Chapter 42 Centrifugal Forces "I'm not your mother." Shen Linlang's voice was like...
*
Night indiscriminately invades every corner, ruling over all things with darkness. Where there is resistance, it is driven away by bright lights, whether scattered like stars or blazing with light.
Even the light of a single lantern can be clearly seen in the night.
Before we even got close to the main courtyard, we could see a light moving in the distance.
“Miss, they seem to be heading towards the Tranquil Heart Courtyard. Who could they be?” Xia Chan asked.
This is not hard to guess.
Shen Qinglu thought.
"Follow them."
The master and servant walked quickly, and soon caught up with the point of light, vaguely hearing Granny Yu's voice.
"Madam, why bother going there yourself? If you're really worried, just send someone to deliver some things. It'll save you from seeing someone you don't want to see and only cause yourself more trouble."
"I just want to see with my own eyes how badly my sister-in-law beat her, so I can feel better."
Upon hearing this, Shen Qinglu quickened her pace, "Mother."
"Ah Li? Didn't you go to sleep?" Shen Linlang turned around in surprise.
“I couldn’t sleep, and I was worried that you, Mother, must be concerned about Father. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it, so I took it upon myself to send him some soup.”
"You child..." Her own daughter's thoughtfulness made Shen Linlang feel ashamed. She was ashamed that she had gone to see how badly Yu Qingxue had been beaten, and also ashamed that she had taken the opportunity to see Yu Liuzhu. "I...I went to see..."
“Mother, you don’t need to explain. You’ve raised Sister Tang’er for over ten years, how can you just let her go like that? You’re worried about her, and I’m worried about you, but these things don’t conflict.” She stepped forward and took Shen Linlang’s arm. “I’ll go with you, Mother.”
Shen Linlang was both touched and guilty, and held her hand tightly.
The mother and daughter supported each other and continued walking forward.
The Jingxin Courtyard was eerily quiet.
The door to Shen Qinglu's former room was tightly closed, and there was not a sound coming from inside.
The servants outside no longer possessed the dignity and pride they once had as servants to the young lady of the mansion. They all looked as if they had lost their parents, especially the head maid, Dengzhi.
She suddenly saw someone enter the courtyard and immediately went to greet them, "Madam, the eldest young lady hasn't eaten or drunk anything all day. I'm really worried that her body can't take it. Please go and see her."
At that moment, the tightly closed door opened, revealing Yu Liuzhu's tearful face, which was filled with surprise and joy.
“Mother…” She seemed not to see Shen Qinglu beside Shen Linlang, only focusing on Shen Linlang’s tears.
Shen Qinglu seemed not to see her at all, and walked straight into the room. After looking around, she said, "The quilt has been changed. It looks much thicker and softer than before."
"It was cold at night, and my aunt was worried that I would get cold, so she changed the bedding."
To Shen Linlang, Yu Liuzhu's way of addressing Yu Qingxue had another meaning: that the child hadn't been raised in vain, and even after recognizing her biological mother, she hadn't forgotten her as her adoptive mother.
Shen Qinglu sneered inwardly and said, "You still complain about being cold even though you've burned two charcoal braziers? I used to only have one charcoal brazier at night and I would cover myself with a thin blanket. It's true that there's a difference between biological children and non-biological children."
Upon hearing this, Shen Linlang immediately felt guilty for the fleeting thought that had crossed her mind. She felt that she had been too soft-hearted and was angry at herself for being so weak.
"It seems I was overthinking it; your mother is taking very good care of you."
“Mother…” Yu Liuzhu cried out, “I don’t want anyone else to be my mother. I only have one mother, and that is you. Whether you acknowledge me or not, you are still my mother.”
Shen Qinglu remained unmoved by her heartfelt confession and asked, "Where is your mother?"
Everyone knows who this question is directed at.
When Shen Qinglu's eyes, no longer empty but dark and deep, looked at her, she couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine, as if she were being stared at by a ghost.
After a moment, he thought to himself, not without a hint of unease, what was there to fear for someone as fortunate as himself, blessed with such extraordinary encounters?
"She has raised her cousin for more than ten years, so it is only natural for her cousin to care about her. She is in her own room, so her cousin can go see her herself."
Shen Qinglu ignored the deeper meaning and provocation in her words, and after saying "I'm going for a bit" to Shen Linlang, she walked out.
A relationship built over a decade can't fade overnight; we should give each other some time. Sometimes, competing isn't about reckless advances, but about making appropriate concessions—a strategic retreat.
Sure enough, this retreat allowed Shen Linlang to catch up.
Yu Liuzhu bit her lip and followed behind them.
Dengzhi rushed ahead, getting ahead of the other servants, and without informing anyone inside, he pushed open the door to Yu Qingxue's room.
The room was quite warm, but all the charcoal braziers were out.
Shen Qinglu stepped forward and could feel the heat inside without touching it. Looking at the charcoal that should have been extinguished by water, she understood and her eyes filled with mockery.
Yu Qingxue lay on the bed, her face swollen and her eyes closed, looking as if she were asleep.
Her appearance was so pleasing that even Shen Linlang, let alone Shen Qinglu, felt relieved.
"Has the medicine been applied?" Shen Qinglu asked.
Qin Mama lowered her head, considered her words carefully, and replied, "Madam said that she has indeed neglected the young lady over the years and did not allow me to apply the medicine, saying that she wanted to make amends to the young lady in this way."
As she wished, Shen Qinglu showed a look of reluctance, "How can we not treat it?"
He reached out to Qin's mother again, "Where's the medicine?"
Qin's mother hesitated for a while before taking out the medicine.
Shen Qinglu turned to Qin Mama and Dengzhi and instructed them, "You two support her, I'll apply the medicine to her."
“Miss, this is a small matter that I can handle myself. There’s no need to trouble you.” Qin Mama stepped forward, trying to stop her.
She stared at me intently, her dark, jade-like eyes seemingly unmoving. "I remember when I was little, I scraped my knee, and she was the one who applied the medicine for me."
At this moment, Yu Qingxue's eyeballs slid under her eyelids, and she opened her eyes as if she had been awakened. She slowly sat up and said, "No... no need for medicine. Just let me suffer it so that you can calm down."
Is a living, breathing life really worth it?
Shen Qinglu's eyes flashed with coldness as she said to Qin's mother and Dengzhi, "Hold her down and don't let her move around."
“No need, no need…” Yu Qingxue said repeatedly.
Yu Liuzhu seemed unable to bear it any longer and said to Shen Linlang, "Mother, Aunt is willing to endure the pain to atone for her mistake. Even if Sister Ali is doing this for her own good, she shouldn't let someone hold her down to apply the medicine."
"When she used to apply medicine to me, she would have someone hold me down. I copied her. Does Sister Tang'er think I learned it wrong, or that the person who taught me was wrong?"
Shen Qinglu glanced at Yu Liuzhu, speaking slowly.
Seeing that Shen Linlang remained silent and did not side with him, Yu Liuzhu gave Dengzhi a wink. Dengzhi quickly took action, pressing Yu Qingxue down from the left.
With a pale face, Qin's mother hesitated before placing her hand on her wife's shoulder, then subconsciously looked away.
Shen Qinglu approached slowly, then pulled a gold hairpin from Yu Qingxue's hair. Using the hairpin as a spoon, she scooped out a dollop of ointment to reduce swelling and smeared it harshly on her face.
The hairpin had a slightly pointed tip that pierced her already swollen face, causing her to cry out in pain. As she struggled involuntarily, Dengzhi held her down firmly.
In her terrified pupils, she saw Shen Qinglu's expressionless face.
When Shen Qinglu used the tip of her gold hairpin to spread the ointment, she screamed incessantly.
"What are you yelling for? You're lucky I'm applying medicine to you. If you dare yell again, you won't get dinner tonight!"
"Ah Li!" Shen Linlang sensed something was wrong and stepped forward, gently turning Shen Qinglu around. Unsurprisingly, she saw tears in Shen Qinglu's eyes.
Her voice trembled, "Is this how she applied the medicine to you back then? And what did she say to you?"
Shen Qinglu nodded, and tears welling up in her eyes immediately fell.
Even a mentally challenged child cannot be without pain. How could a seven-year-old child endure the pain of having their bruised knees maliciously poked and stabbed with a hairpin?
At that time, it was Qin's mother and Du Juan who held down the original body.
The original owner didn't have many memories, perhaps because the pain she couldn't escape or break free from was too intense, which is why they were preserved.
As Shen Linlang's expression changed drastically, she suddenly snatched the gold hairpin, "Let me do it!"
The golden hairpin in her hand transformed into a vengeful knife, stabbing Yu Qingxue's face again and again. How could someone who had practiced martial arts since childhood possess strength and accuracy that ordinary people could match?
Yu Qingxue couldn't escape or break free; all she could do was scream in terror. Her pupils dilated from the intense pain, meeting a pair of dark, bottomless eyes—so black, so sinister, like a gash torn open in the depths of hell.
Shen Qinglu glared at her, like a ghost watching her being tortured.
She screamed in utter despair and fainted.
Mother Qin felt her hand sink, and she caught the person who had fallen. The ointment on the person's face was mixed with blood, yellow and red—the red was blood, the yellow was like pus—it looked extremely horrifying.
Yu Liuzhu had never seen such a bloody scene before. She wanted to escape from this place, but her legs felt heavy and weak, as if they were not obeying her commands, and she could not move them no matter what.
Shen Linlang straightened up and slowly turned around, revealing an expression she had never seen before. There was the exhilaration of venting one's anger and the restraint of wanting to do something but being unable to.
Almost subconsciously, she sensed something was wrong, as if the gentle, dignified, and poised person she remembered had been replaced by a stranger, no longer the person she knew.
"mother……"
"I am not your mother." Shen Linlang's voice seemed to come from afar, avoiding her attempts to get closer. Her gaze was a mixture of pity and resentment. While she was raising other people's children like precious jewels, her own children were suffering terribly.
Even if she had a heart full of flesh and blood, even if it was painful to cut off her own flesh, she could no longer feel pity for other people's children!
She held her head high, refusing to look at Yu Liuzhu, and said, "Ali, let's go!"
This is the outcome Shen Qinglu most wanted to see.
Shen Qinglu deliberately walked at the back, seemingly to kindly remind Yu Liuzhu, "Your mother's plans over the years have all been for you. As her daughter, you can't be unfilial. Now that she's so badly injured, you should take good care of her."
Yu Liuzhu remained silent, but the rise and fall of her chest revealed her inner turmoil.
Shen Qinglu chuckled softly and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Don't kill her."
She was stunned for a moment, and her pupils contracted sharply.
*
As soon as she stepped out of the Jingxin Courtyard, Shen Linlang felt unsteady on her feet.
As she swayed, Granny Yu quickly supported her. She was overcome with grief, her jaw clenched, yet tears streamed down her face; she was clearly enduring extremely intense emotions.
Shen Qinglu grasped her hand. "Mother, I'm here."
"Ah Li." Her jaw snapped open, her hand gripping Shen Qinglu's arm tightly. The tension in her eyes and the force of her movements showed that she was about to collapse. "It's all my fault... I'm so sorry!"
“Mother, you have never wronged me. It was those people who deceived you.”
"No..." She shook her head desperately, tears streaming down her face.
Granny Yu had served her for many years and had never seen her so out of control. She felt sorry for her and hated those who had caused her and her daughter to be separated for so many years.
"Madam, the eldest daughter has been reunited with her family. Look at her, she's so good and so sensible. Please don't be too sad."
She shook her head again, choking back tears and unable to speak.
Shen Qinglu sensed something was wrong and a thought flashed through her mind. "Mother, did you hear her applying the medicine to me that time?"
"Ah Li!" Her clenched teeth loosened, and her emotions were released as she hugged Shen Qinglu tightly.
That's right.
She happened to be outside the Jingxin Courtyard that time, and heard the commotion inside, so she asked the cleaning lady who came out.
The cleaning lady said, "Reporting to Madam, Miss Cousin bumped her knee, and the eldest aunt is applying medicine to it for her."
She thought that since the child was inexperienced and didn't understand, the medicine would make him cry out like that. She didn't go in to check on him, nor did she ask him anything afterward.
“If I had gone in… you wouldn’t have suffered like that, Ali. It’s all my fault… I…”
Shen Linlang was on the verge of collapse. The overwhelming guilt and self-blame, as well as the unparalleled regret and hatred, crashed against her like a tsunami.
She was about to collapse, her whole body was shaking violently, and her upper teeth were chattering against her lower teeth.
Granny Yu was heartbroken and cried along with her.
Although I wasn't the one by her side that time, I could still feel her pain.
"Madam, please don't be like this. You didn't know the truth at the time, and you just thought you shouldn't meddle. How could you have known she was so heartless, switching the eldest daughter and treating her like that..."
Shen Qinglu patted Shen Linlang's back gently, "Mother, this isn't your fault, don't be sad. If you have to hate, hate them, never forgive them!"
"I will never forgive you!" Shen Linlang echoed her words, as if making a promise to her, and also to herself.
The night is silent, peaceful and serene, but the human heart is restless, experiencing joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, and dramatic ups and downs.
After an unknown amount of time, Shen Linlang finally calmed down a bit. "Ali, whatever you want... Mother will give you. Whatever you want to do, Mother will do as you please. Nothing that belongs to you, Mother will give to anyone else."
"Mother, you are enough for me." Shen Qinglu lowered her eyes, her eyes full of satisfaction.
Shen Linlang seemed to remember something else and hesitated, "Ali, Tang'er's dream... she and Alin got married. Now you are my daughter, so it's you who should be engaged to Alin. What do you think?"
She had noticed that Shen Qinglu and Mu Lin got along well, which is why she asked this question.
Shen Qinglu was stumped by the question, feeling an inexplicable sense of unease.
First, there's Yu Liuzhu's dream; second, there's Mu Lin's appearance.
“Mother, I don’t want to think about marriage for now. To me, Prince Mu is my second brother’s friend, and he is also my…brother.”
Shen Linlang wiped away her tears, "Then Mother understands."
*
Mu Lin walked around the bamboo forest, her steps becoming lighter and more brisk.
Perhaps it was because it was dark and no one could see him, or perhaps he was in a really good mood, but he was less composed and more energetic and carefree, which is typical of young people.
Before he could even approach the quiet courtyard, the gate opened from the inside.
Yang Zhen lowered his hands and smiled, "Young Master, please come in. Ninth Master is still awake."
He thought he had arrived at the perfect time, unaware that someone had been waiting for him for a long time.
Inside, the charcoal fire warmed the room. Mu Hanshi, dressed in a fine fur coat, sat on a grand chair, holding an exquisite hand warmer, with a gilded and engraved bronze stove at her feet.
That aloof and cold demeanor, that face sculpted by frost and snow, is like a glacier that has never melted, and no amount of temperature can warm it.
"Uncle Jiu, has your heart condition flared up again?" Mu Lin asked with concern.
He had heard his father, Mu Wei, say that his ninth uncle had experienced a plague when he was a child, so his body was weaker than that of ordinary people. In addition, due to a heart disease he had been born with, he needed to rest even more.
Mu Hanshi remained noncommittal, looking at him.
There was no incense in the room, but there was a cool, bamboo-like scent.
He remembered the first time he met this Uncle Nine, when the bamboo grove outside was full of lush new bamboo shoots. Amidst the intermingling of old and new green, the boy stood among them, just like one of those new bamboo shoots.
Now, many years have passed, and the bamboo grove has grown tall, but no new green leaves are visible, only a deep, lingering green. Yet, the way the other person looks at him has never changed, and even as he grows older, he still cannot fathom the source of that familiar, complex feeling.
"I have come here today to tell Uncle Jiu something. Ali is not the daughter of a disgraced official; she is the true eldest daughter of the Yu family. It was her grandmother who made a mistake back then and switched her with someone else. The original Miss Yu was the child of the Su family."
"Is this really true?"
“It’s absolutely true, Yu Erlang told me himself.” Mu Lin’s tone was filled with undisguised joy. “Moreover, after Miss Ali was recognized, she also regained consciousness.”
When he learned all this from Yu Jingliang, his recent troubles and anxieties vanished, and he was overjoyed, as if the clouds had parted and the sun was shining.
"Uncle Jiu, in that case, the person I should be engaged to should be Miss Ali. You won't object anymore, will you?"
Mu Hanshi lowered his eyelids, as if looking at the hand warmer in his palm.
The hand warmer was covered with an embroidered cover, with a blue background and green embroidery depicting new bamboo. Against the backdrop of blue and green, the slender, jade-like fingers were even more pleasing to the eye.
"You shouldn't be asking me about your marriage."
"I...I just thought that Uncle Jiu had some misunderstandings about Miss Ali before, so I came here to tell Uncle Jiu, hoping that Uncle Jiu will no longer have prejudice against her." Mu Lin felt a little uncomfortable. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt that his Uncle Jiu seemed unhappy.
"If the families are well-matched, then your parents will decide."
"Thank you, Uncle Jiu."
Mu Lin felt relieved, knowing it was getting late, and quickly got up to say goodbye.
Just as he was about to leave, he heard Mu Hanshi say, "Ah Lin, I hope you get what you want. Mutual affection is the most important thing in a relationship. You love her, but do you know if she loves you back?"
“I…” He thought of the joy in Shen Qinglu’s eyes when she saw him, and secretly thought that the girl A-Li must like him. He said shyly, “I… I will ask her.”
As he opened the door and went out, the darkness outside seemed to want to rush in, but stopped outside, fearing the candlelight inside. When the door closed, a night wind suddenly rose, as if it were whimpering in resentment.
After the sobbing subsided, silence returned, both inside and outside.
After a long while, Mu Hanshi finally got up and instructed Yang Zhen, "Prepare water, I want to take a bath."
Yang Zhen immediately accepted the order and quickly made the preparations.
A screen with eight sides, embroidered with bamboo in various poses, stood as a screen. Amidst the rising steam, Mu Hanshi removed her clothes one by one.
First came that expensive fur coat, then the outer robe and inner garment, until he was completely naked.
In contrast to his somewhat sickly complexion, his thin skin was visible, and a long-standing scar ran horizontally across his chest, about an inch from his heart. Judging from the shape of the scar, it was a sword wound, and from its color, it must have been a very deep stab.
Yang Zhen was about to step forward to serve him when he waved his hand.
Having served him for many years, Yang Zhen naturally knew some of his habits, and immediately retreated behind the screen.
The rising steam seemed to blur the coolness in his expression, making his features somewhat indistinct, and even the madness and obsession in his eyes were tinged with moisture, as if he were crying.
After a while, he closed his eyes and sank little by little until he was completely submerged in water.
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