Chapter 171 Return, but the person is gone!
Now that the world is at peace, all he wants is Ji Shu, to share this rare and prosperous era with her.
He then instructed Wu Yang, "Prepare these next few days and come back to Yang County with me to bring them here."
Wu Yang immediately accepted the order.
In the fourteenth year of the Taikang era, at the end of October, Pei Yanzhi finally led his army back to Yanzhou.
A full year had passed since he left Yanzhou.
The household received the news early in the morning, and Madam Pei and her entourage were waiting at the door. The wet nurse held the infant in her arms, and the group stood in a row in the wind.
Pei Yanzhi sped back, and when he saw the huge crowd at the entrance, his hawk-like eyes quickly swept over them.
Before he even saw Ji Shu, his expression had already darkened.
Then I thought again, she had just given birth not long ago, and might still be recovering in her postpartum period.
He then dismounted and greeted Madam Pei, before asking, "Mother, where is Shuer?"
Why isn't she here?
Madam Pei's smiling face stiffened. She hadn't expected that after being away for so long, her first words upon returning would still be about Ji Shu.
But that person had already left, more than two months ago.
She thought this to herself, but didn't show it on her face. Instead, she said, "Hurry up and see your child!"
Pei Yanzhi's thoughts were interrupted, and his gaze shifted to the small, soft, white baby in the wet nurse's arms.
Suddenly it softened, and even the wrinkles on its brows smoothed out a bit.
This is his flesh and blood, his and Ji Shu's child, a child connected by blood.
Seeing the young man's eyes widen as he stared intently at the man before him, the wet nurse smiled and said, "Young man, you know your father is back and want you to hold you."
Pei Yanzhi glanced down at the dust on his clothes, afraid of getting the child dirty. He paused in reaching out and said softly, "Let me wash up and change before I hold the child."
Seeing how adorable the child was, I couldn't resist pinching his cheek. But this touch seemed to stir up a hornet's nest.
The young man had never suffered such an injustice before, and he immediately burst into tears.
Pei Yanzhi's resolute and handsome face showed a hint of helplessness, and the soldiers behind him also looked at each other in bewilderment.
I don't know what to do.
Fortunately, the wet nurse was experienced and quickly said with a smile, "Young master is probably hungry. I'll go feed him right away."
After saying this, he bowed to the Pei mother and son, then hurriedly withdrew while holding the child.
Seeing this, Madam Pei smiled and said, "The child hasn't been named since the full moon, not even a nickname has been chosen yet. We're just waiting for you, the father, to come back and decide."
"They haven't even chosen a nickname yet?" Pei Yanzhi sensed something was amiss and looked around.
Not only did she not come, but neither did her two maids or anyone else in Wenxin Pavilion.
A sense of unease welled up inside her, and she forced herself to suppress it before asking again, "Mother, where is Shuer?"
Standing behind her, Wei Heng stepped forward and said, seeing that her grandmother had not answered for a long time, "Father, do you think you don't know? Ji Shu left two months ago and her whereabouts are unknown!"
The words "whereabouts unknown" nailed Pei Yanzhi to the spot like iron chains. His deep eyes stared at Wei Heng, making her tremble with fear.
“Daughter-in-law…you’re right, Ji Shu is indeed gone.”
Pei Yanzhi shouted angrily, "How dare you address Ji Shu like that?"
Wei Heng's eyes immediately reddened, and she took a few steps back, not daring to say another word.
Pei Yanzhi then looked at Madam Pei, his eyes gradually reddening, "Mother, what does she mean by that?"
Madam Pei gripped her cane tightly, glanced at the fearful Wei Heng behind her, and said in a deep voice, "Heng'er is right. Ji Shu left two months ago after giving birth. It was Mother who made the decision for her to leave!"
"Alright, let's go inside. The soldiers below also need to rest well. We can discuss anything inside."
Pei Yanzhi's heart was almost ice-cold. He had been thinking about her every moment of the past year, but when he returned, he was told that his mother had sent her away. Who allowed that?
Who dares to make this decision without authorization?
He gripped the long sword tightly in his hand, and the killing intent he had managed to suppress on the battlefield that year surged back into his heart.
Wu Yang, who was beside him, sensed something was wrong and whispered, "My lord, let's go into the mansion first."
Pei Yanzhi went directly to Fushou Garden without removing his armor, and Madam Pei noticed that his eyes were bloodshot.
Out of heartache for her son, she sighed and said, "She's gone. She already told me that you and she only had a one-year agreement, and that having the child was already more than enough. What more do you want?"
"Was it her wish? Or did Mother not want to keep her here?"
Madam Pei's body trembled, and she pointed at him with trembling hands, "What do you mean by this?"
Seeing his ashen face and absent-minded demeanor, he looked nothing like someone about to become the ruler of the world. He sighed and said, "Jingchen, how could it be that Mother is unwilling? It's you."
“You can’t keep her here. She doesn’t want to stay. Not long after you left, she wanted to leave. If I hadn’t found out she was pregnant, she wouldn’t have wanted the child anyway.”
"If I hadn't forced her to stay..."
After saying that, he sighed again, and when he looked up, there was an unyielding sense of vicissitude in his eyes. Pei Yanzhi was furious and kicked the stool next to him to the ground.
His tall figure was already furious, but he held back his anger because he was afraid that the person in front of him was his mother.
Why did he rush from Hanzhong to Yanzhou without stopping? He understood Ji Shu's suffering during childbirth and her mother's responsibility to manage this large mansion.
He could put all the unpleasant things that happened in the past behind him, but what was the result?
Who will understand him?
They conspired to deceive him and staged this elaborate escape, but now she's just gone!
He had thought he had won her heart, especially after learning from her letters that she was pregnant. No matter how far away she was, he sent her a letter from the military camp every month.
But she never replied. At first, he did have some doubts, wondering if he had done something wrong again.
But considering the distance of thousands of miles, the hardships of childbirth were far beyond my imagination. Some people in the military said that it was normal to be emotionally unstable and a little temperamental during pregnancy.
But what is the truth?
She conspired with her mother to pull this stunt, and he only found out today.
How ridiculous! He was like a complete fool.
Just thinking about these things made Pei Yanzhi's face contort with anger. Madam Pei was even more alarmed when she saw this; when had she ever seen her eldest son so out of control?
He gripped his cane tighter and tighter, and said in a hoarse voice, "Brother, she's gone, so be it. Her heart wasn't with you, why bother..."
Before she could finish speaking, he interrupted her, his eyes bloodshot, and demanded, "Are you really my mother?"
"What did your son tell you before he went to war? I've told you more than once or twice how much I love her, but what have you done? Not only have you repeatedly reprimanded your son for taking things by force, but you even sent her away when I was away on the battlefield. Where do you put your son?"
"Or is it that I, your son, hold no weight in your heart whatsoever, and am not as important as an adopted child?"
With a loud crash, Madam Pei knocked over the teacup beside her.
She looked at him with disbelief.
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