Chapter 208
"Old woman, what are you crying for?" Li Chengshan said somewhat impatiently.
Yet, in his heart, he felt his old lady wasn't usually the type to cry so easily.
Could it be that she has a way to change their family's current predicament?
Thinking about the possibility of going to jail, Li Chengshan was also very unhappy.
This would ruin their reputation in their old age.
After all, they had already been thoroughly humiliated today; if they ended up eating prison meals, their whole family would be finished.
"Old man, I've kept something from you, something I've hidden in my heart for over forty years!" Lady Zhang, her face full of wrinkles, looked at the equally aged Li Chengshan, a scheme forming in her mind.
Today, she was determined to get the whole family to move into the Li household.
Upon hearing this, everyone pricked up their ears, wondering what major secret Lady Zhang had kept from the old man.
Could it be that Li Yaozu wasn't actually his child?
Everyone has a gossipy heart.
At this moment, everyone was extremely curious about the truth of this matter hidden for over forty years.
Li Zhiwei, however, felt that nothing good would likely come out of this person's mouth.
"Mother, let's go inside," Li Zhiwei said, holding Lady Yao's hand.
"Sister, you should go in first," Yao Qisheng sighed and also urged Lady Yao.
At this moment, Yao Qisheng was also hesitant. He wanted to leave, but he was worried about his sister's situation.
"Uncle, my mother is fine. You should go attend to your own matters if you're busy," Li Zhiwei, sensing Yao Qisheng's hesitation, quickly advised.
"Well..." Yao Qisheng glanced at the crowd of onlookers, feeling in his heart that they still had something planned for his sister.
"Uncle, please go ahead. With me here, they won't be able to bully my mother-in-law or Zhiwei," Xu Heming said.
In his view, people like this should simply be driven out. He didn't understand what his own consort was hesitating about, listening to their nonsense for so long.
"What have you kept from me?" Li Chengshan asked, furious upon hearing her words.
He was afraid it might be true, as everyone speculated, that Li Yaozu wasn't actually his child.
"Old man, actually, our eldest son was never lost. He is Tianyou!" After saying this, Lady Zhang began wailing loudly again.
Li Chengshan was stunned at first, but then, thinking this might be his wife's clever plan, felt a surge of joy. If they were Li Tianyou's real parents, then couldn't they move into the Li household?
That way, wanting to give Li Tianyou's family property to their second son would also be perfectly reasonable.
Li Zhiwei: ???
The Tianyou they mentioned... could it be her father?
Lady Yao's face turned very pale upon hearing this.
If she really had a mother-in-law like Lady Zhang, she would definitely not have a good life.
"Mother, don't worry. These people absolutely cannot be telling the truth," Li Zhiwei, sensing Lady Yao's fear, quickly reassured her.
"Zhiwei, why don't you take your mother inside? I'll handle things here," Xu Heming asked, seeing Lady Yao didn't look well.
"I'm fine. I want to see just how shameless these people can be," Lady Yao said, feeling both helpless and angry.
Her regret grew heavier.
All of this was her own fault, for not being able to give her husband a son.
If Li Tianyou knew, he would certainly say: If it meant having a son like Li Yaozu, he'd rather just have a daughter like Li Zhiwei.
"What did you say? Tianyou is really our eldest son?" The excitement in Li Chengshan's voice was clear for all to hear.
Hearing the old woman's words, the crowd looked at the two performing their act with disdain.
Who would believe such a story?
Li Tianyou didn't resemble this family in the slightest.
Li Tianyou was tall and fair-skinned, while this whole family shared the same mold—dark, short, and stocky.
They clearly weren't the same breed, okay?
It was baffling how this old Lady Zhang could utter such shameless words.
"Back then, the elder Li Zuoshan and his wife had been married for many years without a child. I pitied them, so I painfully gave our eldest son to them to raise. Later, afraid you would blame me, I lied and told you our eldest had been kidnapped. When Tianyou returned years later, I recognized him at first sight—that was our eldest son." Lady Zhang spoke with such sincerity that, had their appearances not been so utterly mismatched, people might have actually believed her.
"Prince An, this matter... it couldn't be true, could it?"
Zhao Xincheng moved closer to Xu Heming and asked quietly, somewhat puzzled.
He thought to himself, if this were true, it would be very troublesome.
After all, even though Li Tianyou was now a second-rank official, the Kingdom of Lannuo also ruled the land with filial piety.
Even if this man hadn't raised Li Tianyou, if he were truly his father, Li Tianyou couldn't refuse him.
Xu Heming gave Zhao Xincheng a sidelong glance and asked, "Do they look anything like my consort?"
Xu Heming felt his consort was so beautiful; how could she possibly have such an ugly grandmother?
These people were obviously here to take advantage. Couldn't Zhao Xincheng even see that?
He wondered where Zhao Xincheng's previously good reputation had come from.
No, they don't," Zhao Xincheng looked and shook his head very affirmatively.
"Old woman, why didn't you tell me back then? All these years, I misunderstood you. I blamed you for not watching our eldest properly. Seeing our eldest so accomplished now fills our hearts with comfort!" Li Chengshan thought to himself: If Li Tianyou were his own son, let's see how Lady Yao and that worthless girl could stop them from entering the Li family.
"Yes, look, our granddaughter looks exactly like I did when I was young," Lady Zhang said, looking at Li Zhiwei with utter shamelessness.
Originally, a few people had doubted the truth of the matter, but now, hearing Old Lady Zhang say this, everyone laughed.
How could she have the nerve to say that?
Li Zhiwei looked like her?
They truly couldn't see it.
Lady Zhang secretly gloated in her heart.
She thought she was extremely clever.
Back then, she really had given her eldest son away—but it was to send him back to his real father.
The reason she had to give the eldest away back then was precisely because he wasn't actually Li Chengshan's son, but was born from her affair with her lover.
At the time, afraid Li Chengshan would discover the truth, she deliberately said the child had been lost.
Now, anyway, the elder Li Zuoshan and his wife were both gone.
No one knew about her giving her own son away. Old Lady Zhang thought if they could use this to move into the Li family, later she could take some money to properly support her eldest son and that lover of hers.
They hadn't had an easy life all these years.
Li Chengshan looked at Lady Zhang, then at the radiant and captivating Li Zhiwei standing beside Lady Yao, and thought: How dare this old woman say such things?
What did she have to compare herself with, claiming they looked alike?
