"Eat this tomorrow morning." General Zhou was finally satisfied, and he walked up the stairs with powerful steps.
"Grandpa Zeng, please go slowly, let me help you!" Zhou Yuanyuan finished her bowl of egg custard, stood up and prepared to help General Zhou upstairs.
General Zhou waved his hand, pointing at Zhao Yunxiang, and signaled for Zhou Yuanyuan to chat with her. These past few days, Zhou Yuanyuan had been sleeping soundly in her room, while Zhao Yunxiang had been pacing anxiously outside her door. General Zhou had seen it all. If he hadn't felt that what he had just discussed with Zhou Yuanyuan was more important, he wouldn't have stayed so late to disturb Zhao Yunxiang and her daughter.
"Yuanyuan, I plan to go back to Zhaojiagou in a couple of days." Watching General Zhou disappear on the stairs, Zhao Yunxiang cleared the empty dishes on the table while chatting with Zhou Yuanyuan. Her daughter had just returned home, and Zhao Yunxiang was about to leave home for a few days. To be honest, Zhao Yunxiang felt a little guilty when she said this, fearing that Zhou Yuanyuan would be unhappy. Over the years, Zhao Yunxiang was busy with her career and had little time to take care of her two children. After Zhou Yuanyuan fell into a coma last time, Zhao Yunxiang woke up and realized that she seemed to have been an incompetent mother.
"Ah? Mom, are you going back to Zhaojiagou for something?" Zhou Yuanyuan found it strange. Zhao Qingshan and his entire family were living in Kyoto? Zhao Yunxiang went back to Zhaojiagou for nothing, apparently?
"Your Grandma Hehua died, and her two children are orphans with no one to take care of them." Zhao Yunxiang quickly cleared two bowls and sat down next to Zhou Yuanyuan, planning a long conversation by candlelight. After receiving a call from Zhaojiagou that afternoon, Zhao Yunxiang pondered the matter for a long time and decided she couldn't miss this trip. After all, Zhou Yuanyuan didn't need her to follow her around all day, and the two children in Zhaojiagou might be eagerly hoping for a "savior"!
Who was Grandma Lotus? Zhou Yuanyuan searched her memory and confirmed that there was no such person as Grandma Lotus. This puzzled her. What was Grandma Lotus's connection to their family? Why was her mother helping someone else take care of their child? And she acted so serious about it, like she was determined to go.
"Mom, who is Grandma Lotus? Do I know her?" Zhou Yuanyuan was a little curious about Zhao Yunxiang's attitude.
Zhao Yunxiang sighed and didn't respond directly. Instead, she asked, "Yuanyuan, do you still remember your Aunt Gu?"
Aunt Gu? Isn't that Grandma Xiaocao?
Zhou Yuanyuan searched through her memories and found Aunt Gu. That was the good thing about being a monk: all memories were stored in their brains like computer chips, so when they needed to find something, they just flipped through it. Unlike ordinary people, they could forget things instantly.
Seven years ago, after a falling out with Zhou Chunping's family, Zhao Yunxiang returned to her parents' home with her two children. In Zhaojiagou, Zhou Yuanyuan met Zhao Xiaocao, the first person to show her kindness after her rebirth. Zhou Yuanyuan remembered that Xiaocao's grandmother was called Aunt Gu.
"Yes, yes! It's Grandma Xiaocao." Zhao Yunxiang nodded and said with some emotion, "Grandma Hehua, the sister-in-law of Aunt Gu, also known as Tiezhu's mother, passed away a few days ago. After Aunt Gu took care of her funeral, she had no place to go for her two children, so she called me and asked if I could help by sending them to an orphanage for six months."
"Let me think... Isn't the purpose of our Hope Foundation to help those in need? Gu Hongxing and Gu Xiaofang are so pitiful. Their only grandmother is dead, their father is a tree thief, and their mother was shot. The children in the village don't like to play with them and spit at them when they see them..."
Zhao Yunxiang told Zhou Yuanyuan everything she knew.
Although Zhao Yunxiang had lived in Kyoto for many years, she had grown up in Zhaojiagou and had a deep affection for the land and its people. Over the years, Zhao Yunxiang had kept in touch with Aunt Gu. Every once in a while, Aunt Gu would call Zhao Yunxiang to share what was happening in the village.
Tiezhu's mother was already in poor health, and Gu Tiezhu began stealing trees to raise money for her health. After his wife, Wang Biyun, reported him for stealing trees, Gu Tiezhu was arrested and later sentenced to three years in prison. Unable to continue living in Zhaojiagou, Wang Biyun abandoned her children and ran away.
Gu Tiezhu and Wang Biyun have two children: their eldest son, Gu Hongxing, now ten, and their youngest daughter, Gu Xiaofang, now eight. When Gu Tiezhu was sentenced, the children, two and three years old, lived in the care of his mother, a difficult life. Had his mother not waited so long to see Gu Tiezhu released from prison, she might have passed away long ago.
Actually, the Tiezhu family and the Zhao Qingshan family had a certain connection. Zhou Yuanyuan remembered that Zhao Guohui was plagued by bad luck. He was accused of embezzling a large truckload of public goods and was forced by his ex-wife to take the blame for his brother-in-law. His life was at its lowest point.
Out of kindness and because Zhao Guohui and Gutiezhu had known each other since childhood, after Gutiezhu was arrested, Zhao Guohui went to Tiezhu's mother's home before the Lunar New Year and presented her with a pheasant, which dissuaded Tiezhu's mother from committing suicide by poisoning with her two children, and earned her a ray of merit.
Precisely because of this wisp of meritorious virtue, Zhao Guohui's fortunes were restored. While in City N, he not only evaded the assassin Wang Biyun had hired to kill him, but also met Yu Meiru. After Yu Meiru married Zhao Guohui, his fortunes grew steadily stronger, and within a few years, the couple had amassed a vast fortune. It could be said that Zhao Guohui saved the lives of Tiezhu Niang and her three grandchildren, and their grateful meritorious virtues also rescued Zhao Guohui from his misfortune.
But shouldn't Zhao Guohui be the one taking care of Gutiezhu's two children? Given Zhao Guohui's connection to Gutiezhu, why wouldn't it be Zhao Yunxiang's turn? Zhou Yuanyuan found this a bit strange.
"Yuanyuan, your brother Hongxing and sister Xiaofang don't want to live with your uncle, so I..." Zhao Yunxiang's face looked a little ugly.
After Tiezhu's mother passed away, Zhao Guohui immediately rushed back to Zhaojiagou upon hearing the news. No one knew where Gu Tiezhu had been in the past few years. Besides sending money home every year, he hadn't even seen him. Zhao Guohui offered to take Gu Hongxing and her siblings to live with him for a while, waiting for Gu Tiezhu's return to make further arrangements, but Gu Hongxing declined.
Wang Biyun's death was ultimately due to Zhao Guohui. Wang Biyun bribed gangsters to hunt down Zhao Guohui, and after being apprehended by the police, she was sentenced to death. Gu Hongxing was a rebellious teenager, so it's no surprise that she harbored hatred for Zhao Guohui, her "mother's murderer."
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