The first person Lan Linxue saw when he rushed in was Qin Kou'er. However, when his gaze swept over the woman standing under the light gauze, gazing at him with teary eyes, he was stunned.
Lan Linxue's eyes slowly widened, her feet unconsciously moving forward slightly, while her hands clenched tighter and tighter with each movement.
He stopped gently when he was about five steps away from Qin Meiying. However, his eyes never left Qin Meiying for even a second. He didn't even blink.
Lan Shanyang slowly stepped in, saw the scene before him, let out a long sigh, filled with desolation, and had no more words to say.
Qin Meiying looked at the person she had been longing for in her dreams and wanted to show her the gentlest smile, but as her eyes moved, a string of cold tears fell.
A gentle breeze drifted in from outside, tugging at one's soul from afar, but ultimately vanished in the oppressive stillness, turning into a solitary shadow and disappearing without a trace.
Qin Kou'er looked at Lan Linxue, wanting to walk up to him and take his hand, but in the end, due to the slight trembling, she could only stand still, like a soulless puppet, motionless.
Who can tell her who has fooled whom in this world? Who is whose lost soul? And who has pushed whom into the abyss, never to return?
Qin Meiying wanted to walk up to her son, gently touch him, and take a good look at him, but as soon as she moved, Lan Linxue suddenly retreated like a wounded little animal.
Slowly pointing a finger at the woman before him whom he could not believe, Lan Linxue said with difficulty, her voice trembling but her eyes unwavering, "Father! Who...who is this woman?"
Lan Shanyang sighed but before he could speak, Qin Meiying collapsed instantly because of Lan Linxue's words.
Tears burst forth, shattering her longing; silent sobs turned her sorrow into a cold sea, burying ten years of yearning and unforgettable memories.
Yes, who is she?
Who is she to him?
She was just a stranger! A lonely soul who abandoned her husband and children to survive!
"Lin Xue! Don't talk to your mother like that!"
"Who is my mother!"
Lan Linxue suddenly turned around and yelled at her father, who had walked up to Qin Meiying and was holding her in his arms.
“My mother died a long time ago! She died in that fire! I saw it with my own eyes!”
Lan Linxue's eyes had begun to turn scarlet, and it was impossible to tell whether the light within them was from tears or blood.
He no longer glanced at Qin Meiying, even sparing the corner of his eye from looking at her.
Looking at Lan Linxue's resolute expression, Qin Meiying felt as if her heart was being torn apart by a series of knives.
Although she had imagined countless times what it would be like if her son didn't forgive her, when the moment actually happened, all the strength she had been trying to maintain crumbled into dust.
"Lan Linxue! You'd better stop!"
Lan Shanyang felt terrible, but he couldn't let the woman in his arms, who was on the verge of collapse, suffer any more, because she had always been innocent.
He gripped Qin Meiying's shoulders tightly, preventing further grief from overwhelming her. Lan Shanyang looked at her son with a grave expression: "Linxue, I know it's hard for you to accept the current situation. But a mother is a mother, and even turning to ashes won't change this fact!"
"Am I the one who wants to change the facts? It's you who want to change the facts!"
Lan Linxue felt like there was a fire, a lava, inside him, threatening to melt him and drive him mad. He had to vent it, otherwise, he didn't know what he would do next.
“My mother died long ago! She died ten years ago! She died right in front of me ten years ago! She was driven to her death by you and those people like Hu Tianyong. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have abandoned me! My mother would never have abandoned me!”
Lan Linxue stared intently at Lan Shanyang, his alluring features transforming into a tragically beautiful image. Tears welled in his eyes, yet he refused to let them fall. For if they did, all the suffering he had endured over the years would become a joke, a tragedy he himself could not bear to look at.
Qin Meiying could no longer bear it.
Lan Linxue's words were like poison, coating the wounds in her heart layer upon layer. She was in excruciating pain, an unbearable agony.
But she knew her son was in even more pain. He was in so much pain that he didn't even have the courage to look at her.
She knows her own son best. If she were to ask Lan Linxue to tolerate her mother now, it would be tantamount to admitting that she had lived all these years as nothing more than a burden abandoned by her own mother.
She absolutely could not allow her son to have such thoughts, not even the slightest bit!
Lan Linxue could live without her as his mother, but he couldn't let this extra pain ruin him.
Wiping away her tears, Qin Meiying straightened up, took a deep breath, and resolutely stepped out of Lan Shanyang's arms.
"The Crown Prince is right! Her birth mother died ten years ago! She will never come back to life!"
As she spoke, Qin Meiying walked up to Lan Linxue, looking at him with unwavering resolve, struggling to hold back her tears. "Your Highness, what you saw today was nothing more than a wisp of soul, a wisp of smoke. She will never change anything. No one can replace your mother, whether she is alive or dead. Just remember, she loved you! She never intended to abandon her only son! As for who I am, you don't need to worry about it anymore! We will never see each other again!"
After saying that, Qin Meiying turned around and walked past Lan Shanyang with a cold and hard back: "Your Majesty! Please take the Crown Prince out! You are not welcome here! Go!"
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