Thinking about the words she had blurted out in her moment of losing control, Liu Muli frantically searched her mind for an explanation.
In an instant, she burst into tears and said, “It’s all your fault! I had a nightmare. I dreamed that I was pregnant, but you were so heartless that you had someone make me lose the baby in my belly! I hate you so much!”
What she said was half true and half fabricated, but the grief she felt was painfully real. The more she spoke, the harder she cried, until she could no longer hold it back.
“……”
Hearing her words, Wei Linyě was briefly angered, his temples throbbing.
But when he saw how desperately she was crying, the anger in his heart turned into heartache.
He pulled her into his arms and said helplessly, “It was only a dream. How could I possibly have someone make you lose our baby?”
After a pause, he frowned, and there was a hint of warning in his voice.
“But if you dare to get pregnant with another man’s child, I will definitely do it. The only children you’re allowed to carry are mine.”
Leaning against his chest, Liu Muli lifted her eyelids slightly, and a self-mocking smile curled at the corners of her lips.
Liar. You make it sound so convincing now.
The child in her belly back then had been his too. Yet she had never seen him show the slightest bit of concern.
Poor little one. Not only did you have a father who didn’t love you, but you were also dragged into this mess by both of us and died far too soon.
Now, she sincerely hoped that child had been reincarnated into a good family and would grow up healthy and happy.
Outside the bedroom, Huang Shi stood at the door, her face filled with worry.
How did they start arguing again out of nowhere?
She had been sleeping when she suddenly heard intense cursing coming from Muli’s room next door, which immediately woke her. She hurriedly got up and went outside to check.
Then she heard Muli’s curses growing even more intense, making her increasingly worried. Several times, she raised her hand, wanting to knock on the door.
But she was afraid that suddenly disturbing them would make them even more uncomfortable and only make the situation more troublesome.
Huang Shi hesitated outside the room. When she heard them mention a child, her heart suddenly lurched.
Could Muli be pregnant, and something had happened because my son was too rough with her?
The thought made Huang Shi anxious beyond words. She was just about to pound on the door and call out to them when she heard Muli say that she had only dreamed about losing a child, which was why she was so angry.
Only then did Huang Shi breathe a sigh of relief and lower her raised hand.
Whew. At least nobody has died. Otherwise, my son would definitely be in deep trouble this time.
When the room gradually fell silent, Huang Shi turned around and went back to her own room.
However, after lying down, she could not fall asleep.
For some reason, Huang Shi felt inexplicably uneasy, as though she had a bad feeling about something, but she could not put her finger on what it was.
In the latter half of the night, a strong wind suddenly whipped up, making the windows creak from time to time.
Just after the hour of Yin, Huang Shi woke up. She got out of bed and went outside to take a look.
The sky had not yet brightened. Dark clouds blanketed the heavens, as though a heavy rain were about to fall. Once again, it inexplicably stirred that uneasy feeling in Huang Shi’s heart.
“What on earth is going on? Why do I keep feeling so restless? Could something big be about to happen?”
Huang Shi frowned deeply as she muttered to herself. Yet the thing she thought about most was her son’s journey to the capital.
The wind was chilly, so Huang Shi returned to her room to put on another jacket before going to the kitchen to cook some old vegetable leaves and stalks to feed the chickens.
Not long afterward, just as Huang Shi had finished feeding the chickens, she saw her son get up and wash himself as well.
She immediately walked over and deliberately asked, “Linyě, did you and Muli argue again last night?”
Hearing this, Wei Linyě’s usually unruffled expression remained calm and impassive. His tone was equally devoid of emotion.
“No. She just had a nightmare.”
His calm demeanor made it obvious that he had long since guessed that his mother knew about the two of them.
Besides, what Liu Muli did not know was that he had never intended to hide their relationship properly in the first place. He had wanted his mother to know and gradually accept it.
Seeing her son’s indifferent, almost emotionless expression, Huang Shi immediately became irritated. Her tone carried the exasperation of a mother who could not understand why her son was so hopelessly dense.
“Can’t you stop walking around with that cold face all day? What if one day Muli gets fed up with that deadpan face of yours, leaves you, and runs away? You won’t even have a place to cry!”
At her words, the expression between Wei Linyě’s brows suddenly tightened. His eyes darkened with an unreadable emotion, and the hand half-hidden inside his sleeve clenched into a fist.
He did not answer immediately.
After a moment, he said quietly, “She won’t. She won’t run away.”
Each word was spoken with increasing emphasis, as though he were deliberately convincing himself that this was an absolute certainty.
Huang Shi clicked her tongue.
“Oh, you say she won’t run away, so she definitely won’t? Don’t be so confident. Treat her better and smile more. It won’t kill you.”
“I know.” Wei Linyě was annoyed and rubbed his brow.
Knowing her son’s temperament, Huang Shi did not nag him any further about it. Instead, she said, “Today is the seventh day of the eighth month. I can see that the autumn winds will be coming soon. Although I’d like you to stay home a little longer, if you leave any later, the weather may already turn bitterly cold before you even reach the capital. And if heavy snow comes, you’ll be in real trouble.”
None of them had ever been to the capital, so they did not know exactly how long it would take to travel from Yongning County to the capital.
However, Wei Linyě had asked around in the prefectural city and learned that the journey from Yongning County to the capital would take at least three months, and possibly even longer.
By that calculation, they had to leave by September at the latest, and preferably even earlier. Winter brought ice and snow, and with such a long journey, they were afraid something might happen along the way.
Once heavy snow fell and the roads became buried, traveling would basically become impossible. What was more, part of the journey would involve traveling by water. If the surface of a river or lake froze somewhere along the route, that would cause yet another delay.
This was Wei Linyě’s first time traveling such a long distance, and he would be going alone. Huang Shi was filled with worry, so naturally, she had a great many things to remind him about.
Wei Linyě listened patiently enough.
After Liu Muli woke up, she heard voices coming from the courtyard.
It had been the same in her previous life. Huang Shi had been deeply worried about her and Wei Linyě as well. Before they left, she had repeatedly reminded them of all sorts of things and had even wanted to take out the compensation money that she had never touched and give it to them for their journey to the capital.
Wei Linyě had refused.
Although he had always bullied and taken advantage of his older brother, Wei Linmu, he still respected him deeply. He had been devastated by Wei Linmu’s death and would never consider using the compensation money.
In Wei Linyě’s mind, only his mother, Huang Shi, had the right to use that compensation money. No one else, including himself, had even the slightest qualification to touch it.
Liu Muli thought that Wei Linyě was finally leaving today and was overjoyed, though she did her best to suppress her excitement.
When she stepped into the courtyard, she saw Huang Shi and Wei Linyě sitting at the square table.
Huang Shi was sorting through some small green vegetables, while Wei Linyě was helping her. He was no longer reading.
That made Liu Muli feel certain that Wei Linyě really was about to leave.
Suppressing the corners of her lips, Liu Muli walked over and sat beside Huang Shi.
“Linyě, are you going to the capital? If you are, I’ll help you pack your luggage.”
“No, but it should be within the next couple of days.”
Huang Shi answered casually, then, thinking she was being considerate, got up and went into the kitchen, leaving the two of them alone in the courtyard.
The two sat facing each other.