Seeing Lady Tong looking furious and fearing that she would scold him again for not doing his best, Su Zeqian quickly added, "Mother, this time I went with the best coroner from the Ministry of Justice. That coroner is extremely skilled in identifying bones and tracing clues. But... we searched the mass burial ground for a whole day and night, yet found nothing."
Sure enough, Lady Tong's expression softened a bit. Instead of scolding Su Zeqian, she frowned and murmured, "Even the coroner from the Ministry of Justice couldn't find it?"
Su Zeqian nodded. "Yes! The coroner said that even if Yuan'er's bones had been eaten by wild dogs, there should still be some fragments left. Based on those fragments, one could still determine the age of the deceased. But none of the countless bone fragments in the mass burial ground matched Yuan'er's time of death and age..."
"Therefore, son suspects that Yuan'er's body was taken away from the mass burial ground," Su Zeqian said seriously.
Lady Tong was shocked and involuntarily tightened her grip on the armrest below. "No, this is impossible!"
Just then, there came the sound of something heavy hitting the ground and a woman's scream from outside. The sound sounded exactly like Su Qingyu's. Both the mother and son's expressions changed.
Oh no, why is Su Qingyu outside? How much has she heard?
Following Lady Tong's instruction, Zining quickly stepped forward and opened the tightly closed door. Lady Tong and Su Zeqian saw Su Qingyu standing outside with tears all over her face.
Su Zeqian stood up from the ground and murmured, "Yu'er... Why are you here? Did you... did you hear everything just now?"
Su Qingyu stepped into Lady Tong's room with tears in her eyes. She said, "No wonder Mother's attitude towards Yu'er has been different these past two days, and Brother has been avoiding Yu'er... So it's because Mother and Brother have been looking for Second Sister's bones..."
Lady Tong looked at Lvyi behind Su Qingyu, and the interrogation in her eyes was obvious.
Lvyi looked panicked, her legs trembling slightly.
She didn't know that Lady Tong and Su Zeqian were discussing this matter inside. If she had known, she would have stopped Su Qingyu from coming here long ago.
However, it was too late to do anything now.
Su Qingyu was crying bitterly, her eyes shedding tears non - stop. "Yu'er knows that she has done many wrong things recently and has made Mother and Brother unhappy. Yu'er has been reflecting on herself and trying to correct her mistakes..."
"Mother, Brother... Do you dislike Yu'er?"
"If Mother and Brother really dislike Yu'er, Yu'er... Yu'er will just leave the Marquis Mansion."
After saying that, Su Qingyu turned around and was about to leave.
Lady Tong quickly gave Zining a look, asking her to stop Su Qingyu.
Although a series of recent events and the trip to Foxing Temple had made Lady Tong suspicious of Su Qingyu, until everything was conclusive, Su Qingyu was still her long - lost daughter.
Seeing Su Qingyu crying so bitterly now, Lady Tong felt a bit sad in her heart.
She softened her voice and said, "Yu'er, don't think too much. Mother and your brother don't mean that."
Su Zeqian also said, "Yu'er, don't cry first. We don't dislike you. It's just... just..."
"Just that Mother and Brother wanted to retrieve Yuan'er's bones but were afraid that it would make me unhappy, right?" Su Qingyu smiled a bit, looking dejected.
Su Zeqian clenched his fist and said, "After all, Yuan'er treated you so badly back then and almost caused you to..."
Su Qingyu shook her head and interrupted him with tears. "Brother doesn't understand Yu'er."
"Although Yuan'er made things difficult for me before, I knew in my heart that she was actually scared, scared that Father, Mother and Brother's love would be taken away by me. As daughters, I can understand everything she did, and I never blamed her."
"On the contrary, I'm even happy. Yuan'er's actions showed that she really regarded me as family."
Seeing that both Lady Tong and Su Zeqian's expressions were touched by her words, Su Qingyu continued.
"Actually, in the half - year since Yuan'er left, I've always felt that something was missing around me. The whole Marquis Mansion has become extremely quiet, and I can no longer hear that loud laughter."
"Recalling the past, I feel more and more heartache for Yuan'er. I wanted to secretly go to the mass burial ground to bring back Yuan'er's bones several times, but I was afraid that Father, Mother and Brother would scold me. After all, Yuan'er had such a stalemate with the family back then and made Father so angry..."
Su Qingyu's voice became more and more dejected as she spoke. Finally, she sighed. "Yuan'er is my younger sister. How could I not love her? Mother and Brother actually didn't have to hide it from me. Yu'er won't stop you. Instead, I'll help you come up with ideas."
Su Qingyu had been living outside for more than a decade. Lady Tong and Su Zeqian already felt very guilty towards her. After hearing what she said, the doubts they had towards her before disappeared instantly and turned into deep heartache.
Look, what a good child. She had been living outside for years, and after returning home, she was constantly bullied by her younger sister, but she never held any grudges. Now that they thought about it, their actions of guarding against and avoiding Su Qingyu were really hurtful. No wonder she was so sad.
Lady Tong waved to her, and her expression softened a bit.
"Good child, come to Mother."
More tears rolled down Su Qingyu's face. She walked in front of Lady Tong, knelt down and leaned her face on Lady Tong's lap.
This was what Su Yuan'er liked to do the most when she was alive. Su Qingyu had seen her do it countless times, so she imitated her this time.
Sure enough, this action of hers touched the string deep in Lady Tong's heart again. She couldn't hold back anymore, hugged Su Qingyu into her arms and cried out loudly.
"My child... Mother only has you as a daughter now. How could Mother bear to let you be wronged..."
As soon as she said this, Su Qingyu knew that in the end, it was she, the living one, who had won.
The mother and daughter hugged and cried for a long time. Then Lady Tong let go of Su Qingyu and confessed to her that she and Su Zeqian had been looking for Su Yuan'er's bones.
"Yes, Mother and your brother have been looking for Yuan'er's bones."
"After all, she is a daughter of our Su family, the flesh and blood that Mother gave birth to after ten months of pregnancy. Even if she committed an unforgivable crime, she shouldn't have been left exposed in the wilderness."
Su Qingyu snorted coldly in her heart. On the surface, she wiped her tears and looked worried.
"Yu'er heard Brother say outside just now that Yuan'er's bones weren't in the mass burial ground. It seems that someone took them away?"
Su Zeqian nodded. "Since we searched everywhere but couldn't find them, this is the only possibility left."
Su Qingyu frowned and said, "But the Lu Mansion has been raided, and Lu Chuan has been beheaded. Yuan'er's former friends have already parted ways with her. Who would go to the mass burial ground to look for her bones?"