Springtime Farming: A Happy Wife At Home

Due to the estrangement between Ms. Zheng and Mr. Qin, their relationship was strained, exacerbating the situation.

Ms. Zheng held the belief that Ms. Qin had more or less accomplished her objectives.

The repugnant accusations made by Zhao Mu were unbearable for her to endure.

Subsequently, when Zhao Shu reached the age of 15, an unfortunate incident occurred involving Ms. Zheng. On Qingming Day, while paying homage to Zhao Shu’s departed parents, an incident transpired with their carriage.

During this critical juncture, Ms. Zheng sustained severe injuries while shielding Zhao Shu. Despite being transported home for medical attention, she passed away within three days.

Zhao Shu remained suspicious of Ms. Qin’s potential involvement in the so-called accident. Although his callous father might have disregarded it, he lacked concrete evidence.

His suspicions were grounded in several perplexing details.

Firstly, his mother’s carriage was under meticulous care, undergoing comprehensive inspections prior to her travels. Ordinarily, nothing untoward should have occurred.

In short order, the coachman and his family were dismissed under the pretext of negligence and lack of commitment.

Zhao Shu was consumed by grief following his mother’s demise, and he overlooked these details. By the time he attempted to investigate, the coachman had vanished. Despite dispatching individuals to the coachman’s hometown, his efforts to locate her proved fruitless.

Secondly, the relationship between his parents deteriorated progressively. Anytime they were together, they engaged in heated disputes. While his father refrained from seeking the 100,000 mu of mulberry fields’ contract from the Zheng Family, he declined to furnish an IOU note to his mother for the annual silk yield.

A staggering 100,000 mu of silk emanated from the mulberry fields, and upon her marriage to his father, she had naturally taken control of it. Payment had never been demanded before. However, with her grandparents still alive, her grandfather requested a symbolic IOU note, which his father provided.

This practice was a longstanding tradition for her.

Nevertheless, two years ago, his father declined to honor this tradition by refusing to issue the IOU note.

As a result, his mother and father engaged in heated arguments, with his mother even threatening to sell the silk to another buyer, igniting his father’s anger.

The relationship between the two of them progressively deteriorated.

His father’s dissatisfaction with his mother was evident.

Furthermore, Concubine Qin and her son continuously maligned her in front of his father, intensifying the conflict by spreading a variety of malicious rumors. His father seemed to believe at least two or three out of every ten sentences, if not more!

As time elapsed, their mutual animosity deepened.

Zhao Shu harbored doubts about the authenticity of his mother’s supposed accident.

Yet, his profound sorrow immobilized him, rendering him incapable of taking any action. When he eventually attempted to uncover the truth, it was already too late.

Even so, his mother defended him for the last time. Prior to her passing, she beseeched him, in the presence of his father and the senior members of the clan, to transport her remains to the ancestral home of the Zhao Family for interment. She implored him to tend to her grave for three years without forsaking it.

He departed in the company of his steadfast attendants. He comprehended his mother’s concern that he might face harm within the household. At 15, he was neither exceedingly mature nor exceptionally young. Pitted against the entire family, he found himself standing alone, and the prospect of encountering harm was considerably elevated.

Three years later, his mother’s instructions granted him an additional period to amass strength and formulate a strategy.

As he left the Zhao Family in Yangzhou, his father and Ms. Qin expressed overt delight, opting not to impede his departure.