She must have guessed that Aunt Ding’s identity was unusual, that Aunt Ding had ulterior motives—for wealth or power.
He had gone even further, guessing that Aunt Ding also had designs on Chu Ling—that she was a spy bought by some faction, Prince Zhongshan perhaps, or even the Xi Liang people.
But no matter how much they guessed, neither of them had guessed this was Chu Zhao’s mother, Chu Ling’s deceased wife.
……
……
“Ha!”
Zhong Changrong seemed to have heard something utterly ridiculous.
“You don’t mean that? Then what could you mean? Mu Mianhong—”
“Don’t think I don’t know. All these years you’ve watched Ah Zhao every day. Which gathering didn’t have you there?”
“Except for not daring to come to Luo City, where haven’t you been?”
“Day after day you watch her—isn’t it just waiting for the General to die so you can happily acknowledge your daughter and enjoy family bliss?”
“Put your hand on your conscience and tell me—don’t you want to?”
Mu Mianhong looked at Zhong Changrong. She still knelt by the bed. Facing the seemingly crazed Zhong Changrong, whether he cursed, rebuked, or questioned her, she remained calm, neither crying nor angry, not shouting or yelling, only occasionally offering a word in defense.
She placed her hand over her heart and said frankly: “Hand on my conscience—what mother in this world wouldn’t want to acknowledge her daughter?”
Zhong Changrong sneered coldly: “But no mother in this world would hang her newborn daughter on a blade’s point, threatening to dash her to death!”
“Changrong!”
The silent Chu Ling raised his voice sharply.
But this couldn’t stop the furious Zhong Changrong at all.
“General, I truly cannot forget that scene!” He beat his chest. “Never in my life did I expect to witness such a thing.”
“She held such a tiny infant, shrieking that if you, Chu Ling, didn’t listen to her, she would dash the infant to death on the spot—”
“Such a tiny infant, coldly held on the point of her blade—”
“This woman—she first pretended to be someone in distress, bewitched the General. After the General’s affections took deep root and he didn’t care about her unclear origins, told his family, even reported to the Emperor that he would marry her—what happened? She slipped away without a trace.”
“Disappeared for so long, then reappeared as the bandit chief Mu Mianhong.”
“Not only did she refuse to surrender and confess, she used your illicit affair to threaten you.”
“Seeing you weren’t afraid of threats, she produced an infant.”
“How ridiculous—how could it be the General’s daughter? She never even married you. Who knows where this child came from—”
Chu Ling sat up from the bed: “Zhong Changrong! Shut your mouth!—Ah Zhao!”
Ah Zhao?
Zhong Changrong froze. Mu Mianhong, kneeling on the ground, also turned pale, her soft but resilient willow waist breaking in an instant—
Outside the window, Xie Yanlai held Chu Zhao tightly, but still couldn’t stop the girl’s trembling.
Her whole body shook so badly she couldn’t stand—
How could this infant be the General’s daughter? She never even married the General—who knows where this child came from—