"Alas..."
"Most conflicts in the world stem from the word 'love'."
Uncle Zhong sighed after Miao Qingdai recounted her past.
"Uncle Zhong, it was indeed wrong of me to fall for a married man. But I didn't know he was married at first. He always lied to me, saying he was unmarried. And because I lived with my master in the Bamboo Grove for many years, I was ignorant of the outside world. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been deceived by that man."
"Later, I was driven out of the Miao village. Not long after, I discovered I was pregnant. Being young and foolish at the time, I ran to a town far from the Miao village and secretly gave birth to the child alone. It was a baby boy. However, it wasn't long before the news of my childbirth reached the man's wife. She brought a group of tribesmen and found me. They tried to kill both my son and me, but luckily, my Qinggong was good, and I managed to escape."
"Later, it was inconvenient for me to raise my child alone, so I placed him with a farming family and went to the capital. Upon arriving in the capital, I met Brother Zhong by chance."
Miao Qingdai truthfully told her past.
"What about your son's situation?" Leng Ruoli asked urgently.
"Since meeting Brother Zhong, I realized there were still good men in the world. So, I wanted to forget the past and stop being a witch. I wanted to start anew with Brother Zhong. Therefore, I decided not to bring my child to live with me. I gave him directly to that farming family. Besides, that family treated my son very well, so I decided not to give him up despite my heartache."
"Brother Zhong took pity on me, having no relatives in the capital, and took me in. From then on, I lived in a small village near the Nevernight Manor. Later, Brother Zhong became a gardener at the Cold King's mansion, returning home only every three to four days. This gave me the opportunity to see my son. From then on, I visited the farming family every month to see my child."
"Five years passed like this. Brother Zhong and I fell in love over time and became husband and wife. However, because I injured myself during childbirth, I regrettably could not have any children for him."
"But unfortunately, when my son was five years old, he was snatched from the farming family. I eventually found him, but he had been trained into an assassin and was now working under Prince Ning. Prince Ning, knowing I had a witch mother, poisoned him and used him to threaten me into cultivating the Beauty Gu for him. If I didn't produce a finished Beauty Gu within half a month to exchange for my son's antidote, my son would die. And these black-clothed men you killed were all sent by Prince Ning to supervise me."
Miao Qingdai recounted the past with great sorrow.
After hearing Miao Qingdai's story, Leng Ruoli felt little emotion. Regardless of Miao Qingdai's reasons, she should not have harmed others to save those she cared about.
"Aunt Zhong, did you have something to do with Dou Ban?" Leng Ruoli suddenly remembered and asked.
"Yes. I actually liked Dou Ban very much. It was out of desperation that I captured him to take his blood. But that child was clever. He escaped while these black-clothed men were not in the stone cave. As a result, he was discovered by these black-clothed men, ran to the edge of the cliff, accidentally lost his footing, and fell."
Aunt Zhong answered truthfully.
"You... Dou Ban called you Grandma Zhong so affectionately every day, how could you do that to him..."
Uncle Zhong really wanted to scold Miao Qingdai.
But the Cold King and his wife listened to Aunt Zhong's words with a calm expression, as they had already guessed the situation.
Leng Ruoli pondered for a moment, then looked at Miao Qingdai and said, "Aunt Zhong, I'll give you a chance to make amends. You can save your son without harming these innocent children."
As she spoke, Miao Qingdai's eyes suddenly lit up, and she asked excitedly, "Princess Consort, what opportunity?"
"Give me the Beauty Gu you've cultivated. I have two semi-finished Beauty Gu, but they will be successfully cultivated soon."
Leng Ruoli's words stunned Miao Qingdai.
"Princess Consort, you possess a beauty that few in the world have. Why do you still need to cultivate Beauty Gu?" Miao Qingdai asked her with a face full of confusion.
"I indeed don't need to raise human Gu. I took these two Beauty Gu from other Gu masters and decided to raise them for fun. However, I've tampered with both of these Beauty Gu," Leng Ruoli said mysteriously.
"Then Princess Consort, what do you want me to do?" Miao Qingdai asked, not understanding.
"Let's cooperate. Prince Ning, didn't he ask you to cultivate Beauty Gu to exchange for the antidote to save your son? Then take the Beauty Gu I've cultivated to him and exchange it for your son's antidote. You'll understand the rest later." Leng Ruoli replied with a profound expression.
"Princess Consort, I still want to ask you something. What blood did you use to cultivate your Beauty Gu?" Miao Qingdai asked very curiously.
"My Gu worms don't need blood for cultivation. I tampered with them, changing their survival habits. I cultivate them with a medicine I developed myself, which makes them grow very fast. It takes you one to two months to cultivate a Beauty Gu with human blood, but with the medicinal solution I developed, it only takes half a month."
Leng Ruoli was not afraid of revealing her secret of cultivating Gu worms. With the technological level of this era, it would be impossible for them to replicate her method of cultivating Beauty Gu.
"Oh, so that's how it is. It is rumored that the Princess Consort's medical skills are excellent. I didn't expect the Princess Consort to also know how to raise Gu," Miao Qingdai looked at Leng Ruoli with admiration.
Afterward, Miao Qingdai lightly pressed a small switch beneath the stone table. A square, small hidden compartment appeared in the middle of the stone table. Inside was a round, small basket woven from thin bamboo. This small basket was only the size of a palm, and it also had a finely woven round lid.
Miao Qingdai took out the small basket and handed it to Leng Ruoli.
"Princess Consort, this Beauty Gu seedling is the one I've been cultivating for the past half month with the heart's blood of the child. I'll give it to you now."
"Mm, but the Gu worms I have need a few more days to cultivate successfully. You'll need to wait a few days."
"Alright, Princess Consort, this humble one thanks you. I, this humble one, promise you and His Highness that as long as my son is successfully rescued this time, I will never touch Gu worms again and will live a peaceful life with my son from now on," Miao Qingdai earnestly assured Leng Ruoli.
At this moment, Uncle Zhong, who had been sitting silently beside Miao Qingdai, suddenly interjected, "Old woman, are you planning to abandon me?"
"No, Brother Zhong. Don't you blame me for deceiving you?"
Miao Qingdai asked him with a distressed face.
"No. As long as you are sincerely repentant, I have always cared about you," Uncle Zhong said to Miao Qingdai earnestly.
Upon hearing this, Miao Qingdai burst into tears on the spot.
Seeing this, the Cold King and his wife tactfully took the two young boys and flew down the mountain, leaving the space for Uncle Zhong and Aunt Zhong. Subsequently, Leng Ruoli gave the two young boys two pills beneficial to their health, making them forget what had happened in the past few days.
Later, the Cold King and his wife quickly sent people to investigate the families of these two children and notified their families to pick up the children.