The next day, Tang Zhuojun indeed put on a little act with Linlin and successfully fooled that father and son.
After they left the house, Tang Zhuojun took Linlin out as well.
“Where are we going? And why do we have to bring the prepared cold dishes with us?” Linlin asked.
“Don’t you think my cold dishes are delicious?” Tang Zhuojun said. “We’ll go try our luck and see if we can sell the recipe, earn some silver, and buy you some new clothes.”
She didn’t dare dream of getting rich overnight, but doing something to improve the family’s life? Tang Zhuojun was full of motivation and ready to get to work.
She had thought of several possible paths and planned to try them one by one. She wasn’t afraid of hardship or setbacks— as long as she could get her hands on some silver, she was willing to try again and again.
The reason she brought Linlin along was that she hoped he could see her efforts for himself, believe that she had truly repented, and that in the future he would no longer glare at her with hostility. Slowly, she wanted to repair their relationship.
However, selling a recipe was not as easy as she had imagined. At several restaurants she thought highly of, she didn’t even make it through the door before being chased away.
In the end, even Linlin couldn’t bear it anymore and said, “Forget it. You making it for us to eat is already very, very good.”
Seeing his face clearly saying “I’m seriously trying to comfort you,” Tang Zhuojun couldn’t help laughing. She pinched his cheek and said, “I’m just trying my luck. If it doesn’t work, then forget it. Come on, let’s go to the pharmacy—I need to buy some medicine.”
It didn’t matter if selling the recipe wasn’t going smoothly for now. She could still process the ingredients into medicinal preparations.
After buying some medicinal herbs, vegetables, and even a small wooden toy of a chick pecking at rice for Linlin, Tang Zhuojun held his hand and headed home.
“Make way! Everyone, make way!” A horse-drawn carriage came charging down the street at full speed. The driver shouted wildly while lashing the horses with his whip.
The crowd quickly scattered to both sides, but the vendors in the middle only had time to run— there was no time to move their goods.
In an instant, the path the carriage passed through was left in utter chaos.
“Go to Prince Jin’s residence to get the silver!” a guard riding behind the carriage shouted.
The carriage bore the emblem of Prince Jin’s household.
Tang Zhuojun pulled Linlin aside. Seeing this, she couldn’t help cursing, “Are they rushing to reincarnate or something? This Prince Jin is way too overbearing— charging through the streets like this in broad daylight. What if they hit someone?!”
What a waste, too— he was good-looking, but turns out he looks human while acting like a beast. Completely wasted that face.
Linlin, however, said, “This is the direction toward the palace. I just saw, behind the curtain, a woman holding a child. I think Prince Jin’s daughter has fallen ill again.”
“Huh?” Tang Zhuojun didn’t quite understand.
“Prince Jin’s daughter has a heart condition and epilepsy. She has attacks often, and I heard that every time it’s a near-death experience.”
Linlin studied at the prince’s residence academy, and his classmates all came from powerful noble families, so he had heard bits and pieces about such matters.
“How pitiful,” Tang Zhuojun said. “Having such an irresponsible father, and being sick herself on top of that.”
Although she sympathized, she didn’t think she was in any position to meddle in the affairs of Prince Jin’s household.
“Let’s go. We’re going home.”
But after she said that, she noticed Linlin hadn’t moved. He was staring blankly at the swirling dust and the retreating horse’s hindquarters.
Linlin was thinking that the horses from Prince Jin’s residence were all strong and well-fed—clearly priceless fine steeds.
He had heard before that Prince Jin had acquired a batch of excellent horses from the northern deserts. He wondered if these were among them.
If he could have one… how wonderful that would be. Then no one would ever mock him again. He believed that if he rode a horse, he could be the best.
“Linlin?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s go,” Linlin said, lowering his head.
When they returned home, Granny He took Xiu’er out to sell embroidered sachets. She couldn’t do math, so she always had to bring her daughter along. That left only Tang Zhuojun and Linlin at home.
“Linlin, do you want to learn some martial skills?” Tang Zhuojun asked after making him eat something and drink some water.
Linlin lowered his head and said nothing.
How could he not want to learn? But there was no money at home to hire a martial arts master.
The prince’s residence didn’t teach such things— where could he possibly learn?
Looking at his expression, Tang Zhuojun already knew the answer.
She said, “When I was young, I learned a bit back in the countryside. If you don’t mind, how about learning from me?”
Linlin looked up at her in surprise, but his gaze quickly dimmed again—his expression clearly said that yes, he did mind.
Tang Zhuojun remained calm. “Just watch first.”
She changed into lighter, more convenient clothes, went into the courtyard, and performed a set of punches.
At first, Linlin wore an expression that said “Have you gone crazy?” But as he kept watching, his eyes widened.
When he saw Tang Zhuojun leap up and snap a tree branch as thick as a wrist with a single kick, his mouth fell open in shock. For a long while, he couldn’t say a word.
Tang Zhuojun, however, shook her head, very dissatisfied with herself. “No, no, this won’t do. There’s no strength— far worse than before.”
This body was clearly in poor condition. She would need to strengthen her training as well.
“How do you know all this?” Linlin asked, admiration already showing in his eyes.
Tang Zhuojun secretly felt pleased and lied smoothly, “I figured it out on my own back in the village, practicing blindly. When I was in the countryside, no one paid attention to me, so I just entertained myself. Besides that, I also know medicine. I once saved a homeless wandering old man. I often brought him food and talked with him, and he taught me medicine for several years.”
“You know so much— then why did you still go and do that kind of thing?” Linlin asked. His eyes were filled with confusion, and even more so, pain.
Tang Zhuojun was burned by that look in an instant.
Linlin knew. Linlin knew his own background!
What he was asking was why Tang Zhuojun, for the sake of silver, had gone to a pleasure boat and given birth to him after being with a man she didn’t even know afterward.
Not only did Linlin know— he felt deeply inferior and anguished because of it.
He was a child with no known father, born carrying original sin.
“I’m sorry, Linlin,” Tang Zhuojun said with difficulty. In front of those sorrowful eyes, all explanations felt pale and powerless. “I… I know many things, but I didn’t know what should be done and what shouldn’t. A mistake is a mistake. Causing you pain because of your birth— it’s all my fault.”
Tears clung to her long lashes— not in repentance for things she herself had never done, but for the suffering the child before her had endured. He had borne far more pain than someone his age ever should.
Linlin suddenly asked again, “If that man comes looking for you in the future, what will you do?”
His fists were clenched tightly at his sides, his whole body tense.
So that was what he was worried about…
“I don’t know him. I won’t hand you over to a man who goes to pleasure boats.”
“Then would you forgive him and marry him?”
“Forgive?” Tang Zhuojun gave a bitter smile. “There’s nothing he needs my forgiveness for. The one who needs your forgiveness is me— for giving birth to you and making you suffer. The ones who were wrong are him and me. I won’t marry again. Your grandfather is old and needs someone to take care of him. Your father has already been burdened by me for far too long. In the future, when he marries, I wouldn’t feel at ease letting you live with someone else either. So when the time comes, the two of us will live together, all right?”
Linlin didn’t speak. After a long while, he said, “I don’t need any biological father. If you ever give me to someone else again, I will never forgive you— never, ever!”
This is a smart child who lacks a sense of security. Tang Zhuojun, you have to work hard!