Chapter 326 - 324: You Can’t Be My Real Mom

Chapter 326: Chapter 324: You Can’t Be My Real Mom

"Oh dear, although everyone in our village sighs over this matter, not many are surprised by it."

The assistant shook his head and sighed, "Since ancient times, it’s never been easy for a widow to raise a child alone, especially for a widow like Sister-in-law Wu who has some beauty. Ever since her husband passed, many men in the village have been eyeing her, and because of jealousy, many women in the village have been spreading rumors about Sister-in-law Wu behind her back.

Furthermore, many people say that not all the rumors about Sister-in-law Wu are false. Every day, even before dawn, she carries tofu to the city to sell. But no matter how good her tofu is, she is not the only one making good tofu in the city. And can she really earn much just from selling tofu? Many say that she actually does that kind of work in private..."

As he spoke, he suddenly seemed to realize something and slapped his mouth sharply, saying, "Look at what I’m saying. I’ve probably contaminated your ears. I often speak without considering my words. Please don’t mind..."

Xu Jing glanced at him and said indifferently, "It’s fine, I was the one who brought up the topic. You’re just answering my question. Sitting here doing nothing is boring, so listening to you talk about these things is just a way to pass the time."

Seeing that Xu Jing was not like other demanding nobles and was easy to talk to, the assistant opened up even more, "It’s good that you don’t mind. Anyway, over the years, we’ve seen Sister-in-law Wu become increasingly gloomy and irritable. She used to be a cheerful woman, always smiling when she met people. But for years now, there’s hardly been a smile on her face. Worse still, she often makes a fuss over trivial matters and always imagines the worst instead of considering the good.

Like the last time Mr. Qu came home a bit late, she immediately started looking for him everywhere and kept thinking her son might be in trouble. She almost drove herself to collapse and hit the wall, but luckily the villagers held her back firmly. Later, it turned out her son was just late because a new teacher at the academy liked to keep classes longer."

Chunyang and Cheng Xiao listened in a daze.

Xu Jing’s eyes darkened slightly.

From what it sounds like, Sister-in-law Wu seems to have a psychological condition like depression or anxiety disorder.

No wonder the assistant said that her suicide didn’t surprise anyone in the village.

"Therefore, it’s not just that Sister-in-law Wu suddenly took her own life; even if she had done something even more shocking, I wouldn’t be surprised..."

Suddenly, someone called the assistant from not far away, and he awkwardly excused himself to Xu Jing and the others before running off in a hurry.

Chunyang couldn’t help but sigh, "Hearing it like this, it seems Sister-in-law Wu has indeed had a tough time..."

She always thought their lady’s past life was already hard enough, but it turns out there are countless people living even harsher lives out there.

Xu Jing responded with a faint "Mm," finished the warm tea in front of her, and upon seeing Xiao Yi walking towards them with big strides, stood up and said, "Looks like the break is over, time to hit the road."

Saying this, she met Xiao Yi and asked, "How is Li Yuan?"

Xiao Yi’s face darkened slightly, "He still refuses to drink water or eat anything. He wants to starve himself to death."

Of course, they wouldn’t let him die so easily.

But the more Li Yuan behaved like this, the heavier Xiao Yi’s heart grew.

If a person isn’t even afraid of death, what else would they fear?

It seems the power behind Li Yuan has a deadly grip on his life. Even at the cost of his life, Li Yuan refuses to betray them.

Xu Jing pursed her lips and said, "That scoundrel Li Yuan might be a petty person, but he indeed has a stiff backbone. We can only wear him down slowly."

Xiao Yi nodded and said, "Let’s set off back to the capital immediately."

Saying this, he couldn’t help but glance at Xu Jing with some compassion, "This whole journey has been hard on you."

"There’s no such thing as hard or not. I’m also in a hurry to get back for Chang Xiao’s birthday."

Xu Jing looked at him with a smile and said, "When you return, you still have to escort Li Yuan into the palace. Let’s not dawdle. The quicker you finish the task, the quicker you can go back and accompany Chang Xiao."

Xiao Yi secretly squeezed Xu Jing’s hand, then walked forward to command everyone to move.

Returning to the Western Capital, Xu Jing went straight home. Thinking about finally seeing Little Point, whom she hadn’t seen for a long time, she felt a strong desire to return, getting off the carriage and quickly walking into the mansion, completely ignoring the ghost-like expressions of the onlookers. She hurriedly grabbed a young servant and asked, "Where’s the young lord? Is he at home now?"

The young servant was dumbfounded, "Madam?!"

Suddenly, a familiar and surprised voice came from behind Xu Jing, "Madam, why did you suddenly come back?"

Xu Jing turned around and saw Dongli standing not far away, eyes wide with disbelief.

She couldn’t help but smile wryly, "It snowed a few days ago, and the road conditions were bad. We couldn’t predict when we could return to the Western Capital, so we didn’t send word ahead of time. Where’s the young lord? At this hour, he should have finished his lessons, right?"

After his initial surprise, Dongli seemed to think of something and let out a slight sigh, "The young lord is in his room now. Madam better go and check on him. He thought you and Lord wouldn’t make it back before his birthday and might even have forgotten it. He’s been in a bad mood these days..."

Xu Jing’s heart clenched slightly, "How could we forget his birthday?"

"I believe that Madam and Lord wouldn’t, but whether you could make it back, I didn’t know, so I also didn’t know how to comfort him."

Dongli’s face was filled with helplessness, "After all, in the previous years, only when he was three did Lord manage to make time to be with him on his birthday..."

Before he was two, the young lord always spent his birthdays with... Madam. Given Madam’s past temperament, it’s imaginable she didn’t celebrate it well.

Since he came to Lord’s side, he has had three birthdays in total. Although Lord often said he didn’t know how to get along with him, Dongli and the others knew that Lord cared about him. Every year, Lord remembered his birthday.

Unfortunately, Lord was always busy with official duties, sometimes even wanting to make time to be with him was impossible. On his third birthday, Lord came home very late, and just because the young lord insisted on waiting and didn’t want to sleep, he managed to see Lord return.

The more Xu Jing listened, the more her heart ached. She turned quickly and walked towards the little guy’s courtyard before Dongli could finish his words.

In winter, the sky darkens early, and it was just past 5 p.m., but the sky was already dim and heavy.

There weren’t many servants at Xiao Yi’s residence, and since the two masters had been away for over a month, the entire house felt exceptionally silent, even a bit desolate.

Earlier, Xu Jing had heard from Xianyun that ever since Xiao Huai’an came to Xiao Yi’s side, he had been living alone in a courtyard, and Xiao Yi only occasionally went to see him.

The lights outside Xiao Huai’an’s courtyard were already on. As Xu Jing walked in, she saw Xianyun and Shen standing beside a swing, looking helpless.

Behind the swing set, not far away, a little one wrapped up like a round, white dumpling was squatting there, holding a twig, drawing something into the thin layer of snow on the ground.

Upon hearing movement at the door, Xianyun and Shen turned around almost simultaneously. When they saw it was Xu Jing, their faces were filled with disbelief and surprise.

Once they realized it wasn’t a dream, their faces lit up with undisguised joy, and they were about to tell the little one. However, Xu Jing raised a finger to her lips, signaling for quiet, and carefully walked over, bending slightly behind the little one.

Soon, she saw what he was drawing in the snow—four neatly arranged tally marks.

At that moment, he was drawing the fifth tally mark, mumbling to himself, "The twenty-second day, twenty-third day, twenty-fourth day..."

Could it be he was counting how many days she and Xiao Yi had been gone?

Xu Jing’s eyes softened immensely, and she gently said, "Chang Xiao, I’m back."

The small figure paused upon hearing her voice but didn’t immediately turn around.

Curious, Xu Jing leaned in to see his face, "Chang Xiao?"

She shifted her feet and was about to move over—

"No, you must not be the real Mom!"

Suddenly, the little one plopped down onto the snow, covering his eyes with both hands and wailing, "You must be a monster pretending to be Mom to trick me! Qingqing said if I patiently count to the forty-fifth day, Dad and Mom would be back, but I haven’t reached it yet, so you can’t be Mom! I want to wait for the real Mom to come back! Waah—"