She choked back tears as she lifted her son's face, her nails digging deep into his shoulder blade. "How did he get hurt so badly! Really!"
Before the words were finished, the suppressed sobs finally broke free, creating a tidal wave in the damp cell.
Madam Cheng's trembling fingertips brushed over the scabbed bloodstains on her son's face, then over the bleeding bandage on the back of his neck. Her gold-embroidered sleeves swept over the hideous whip marks on Cheng Muyun's collarbone, and a crimson glint appeared in her eyes.
"You just let him beat you half to death? Couldn't you run away? Silly child!" Her voice suddenly rose, filled with a mother's heartache and anger. "Your father is angry. Are you stupid? If you really die, your mother will have no children left!"
The fist slammed heavily onto Cheng Muyun's shoulder, but most of the force dissipated when it touched the bloody wound.
The moment a muffled groan escaped Cheng Muyun's throat, Madam Cheng withdrew her hand as if she had been electrocuted.
She hurriedly cupped her son's face in her hands, wiping his sweat-drenched forehead with a handkerchief. "Does it hurt, baby?"
Cheng Muyun felt warm tears welling up in his eyes, and the familiar scent of soap mingled with the smell of medicine emanating from his mother.
He suddenly pulled Madam Cheng into his arms, his arms tightly encircling her slightly thin back, his chin tilted back against his mother's head, stubbornly refusing to let her see his vulnerability.
After a few slow breaths, Cheng Muyun finally let go.
"Mother, I'm fine. I'm tough. I don't blame Father. I almost dragged the Dongzhou Army down with me. It was my fault."
Madam Cheng looked up, and the moonlight shone through the mottled iron window, casting long shadows on Cheng Muyun's dark eyes.
His pale lips almost blended into the bandages, and the scabbed wounds gleamed eerily bluish-white in the cold light, making her feel as if a thousand rusty steel needles were stuck in her throat, each breath bringing a dull pain.
"I don't care about any of that!" She suddenly gripped her son's hand tightly, the jade bracelet on her wrist clinking crisply. "You're my only child, no one can hurt you! Come on, let's go home!"
But when she tried to pull him, Cheng Muyun remained rooted to the spot.
“Mother, I can’t leave.” Cheng Muyun grasped his mother’s cold fingers with his other hand. “I must remain imprisoned until news from Beiping and Nanjing arrives.”
He lowered his eyes to avoid Madam Cheng's tearful gaze, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty. "Otherwise, Zhou Minhai will seize the opportunity to accuse Father of covering up wrongdoing and favoritism, and then the entire Dongzhou Army will become the target of public criticism."
Mrs. Cheng felt all her strength drain away in an instant, and she staggered as she grabbed the iron railing for support.
In the dim light, her son's thin back was hunched over like a bow, and the wounds she couldn't see now seemed to transform into thousands of barbs, densely piercing her heart.
She raised her hand tremblingly, trying to smooth his furrowed brow, but her fingertips hovered in mid-air before finally falling limply to the ground.
"Mu Yun, what are you doing? Why is your father so angry?"
Cheng Muyun's lips twitched slightly. "Mother, I can't say."
Madam Cheng's voice suddenly rose, her body trembling, "Mu Yun, please stop now, okay? I don't ask you to achieve anything great, nor do I want your father to be a warlord, let alone the title of warlord's wife. I just want our family of four to live peacefully."
Cheng Muyun frowned deeply, his hands clenched into fists.
He took a deep breath. “Mother, everyone born in this era has an obligation to do their part, especially someone like me who has enjoyed being supported by others since childhood. I should not abandon the responsibilities on my shoulders.”
Madam Cheng's knees suddenly went weak, and if Uncle Li hadn't caught her trembling elbows in time, she would have almost collapsed onto the damp stone slab.
Cheng Muyun's pale face suddenly overlapped with another figure in his memory.
Two years ago, on that morning, Cheng Muchuan also stood up straight, his sidearm tucked into his waistband, his eyes burning with the same resolute fire.
At that time, she tugged at her son's sleeve and begged, but what she got in return was Cheng Yuguang slamming his fist on the table and shouting angrily: "Don't interfere in men's affairs!"
A metallic, metallic taste rose in her throat, and Madam Cheng bit her lower lip hard.
The youngest son standing before me now has the same lip-twitching curve as his older brother when he speaks.
In a daze, the charred, curled-up corpse reappeared before my eyes.
She threw herself onto the unrecognizable body, her fingernails digging into the charred flesh, her mind solely focused on pulling her son's soul back from hell.
"Mother?" Cheng Muyun's hoarse call pierced through his memories.
Looking at the newly changed bandage on her son's neck, Madam Cheng suddenly remembered the day Cheng Muchuan was buried. She had personally prepared his remains, but she couldn't find a single piece of intact skin.
Tears finally broke through her defenses, streaming down her wrinkled cheeks: "Mother can't take any more of this in her life..."
Her words were choked up and fragmented, and she buried her face in her son's shoulder, trembling, as if grasping at the last straw.
Cheng Muyun had this expression again at this moment.
For Mrs. Cheng, it was like a call from the Grim Reaper.
Madam Cheng grabbed Cheng Muyun's wrist tightly, her tone urgent and full of anger, "I don't care about responsibility or anything like that. No mother can bear the pain of losing three children."
Mrs. Cheng's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. "No matter what, I can't lose you again! Do you know that?"
Cheng Muyun's rough, large hand enveloped Madam Cheng's hand and held it gently. "I know, I understand, Mother. I will be careful!"
Madam Cheng suddenly broke free. "I don't care about being careful, I want you to stop! Cheng Muyun, what are you thinking? Do you want Zhuohua to become a widow?"
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