Union

Chapter 192 Finally
Xu Shaotian was flexible and adaptable; as soon as he sensed the situation was not going well, he immediately put on a fawning smile.

"Oh, isn't this Ying'er? Quick, quick, my wife, our Ying'er is back! What are you standing there for? Hurry up and invite the child inside. Oh dear, in this freezing weather, I don't know how much the child has suffered to find her way home. My wife, quickly make some hot noodle soup for the child to eat and warm her up."

The woman standing in the courtyard was Wang Meiniang, Yunying's adoptive mother. She was an honest, taciturn, and awkward person, far less eloquent than Xu Shaotian.

At this moment, she felt guilty and flustered, as well as happy. She could only sob quietly. Unlike Xu Shaotian, who acted as if nothing had happened after doing something wrong, he warmly invited Yunying in and considerately asked Wang Meiniang to make hot soup noodles for Yunying.

Putting aside everything else, his mental fortitude and adaptability alone are unmatched by many sons of officials in the capital.

Wang Meiniang didn't react and continued to sob.

Xu Shaotian panicked and ran over to pull her up. "Why are you crying? Your daughter is back! What a joyous occasion! Hurry up and go make some hot food for our girl. And you, Xu Yuncheng, you brat, you have no sense of propriety! What are you doing clinging to your sister's leg? Let go of her and go to the market to buy some meat."

Xu Shaotian called into the house again, "Yun Que, quickly put down your embroidery shed and go to the kitchen to start a fire. Your sister is back, quickly make her something delicious."

Xu Shaotian's shouting and yelling had already alerted the entire neighborhood.

Neighbors on both sides poked their heads out of their doors, and some even stood directly in the alley and asked, "What's going on? Did you have relatives visiting?"

Xu Shaotian smiled on the surface, but inwardly he was cursing. "That's right, my period's here. Oh dear, I have things to do here, so I'll have to go now. Let's have a couple of drinks together sometime."

Xu Shaotian mumbled nonsense, but he didn't dare to reveal that Yunying was his daughter.

Just by looking at his daughter's clothes, you can tell she must have become successful. She wouldn't have gone to such lengths to find him if she weren't.

When he moved to Lingshui County, he did so partly to inherit his distant uncle's estate; partly because he feared that news of Yunying being sold into servitude would spread and disrupt Yuncheng's studies. But most importantly, he feared that Yunying would become successful and come after him later.

That's why he kept his mouth shut and didn't tell anyone his new address when he moved.

Even with his wife, to prevent her from letting slip and inviting more distant relatives, he only gave her a fake address to fool her.

For years, his life had been peaceful, and he had naturally lost contact with the villagers. But just when he thought he could finally rest easy, Yunying came knocking on his door.

This is truly a terrible thing.

Xu Shaotian chuckled and ushered the group inside.

Gu Wangchen didn't want his daughter to stand in the cold wind at the door, so he led Yunying and the others inside.

Once inside the courtyard and the two doors at the entrance were closed, Gu Wangchen immediately launched an attack, saying, "I am Yunying's father, her biological father by blood."

Xu Shaotian: "..."

Is he the father, not the sugar daddy?
Holy crap, he's Yunying's biological father!

Xu Shaotian hiccuped violently, his smile growing increasingly stiff. He trembled as if he were suffering from a serious illness and seemed about to faint.

The General Who Pacifies the West, who had intimidated the Western Regions, revealed his ferocious and ruthless nature at this moment, his face exuding a fierce aura capable of stopping a child's nighttime crying.

He lowered his voice and said coldly, "It was you who stole my daughter and sold her into slavery?"

With a "thump," Xu Shaotian could no longer face the overwhelming murderous aura and gloriously fainted.

……

A quarter of an hour later.

Xu Shaotian sat shakily at the table, his eyes darting around, not daring to look at Gu Wangchen at all.

He feigned composure, but every expression and every movement revealed his underlying unease.

In fact, this is indeed the case.

Xu Shaotian was inwardly screaming with helplessness.

Who would have thought!
Who would have thought!
Who would have thought that Yunying would actually find her blood relatives!
Who would have thought that Yunying's relative was that superior person!

If he had known earlier that Yunying came from a noble family, why would he have sold her? He would have taken her back to the capital to recognize her as his family!
Xu Shaotian was filled with remorse.

But it was too late; there was no going back for him.

Under Gu Wangchen's cold gaze, he could only tremble and try to claim credit for himself, hoping to escape death.

Xu Shaotian stammered as he recounted how he had brought Yunying to him.

That year, he was still very young, just past his coming-of-age ceremony, but he and Wang Meiniang had already been married for three or four years. The two had no children, which inevitably led to gossip among the villagers.

He was a proud man, and when people questioned his infertility, he became very angry and went to the county to clear his mind.

Luckily, he helped an old lady lift her carriage, which had gotten stuck in the mud, and was then given a job as a gofer at a silk shop in the county.

Later, when the silk shop needed to deliver goods to the capital, he was fortunate enough to be chosen by his owner to accompany them, thus gaining the opportunity to visit the capital city.

It was during that trip to Beijing that he found Yunying near Linghui Temple on the outskirts of the city.

Xu Shaotian cried his eyes out as he recounted his journey to Linghui Temple to everyone.

He went to Linghui Temple because he heard that the Bodhisattva there was particularly efficacious, so he went to pray to the Bodhisattva hoping to have a child.

Who knew that after worshipping the Buddha and descending the mountain, chaos would ensue at the foot of the mountain.

It is said that a vassal king took advantage of His Majesty's absence from the capital to rebel.

He was a nobody, and he didn't dare to get involved in such a thing. He just wanted to hurry back to the inn to avoid trouble. But the city gates were locked, and he couldn't go back to the inn. He was unfamiliar with the area, so he thought of going back to Linghui Temple to stay for a few days.

At that time, there were rebel forces everywhere outside the city. Fearing that he would be caught, he deliberately sought out secluded places to go.

Who would have thought that the more remote the place, the more lively it would be?

He first saw the rebels chasing and killing several women and children, which terrified him so much that he wet himself and quickly hid. After the rebels left, he sneaked out and continued towards Linghui Temple.

Unexpectedly, in a secluded corner, they witnessed a woman giving birth.

He didn't know who the woman was, and he didn't dare to approach her. He was afraid of accidentally offending someone and ending up dead, so he could only hide tightly and not dare to move an inch.

His quick thinking saved his life at the time.

Because later, more rebels came chasing after them.

The rebels had a clear objective: they were looking for this woman. A young maidservant was with her, and the maidservant was very decisive. She carefully protected the woman who had just given birth and her newborn child, then led the rebels in another direction. She never returned; she was probably killed in a hail of bullets.

Fearing that those people might turn back, Xu Shaotian also ran away. But he ran all the way to the foot of Linghui Temple Mountain, then ran back.

Fortunately, he returned in time. At that moment, stray dogs, attracted by the smell of blood, came to the woman and were sniffing at the baby's swaddling clothes. If he hadn't been holding a stick and making a fierce expression, scaring away the two stray dogs, it's uncertain whether Yunying would have survived.

Although Yunying survived, the woman suffered severe postpartum hemorrhage and was barely breathing.

Xu Shaotian believed he couldn't save two people at the same time, and the woman's condition was truly extremely serious; she was almost not breathing.

He had no choice, mainly because he was worried that this matter would implicate him further. Finally, he gritted his teeth, disregarded the woman's life or death, and left with Yunying in his arms.

Because he was carrying a child, Xu Shaotian dared not go to Linghui Temple. He wandered through the mountains, feeding Yunying with a stolen bag of millet porridge. After wandering around for a while, he finally managed to bring Yunying safely back to Baili County. Only when he returned to Changting Village did Xu Shaotian finally feel relieved.

It was only then that Xu Shaotian realized that he had brought home a child.

It's a living, breathing child!

He had just prayed to the Bodhisattva for a child, and the child came into his hands. This child is clearly destined to be with his family.

Yunying was raised in the Xu family in this way.

Xu Shaotian stammered, his eyes swollen from crying, "I admit I'm a beast. Since I adopted Yunying, I should treat her well. But I also have my own children, and I have to think about them. You've seen my Cheng'er, he's well-behaved and promising. He only attended two classes at the old scholar's door, and he can recite everything the old scholar taught him perfectly."

“I’m the father, and my child has talent, so naturally I have to support him. I… I have no other choice…”

"You have no other choice but to prevent Xu Yuncheng from going to school? You have no other choice but to sell my daughter?"

Gu Wangchen propped his arm on the table, covered his eyes with his large hand, and his voice was so choked and hoarse that it sounded broken.

Finally, he learned from Xu Shaotian about the events leading up to Huiyin's death; finally, he also confirmed that Yunying was indeed his biological daughter.

However, looking back, Xu Shaotian's words became vivid images. They played on a loop in his mind, and then suddenly turned into sharp knives, mercilessly and fiercely stabbing into his chest.

He was in so much pain that his whole body was convulsing, and even breathing was painful.

His emblem!

His daughter!

Thinking of Huiyin's helplessness during her massive hemorrhage, thinking of how, while she was still conscious, she could only anxiously watch as stray dogs gnawed at her daughter's flesh and blood, thinking of how Xu Shaotian took her daughter away, while she could only helplessly wait for death to come step by step...

She died before he arrived.

She was thinking about her daughter until her death.

She died in such agony.

Do not look down.

Gu Wangchen's tears rolled down his fingers.

The man did not shed tears, but he did not go to the sad place.

His emblem!

His emblem!
Gu Wangchen grabbed Xu Shaotian and punched him hard in the face.

Xu Shaotian screamed in terror, dodging left and right, but despite his best efforts, he couldn't gain any advantage over Gu Wangchen.

Xu Shaotian screamed in pain, breaking down and crying from the beating.

"Sir, sir, please spare my life!"

"I... I am Yunying's adoptive father after all. I saved Yunying's life."

It was precisely because he had saved Yunying's life that he felt no guilt whatsoever when he sold her for money.

Without him, Yunying would have died ten years earlier, and she wouldn't have been able to live a peaceful and carefree life in the countryside.
Since it's his life, he can do whatever he wants with it.

Xu Shaotian had never regretted his actions, but now he truly regretted them.

Stop it now!

If you hit him again, I'll kill him!

Xu Shaotian cried out in anguish, "Yunying, please save your father! I know I was wrong, I will never do it again!"

Yunying cried so hard she couldn't breathe, clutching her chest in anguish.

After hearing at Aunt Wang's house that a noblewoman had given birth near Linghui Temple and died from postpartum hemorrhage, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow and shed tears.

When she realized that the person who had died from postpartum hemorrhage was indeed her birth mother, and that she had been worried about her until her death, Yunying's tears flowed like a burst dam.

She called out "Mother" with all her heart at that moment, but her mother had passed away not long after she was born.

Yunying cried so hard that her whole body convulsed. Seeing that she was about to collapse, Chen Yanzhou held her in his arms and comforted her.

"Stop crying, crying too much will hurt your health. You've only just recovered a few days ago."

“Good Yunying, stop crying. Look at your uncle, try to comfort him, and Yuanxi too…”

Gu Wangchen seemed to have lost his mind, and Gu Yuanxi was no better off than his father.

His cries were filled with boundless grief, as if he were only now truly realizing that he had no mother, that his mother had passed away!
Gu Yuanxi buried his face in his hands and wept bitterly, squatting on the ground. He was a big guy, but he was shrunk into a small ball, looking incredibly pitiful.

Chen Yanzhou wiped away Yunying's tears, but those tears were like icy springs just melting from a snow-capped mountain. They would be wiped away, only to flow again, endlessly, seemingly never ceasing.

Seeing this, Chen Yanzhou felt both distressed and helpless.

But he couldn't keep looking after Yunying forever. If he didn't intervene, Xu Shaotian would really be beaten to death by his uncle.

Chen Yanzhou rushed over and grabbed his uncle's arm. "Uncle, please have mercy! If you keep hitting him, someone will die."

Wang Meiniang watched in fear from the side.

She was a gentle and kind-hearted woman, and this was the first time she had heard about Yunying's background.

She inevitably shed tears as well, and felt that her husband truly deserved to be beaten.

Human life is at stake. Even if there's still a sliver of life left, we should save that person. How can we let that lady fend for herself just because she's on the verge of death?

But all the complaints vanished when she saw her husband being beaten to death.

Wang Meiniang, with tears streaming down her face, helplessly tried to stop him, saying, "My lord, my lord, please stop! My husband knows he was wrong."

"Please, sir, have mercy and spare his life."

All his pleas for mercy were useless; in the end, Gu Wangchen was subdued by Chen Yanzhou.

It wasn't entirely Chen Yanzhou's doing; the most crucial factor was Yun Ying. It was Yun Ying calling out "Father" that made Gu Wangchen stop what he was doing.

Yunying's eyes were filled with tears, and her temples throbbed with pain from crying.

Her face turned pale, but she still stubbornly clung to her father's arm. "Father, I've already lost my mother, I can't lose you too. Father, you still have me, and your two brothers. Even for our sake, please spare his life."

Yunying cried uncontrollably, “Father, didn’t you say you would take me to Mother’s grave? Mother will be so happy to see you find me.”

Gu Wangchen finally loosened his clenched fist, took two steps back, and plopped down on the chair behind him.

(End of this chapter)