Chapter 128 Never Knowing Her True Feelings
"Mother, he's the old man who gave me the sugar dough figurine!"
Fu'er discovered that the old man in the teahouse across the street was the one who gave her the sugar figurine.
Yao Shisan followed her gaze and saw an elderly man with white hair sitting by the window.
Even from a distance, one could immediately sense his imposing presence.
Zhou Congxian was slightly taken aback, then glanced at Yao Shisan.
"He is General Meng."
"General Meng?" Yao Shisan looked at Zhou Congxian. "My parents have long since turned to dust. What grudge could he possibly have that he would have to come all this way to personally handle?"
"It's not about money or wealth, nor is it a matter of life and death, so what grudge could it be?"
Zhou Congxian pursed his lips slightly and remained silent.
From the few words spoken by the Jiang siblings, it is clear that they had a very difficult childhood, and their mother, Meng Qinglian, would rather live a life of poverty than return to the Meng family.
Yao Shisan had no memories of his life before the age of six, and Jiang Xingyao was unwilling to say more.
I fear there are many untold hardships involved.
He turned to the waiter and said, "Waiter, the setting sun is too bright. Close this window."
Yao Shisan glanced back at Zhou Congxian, then the storytelling scripts in the teahouse flashed through her mind, and she raised her hand to cover the corner of her lips.
"Could it be that my father abducted a noblewoman?!"
Jiang's father was a rigid man, and he never had a pleasant expression on his face.
How could someone do something so unconventional?
Unfortunately, she has no memory of her mother anymore, doesn't know what her mother looks like, and doesn't know who her mother is.
However, if Mother were a daughter of an official, how could her family be so poor?
She and her brother had grown up before they came looking for her?
Zhou Congxian picked up a slice of bamboo shoot with his chopsticks and gave it to her. "Don't overthink it. If they're coming to find you, your brother will handle it."
Yao Shisan nodded. Now she was the mistress of Yao's Trading Company. Her mother had passed away many years ago, and the grudges and grievances of the past had nothing to do with her anymore.
General Meng put down his cup, the bottom of which tapped lightly on the table.
"The runaway concubine went into business and forged household registrations, just like her unconventional mother."
Guo Ziyu stood behind him and said, "Lord Jiang is currently working on the river with the laborers."
General Meng said, "His Majesty wants to train the navy here, and has entrusted such an important task as repairing the river and building the dikes to a mere county magistrate."
"This child is indeed very talented, and it is no wonder that I have raised him to be well-versed in poetry and literature since childhood."
Meng Qinglian was a virtuous and talented woman, but her marriage was always thwarted. She was engaged twice, and both times the families of the men she was engaged to had their property confiscated.
Even though she was the daughter of a great general, she inspired awe and fear.
Finally, the young lady and one of her father's young soldiers developed feelings for each other and ran away together on the eve of their third engagement.
Guo Ziyu had only been in the camp for a short time, and he had only heard about some of the past events.
Finding people relies entirely on portraits.
At first, he felt that many people looked somewhat similar and were difficult to distinguish.
It wasn't until he saw Yao Shisan that he realized how much the mother and daughter resembled each other.
"General, Lord Jiang is highly talented, and Miss Jiang is no less so. It's all because they are your granddaughters."
Guo Fang glanced at Guo Ziyu and rolled the whites of his eyes.
Sycophant.
Guo Ziyu raised an eyebrow at him smugly.
Only flattery that's done correctly counts.
Now, that bunch of troublemakers in the Meng family, they don't know their own limitations, yet they all have ambitions that are higher than the sky.
The general's own bloodline is still the most reliable.
General Meng's lips then curved into a slight smile.
"Set up a table in the evening and invite the siblings, as well as that quirky little girl."
Guo Ziyu hesitated for a moment, "Then, would you like to invite Prince Zhou?"
Although Yao Shisan changed her identity, Zhou Congxian was still her husband.
General Meng snorted coldly, "Since you have changed your appearance and abandoned your past relationship, you are now an outsider."
"Moreover, the current dynasty is open-minded, and women can remarry. She is my granddaughter, Meng Yushan. Why should I worry about not being able to find her a good family?"
"Yes, I understand."
Guo Ziyu bowed and left the private room.
Zhou Congxian carried his daughter, who had eaten and drunk her fill, straight to the riverbank.
As darkness fell, the planned fireworks were lit and burst into bloom in the night.
Today is not a festival, and there won't be many people on the streets after nightfall.
The fireworks in the night sky instantly illuminated the darkness of the streets.
Of the three, Fu'er was probably the happiest.
Zhou Congxian turned his head to look at her profile, which was flashing between light and shadow. "Shi Yao, if this is the kind of life you like, then I will live this kind of life with you."
Yao Shisan didn't turn around to look at him. "Zhou Congxian, you have an imperial order to carry out your duties. You're only here for a short time."
“The British Duke’s Mansion is your home, and you will always have to go back there.”
His eyelashes drooped slightly. "Home? I've never felt that place was home, ever since you left..."
Yao Shisan interrupted him, "You haven't figured out what you want yet. I am no longer a lowly concubine who depends on others for survival. It's just a firework display, just like the ones you brought back to the mansion for the Empress Dowager's birthday. Everyone admired them, saying they were set off for me, but they never asked if I liked them."
“You are a good father, a good son, a good subject, but to me, you are not a good husband.”
Her eyes were calm and still, and her face revealed no emotion whatsoever.
"Also, today is not my birthday, but the day I was sold into the Duke's mansion."
"The young master should not know such a trivial matter. The documents of the Duke's mansion do not record the date of birth, but the date of sale."
A golden firework exploded above her head, illuminating her gentle smile.
Not even in sight.
Fleeting.
“Shi Yao, I don’t know…” Zhou Congxian prided himself on understanding her, but at this moment he realized that he didn’t really understand her at all.
She neither resented nor hated.
Treat him no differently than any other person.
Yao Shisan: "Ignorance is no excuse, especially since we've never known or stayed together."
“In the past, I was a dispensable concubine in the Duke of Ying’s mansion.”
“But now, I am Fu’er’s mother, my brother’s sister, and the owner of Yao’s Trading Company. I am not dispensable.”
"The unimportant days are over; now are the days I've been looking forward to."
Her gaze fell on Fu'er's little face. "Your term is short. In this short period of time, you should focus on spending time with your daughter."
Yao Shisan clasped his hands in front of his abdomen, curtsied, and then turned and left.
The fireworks in the sky flickered on and off. Zhou Congxian watched her receding figure, his lips moving, but his throat was dry and he couldn't utter a word.
When she was in the capital, she lived in that small courtyard.
He seemed to have gotten used to her standing there waiting.
After leaving Beijing, she was cold and indifferent.
He thought that only by explaining his past hardships and offering his sincere companionship could he salvage the situation.
But only now does he truly understand.
What he gave her was not what she wanted.
She was no longer the Jiang Shiyao who struggled in the Duke of England's mansion.
They didn't drift apart.
Rather, he never truly understood her heart.
Yao Shisan walked slowly past the weeping willows along the riverbank, while fireworks continued to bloom in the sky.
Pedestrians on the street gathered in twos and threes to watch the fireworks.
She had just stepped onto the street when Guo Fang stopped her.
"Madam Yao, my general requests your presence."
Her gaze fell on Guo Fang, who had reappeared.
She glanced up in the direction of the teahouse she had just left, then looked at him. "I don't know your general. If you have official business, go directly to the river tomorrow. You can find Lord Jiang or Lord Zhou there."
Guo Fang, "The general is your maternal grandfather, don't you really want to meet him?"
As he spoke, he handed her a scroll of portraits. "This is the young lady from the General's Mansion, who is also your mother. She looks a lot like you."
Mother.
A blurry figure flashed through her mind.
Yao Shisan's eyelashes trembled slightly, and it took him a long while to reach out and take the small portrait.
"Yao'er!"
A hand, its fingers filled with mud and covered in scars, came across.
Jiang Xingyao tossed the portrait back to Guo Fang, saying, "Our mother is an orphan with no maternal grandparents, so please don't bother us anymore."
"Master Jiang..."
"Yao'er, let's go home." Jiang Xingyao didn't even glance at him, and pulled his sister back home.
He held his sister's hand tightly.
Just like fifteen years ago, when he led his weeping sister away from the gate of the Meng residence.
His mother was dying, and he and his sister went to her house to beg for help, kneeling there for an entire day.
What they received in return was Meng Yushan's statement: "The Meng family does not acknowledge those who have severed ties with their ancestors."
Ah, my mother's marriage is like a business transaction, the higher the price goes, the more the highest bidder wins.
The mother's resistance resulted in a devastating blow.
He remembered his father's hands; when he hugged him, they were also hands that were meant to slap his mother but never actually came down.
He never saw his father again, while his mother's belly grew bigger day by day; this was his younger sister.
The three of them were locked in an abandoned house.
My younger sister looks just like my mother. When she was four years old, she accidentally wandered into Mengyushan's garden and was punished by being made to kneel for a full five hours.
My legs are swollen and my knees are ulcerated.
When her mother was asked to marry again, she finally ran away with him and her sister.
No matter how bitter or difficult things got, she never thought of returning to the Meng family mansion.
My mother has long since escaped her suffering.
He and his sister were never members of the Meng family.
They had long since severed all ties.
Now, there's no need to say more.
In the private room of the restaurant, the table full of delicious dishes gradually cooled down.
Meng Yushan stood by the window, his hair already gray, his eyes clouded, and the wrinkles of his life of military service etched on his face.
The Meng family was once glorious, with five sons who were all outstanding talents and one daughter who was a model of virtue.
Now he has no children left.
The collateral branches only had their eyes on his title of nobility.
The Meng family's reputation further fueled their greed.
Guo Ziyu walked in quietly, "General, I am incompetent. Lord Jiang has refused me time and time again..."
Meng Yushan raised his hand to stop him from speaking.
"I will go to see him in person tomorrow."
"A seventh-rank county magistrate and the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, he should know how to choose."
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