Chapter 1074 - 1076: I Believe Everything My Sister Says_1
Lin Ping’er also walked out of the room, her expression somewhat anxious as she looked toward Bai Ruozhu, giving her a slight shake of her head.
Bai Yihong also wanted to go outside, but upon glancing at Elder Xuan Jizi, whom he was to accompany, he felt it would be impolite to get up and leave. However, his movements caught the watchful eye of Elder Xuan Jizi, who couldn’t help but sink into deep thought. Did the Bai Family not want to part with Ze Qing, the child?
Ruozhu didn’t rush to answer Xiaosi’s question, but instead turned her gaze toward Niu Cuicui, with a scrutinizing look in her eyes.
"I find it quite strange. For a lonely woman like you, it was already extraordinary that you could find Beiyu City. We did not tell you where Xiaosi had gone, yet you were able to come to Mount Hua all by yourself. Tell me, who exactly are you?"
Bai Ruozhu’s tone was very stern, even somewhat impolite, "Perhaps there is someone else orchestrating your actions."
Niu Cuicui’s face turned pale, and under the intense gaze of Bai Ruozhu, she couldn’t help but take two steps back, fearfully saying, "What do you want to do? You don’t want to return my son to me, and you still want to frame me?"
Ruozhu couldn’t help but let out a cold snort. She suddenly turned to Xiaosi and asked, "Xiaosi, if I say this woman is unscrupulous, regardless of whether she is your birth mother or not, you should have nothing to do with her, would you be willing?"
Xiaosi was stunned for a moment but soon gathered a determined look. He pressed his lips together and said seriously, "I’ll listen to my sister. I won’t bother with her anymore."
Niu Cuicui looked at Xiaosi with disbelief. They had gotten along so well on the way here, and he had almost believed that she was his birth mother. Why, just because Bai Ruozhu said so, would he suddenly refuse to acknowledge her?
This couldn’t be true. That woman had no blood relation to him at all. Isn’t it said that blood relatives are the closest?
"Ze Qing, don’t be afraid of her, Elder Xuan Jizi will stand up for us, mother and son," Niu Cuicui said, moving forward to pull Xiaosi, "I know you care about their kindness for raising you, but... but they can’t deceive you by keeping things from you."
Xiaosi shook off Niu Cuicui’s hand and said coldly, "I don’t care about anything else. My life was saved by my sister, and I’ll believe whatever she says!"
Ruozhu’s eyes felt a bit sore, but she had not said that Niu Cuicui wasn’t Xiaosi’s birth mother, just that Niu Cuicui had ulterior motives. She hadn’t lied to Xiaosi.
However, now she truly doubted her initial beliefs. Xiaosi’s origin could only be confirmed as the child given to the Wang Family by Niu Pazi. As for the story of Xiaosi’s origin told by Niu Pazi, it was solely her own account. Later, it was Ruozhu and Yihong who happened to bump into Niu Pazi in Linjiang Village, where Niu Pazi finally shared her daughter’s story, mentioning how Niu Cuicui had been traumatized and remembered nothing.
It was very likely that the raid on Linjiang Village by bandits triggered Niu Cuicui’s memories. But when all these events were pieced together, considering Niu Cuicui’s behavior, Ruozhu couldn’t help but suspect her.
Previously, she had had a proper conversation with Niu Cuicui. For Xiaosi’s safety, his future prospects, and to spare the child from adverse psychological impacts, she asked Niu Cuicui to come back for Xiaosi after ten years. If Niu Cuicui was merely unable to part with her son, fearing no one to care for her in old age, she still had ten years before she became too old and could afford to wait.
Even without Xiaosi by her side, she could remarry more readily. Moreover, shouldn’t a mother consider her child’s best interest? If she really were Xiaosi’s birth mother, shouldn’t she keep calm for Xiaosi’s sake?
Perhaps she had always been a selfish person, just from the fact that she took two hundred silver from Bai Ruozhu and then broke her promise to find Xiaosi proves it.
Bai Ruozhu went to grab Xiaosi’s hand and walked towards the house, while speaking, "We haven’t seen each other for a long time, and there’s a lot to talk about, irrelevant people should be sent away."
The maids at home heard this and hurried to "invite" Niu Cuicui to leave, while Niu Cuicui started to cry, wailing as she spoke, "Ze Qing, my son, you’ve been away from your mother for these years, do you have the heart to leave me again?"
Xiaosi didn’t look back; he wasn’t sure if Niu Cuicui was his real mother, at least not by appearance. When Niu Cuicui insisted on Mount Hua that she was his mother, he had no other choice, after all, one couldn’t just acknowledge any woman claiming to be his mother, right? His master was kind-hearted and had arranged for Niu Cuicui to stay, and this time he had also taken the opportunity to come home and find out the truth.
During their time together on this journey, Niu Cuicui had been very caring towards Xiaosi, pouring out her heart and soul. Xiaosi wasn’t ungrateful, but he wasn’t a child who’d never experienced family affection either. He compared Niu Cuicui with Lin Ping’er, and found he preferred Lin Ping’er’s intimacy and concern, which didn’t make him feel awkward.
Seeing Xiaosi ignore her, Niu Cuicui cried even louder, cursing as she sobbed, "Bai Ruozhu, you despicable and lowly creature, it was you who enticed me to sell my son to your family, and now you just want to separate us. Your family already has two sons; you don’t lack one more, but he’s all I have left!"
"My husband was killed by bandits, my two children died one after another, Ze Qing is all I have left, please pity me, don’t fight with me for him, he is the flesh from my body!"
Elder Xuan Jizi’s brows were deeply furrowed, but he didn’t speak. Eventually, Niu Cuicui was thrown out of the Bai Residence, but she was not willing to give up, making a scene at the gate of the Bai Residence. However, since there was a distance between the Main Courtyard and the Main Gate, the people inside couldn’t hear her.
"I was reckless, had I known it would come to this, I should never have casually brought people to the Bai Family," Elder Xuan Jizi said with some doubts, but out of respect, he still made an apologetic bow towards Bai Yihong.
Bai Yihong quickly returned the courtesy, saying, "Elder, please don’t say that, it’s really overwhelming for us."
Xuan Jizi then turned to Bai Ruozhu and said, "To have brought Jianqi’s sword this time also resolved a concern for our Mount Hua. Fortunately, the Treasure Sword was returned intact. Moreover, to apologize, the head of our sect decided to also send the Black Gold Sword with it."
As he spoke, he handed another sword to Bai Ruozhu. Bai Ruozhu promptly took it with both hands. She didn’t stand on ceremony, bowing to Elder Xuan Jizi and said, "Thank you, Elder, and thanks to our sect leader too."
This sword was the other one formerly owned by Concealed Clumsy. Because his Black Gold Sword and Jianqi’s sword were a matched pair, he had harbored the idea of stealing the sword and had caused some trouble for them. Therefore, she didn’t see any problem with accepting this sword.
She would ask Jianqi later if he wanted it; even if Jianqi declined, keeping it to reward her trusted subordinates was also a good choice.
Xiaosi had been looking at Bai Ruozhu, seemingly with something to ask, but Bai Ruozhu pretended not to notice and said to him, "You haven’t seen Dengdeng for a long time. He should be awake by now. Hurry up and go see him, hold him, and see if he still recognizes you as his uncle."
"Alright, I’ll go right now!" Xiaosi, after all, hadn’t seen Dengdeng for quite some time, and his attention was quickly diverted.
Once Xiaosi had left, Elder Xuan Jizi opened his mouth to ask, "Ruozhu, do you have something to tell this old man?"