Even if she couldn't figure it out immediately, Chu Chu was willing to believe he had his reasons.
Xiao Jin Yu watched the little boy expressionlessly. "Ready?"
The boy lifted his chin. "Ask away!"
☆、104 Braised Pork Hock with Rock Sugar (18)
Xiao Jin Yu picked up his teacup and took a small sip. "What's your name?"
"Li Cheng," the boy struggled free from the woman's embrace, standing with hands on hips protectively in front of her, adding loudly, "Cheng as in success."
Xiao Jin Yu nodded slightly. "What's your mother's name?"
The boy pursed his lips and glanced back at the woman. "My... my father calls my mother Yun Mei."
Xiao Jin Yu's brow furrowed slightly. "What do others call your mother?"
The boy clutched at his clothes. "No one calls my mother anything."
The woman forced herself to kneel upright, her vacant eyes directed toward Xiao Jin Yu. "I'm called..."
"Silence," Xiao Jin Yu coldly cut her off. "This doesn't concern you."
The boy spread his thin arms to shield the woman, glaring angrily at Xiao Jin Yu. "Don't glare at my mother!"
Xiao Jin Yu looked at him coldly. "You don't even know your own mother's name, yet you dare shout 'don't'?"
The boy's face flushed red. "I just call her Mother!"
Xiao Jin Yu spoke unhurriedly, "Your mother is blind. If she gets lost someday, or something happens to her, and you go to the authorities to report it, will you only say your mother is missing?"
The boy bit his lip and fell silent, his outstretched arms dropping to his sides.
The woman knelt dazedly, completely bewildered about what game this high official who had taken her husband was playing.
Xiao Jin Yu took another small sip of tea. "I'll only say this once, remember it clearly... Your mother is called Yun Gu. She was originally a maid in a wealthy household. Later she fell ill and lost her sight. Her body weakened, she couldn't work anymore, so she was driven out. She begged for a living and nearly starved to death on the streets when your father saved her, thus preserving her life and making her your mother."
Remembering the man who had saved and cherished her meeting a tragic death, the woman trembled and wept uncontrollably.
The boy was clearly hearing about his mother's background for the first time, looking helplessly at the tearful woman. "Mother..."
The woman cried too hard to speak.
Xiao Jin Yu acted as if he didn't hear, calmly watching the boy. "I ask you, besides studying for exams, what else did your father usually do?"
"My father did everything!" Speaking of his father, the boy immediately wore a proud expression. "My father could do any kind of work! He built our thatched cottage himself! He taught me to read, and he copied books for officials' families to earn money! Copying one book could buy medicine for Mother for a whole day!"
Chu Chu only needed to look down to see the glaring blood marks on Xiao Jin Yu's fair, jade-like neck, but somehow, she could no longer hate the madwoman who had injured her beloved.
The woman suddenly prostrated herself on the ground, knocking her head against the floor with loud "thump" sounds, her pale forehead hitting the ground as she pleaded helplessly through tears, "Prince An, I beg you, I beg you, I beg you... Brother Sheng was a good man, he was wronged, he was wrongly accused..."
The boy, panicked by the woman's crying, also knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly. "My father was wrongly accused!"
Chu Chu wanted to tug at Xiao Jin Yu's sleeve, but she pressed her lips together and restrained herself.
Xiao Jin Yu didn't even glance at the woman, keeping his calm gaze on the boy. "Li Cheng, look up... Was it that official who told you about your father's death?"The little boy lifted his head, his forehead already reddened and swollen from kowtowing. Though his eyes were brimming with tears from the pain, he still looked stubbornly at Xiao Jin Yu. "Yes... it was the steward from the official's residence who told us."
Xiao Jin Yu's voice grew slightly colder. "Did that same steward say that I was the one who caused your father's death?"
The boy's tear-filled eyes suddenly blazed with fury. "Yes! You subjected my father to severe torture, forced him to confess, and then had him killed!"
Xiao Jin Yu's expression remained as calm as if he were listening to a song. "Was it also that steward who suggested you appeal to the Emperor?"
"Yes..." Remembering the imperial appeal, the fire in the boy's eyes burned brighter, his small hands clenching into fists. "You also killed my grandparents!"
Xiao Jin Yu's brow furrowed slightly. "Had you ever heard your father mention your grandparents before?"
The boy bit his lip. "No... but my grandfather recognized my father! He recognized the black mole on my father's waist! He even rolled on nail boards to appeal for my father, and gave us all the money he and grandmother had saved!"
Xiao Jin Yu nodded slightly. "Did your father ever tell you why he repeatedly failed the imperial examinations?"
"My father was the most learned! It's just... just that someone was sabotaging him!"
"Why would they sabotage him? How did they do it?"
The boy pressed his lips tightly together, clutching the hem of his clothes without speaking.
The woman kowtowed three times loudly, her voice now devoid of earlier resentment, filled only with desolate helplessness. "I beg Prince An... to allow Yun Gu to speak for Brother Sheng. I'll endure any severe torture... I beg you, Wang Ye, I beg you..."
Xiao Jin Yu quietly watched the woman whose forehead was already bleeding from kowtowing. "Speak."
"Thank you, Wang Ye, thank you..." The woman knelt upright, bowed her head, and tried to suppress her sobs. "Yun Gu is blind, illiterate, cannot leave the house, understands nothing... I only know Brother Sheng is a good man. He found me and brought me home, gave me food and clothing, treated my illness, never despised me for being lowly and unclean... married me... To pay for my medicine, he worked day and night at hard labor, couldn't study, and became sick from exhaustion. He kept failing the exams, yet never blamed me... He always said he failed not because of poor scholarship, but because during his first exam in the capital, he reported a young master from an official family for cheating. The Imperial Examination Hall officials accused him of false accusation and beat him nearly to death that very night... He offended that family, and afterward could never pass the exams no matter what. It drove him mad - fine during the day, but at night he'd hold me and cry, talking nonsense... I knew Brother Sheng was suffering inside, but I couldn't help at all, always sick, just causing him more trouble..."
Chu Chu listened with tears welling in her eyes, while Xiao Jin Yu remained expressionless, his voice calm as if coming from beyond the heavens. "When did Li Rusheng start copying books for that official's family?"
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