"What did you say?" Fu Zhen exclaimed.
Chen Tingfeng picked her up in his arms. His voice was low, but at this moment, there was an added sense of certainty. "It's just my guess. But I think if Fu Mingde had always been like this, how could Auntie have taken a fancy to him?"
If a person has a low character, no matter how well they disguise themselves, there will always be a moment when they can no longer hold it in and show their true colors.
A real scoundrel can never pretend to be a true gentleman.
Even though he had never met Chen Peizhu and didn't truly know her well, he thought that a young lady from a marquis's mansion who was proficient in all kinds of arts like music, chess, calligraphy, and painting couldn't be so blind in judging people.
Unless... Fu Mingde was never the one Chen Peizhu truly loved.
Fu Zhen felt as if a bomb had suddenly gone off in her head. Scenes of living in that small hut flashed before her eyes.
Since she could remember, her mother had been in poor health. But Fu Mingde always looked like a self - righteous scholar. He always said that a gentleman shouldn't pursue profit, so he never did any work to earn money. Instead, he either slept at home all day or went to the town to drink. In short, whenever he was at home, there was always no peace.
Sometimes when there was no money, he would even ask her mother for it.
At such times, Mother would always look at him with an unreadable expression in her eyes.
In the past, Fu Zhen thought she was sad, sad that she had married the wrong person. But at this moment, she suddenly realized that her mother had never quarreled with Fu Mingde.
The only time was when there was no money at home and Fu Mingde had the idea of selling her.
But if it wasn't sadness, then what was it?
Fu Zhen covered her head and suddenly shed tears.
If her biological father was really not Fu Mingde, then why did her mother live with this scoundrel? How did she marry Fu Mingde? Did Fu Mingde know about these things?
All the mysteries rushed towards her, making her feel so oppressed that she could hardly breathe.
"Zhenzhen!" Chen Tingfeng quickly hugged her, looking anxious. "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. I'm here, your cousin is here..."
He held her tightly and patted her on the back gently. "I'll help you find out all these things. Don't be afraid."
Fu Zhen buried her head in his arms. Her tears seeped into his clothes, as if they were burning into his heart.
He couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. If he had known it would make her so sad, he should have found out everything first and then told her.
"Chen Tingfeng..." she said in a muffled voice. "If Fu Mingde is not my father, then where is my real father? Why didn't Mother ever tell me these things? She lived such a hard life. Why didn't she come back?"
Her mother's health was getting worse and worse. Sometimes she would see her mother sitting in a corner in a daze and then suddenly shed tears.
She didn't know why she was crying. She was too young. For her, as long as her mother was there, life was sweet and happy.
So every time she saw her mother crying, she couldn't help but secretly wipe away her own tears. Later, when her mother found out, she never cried again.
But her body got thinner and thinner day by day until she couldn't get out of bed.
Chen Tingfeng was silent for a long time before answering hoarsely, "Maybe, she didn't want to come back."
Her elopement back then was a great scandal. Even if the marquis's mansion didn't blame her, she couldn't get over that hurdle in her heart.
Rather than coming back to the marquis's mansion and being laughed at by people in the capital and bringing shame to the marquis's mansion, she would rather walk to the end of this road with guilt and never turn back.
Chen Peizhu really didn't want to come back.
Fu Zhen remembered what her mother had said to her before she died. She said, "I've taken the wrong path and misjudged people in my life. All the hardships I'm suffering now are what I deserve. Zhenzhen... Don't be like me. When you get married in the future, you must be careful... I'm sorry, I can't accompany you to grow up. You have to support yourself from now on."
In the past, Fu Zhen thought her mother was talking about Fu Mingde. But now she suddenly realized that the person her mother was talking about might be another heartless man.
She felt it was absurd and ridiculous. She sat up from Chen Tingfeng's arms. Her eyes were red, but her expression had completely turned cold, with a bit of hatred. "Even if my real father is not Fu Mingde, it can't cover up the fact that he abandoned his daughter! Such a heartless man, how is he any different from Fu Mingde!"
They were all scoundrels. Even if he had been good in the past, he was still a hypocrite and a real scoundrel!
Chen Tingfeng sighed softly, held her face in his hands and gently wiped away her tears. "Such a person is not worth your sadness. But there are still many strange things about what happened back then. What we should do now is to find out the truth and give Auntie justice."
Fu Zhen let him do as he pleased. Her expression was still a bit gloomy. After a moment, she suddenly said, "I want to move my mother's tomb back to the capital."
She looked up at him. "Mother is from the marquis's mansion. Even after she died, she is still from the marquis's mansion. I don't want her to continue sleeping in that remote village. I'm afraid it will dirty her way to reincarnation."
How could Chen Tingfeng disagree? He looked into her eyes tenderly. "Okay, then let's go and bring Mother back."
Feeling his tenderness, tears welled up in Fu Zhen's eyes again. She lowered her head and secretly hid her emotions, not wanting him to see her vulnerability. She just said in a muffled voice, "Tell me all the other news you've found out."
Chen Tingfeng's heart melted when he saw her like this. How could he still hide anything? So he told her all the news he had found out in detail.
When she heard that "Fu Mingde" had been polite and proper when he was young, Fu Zhen immediately frowned.
She finally understood why her mother had been seduced and why Chen Tingfeng was so sure that that person was not Fu Mingde.
Just being polite and proper could never be associated with Fu Mingde.
Unless there was a ghost.
Chen Tingfeng's voice was low and gentle, like the breeze warmed by the sun in winter, with a cool warmth.
Fu Zhen listened and slowly closed her eyes.
After all this, Fu Zhen's emotions had been up and down, and she inevitably felt tired. After Chen Tingfeng finished speaking, he saw that she was breathing steadily in his arms and knew that she had fallen asleep.
He couldn't help but shake his head and smile softly. Then he gently got up, bent down and carried her back into the room.
He put Fu Zhen on the bed, took off his shoes and lay down beside her. He still held her in his arms. Although he knew she couldn't hear him, he still whispered in her ear, "Sleep, sleep... Don't be afraid. I'll take care of everything."
He was afraid that she would have nightmares again.
Maybe his warm body gave Fu Zhen a great sense of security. She slept until the afternoon, and even the sun had quietly hidden behind the clouds.
Biyu was bored outside. She propped her chin up and watched the little maid cleaning. "It's so boring... I want to go and serve the young lady."
Yuanbao was cracking melon seeds beside her. Hearing this, he glanced at her, grabbed a handful of melon seeds and handed them to her. "Stop being bored. Come and crack melon seeds with me."
Biyu rolled her eyes at him. "I don't want to. Crack them by yourself."
Yuanbao laughed at her. "Why don't you even know how to be lazy? It's not often that we have nothing to do. Relax a bit."
"Do you think everyone is like you?" Biyu said disdainfully. "You're being lazy. I'll go and tell the young master about it later."
With that, she stood up and seemed about to leave. Yuanbao immediately threw the melon seeds away. "You're going to tell on me? Biyu, you're being unfair..."
The two of them walked away, joking and playing. Cuihuan stood under the tree, looked at the closed courtyard gate and couldn't help but shake her head and smile softly.
Such a life was really good.