345 She Looks Very Familiar
After Matriarch Bai entered, she first went to Bai Jiayao’s tablet. After seeing the familiar face that was skinnier than what she remembered, Matriarch Bai’s tears started falling.
She started to bawl her eyes out before her second son’s tablet.
After an entire hour, she finally left with swollen eyes and sat before Mother Bai.
Mother Bai then took out a letter and passed it to Matriarch Bai. Matriarch Bai impatiently opened it and the first paragraph she saw was. “My beloved mother, you should have found me when you see this letter and also know that I’m no longer in this world. Please forgive your son for being unfilial and unable to show filial piety to you. Please also forgive me, your son, for leaving without giving a reason all those years ago.
“How I hope that you will never find me… I never told my wife and Shanshan about your identity, and I don’t want you to know that I’ve already passed away. I don’t want you to watch me die first…
“But since you already found me, I’ll tell you the truth. Back then, I didn’t leave because I didn’t want the marriage alliance. But because…I discovered that I had cancer after a checkup…”
When Matriarch Bai read this, her fingers began to tremble intensely.
She looked at the content of the letter in astonishment. After that, her heart began to clench when she saw the familiar writing.
So the reason why her second son had left back then was because he had cancer!
He didn’t know how much longer he had to live. It might be one year, it might be two, or it might be five or eight. However, he wasn’t able to be so cruel as to let his mother who loved him so much watch him die.
Hence, he found an excuse to leave home, using the pretext of not wanting to be part of the marriage.
He wanted to die quietly outside, but before he died, he left this letter for his mother to tell her about the life he wanted. What he truly wanted was to find someone true to him so he could live a quiet life forever.
At that time, he truly didn’t expect to be able to find such a person.
He got acquainted with Bai Shanshan’s mother in a support group for cancer in Sea City. At that time, she also had chronic cancer, and the two of them became each other’s support and mutually encouraged each other.
The two of them then bypassed crisis after crisis.
It was due to their similar experiences that the spark of love finally bloomed between them.
They then got married and Mother Bai was unexpectedly pregnant. After that, she risked her life to give birth to a daughter…
At that time, he had just started a new round of chemotherapy and almost died!
But after seeing his newborn daughter and his wife who was sick, he didn’t know how they would survive if he left them like this. Hence, he eventually managed to defeat death. Although he kept vomiting due to the chemo, he would still force himself to find food and eat, managing to survive every time…
In the end, Bai Jiayao didn’t expect that he would actually manage to live for 16 years after he left home…
However, when Bai Shanshan was 15, he finally reached the end of his life.
Upon reflecting back on things…
He had let his daughter down and wasn’t able to watch her get married.
He had let his wife down and wasn’t able to continue accompanying her.
He had let his mother down even more. She had raised him, yet he couldn’t be there for her and accompany her all the way until her end.
Bai Jiayao was 36 years old when he died.
At this moment, Matriarch Bai clutched her face and started crying in agony.
She suddenly recalled that back then…
Her eldest son grew up with Old Master Bai, and he always looked down on her. He felt that she was only a homemaker and didn’t know anything.
At that time, her second son unconditionally shielded her every time, causing her eldest son to be extremely unhappy. There were a few times when they almost came to blows during quarrels, and her eldest son would ruthlessly say this to her second son. “The heavens will definitely kill someone like you!”
At that time, Matriarch Bai was badly enraged.
Her second son then hugged her shoulders. “Mommy, don’t worry. I won’t die even if elder brother dies. I still have to accompany you all your way until your end!”
At that time, the relationship between her eldest son and her second son was already not harmonious.
In the letter, her second son mentioned his third and fourth brother and asked if they were doing well. He even mentioned Fourth Madam Bai and said that he had harmed her because of his own selfish reasons. Fortunately, he heard that she had married his fourth brother, so he even told Matriarch Bai in the letter to treat Fourth Madam Bai better in order to make up for the harm he had brought her.
However, her second son didn’t mention anything about his elder brother.
Matriarch Bai understood that because her second son had really gotten cancer after their quarrels, if he continued to stay at the Bai Manor, wouldn’t that prove his elder brother’s words to be true?
Her eldest son would just smirk and say that he was right.
Matriarch Bai clutched her face and sobbed even more miserably!
Her second son had always been kind and had never said anything bad about his elder brother.
Matriarch Bai hugged the letter and cried for a very very long time. When she finally lifted her head again, she saw her palm mark on Bai Xiaojiu’s face.
She was wrong again in this!
She was so, so wrong!
…
…
Matriarch Bai had cried too many times tonight. Finally, Bai Xiaojiu helped her into the car and the two of them returned to the Bai Manor.
The moment they entered, Fourth Madam Bai came to receive them. After seeing Matriarch Bai, her footsteps paused and her gaze went to the red palm print on Bai Xiaojiu’s face.
Fourth Madam Bai’s eyes narrowed and she immediately asked, “Who hit you?!”
Bai Xiaojiu didn’t say anything.
Fourth Madam Bai immediately understood that it was done by Matriarch Bai. The first house must have tossed out some lures and caused Matriarch Bai to implicate her son in her anger.
She bitterly lowered her eyelids. “Mother, let’s split the family. Let our fourth house move out…”
Matriarch Bai replied, “We should indeed split the family.”
Fourth Madam Bai bitterly smiled. She didn’t know what had happened and had no idea if Matriarch Bai would take the chance to harm them even more by not allowing them to have their rightful shares.
But just when her thoughts were flying around, Matriarch Bai suddenly took a step forward and grabbed her hands. “The first house has made such a huge mistake. We should indeed split them away from the family!…”
Fourth Madam Bai started.
After that, she heard Matriarch Bai speak in a choking and quavering voice, “Fourth daughter-in-law, it has been tough on you all these years…”
Fourth Madam Bai froze.
She lifted her head in disbelief and after her gaze met Matriarch Bai’s eyes, her eyes suddenly turned red.
Fourth daughter-in-law…
Such a common address yet Matriarch Bai had never admitted her status after so many years. At this moment, Matriarch Bai finally acknowledged her…
–
Shen Family.
“It can be considered that her life is retained. However, her legs are crippled now!”
Shen Wanying’s father, Shen Zhong, was currently looking at the old man, who had his eyes closed in meditation, before him. He didn’t dare to let his emotions get too agitated, so he suppressed the rage in his voice as he reported this. “They did this intentionally! Matriarch Bai didn’t really stop us, but the Chu Family kept interfering and caused us to miss the best chance to treat Wanying! Eldest Uncle, you watched Wanying grow up. You definitely have to help us make a stand!”
Shen Yuansong sat on a bamboo chair, rocking it slightly.
After hearing Shen Zhong’s words, he opened his deep eyes. “So many of you went, yet you guys were still led around by the nose by someone?”
Shen Zhong replied, “The main thing is that Chu Cichen’s wife is a martial artist. Her skill is too impressive.”
Shen Yuansong asked, “What is her origin?”
Someone who could fight one against many would surely belong to a sect. Although he only dreaded the Valor Gate in the whole of China, what if she precisely was one of their members?
He didn’t care about the Chu family, but why did the Chu Family dare to be so arrogant despite having just come to the capital? They basically didn’t place the Shen Family in their eyes at all.
Shen Zhong said, “I’ve sent someone to investigate. This is Chu Cichen’s wife, Shen Ruojing’s information. We didn’t manage to find any records of how she learned martial arts. I’ve also asked my contact in Valor Gate, and there is no one named Shen Ruojing there.”
Members of the Valor Gate were all registered.
Shen Yuansong immediately grew interested.
He received the information reports and turned to Shen Ruojing’s page. The first thing that entered his eyes was her bare face with no make-up on…
After seeing her face, Shen Yuansong was startled.
Why did she look so familiar?