Chapter 68: Side Story (2) The Original Owner’s Family
One evening, as Qi Xiaojun was leaning affectionately on Chu Lianmo’s shoulder reading a book, Ah Wang suddenly came to report:
“Your Highness, Empress, Ah Cai is outside begging to see you.”
Qi Xiaojun couldn’t help but freeze.
Ah Cai was the personal page boy who had served the original owner, Zhou Yun, since childhood and had a close relationship with him. But now, the whole world knew he wasn’t Zhou Yun. What business did he have seeking him out now?
“Let him in then.”
“Yes.”
A moment later, Ah Cai walked in hurriedly.
“Young Master!” As soon as he entered, he excitedly knelt in front of Qi Xiaojun. “Can this slave still call you that?”
“…Of course.” Qi Xiaojun felt a throb in his heart. That emotion seemed to belong to the original owner.
“Young Master, the Master is critically ill. Knowing he doesn’t have long to live, he wants to see you one last time!”
“…”
In fact, Qi Xiaojun had heard a year ago that the original owner’s father, Zhou Kui, had fallen seriously ill. Madam Zhou had even sent someone to ask him for money, saying the cost of the illness was like a bottomless pit, and even the reasonably well-off Zhou family was struggling to support it.
At that time, Qi Xiaojun had sneered and refused without hesitation: “When I was at home, he never thought of me, his son. Now that he’s sick, he remembers me? Sorry, I am not his money tree.”
That person had to leave dejectedly.
And at this moment, Qi Xiaojun only said indifferently, “Don’t you know that I am fundamentally not Zhou Yun? Whether Zhou Kui lives or dies, what does it have to do with me?”
“…Young Master…” Ah Cai raised his head, looking straight into Qi Xiaojun’s eyes with red rims. “Is… is he really… completely gone?”
In that instant, Qi Xiaojun’s heart inexplicably ached again.
He hadn’t felt emotions belonging to Zhou Yun for a long time. But it turned out Zhou Yun still had feelings for the Zhou family.
So, in the end, Qi Xiaojun could only sigh and relent. “I will go once tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Young Master!” Ah Cai was overjoyed.
After Ah Cai withdrew, only then did Chu Lianmo frown and speak. “Ah Jun, why do you want to go?”
“I’m occupying someone else’s body after all,” Qi Xiaojun smiled bitterly. “I have to take care of his emotions a little.”
“You can still feel Zhou Yun’s emotions?”
“Rarely. Only when the emotions are particularly strong is there a reaction. And precisely because Zhou Yun’s obsession with his family is so deep, I have to make this trip.”
“Fine.” Chu Lianmo did not object further. “Then Zhen will accompany you tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Lianmo.”
Chu Lianmo smiled gently. “You never need to say thank you to Zhen.”
The next morning, the two arrived at the Zhou residence together.
Zhou Kui was indeed bedridden, his hair nearly all white, his face covered in wrinkles. He looked much older and more haggard than the image in the original owner’s memories.
“Yun’er!” Seeing Qi Xiaojun, Zhou Kui excitedly propped himself up from the bed. After blurting it out, he realized it was inappropriate and hurriedly corrected himself: “Apologies, Empress…”
“No matter, you can call me as you did in the past.”
This display of deep affection confused Qi Xiaojun a little, as if there were some profound father-son bond between them.
“Yun’er,” Zhou Kui gazed at Qi Xiaojun with red eyes, “It seems like it’s been a long, long time since we met. Have you lived well these years?”
Qi Xiaojun said coolly, “Rest assured, the Emperor treats me very well. I live much better than I did in the Zhou family.”
“…I’m sorry…” This sentence made Zhou Kui’s voice choke. “Yun’er, Father didn’t not care about you. It’s just that Father was too busy in the past, helping with affairs of the former dynasty and managing the inner courtyard; I really couldn’t pay attention to your situation all the time.”
Qi Xiaojun sneered. “You married a pile of wives and concubines and fathered a pile of children; naturally, it’s hard to keep up.”
“…” How could Zhou Kui not hear the sarcasm in Qi Xiaojun’s words? Unable to refute it, he could only lower his eyes in shame.
“Father, you’ve seen me now. If there’s nothing else, I’ll go first.” Qi Xiaojun really didn’t want to stay with Zhou Kui too much.
“Wait.” The one who stopped him was Chu Lianmo. “Ah Jun, who exactly bullied you when you were at home? Zhen accompanied you back this time to settle accounts with them properly.”
“This… forget it, right?” Qi Xiaojun knew Chu Lianmo’s method of “settling accounts” wouldn’t be very gentle. After all, Zhou Kui was already dying; why make it so bloody? “You know, I am not Zhou Yun.”
“Zhen naturally knows, but Zhen and Zhou Yun were technically husband and wife once. Consider it venting for him.”
These words made Qi Xiaojun’s heart start to feel sour. He said grumpily, “So in your heart, you also consider Zhou Yun your wife? You are just as universally loving as Zhou Yun’s father.”
“Heh, Zhen just likes watching you get jealous.” Chu Lianmo smiled teasingly, then turned somewhat serious. “Zhen certainly doesn’t mean that. Zhen just feels that Zhen didn’t take good care of Zhou Yun in the Prince Ru’s Manor back then and feels some guilt toward him in Zhen’s heart.”
“Alright, alright, I know.” Qi Xiaojun was not an unreasonable person; once Chu Lianmo explained, he understood the sentiment.
“Yun’er,” Zhou Kui suddenly spoke up. “I truly didn’t know you were bullied at home before. Just say who it was; it will be a good opportunity for me to properly rectify the Zhou family’s discipline.”
Hearing even Zhou Kui say this, Qi Xiaojun stopped being coy. “Then I’ll say it straight. The person who bullied me the most was your legitimate second son, Zhou Yue. And my dear legitimate mother not only always shielded her son’s crimes but even always helped her son target me.”
“…I didn’t expect mother and son to do such things!”
Zhou Kui was furious upon hearing this. In his impression, Zhou Yue wasn’t very upright. Because he was a legitimate son, Zhou Kui had grabbed him and beaten him a few times. Seeing he wouldn’t change, he couldn’t be bothered anymore and let him be a profligate son. But he never expected Zhou Yue would go so far as to bully his younger brother!
“Men, call the Second Young Master and the Madam here!”
“Yes.”
The servants went as ordered.
Zhou Yue and Madam Zhou knew things were bad. They walked over trembling and knelt together toward Chu Lianmo and Qi Xiaojun. “Greetings to the Emperor, greetings to the Empress.”
Chu Lianmo ignored them, simply turning to order Murong Ying behind him: “Go fetch a bucket of water.”
“Yes.” Soon, Murong Ying returned with a bucket full of cold water from the well.
Chu Lianmo unceremoniously pressed Zhou Yue’s head into it.
“Mmph…!” The extreme pain of suffocation made Zhou Yue struggle desperately by instinct, but his strength couldn’t match even one of Chu Lianmo’s fingers.
Winter had arrived, and the weather was turning cold. The icy water filled Zhou Yue’s nose and seemed to flow through his seven orifices to every part of his body. The bone-piercing cold made Zhou Yue wish for death instantly.
“Your Majesty!!” Madam Zhou’s heart ached for her son. She knelt aside, kowtowing repeatedly. “I beg you to spare Yue’er! It is all my fault for failing to teach my son! If you want to kill or cut, come at me!”
Chu Lianmo held Zhou Yue down firmly, watching coldly as bright red blood flowed down Madam Zhou’s forehead. He sneered, “Zhen indeed really wants to cut your son into a thousand pieces, to slice his flesh off piece by piece… It is a pity Zhen is not a tyrant. So what Zhen is doing now is merely what your son once did to Zhou Yun.”
“Begging the Emperor to spare my dog of a son’s life!!” Madam Zhou’s face was deathly pale as she continued to bang her head loudly on the ground.
At this time, Qi Xiaojun also spoke up. “If you don’t let him go, it might cost a life. Lianmo, let it go.”
“Oh my, Zhen’s Ah Jun is just kind-hearted.” Chu Lianmo finally released the hand holding Zhou Yue down.
“Cough cough cough…!” Zhou Yue knelt on the ground coughing violently, so scared that a puddle of yellow, foul-smelling liquid appeared under his trousers. He was in a wretched state.
“Zhou Yue, I want to ask you a question.” Qi Xiaojun looked coldly at Zhou Yue. Once he had coughed enough, he asked, “Zhou Yun never offended you before, and didn’t stand in your way at home. Why did you treat him like that?”
“…He… who asked him to write poems that Father remembered! Every time Father scolded me, he said he didn’t expect my literary talent to catch up to Big Brother’s, but even half of Zhou Yun’s would do! Who asked a concubine-born son to be so outstanding, surpassing me, the legitimate son!”
“…” Hearing this, while Qi Xiaojun was quite angry at Zhou Yue’s logic, a corner of his heart was secretly rejoicing. He knew this was the original owner’s emotion again. The original owner was rejoicing that he actually held a place in his father’s heart.
“And you?” Qi Xiaojun looked coldly at Madam Zhou. “Did you think the same as your son?”
“I… I…” Madam Zhou stammered for a moment.
Chu Lianmo swept a cold gaze over her and said grimly, “Answer whatever Ah Jun asks you. Tell the truth, or Zhen will continue sorting out your son.”
“I’ll say it! I’ll say it!” Chu Lianmo didn’t want to rashly torture a woman, but this threat was powerful to Madam Zhou. “Because when Zhou Yun’s mother was alive, the Master truly liked her, and even after she died, he would miss her! I couldn’t touch a dead person, so I had to take it out on Zhou Yun.”
“…” Chu Lianmo and Qi Xiaojun looked at each other, both infuriated by the logic of this vicious mother and son.
“A family misfortune, truly a family misfortune!” Zhou Kui was also heartbroken. “Your Majesty, starting today, this subject will divorce the Chen woman and expel Zhou Yue from the family. As for how the Emperor punishes them afterward, this subject will not interfere.”
“Spare our lives, Your Majesty! Spare our lives!” Chen shi and Zhou Yue were so frightened they started kowtowing repeatedly together.
“Get out. Zhen doesn’t want to see you again.” Chu Lianmo knew that for this mother and son, who were used to a luxurious life but had no skills, being expelled from the Zhou family was already a huge punishment. Plus, Qi Xiaojun was kind-hearted, so he didn’t want to do anything bloody.
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” The mother and son scrambled and crawled, quickly disappearing from Chu Lianmo’s sight.
“It’s all because this subject failed to discipline the family… cough cough…”
As Zhou Kui spoke, he began to cough violently, eventually spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Qi Xiaojun sighed in his heart. Zhou Kui was certainly a negligent father, but he wasn’t a complete bastard. “What exactly is this illness of yours?”
“It’s consumption (tuberculosis). I’ve invited several doctors, and they all say the disease has entered the marrow. I’m afraid I have less than a month to live.”
“Mmn…” Qi Xiaojun pondered for a moment. “How about I find another doctor to take a look at you.”
Chu Lianmo tutted. “What are you doing this for?”
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