The old Madame Zhao sighed, "Your mother has had a hard time, and your father hasn’t had it easy these years either."
"When he came back, he was barely alive. The Imperial Physician from the palace would run to our residence every other day, sending all kinds of precious herbs like flowing water. Even so, it took a full half year before he could manage to be supported to walk two steps. It was only two years ago that he slowly got better."
"Previously, you all thought he was dead, so you could still remember him fondly on ordinary days. But for him, those years, he completely couldn’t remember you. Obviously, he had a wife and children..." The old Madame Zhao took a long sigh, her face filled with regret.
Zhao Xiaohua listened, thought, and felt her father indeed quite pitiable.
She, with her mother, elder brother, second brother, and Xiaoshu, were at least together as a family.
"Grandmother, no matter what decision my mother makes, she definitely won’t stop us from recognizing you and father. Don’t worry, even if we don’t live in the residence, we will often come to visit you." Zhao Xiaohua said.
"Grandmother’s good granddaughter, so thoughtful. But, grandmother is old and doesn’t know how many days she has left. We were originally already seeing each other less and less. Grandmother has selfish desires and hopes to see you every day." The old Madame Zhao sighed, "Of course, grandmother won’t force you."
Zhao Xiaohua didn’t quite know how to respond. She wasn’t stupid; she could sense what was sincere and what was insincere.
Grandmother genuinely liked them.
Moreover, she truly cared about them.
Therefore, she didn’t want to make grandmother sad.
But similarly, she didn’t want to make her mother feel troubled.
"Xiaohua, it’s grandmother’s fault for making things difficult for you. Rest assured, no matter what decision your mother, brother, and second brother make, grandmother will accept it calmly." The old Madame Zhao gently patted Zhao Xiaohua’s hand.
Meng Yao had already explained all her analysis to Zhao Ting.
"I need to gather these people without alarming them," Meng Yao said.
"Alright, leave this matter to me." Zhao Ting agreed.
"The Government there wants to arrest people..."
"I’ll think of a way to delay them for a few more days."
Meng Yao nodded. With these two issues temporarily resolved, she believed she could catch the person responsible for sorcery. She just didn’t know who Zhao Xiaohua had offended for them to put in so much effort to harm her. How long had she been in the Capital City? She knew Xiaohua’s character—she wouldn’t bully others but was balanced enough not to provoke trouble.
"There’s one more thing. Did Xiaohua tell you?" Zhao Ting asked.
Meng Yao was puzzled, "What thing?"
"Xiaoshu didn’t come to the Capital City. To be more precise, Xiaoshu’s whereabouts are unknown even to Xiaohua and the others." Zhao Ting said.
Meng Yao was a bit dumbfounded, "How could they not know where he is? Didn’t he stay in the Prefecture with Master Wang?"
"No, Master Wang went to Xuzhou. Xiaoshu, strictly speaking, has run away from home."
Zhao Xiaoshu ran away from home?
This plot was familiar to Meng Yao.
In the past, Zhao Xiaoshu had already run away from home.
But now, she felt the mother-son relationship between her and Zhao Xiaoshu had improved greatly.
Zhao Xiaoshu was obedient and sensible; there was no reason for him to run away from home.
"Do you know what happened?" Meng Yao asked.
"I only heard a few words from our mother. To know exactly what happened, you have to ask Dahe and Xiaohua." Zhao Ting said.
Meng Yao quickly went to find Zhao Xiaohua.
Zhao Xiaohua, wiping her tears, explained the whole matter to Meng Yao, while starting a new round of self-blame.
Meng Yao, calm and rational, quickly analyzed that Zhao Xiaoshu left on his own initiative. As for the reason, she couldn’t guess.
However, Zhao Xiaoshu was very thoughtful, and to make such a decision, he clearly had his reasons.
"Don’t cry. Xiaoshu will definitely be alright." Meng Yao comforted Zhao Xiaohua.
"I’ll also have people investigate Xiaoshu’s whereabouts." Zhao Ting said.
The original Zhao Xiaoshu thrived even in such a harsh environment, so Meng Yao believed Zhao Xiaoshu would be able to take good care of himself even when away.
Meng Yao’s comforting words to Zhao Xiaohua were quite similar to those Zhao Dahe had said when comforting Zhao Xiaohua initially.
Zhao Dahe’s comfort had little effect.
Switching to Meng Yao, Zhao Xiaohua was relieved much more quickly.
Xiaoshu left for necessary reasons.
Just like mother said, someday, they will meet again.
Zhao Dahe came with a guilty expression, "Mother, I didn’t take good care of my brother and sister. It’s my incompetence, making mother worry."
"What are you saying? Dahe, I should apologize to you. If I hadn’t been overconfident, perhaps these things would never have happened." Meng Yao sighed.
If she hadn’t tried to infiltrate the Heaven and Earth Sect.
If she had stayed, maybe Xiaoshu wouldn’t have left.
"You’re incredible, winning the top rank." Meng Yao sincerely praised.
Zhao Dahe sniffed, "Mother."
"Don’t overthink anything. Mother is back; leave everything to me." Meng Yao said.
"Mother, if Xiaohua offended someone, it should be the Commandery Princess Bao Ping." Zhao Dahe shared what he had found with Meng Yao.
Zhao Xiaohua was somewhat confounded, "Mother, I didn’t offend the Commandery Princess."
At most, she didn’t sell a hairpin to the Commandery Princess Bao Ping’s maid; does that count as offending? Chapters fırst released on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩✶𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚✶𝕟𝕖𝕥
Zhao Ting’s face darkened. He knew clearly who the mother of the Commandery Princess Bao Ping was.
He also knew that the Commandery Princess Bao Ping was merely a spoiled little girl, strutting around because her mother was the Grand Princess. Truthfully, she didn’t have any real skills.
The hairpin incident had not been mentioned by Zhao Xiaohua to Zhao Dahe.
Because she genuinely didn’t take it seriously.
"Mother, come on, a Commandery Princess would use such vicious means to frame someone just because I didn’t sell them a hairpin?" Zhao Xiaohua couldn’t quite understand.
Zhao Ting was as clear as a mirror inside. The Grand Princess was never easy to deal with. Last time, when he got rid of her men, he must have angered her.
Now, with Du Ruyi acting high-profile, taking Xiaohua everywhere, given the Grand Princess’s cleverness, it wouldn’t be difficult to guess something.
So, perhaps Xiaohua was implicated because of him.
"Xiaohua, Father will definitely get to the bottom of this matter." Zhao Ting said.
Zhao Xiaohua instinctively glanced at Meng Yao, seeing no displeasure on her mother’s face, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The old Madame Zhao and Zhao Ting exchanged glances, then almost by intuition, spoke simultaneously—
"Yaoyao, I have something to say to you."
"Ah Yao, I have something to say to you."
Meng Yao looked at the old Madame Zhao, then at Zhao Ting, confused, and asked, "What is it?"
"Why don’t you say it first?" the old Madame Zhao asked Zhao Ting.
"Mother, you say it first." Zhao Ting said.
Although he hadn’t done anything wrong, he still felt guilty.
The old Madame Zhao looked at her son being so timid. He was timid, but she couldn’t afford to be timid. Some things simply couldn’t be hidden.