Chapter 193
"It was your three sons who volunteered to be my godsons. They even took more than half of my life's savings; they have to be responsible for burying me when I die." Tong Mo raised his chin slightly. He never made a losing deal.
"I remember that silver was your uncle's private stash," Ye Yunniang reminded Tong Mo.
"What belongs to my uncle belongs to me." Tong Mo's words made Ye Yunniang laugh.
"If your uncle knew you said that, he would definitely beat you out of anger."
"With his broken and frail body, he wants to beat me? Impossible."
Tong Mo suddenly stopped talking here. He glanced at Ye Yunniang and, seeing that she hadn't noticed anything amiss, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Li An wants to study medicine?"
"Yes, he wants to take Imperial Physician Gu as his master," Ye Yunniang replied.
"As expected of my son, so ambitious." Tong Mo looked smug. If one were to learn, they should learn from the best.
Ye Yunniang rolled her eyes at him, utterly speechless.
"If you like sons so much, go have your own. Miss Zhong is quite a nice person."
Tong Mo dropped his smile and looked at Ye Yunniang with a rare serious expression.
"It's fine if you don't like me, but don't keep pushing me toward another woman time and time again."
"I didn't. I'm not, I..." Ye Yunniang paused. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. The kind of life you want to live is your own freedom."
Ye Yunniang's earnest apology left Tong Mo somewhat at a loss for a moment.
"I didn't mean to blame you."
"I know."
"If Zhong Zhaoli looks for you again, tell her to come find me." Tong Mo glanced at Ye Yunniang's pregnant belly.
Ye Yunniang suddenly grew curious. "How did you two meet?"
Tong Mo's expression turned unnatural, and his eyes darted away evasively.
"We just met."
"Just met, how?"
"Ugh, you know how it is. We met at one of those boring banquets."
If Tong Mo's face had looked normal, Ye Yunniang might have believed him. But his evasive demeanor made it obvious there was a story there.
"Tell me, let me hear it for some amusement."
"You've really been corrupted by Jiang Mingzhe," Tong Mo grumbled at Ye Yunniang.
"Are you going to tell me or not?" Ye Yunniang stroked her belly, her face wearing an expression of 'I am a pregnant woman, you can't bully me'.
"Fine, fine, I'll tell you." Tong Mo then began to tell Ye Yunniang about how he met Zhong Zhaoli.
Tong Mo remembered that their first encounter was when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, his relationship with Bao Shao was incredibly tense.
Bao Shao wanted Tong Mo to enter the military camp and eventually take over his position.
Tong Mo refused; he loved freedom and wanted to live a life without restraints.
Bao Shao pulled rank as Tong Mo's father, insisting that he must do whatever he was told.
Tong Mo retorted, "I even changed my surname. What kind of father are you to me?"
Furious, Bao Shao ordered his men to seize Tong Mo, gave him thirty heavy strokes of the cane, and locked him in a confinement room.
Jin Huilan couldn't bear it, so she secretly brought him medicine for his injuries and deliberately left the door to the confinement room unlocked.
Tong Mo took the opportunity to escape.
Not wanting Tong Tiemei to find out and argue with Bao Shao, Tong Mo didn't go to Prince Jing's Manor. Instead, he went to a very remote small manor belonging to Tong Tiemei to recover from his injuries.
Recovering was boring, so Tong Mo often wandered into the mountains behind the manor.
He unexpectedly discovered an open-air hot spring.
Tong Mo loved it. Whenever he had free time, he would soak in the hot spring and eat some wild game he had hunted himself.
That day, Tong Mo was soaking in the hot spring, gnawing on a chicken leg, thoroughly enjoying himself, when he heard the sound of galloping hooves behind him, accompanied by a young girl's screams.
Tong Mo turned his head just as a young girl flew over his head and crashed into the hot spring.
Tong Mo sprang out of the hot spring in a flash, grabbed his clothes, and wrapped himself up tightly.
"I'm the one who's disadvantaged here, what are you wrapping yourself up for, you big man?" This was the very first sentence Zhong Zhaoli ever said to Tong Mo.
Zhong Zhaoli lay on the edge of the hot spring, showing not a hint of nervousness or fear after being thrown into the water by a horse. She examined Tong Mo with great interest.
"You're quite fair and tender-looking. Which family are you from?"
"Hahaha... I'm sorry... hahaha... I can't help it." Ye Yunniang clutched her stomach; she couldn't take it anymore, her stomach hurt from laughing so hard.
Tong Mo knew Ye Yunniang would react like this, which was why he hadn't wanted to tell her.
Ye Yunniang finally managed to control her laughter.
"And then what happened?"
"Later, my mother found out about me being beaten. She went and had a 'sparring session' with my father and brought me home. Once I got home, I saw the so-called famous talented lady of the capital—Zhong Zhaoli."
Even now, Tong Mo remembered how absurd he felt when he saw Zhong Zhaoli.
On the second day after Zhou Yunluo and Tong Mo arrived, Cai Damei slowly opened her eyes.
"Mother~" Ye Yunniang wept.
"Don't, cry," Cai Damei said with some effort.
"Okay, I won't cry." Ye Yunniang wiped away her tears.
But the more she wiped, the more her tears flowed.
"Mother, I can't control it."
"Cry, just this once."
"Mhm, Mother~" Ye Yunniang leaned on the edge of Cai Damei's bed, crying hard.
For the past half year, she had been far too worried.
Cai Damei struggled to raise her hand and placed it on Ye Yunniang's head.
"Go on, cry."
Tong Tiemei quickly learned the news of Cai Damei waking up. She brought generous gifts to visit her.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault for not teaching Bao Min well, making you suffer such grievances."
"It's all in the past," Cai Damei said dismissively.
Seeing her attitude, Tong Tiemei didn't say anything more about Bao Min.
Tong Tiemei walked out of the Jiang household and got into her carriage.
Inside the carriage, Bao Min was waiting anxiously.
"She's awake and recovering quite well."
"That's good. As long as she's awake." Bao Min took a deep breath to calm his emotions.
"Xiao Min, are you really not going to see her? You two have Shushu, maybe there's a chance."
"Sister, I'm the one who let her down; I can't harm her again."
"You had your own difficulties too, you didn't do it on purpose."
"It's exactly because it wasn't on purpose that I can't say anything." Everything Bao Min had done wasn't intentional, but it was a fact that these things had hurt Cai Damei, and it was also a fact that his initial motives hadn't been pure.
"What do you plan to do?"
"Separate from the family, and stay in Jiang City from now on. I'll watch over their mother and daughter."
Everything Bao Shao and Jin Huilan had done made Bao Min completely give up on his brother and sister-in-law; he didn't want to have any more ties with them.
Looking at Bao Min's gloomy expression, Tong Tiemei didn't know how to console him. In her heart, she blamed all of this on Bao Shao and Jin Huilan.
They wanted to use her younger brother and son to climb the social ladder? Keep dreaming.
With Cai Damei awake, the dark clouds looming over the Jiang family finally dissipated.
Even more delightfully, after an observation period, Gu Cundong decided to accept Li An as his disciple.
Ye Yunniang prepared the apprenticeship gifts.
Jiang Mingzhe took Li An to the Gu family residence to formally acknowledge his master.
Jiang Mingzhe returned alone and explained Li An's future study arrangements.
Li An had a lot to learn every day, and running back and forth would waste time, so Li An would live at the Gu residence.
He would have one day off every ten days to come home.
After hearing this, Ye Yunniang personally packed Li An's luggage and delivered it to the Gu residence.
"The child is growing up, you have to learn to let go and let him fly," Cai Damei advised Ye Yunniang.
Ye Yunniang understood the reasoning, but she still couldn't bear to part with him.
"Sister-in-law, I'll keep you company." Cai Shuyi hugged Ye Yunniang's arm.
"Thank you, Shushu." Ye Yunniang hugged Cai Shuyi.
With Shushu around, Ye Yunniang felt much better and showed a rare smile.