sjar Chapter 394 The Unfaithful Wife of the Top Scholar Sets Up Her Own House 13
Chapter 394 The Unfaithful Wife of the Top Scholar Sets Up Her Own House 13
In this way, Zhou's mother, who had originally been looking forward to a life of wealth and luxury, fell to the bottom again before her dream came true.
Instead of enjoying the luxurious life she had imagined, she now found herself reduced to serving her son. Every day, she shared a simple meal with her son, which had no nutritional value at all. Her living environment was extremely simple—she could only live in a remote room in her son's yard.
Although she was extremely reluctant, Zhou's mother knew that her son had become her only support and hope. Therefore, no matter how reluctant she was, she could only accept this hard job silently.
Meanwhile, the secret that Su Lan had previously whispered to the old lady at the intersection spread like wildfire throughout the streets and alleys. Furthermore, some eloquent storytellers cleverly connected the incident with the poor consort and fabricated a shocking tale of "abandoning his wife and children."
As soon as this storytelling piece with twists and turns and a gripping plot was released, it immediately attracted a large number of listeners and the venues were packed.
Gradually, the people became dissatisfied with the princess and her husband, not to mention their child Zhou Chengyun, who was also the subject of public discussion, which caused the male protagonist's halo to drop by another 10%.
They spent five whole years in this chaotic, noisy atmosphere. Now eight years old, Chengyun's physical condition was a world away from his previous life. His frail body, so fragile it felt like a single gust of wind could collapse him, forced him to remain indoors almost all day, fearing that even the slightest breeze from the outside world could easily snatch his fragile life.
One morning, twelve-year-old Zhou Chengming slowly awoke from his sleep. Opening his eyes, he saw his mother and sister from this life still by his side, and an indescribable joy welled up in his heart. In his previous life, he had endured a tragic end, losing his beloved family. Yet, at this moment, nothing had changed.
Zhou Chengming, a brilliant man, quickly noticed subtle changes in his surroundings, especially his mother's behavior, which was very different from her previous life. So, filled with doubts, he finally found his mother, Su Lan, who seemed to have changed the most.
Faced with her son's questioning, Su Lan pondered for a moment before deciding to tell a white lie. She told Zhou Chengming that she had, in fact, been given the chance to be reborn before him. She also hoped her son would completely forget the suffering and hatred he had experienced in his past life, burying those painful memories deep in his heart. As for the past grievances and resentments, Su Lan firmly stated that she would bear and resolve them all by herself.
A happy and fulfilling childhood has the magical power to slowly heal all the wounds and shadows deep within one's heart. With Su Lan's patient and subtle advice day after day, and Zhou Chengming's fond and heartwarming memories constantly emerging, the reborn young man gradually untangled the knot in his heart.
In the end, he secretly vowed to study hard and strive to obtain an honor in order to protect his mother and sister and let them live a carefree and stable life.
Meanwhile, the family's adorable little sister, Zhao Zhao, has reached the age of learning to manage household affairs. Su Lan, fully aware of her daughter's growing needs, has specially arranged for the clever and capable Xiao Bai to lead Zhao Zhao to familiarize herself with the various affairs of Luoxia Pavilion.
Not only that, Su Lan also purchased a large amount of land and some small and exquisite shops, and carefully registered them in the name of the original owner and his two children.
Zhou Zilang has been doing blood drawing for five years. The long-term suffering of blood drawing has made his originally strong body become extremely weak. Even Zhou's mother's physical condition is much better than his.
At first, Zhou Zilang had the idea of escaping, but every time he escaped not long ago, Princess Shuyang's people would always find his hiding place with extreme accuracy like ghosts.
At first, one or two such incidents could be attributed to coincidence, but as time went on, such things happened more and more frequently, and gradually, Zhou Zilang began to realize that something seemed to be wrong.
Every time he was caught and forced to have his blood drawn, Zhou's mother would mysteriously disappear, and each time she would be gone for two days. When she returned, she was always beaming with joy, as if she had experienced something extremely joyful.
Finally, one day, Zhou Zilang, unable to bear it any longer, decided to ask his mother for the truth. Faced with her son's angry questioning and staring, Zhou's mother, after a fierce inner struggle, finally reluctantly admitted a shocking fact - it turned out that she had been accepting money from Princess Shuyang in order to keep a close eye on Zhou Zilang for the princess!
This truth was like a bolt from the blue, instantly shattering Zhou Zilang's world. He felt an uncontrollable rage erupting from the bottom of his heart, instantly drowning all his rationality.
In a rage, Zhou Zilang completely lost control. His trembling hands reached out to Zhou's mother's neck desperately, and then pinched it hard... In this way, he ended his biological mother's life with his own hands.
Afterwards, Princess Shuyang naturally chose to help Zhou Zilang conceal the matter without hesitation. After all, to Princess Shuyang, Zhou Zilang was not just her son-in-law in name only; more importantly, Zhou Zilang's blood was the life-saving medicine that her precious son relied on!
As Zhou's mother's former daughter-in-law, Su Lan decided to report the case to the authorities without hesitation. However, to avoid alerting the Zhou family and preventing them from discovering her true identity, Su Lan disguised herself as an ordinary servant in the princess's mansion before reporting the case to the authorities.
In this era, filial piety was considered the supreme moral principle, hanging like a heavy sword over people's heads. Even the emperor enacted many harsh laws to this end: anyone who abandoned or refused to support their biological parents would be punished with thirty strokes of the cane and forced to bring their parents back home to continue supporting them; those who dared to murder their parents would be executed in the autumn.
This was also the reason why Su Lan was eager to divorce Zhou Zilang and set up her own household, precisely because she was worried that Zhou's mother would take advantage of the situation and harass her in the future.
After some twists and turns, Su Lan successfully led the prefect to find the hastily buried body of Zhou's mother. With irrefutable evidence, Zhou Zilang was quickly apprehended by the authorities.
Even the noble Princess Shuyang's personal intercession in the palace failed to change the emperor's mind. Faced with the emperor's furious rebuke, Princess Shuyang had to temporarily abandon the idea of rescuing Zhou Zilang. However, in order to save her son Zhou Chengyun's life, she still pleaded with the emperor to delay Zhou Zilang's execution so that his blood could continue to provide Zhou Chengyun with a life-saving blood supply.
To outsiders, Princess Shuyang and her husband, Zhou Zilang, had always been deeply in love, their bond stronger than gold. However, only Princess Shuyang knew that she had no feelings for Zhou Zilang at all. Her only concern was how to obtain enough blood from him to keep Zhou Chengyun alive.