Mother? !
"So... what exactly happened to you?" Yan Zhiwei rested her chin on her left hand, her phoenix eyes gleaming as she persistently probed Zhu Mingyu.
Since the salt poisoning case came to an end, another half month has passed.
Yan Zhiwei, the person involved, was still in high spirits and could eat more than two bowls of rice in one meal.
Zhu Mingyu, however, was often in a daze. Not only was he absent-minded when helping out or doing business, but he would also often disappear without a trace.
Yan Zhiwei initially thought that Zhu Mingyu was troubled by Aunt Fang's marriage proposal, after all, Zhu Mingyu was thin-skinned and not used to refusing people.
But it doesn't seem to be like that.
These past few days, Yan Zhiwei has felt an inexplicable chill down her spine while working. She thought it was the resentment that had gathered from the small stalls she had exposed, and even spent some money to hire a master to perform a ritual, but nothing improved.
Until one day, she casually slipped a bronze mirror into her waistband, and as the light reflected off it, Yan Zhiwei happened to meet Zhu Mingyu's resentful gaze—
"Can you please stop looking at me like that?" Whether it was her imagination or not, Yan Zhiwei felt that Zhu Mingyu's eyes carried a hint of resentment and grievance.
Although she did lock Zhu Mingyu in his woodshed because he left his post without permission, and she was always impatient with him when speaking to him, and liked to order him around, but...
She didn't treat him too badly, did she?
She doesn't use psychological manipulation, nor does she charge Zhu Mingyu for food and lodging. She even occasionally pays him extra wages. Isn't this more charitable than modern capitalists?
Therefore, Yan Zhiwei could not bear to be looked at like that by him.
"Just say what you need to say."
"Don't act like a divorced wife." Having swallowed countless sharp words, Yan Zhiwei flicked Zhu Mingyu's forehead and reminded him helplessly.
"Whatever you want." The rest time was over. Yan Zhiwei shook her wrist and sighed before returning to the stove.
The sun shone gently as Yan Zhiwei buried herself in her work, her black hair like seaweed left on the beach after the tide, enveloped in the soft sunlight.
Zhu Mingyu gazed at Yan Zhiwei's retreating figure for a long time, his mind drifting back to the letters sent by the imperial court.
"Return quickly"... or so it seems.
He finished his tea, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down several times, but he still couldn't bring himself to say the truth that he was about to leave.
——
Picking up the rag, Yan Zhiwei washed her hands and put her hair up. There weren't many people at the restaurant in the afternoon, but there was still a lot of work to be done.
Yan Zhiwei bent down, her forearm muscles arching as she repeatedly wiped the oil stains on the stove. Beads of sweat slid down the not-so-lean mounds on the inside of her forearms, turning into dangling silver earrings in the sunlight.
While calculating the restaurant's profits for the day, Yan Zhiwei was also thinking about the seasonal menu. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even hear the arguing in the front hall.
"What kind of filthy food is this? They even buried eggshells in it! Damn it, call the manager out here!" Several men were shouting from the wooden chairs in the front hall.
The leader, a fat, burly man, spread his legs wide, picked his teeth with his hand, and said impatiently.
"Sir, please take a break. I'll have the kitchen redo it for you and bring you a plate of pickled vegetables as an apology, shall I?" The waiter rubbed his hands together and stepped forward, apologizing in a low voice.
Such incidents happened occasionally. He handled it as usual, thinking he could appease the men's anger. However, the burly man was relentless and smashed the table with a single blow.
The food on the table was completely spilled and smeared on the ground with someone's foot.
The burly man pulled a knife from his pocket and shouted, "Didn't you hear me? Call your manager out here!"
"I don't have much patience. Believe me or not, I'll smash up this lousy shop!" Several men beside the burly man also stood up, looking menacing.
The waiter had never seen anything like this before, and his legs went weak for a moment, almost causing him to fall to the ground. Fortunately, a pair of hands caught him in time, and he managed to regain his senses.
“Master Zhu…” the waiter stammered.
Zhu Mingyu nodded slightly, with the shop assistant standing behind him.
"If there is any neglect of our guests, please speak frankly. However, if you guests are so unreasonable, we cannot allow you to bully us." Zhu Mingyu held up a stick, his eyes blazing as he swept over the group of people who were about to start a fight.
The few customers in the restaurant got up, and a pet cat that someone had brought got upset and broke free from its owner's arms. It yelped and ran away, attracting a group of onlookers from outside.
Yan Zhiwei also escaped from the stove and witnessed the mess.
Before they could even feel sorry for the broken table and tableware, the atmosphere became extremely tense, and a conflict was about to break out.
"Stop right there!" A furious voice rang out from somewhere, and several black-clad swordsmen stepped out from the crowd. They were all tall and strong, and behind them was a beautiful woman dressed in fine silk and adorned with gold and silver ornaments in her hair.
In an instant, one of the black-clad swordsmen rose up, subduing the burly man with his left hand while his right hand held the knife to the man's throat.
"This is no place for you to run wild." The beautiful woman sneered and flicked her sleeve. "Throw him out."
In the blink of an eye, before half an incense stick had burned, the situation changed dramatically. Seeing that the matter had been resolved, the onlookers dispersed.
Only Yan Zhiwei remained frozen in place.
She saw the beautiful woman's appearance and noticed that she had a pair of eyebrows and eyes that were eight parts similar to hers.
"You are... Zhiwei?" Seeing Yan Zhiwei standing there dumbfounded, Qin Yuzhi's gloomy brows suddenly relaxed. She pushed aside the swordsman blocking her way and rushed straight towards the person in front of her.
"You've grown so much." Qin Yuzhi's hands trembled, her eyes brimming with tears. "Do you still recognize me... I... I'm your mother."
With a thud, the rag in Yan Zhiwei's hand fell to the ground.
——
At the Yan residence that night, Qin Yuzhi clutched a handkerchief and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Back then, if it weren't for your stepmother's interference, insisting that you were the reincarnation of a barefoot ghost, our family's fortunes would have declined day by day. Your aunt would never have agreed to your father sending you to this rural area..."
Qin Yuzhi sobbed, her shoulders hunched, stray hairs falling across her left cheek, her eyes red and heartbreaking.
“Auntie…no, Madam…” Zhu Mingyu was the first to react. Standing beside the Yan family mother and daughter, he was also seeing such a situation for the first time and was flustered and did not know what to do.
Yan Zhiwei also lowered her head slightly and tapped her fingers lightly on the table.
Everything was so unfamiliar to her—Yan Zhiwei had never met any of her relatives before possessing the original owner's body. Apart from names, she knew nothing about the original owner's past except from snippets of conversation with others.
Furthermore, it seems that the original owner died of illness.
When Yan Zhiwei transmigrated to this world, all she could see through the bronze mirror was a face so thin it was almost unrecognizable. She was clutching a rough towel in her hand, covered in splattered blood.
The bright red blood gathered into beads, transforming into the top-grade pomegranate seeds that Qin Yuzhi had sent before us.
Besides the rare delicacies from Lingnan, Qin Yuzhi also brought a lot of brocade and rouge, filling almost half a box.
Yan Zhiwei looked at the coarse linen she was wearing, then at the fine silk not far away, and recalled the haggard face of the original owner before her death. She covered her chest and felt a pang of sadness for no reason.
If only the original owner were still here, but alas... Yan Zhiwei lowered her eyelashes, avoiding Qin Yuzhi's haggard appearance, feeling a pang of heartache.
Qin Yuzhi was still choking up: "Fortunately, so many years have passed, and seeing that my son is safe and sound, the cross-dresser can finally put his mind at ease."
Qin Yuzhi covered Yan Zhiwei's hand with her own: "I was wrong to you back then, but the situation in the manor has improved now. Your father has returned to officialdom, and your elder brother has passed the imperial examination. Your aunt came to Lingnan this time hoping to bring you back to Shu County."
"Although the Yan family is no longer as prosperous as it was a hundred years ago, it is still better off than living in the countryside. Moreover, your father has been seriously ill lately, and his condition is deteriorating day by day. If you want to open a restaurant, you will have the opportunity after returning to your hometown. You know what your aunt means, right..."
Qin Yuzhi gathered Yan Zhiwei's hair and buried her head in the handkerchief close to her body.
The oil lamp cast a dim yellow light, and the shadows of the locust trees in the courtyard were dappled.
A woman's tears can soften even the toughest man's heart, and they also moved Yan Zhiwei deeply.
From the moment they recognized each other, Qin Yuzhi went to great lengths to win her favor.
When they first met, she staggered towards Yan Zhiwei's coarse cloth dress, but suddenly withdrew her fingertips when they touched his warm pulse.
Then she took Yan Zhiwei, who had finished her work, to the street, dressed her up, and bought her some jewelry and trinkets that girls love.
Qin Yuzhi also took off the sachet she always carried with her, which contained sixteen pearl pendants tied with red string. Although this item was not considered precious in the coastal area, it was a thoughtful gift from Qin Yuzhi.
Upon entering the Yan residence, Qin Yuzhi even brought out needles and thread, saying she wanted to sew some new styles for Yan Zhiwei's worn-out clothes.
"I'm so sorry, Mother." Almost kneeling on the couch in the inner room, Qin Yuzhi endured the pain and sewed the clothes stitch by stitch.
The gold thread flickered in the candle tears, and Yan Zhiwei licked her lips, tasting the bitter salty tears.
Perhaps all mothers are the same, regardless of their circumstances or social status, they always love their children dearly.
Qin Yuzhi's lowered face overlapped with the image of her mother in Yan Zhiwei's memory, always reminding Yan Zhiwei of her mother wearing tattered rubber shoes, knocking on doors, asking, pleading, and even kneeling, finally managing to raise enough money for her high school tuition, saving her from the fate of dropping out of school and getting married after graduating from junior high.
Yan Zhiwei wiped her eyes and squeezed her sore nose. She was most susceptible to emotional appeals. If Qin Yuzhi was like this, then the loving father and brothers she kept talking about must be even more so.
A warm and close-knit family doesn't need to be too nice; even a simple thatched hut would have been something Yan Zhiwei longed for but could never have in her previous life.
Compared to that, is the little eatery I run really that important?
Yan Zhiwei pondered in her heart—if she left Lingnan and returned to her hometown, she could open another shop. With her skills, Zhu Mingyu would follow her. At most, it would just be a change of location, but with someone to rely on, there would be one more light in the world waiting for her to return.
The coastline of Lingnan is too long, and the wind is too strong after nightfall.
She didn't want to live like a wandering ghost, hiding here and there, worrying about making a living in a dilapidated thatched house.
Tears welled up in Yan Zhiwei's eyes and then spilled over. After a few sighs, Yan Zhiwei agreed to Qin Yuzhi's suggestion.
Upon hearing this, Qin Yuzhi finally stopped crying.
“If you miss Lingnan, we can find a chance to come back again…” In the shadows, Qin Yuzhi’s eyelashes trembled violently, like a cicada with broken wings in autumn, her expression filled with a sticky struggle.
The mother and daughter stood silently facing each other, the oil lamp casting silhouettes of their two figures embracing.
Many years later, Yan Zhiwei would still recall this day, the day that changed her life.
The slightly salty sea breeze of Lingnan and the chatter from the vegetable stalls gradually faded away. The fragrant restaurants were covered with dust and broken bricks, and in their place came magnificent, golden, and towering eaves that could no longer be seen.
Like a cracked egg yolk, the clear egg white liquid seeped into the dirt and grime, congealing into a rouge crust at the bottom of the makeup box.
She can never go back to the beginning.
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