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Restaurant Baoyue was across from the bookstore. Yan Mu and Yu Yuan followed the instructions in the letter and arrived at an elegant room.
Yu Yuan stood in front of the door of the private room, his outstretched hand slightly trembling.
Yan Mu held his other hand for encouragement.
After a long while, Yu Yuan finally took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
The room was elegantly decorated, and there was a bouquet of plum blossoms on the table.
The fragrance of the plum blossoms floated in the room, and a woman in white was standing with her back towards them.
Yu Yuan’s lips trembled slightly, and his hand holding Yan Mu’s couldn’t help but tighten.
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“Tso pbswze R yeealpp usw?” Zw Zwyd ypjle, okvb taklq yde xsnjkdt, “Fkel Rxrlakyz Usdpsav? Xa…… Ysvbla.”
Gv bkp osaep, vbl osxyd kd obkvl pzsozu vwadle yaswde.
Fbl schkswpzu vssj tsse nyal sq blaplzq, yp bla nsxrzlmksd oyp qyka yde nzlya.
Gnvwyzzu, fwpv tskdt sqq bla qynl, pbl yde Zw Zwyd eked’v zssj yzkjl.
Jwv bla eyaj lulp olal hlau pkxkzya vs bkp, lmnlrv vbyv blap olal psxlobyv ewzz yde tzssxu; obkzl Zw Zwyd’p olal flv-czynj okvb y bkdv sq vldynkvu kdpkel.
“Gqvla ps xydu ulyap, usw pvkzz esd’v zssj zkjl xl yv yzz.” Mbl osxyd zssjle yv Zw Zwyd okvb xkmle lxsvksdp kd bla lulp.
Zyd Yw pbyarzu dsvknle vbyv Zw Zwyd’p cseu valxczle pzktbvzu.
Rdvwkvksd vsze bla vbyv vbkp osxyd oyp ycswv vs pyu psxlvbkdt vlaakczl, cwv clqsal Zyd Yw nswze pvsr bla, pbl’e yzalyeu nszezu srldle bla xswvb.
“You and that mountain bandit look so much alike,” the woman spoke through gritted teeth.
Almost instantly, Yan Mu saw Yu Yuan’s eyes redden.
“Why were you looking for Yu Yuan?” Yan Mu stood between Yu Yuan and the woman.
“How strange it is you actually have a lover,” the woman mocked. “Does she know your dirty origins, that you’re the son of a mountain bandit?”
“Don’t talk about him like that,” Yan Mu was angry.
She felt like Yu Yuan’s mother was a little extreme, and seemed to be venting all her hatred towards Yu Yuan’s father onto him.
“Why can’t I?” the woman laughed coldly. “This star of calamity is why I’ve suffered so much, but this person just had to be my son!”
“Yu Yuan is not a star of calamity! He’s a treasure!!” Yan Mu said seriously, “If you don’t want him, then I do.”
The woman was stunned, seemingly surprised that someone would accept Yu Yuan so sincerely.
“Although you’re Yu Yuan’s mother, you don’t know him at all! What right do you have to say he’s a star of calamity!”
Yan Mu was extremely angry right now. She couldn’t allow others to vilify her baby.
Yu Yuan is clearly so good.
But why does even his biological mother……
Yan Mu began to feel depressed.
“It’s alright,” Yu Yuan said hoarsely. “This is how she used to talk. I’ve gotten used to it long ago.”
Before he came, Yu Yuan still had a sliver of hope in his heart.
But after coming, that illusion was shattered.
“Speak, what do you want from me?” Yu Yuan’s eyes were still red, but his dark pupils were already filled with frost.
The woman inexplicably took a step back.
This icy-cold gaze…… is exactly the same as that mountain bandit’s.
The hate in her heart grew stronger.
But remembering the purpose of her trip, she had no choice but to suppress those humiliating memories deep into her heart.
“I want you to join the Eldest Prince’s faction,” the woman said indifferently.
……
Yu Yuan suddenly laughed.
The woman was creeped out by his laughter, but Yan Mu was more worried about Yu Yuan’s mental state.
“What makes you think I’ll agree?” Yu Yuan’s tone grew icy.
The windows creaked as a cold wind blew through them.
Yu Yuan looked at the woman he should’ve called Mother, only to feel that all his persistence over the years was a joke.
In order to keep that bit of yearning in his heart, he stayed in Qingshui Village and suffered from the villagers’ ostracism and insults.
In order to inquire about the whereabouts of that so-called “keepsake”, he worked like a cow and horse in Hunter Zhang’s house, and suffered all kinds of torture with no flesh left intact on his body.
Later, he met Yan Mu, and finally grasped onto a sliver of happiness that belonged to him.
But the husband of this “mother” wanted to burn the innocent Yan Mu to death.
How much pain Yan Mu must’ve been in back then……
Yu Yuan felt a throbbing pain in his heart at just the thought of Yan Mu’s burns.
He didn’t believe the person in front of him was ignorant about the incident.
But even so, this woman still had the face to come to him, and condescendingly order him to do something that would get him beheaded.
What exactly was he to his mother?
Was he really a person in his mother’s eyes?
Yu Yuan’s gaze became even gloomier.
The temperature in the private room dropped sharply, becoming so cold that the woman shivered.
The woman pretended to be calm and said, “Then I’ll recognize you as my son again, and register you under the Eldest Prince’s name.”
“You even found me a new dad?” Yu Yuan laughed.
Seeing Yu Yuan laugh, the woman felt like she still had hope.
“The Eldest Prince is the eldest son, and the Noble Consort is favored by the Emperor, making him the most promising person to ascend to the throne. He has no children, so if you’re registered under his name, you’ll be the next crown prince……” the woman chattered on and on.
Yu Yuan silently pulled out the string of beads.
His head was lowered, and his features were hidden in the darkness, making it difficult to see his expression clearly.
Clink.
A bead fell to the ground.
Followed by a second bead, third bead……
Yu Yuan coldly laughed and snapped the string of beads in front of the woman.
The expensive jade beads fell to the ground and rolled all over the floor.
Yu Yuan coldly watched the rolling beads without a trace of emotion in his eyes.
He seemed to be cut off from the rest of the world1与世隔绝 (yÇ”shì-gĂ©juĂ©) – an idiom; be secluded from the real world; withdraw into one’s shell, and it felt like no one could reach him.
“You……” The woman was stunned, obviously not expecting things to develop like this.
“Yu Yuan……”
Yan Mu hugged Yu Yuan’s arm and gently swung it back and forth.
Yu Yuan’s expression faltered slightly, and the coldness in his eyes melted a little.
That barrier surrounding him instantly broke down, and Yan Mu could feel Yu Yuan come back to her again.
Yu Yuan turned and said to the woman, “You should know clearly why the Eldest Prince has no children.”
Others were unaware, but he knew well about the woman’s medical skills.
The woman’s body trembled. The hidden corner of her heart was exposed, making her feel angry and ashamed.
“I still have something to ask you,” Yu Yuan said.
“Why should I tell you anything, you b*stard!” the woman said angrily.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll tell the Eldest Prince himself that you drugged him,” Yu Yuan’s tone was indifferent, as if he was just discussing what to eat tonight.
“You……” the woman was furious, but she didn’t dare to retort.
She really didn’t expect Yu Yuan to grow up so fast that she couldn’t control him anymore.
She’d seen Yu Yuan when she received the Empress’s decree.
Although she didn’t want to admit it, the moment she saw Yu Yuan, the first emotion that emerged in her heart was fear.
She wasn’t afraid of the Eldest Prince finding out, because he liked other people’s wives, so he wouldn’t care about such trivial matters.
So, what was she so afraid of at that moment?
Looking back, she was probably afraid of Yu Yuan’s tenacity.
An ostracized b*stard could actually walk out from such a remote village just from his own efforts.
And even became the Second Prince’s right-hand man.
She knew the Second Prince quite well. He was raised by the Empress since he was a child and had extremely high standards.
Yu Yuan must have a certain ability to be looked up to by the Second Prince.
But it was precisely this that made her even more afraid.
His tenacity and perseverance were exactly the same as that d*mned mountain bandit!
She had excellent medical skills and was born to her father in his later years.
Who hadn’t spoiled and obeyed her since childhood?
But she was kidnapped by that d*mned mountain bandit.
She obviously could have been drafted for the beauty selection2selection among young and unmarried women of the right age to enter the palace to become concubines of different ranks and avoided marrying the Eldest Prince.
The woman was angry and afraid.
She was afraid that if she didn’t obey Yu Yuan’s words, he would really tell the Eldest Prince that she had drugged him.
“What do you want to ask?” The woman struggled to calm down.
“What’s my aunt’s true identity?” Yu Yuan asked.
“Aunt?” The woman was a little amused, “She was just a maid and doesn’t deserve you calling her Aunt.”
“Which means that……” Putting together his childhood memories, Yu Yuan suddenly asked, “Back then, after you gave birth and escaped, not only did you sell your maid to Hunter Zhang, but you also forced him to take me in, right?”
“Or, did you also sell me to Hunter Zhang?” Yu Yuan stared directly into the woman’s eyes, not letting go of any of her emotional fluctuations.
The woman didn’t seem to expect that Yu Yuan would guess correctly.
She opened her mouth somewhat helplessly, but for a moment, she didn’t know how to explain herself.
“Mother, it turns out that you wanted to throw me away from the beginning,” Yu Yuan laughed at himself.
Edited by: Gaze
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