“Mother, what do you think Third Uncle owes us?” Lu Lingzhi looked at his mother and asked in a low voice.
Liu Shu looked at her most valued son and tearfully asked, “What good did the third house did to you that you are you helping them like this? Everything the Lu family has today was all yours and your father’s doing! Why do they get the same benefits on their return?”
“If Third uncle didn’t sacrifice his fame, our family would have split up a long time ago. He could have been a high official and have a good salary now, yet he gave up all of those for the family. Mother, it is true that father and I did so much, but it wasn’t just for ourselves but for everyone in the family to have a better life. Third uncle didn’t say anything about the change of examination papers because of this family.” Lu Lingzhi explained in a heavy voice.
Shaking her head, Liu Shi fisted her palms and said in a sneer, “I just don’t want to…”
“What? What don’t you want to do? Blame Third uncle why father refused to see you before he died?”
Lu Lingzhi swallowed a lump in his throat.
“Father hid the truth from the whole family and claimed that the selling of test papers to others was his work. Even grandma still doesn’t know that you have hurt Third Uncle. Why do you hate him?”
Lu Lingzhi watched how his mother’s face crumpled as he threw the words he kept to himself for years.
In utter shock, Liu Shu looked at her son sharply, but her expression lacked any guilt.
“How did you know?”
“Right at the beginning, you didn’t sell Third uncle’s examination papers for the sake of the Lu family, you only sold it out of self-interest. You were afraid that Third uncle would pass the examination which would make him better than father and could, therefore, overpower our house.”
For a minute, Liu Shi couldn’t talk. Her secrets laid out in front of her by her own son.
“Mother, Third uncle doesn’t owe us anything.” Lu Lingzhi added sincerely.
“You! You also want to be like your father and blame me for being a mother by putting the outsiders to their place, don’t you?!” Liu Shu’s shoulders trembled, she was fuming in anger.
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Even so, Lu Lingzhi stayed calm and said, “I don’t want to treat you like this, Mother. I only hope that you don’t vent your anger on others.”
“What benefits did the third house gave you?!” She asked in a shrill voice, brimming with anger and hurt.
“Before father died, he wanted us to help Third Uncle and his family.”
Lu Lingzhi looked at his mother flatly; his slip of emotion replaced by indifference.
“If mother wants to take advantage of this matter and refuses to take her responsibility as the eldest madam of this family, thus making grandma shoulder all of it, her son does not agree with her. You are in poor health. There are second and third aunts in this family who could easily replace you. You’d better take good care of yourself!”
An amount of hurt appeared on the mother’s face. “Do you want to put me under house arrest?”
“This son does not wish to. I just want my mother to take good care of herself until her illness is cured.” Lu Lingzhi said, with his mother’s current situation, she wouldn’t be able to manage the house affairs like what Old Madam Lu does. This situation could lead to the Lu family dispersing sooner or later.
“I really don’t know what benefits the third house has brought to you and your father …” cried Liu Shi.
“I am your mother! Your father had neglected me for more than ten years for the sake of the third house! Do you want to do the same?”
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Since Lu Shiming left the capital, the Eldest Lord Lu had entirely snubbed his wife, Liu Shi, and wholly left her to her misery.
How could she not hate the Third house?
Is it not for their good that she had done what she saw was right?
Why don’t you understand my heart at all? Liu Shi grieved.
Lu Lingzhi stood up and said in a warm voice, “I don’t want to treat you like this, Mother. Grandma is still waiting for me. You have a good rest; I will come to see you tomorrow.”