Chapter 346: The Incident That Year
One stone can cause a thousand ripples.
Zhong Nianyao's words were the small stone that stirred up the ripples, causing everyone present to look shocked.
Especially Zeng Zhan and Pan Zimei, when they looked at Old Mrs. Zeng, their eyes were full of disbelief.
"Mom, what's going on with you?" Zeng Zhan couldn't help but ask, "Are you just deliberately torturing yourself? Have you ever thought about how we, your children, would feel? If something really happened to you, how do you think we would feel?"
The series of questions left Mrs. Zeng at a loss as to how to answer. She lowered her head and responded with silence.
"Miss Zhong, this is..." Pan Zimei couldn't help but ask Zhong Nianyao.
"There haven't been any supernatural events in your home, and there aren't any unclean things." Zhong Nianyao glanced at Old Lady Zeng and continued, "The hospital's diagnosis is correct. There's nothing wrong with the old lady's body. She has a psychological problem, and she's desperately seeking death."
"Mom, tell me what happened." Zeng Zhan couldn't help but ask, "Also, what exactly is this master you're talking about?"
Facing Zeng Zhan's questioning, Old Mrs. Zeng remained silent. She resisted everything with silence.
Looking at Old Lady Zeng's expression, Zhong Nianyao couldn't help but sigh, "Why are you doing this? Because of that incident, you've been imprisoned for many years, and you've even been suffering psychological torture day and night. Now you're even more determined to die. It's over!"
"You don't understand, you don't understand anything." Old Mrs. Zeng couldn't stop crying, "It's my fault, it's all my fault. If it weren't for me, Niu'er wouldn't have died. I killed her, and I should repay her with my life."
"I know. I know everything you said." Zhong Nianyao shook her head. "What happened back then was not your fault at all. It was all an accident."
"If the King of Hell wants someone to die at three o'clock in the morning, he won't let them stay until five. She was destined to have this disaster. Even if it wasn't falling into the water, it must have been something else. You don't have to take all the blame on yourself."
Zeng Zhan and Pan Zimei, who were standing by, completely couldn't understand the conversation between Old Lady Zeng and Zhong Nian Yao. They felt like outsiders.
"Miss Zhong, what is going on?"
Zeng Zhan did not continue to question Mrs. Zeng, but turned his head and looked at Zhong Nianyao. He could not help but ask, "What on earth are you talking about? And that girl——"
He also didn't understand how Zhong Nianyao knew so much. Even he, her own son, didn't know things, but Zhong Nianyao actually knew them. Could it be that Zhong Nianyao was really a master, as Liu Zihang said?
"Don't ask, don't ask." Old Mrs. Zeng stopped them directly. "Don't worry about it. I have to bear all of this. This is retribution, I deserve it."
"Since that incident wasn't your fault, there shouldn't be retribution." Zhong Nianyao said calmly, "You've been kind to others your whole life, you shouldn't have ended up like this."
"This is my own choice." Mrs. Zeng was still very stubborn. "So there's no need for you to persuade me here."
Zeng Zhan, who was standing by, was really angry. "Can anyone tell me what's going on?"
Even Pan Zimei, who had been watching from the sidelines, had a look of anxiety on her face. However, at this moment, she couldn't speak, so she could only stand there in silence.
Mrs. Zeng just kept crying, with no intention of explaining. Or perhaps, she simply didn't want to talk about the sad past.
Zhong Nianyao looked at Zeng Zhan and said directly, "Remember when I was downstairs just now, I asked you if you had a sister?"
"I remember!" Zeng Zhan nodded, and then as if he remembered something, a light bulb went off in his head, and he suddenly said, "The one you were talking about was my sister. That girl is my sister's nickname, right?"
When his sister died, she was very young. He was even younger, so he couldn't remember it at all. He only vaguely remembered that he had a sister.
Before his father passed away, his family rarely mentioned his sister. So, he really didn't know that his sister's nickname was Niu'er.
"Your sister did die by drowning." Zhong Nianyao paused, then looked up at Zeng Zhan, "But she wasn't the only one who fell into the water that year. You were also one of them."
"What?"
Zeng Zhan was shocked. "How come I didn't know about this?"
Then he turned his head and looked at Mrs. Zeng, "Mom, why have I never heard you mention this before?"
He had absolutely no memory of falling into the water.
Zhong Nianyao looked at Old Lady Zeng and spoke directly, "He is also one of the parties involved and has the right to know what happened back then. However, do you want to tell him about this matter yourself, or should I, an outsider, tell him?"
Old Mrs. Zeng wiped away her tears, but the tears on her face and back could not be hidden. "Let me tell you!"
After she finished speaking, she turned her head and looked at Zeng Zhan, saying, "Azhan, your father and I have never mentioned your sister. That's because we don't want to burden you. That's right, your sister wasn't the only one who fell into the water that year. You two fell into the pond together."
As if recalling some sad memories, the tears that she had tried so hard to hold back still flowed uncontrollably. "We don't know why you fell into the water, but it doesn't matter anymore. Back then, I was the first one to notice you fell into the water. I jumped in to rescue you and then gave you first aid. When you woke up and I wanted to save your sister, she had already sunk."
When she said this, Mrs. Zeng's voice became choked with sobs. "It's all my fault. If I had acted faster, your sister wouldn't have died. It's all my fault that the girl died."
Old Mrs. Zeng cried and kept beating her chest, as if to vent the self-blame she had felt for so many years.
In the past, many people did favor boys over girls. However, their family was different.
Niu'er was their first child, and she was the darling of everyone in the family. She loved her daughter very much, but she couldn't save her daughter and could only watch her sink in front of her. How could she accept such a fact?
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