Chapter 163: The Mystery of Origins

Yet, as time passed, the sky outside the cave grew darker, the autumn evening grew colder, and the child grew hungrier.

The couple, fearing the child might come to harm, felt increasingly uneasy in their hearts.

So, they carefully carried the child back home and decided to raise him as their own son.

From then on, Elder Zhou went out hunting daily as usual, while Elder Zhou stayed home alone to care for the child; they poured all their love into this little life.

Though life was poor, the three of them together were filled with happiness and sweetness.

The child's laughter became the most beautiful melody in that dilapidated thatched cottage.

Who could have imagined that, in merely a few short days, misfortune suddenly descended.

One day, while Elder Zhou was cooking millet porridge for the child, she suddenly went black before her eyes and fainted. When she woke again, she discovered the child was gone.

Terrified, the couple searched every place nearby and asked everyone they knew, yet they could never find any trace of the child.

Finally, they had to give up; the couple who had lost their child seemed to have lost all hope in life.

Elder Zhou had no heart to hunt anymore, sitting in the courtyard every day, staring blankly into the distance.

Elder Zhou often wept, her hands tightly clutching the brocade that had once wrapped the child, as if doing so could grasp even a trace of his breath.

Days grew increasingly bleak; the home once filled with laughter and joy became cold and quiet, leaving only endless longing and pain.

Jun Chengcai listened quietly to the old couple's story, his heart a mix of many flavors. Although he learned they were not his biological parents, he felt not the slightest resentment.

Instead, he was filled with gratitude toward this kind couple. Had it not been for their act of kindness back then, he might have died in that cave long ago.

He took the brocade from Elder Zhou's hands and examined it carefully, a strange warmth rising in his heart.

The brocade was embroidered with exquisite patterns; though it had weathered the years, its former splendor was still evident.

Some parts of the brocade were worn, as if frequently touched; clearly, every worn spot carried Elder Zhou's longing and worry for him.

"This brocade is what you were wrapped in when we found you. We thought perhaps we could use it later to find your biological parents."

Seeing Jun Jun Zijin, who had remained silent until now, looked at the brocade, a hint of worry flashing in his eyes:

"Brother, this brocade does not seem like something an ordinary family could possess. Your background... is likely not simple. The matter of the brocade must be considered carefully."

Elder Zhou nodded, looking at Jun Chengcai with eyes full of maternal love.

Time flew; sixteen years passed in a blink. Just when the old couple thought they would never see that child again, he suddenly stood before them.

Elder Zhou tremblingly extended her hands, wanting to touch Jun Chengcai's face, yet at the very moment her hand was about to reach his cheek, she hesitated and pulled back.

Jun Chengcai stepped forward, tightly grasping Elder Zhou's hand, and bowed his head to the ground:

"Father, Mother, thank you both for the grace of raising me. Though we share no blood, your debt is as heavy as a mountain. If I do not repay this grace, Jun Chengcai is unworthy of being a son. From now on, I am your own son. Father, Mother, please return to Jingcheng with your son."

Jun Chengcai's voice choked slightly; the old couple, moved to tears, hurriedly helped up this son regained from loss, their eyes full of relief and pride.

However, after a brief moment of joy, they smiled and refused Jun Chengcai's proposal.

In their hearts, Jun Chengcai had always been their own son; to live together with this son regained from loss, they were naturally extremely willing.

Yet, their son's background remained a mystery, and his own situation was likely difficult; they were advanced in years and could not burden him further. That their son possessed such filial piety was enough to satisfy their hearts.

Seeing all this, Seeing Jun Jun Zijin naturally understood the old couple's concerns and reluctance; she felt even more fondness for this simple old couple and said softly:

"Elder Sir, Elder Lady, you are advanced in years and have no one here to care for you; my brother is likely tormented day and night, unable to eat or sleep well. Please return to Jingcheng with my brother; he has his own residence there, which will be your home from now on. It will be convenient for my brother to look after you. Please rest assured."

Seeing Jun Jun Zijin's words and Jun Chengcai's warm gaze were like a spring breeze brushing the face, warming the old couple's hearts.

Looking at this gentle and kind young man, a warm current surged in their hearts.

Finally, under the insistence of Jun Chengcai and Seeing Jun Jun Zijin, the old couple nodded and agreed to their proposal.

———————

The night sky, like thick ink, was splashed recklessly over every inch of the Jun Residence, shrouding this towering mansion in a silence of death.

Cold wind howled, and the withered leaves on the branches rustled.

Moonlight filtered through the mottled gaps in the leaves, casting fragmented shadows, as if draping the courtyard with a layer of eerie silver gauze.

Jun Jun Yiyi walked hurriedly, alone, through the silent long corridor of the mansion.

Her right arm was slung in a cloth bandage before her chest; the faint, flickering lamplight cast dancing shadows on her face, making her figure appear unspeakably sinister and eerie beneath the wavering light.

When she returned to the mansion, it was already dawn; ignoring the throbbing pain in her arm, she ran toward the Jingzhu Courtyard, wanting to make public that earth-shattering secret capable of shaking the very foundations of the Jun Residence.

"The dawn of the Jun Residence is truly suffocating."

Jun Jun Yiyi murmured to herself, madness flickering in her eyes; a barely visible cold smile curled her lips, a smile hiding deep resentment and bone-piercing hatred.

The image of the Old Lady's kind face, and her expression of shock, anger, and despair upon learning the truth, floated in her mind, stirring a twisted sense of pleasure.

She wanted this secret to be like a sharp blade, slicing the Old Lady's heart open alive.

That old thing usually protected Seeing Jun Jun Zijin and Jun Chengcai everywhere; today, she would make her taste the flavor of despair.

She wanted that thing to be the first to know this secret, to see how it could protect them.

She wanted Seeing Jun Jun Zijin to witness with her own eyes the Old Lady, upon learning her only grandson was not biological, die of sheer rage.

The mastermind behind all this was her biological mother, Lady Wu. To consolidate her position in the Jun Residence, Lady Wu had meticulously plotted this scheme to deceive the heavens sixteen years ago; while Xiang Xiang Junzheng was away from Jingcheng, Lady Wu, who had given birth to a stillborn, somehow obtained a child and brought him back, disguising him as Xiang Xiang Junzheng's biological son.

Recalling the events of that night when she first learned this secret, Jun Jun Yiyi involuntarily shivered.

On the night Lady Wu died, for the first time in her life, she personally cooked porridge and brought it to Lady Wu.

It was that very night that Lady Wu, deeply moved by her daughter yet utterly hating Xiang Xiang Junzheng, told Jun Jun Yiyi everything, yet lost her life because of the bowl of porridge she had brought.