In the living room, Old Lady Cheng held Zhou Xiaozheng's hands tightly, crying as she spoke, "Son, why don't you look for your aunt? I've been waiting for you to appear and come back every day, but you never see me. I'm afraid I'll die without being able to see your parents."
Listening to his wife's incoherent speech, Elder Cheng couldn't help but say, "Don't cry yet. You have to let the child know what's going on. The child is here now, so don't get excited. If you go back to the hospital, you really won't have the chance to tell her."
After saying this, he looked at his wife, wondering if she had heard him. Seeing that she looked okay, he felt relieved. He looked around and saw that there were only his son, Zhou Xiaozheng and his wife, Old Man Lin, Old Mrs. Zhou, and the doctor. He nodded secretly, knowing that these children had made room for them to talk.
After everyone sat down, he saw the doctor standing there in an awkward daze. "Doctor Huang, please help me keep an eye on those naughty kids. I can hear them yelling from a distance. Tell them not to get drunk."
Doctor Huang breathed a sigh of relief and quickly went forward to check on Mrs. Cheng. Finding that the situation was okay, he still gave her a few words of advice: "Mrs. Cheng, please don't get excited. If you can't control your emotions anymore, I'll have to give you a sedative." Seeing her nod, he walked out with peace of mind.
After Dr. Huang left, Old Lady Cheng looked at Zhou Xiaozheng and said, "You should know now that you are the son of Zhou Jinyu and Gu Mingzhu, right?"
Zhou Xiaozheng nodded and said solemnly, "I just found out. Before this, I accidentally learned that there was someone very important to me, but I didn't know who she was. When I was 15, I started looking for Liu Xizhi everywhere, but I had no characteristics or information. I could only rely on the fact that she was from Jiangnan, and I searched for a long time, but I couldn't find her."
Upon hearing this, Old Lady Cheng burst into tears and wiped her tears hastily with her handkerchief, crying, "I am Liu Xizhi, also known as Liu Qinglian. I am your aunt, and it was your grandmother who adopted me. I am the niece of your grandmother's family from the next room, and I was abandoned at birth. It was your grandmother who brought me home. Outsiders thought I was a relative of the Gu family, and no one knew that I was the adopted daughter of the Gu family. I was raised like your sister since I was a child. Your grandmother named me Liu Xizhi, but when your sister was five years old, she said that this name was not good, and named me Liu Qinglian. She said that Qinglian's past had become dust. Poetry praises the green clouds, and Taoism proves the heart of Qinglian. When the Gu family got into trouble, I used the name Liu Qinglian, and your mother still calls me Xizhi.
My sister, Gu Mingzhu, was a remarkable woman. She was the only daughter of the Gu family's main wife, and your grandfather raised her as a boy. She and my brother-in-law were childhood sweethearts and had a very close relationship. Before he left the country, he would stay at the Gu family's house for a month or two every year. Back then, my brother-in-law, my sister, and I would often be together. He was our leader. He was full of fun and clever, possessing a photographic memory and exceptional talent. As the world praises him for his modest and gentle demeanor, he was nicknamed "Jade Prince."
When they returned from abroad, the two families agreed on a wedding date. Jiangnan is a long way from the capital, so they had already decided where to send the bride and where to marry, and they were ready to hold the wedding the following year. Your grandparents happily prepared the dowry every day, and our family gathered around and joked that when your sister got married, we would also take the three of us as dowries. But the good times didn't last long. Suddenly, a bolt from the blue struck us that day. My brother-in-law died, and the Zhou family was wiped out. My sister fainted when she heard the news, and when she woke up, she arranged for someone to go to the capital with your grandfather for two months. When she returned, she was so thin that she was just skin and skin, and she was bedridden for three whole months. More than half a year passed like this.
With no male heirs in the family and my brother-in-law having passed away, many people began to target our family. At that time, your grandfather's health was failing, but he was still trying to hold on. He was afraid that if he died, the three remaining women in the main house would be torn apart by their clansmen, or robbed by the bandits and bullies who were targeting the Gu family.
When he was about to die, my brother-in-law came back late at night. Before he died, your grandfather held my sister and brother-in-law's hands and asked them to take us abroad and never look back home.
After the adoptive father left, the clan members came directly to the door and demanded adoption. Today, one branch came to force adoption, and tomorrow the other branch made a big fuss. All kinds of people came to interfere in the affairs of the main branch of the Gu family.
After my stepfather passed away, my stepmother lay down and couldn't get up. She saw those who forced their way in died within a month. Before she died, she smiled and said that she finally didn't have to burden us anymore, and asked us not to wait for her 37th day and to leave immediately.
The world was in turmoil at the time, with all sorts of people roaming around. Even hiring bodyguards wasn't safe. Our family was a piece of juicy meat, and everyone wanted a piece of it. The Cheng family, our only close friends, couldn't get involved in the Gu family's affairs; they could only help with peripheral matters until word reached them that the third group of bandits were organizing forces to commit rape and kidnapping.
My brother-in-law considered it over and over again. With pressure from our clan members and external enemies looming, the three of us, with the help of the Cheng family, chose to fake our own deaths. But none of us wanted to leave the country, and my brother-in-law harbored resentment. We hid away, and my brother-in-law began to put aside his books, learn marksmanship, and train his own gang.
He said a scholar was useless and began cultivating his own confidants within the organization, eventually bringing us in. But eventually, something bad happened. My brother-in-law passed away, and our world collapsed. My sister was pregnant at the time and about to give birth, otherwise she would have followed my brother-in-law.
On his deathbed, the brother-in-law told his sister to protect the only bloodline of the two families. He told his sister not to become a useless scholar like him, with only brains but no ability to protect his parents, his wife, and his children. He said he was sorry for his sister and asked her to live well and help him see his child grow up. He was waiting for his sister to reincarnate together.
When my sister gave birth to this child, even her closest confidants couldn't believe it. She told me she planned to send the child to a secret place for safety. Now that her brother-in-law was gone, many people knew about the Gu family's financial situation and began to look at her with strange eyes. She was afraid the child would be harmed, and she no longer trusted anyone. After thinking about it for several days, she told me she had to go out and asked me to cover for her.
When she returned, the child was gone. I cried and asked her where the child was and if he was in danger. I told her we could fake our own deaths again and flee abroad, never to return. My adoptive parents were gone, my brother-in-law was gone, and we didn't want this place anymore. My sisters and I took the child and left.
My sister hugged me and cried, saying she couldn't leave. It wouldn't matter where she went. My brother-in-law was too famous, and the Gu family had too much wealth. Everyone was an enemy. She couldn't tell me where the child was. It wasn't because she didn't trust me, but because it wouldn't benefit her. If something happened to her, someone would find me with a token. If that happened, I would raise the child well.
In 1917, with the uprisings, rebel armies, and bandits everywhere, we didn't even dare go back to the Gu family to pay our respects. Later, my sister donated all the belongings left by our adoptive parents. She said that after this mission, she could spend time with the children as they grew up, and when they were older, she could go see her brother-in-law. He always said he missed her.
But, but my sister didn't survive. She blocked a bullet for me and collapsed in front of me. She wanted to say something, but no words came out. I tried to hold back the bleeding, but it kept coming out. I just watched my sister die with her eyes wide open, trying to tell me something, but she couldn't say anything. She just died alive." At this point, Mrs. Cheng was shaking with tears and trying to breathe deeply.
Cheng Sijin, who was beside him, had already prepared medicine and warm water and was waiting by the side. When he saw that something was wrong with his mother, he hurriedly picked her up and stuffed medicine and water into her mouth.
Old Master Lin asked worriedly, "Can she handle it? She was just rescued a few days ago. Let her lie down for a while and don't let her talk."
Old Cheng sighed and said helplessly, "It's no use. She's been thinking about it for over forty years and comes here every year. Let her rest for a while. Now that we've found the child, we don't have to worry about not being able to face our elder sister and her family after we die."
Old Mrs. Cheng leaned against her son's arms, her hands still tightly grasping Zhou Xiaozheng's, staring at him closely, afraid that he would leave. The only thing she had ever worried about in her life was this child, whose life or death she had never known. Now everything was fine, she had finally found him.
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