Chapter 295: My Child is Frail
The snow continued to fall.
Meng Shaoxia sorted through the situation.
So, his Father-in-law was the biological son of Grand Princess Huiyun.
He had married the biological granddaughter of Grand Princess Huiyun.
His two children now had a Grand Princess as a great-grandmother.
For some reason, as Meng Shaoxia looked at the innocent little Yu’er, he felt a pang of heartache.
He remembered when they first met, how she had almost been kidnapped and sold.
She had been dressed so shabbily, even more raggedly than the servants in his own household.
She was actually a princess’s granddaughter, yet because the Kidnapper had tried to sell her without paying her parents, she had wailed loudly, kicked people, and she hadn’t even been crying because she was being sold.
Remembering Feng-ge’er at the beginning.
He had no sword, he had no brush.
He used firewood as a sword, firewood as a brush.
Zi Congheng had originally been silently watching the drama.
Now, he was even more silent.
He sorted out the relationships.
He suddenly realized that the Grand Princess was his Great-Aunt and Mianmian’s grandmother.
His Father and Uncle Jiang were perhaps actually cousins.
And he and Mianmian were now truly relatives.
Simply put, his grandfather and Mianmian’s grandmother were biological siblings.
Those two were likely cousins as well.
Zi Congheng felt it was a pity that his Father had passed away early.
Otherwise, if he had stayed, it would have been wonderful to see this family reunion.
And at this moment, he envied Uncle Jiang.
Although he was wailing.
But he had someone to wail for.
He did not.
Jiang Changtian was truly weeping bitterly.
He couldn’t stop himself from crying.
He wasn’t crying for the present.
He was crying, crying for the world that Jiang Wan had spoken of.
In his past life, he might never have found his biological mother until the day he died.
They had lived so miserably, died so early, and so unjustly.
Why, why?
He had a mother, and his mother was a princess.
He had a princess for a mother, yet his sons, daughters, and young daughter had all died such tragic deaths.
They had never lived a good life.
They had never enjoyed anything.
Why?
His wife had followed him and suffered until her death.
She had never enjoyed a single day of happiness.
She should have been a princess’s daughter-in-law, she could have been arrogant and domineering, she could have competed in wealth with the noble ladies of the capital, comparing whose pearl hairpins had larger and rounder pearls, rather than comparing who dug more wild vegetables or carried heavier loads…
Jiang Changtian wailed like a wounded beast on the verge of death.
He cried, crying that the heavens had no eyes.
He cried.
In his past life, all the surprises and good fortune in this world had nothing to do with him.
There was only endless suffering.
Endless torture.
It allowed him to have a wife and children during his most miserable times, and to learn how to love.
Then, one by one, they were stripped away.
In the end, he was left alone to live in this world.
He cried.
He cried like a child.
Because he had found his mother.
“She said you wanted me dead, she said she adopted me so I could survive. Mother, is that true?”
Every word.
Could make Princess Huiyun feel as if her heart were being sliced a hundred times over.
It made her feel as if she were repeatedly falling ill and then repeatedly waking up, and that pain was real.
“No, they told me you were dead. When Mother gave birth to you, they told me you were gone. Mother was ill, terribly ill. I shouldn’t have let them take you away; it was all Mother’s fault.”
At this point, Princess Huiyun dared not touch the child before her, fearing it was a hallucination.
When her hand touched the child’s head, she suddenly fainted.
Then, Qin Luoxia skillfully carried her aunt—no, her mother-in-law—to her room.
It was a very large room.
The last time Qin Luoxia had come, she felt it was a bit too empty.
Now it felt just right; a whole group of people were sitting there, and it wasn’t crowded at all.
Jiang Changtian knew how to take a pulse.
Princess Huiyun’s hands were slender, and her pulse was normal.
She had just fainted from a sudden rush of intense emotion.
Mianmian didn’t really know how to take a pulse, but she lifted her mother-in-law’s eyelids to take a look and measured her heartbeat. It was probably just fainting caused by palpitations and intense emotions, though there were likely some other minor issues as well.
Meng Shaoxia huddled in the corner, watching his Father-in-law, who had just been wailing as if he were dying, now calmly taking Princess Huiyun’s pulse. He shivered slightly, feeling that he had seen too much.
Jiang Changtian looked at the old lady who had fainted. When he touched her hand, there was some warmth, but not much.
He cried, crying for his mother’s absence, for his own tragic life, and for the injustice of the heavens.
But he was not crying for the woman before him.
His mother had become a concrete figure, and he wouldn’t just feel an infinite yearning for maternal love whenever he saw a woman, because that intense emotion had disappeared many years ago.
Therefore, at this moment, he appeared a bit too calm.
Tear tracks were still on his face, yet he was very calm.
Everyone from the Jiang Family present felt that Father had it too hard.
Meng Shaoxia shivered.
Zi Congheng felt that Uncle Jiang’s condition seemed to have worsened a bit.
His previous illness was probably in his stomach and intestines, but now it had likely entered his blood and bone marrow.
The illness wouldn’t disappear; it had simply shifted.
Jiang Changtian sat silently before the woman.
It was as if he were in a daze.
In reality, he was thinking about the current situation.
He was the son of Grand Princess Huiyun, then who was Heir Han? He was Old Madam Jiang’s biological son, so why the switch?
What Old Madam Jiang said and what Princess Huiyun said were inconsistent.
The consort was aware of the situation, but his Father shouldn’t be the consort. Then who was it?
What kind of person’s child would be intolerable to the world?
He felt no filial affection.
He was not kind.
Kindness is something we, a group of unkind people, bestow upon you.
If we don’t bestow it, you wouldn’t be able to be kind at all.
He was not qualified to be kind.
He looked at this old woman.
A thousand-year-old temple, a lost journey home, half a face scarred, half-mad and half-crazy.
If one lived half a lifetime in deception.
And half a lifetime trying to court death.
I wonder if she is happy like this?
It’s quite good.
Before he found his mother, he had imagined a thousand different scenarios.
He had even thought about whether his mother might be a brothel prostitute.
Or a servant in some household.
He had thought of many unspeakable possibilities.
That was why he dared not search.
He felt that the way things were now was also quite good.
As long as he was okay, the children would be okay.
He dared not hope for anything better.
He was afraid that if he had hope and it was stripped away again, he would be doubly disappointed.
His first half of life had been bitter enough; he didn’t need any more bitterness. He had suffered enough.
From now on, he just wanted sweetness, sweetness so cloying it stung. He didn’t want to taste a bit of bitterness, nor did he want his children to suffer.
But his mother was a Grand Princess.
The most noble woman in the world.
The dream in everyone’s mouth.
It was her.
He just felt double the pain, double the bitterness.
It’s like if I were originally just a dog, and you made me eat excrement, I would think it was only natural.
But then one day you tell me that I am actually a human, a noble human, and I could have not eaten excrement, but my parents lost me, accidentally dropping me into a pack of dogs, making me think I was a dog, and my children were puppies, only fit to eat excrement.
That intense emotion is not excitement, not gratitude, but a desire to kill.
A desire to kill so many people.
He felt no gratitude, not at this moment.
All the surprises and good fortune in this world do not exist; they can all go to hell.
This year was Jiang Changtian’s zodiac year.
He had found his mother.
Princess Huiyun opened her eyes and saw the man in white robes kneeling before her. His eyes were red, he was at a loss, his body was frail, and he coughed several times from excitement, his face flushed.
Seeing her open her eyes, he said with pleasant surprise: “Mother, you’re awake. That’s wonderful. I was so scared, I was so scared that just after seeing you, you would abandon me again, Mother.”
Princess Huiyun reached out and clutched his hand tightly, choking with sobs: “I won’t, never again. Mother promises, I will never lose you again.”
Her son was so weak and small, his hands so cold; it looked like his constitution had been ruined. She was going to slice that poisonous woman into a thousand pieces.
On the ground, a lump of snow that Jiang Changtian had just held slowly melted, soon disappearing without a trace.
Thank you for reading + listening 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
