Chapter 432 - 431: Hidden Beneath the Surface
Lian Family was completely dispirited and allowed Nanny Zhu to clean her face with a blank expression.
Nanny Zhu twisted the towel while glancing at Mu Lianhui, who was sitting calmly in the chair, and listened to the sounds of Mu Yuanmou washing up in the inner room. She felt sorry for Lian Family.
What a mess!
Lian Family was crying so much, yet her husband and daughter were reacting like this.
Nanny Zhu carefully wiped Lian Family’s face and said softly, "Madam, let’s talk to Master and Lady later, calmly. If you cry, how can you explain clearly?"
Lian Family said nothing.
It wasn’t necessarily Mu Liankang’s matter that made her cry; it was Mu Lianhui’s words that hurt her.
Daughters are supposed to be the closest, but what came of it?
All the girls of the Mu Family are ancestors!
Mu Yuanjing made Madam Wu fall seriously ill, and Mu Lianhui was formidable too. Sooner or later, as a mother, she would be angered into passing out. As for Sister Niang...
Sister Niang was still young and must not learn from her aunt or grand-aunt. Otherwise, how could there be any peaceful days left in this household!
Lian Family heaved and panted, finally calming down a little. Mu Yuanmou came out from inside.
"Hui’er, did you make your mother angry again?" Mu Yuanmou sat down by the table, disapprovingly looking at Mu Lianhui.
Mu Lianhui quietly glanced at Mu Yuanmou, sneering.
Mu Yuanmou understood clearly that it was indeed Mu Lianhui who had upset Lian Family with her words.
Even if Lian Family sometimes lost her temper, Mu Yuanmou wouldn’t accuse her in front of their daughter and servants without differentiating right from wrong; he still had to give Lian Family some face.
Seeing that Mu Lianhui refused to speak, Mu Yuanmou softened his tone and asked Lian Family, "Madam, what happened?"
With her husband’s softened stance, Lian Family felt a bit better and reported the news from Baijie Hall, "Lian Kang has been found, but he has lost his memory, though he is still alive."
Mu Yuanmou’s eyes suddenly tightened, his jaw clenching into a line: "What?"
"That’s what Lian Xiao wrote in the letter," Lian Family finished, noticing Mu Yuanmou’s dark expression, she probed, "Master, do you think Lian Kang has really appeared? Is this news true or is Lian Xiao deceiving us?"
Before Mu Yuanmou could respond, Mu Lianhui burst into laughter.
Seeing both parents looking at her with displeasure, Mu Lianhui cleared her throat and said lightly, "Fake? If it were fake, something must have leaked out, and Ah Shao and Yunluo noticed it to scheme like this.
Besides, why scheme about this? Everyone at Baijie Hall knows about it. If it turns out to be all for naught, won’t Third Aunt be so shocked in joy and grief that she might die?
Grandmother might not be able to handle it. Mother, in your eyes, does Ah Shao seem like someone who doesn’t think things through?"
Lian Family massaged her chest, even if Mu Lianxiao wasn’t such a person, couldn’t Mu Lianhui speak more gently? How could anyone feel comfortable hearing it like this?
Mu Yuanmou pursed his lips, "Lost his memory?"
Lian Family nodded.
Mu Yuanmou’s fingertips tapped on the table, as his thoughts flew back eight and a half years.
The winter in the Northern Border was cold, and on the night before Mu Yuanming’s seven-day vigil, a spirit tent was erected.
Mu Yuanmou had paid his respects and gone to rest by the second watch. He remembered clearly that at the time, Mu Liankang was still kneeling in the spirit tent, dressed in mourning clothes, burning paper for Mu Yuanming.
The next day, when they got up, Mu Liankang was gone, lost amidst the heavy snow of the Northern Border.
Mu Yuanmou was sure that Mu Liankang would never return, and he wouldn’t allow Mu Liankang to return either.
No remains meant no remains, because if the body had been there, it might have revealed the truth.
With such deep snow and such cold weather, Mu Yuanmou didn’t believe Mu Liankang could have survived; he must have been surely dead.
Mu Yuanmou had personally asked Mu Tang if he had done a clean job, and Mu Tang had nodded.
And now, the person who had been ’cleaned up’ back then was alive, had shown up!
Mu Yuanmou gritted his back teeth, wanting to ask Mu Tang what he meant by ’clean’, did Mu Tang really understand or not!
Was Mu Liankang survival a surprise for Mu Tang, or had Mu Yuanmou been deceived by Mu Tang for eight years?
"That dead monk!" Mu Yuanmou gnashed his teeth, took a deep breath, and asked Mu Lianhui, "Did you see Mu Tang when you went to Qinglian Temple?"
"Why would I see him?" Mu Lianhui pouted, "But Ah Shao did meet him, and even though Mu Tang refused to speak, Ah Shao couldn’t do anything about it."
Lian Family vented, "Of course he wouldn’t open his mouth, if he did, would he still have a way to live?"
"That’s not correct," Mu Lianhui tucked her loose hair behind her ear and gave Lian Family a light glance, "Mu Tang was going to kill himself back then; he wasn’t afraid of death, so why would he be scared to tell Ah Shao the truth?"
Lian Family frowned and pressed, "Then why do you say that?"
"How should I know," Mu Lianhui sneered, her voice as dark as the night, "people’s hearts are unfathomable. I’m your daughter, you’re my mother, you don’t even understand what I’m thinking, how can I comprehend the thoughts of someone unrelated like Mu Tang?"
Lian Family’s breath caught, Mu Lianhui’s words were as weighty as a stone, plunging into her heart’s lake with a toweringly high splash.
They were mother and daughter, yet Mu Lianhui said "people’s hearts are unfathomable"?
Lian Family’s body trembled uncontrollably as she pointed at Mu Lianhui, only managing to squeeze out a word after a long pause: "You, are you only comfortable if you anger me to death?"
"What good would it do me to anger you to death?" Mu Lianhui said mildly, "To observe filial mourning for three more years? Am I still thinking about marriage?"
"You!" Lian Family bolted upright, her body swaying; she couldn’t bear to hit her, nor could she cry, so she could only stare wide-eyed at Mu Lianhui. Only after a long time, under Mu Yuanmou’s disapproving gaze, did she relent, slumping onto the couch, "Once you marry off, you will have nothing to do with us; if we don’t fare well, it doesn’t concern you. Hui’er, is that what your words just meant?"
Mu Lianhui’s long lashes fluttered, her hands tightly twisting a handkerchief in her lap.
Maintaining his cool, Mu Yuanmou asked Mu Lianhui in a deep voice, "What exactly did you say to your mother?"
Mu Lianhui remained silent, but Lian Family couldn’t help but retell the earlier conversation, her voice acidic, "This is not treating us as parents."
"Mother, whether the second house fares well or ill, how does it concern me?" Mu Lianhui chuckled bitterly, "Whether the title belongs to Ah Shao or the second brother, how does it concern me?"
Their gazes locked, and in Mu Lianhui’s eyes, Lian Family saw a reflection of herself, and deeper still, a dark, impenetrable abyss.
Her heart suddenly turned cold completely.
"It doesn’t concern me; I am Lady Jiarou, and when I marry into the Pingyang Marquis Mansion, inside and outside, I will still be called Lady," Mu Lianhui said, rising to smooth her clothes like Mu Yuanmou, "Whether the second house fares well or not, has nothing to do with me; and my welfare... if one day something really bad happens to me, no matter if the title goes to the main house or the second house, what could you do for me?"