Chapter 820

She was standing behind the bed curtains, seemingly with her head half-turned. The lighting was poor, and the mirror surface was blurry, so her face couldn't be seen clearly.

Lady Ying turned around in great alarm, her voice sharp and shrill: "Who!"

The area by the bed curtains was empty; where could anyone be? She called "Xiao Lan" two more times, but no one answered. Lady Ying had no choice but to light the candle herself and walk toward the outer room first.

There was no one in the outer room; it was empty.

Lady Ying continued to walk out, pushed open the courtyard gate, and went out to shout "Someone come."

As a result, there was not a single response from all around.

What was going on? Lady Ying felt more and more panicked in her heart.

At this moment, she actually heard a female voice faintly ring out in the courtyard:

"Ying Hongchan, where is my son?"

Lady Ying shuddered, turning around too violently, and nearly tripped over the threshold.

She stumbled two steps, only to hear a "bang," and the courtyard gate behind her slammed shut, scaring her into jumping up.

Something didn't want her to leave! Lady Ying braced herself to look into the courtyard; sure enough, a white figure was swaying gently in the wind behind the osmanthus tree.

"Who are you!"

Every word the other party spoke seemed to be pried out of an ice cellar: "You have everything: a husband who is rising in the world, a filial and promising son, and a life full of flowers and brocade. Yet I could only be lonely in Bai Ta Temple, with no one coming to see me year after year. Now you say, you don't know who I am?"

As soon as the three characters "Bai Ta Temple" were spoken, Lady Ying shivered and said in a choked voice: "Lu, Lu Xiaoyun?!"

After shouting this name, she calmed down instead, widening her eyes to carefully examine the other party: "The Master goes to Bai Ta Temple to pay respects every year, why do you say no one comes to see you?"

"He hasn't come for a long time."

"We moved away from Heishuicheng!" Lady Ying braced herself, "I have no grudge against you, and in fact, I have been kind to you. Why have you come to find me!"

"Kind?" Lu Xiaoyun gave a cackle, the laughter particularly chilling in the night, "What kindness could you possibly have toward me?!"

"You died after giving birth, and I treated Chuan'er as my own, raising him to adulthood..."

"Treated as your own?" Lu Xiaoyun suddenly interrupted her, "You call that treating him as your own?"

As she grew angry, a great wind whipped up on the spot.

Lady Ying retreated two steps and rubbed her eyes: "His food, drink, and daily expenses, which one was not better than Yue'er's? Every time he caused trouble from childhood to adulthood, wasn't it us cleaning up the aftermath for him? In this family, when has he ever suffered even a little bit?"

By the end, she even straightened her back: "I have done nothing to feel guilty about, I am not afraid of you coming to my door!"

"Done nothing to feel guilty about?" Lu Xiaoyun sneered, "Do you not know what He Chunhua wanted to do to my son?"

"Know what?" Lady Ying looked puzzled, "He just doted on Chuan'er!"

Was there something wrong with loving a child? "Back then..." Lu Xiaoyun spoke leisurely, "How did he persuade you to raise my child? Did he tell you that Chuan'er would not affect your son's future?"

Lady Ying fell silent at once.

"Did he guarantee to you that he would cultivate your son with all his might, and that the position of family head would only be left to the second son?"

Lady Ying pursed her lips and said nothing.

When He Chunhua brought back his eldest son all those years ago, he had indeed sworn this to her.

Heh, a man's mouth, a deceiving ghost!

But what could she do, throw away a child who had no ability to protect himself? She could only choose to believe.

Fortunately, He Lingchuan's subsequent growth put her at ease.

Such a mischievous and useless child, how could he be a match for Yue'er in the future!

"I ask you, He Chunhua did indeed cultivate He Yue with all his might, didn't he?"

Lady Ying nodded subconsciously.

If He Chunhua couldn't do this, how could they, as husband and wife, be harmonious? "Then what plans and intentions did He Chunhua have for the eldest son's future?"

Lady Ying wanted to speak but stopped.

Over the past many years, her husband seemed to only urge her to be better to Chuan'er, but had never said what this child should do or what he should become when he grew up.

Shouldn't a normal father look forward to and plan a child's life? But He Chunhua only doted on his eldest son.

Lady Ying had seen it long ago and had advised him, but He Chunhua didn't take it to heart.

Thinking about it now, this kind of carelessness also seemed a bit abnormal.

"It seems you know very little." Lu Xiaoyun sighed faintly, "How much has He Chunhua told you about me?"

"He said you were a descendant of the Does Bailie people and saved him during the Sand Season, and later you two just, just..." Lady Ying gritted her teeth, "The Does Bailie people's territory is thousands of miles away from here; why you came to Heishuicheng, the Master has never told me!"

"That's all I know." Lady Ying sneered, "As for you, I don't want to know too much!"

She even gathered her courage and took two steps into the courtyard.

Lu Xiaoyun flickered, her figure now in the shadows under the eaves.

"One last question." She asked Lady Ying, "Why didn't you tell Chuan'er the truth?"

"You are already dead; what use is it for him to know his biological mother?" Lady Ying gave a light sneer, "Separated by yin and yang, can you still recognize each other?"

"At least, he could come to see me."

This sentence left Lady Ying speechless.

Before dawn, Lady Ying woke up, her first word being "Xiao Lan."

After a few breaths, Xiao Lan rubbed her eyes and walked in from the outer room: "My Lady, you woke up so early today!"

The night birds hadn't even woken up yet.

Lady Ying was covered in cold sweat: "Where did you run off to just now!"

"The maid was sleeping in the outer room, I haven't left a single step." Xiao Lan looked blank, "Did you have a nightmare, My Lady? I'll go get a towel."

"I..." Lady Ying wanted to scold her, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she didn't know what she should scold her for.

She touched her temples and found them soaked with sweat.

It seemed she really had a nightmare, but why couldn't she remember the specific content of the dream?

She pressed her forehead and recalled for a long time, only remembering that Lu Xiaoyun had come to find her and seemed to have talked about Chuan'er, but she couldn't remember the specific content.

She rested by the couch for a long while before asking: "Is Chuan'er departing today?"

"Yes, the Young Master is leaving today."

"And last night?"

"The Young Master and the Second Young Master went out for drinks last night and only returned in the middle of the night."

The brothers had a good relationship; He Lingchuan was leaving, so He Yue gave him a farewell drink.

By dawn, the mother and her two sons ate breakfast quietly, without much conversation.

It was as if everything was as usual.

But He Lingchuan understood that this scene would never happen again.

The sun rose, the time was just right, and He Lingchuan and the others packed up and set off immediately.

Lady Ying saw him to the main gate, and looking at his young and handsome face, she suddenly felt a pang in her heart and was actually reluctant to let him go.

It was as if once the brat left like this, he would never come back.

It was He Lingchuan who opened his mouth with a smile: "Mother, your dark circles are so heavy; did you have a nightmare last night?"

Lady Ying gave a humph: "It seems I was pestered by a short-lived ghost; truly bad luck to the extreme."

(End of chapter)