. He was highly respected by the literati at that time.
The youngest son, Zhou Jiaheng, courtesy name Jinyu, was even more exceptional. Born with a photographic memory, he could compose eloquent poems at a young age. His talent was so impressive that his reputation spread far and wide. Furthermore, his good looks earned him the nickname "Jade Prince" by the time he was fifteen. Zhou Jinyu was the pride of the Zhou family, a renowned "Jade Gentleman."
The Zhou family, a family of scholars for generations, enjoys a comfortable life, though not much wealth. Zhou Jinyu has a congenial fiancée, Gu Mingzhu. The Gu family is a prominent Jiangnan clan, and Gu Mingzhu is the only child of the legitimate son of the Gu family. As her name suggests, isn't Mingzhu dazzling? She is a truly gifted woman, and even more so, a woman of incredible wealth.
Zhou Jinyu and Gu Mingzhu left the country long ago, and by the time they returned, the world was in turmoil. One day, the Restoration, the next, the Boxer Rebellion. Shortly after they had agreed on a date for their wedding the following year, the Eight-Nation Alliance arrived in Beijing. The Zhou family was massacred by the Allied forces, accused of harboring members of the Boxer Rebellion. Zhou Jiaren and Zhou Jinyu were the only ones who survived. By then, Zhou Jinyu was already a prominent figure, and after returning to China, he engaged in covert activities. Coincidentally, the day of the incident coincided with a family wedding, and his personal attendant, impersonating him, shielded him from harm, allowing Zhou Jinyu to escape. Afterward, driven by his ambitions and a desire for revenge, he went undercover.
At the time, the Gu family's immense wealth, with only Gu Mingzhu as their sole surviving member, posed a threat not only to their own family but also to bandits and bullies. Furthermore, news of Zhou Jinyu's death compounded the situation, with Gu Mingzhu's parents passing away within the same year. The constant threat forced the two to conspire, and for their own safety, Gu Mingzhu faked her own death.
After escaping Jiangnan, the two married, and Gu Mingzhu joined the organization. The situation was extremely tense, and Zhou Jinyu was killed in an accident, leaving Gu Mingzhu pregnant. Gu Mingzhu endured her grief and secretly gave birth to a son. For the child's safety, and to maintain a connection between the two families, she searched for options, ultimately returning to the ancestral home in Northeast China that Zhou Jinyu had mentioned. She worried that if her identity were exposed, her comrades and enemies alike would target the child for the Gu family's vast wealth. The only person she could turn to was the old clan leader her husband had mentioned. Upon arriving in Zhoujia Village, they learned that Zhou Jinyu's cousin was in the army and already had two children. After consulting with the old clan leader, the two secretly took the children to the capital. The three parties agreed to reclaim the child when the situation improved, registering the child in Zhou Jinyu's name on the old family tree and then compiling a new one to be returned to the clan. Before leaving, Gu Mingzhu took out a brocade bag as a token of trust, worried that she would not live to see her child grow up. She agreed that if she did not come back to find her child, a woman named Liu Xizhi would come to pick up the token, tell her the characteristics of the token, and hand the child over to her.
At that time, my youngest son, who had just given birth to me, died prematurely when he was just five months old. So, I held you as our youngest son. Your father's untimely death left your father somewhat disheartened, and he decided to retire from the army and take the family back to his hometown. But back then, you couldn't just retire if you wanted to. Later, I took you three siblings back to our hometown in Northeast China, and gradually, your father also retired and returned. He hasn't left Zhoujia Village since then, and your mother hasn't come back to see you, and we haven't seen anyone named Liu Xizhi visit us either."
Zhou Xiaozheng knew from the moment the old lady started talking that his parents were probably gone, but he didn't expect there were so many things in it. He leaned back in his chair, raised his head, closed his eyes, and covered them tightly with his hands.
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