Chapter 239

【Zhu's father, seeing Li Qingluo so young and with no one to rely on, brought her back to Fenyang to study and write alongside his son Zhu Fugui】

【Li Qingluo was gentle, kind, and well-educated—very likable】

【Zhu Fugui also had feelings for Li Qingluo. Every time she did something wrong, he couldn't bear to see her punished and always took everything upon himself】

【The whole family could see how well Zhu Fugui treated Li Qingluo, so before Zhu's father passed away, he specially called Li Qingluo to his bedside and asked her to treat Zhu Fugui well and become his daughter-in-law in the future】

【That year, Li Qingluo was thirteen】

"Is this how Papa and Mama met?"

Li Qingluo passed away early, so Zhu Qiqi had no real impression of this mother. She had only heard Zhu Fugui say that her mother came from a fisher~man's family.

This matched exactly what Jiang Sishui had said.

Zhu Qiqi's heart thumped wildly.

Because the more matching information there was, didn't that mean reality overlapped more and more with the original plot?

Then she and the Happy King wouldn't...

Zhu Qiqi pressed her red lips tightly together and gripped the diary copy deathly hard.

Although she loudly proclaimed she didn't believe it, and her tone was very firm, in truth the confidence in her heart wasn't that solid.

Since obtaining the diary copy, hadn't there already been plenty of unbelievable things revealed?

Why should it be absolutely impossible when it came to her?

Thinking of this, Zhu Qiqi grew restless and troubled.

She pushed aside those distracting thoughts and shifted her attention: "When Grandpa passed away, Mama was only thirteen. So when Papa fell for Mama, Mama was at most only eleven or twelve?"

【From then on, Li Qingluo became convinced that she would sooner or later be the Zhu family's daughter-in-law, so she stayed at ease in the Zhu household, waiting until she reached marrying age to wed Zhu Fugui】

【At the same time, the son inherited the father's business. After Zhu's father passed away, Zhu Fugui shouldered the family's commercial responsibilities, traveling abroad year-round, and inevitably neglected Li Qingluo at times】

【At this moment, Chai Yuguan appeared】

【At that time Chai Yuguan was gravely wounded and near death. It was Li Qingluo who found him and brought him back to safety】

【Chai Yuguan wanted to repay Li Qingluo's life-saving grace, so he asked her what she wanted】

【Li Qingluo, however, wanted nothing】

【This greatly surprised Chai Yuguan】

【Because everyone he had met in his life who was good to him always wanted something from him. Yet Li Qingluo did not, which made him feel this woman was exceptionally different】

【After that, during his recovery, the two spent day after day together and gradually developed an ambiguous affection for each other】

【At this moment, Zhu Fugui returned】

【Accompanying Zhu Fugui was his good friend Shen Tianjun】

【It turned out the reason Chai Yuguan had suffered such grave injuries was that he had been beaten by Shen Tianjun】

【Because Chai Yuguan had secretly practiced a Wu Lin secret manual and harmed too many innocent people, Shen Tianjun wanted to rid the people of this evil】

【Seeing Chai Yuguan had narrowly escaped death, Shen Tianjun struck again and defeated him】

【But just as Shen Tianjun was about to deliver the killing blow, Li Qingluo stepped in front of Chai Yuguan, declaring that if Shen Tianjun wanted to kill Chai Yuguan, he would have to kill her first】

【Her reason was: she had barely managed to save Chai Yuguan's life and could not just watch him die again, and she believed Chai Yuguan was not a bad person and would not wantonly kill innocents in the future】

【At this moment, Zhu Fugui, desperate to protect his wife, also stepped forward to plead】

【Seeing this, Shen Tianjun reluctantly relented】

【Yet that momentary display of womanish compassion ultimately brewed an irreversible catastrophe】

Seeing this, all the women had their guesses.

The Shen family's later Mie Sect was probably because of this very grudge.

By this reckoning, the Shen family's Mie Sect blood feud could not be disentangled from Zhu Fugui and Li Qingluo either.

When an avalanche comes, no single snowflake is innocent.

Had the two not pleaded, Shen Tianjun would have long since killed Chai Yuguan, and there would have been no Mie Sect tragedy afterward.

Sure enough, they saw Jiang Sishui write—

【Chai Yuguan once again escaped death under Shen Tianjun's sword, harboring deep hatred, so he Mie Sected the Shen family. Only Shen Lang narrowly escaped with his life】

【At the same time, Chai Yuguan also stole the love, determined to take Li Qingluo from Zhu Fugui】

【Although Li Qingluo also had feelings for Chai Yuguan, her reason triumphed over emotion】

【The Zhu family and Zhu Fugui had shown her great kindness, so she refused Chai Yuguan and married Zhu Fugui】

【However, on the day of the wedding, Chai Yuguan found the bridal chamber and tried to take Li Qingluo away】

These lines still contain untranslated Chinese. Please translate them fully into natural English.

【Li Qingluo refused him once more, so he used alcohol for courage and forced himself on Li Qingluo】

【It was that very time that Li Qingluo conceived Zhu Qiqi】

【However, when Zhu Qiqi was one month old, Li Qingluo, feeling she had betrayed Zhu Fugui and unable to bear the torment within, took her own life】

"Bah! What a Bai Yanlang!" The women watched, seething with anger.

Yet their anger was not directed at Chai Yuguan, but at Zhu Fugui and Li Qingluo.

Had they not stopped Shen Tianjun, the Shen family would not have been Mie Sected, Zhu Fugui would not have been cuckolded on his wedding night, and Li Qingluo would not have had to kill herself out of guilt.

None of the tragedies would have happened.

Isn't this just bringing it on themselves?

.... 0 0

……

Compared to the women's fury, Zhu Qiqi's feelings were quite different.

Because she had found a point of divergence.

Her mother died when she was three years old, not a month after giving birth to her!

And it was from illness, not suicide.

This discovery made Zhu Qiqi very excited.

She really didn't want the father she'd called for over ten years to turn out to be a complete cuckold.

How could that sinister, cunning, heartless and ungrateful Chai Yuguan deserve to be her Zhu Qiqi's father?

【Speaking of which, the ending of the drama version of "Wu Lin Wai Shi" is absolutely absurd】

【The deaths of Shen Lang's entire family can be said to be related to both Chai Yuguan and the Zhu family】

【But in the end, because of Zhu Qiqi, Shen Lang himself didn't kill Chai Yuguan, and he wouldn't even let Wang Lianhua kill him!】

【How could the dozen-plus members of the Shen family rest in peace?】

【And Zhu Fugui even praised Shen Lang for it: "After all, he is the son of Shen Tianjun — to be able to let go of such a great grudge"】

【It's truly 'absurdity's mother opens the door for absurdity — absurdity has come home'】

【Big brother, you've been cuckolded by that man! And your most beloved wife died because of it — how could you actually say something like that?!】

【I finally understand why, even though Zhu Fugui was clearly so good to Li Qingluo, Li Qingluo ended up falling for Chai Yuguan instead】

【Not a shred of manliness — how could any woman possibly like that?】

【And what does "truly worthy of being Shen Tianjun's son" even mean?】

【Betrayed by his best friend, betrayed by his best friend's wife, betrayed by his own son — Shen Tianjun's coffin lid can barely hold down anymore, alright?!】 (End of part.)

266 — Soul-Returning Pill, Heavenly Art achieved!

"It really is absurd enough!"

Bai Feifei expressed deep agreement with Jiang Sishui's view.

Back then, reading in the diary that Shen Lang had transferred his affections away from her, yet in the end she still turned around to take an arrow for Shen Lang, she had suspected that her drama-version self's brain must be broken.

Now it seemed the broken brains weren't limited to just her.

……

"Father, he……"

Zhu Qiqi scrunched up her little face, knitted her brows, and was also rather speechless.

Recalling again Zhu Fugui's usual mild-mannered, good-natured-old-man appearance with everyone, she had to admit that Zhu Fugui really might say something like that.

So embarrassing!

By extension, she herself, the Zhu family's young lady, had lost all face too.

……

By the shores of Taihu, the Shen residence.

Shen Bijun sat by the window, letting the gentle evening breeze tousle her full head of black hair, and murmured: "What would Cousin do?"