Chapter Sixty-Four: What’s There to Be Angry About? At Worst, Just Get a New Father
"Xiao Yunbai, get over here this instant!" Xiao Jingxuan, upon seeing Su Jingluo awake, was first taken aback, but quickly collected himself and began shouting at Yunbai.
"What happened?" Su Jingluo stepped in front of Yunbai, blocking him. This was the first time she had seen Xiao Jingxuan so harsh toward Yunbai, and she felt uneasy—what trouble had this child gotten into now?
"Your precious son poisoned Wanwan and ruined her face!" Xiao Jingxuan's rage was barely contained as he shouted again at Yunbai.
Lin Wanwan! Su Jingluo didn't know why, but hearing those three words always made her feel an inexplicable irritation. She arched her brows at Xiao Jingxuan.
"Lower your voice!" Su Jingluo suddenly roared, startling everyone in the room.
"You always blame Yunbai. Must every hen that stops laying eggs or child who wets his pants be Yunbai's fault as well? Why? Last night, in the great hall, Yunbai was sitting with the Crown Prince the entire time—he never left his side, and was so far away, how could he possibly have poisoned her?" Su Jingluo was convinced of Yunbai's innocence; he hadn't even had the chance to get close, much less poison someone.
Both Xiao Jingxuan and Yunbai looked guilty. True, there had been no encounter in the great hall, but after Su Jingluo drank too much last night, there had indeed been contact. Yet Xiao Jingxuan had no intention of bringing up that sequence of events, and Yunbai dared not mention it either.
"That still doesn't prove he didn't do it," Xiao Jingxuan protested, his arguments running thin. He had, after all, had contact—not merely contact, but had even collided with her.
"How amusing, your reasoning. No evidence, yet you pass judgment as if the coffin lid is sealed. By your logic, maybe you poisoned her, since you can't prove you didn't." Su Jingluo didn't know why she felt compelled to contradict Xiao Jingxuan; on any other day, she would have already suspected Yunbai without his prompting.
"Unreasonable! Yunbai, was it you or not?" Xiao Jingxuan felt that arguing with Su Jingluo was pointless; he might as well ask Yunbai directly. Perhaps Su Jingluo was still not sober from last night's drinking and continued to make a scene.
Such is the nature of the relationship between a man and a woman: one tries to reason sincerely, the other assumes the drink has not yet worn off and keeps making trouble.
This time, Su Jingluo placed her full trust in Yunbai, because before her memory went blank, she vaguely recalled seeing Yunbai getting into the carriage behind her.
"Yunbai, Mother does not like children who lie. Tell me honestly, was it you who poisoned her?" Su Jingluo's tone toward Yunbai was exceedingly gentle, her demeanor changing in an instant.
"Yes, it was me," he replied.
"See, I told you it wasn’t Yun... What? You did it? When? Why?" Su Jingluo, so confident a moment before, was caught completely off guard. Her face burned with embarrassment—this child truly had no sense of shame, and she herself had naively assumed a five-year-old incapable of such malice.
"You were drunk, and she kept pretending to be so perfect, making you look bad, and even tried to take away that wicked father," Yunbai muttered, growing angrier as he spoke, even glaring at Xiao Jingxuan.
Su Jingluo understood at last—Yunbai simply couldn't stand Lin Wanwan's pretense and wanted her to taste the world's cruelty. Here she was, still lecturing, and her son had already upended everything. Why did her little rascal always manage to turn things upside down?
"You—you're going to drive me mad! If she's bad, does that mean you must be bad too? It's exactly such people that set off your virtues. If they were all gone, how could we appear outstanding? And whatever the case, it's not an excuse to harm others. If your father wants to be taken, let her take him. If necessary, we’ll just find another. Is there any need to hurt people over it?"
Hmm? Xiao Jingxuan felt something was off. Was Su Jingluo truly disciplining her son?