Chapter 84 Children
"Did you go and see? Ling Chi, the Wang family is also very tough, they didn't say a word." The bun seller whispered.
"Tsk, how cruel..." The porter bought four buns, and when he recalled the execution ground yesterday, he was still scared.
"Hush, you're asking for death, how dare you say that," the man who bought the buns quickly wrapped them in oil paper and stuffed them to the porter, "Let's go."
On the eve of Cui Junji's 40th birthday, a major event happened in the Cui family. On the way to worship their ancestors, the elders of the Cui family were kidnapped and killed by the young men of the Wang family. No one survived.
Later, the mastermind of the Wang family was arrested. He was a nephew of the former Wang Mansion. With solid evidence and sufficient motive, he was executed by slow slicing.
Cui Junji placed the seats one by one, burned three incense sticks and walked out of the ancestral hall.
He has never dared to come here over the years. Now he dismissed everyone and sat on the steps outside the ancestral hall gate, staring blankly.
The stone steps were cold, but he sat down, his robe lifted, and even took off his gloves. His hands, never shown to anyone, were terrifying in the moonlight: one was covered in burn scars, the other, once slender, had a raised red and blue scar on the back.
Cui Junji carefully stroked the fine lines on the stone steps and said softly:
"I've done what I should do at court. The power of the aristocratic families now rests solely in my hands. Some officials have begun to ignore the people and not the tasks they perform."
The wind blew through the stone slabs, making the cold even worse. Cui Junji opened the liquor he brought with him, tilted his head back and took a big gulp.
"Your predictions were all correct. They blocked the path for the wise, solidified cliques, and eroded the national treasury. I've already pruned what I could, and the rest will be handed over to others." During his years in office, the smaller aristocratic families declined, and compared to before, the government was indeed much more stable and harmonious. But the Cui family's power remained at its peak, and even his position during court was now a throne next to the throne.
Wen Youqing probably wouldn't want to hear this. She died without regaining her memory, and her heart must be filled with resentment towards him. So she changed the subject, "Your son will be home soon. You haven't seen him in a long time. Let him spend some time with you. He's been away for years, and he doesn't write home more than twice a year. I don't know if he has a girl he likes in his twenties."
"...He and I aren't close, but fortunately, our daughter is thoughtful. She's smart and learns quickly. Like you, she's interested in useful things. Now, she's studying medicine with a farmer's doctor and is quite happy."
Wen Youqing's death was not a glorious event for the Cui family, especially the scar on Cui Wang's face, which could not be erased even with the best medicine. The social circle in the backyard, which had already been cut off due to Wen Youqing's death, was no longer mentioned.
Coupled with Cui Junji's mental disorder, a strange coincidence occurred four months later, around the time of Wen Youqing's original due date.
It was a winter morning, before daybreak, with a biting cold wind. Outside the corner door of Cui's residence, the faint cry of a baby could be heard.
The servants opened the door and saw a swaddling cloth abandoned beside the stone steps. Inside was a newborn baby girl, her face purple from the cold, and she was breathing weakly. There was nothing in the swaddling cloth to identify her, only an ordinary coarse cloth handkerchief.
The servant brought the baby girl into the mansion to report. Normally, such an abandoned baby would be given some money and sent to a charity, or found a reliable servant to adopt.
However, when Cui Junji passed by the side room and saw the baby girl who was held in front of him, who gradually stopped crying because of the warmth and opened her black, ignorant eyes to look at him, he froze as if struck by lightning.
The timing of this child's appearance was too coincidental, so coincidental that it seemed like a cruel joke, or a belated but completely wrong compensation.
He dismissed the servants and remained alone in the study, facing the babbling baby. Outside the window lay a gray sky, a reflection of his current state of mind. He reached out his hand, his fingertips trembling as he gently touched the baby's soft, warm cheek.
At this moment, a twisted and crazy thought spread from his heart like poison ivy. This was his daughter returning.
"Is that you..." He murmured softly, his voice hoarse as if he was talking in a dream.
This logic is absurd, but it found root in his extremely painful and twisted heart.
So, Cui Junji made a decision that shocked the whole family: he wanted to adopt the baby girl, no, this was his biological daughter.
"Since she was sent by heaven to our Cui family, she must be destined to be with us." He said this to the shocked Wang and Li Wenqin, his tone calm, but his eyes were deep and unfathomable. "She is my daughter, the young lady of the Cui family."
He named her Cui Wucuo himself.
This name is like an eternal curse and reminder. Every call, every writing, repeatedly confirms his inner obsession and distortion.
Cui Wucuo grew up in such an environment of almost doting.
He would personally take care of Cui Wucuo's diet and daily life, and select the best wet nurse and maids for her.
When she was just learning to walk, he would put down his work and watch over her carefully in the courtyard.
The first time she babbled clearly, she called out "Daddy". He was stunned for a long time. Emotions that no one could understand surged in his eyes, and finally turned into a deep, painful tenderness.
He would hold her on his knees, teach her to read, tell her some insignificant stories, his fingers unconsciously stroking her soft hair, but his eyes often looked through her to some empty, vanishing shadow.
This closeness carries a compensatory frenzy, but also a torment of self-punishment. He seems to be trying to make up for his debt to his deceased daughter and Wen Youqing by being kind to this "substitute," while at the same time, in this "kindness," he constantly chews on the misguided hatred rooted in his heart.
"Dad!" There was a light in the distance, darting up and down at a rapid speed. When it got closer, it turned out to be the glass lantern in the girl's hand. The girl's delicate face was full of anxiety. "It's so dark, what are you doing sitting here?"
As he said that, he pulled Cui Junji up and leaned in to smell the alcohol on him. "Brother, you finally come back once, why are you drinking here by yourself?"
Cui Junji, who was always so powerful outside, was being scolded by his teenage daughter by the sleeve. Cui Wucuo held him with one hand and held the lamp with the other, "Wang Xiaoniang's cook has cooked a big table of food. I should be here soon. Hurry up and change your clothes. You stink!"
Cui Wucuo didn't care about the scar on Cui Junji's hand at all. She just felt that his hand was very cold. She held his hand and put it into Cui Junji's sleeve. "You sent my brother to that godforsaken place. I know he did a good job this time. If he were given an official position, he could be promoted to a third-rank official! Look better and don't treat him harshly just because you don't have a father."
Only Cui Wucuo in the world would dare to say such outrageous words.
Upon hearing this, Cui Junji just smiled, took the lantern, and asked Cui Wucuo to put his hands into his sleeves to keep warm. "I treat your brother much better than the other two of you. If he doesn't go there to train, how can he reach the third rank?"
"I knew it," Cui Wucuo smiled, his eyes curved like crescent moons, looking pleasing, but not like Wen Youqing, nor like him. "Dad, you're the best. You're not a petty man."
The sadness he felt earlier was washed away, and Cui Junji was at a loss whether to laugh or cry: "Why do you keep plotting against me behind my back every day?"
"No, Dad is the best."
Cui Junji changed his clothes and Shen Laixi was already sitting in the hall waiting. Seeing Cui Junji coming, Shen Laixi stood up and saluted: "Master."
Ever since he traveled thousands of miles to attend Wen Youqing's funeral many years ago and sent her off for the last time, Cui Junji felt alienated from Shen Laixi.
But he couldn't do anything. Accepting this orphaned child would be a sulliment to Wen Youqing's reputation. Disowning him would mean forcing this already sensitive child to continue living under someone else's roof. So, he chose the cruelest option: forcing Shen Laixi to continue wandering with the mountain dweller.
On the last night before leaving, Shen Laixi's crying and the words: "Master, I envy my sister and hate her, but I can't cause you trouble." were like needles, always piercing his heart.
But Cui Junji couldn't help but pay attention to this child. He would secretly observe Shen Laixi's academic progress and quietly provide him with some conveniences.
With his silent help, Shen Laixi already had his own shadow in the court, with cronies, a deadly force, and fame. He only lacked a little bit of power to be on par with him.
Cui Junji waved his hand and said, "We're at home, why are you being so polite? Your sister has been nagging you for half a month now, and you're not even enjoying your meal anymore. Hurry up and sit down to eat."
The rice smelled delicious, but apart from Cui Wucuo, who was heartless and kept picking up food for Shen Laixi, the master and disciple spoke very little.
Perhaps because he had already drunk a bit of wine today, Cui Junji finally asked, "Did you find any girl you liked during your time out there?"
Twenty-three-year-old Shen Laixi is already an older bachelor, and official matchmakers have been coming to propose marriage to him one after another. Li Wenqin lives in seclusion and meditates in a Buddhist temple. Wang Ruoti has been helping to keep an eye on her, but there has been no result.
"Yes, but it's not yet at the stage of discussing marriage." Shen Lai Xi shut up the conversation between the two with a word and lifted up Cui Wucuo's sleeve that was about to fall into the bowl.
But Cui Wucuo couldn't understand the atmosphere. She was all over the place next to Shen Laixi. "Who? Who? Brother, who is my sister-in-law?"
"Eat well," Shen Laixi was given a headache by the noise and pulled Cui Wucuo off her body. "No one, I just appreciate it, not like it."
"Everything depends on you. Family background is not important. You don't need to act according to other people's wishes." Cui Junji picked up a piece of raw mutton and had been chewing it for a long time. He pretended to be calm and said.
After having a good meal and a good drink, Cui Junji had Cui Wucuo sent back and said to Shen Laixi, "Come to my study."
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