Chapter 273

The bitterness of past years......

Of course, it's already past.

But the old matters of those past years must never happen a second time.

As a youth, Chinu still resented his birth parents for abandoning him at the Orphanage.

But now, perhaps because he's grown older, Chinu has also come to understand that painstaking intention——

The Orphanage may not seem the best, but it is already the best place she could think of.

Once at the Orphanage, he at least is no longer a slave.

During the days when he wasn't taken back by Mei Xiang to be a slave, his mother clearly also once struggled to change his fate.

In those days and nights before he could remember, his mother perhaps countless times fantasized about his future——

Even if she couldn't become someone of stature, at least she could be an ordinary commoner, far from brothels and bawdy houses, best to spend a lifetime unaware of her origins, living a smooth life.

Is Mother foolish?

Of course she is.

In this world, there will be no one more foolish than Mother.

But he now......

He now also wants to be utterly foolish just once.

He also wants to try, for his own child, to struggle against fate!

What does it matter who the child calls father in the future?

What matters is that the child eats his fill, stays warm, and can live a life of supreme wealth and honor.

What's this 'father relies on son for nobility'—does he really have to cling to the child's side, making the child suffer because of him?

If he knew his fate would drag down the child, even if he had hands and feet, or even if his limbs were cut off, he'd have to find a way to crawl far away and hang himself, so as not to taint the child's path!

He will surely, surely stay far away.

At most......

At most he'll just think of the Wife Master and the child.

He can endure.

He will surely be able to endure.

Only when the wound throbs over and over until he can no longer bear it, when he endures like Mother until his looks are gone, until he's on his deathbed, will he then go far away to glance at them once.

Thus, even his reincarnation will be completely at ease.

Before that day arrives, everything remains calm and tranquil.

That child will never know who his birth father is, never know what sordid past and origins his father has, how many dirty deeds his hands have stained.......

That child will be like Yu Yiai—just by standing there, he'll have an endless stream of people loving him.

This, this is exactly what he has struggled for all these years, what he has longed for.

He certainly won't obtain it himself, but as long as his child can have all this——

"Pa——!"

The crisp slap echoed through the room; Du Shanü held nothing back, solidly striking Chinu's face to the side.

Chinu's skin was naturally fair, and he still bore wounds.

Just one blow, and not only did a clear mark appear on his face, but the corner of his lip split open, drawing blood.

Du Shanü sneered:

"You used to shout against fate with a voice like a mountain's echo; I thought you were different from the people of this era......"

"So your so-called defiance of fate is just making your child acknowledge someone else as his father?"

Is that reasonable?

Is that reasonable?

She was already fuming at Chen Weifang at home, and after finally rushing to Zhoufu, Chinu made her furious again......

She's a human, not a pit of fire!

How could there be any sense in her painstakingly trying to elevate Chinu's status, only for him to preemptively resign himself to fate?!

Even his so-called 'resignation to fate' turns out to be merely father and son not acknowledging each other?!

What kind of reasoning is this?!

Even the Convergence Masters say that one should honor one's own parents; how could outsiders' affection for a child surpass the child's own birth parents?

Du Shanü, rarely so startled and angry, felt her abdomen, which had been steady for two days, start to twitch with pain, as if the child within were also displeased.

Chinu, struck, was dazed and at a loss, clearly having not yet regained his senses.

He's young; after all......

Or perhaps he's simply too young.

Even though his ferocious reputation spreads far and wide, once that harsh aura is stripped away, he's ultimately just a youth not long past his cap, like jade.

With sorrowful brows and eyes, when his gaze is moist with tears, even heaven and earth would close their eyes, letting him run wild for a few breaths.

Chinu, this person......

Chinu, this person, has always known vaguely what he is doing.

Yet Chinu, consistently obstinate, will not repent.

Clearly he was struck, yet aside from being at a loss and fearful, he shows not a trace of bewilderment.

Parental love for a child entails far‑reaching plans.

Obviously, Chinu sincerely believes that if he gives his child to Yu Yiai, the child will have a better life than following him......

Du Shanü gazed at his state; her endless shock and anger gradually faded, leaving only heartache.

Du Shanü loved him so deeply, now also hates him, hates to the point even wanting to eat his flesh and drink his blood......

Hating him, for the first time, a hint of regret arose.

Du Shanü still wanted to sneer, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she actually tasted a hint of a long-lost salty flavor:

「...... If you had said this earlier, we wouldn't have needed to be together。」

She packed up her belongings early and returned, guarding Yu Baobao as they got by.

Although the meals were plain and meager, the advantage was stability.

Whether or not there is a world ahead, she could plant her feet by the Gui River and live a prosperous and leisurely life.

There will be, there will be......

Just like now, everything has been messed up into a mess by Chinu.

Rulers are not rulers, subjects are not subjects.

Masters are not masters, slaves are not slaves.

Wives are not wives, husbands are not husbands......

Even now, even fathers are not fathers!

Chinu and Afang always say she favors Yu Baobao, but what exactly does she favor about them?

If it weren't for her truly loving Chinu, fearing that Chinu would be bullied by Yu Baobao's people, she wouldn't have spoken of separating the two places, nor would she have gone to the trouble of specially pulling Chinu and the others out of Cang Cheng!

Could it be that she actually loves to run around, loves to be long separated?

If it weren't for her truly loving Chinu, why would she go past Yu Baobao to bear Chinu's child?

Countless volumes of history, countless ages from ancient times to present——

Which page, which line does not record: first take in the principal wife, bear the heir, then welcome a new person?

Which page, which line's people do not know that skipping the principal wife and heir to first establish the eldest son of a concubine is an omen of disaster?

If it weren't for her truly loving Chinu......

Why would she need to hold up her belly, travel all the way, avoid the scouts from all sides coming to Zhoufu to gather news, and plunge into the still-unsettled Zhoufu?

She loves Chinu so dearly, yet how did she end up with Chinu pushing her far away, the Wife Master not acknowledging her, and the child not acknowledging her either?

All along, Chinu's repeated calls of 'Wife Master' were fake; he had long planned to flee far away, and that was the truth?

The beautiful dream of their former closeness still lies before their eyes; Chinu weeps, and Du Shanü feels her heart cut like a knife.

The sky's light is not clear, the blood and qi do not dissipate.

After a long, long time, Du Shanü finally endured the hoarseness in her throat.

She said, she said:

「As the old saying goes, 'Children do not despise their mother's ugliness, nor their father's poverty.'」

「A Nu, why do you still not understand? Yu Baobao is loved by someone, which has nothing to do with his status; it is the love his parents left for him. »

「And you, whether you have a name or not, regardless of your status as a mother...... you are the child's father. »

No matter what, you are the child's father.

As long as he truly loves this child......

In the future, there will surely be a child, regardless of the father's status or name, who will wholeheartedly protect him.

No right or wrong, no gain or loss, and furthermore no wealth, fame......

If he can hold the child's hand, the child will happily call him 'father'; even if the family has to eat bran and drink vegetable soup, that is still the joy of family.

?? Everyone shouldn't blame Chinu too harshly, nor be too sad.

? The earlier foreshadowing (even can be said to be explicit) is over; waiting for Yuanlong to come, the days will truly rise on the basis of the son's nobility......