Chapter 442: Old Friend from Western Hunan (Part )

"You sent someone to Jiangzhou to give me the jade pendant, which means you don't want to hide your identity anymore." Xiao Zhirou said, "Tell me! How have they been doing these years? Where are they now?"

Xiao Zhirou suddenly became very excited, and Yun Zhuiyue couldn't help but smile bitterly, saying, "Back then, Luo Tianjin used sweet words to trick you into helping him get out of this situation for his own selfish reasons. But after he left, he disappeared without a trace and never came back. Originally, you had gradually come to understand his ugly face and were ready to let go of this bad relationship, but fate played a trick on you. In the second month after he left, you actually found out that you were pregnant with his child."

Whenever he mentioned this matter, Yun Zhuiyue couldn't hold back his inner anger. He gritted his teeth in hatred and trembled all over.

"Stop talking..."

As if Yun Zhuiyue reminded her of her sad past, Xiao Zhirou frowned, her eyes filled with tears, and she tried hard not to let the tears burst out. Her miserable look as she tried desperately to suppress the grievance in her heart was very touching, and it made Yun Zhuiyue feel heartbroken.

"Why don't you tell me?"

Whether it was out of impulse or to vent his anger, Yun Zhuiyue ignored Xiao Zhirou's feelings and insisted, "If you don't want to talk about this, why did you come to me with this pair of jade pendants tonight?"

"you……"

Yun Zhuiyue waved his hand to interrupt Xiao Zhirou's rebuttal. His tone was like crying, but not crying, and like laughing, but not laughing: "You didn't dare to tell this to anyone, even your adoptive father and I. In the end, you secretly left Xiangxi alone and went to the Xianwang Mansion in Luoyang, hoping that Luo Tianjin would fulfill his promise. Unexpectedly, when you arrived in Luoyang City, before you found the gate of the Xianwang Mansion, they discovered your whereabouts and attacked you. Fortunately, God protected you and let you escape. You thought that leaving Luoyang would end the matter, but unexpectedly, they still refused to give up and vowed to kill you all and eradicate the roots. Chasing you all the way, fleeing all the way, you were repeatedly imprisoned, and escaped death several times, and finally met me alive..."

"In fact, I was already heartbroken back then, and wanted to die countless times." Xiao Zhirou subconsciously stroked her belly and whispered, "However, even if Luo Tianjin deserves to be cut into pieces, the child in my belly is innocent. For the sake of the child in my belly, I must live on as long as I can."

"After you disappeared, I went crazy looking for you everywhere." Yun Zhuiyue choked up, "But when I found you, you were covered in wounds and pregnant. Rou'er, do you know how it felt when I saw your bulging belly? It was like being struck by lightning and pierced by thousands of arrows. I still remember it vividly today. The slightest recollection makes me feel heartbroken and I would rather die than live."

"Du Xiang, I'm sorry." Xiao Zhirou said with shame, "I shouldn't have kept it from you..."

"No!" Yun Zhuiyue shook her head and said, "Your mistake was not hiding it from me. It was that after you decided to hide it from me, you suddenly appeared in front of me with a big belly. The shock and despair that caught me off guard were your biggest mistake. Rou'er, have you really... never thought about my feelings?"

Yun Zhuiyue's words were like a basin of ice water, poured unceremoniously on Xiao Zhirou's head, causing her to wake up suddenly, followed by deep self-blame and repentance.

"If it weren't for the last resort, I would never have looked for you. You and I grew up together, and you are the person I trust the most. In that situation back then, you were the only person I could turn to..."

“Yes!” At this moment, Yun Zhuiyue didn’t know whether to cry or laugh, “You transferred Luo Tianjin’s cruelty to you a hundred times, a thousand times to me, just because… I am the person you trust the most…”

Seeing this, Xiao Zhirou's eyes darkened and she said sincerely: "Du Xiang, I'm sorry..."

"On one side is you, and on the other side is Luo Tianjin's wicked son. You didn't give me time to think at all. You forced everything on me without caring whether I could accept the sudden truth or not." Yun Zhuiyue laughed bitterly, "I will do anything to heal your wounds. But I don't know what to do to keep your pregnancy safe... You asked me to keep it a secret from everyone, but I wanted to tell my adoptive father this news countless times."

"But you didn't do that..."

“I don’t know if what I did was right.” Yun Zhuiyue said in confusion, “If I had made the truth public, maybe your father would have ordered you to abort the child. Maybe… everything would have been very different.”

Xiao Zhirou was sad and shook her head slowly, "But the fact is, you helped me hide it from everyone and secretly let me give birth to twins."

“That’s right!” Yun Zhuiyue said self-deprecatingly, “I thought my sincere treatment could win your heart away from Luo Tianjin. But unexpectedly, no matter how much I gave, you still couldn’t forget him. Although you gave birth to two children, you didn’t want to raise them. You asked me to send them to a good family for adoption and swore not to tell anyone about it. At that time, you said that you had committed many mistakes and wanted to apologize to your adoptive father and the tribe. I thought you had made up your mind and planned to start all over again, and I was so happy that I almost couldn’t sleep. But unexpectedly, the way you apologized was to jump off a cliff…”

"I don't regret giving up my worthless life." Xiao Zhirou said, "But two things after my 'death' make me regret it. First, my 'death' made my mother too sad and she died of depression. Second, because of my selfishness, my two children have been without a father and a mother since childhood, and no one loves them."

"Rou'er, what I promised you has never changed." Yun Zhuiyue seemed not to want to be immersed in sadness. She suddenly said seriously, "To this day, I still haven't told anyone about what happened back then."

"Du Xiang, thank you." Xiao Zhirou said gratefully, "Back then, I abandoned my own children with my own hands. Since then, I have dreamed of them almost every night. I dreamed that they were starving and cold, that they were lonely and helpless, that they were bullied and abused, that they were in rags, skinny, unkempt, leaning against each other on the streets in the cold winter, crying heartbreakingly... Mother..."

Before she finished speaking, Xiao Zhirou could no longer hold back the pain in her heart and couldn't help but cover her face and cry.

"Rou'er..." Yun Zhuiyue looked at her with pity but didn't know how to comfort her.

Xiao Zhirou murmured, "Over the years, whenever I saw other children snuggling in their mother's arms and acting coquettishly, I would think of my own poor children. When they were helpless, cold and hungry, did they also call 'mother' countless times? Did they curl up in the poor streets in the biting cold wind, and could only feel their mother's arms in their dreams... Do you know? Whenever I think of this, I wish I could cut myself into pieces and grind my bones to dust. I hate! I hate myself for being selfish, I hate myself for being cruel, I hate myself for not being worthy of being their mother..."

Before she knew it, Xiao Zhirou had sobbed uncontrollably, her tears staining her veil.

When she subconsciously lifted the white veil and wiped the tears from her face, her stunning face was revealed, as if caught in a glimpse of a stunning beauty, making people dumbfounded and dazed. "Rou'er, everyone has their own destiny, why do you push yourself too hard?"

"Over the years, they have endured so much suffering and pain." Xiao Zhirou choked up and said, "Compared with their miserable lives, what is the humiliation I suffered back then?"

"Is that why you feel compassion for orphans wandering the streets and even adopt them?" Yun Zhuiyue knew everything about Xiao Zhirou by heart and said bitterly, "Tang Afu, Chang Wuhui, and 'White-faced, Green-clothed, Pretty Eight Wonders' are all like this."

"That's right! It's the adults who make the mistakes, but it's always the children who suffer. This is the greatest injustice in the world."

At this point, Xiao Zhirou suddenly cast her eyes towards the dragon and phoenix jade pendant in her hand and said anxiously, "This is the only memory I left for Long'er and Feng'er. Back then, I asked you to give the jade pendant away with them, but why is it in your hands now? Could it be that... you have kept them by your side all this time?"

"No!"

Yun Zhuiyue's eyes turned cold, and she said in a fierce voice: "Luo Tianjin and I have a sworn enemy relationship, how could I keep his bastard around?"

"then you……"

"Rou'er!" Yun Zhuiyue suddenly softened her tone, with a touch of tenderness in her eyes. "They are Luo Tianjin's bastards. When you see them, you will only remember the pain you suffered in the past. Now, you have finally erased Luo Tianjin from your heart. Why don't you take this opportunity to cut off everything from the past and start over?"

Hearing this, Xiao Zhirou couldn't help but raise her eyebrows and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I will collect the debt that Luo Tianjin owes you. I will avenge you for the hatred you made with him!" Yun Zhuiyue said excitedly, "From today on, you are the Lord of Jueqing Valley, and I am the Holy Lord of Longxiang Mountain. There will be no Teng Rou and Du Xiang in the world anymore. Let's kill all our enemies and start over..."

"Du Xiang, what did you say?"

"Wrong!" Yun Zhuiyue shook her head like crazy and corrected him, "Du Xiang is dead. The one standing in front of you right now is Yun Zhuiyue."

"I don't understand what you are saying, and I don't want to listen to your nonsense!" Xiao Zhirou seemed to be angered by Yun Zhuiyue's entanglement, and said coldly, "I came to you only to get my children back, nothing else..."

"They are Luo Tianjin's bastards, what are you doing here?" Yun Zhuiyue was furious and roared, "Have you still been unable to forget that beast until today?"

Xiao Zhirou's eyes turned cold, and she said angrily: "It doesn't matter who their father is. I only know that they are my own flesh and blood. How I treat them does not need anyone else to interfere, let alone outsiders to point fingers!"

"Outsider?" Yun Zhuiyue laughed in anger, like a madman, "Until today, you still treat me as an outsider? Rou'er, I am doing everything for your own good, but you treat me as an outsider? I have done so many things for you, but you treat me as an outsider? Haha..."

When the love reached its peak, Xiao Zhirou could no longer tell whether Yun Zhuiyue was laughing or crying.

"Du Xiang, you've been kind to me, I'm so grateful and I'll never forget it." Xiao Zhirou's expression eased and she said softly, "But one thing is one thing, tonight I just want my children back. I've thought about them for more than 20 years, hoped for them for more than 20 years, and dreamed about them for more than 20 years. You men will never understand the heart of a mother. If you really want to do this for my own good, please return them to me, I beg you..."

"It's impossible!"

Faced with Xiao Zhirou's desperate request, Yun Zhuiyue actually refused outright.

"What?" Xiao Zhirou was stunned. "What... impossible?"

"It's impossible for you to find your children." Yun Zhuiyue's eyes were red and her tone was as cold as ice. "I advise you to give up this idea as soon as possible!"

Hearing this, Xiao Zhirou's face suddenly changed, and she suddenly felt empty in her heart, as if she had fallen into an endless abyss.

"Why?"

"Because your two children...are no longer alive."

……

(End of this chapter)