Chapter 381: Secret, Father and Son (3)
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Mrs. Yao was frightened. She drank three large cups of cold tea in one go before she could calm herself down. “It’s all thanks to you today. Otherwise, I would be in trouble.”
It did not matter if she lost the money. She was afraid that those people would kill them for money. They were all a group of desperadoes. They were not good people to begin with. No one could guarantee that they would not do something terrifying.
Yu Wan handed Mrs. Yao a handkerchief. “Madam, you have to bring more people when you go out in the future.”
“Sigh.” Mrs. Yao took the handkerchief and sighed. “I’ve lived in the Capital for so many years, but I’ve never encountered such a thing. There’s actually someone so bold in broad daylight…”
“Why did Madam go there?” Yu Wan asked.
!!
Mrs. Yao said with lingering fear, “I planned to choose a few sets of jewelry for my future daughter-in-law. The weather was hot and the sunlight in the streets was too strong, so I pa.s.sed through an alley. Who knew that I would meet that group of people? If I had known earlier, I would have preferred to walk on the streets.”
After wiping her sweat, Mrs. Yao came back to her senses that it was Yu Wan’s handkerchief. She quickly said embarra.s.sedly, “Thank you.”
Yu Wan smiled. “You’re welcome.” She had interacted with Mrs. Yao a few times. Mrs. Yao was an extremely good person. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have become Shangguan Yan’s only friend in the Capital.
“By the way, we were only focused on talking about me. Why did you pa.s.s by there?” Mrs. Yao was much calmer now, and she slowly became talkative.
Yu Wan said, “I just returned from Xiao Manor. I only pa.s.sed through the alley because I wanted to avoid the main road.”
“Ah, you went to the Xiao Manor?” Mrs. Yao was surprised. “Did you go alone?” She even brought Jiang Hai and Fu Ling, but it was obvious that the “alone” Mrs. Yao mentioned were not servants.
Yu Wan smiled but did not say anything.
Mrs. Yao was dumbfounded. “The Princely Heir asked you to go?”
Without waiting for Yu Wan to answer, Mrs. Yao smiled in relief. “It should have been like this long ago. It hasn’t been easy for Zijun all these years. The two of them really treat the Princely Heir very well.”
Zijun was Shangguan Yan’s nickname.
Yu Wan understood that Xiao Zhenting and Shangguan Yan were sincerely good to Yan Jiuchao, but she would not say anything bad about her husband. Without experiencing what he had experienced, she could not ask him to forget or accept it.
To put it bluntly, he was a human being, not a block of wood. It was not because he was right that he had to do it. He had his own heart and feelings. He had pain that could not be erased from his youth.
“Actually…” Mrs. Yao held her cup and her tone suddenly lowered.
Yu Wan came back to her senses and looked at her in confusion. “Mrs. Yao, do you have something to say to me?”
“This matter has been acc.u.mulating in my heart for a long time. I didn’t tell anyone. I even hid it from Zijun…” Mrs. Yao shouldn’t have told Yu Wan, but she was too frightened today and Yu Wan had saved her. A certain string in her heart finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.
She said, “My husband took office in Yan City. I once followed him to Yan City to stay for a while. For more than half a year, I stayed in the Yan Manor.”
Yu Wan listened quietly.
Mrs. Yao took a sip of tea and continued, “The Princely Heir was seven years old that year. It was said that he was already sick at that time. He didn’t like to eat much and had a bad temper. My son was naughty and I was afraid of disturbing him, so we didn’t dare to disturb him. We only saw him a few times.
“Once, I found a child on the street who looked very similar to him, but he was a few years younger. I didn’t take it to heart. After all, the world was big, so it wasn’t surprising for people to look similar until… I saw that child again.”
At this point, Mrs. Yao paused. Yu Wan instinctively felt that the child might be related to Yan Jiuchao.
Mrs. Yao took a deep breath and said, “That child was with a young woman. That woman was wearing a veil and seemed to be the child’s mother. At that time, they were on the streets and Prince Yan happened to walk over. I heard that child… call Prince Yan ‘Dad’.”
This news was too shocking. If Mrs. Yao wasn’t lying… How could Mrs. Yao be lying? If she wanted to lie, she wouldn’t have waited until now. Everything had been settled.
Yu Wan said, “So you mean… Prince Yan had a mistress?”
Not only did he have a mistress, but he also gave birth to a cute son with his mistress. This was more than a shock. It was simply a bolt from the blue.
Yan Jiuchao’s irreplaceable father had long betrayed his mother and given birth to a younger brother with another woman. Could he accept this truth?
This secret had been in Mrs. Yao’s heart for so many years, but now that it was finally said, she did not feel relieved. She was still vexed. “I don’t dare to tell Zijun, let alone the Princely Heir. I hope I heard wrongly. After all, Prince Yan doesn’t look like that kind of person…”
A man who personally carried a hoe and dug a pond to build a pool and planted an orchard for his son’s words would really betray his wife and children and fall in love with another woman? Yu Wan was unwilling to believe this.
Mrs. Yao sighed. “Every time I see that the Princely Heir is unwilling to accept Zijun and Grand Marshal Xiao, my heart feels like it’s being cut by a knife. I wish I could tell him the truth immediately… I don’t know what I’m afraid of. I’m really too useless…”
Yu Wan said sincerely, “Thank you for telling me this, Madam.”
Mrs. Yao said, “Now that the knot in their hearts has been resolved, I can heave a sigh of relief.”
Yu Wan looked at the suddenly dark sky. Has the knot in his heart been resolved? Not necessarily…
The weather was hot and stuffy for a reason. After three o’clock in the afternoon, the dark clouds tore open and heavy rain poured down, instantly enveloping the entire Capital. The pedestrians on the streets hurriedly ran into the shops, and the vendors also panicked and hid from the rain.
At the entrance of the cabinet, Yan Jiuchao stopped. He was about to return to the manor, but a heavy rain fell. Thinking of that little girl, he only hoped that she stayed in the Xiao Manor for dinner.
“Young Master, I’ll go borrow an umbrella,” Shadow Thirteen said.
Yan Jiuchao nodded, and Shadow Thirteen rushed into the heavy rain.
The rain was too heavy, and even the eaves were not enough. Yan Jiuchao’s hem quickly became wet. Suddenly, a tall man walked over with a big umbrella. The umbrella was like him. He was tall and burly, and the umbrella in his hand was unbelievably big.
Yan Jiuchao looked at him and frowned.
Xiao Zhenting smiled brightly and handed over the umbrella in his hand. The rain fell on him.
Yan Jiuchao did not take it.
Xiao Zhenting took out a dry handkerchief from his raincoat and wiped the rain and sweat off the umbrella handle before handing it over to him.
Yan Jiuchao’s eyes flickered, but he hesitated.
On the other side, Shadow Thirteen returned with an umbrella. When he saw Xiao Zhenting standing in the rain in his raincoat, he was stunned and greeted, “Grand Marshal Xiao.”
Xiao Zhenting nodded.
Shadow Thirteen looked at his borrowed umbrella and then at Xiao Zhenting’s frozen umbrella in midair. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do.
“Carry the umbrella,” Yan Jiuchao said coldly.
“…Yes.” Shadow Thirteen retracted his gaze awkwardly and opened the wet oil paper umbrella.
Xiao Zhenting watched as Yan Jiuchao walked under Shadow Thirteen’s umbrella and into the rain. His eyes darkened. The rain fell on him and on the big umbrella that he had just wiped clean.
Suddenly, a figure walked over.
Xiao Zhenting was stunned. Yan Jiuchao stood in the rain and reached out expressionlessly to s.n.a.t.c.h his umbrella. His thin body held a large umbrella that was out of place, making him look a little comical.
Xiao Zhenting looked at his departing figure and grinned happily!