Chapter 145: General Chu, Heavily Struck

The General had fallen, yet not entirely.

Shen Zhao leaned one hand against the edge of the bed while pressing the other over her chest. Lowering her head so that her expression remained obscured, she asked with a trembling, disbelieving voice, "Liu Zhong, is this news reliable?"

Liu Zhong said with a heavy heart, "It is the absolute truth, My Lord. Not only did this subordinate make inquiries in the streets, but I also went to the General's Estate and the Metropolitan Magistrate's Yamen. I questioned Madame and the Eldest Young Master, and even spoke with the constables from the Yamen who went to arrest the Old Madame. They can all verify this matter—the Old Madame is indeed not your biological mother, General."

When he first heard of this, he had been utterly shocked, feeling the same disbelief as the General. Yet multiple inquiries had confirmed it to be true. The Eldest and Second Young Masters even possessed conclusive evidence of that venomous woman murdering the General's birth mother.

Shen Zhao's hand, pressed against her chest, clenched fiercely. Seeing this, the onlookers felt a wave of aching pity and sorrow. How could the General possibly endure such a heavy blow? That was the mother he had dutifully served for decades! Yet now he was told she was not only a stranger, but the murderer of his own mother. Every single detail pointed to the agonizing reality that the General had spent all these years serving his sworn enemy as a mother. Anyone would find such a fact impossible to accept.

Shen Zhao glanced sideways at the crowd out of the corner of her eye, noting the sympathetic and compassionate expressions on their faces. Excellent, the desired effect had been achieved.

"How could this be... How could this be? No wonder... No wonder she treated me thus! So I was never her flesh and blood... It is only natural that she disliked me, only natural."

Acting as though struck by a calamity of heavens-shaking proportions, Shen Zhao spoke in a disjointed, rambling manner. The flustered onlookers, however, seized upon the core of her words. The looks they directed toward their General grew even more tender and pitiful.

So their General had suffered such grievance within his own household! He was renowned for his filial piety toward the Old Madame, yet how could she bear to torment the General so? While taking tranquil, unearned comfort in the wealth and prestige the General brought her, she had abused and tortured him in private—she deserved to die! Her heart was utterly rotten.

"Brother Chu, do try to restrain your grief," Xie Yuheng stepped forward, at a loss for words, yet certain this phrase could not be wrong. Although Brother Chu's biological mother had passed away many years ago, learning of it only now must surely tear his heart to pieces.

Keeping her head bowed, Shen Zhao acknowledged quietly, "Thank you all for your concern. I wish to be left alone for a while; please return to your respective duties."

Her low, subdued tone made her sound inexplicably pitiful. The more Shen Zhao acted thus, the more distressed the onlookers felt. Xie Yuheng wanted to say more, but Shen Tianci grabbed him and dragged him out of the tent by force.

"Hey, you surnamed Shen, what are you trying to do? Brother Chu needs comfort right now, why did you drag me out? Didn't you hear the trembling in Brother Chu's voice when he spoke? His heart must feel as though it's being sliced by knives right now! Finding out that the mother he called out to for decades isn't his real mother is one thing, but she's also the murderer of his birth mother—he's been serving his enemy as a mother..."

"Mph—mph..." Shen Tianci clamped a hand over Xie Yuheng's carelessly spraying mouth.

They were standing right outside General Chu's tent, not out in the wilderness; was he shouting so loudly because he was afraid the General wouldn't hear him? The General was already in enough agony without someone carving open his wounds and rubbing salt into them. Serving his enemy as a mother, serving his enemy as a mother—was Xie Yuheng the only one born with a runaway tongue?

Without needing Shen Tianci to call out, Liu Zhong caught the other side of Xie Yuheng's body, and the two men jointly hoisted him into the air. Xie Yuheng struggled wildly. Had they lost their minds? What were they lifting him for? He still wanted to go inside and comfort Brother Chu!

Listening to the commotion outside the tent, Shen Zhao twitched the corner of her mouth. Fortunately, there was only one Xie Yuheng.

She attempted to stand, but her vision darkened and she nearly collapsed to the ground. Just how much blood had she lost, anyway? She needed to nourish herself properly.

"Damn it all, are you two bullying me just because I'm young? Don't look at my age, see what I'm capable of—you think you can just restrain me like this?" Xie Yuheng's voice suddenly erupted outside the tent again.

Shen Zhao steadied herself upon rising and drifted closer to the side of the tent.

She heard Shen Tianci lower his voice and say, "Will you shut your mouth? Do you even have a brain? The General is grieving deeply over this matter, and you have the nerve to blurt out that he served his enemy as a mother. Are you afraid he might actually recover from this blow, constantly reminding him how he was kept in the dark all these years, doing things that grieved his loved ones and delighted his enemies?"

Xie Yuheng muttered defensively, "I... I only wanted to comfort Brother Chu."

"If you truly care for the General, instead of spouting useless nonsense here, you'd be better off doing something practical for him."

Shen Zhao nodded in silent agreement.

"What can I possibly do for Brother Chu?" Xie Yuheng stared blankly at Shen Tianci. Brother Chu was smarter than him and handled matters better; he genuinely had no idea what he could do to share the burden.

"I call you a fool and you refuse to admit it. Just now, the General was struck to the core—think carefully about the words he spoke. Don't you even want to know what kind of life your Brother Chu lived in the Great General's Estate? Don't you want to know how that venomous woman tortured and harmed him?"

Shen Tianci paused before continuing, "Who knows how this matter is being twisted and spread in the streets? What if someone uses this to frame the General?"

Xie Yuheng flared up in anger, "They wouldn't dare! Brother Chu has already suffered such a heavy blow; how dare they make mischief out of this?"

Shen Tianci rolled his eyes at Xie Yuheng and retorted, "You just said the General suffered a heavy blow. The factions hostile to the General not only dare, but they will seize the opportunity to strike while he is down. Xie Yuheng, remember this: that vicious woman raised the General. If we cannot produce substantial evidence of her crimes against him, those people can completely spin the narrative to accuse the General of lacking benevolence, righteousness, loyalty, and filial piety. Any single one of those charges could plunge the General into an abyss of eternal damnation. What we can do right now is investigate what that venomous woman did to the General and what happened in the Great General's Estate, just in case they make a move against him so that we are prepared to counterattack on his behalf."

Hiding inside the tent and eavesdropping, Shen Zhao wore a satisfied smile. The child had grown up and learned to look out for her.

Everything Tianci mentioned, she had already anticipated and made thorough preparations for. She was simply waiting for those people to seize this opportunity to move against her, at which point she would release the details of Chu Mu's ordeals over the years, catching everyone off guard. She would use their own hands to cry out against the injustice done to Chu Mu.

However, if Tianci and Yuheng investigated and exposed the matter themselves, the effect would be doubled. It would arouse far more public sympathy than if she counterattacked on her own.

Xie Yuheng suddenly woke up to the reality. "You're right. Brother Chu is currently grief-stricken and overwhelmed; he simply hasn't the capacity to look after these things. If those people slip through the cracks and frame him then, it would be our fault entirely. You stay and guard the camp, I'm heading back to the estate."

"Are you going to mobilize the influence of the Xie clan?"

"You're a fool, Shen Tianci. Tell me, would the revelation of Brother Chu's suffering carry more deterrent force if you and I exposed it, or if my father or maternal grandfather did? Those people might still attack you and me and distort the facts, but they would never dare act so boldly as to twist the truth before my father and grandfather." Xie Yuheng finally seized a chance to retaliate. Well, he and Shen Tianci each had their own brand of foolishness.

Gazing at Xie Yuheng's smug expression, Shen Tianci felt a strong urge to rip it off his face. With a cold snort, he said, "Then why doesn't Young Master Xie hurry off and do it?"