APSIL -Chapter 142 Mother

After sending off the delighted Zhu Ying following a sumptuous dinner, Zhang Shou closed the courtyard gate.

Thinking back to Zhu Ying’s enthusiastic expression when they had discussed matchmaking just now, he could not help smiling.

During dinner, after the two of them discussed the matter, they discovered a problem.

It was true that Zhu Ying usually interacted with some daughters of noble families, but…

The level of those girls was simply too high.

In other words, if it were Zhang Chen—the destined heir of the Qin State Duke title—then those famous young ladies would naturally be a suitable match.

But whether it was Lu Sanlang, Zhang Wu, Zhang Lu, or the others…

Well, their family backgrounds might still be considered respectable, but they were not the eldest sons, nor were they the most favored sons in their families. Without academic honors or official backgrounds, most of those noble young ladies would not even consider them.

Therefore, Zhu Ying, who rarely attended garden parties, tea gatherings, flower-viewing events, or similar occasions, had already decided to take the initiative.

As for those noble young ladies whom she got along with reasonably well, she planned to test the waters.

After all, Lu Sanlang was now the talented chubby genius personally praised by the emperor. Perhaps there really was someone who would like him?

The more Zhang Shou thought about it, the more amusing he found it.

He could not help muttering to himself: “I really wonder what those families who used to only send invitations to the Zhao State Duke Residence as a formality will think when they see Yingying personally attending their autumn appreciation parties and flower gatherings…”

“A-Shou.”

Hearing the voice behind him, Zhang Shou immediately turned around.

It was Madam Wu standing there.

He quickly apologized.

“Mother, it’s rare that I get two days off, yet I left you alone at home and went out with Yingying to have fun. I’m really sorry.”

“You’ve grown up now. You have so many things to do. I never expected you to stay home with me all day.”

“A grown man should naturally have ambitions that reach across the world.”

“But you said you were taking Yingying out to admire autumn scenery. Yet I just heard you two talking…”

“This trip wasn’t for sightseeing at all. You actually went out to put yourself in danger and lure enemies out?”

Zhang Shou had never seen Madam Wu look this stern before.

His heart immediately sank.

This is bad.

He was about to explain, but Madam Wu angrily interrupted him.

“Do you know how difficult it was for you to come into this world?”

“How could you bear to risk your life again and again?”

“If something happened to you, how would I have the face to face…”

She paused.

But in the end, she still said the words.

“…your mother?”

Seeing Zhang Shou’s expression gradually change, Madam Wu gave a bitter smile.

“If I had known you weren’t simply going out with Yingying to enjoy autumn scenery, but were actually acting as bait, I would never have let you leave.”

“You’ve grown up. I can no longer control you.”

“There are some things… it is time I told you.”

Seeing Madam Wu grab his hand without allowing any refusal, Zhang Shou suddenly had a feeling.

After Consort Yu had previously told him part of the truth about the events of that year, perhaps Madam Wu was also finally ready to tell him what she knew.

Sure enough, before entering the main room, Madam Wu saw A-Liu chasing away Yang Hao and Qiao Hu, who were curiously poking their heads around trying to listen.

She ignored them and directly pulled Zhang Shou inside.

After crossing the threshold, she handed him the lantern she carried.

Then she personally closed the door, lowered the latch, and only afterward turned around.

Under the dim candlelight, she looked at the handsome young man standing before her.

Even back then, when he was sleeping, she had countless times quietly looked at his delicate and handsome face.

Yet she never grew tired of looking.

Even now, she still had the urge to reach out and touch his chin and eyebrows like she did when he was a child.

But in the end, her hand stopped halfway.

“A-Shou, do you know?”

“The fact that you were able to be born into this world…”

“Your mother paid for it with her life.”

She paused.

Her voice became much heavier.

“When you were young, many villagers secretly discussed this.”

“They said that someone as ordinary as me could give birth to a son like you, a child who seemed to gather all the beauty and brilliance of heaven and earth.”

“They said either your father must have been an extraordinary man…”

“Or I must have had incredible luck.”

Seeing Zhang Shou staring at her blankly, Madam Wu dragged her heavy legs step by step toward a chair and collapsed into it.

“Actually…”

“I am not your biological mother.”

“That is why you don’t resemble me.”

“I am weak and incapable. Back then, if your mother had not taken me in, I would have already become a starving corpse by the roadside.”

“But you inherited your mother’s courage—the willingness to take responsibility and risk everything.”

“That is why you became who you are today.”

Although Zhang Shou had already heard Consort Yu describe the final days of his biological mother, the widow Zhang, hearing it now from Madam Wu, another person directly involved in those events, still made him feel somewhat lost.

He did not speak.

He simply walked forward slowly and stood silently before her.

Madam Wu did not raise her head.

She continued telling her story.

“Outsiders call your mother Widow Zhang, but of course she was not actually surnamed Zhang.”

“The person surnamed Zhang was your father, Zhang Xiucai.”

“When she took me in, he was preparing for the imperial examinations. Their married life was peaceful and happy.”

“Zhang Xiucai was a scholar with great potential.”

“His parents died early, yet he became a xiucai at only eighteen.”

“One day, he passed by and saw your mother wearing mourning clothes after her father’s death.”

“She had taken a sickle and fought against clan elders who wanted to force her into marriage.”

“He fell in love with her at first sight.”

“After great effort, he finally married her.”

“They were both wonderful people.”

“One was gentle, the other kind-hearted.”

“They were truly good people.”

Madam Wu looked up at Zhang Shou.

Seeing that his expression showed neither anger nor sadness, only complete attention, she felt relieved.

“I told you before that my family operated a weaving workshop.”

“That was a lie.”

“When I lived with my own family, I learned embroidery.”

“But it was because my family was desperately poor.”

“If I didn’t work, I would be beaten or starved.”

“If I hadn’t desperately learned embroidery skills, my biological parents would have sold me long ago.”

“Even though my embroidery could support the family, after that great snow disaster, our house collapsed.”

“In the end, I was the only survivor.”

“Your mother kindly took me in.”

“Of course, I worked desperately to repay her.”

“I handled household chores and cooking.”

“I also learned weaving repairs, threadwork, and dyeing from her.”

“Your mother relied on that embroidery workshop, earning money stitch by stitch, painstakingly supporting the family and preparing for your father’s examinations.”

“When she discovered she was pregnant with you, she and your father agreed that regardless of whether the child was a boy or girl, the name would be A-Shou.”

“But no one expected…”

“Your father caught a cold while preparing for the examinations.”

“Then a terrible doctor delayed treatment.”

“He passed away within half a month.”

“The neighbors said your mother had a cursed fate and brought death to her husband.”

“But she neither cried nor complained.”

“She said crying from sadness would harm the child in her womb.”

“And it would betray the husband who had always loved and protected her.”

“But whether it was your father’s family or her own clan causing trouble…”

“She never backed down.”

“I never imagined…”

“That when she left me at home to embroider a custom wedding dress someone had paid a high price for, while she went to the temple to pray for the child about to be born…”

“She would encounter such a tremendous disaster.”

“When she returned covered in blood with those two ladies…”

“I was completely terrified.”

“And what I never expected was…”

“All three women went into labor one after another.”

“Yet the midwife was completely drunk.”

At this point, Madam Wu’s entire body trembled violently.

She could barely continue.

Through her words, Zhang Shou gradually formed an image in his mind.

A strong and kind mother.

He crouched down and placed both hands on Madam Wu’s knees.

The next moment, Madam Wu suddenly raised her head.

Then she stretched out her arms and tightly embraced him.

“A-Shou…”

“Your mother forced that drunk midwife to cut her open with a knife, risking her own life, and only then did she finally give birth to you safely!”

“You don’t know how chaotic it was back then!”

“The two ladies both gave birth to daughters.”

“But because the midwife was completely confused…”

“In the end, no one could tell which child belonged to which mother!”

“When the people from the Zhao State Duke Residence arrived…”

“They were almost furious beyond reason!”

Listening to Madam Wu repeatedly referring only to “the two ladies,” Zhang Shou vaguely guessed that she probably did not know Consort Yu’s true identity.

But when Madam Wu told him that after Ninth Madam and Consort Yu gave birth to daughters, even they themselves could not determine whose child was whose, Zhang Shou froze.

Did that mean…

Neither Zhu Ying nor Princess Yongping could be certain whether she was the imperial princess or the duke’s daughter?

No wonder the Old Madam had once hinted to him that the so-called marriage agreement was not set in stone.

One side was him.

The other side could be Zhu Ying…

Or Princess Yongping.

Zhu Ying and Princess Yongping had disliked each other since childhood.

Could this be the strange fate between them from birth?

Or perhaps Princess Yongping, whose thoughts were clearly more delicate, had noticed this hidden truth and therefore developed hostility toward Zhu Ying?

He shook his head and temporarily stopped his imagination from running further.

Then he slowly stood straight.

“Mother.”

“If talking about these old matters is too painful, you don’t have to continue.”

Madam Wu froze slightly.

Then she gave a bitter smile.

“I already told you.”

“Your real mother was that woman.”

“I am merely a servant girl with nowhere to go whom the Zhang family took in.”

“I am only an outsider who replaced her and watched you grow up.”

“You still call me mother?”

Seeing Zhang Shou remain silent, tears streamed down her face.

She buried her face in her hands.

“When Yingying went to the village…”

“I kept asking myself…”

“If back then, because of one moment of fear, I hadn’t worried that the Zhao State Duke Residence might doubt the child’s identity and take you away…”

“Perhaps you could have grown up there.”

“If I hadn’t discovered that your health kept worsening as you studied, and angrily driven away your tutors…”

“Perhaps the Zhao family would not have stopped coming…”

“If Yingying had not recognized your talent the first time she saw you…”

“You might have spent your entire life in that village.”

“Wouldn’t I have delayed you for nothing?”

“But I was afraid…”

“So I desperately told everyone in the village that if you tried to leave, they must stop you and bring you back.”

“I was afraid…”

“That the most precious child your mother fought so hard to leave behind…”

“Would disappear right before my eyes…”

“Mother.”

“Don’t say anymore.”

Zhang Shou interrupted Madam Wu’s self-blaming words in a deep voice.

Then he spoke slowly, word by word.

“Birth gives a person a debt as heavy as a mountain.”

“But the kindness of being raised is equally impossible to forget.”

“Mother…”

“This winter solstice, I will go worship my biological mother.”

“Do you remember what I once told you when you were worshiping our ancestors?”

“I will strive to live a remarkable life.”

“I will not betray the flesh and blood and life she gave me.”

“And I will not betray this lifetime.”

Madam Wu looked at Zhang Shou in disbelief.

Seeing his clear eyes and hearing the firmness in his voice, she finally understood.

When Zhang Shou had returned from the capital to the village before…

He already knew the truth about his birth.

Yet at that time…

He had still treated her exactly as before.

He had still called her “Mother.”

She tightly gripped Zhang Shou’s hand.

Lowering her head, she cried uncontrollably.

Such a child…

His mother in heaven must surely be watching over him every moment.

She would never allow him to suffer even the slightest harm.