Chapter 391: Xiaosi’s Pitiful Mother
The person Bai Ruozhu did not want to see, or rather face, was this woman. By seeing her, Bai Ruozhu would have to confront the issue of Xiaosi’s origin.
Yes, the woman in the room was Niu Pazi, the one who found the abandoned baby Xiaosi and later assisted the Wang Family in staging a ruse to replace their dead fetus. The world was indeed small, as Niu Pazi turned out to be Deng Shujie’s mother-in-law.
Niu Pazi was slightly taken aback upon seeing Bai Ruozhu and quickly revealed a look of fear. Her reaction was by far more intense than both Bai Ruozhu and Bai Yihong—so much so, it could be considered exaggerated.
Bai Ruozhu observed her subtly, silently speculating the reasons for her fear.
As Deng Shujie’s wife entered the room serving tea, Bai Ruozhu glanced at her. Suddenly, she felt as if she were struck by thunder.
This woman somewhat resembled Xiaosi—the origin of Xiaosi turned out to be...
Bai Ruozhu felt uneasy. She didn’t care about renting land anymore. Accepting that Xiaosi was Niu Pazi’s grandson was unbearable to her. She had thought Xiaosi’s biological parents were very distant from them and they would likely never meet. Yet, it turned out that they were right under their noses.
Seeing Bai Ruozhu staring at her daughter, Niu Pazi trembled, stuttering, "Mis...Miss Bai, it’s not what you...you think."
Deng Shujie was surprised by his mother-in-law’s reaction and asked, "Could it be that you know the Bai Family?"
Bai Ruozhu looked at Deng Shujie, who obviously was not aware of the situation.
Niu Pazi was, at this moment, like a cat on hot bricks. She wanted to admit she knew them but didn’t dare to, and she was afraid to deny it fearing Bai Ruozhu might refute and reveal her hidden secret. In her haste, her pale face turned red, and she seemed to be gasping for breath as if she had fallen ill.
Niu Cuicui, Niu Pazi’s daughter, was startled and immediately went to pat her back to ease her guilt, asking, "Mother, what’s wrong? Are you having trouble breathing?"
Upon being questioned, Niu Pazi became even more speechless. She grabbed Niu Cuicui’s hand tightly, signaling her to stop talking.
Seeing Niu Pazi’s state, Bai Ruozhu’s heavy mood lightened. She realized that Niu Pazi was indeed more afraid. She and Xiaosi had the power to choose. Xiaosi could opt to acknowledge or ignore his biological mother and more so, choose not to leave with her.
She walked up and clapped Niu Pazi on the shoulder, smiling, "I had treated Aunt Niu before. We’re acquainted."
Deng Shujie looked doubtful. Merely treating her shouldn’t have caused such a reaction, right?
Bai Ruozhu knew Deng Shujie was puzzled and chuckled, "It’s just Aunt Niu didn’t pay me for the medicine."
Upon hearing this, Niu Pazi felt a wave of relief and casually nodded in agreement.
Niu Cuicui apparently did not know who Bai Ruozhu was. She helplessly scolded her mother, saying, "Mother, your old habits are showing again. Let me pay for you." After she finished, she looked at Bai Ruozhu and asked, "Sister, how much does my mother owe you?"
Bai Ruozhu suddenly felt that the hierarchy was quite chaotic; Xiaosi’s mother was calling her sister.
"It’s fine. I was just joking with Aunt Niu. A batch of fever-reducing herbs is not worth much money," Bai Ruozhu said with a smile.
Niu Cuicui insisted on paying, taking out ten Wen from her purse and tried to give Bai Ruozhu. She said, "My mother has this bad habit. I hope you won’t mind too much."
Bai Ruozhu lost to her insistence and was handed ten copper coins. Holding the cold copper coins in her hand, she felt Xiaosi’s mother was actually not bad—at least she was reasonable.
Seeing it was a small issue, Old Master Li laughed it off and continued speaking about the lease agreement. Deng Shujie took out the agreement paper and helped both parties draft the contract and have Bai Yihong and Old Master Li sign and make their imprints.
"I will go to the Government Office to stamp it tomorrow and then send copies of the agreement to both of you," Deng Shujie stated, cautiously—most likely because of the "not-paying" incident with his mother-in-law.
"Alright, alright, no rush," Bai Yihong replied.
Bai Ruozhu believed her father had not realized that Deng Shujie’s wife was Xiaosi’s biological mother; otherwise, he would not have appeared so calm.
Niu Pazi saw Bai Ruozhu getting ready to leave, seemingly without the intention of exposing the secret. She breathed out a sigh of relief internally but still could not rest assured. She stood up and said, "Let me see Miss Bai off and apologize to her."
Deng Shujie and Niu Cuicui found it strange, as their mother was behaving unusually today.
Niu Pazi followed Bai Ruozhu and her father out of the Deng household. After they had walked some distance and ensured no one was around, Niu Pazi grabbed Bai Ruozhu’s hand and pleaded, "Miss Bai, I beseech you, please don’t reveal this matter."
Bai Ruozhu stared at her without uttering a word, which made Niu Pazi even more anxious. Taking a quick look around and seeing no one in sight, she suddenly knelt down in front of Bai Ruozhu.
"Miss Bai, I beg you. Please don’t reveal it. My daughter has had a tough life. I beg you," Niu Pazi pleaded, with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Bai Yihong was startled by Niu Pazi’s sudden action and hastily took a few steps back, leaving his daughter to handle the situation.
Bai Ruozhu coldly gazed at Niu Pazi and said, "If you don’t want me to tell your son-in-law, you better tell me exactly what happened. If I find out something’s amiss, I will go to your son-in-law and he should be able to help me get to the bottom of it."
Niu Pazi was kneeling on the ground, her body shaking uncontrollably. Hearing the mention of her son-in-law, her fear escalated. Ultimately, she gritted her teeth and said, "Fine. I will tell you everything, but you must promise me not to tell my son-in-law and not to mention the child in front of my daughter. She can’t take the stress."
"Okay, get up and then start talking. We don’t want to be seen by others," Bai Ruozhu said, giving her a hand.
Niu Pazi rose from the ground, wiped away her tears, and began narrating the events of six, seven years ago.
Her daughter, Niu Cuicui, was gentle and hardworking. Numerous people had proposed to her. However, a band of mountain bandits raided their village that year, pillaging many items. Niu Pazi had, fortunately, eluded the incident by an offhand visit to a relative’s house. But upon returning home, a horrific piece of news awaited her—her daughter, Niu Cuicui, had been violated by the bandits!
At that time, Niu Cuicui wanted to commit suicide but was barely stopped by her. Niu Pazi assured her that since the whole village was in chaos, no one had learned of the incident, and if nobody knew, then it could be considered as a thing of the past. Nevertheless, things did not end that easily. A few months later, Niu Cuicui started showing signs of pregnancy...
The subsequent events led to the birth of the child. Niu Cuicui nearly went insane, hence Niu Pazi had to send away the baby. She happened to cross paths with the Wang Family, and thus Niu Cuicui’s child became the fourth young master of the Bai Family.
"After that, my daughter’s mental state was not good. Having given birth to the child, whom I sent away, and with no one mentioning the incident at home, she slowly recovered. After one year, a marriage proposal came along, and she married into the Deng Family," Niu Pazi said, again wiping away her tears and snot. "She and Shujie now have two children. You mustn’t let him know about this!"