Blooming Flowers, Silent Sorrow

Chapter 56

The Jin family's world changed overnight!

Xiaobao was flipped onto the ground from his slumber, barely able to see a blurry figure raising something thick and black above him through his half-closed eyes. Before he could even shout, the object had already struck his waist, numbing half his body. Xiaobao screamed in pain, rolling on the ground as the object hit him repeatedly.

It wasn't until he heard a familiar voice that he could open his eyes. It was his mother, who had fallen to the ground with a thud, crying out, "Master, master, please stop hitting him, I beg you, don't hit him anymore, you'll kill him."

Xiaobao then saw clearly that the person holding the purple sandalwood cane was his father. The lights outside the window were bright, and the voices of people were incessant. His father's face, illuminated by the light, was twisted and pale, his aged eyes filled with bitterness. His mother knelt in front of his father, grabbing his sleeve, while Zhao Cai and Jin Bao stood beside them, their eyes red and faces pale.

Xiaobao's mind went blank. He had caused many troubles growing up, but his father, no matter how angry, would only threaten to discipline him with family law, at worst hitting him with the sole of a shoe, never truly willing to hurt him. What could have made his father so angry? Xiaobao was lost in confusion, his memory and cognition like broken strings, not understanding what had happened.

He saw his father panting heavily, swatting away his mother's hand, and raising the cane high, his voice filled with sorrow and trembling, "Today, I will kill this unfilial son! Kill this disappointing creature!"

Then his mother crawled from the ground and threw herself on him, turning back to cry out to his father, "If you must hit someone, hit me first, how can you blame Xiaobao for everything? It's all our own doing! It's all our own doing!"

His father seemed to have all his strength drained in an instant, his legs buckling as if he was about to fall to the ground. Zhao Cai and Jin Bao quickly supported him and helped him to a chair.

Xiaobao's head buzzed, his eyes unfocused as he looked at his mother, asking in a daze, "Mother, what's wrong, what's happened?"

Madam Jin's face was covered in tears, and with a slap, she said, "Do you know who you've brought back? The Jin family is finished!" After saying this, she hugged him and wept bitterly.

A flash of white light before his eyes, and it felt as if something in his chest had burst open. He instinctively knew what his mother was talking about, about that person, who had been tender and intimate with him, and then disappeared without a trace, Zong Zheng... Zong Zheng Huai En...

Zong Zheng was a royal surname. Why tell him this? What had happened to his family? Who exactly was Huai En? From beginning to end, what had he experienced?

Xiaobao shook his mother's shoulders, "Mother, what's happened, I don't understand, what's happened, tell me, what's happened to the Jin family, what's happened to Huai En, what exactly has happened, tell me!"

Madam Jin took a deep breath, wiped away her tears, and looked at Xiaobao with a trembling voice, "Mother doesn't have time to explain. That person has stolen the ledger, taken Xiao Yu, and the emperor's envoy Li Gongxiang is already near Suzhou city. You must leave immediately with Zhao Cai and Jin Bao, head north, and the Su family will meet you. Don't ever come back."

"Mother, what are you talking about? What ledger? What's wrong with Xiao Yu? Why did he take Xiao Yu? What envoy? I don't understand, mother, what are you talking about?!"

Just the day before, everything was peaceful and happy, how could it all fall apart overnight? He couldn't bear this sudden change. Huai En had a royal surname? Xiao Yu was taken away? The Jin family was finished? His parents wanted him to leave? What had happened to the world?