Chapter 5: The Rebirth of Tang Mu

"Yuanyang, take two matrons to the back wing and pack a few of An's clothes for her to take away!"

As for whether or not to take the child, she did not care at the moment. As long as she could drive An away first, leaving behind a child who was currently "ailing" would be a trivial matter, and she would then have an answer for the Sun family.

Yuanyang acknowledged the order and immediately went out to find help.

The group spoke in this manner, completely unaware that the child lying motionless behind the gauze curtains had already opened his eyes. Had anyone noticed, they would surely have been startled: those clear, black-and-white eyes held no childish innocence, but rather a venomous, deep-seated resentment. His youthful face was contorted in barely suppressed agony.

Tang Mu had been awake for quite some time, but he could not believe what was happening. He remembered being twenty years old, having tasted all the bitterness of the world and dying a lonely, wretched death in the most dilapidated alley of the capital.

Yet, here his grandmother was still alive, and his father had not yet taken that viper-hearted woman from the Sun family as his wife. Most importantly, his biological mother, An, was also alive, and she had said she would take him away.

Tang Mu’s fingers trembled; an uncontrollable surge of excitement made his chest feel tight and painful. He wanted to burst into tears. If his mother were alive, would he not have died in such loneliness?

In his memory, his mother—though cold and indifferent toward him—had always provided him with food and clothing while she remained in the Tang household. She had only vanished suddenly after his father remarried. He had been six years old then, old enough to remember, and had asked his family about her whereabouts several times.

His grandmother had said his mother was a base woman who had relied on an out-of-wedlock pregnancy to force her way into the Tang family. She called her a jealous shrew who couldn't bear to see his father take a wife, so she had abandoned her husband and child, bringing shame upon the Tang name, and forbade him from asking further.

When he asked his father, Tang Yushu, he naturally received no answer, only a brutal beating and being cursed as the "base spawn of a base woman."

As he grew older and experienced more, he began to hate the missing mother, believing she was a woman of low character who had caused his grandmother and father to despise him. Although he never went hungry or cold in the Tang house, his status was never acknowledged; he was merely called a beggar boy adopted by his grandmother, and he was frequently bullied in secret by the servants.

His father, Tang Yushu, had never cared for him—this illegitimate son—and after becoming obsessed with his political career, he paid even less attention to household matters. When his grandmother passed away when he was nine, his stepmother, Lady Sun, stopped pretending altogether and used an excuse to drive him out of the house.

He never returned to the Tang residence after being cast out, stubbornly determined to make a living in the capital. But with Lady Sun’s secret instructions, no merchant or shop in the city dared to hire him as an apprentice; he was forced to live as a beggar and a street urchin. It was during this time, while drifting through the streets, that he accidentally learned of his mother’s death.

An had died in a brothel in the northern district, which only deepened the hatred in his heart. He hated everyone: he hated his biological father, Tang Yushu, for his heartlessness; he hated his stepmother, Lady Sun, for her honeyed words and venomous heart; and he hated his own mother for dying in such a filthy place. He hated the heavens for being blind, for ensuring that after he parted with his mother, they would never meet again, while the Tang family flourished and prospered.

His father, Tang Yushu, was a man who calculated interests and curried favor with the powerful. After placing high in the imperial examinations and marrying a beautiful wife, with the support of the Sun family and the Manor of the Earl of Guang'an, his political career had been smooth sailing. By the age of forty, he had reached the position of Minister of Rites, the youngest minister in the imperial court, enjoying boundless prestige.

And then there was Tang Yuan, the son of the Minister of Rites—his own half-brother. A precocious youth, successful in his studies, and personally tutored by his father, Tang Yushu, he had become a child scholar by the age of ten. With his profound knowledge and handsome appearance, he was praised by all in the capital as a rare talent with a limitless future.

In that previous life, all the glory and wealth of the Tang manor had nothing to do with him or his mother, An. They were merely an embarrassing mistake from the Minister's foolish youth.

In the master bedroom, Tang Mu’s mind remained turbulent as he struggled to adapt to this second chance at life.

In the back wing, An Chunfeng began to pack her belongings. The original owner had just arrived in the capital and had never even stepped out of the house, let alone acquired any new clothes. In her trunk were only a few half-old summer garments, and in her vanity box were two equally worn, pale-green silk pom-poms.

She rummaged through the trunk and pulled out a duck-egg-blue, unembroidered long dress. It fit her well, and cinching the belt highlighted her graceful curves. Although the wound on her forehead had stopped bleeding, the raw skin was still exposed to the risk of infection, and the hematoma on the back of her head throbbed with pain.

There was no way to treat it now, so An Chunfeng simply found a clean white silk ribbon and tied it around her head, which offered some protection and relief.

Since she was leaving, she had to take what she could. Besides a few clothes, there were silk threads used for knot-tying scattered all over the room. The original owner had been skilled at crafting various knot patterns and had relied on weaving them day and night to earn money to supplement the household expenses.

Although she had the original owner's memories, An Chunfeng wasn't sure if she could replicate the craft, so she decided to pack the threads away and study them when she had time. These items not only proved her identity but could also be exchanged for a few hundred copper coins. She could not pin her hopes on the conscience of this family; if she were truly driven out, she would be left penniless.

An Chunfeng found a piece of cloth and bundled up her clothes, the pom-pom hair accessories, and the silk threads. Just as she tied the four corners of the bundle, the door was shoved open violently.

A girl of sixteen or seventeen entered, dressed in a green silk vest over a pale red long skirt, her waist as slender as a swaying willow. An Chunfeng’s eyes darkened. This was Yuanyang, the personal maid of the eldest mistress, Lady Liu, the relative whom Tang Yushu relied upon.

"Nothing good happens when the fox comes knocking." What must come, would come.

For the past few days, this maid had never looked at the original owner properly, let alone entered her room. Yuanyang, accompanied by two rough matrons, barged in, expecting to see a wailing, resentful woman. She was surprised to find An already packing her things.

She looked at An’s well-proportioned figure and her wide, natural feet—not bound in white socks—and curled her lip in disgust. In the capital, young women were considered beautiful if they were tall and thin. A slender woman wearing wide sleeves and long skirts, draped in plain gauze and light silk, with soft-soled embroidered socks and high-heeled clogs, would look like a fairy descending from the heavens when she stood or walked. In Yuanyang’s eyes, the fullness of An’s figure was ugly and vulgar, something only the rough-working matrons would have.

Yuanyang did not enter the room; she held her hand over her nose and mouth in disdain and said to An Chunfeng, "At least you know your place. The second mistress and the third master are kind-hearted. Knowing you’ve had a bout of madness, they aren't punishing you, but are letting you leave the house. Open your bundle and let us see what’s inside. Don’t go stealing anything from the manor!"

Yuanyang stared at the bundle behind An Chunfeng, her eyes flickering.

An Chunfeng glanced at her and said coldly, "Is there anything of value in this bird's nest worth stealing? Searching the bundle... unless you're planning to frame me!"

Yuanyang choked. She had been the one to oversee the tidying of the back wing where An lived, so she knew exactly what was inside. Aside from the wooden bed and bedding, there was only an empty small wooden box; everything else was the silk thread An had brought. There really wasn't a single item of value.

However... Yuanyang squeezed an object hidden in her sleeve. If she said it was stolen, then it was stolen.