Zhou Wanning regretted what he said the moment he opened his mouth. Seeing that his mother had guessed the truth at once, his eyes flickered slightly and he didn't dare to look at her again.

What else did Wen not understand? His face was filled with shock.

She simply couldn't believe that her always well-behaved daughter would actually do such a thing. Thinking of the price her husband paid to keep her, she could no longer bear it, and suddenly raised her hand and slapped her hard.

"Mom..." Zhou Wanning covered the half of her face that was beaten, and tears instantly welled up in her eyes.

"How could you do such a thing! Do you know that your father's future has been ruined because of you? But now, you tell me that you did it all on your own will!" Wen was so angry that she was shaking all over, even her voice was trembling.

Among her three children, her daughter was weak since childhood and was well-behaved and quiet, so the whole family loved her and would never let her suffer any grievances.

Today was also the first time in her life that she had laid hands on her most beloved daughter. Especially when she thought about how her husband had exchanged his career for the rest of his life in exchange for her daughter's stable life in the second half of her life, she felt pain and hatred in her heart.

"So that's how it is, so that's how it is..." The man's deep and rich voice with obvious disappointment came from behind Zhou Wanning. She turned around suddenly and saw Zhou Mao standing not far behind her. His face, which was always gentle and kind in the past, was now filled with pain and disappointment.

"Dad, Dad..." The unprecedented panic came over her, her pretty face turned pale and she called out stutteringly.

Zhou Mao stared at her for a long time, then smiled miserably and said in a hoarse voice: "It's your father's fault. I didn't teach you the responsibilities of being a child and a wife. I spoiled you without teaching you, and that's what led to your current situation!"

"Awan, you've made everything your father has done in recent days a joke. You've made your father ashamed to stay in the capital, ashamed to face..." Thinking of Murong Tao, whose life was ultimately ruined by him, his throat choked and he couldn't utter a word.

"Daddy..." Zhou Wanning's face turned pale, and her heart seemed to be tightly gripped. She reached out her hand tremblingly, trying to pull his sleeve.

However, Zhou Mao brushed her off, closed his eyes in pain, took a few deep breaths, and finally uttered, "From now on, you, take care of yourself!"

After saying this, he no longer wanted to look at her and stumbled out of the pavilion. His pace became faster and faster, and in a moment, his figure disappeared from Zhou Wanning's sight.

"Husband..." Wen Shi had never expected that her husband had heard what she and her daughter were saying. Although Zhou Mao's words of 'pampering without teaching' were a self-blame, they were like a slap in the face to her.

It is a woman's responsibility to support her husband and raise her children. The upbringing of a daughter should be attributed to the mother. How can it be entirely the father's fault?

"Mom, Daddy, Daddy..." Seeing that her daddy, who had always loved her the most, actually told her to fend for herself, Zhou Wanning was terrified and looked at Wen at a loss, with pleading in her eyes.

At this moment, Wen's heart and eyes were filled with the sad and disappointed expression on Zhou Mao's face before he left. She always felt that such disappointment was not only towards her daughter, but also towards herself, the wife who had failed to educate her daughter well.

In their more than 20 years of marriage, he had never said a harsh word to her, let alone shown such an extremely disappointed expression in front of her, which made her feel scared and even couldn't care less about her most beloved daughter.

"You should live a good life with His Royal Highness Prince Ping in the future, and stop thinking about other things that you shouldn't think about. Your father is deeply hurt by you this time, I'm afraid..." She couldn't say any more, looked at her daughter deeply, turned around and chased after Zhou Mao's figure.

"Mom..." Seeing that his mother had also left him, Zhou Wanning became even more panicked. He wanted to reach out to pull her, but his fingertips could only touch the corner of her clothes. He watched helplessly as she moved further and further away from him.

A feeling of being abandoned by the person closest to her suddenly came over her. She covered her chest tightly, her face as pale as paper.

"Mother-in-law, why are you going back so soon?" Prince Ping originally wanted to accompany Zhou Mao to visit Zhou Wanning, but thinking of her coldness towards him during these days, he did not dare to do so and just let someone take Zhou Mao to the waterside pavilion.

He never expected that after just a short while, he saw Zhou Mao walking away quickly with an ugly look on his face. He was unable to call out to him and was full of suspicion.

Just when he was puzzled, he saw Wen coming hurriedly, so he hurried forward to ask.

Wen didn't expect to meet him here. She subconsciously looked at her daughter in the waterside pavilion in the distance, and suddenly felt relieved.

Fortunately, King Ping was not with my husband just now, otherwise, if he had heard what my daughter said, her life in the future would have been even more difficult.

"I suddenly remembered that there was something very urgent at home, so..." She made up a random excuse and answered with a forced smile.

King Ping was not stupid, so he could tell that she was lying. However, since she was his elder, he could not say anything. He smiled and said, "So that's the case. Then I will see my mother-in-law off."

"No need, no need. You and your father-in-law are here too. I will go back with him." Wen had something to hide, so she didn't dare to act arrogantly in front of him.

King Ping was not reluctant, and waited until Wen's slightly panicked figure disappeared. He looked at the lonely and frail figure in the water pavilion with deep eyes, and called the maid who was waiting in the distance to ask about what had happened in the water pavilion just now.

"The princess asked us to leave, so I didn't know what happened. I just saw Madam Zhou suddenly hit the princess. Later, Lord Zhou came over and said a few words before leaving." The maid answered truthfully.

King Ping frowned even more. His father-in-law and mother-in-law loved his wife the most, how could they bear to touch her? What happened that made the usually gentle mother-in-law actually hit his wife?

He thought about it over and over but could not come up with an answer. He just stared blankly at the figure in the water pavilion. He didn't know how much time had passed before he let out a low sigh.

However, it is said that Zhou Mao locked himself in the study as soon as he returned home and did not see anyone. The brothers Zhou Chang and Zhou Zhuo looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what had happened.

Wen knocked on the door for nearly a quarter of an hour, but got no response. Her expression became more and more ugly, and the tears in her eyes became more and more obvious, which made the Zhou brothers even more uneasy.

"Mom, what happened? Why did Dad lock himself in the study as soon as he came back? Didn't you go to Prince Ping's Mansion to see your sister?" Zhou Zhuo was an impatient person and could not help himself.

Wen had never been treated like this by her husband before. When she heard her son's question, she could no longer hold back her tears.

She quickly lowered her head to wipe away her tears and said in a hoarse voice, "It's okay, your father...just let him calm down."

Seeing that she refused to speak, Zhou Zhuo became even more anxious. Just as he was about to ask more questions, Zhou Chang beside him tugged at his sleeve, signaling him to be quiet.

Zhou Zhuo moved his lips, but didn't say anything else.

"Mom, let's go sit inside for a while! Dad is inside, we can't just wait outside, right?" Zhou Chang persuaded softly.

Wen nodded with red eyes, and was supported by the two brothers to leave. After taking a few steps, she turned back unwillingly, and saw that the door was still tightly closed, and the person inside had no intention of coming out, so she finally gave up.

The footsteps outside the door gradually faded away until they could no longer be heard. Zhou Mao sat motionless at his desk, the words he heard in the water pavilion of Prince Ping's Mansion still seeming to echo in his ears, and the scene of Murong Tao being seriously injured and disabled flashed through his mind. Gradually, his body trembled more and more violently, and it was as if a chill rose from the soles of his feet and quickly spread to his limbs.

He was wrong, he did it wrong, everything was wrong, terribly wrong!

But it was too late, he ruined the child's life!

The chill in his body grew stronger and stronger, and he shivered as he poured himself a cup of hot tea. However, his hands were shaking so badly that he could not hold the cup steadily, and the tea swayed a few times, soaking the letter on the desk.

He wiped the tea stain with shaking hands, and suddenly thought of something. He took a breath, stood up abruptly, staggered to the door, and shouted loudly: "Chang'er, Chang'er!!"

"Master!" The servant who heard the call came over quickly.

"Go and call the eldest master, quickly! Quick!!"

Seeing his anxious expression, the servant did not dare to delay and ran to call Zhou Chang.

Zhou Chang, who was helping Wen to sit down, had no time to ask his mother what happened in Prince Ping's Mansion, when he saw the servant in his father's study coming to ask him, saying that the master was urgently calling for the eldest son.

"Your father is calling you, go quickly!" Before he could say anything, Wen pushed him out the door and said hurriedly.

When Zhou Chang hurried to Zhou Mao's study, Zhou Mao grabbed his sleeve and said in a trembling voice: "Quick, go and stop the plan, go!!"

"Father?" Zhou Chang didn't expect that he called him for this matter and didn't understand his intention for a moment.

Zhou Mao didn't have the energy to talk to him in detail. Seeing that he didn't move, he shouted: "Go!"

"Yes, I'll go now!" Zhou Chang didn't dare to go against his wishes and hurried out.

After seeing his eldest son leave, Zhou Mao's legs went weak and he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"Husband?" Seeing him like this, Wen, who had followed her eldest son out of worry, hurried in and used all her strength to help him up.

"My husband, all the mistakes are mine. It's my fault that I didn't educate our daughter well, which led to her..." Wen had never seen him so decadent. Even when he was under the double pressure of her father-in-law who was still the prime minister and the empress in the palace, her husband was never afraid.

She watched him rise step by step from an eighth-rank official to his current fourth-rank position, and for the sake of his daughter, he was willing to stop moving forward for the rest of his life. Even though he knew his future was limited and his lifelong ambitions would be difficult to realize, he never regretted it.

But now, she saw regret on his face, a regret that was extremely painful.