Sun Zhenzhu happily got on the carriage to the capital, thinking that Chen Li brought her here to live a good life. Who could have imagined that she would be taken to the prime minister's residence and asked about her child's background.
She had never expected that Shen Li's background would be so powerful. Facing the highest official of the dynasty, she was afraid of losing her life, so she had to tell him everything.
She stammered, "They are indeed not my own children, but for so many years I have really treated them as my own sons! I even paid for their education! I am a woman, and I have saved money just to help them become useful people..."
Chen Yu'an said in a stern voice, "Speaking of the point! When and where did you adopt my grandson? Who has he met?"
"Sir! I picked them up! I'm not a kidnapper! Really! I picked them up on a barren mountain near Yunzhou..."
Sun Zhenzhu narrated what had happened.
Thirteen years ago, Dayuan was in chaos and war, farmland was barren, and a large number of refugees moved south from the north, including Sun Zhenzhu's family.
They followed the army and marched day and night. When they were hungry, they ate leaves and roots. They were lucky if they could dig up a few wild vegetables. Many people sold their children for food, and some even ate their own children.
Sun Zhenzhu's parents-in-law died on the fifth day, and they passed away one after another. She and her husband Chen San hastily buried them in the mountains, not daring to stay for long, and continued to follow the crowd.
After arriving in Yezhou, her five-year-old son Chen Li'er suddenly developed a high fever, and officials from all over Yezhou stopped them from entering. Chen San ran around holding the child, begging them to save the child, but the officers and soldiers remained unmoved and continued to drive away the refugees.
A mysterious old woman came up to them, gave them some herbs, boiled them in water and gave them to the child to drink.
Sun Zhenzhu fed her son half a bowl of rice with doubt, but she didn't expect her son to vomit blood on the spot and died not long after. She kept screaming and fainted on the ground due to anger.
Someone nearby recognized the old woman, pointed at her and shouted, "She's a lunatic! How dare you believe what a lunatic says?"
"What she's holding is poison vine! It's extremely poisonous!"
"Alas! What a pity! The child cannot be saved..."
Chen San was so angry that he kicked the old woman to the ground and picked up a kitchen knife to kill her. The old woman wailed twice, then began to laugh foolishly and said to him, "It's just that one son died! I'll give you two as compensation! They're in the barren hills ahead! Go find them!"
Chen San's eyes were red, and he cried and cursed: "You old hag! You are a lunatic pretending to be stupid! You have to pay for my son! I want you to pay for my son's life!"
When the old woman saw him rushing towards her with a knife, she quickly got up from the ground and hid among the crowd.
"Hey! I've already said I'll compensate you two, and that's still not enough! You're a thousand times better than your son! You idiot! Idiot! I'm afraid your son will take after you! It's better for him to die early, there's no point keeping him around!"
Chen Li'er was born with a congenital defect and was indeed a little mentally retarded since childhood. When the old woman poked his sore spot, he immediately rushed forward to chop her with a ferocious face and bloodshot eyes.
The old woman was frightened and took out a pair of jade earrings from her bosom. "Oh! Hey! You kicked me just now and I can't breathe. Ahem..."
She coughed twice and unexpectedly coughed up a mouthful of blood. She continued with a groan: "You don't have to chop it. I won't live long. This is my last coffin money. I'm giving it to you as compensation!"
Chen San took the earrings thrown in front of him, looked at them for a few seconds, and seeing that they were really good things, he restrained himself, glanced at her coldly, and turned away.
The people around saw that the old woman had something good on her, and they all stared at her with ill intentions. The old woman coughed a few more times, took out a few handfuls of herbs from her bosom, and said to them with a smile: "You also want me to compensate for my son? Hehehe, all right! Come and help me try the medicine! My treasures are hidden, no one knows, if any of you want to try, I'll go dig the treasures right away!"
"Hmph! Crazy!" Some people didn't believe it and turned away.
Some people also wanted to try to adopt a son, but they were afraid of losing both the wife and the army. Thinking of Chen Li'er's miserable condition, they decisively gave up the idea.
Some people took the opportunity to stop the old woman and threatened her to hand over all her treasures. She seemed to have become stupid again and would not listen to anything. She took a few broken herbs and gave them to everyone one by one. Those people cursed at her and had to return empty-handed.
After Sun Zhenzhu woke up, she was unwilling to accept the fact and cried while hugging her son. Chen San quickly put the jade earrings in his arms into her hands and told her what had happened.
"Wife, let's go bury Li'er and find a place to start a new life. We are still young and we can raise a few more children in the future!"
Sun Zhenzhu hugged him and cried for a long time. While it was still light, she carried her son's body and walked towards the mountain ahead.
Just as the two men buried their son, they were suddenly startled by a burst of crying. They followed the direction of the sound and saw the old woman who had killed her son, leaning against a big tree and sleeping with her eyes closed.
Chen San heaved a sigh of relief and walked over to ask her for some more money. But before he could go forward, a child slowly crawled out from her side, snuggled into her arms and played with her collar. As the child was pulling her, the old woman could not hold on and fell to the ground.
The child seemed to be in pain from the fall and sat on the ground crying loudly. Chen San and Sun Zhenzhu hurried over to check.
The old woman's face was pale and her body was stiff. I was afraid she had been dead for most of the day. But I didn't expect that what she said was true. There was really a child in this forest!
Sun Zhenzhu picked up the child and coaxed her as they walked.
Suddenly, she screamed, "Boss, come here quickly! There is a child here!"
When Chen San heard this, he hurried over and found a child lying on the other side of the tree. He squatted down and patted his cheek, but the child was still unconscious. He realized something was wrong and touched his forehead, which was burning hot.
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