newbobooks Chapter 255 A New Mother (Part 2)
Chapter 255 A New Mother (Part 2)
Do you want to change your mother?
Cui'er's voice wasn't loud, but it struck He Zhennan's heart directly.
He Zhennan's memories of his mother are very vague. He and his sister grew up under the care of adoptive parents. However, the term "care" was really just about providing financial support; the so-called adoptive parents were only nominal.
My father was very busy and rarely seen, only taking her and her sister to visit our mother during holidays. At first, they visited at the Zhang family's house, and later at the family home in the countryside. My mother was very gentle, always looking at them with a faint smile. In my memory, she seemed to speak very little, and unlike other mothers, she wasn't busy making arrangements. She would prepare snacks and trinkets for them, and because she didn't know what they liked, she prepared a lot of different things.
Strangely, despite their mother's shortcomings, he and his sister never considered changing their mother.
At first, he thought it was because he and his sister didn't live with their mother, and the bond between them was weak; whether they had a mother or not, or whether they could change mothers, didn't matter. Now he understands: no matter how bad his mother was, she was still his and his sister's mother; no matter how good his adoptive mother was, she was still just his adoptive mother. Blood ties and family affection cannot be easily severed.
Undeterred, he seemed to be trying to convince himself, and also others. Looking into Cui'er's eyes, he asked softly, "Have you really never thought about changing your mother?"
Cui'er shook her head: "She is my mother. Even though she is not good to Cui'er, she is still the mother who gave birth to Cui'er. No matter how good other mothers are, they are not Cui'er's biological mother. Besides, how do you know that the families who bought Cui'er will treat her well? Maybe they are worse than my mother."
Cui'er said earnestly, "Although Mother is not good, Father is good, as are Grandmother, Brother, Uncle and Aunt. Mother will change; she just hasn't figured it out yet."
He Zhennan turned his gaze to another girl, who was the sacrificial offering on the day of the ceremony. She was slightly older than Cui'er, already over five years old.
Her father died early, and her mother remarried, leaving her to live with her elderly grandmother. In He Zhennan's eyes, she probably longed for a happy and warm family. The little girl, like Cui'er, gently shook her head.
Her mother remarried, but she never forgot her daughter. Her new husband was not good, and after remarrying, she had another child, making life even more difficult. Even so, her mother still tried her best to help her and her grandmother.
My mother's remarriage was not her own choice.
When her father passed away, her mother was still young. How could a widow and her child survive? Her mother did consider supporting the family on her own, but the idle people in town all knew that her husband was dead and that her family was poor. They always wanted to take advantage of her.
She had no choice but to remarry, to find someone to rely on for herself and her family.
Before the marriage, the man promised to help her take care of her daughter and her former in-laws. After the marriage, he changed his attitude. Not only did he refuse to help her take care of her daughter and her former in-laws, he also ordered her not to have any contact with her daughter or her former in-laws.
It wasn't that the mother was naive, but rather that men were good at acting.
Unfortunately, the deed was done, and it was too late for the mother to regret it. She could only secretly do odd jobs to supplement her and her grandmother's income.
Her grandmother treated her very well, always making sure she had the best of everything in the house, from food and clothing to other necessities. When she caught a cold, her grandmother braved the rain to dig for medicinal herbs, hoping to ease her suffering and help her recover quickly. Her family was very poor, but she and her grandmother were each other's support, and she never considered abandoning her grandmother for a better home.
No matter how good that family was, there was no grandmother, no mother who silently cared for her.
The little girl spoke more sharply and had a stronger presence than Cui'er. She walked up to He Zhennan and looked him in the eyes: "Do you remember the Ping'an Inn in town?"
He Zhennan didn't know, but the old town mayor did.
The manager of Ping An Inn is the same manager of the inn where Lu Zhiyuan and His Highness the Crown Prince stayed. His surname is Zhang, and he is related to Master Zhang. His great-grandfather and grandfather were both peddlers. His father started doing business in the area, and after three generations of hard work, the manager finally opened a small inn named Ping An.
Chunfeng Town is a necessary stop on the way to the capital, and the inns in the town are doing good business. Moreover, the owner of Ping'an Inn is very hospitable, and the food is inexpensive and delicious.
The innkeeper married at twenty and became a father at twenty-two. His daughter was born with a disability, and he traveled to every clinic in the capital to seek treatment for her. In his devotion to his daughter's care, he neglected the inn's business, and the inn was stolen by one of his employees, who was in cahoots with his wife.
He knew this, but he didn't care. He only asked the other party for twenty taels of silver and signed the divorce papers.
Twenty taels of silver was the life-saving money his daughter desperately needed at that time.
Some people called him a coward, but only he knew what he truly cared about at that time.
After three years of tireless efforts and countless expenses, he finally stabilized his daughter's condition. He worked as a waiter at another inn, and his daughter, without crying or fussing, sat quietly in a corner with him. When the last lamp went out in Spring Breeze Town, he was carrying his drowsy little daughter on his back, stumbling along the way.
The shop assistant was promoted to manager, the little girl grew into a young woman, and life seemed to be getting better and better, but his daughter was chosen by the town mayor to be sacrificed.
The little girl looked directly into He Zhennan's eyes: "Do you understand his despair at that time? Have you heard his daughter call out 'Daddy'? You think you're so great, but you've caused so many families to be broken up and people to die! Sister Cui'er is right, you are a bad person. Everything you said is just to cover up your crimes. What you should do is not kneel here, but die."
The little girl pulled out a knife as she spoke, which frightened the constable so much that he quickly grabbed her hand.
It was a fruit peeler, which the little girl must have taken from the table when no one was looking during the meal.
The little girl's eyes reddened as she glared fiercely at He Zhennan. He Zhennan looked at her with a bewildered expression, unable to understand why a five-year-old girl would look at him with such a murderous gaze.
Captain Ma kindly explained to him: "On the day she was sent to the sacrificial ceremony, her grandmother burned her and her old house down."
She must have been filled with despair when she lit that fire. She couldn't fight against the Black Lady, couldn't save her little granddaughter, and could no longer sit in front of the house as before, waiting for her granddaughter to return and sweetly call her "Grandma." Her granddaughter was gone, her hopes were gone, and her dreams were gone.
The little girl burst into tears.
She was, after all, just over five years old.
He Zhennan was convicted of conspiring with the Zhou family to traffic people, and the town mayor and the Zhang family were accomplices. Butler He was clever, and the Zhou family was clever too; they didn't involve He Yanxi and Zhou Xu.
Butler He intervened because He Yanxi is a woman and has been timid since childhood, making it inappropriate for her to participate. The Zhou family, on the other hand, wanted to use Zhou Xu to clear their name. The Zhou family had worked hard for generations to produce a high-ranking official like Zhou Xu, and naturally didn't want him involved in such matters.
Although not directly involved, Zhou Xu, as the eldest grandson of the Zhou family, was dismissed from his official post and returned to Jizou with He Yanxi. The He family and the Zhou family were raided, and those involved were imprisoned.
Over the next six months, following the clues provided by the He and Zhou families and combining them with the Zhou family's trading routes, hundreds of related criminals were arrested, along with dozens of local officials directly involved in the crime. A total of 280 women, children, and infants who had been trafficked were found and recovered. Those who were trafficked to Southern Chu, Western Shu, and neighboring countries could never be found again because their information had been deliberately erased.
He Zhennan and the main culprit of the Zhou family were sentenced to immediate execution. On the day of the execution, the execution ground was filled with victims, their eyes red with hatred, wishing they could devour them alive.
Lu Zhiyuan was unable to attend the event in person because she left Chunfeng Town with Lu Yun and Liu Ying the day after His Highness the Crown Prince returned.