ask
"What exactly is your purpose in going to such lengths to force me to meet?"
Wen Xubai bent down and gently placed a bunch of pale white chrysanthemums in front of the grave. Turning his head, he saw that a bunch of daffodils and lilies, which had been carefully tended, had already been placed next to the tombstone.
The woman on the tombstone has gentle features and a beautiful smile...
Wen Xubai's gaze slowly swept over the words on the monument, then he stood up.
The Tomb of My Beloved Wife, Ruan Qingzhi.
"Young Master, it's been a long time."
The person next to me, who was wearing a mask, slowly took it off, revealing a kind face.
She was a middle-aged woman with some gray hair.
Wen Xubai was stunned when he saw who it was.
"Who are you······"
Aunt Zhang?
Wen Xubai opened his mouth silently, only to find that he couldn't make a sound.
Zhang Xiu smiled.
"I didn't expect the young master to still remember me..."
Zhang Xiu was the first person Wen Xubai met when he entered the Wen family home, and also... the wife of the driver who became a vegetable in the car accident eighteen years ago.
"You...didn't you already leave Jiangcheng?" Wen Xubai asked in astonishment.
After that accident, the Wen family, in the name of humanitarianism, gave Zhang Xiu a large sum of money, enabling her to leave Jiangcheng with her husband and children and go to the capital, where medical care was more advanced, for schooling and treatment.
But now, she has returned.
"Yes, I'm back..." Zhang Xiu fondly touched the woman's photo on the tombstone, then her gaze suddenly fixed on the bouquet of daffodils...
He continued, "This is the flower that Madam loved most when she was alive..."
"But in all these years, no one has ever given her anything..."
Zhang Xiu's eyes swept over the chrysanthemums beside her, a hint of disappointment flashing in her eyes...
"You didn't come back just to see her, did you?"
The "she" in this context naturally refers to Ruan Qing.
Zhang Xiu had his back to Wen Xubai, so he couldn't see the other's expression, but he could tell from her hunched back and rapidly aging face that she hadn't been doing well these past few years.
"The money the Wen family gave you back then, as long as you don't buy any antiques or jewelry, should... be enough for you and your family to squander for a lifetime, right?"
"Yes... so much money... to buy a life, in those people's eyes, it should be more than enough, right?"
Upon hearing this, Wen Xubai was startled.
At this moment, Zhang Xiu, leaning against the wall of the stele, stood up tremblingly.
His eyes were filled with sorrow and pain...
Seeing this made Wen Xubai's heart race...
"My husband is dead."
She said.
"Dead?" Wen Xubai was greatly shocked.
Why? Why didn't he receive the message?
He couldn't help but grip his phone tightly in his pocket, but the next second, Zhang Xiu interrupted him, saying:
“Young Master, you don’t need to be shocked. It was I… who concealed his death. Not only from you, but also from those people.”
"Why?" Wen Xubai asked.
But Zhang Xiu seemed not to hear him, continuing to say to himself, "I personally witnessed Madam Song and Madam Ruan arrive, and I watched them leave..."
Madam Song was Wen Tingyi's first wife, Song Yuxin, who was also the eldest daughter of the Song family.
"Madam Song has a strong personality and is decisive, which often puts a lot of pressure on the family, especially the master, who has been scolded by her many times. But only we servants know that Madam... is just all bark and no bite."
"At that time, the Wen Group had just been established, and Young Master Yuan had just been born. Madam had to help her husband manage the business while also taking care of Young Master Yuan. It was inevitable that she would be under a lot of pressure and have a bit of a temper. But although Madam nags, she has never really punished anyone. We servants have all seen this and have long been used to it..."
"Later, the Wen Group gained a firm foothold in the business world, and Young Master Yuan grew up. We all thought that the future would be better and better, but unexpectedly..."
She paused for a moment.
"But I never expected... that the master would do such a thing. Not only that, he even brought back the child born to that woman outside and forced the madam to acknowledge it."
Wen Xubai lowered his eyes.
Although outsiders were unaware of this matter, it was no secret within the Wen family. Everyone knew that the second young master of the Wen family was not the first wife's biological son, but an illegitimate child from an unknown source.
At the time, Wen Tingyi was still young. To avoid damaging his reputation and affecting the company's development, he took advantage of Song Yuxin's illness to force her to acknowledge her illegitimate child.
He publicly declared that he was Song Yuxin's second son.
Zhang Xiu murmured, "Madam Song was already ill, how could she bear such a shock? Overwhelmed with grief and anger, she had a big argument with the master, and her condition deteriorated rapidly. Not long after... she passed away."
"Later... Madam Ruan came. Madam Ruan lived up to her name; she was kind and gentle. She not only got along well with the master and mistress, but also treated us servants well. She even treated the two young masters who weren't her biological children kindly. Even after she had her own children, her kindness never changed..."
"What a pity..."
There seemed to be tears in Zhang Xiu's eyes.
Wen Xubai listened silently without uttering a word.
But Zhang Xiu suddenly said, "Young Master, your days in the Wen family must have been difficult, right?"
Wen Xubai was taken aback, not expecting her to ask that question, and for a moment he didn't know how to answer.
Zhang Xiu, however, seemed to know everything. He simply smiled and took something out of his knitted pocket, then stuffed it into Wen Xubai's hand.
Wen Xubai opened his palm and looked:
It was a completely black USB flash drive.
"What is this?" Wen Xubai frowned.
"This is the surveillance footage from the Wen family's backyard on the day Madam Ruan had her accident."
Wen Xubai was startled and suddenly looked up at the person in front of him.
But Zhang Xiu simply wore a faint smile, his eyes calm, as if what he had just said was nothing extraordinary, but just an ordinary matter.
Zhang Xiu walked over slowly. She was old and her legs were not very good. She almost tripped over a tree branch on the ground. Wen Xubai quickly helped her up.
Once they were closer, Zhang Xiu slowly reached out and straightened Wen Xubai's shirt collar, which had somehow flipped up, then patted the dust off his clothes, saying with satisfaction:
"Young Master, Young Master Chi should be about your age now..."
She stated it calmly, her voice flat and without a trace of emotion.
But to Wen Xubai's ears, it was like a thunderclap.
There were no assumptions, no questions, and not even the question, "What if he were still alive..." was uttered.
Wen Xubai could no longer control his thoughts; his heart was pounding wildly, and his mind went completely blank!
Seeing his expression, Zhang Xiu knew that he had understood her meaning, so she smiled very lightly.
This time, the smile carried a sense of relief, and it was finally genuine.
"I've kept this secret for eighteen years, and today... I can finally tell it..."
As she spoke, a single tear slowly rolled down her aged cheek...
Zhang Xiu turned around, slowly walked back to Ruan Qing's grave, knelt down, and once again stroked the photograph on the tombstone...
"Madam, I can finally come to see you with a clear conscience..."
"If you ever see me again, please don't blame me. The mistakes I've made... I will go to the eighteenth level of hell to repent..."
"Why me?" Wen Xubai clenched the thing in his hand, somewhat puzzled.
"What?"
"Why choose to entrust it to me? You should be able to benefit more from entrusting it to someone else."
Wen Xubai pursed his lips, which were pale.
Zhang Xiu looked at him, remained silent for a long time, and then slowly spoke: "Young Master, do you still remember the first time I met you?"
Wen Xubai slowly lowered his eyes.
His first meeting with Zhang Xiu was at his parents' funeral.
The Wen family forcibly took him away and dragged him to Ruan Qing's funeral, completely ignoring his desperate cries...
"Shut up! Gag him!"
That was the first thing he heard.
It was said by a woman wearing heavy makeup.
He no longer remembered what the woman looked like, only that her perfume was very strong, so strong it made him nauseous.
And when the others heard her words, they actually tried to tape his mouth shut.
Only Zhang Xiu embraced him tightly, kneeling before the woman on his behalf to beg her not to harm the poor child. And finally, in Zhang Xiu's warm embrace, he calmed down...
Zhang Xiu smiled and said, "I stayed in the Wen family for almost ten years, but before I left, only you rushed over and hugged me, begging me not to go..."
"Such a sentimental and kind-hearted child, I think he wouldn't be the kind of person who would harm others for his own selfish desires..."
Each word slowly reached Wen Xubai's ears. He gripped the USB drive tightly in his hand, as if he wanted to crush it, and forcefully closed his eyes, desperately suppressing the turmoil of emotions surging within him…
When he opened his eyes, he had regained his usual clarity of mind.
"Do you know where he is?" Wen Xubai asked coldly.
“No.” Zhang Xiu shook her head. “But this USB drive might provide you with some clues.”
What do you want? Money, power? Or human lives?
"No, I don't want anything, I just want to ask you for one thing."
Wen Xubai glanced at the other person and, seeing that the other person's expression did not seem to be acting, then suppressed the slight unease in his heart.
She's right, he had no other choice...
I have no choice but to believe her.
"What's up?"
"I beg you... to find that child first, send him away, please don't let him fall into those people's hands, please don't... let him also fall into misery."
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