Chapter 136: The Secret of the Stormy Night

“Tell me, where did you get this last child from?” The Great Tyrant hadn’t expected that after two months of investigation, he would stumble upon such a crucial clue today.

“It was a stormy night many years ago. I found the child on the side of the street in the northern part of the city. It wasn’t stolen, it really wasn’t stolen. Your Majesty, please see clearly,” the Skinny Woman cried as she kowtowed repeatedly.

Her scalp was almost scraped raw.

She had a very deep impression of this child because it was the only one whose origin she didn’t know and was the one she had picked up.

As for what Madam Xu did with the child afterward, or where she sent it, the Skinny Woman had no idea.

The old woman was taken away on the Great Tyrant’s order and immediately executed.

*Crash!*

The Great Uncle dropped the cup in his hand, shattering it.

Concubine Xin glared at him, “What are you doing, old man?”

[Haha, the Great Uncle is panicking.]

[Of course, he’s panicking! That stormy night on North Street is the deepest secret in his heart.]

The Great Tyrant’s mind raced.

Was the Great Uncle involved in this?

As the Great Tyrant’s cold gaze swept over, the Great Uncle turned pale with fear. “Your Majesty, this matter has nothing to do with me. I wasn’t involved, not even a little.”

“Then why are you panicking?”

The Great Uncle’s face fell.

How could he explain this?

The Great Tyrant’s sharp eyebrows twitched slightly, his expression revealing no emotion. “Uncle, now that things have come to this, you still haven’t explained why you were buying children.”

“It was to adopt a child. This has nothing to do with what the old woman said,” the Great Uncle tried to explain, but the more he spoke, the more suspicious the Great Tyrant became.

[The cycle of karma is relentless. The secret from back then hasn’t been resolved, tarnishing the Great Uncle’s virtue. It’s no wonder he can’t have any more offspring.]

[If the Great Uncle can come to terms with it and reveal that secret, dispelling the bad karma, I could even help him…]

Seeing the tension in the air, the Concubine De sighed as she looked at the Great Uncle. “Great Uncle, as a woman, there’s something I’d like to advise you.”

The Great Uncle nodded absentmindedly, “The Concubine De is too polite. Please speak freely.”

“What goes around comes around. The Great Uncle’s household has been so unsettled recently; your son hasn’t flourished, and you can’t have more children. Have you ever thought that perhaps you haven’t accumulated enough good fortune to pass on to future generations, leading to the decline of your family line, and soon there might be no one left to continue it?”

The Concubine De’s words struck fear deep into the Great Uncle’s heart.

What goes around comes around…

Good fortune…

“If the Great Uncle doesn’t feel comfortable telling us, perhaps you should speak to Taoist Baiyun. Who knows, maybe, just maybe, after the matter is resolved, the Great Uncle’s household might once again have descendants. Wouldn’t that be a great joy?

You’ve already thought of adopting a child to carry on the family line, so why not try resolving the issues in your heart?”

[My mother is indeed thoughtful, able to infer the events of the past from the Great Uncle’s words.]

[Mother is really brilliant.]

The Concubine De smiled gently.

The Great Uncle’s heart pounded.

The Concubine De was right.

Over the years, he hadn’t stopped wanting another child.

But every time he thought about it, he couldn’t help but recall that night.

It terrified him to the point that he didn’t even dare to think about having more children.

“Uncle, I’m not saying this to criticize you, but as a grown man, why are you more hesitant than a woman? If something’s on your mind, just say it. Even if the sky falls, I’ll hold it up. What are you hesitating for?”

The Great Uncle sighed heavily.

“Let me make this clear, no matter what it is, I won’t hold you responsible.”

The Great Uncle was finally reassured.

Concubine Xin snorted, “Old man, what are you hiding from us? Just say it already.”

[He doesn’t dare say it, hahaha. How could he dare?]

[This is making me so anxious! The Great Uncle needs a push. Watch me.]

“Laugh…laugh…laugh…” Ah Bao tugged at the Great Uncle’s robe.

The Great Uncle froze.

“My little princess, your uncle is in a bit of trouble right now. He certainly can’t laugh,” Concubine Xin didn’t understand Ah Bao’s intent.

But the Great Uncle understood.

He quickly covered Ah Bao’s mouth.

“Mmph, mmph.”

Oh no.

How does this little one know about ‘Xiaoxiao’?

[‘Xiaoxiao’, haha, that’s the childhood nickname of that woman.]

The Great Tyrant and the Concubine De stared intently at the Great Uncle.

Concubine Xin pushed the Great Uncle aside.

“Stop staring at me like that. I’ll tell you.” The Great Uncle hadn’t even begun speaking, but sweat was already forming on his forehead. “It must have been twenty years ago, during the lunar July. It was raining heavily that night. I had too much to drink and stumbled my way to North Street, where I drunkenly collapsed in front of an old, rundown temple and fell asleep.”

The three of them continued to watch the Great Uncle.

The Great Uncle let out a heavy sigh.

“That night, because of the heavy rain, the streets were deserted. The rain hitting me woke me up.

In the distance, I vaguely saw a carriage stopped in front of the rundown temple.

The wind was howling, lifting the curtains of the carriage, and I… I saw… a pregnant woman.”

As the Great Uncle spoke of the event, his expression became serious.

The Great Tyrant listened attentively.

Twenty years ago, pregnant.

An unborn child.

“Third child is twenty years old this year.”

He couldn’t believe it. It was too coincidental.

“A pregnant woman gave birth, and the deceased old woman took the child and gave it to Madam Xu?” The Great Tyrant couldn’t help but ask.

The Great Uncle shook his head. “No, when I saw that woman, she was already dead.

It looked like she had been disemboweled and the baby inside her had been removed.

At the time, there were two babies in the carriage.

Since I was drunk, I only heard the cries of two children.”

Over the years, he had often thought about this matter.

He was certain he had heard the cries of two babies, not just one.

“When I was finally able to go and check, I was in severe pain from the hangover, and the rain was still pouring heavily. But when I arrived, I only saw one child, being held by a woman.”

The Great Tyrant asked urgently, “Who was that woman?”

“Yun… Yun Ting,” the Great Uncle said stiffly.

The Great Tyrant’s mind was filled with question marks. “Who is Yun Ting? Isn’t she that skinny old woman?”

“No, the skinny old woman must have taken one child away beforehand. By the time I got there, Yun Ting was holding the remaining child.

She is Mr. Zhao’s wife—oh no, his ex-wife.”

“The ex-wife of Duke Ning’an Zhao Yin?”

Zhao Yin held a hereditary duke title.

He was a fourth-rank official.

The Great Uncle nodded, “Yes, that’s him, Zhao Yin.”

The Great Tyrant pondered, “I’ve heard of his ex-wife. I’ve heard that he divorced his first wife and made a secondary wife the principal wife.”

[So, he was indeed a character who favored his concubines over his wife.]

“Great Uncle, may I ask if the ‘Yun Ting’ you mentioned is the younger sister of Yun Ci, the wife of the Ministry of Personnel’s Deputy Minister, Luo?”

The Great Uncle nodded. “Exactly.”

“Concubine De, do you know Yun Ting?”

Concubine De nodded. “Years ago, the Yun family was a wealthy merchant family, starting from the aquatic product trade. The Yun sisters were well-known in the capital, a pair of beautiful sisters.

The elder sister Yun Ci married the Luo family’s Deputy Minister of Personnel.

The younger sister Yun Ting married Duke Ning’an Zhao Yin.

Later, the Yun family’s business failed, and their fortunes declined. Some members died and others scattered. Yun Ci was fortunate; Mr. Luo treated her very well.

But the younger sister Yun Ting was different.

She had a very difficult life.”