Free Web NovelChapter 239: Chapter 239: Why Doesn’t He Look Like Tangyuan?
The old leader was very amiable. His tone was gentle, and his voice and expression were full of reminiscence.
But Mrs. Tang froze when she heard this. "I... I’m Tang Yuanxiao’s mother, and this is my grandson."
At Mrs. Tang’s reply, it was the old leader’s turn to freeze.
"What?"
He asked reflexively, turning his head to look.
When he saw the expressions on the faces of the two civilian staff members accompanying him, he turned back to Mrs. Tang and laughed it off.
"Ah, yes, yes, my mistake. It’s Yuanxiao, Tang Yuanxiao. Little Tang, Little Mo, those boys were always together. I’m getting old, and the names are all jumbled in my head."
The old leader smiled and patted Little Tang Mo’s head, then forced a smile at Mrs. Tang before turning to leave with his companions.
He had left, and he had offered an explanation.
But Mrs. Tang couldn’t let it go. Her heart was in turmoil.
She looked down at Little Tang Mo, who was gazing up at her, and suddenly felt that something wasn’t right.
"Grandma?" Little Tang Mo called out to her.
Mrs. Tang snapped back to reality. "Let’s go. Let’s go home for now."
She and Little Tang Mo returned home, but her mind was in a daze. The old leader’s words kept replaying in her head.
She couldn’t help but stare at Little Tang Mo. At first, she thought nothing of it, but the longer she looked, the more she felt something was wrong.
Little Tang Mo’s face, which she had always found so adorable, suddenly seemed a little unfamiliar.
She studied his forehead, his eyebrows, his nose, his mouth, his chin, even his ears, desperately searching for some resemblance to Tang Yuanxiao. freewebnσvel.cøm
But... she couldn’t find any.
The more she looked, the less she could find, and the less he resembled Tang Yuanxiao.
Little Tang Mo had never really resembled Tang Yuanxiao, but she’d never given it much thought, figuring it was normal for a son to take after his mother.
Mrs. Tang knew that Little Tang Mo resembled his mother, Cui Yun.
She had always thought Little Tang Mo was adorable, that he had grown right into her heart, and that he was the cutest boy she had ever seen.
But the old leader’s words had given her a sudden shock.
Mo Jianjun... It was the first time she had ever heard that name. Tang Yuanxiao had never mentioned him.
Tang Yuanxiao rarely spoke about his work, but he would share what he could. For instance, she had heard him mention Yu Le.
But she had never heard of Mo Jianjun at all.
The old leader had said that Little Tang Mo was the spitting image of some Mo Jianjun, that he’d noticed it at a glance. How could she not be concerned?
Mrs. Tang stared at Little Tang Mo for half an hour. She had no energy to cook, so she went to the mess hall, got some food, and brought it back for him to eat.
After sitting there distractedly for ages, Mrs. Tang finally couldn’t take it anymore.
She left Little Tang Mo at home and slipped out to discreetly ask about Mo Jianjun, approaching some of the other grandmothers she had gotten to know over the past couple of days.
Besides Mrs. Tang, there were a few others like her in the family compound.
If an elderly mother was sick or had no one to care for her at home, she would be brought to the compound if circumstances permitted.
One particular grandmother had been brought here by her son many years ago.
Mrs. Tang went directly to her and successfully learned about a man named Mo Jianjun.
"Jianjun? Oh, I knew Jianjun. Sigh... He was such a sharp, clever young man. Such a pity..."
Mrs. Tang pressed, "A pity about what?"
"He’s gone. He passed away."
"He’s dead," Mrs. Tang repeated, pausing for a moment. "When did he die?"
"It’s been quite a few years. Some people in the compound knew him, but others have never even heard his name."
The old woman counted on her fingers. "Seven or eight years ago, I think. I can’t quite recall."
Hearing "seven or eight years," the corner of Mrs. Tang’s mouth twitched.
"Was he married before he died?"
The old woman shook her head. "No, he was about the same age as your Captain Tang. They were still just boys back then."
Mrs. Tang stood there in a daze for a while before finally returning home.
When she got home, she saw Little Tang Mo washing his face. "Grandma, you’re back."
Mrs. Tang didn’t reply, just stood in the doorway watching Little Tang Mo.
Little Tang Mo wiped his face with a towel and emptied the basin. "I’m done. It’s your turn now, Grandma. I’ll pour the water for you."
Watching the busy little boy, Mrs. Tang’s eyes flickered, and her expression softened.
"Such a good boy, Momo."
The moment the words left her mouth, her expression froze again.
’Momo... Why "Momo"? I hate that character, "Mo"!’
Seeing her motionless again, Little Tang Mo tugged on her hand. "Grandma, you should wash up while the water’s still hot."
Mrs. Tang washed her face absentmindedly.
When she turned around, she saw that Little Tang Mo had already prepared a basin of water for washing their feet.
"Grandma, shall we wash our feet together?"
Mrs. Tang didn’t say anything, so Little Tang Mo took it as a yes. frёewebηovel.cѳm
"Take off your shoes, Grandma."
Mrs. Tang moved only when Little Tang Mo spoke, as if in a trance.
Little Tang Mo sat opposite Mrs. Tang. After taking off his shoes, he put his small feet into the water and stepped on the top of his grandmother’s feet, letting out a rare, happy laugh.
"Hehe..."
After stepping on her feet a couple of times, he bent down to wash them.
Mrs. Tang kept her eyes fixed on Little Tang Mo’s face.
Little Tang Mo washed his own feet for a moment, but when he saw that his grandmother wasn’t moving, he used his small hands to start washing her feet. "Grandma, I’ll help you."
Mrs. Tang stared at the top of Little Tang Mo’s head, her gaze vacant.
After washing his face and feet, Little Tang Mo saw that Qin Shanshan hadn’t come over, so he contentedly lay on his own bed, looking at the picture book Su Li had bought him.
Mrs. Tang sat numbly in the living room for a while before suddenly entering the master bedroom.
She began to search. Her movements were small at first, but they grew larger and more frantic.
She turned the place upside down, ransacking the entire master bedroom.
Finally, tucked inside a book in one of Tang Yuanxiao’s drawers, she found a photograph.
It was a group photo of four people.
The same one Su Li had seen not long ago.
Upon seeing the photo, Mrs. Tang nearly collapsed.
She staggered back two steps to steady herself. Her hand, clutching the photograph, trembled, her knuckles turning white from the force of her grip.
Mrs. Tang stared intently at the unfamiliar, kind-faced man in the photograph, the sound of her teeth chattering filling the air.
She scrutinized each person one by one, her gaze finally landing on Cui Yun, who stood at the far edge of the group.
In the photo, Cui Yun was wearing a dress, her hair in two braids. She looked as lovely and gentle as ever.
Mrs. Tang had always been very fond of Cui Yun, but... ’Why isn’t she standing next to Tangyuan!’
Mrs. Tang’s gaze shifted back to the kind-faced soldier. Through clenched teeth, she spat out two words.
"Mo Jianjun!"
The resemblance between Little Tang Mo and Mo Jianjun was obvious from the photo. The only features that didn’t match were the ones he shared with Cui Yun.
Seeing this photo, what else was there not to understand?
"Tang Mo, Tang Mo, Tang Mo... Tang Mo..."
She stared at the photo, muttering the name Tang Yuanxiao had given the boy, as waves of darkness clouded her vision.
’Little Tang Mo wasn’t Tang Yuanxiao’s son at all! He wasn’t a grandson of the Tang Family!’
Mrs. Tang collapsed to the floor, incoherent sounds escaping her lips.
It was a muffled, unsettling sound, somewhere between a whimper and a wail.
In the adjacent bedroom, Little Tang Mo looked at his picture book, his eyes gradually growing heavy until he drifted off to sleep.
And Mrs. Tang sat there on the cold floor all night, clutching the photograph.
「The next morning, after daybreak, the master bedroom door opened.」
Mrs. Tang walked out, one step at a time.
Overnight, a startling amount of white hair had appeared at her temples.
Overnight, Mrs. Tang seemed to have aged several years.
Her back stooped, she dragged her heavy feet with a numb expression, stopping right in front of the second bedroom door.
She stood there for an unknown amount of time before a RUSTLING sound came from inside.
A moment later, the bedroom door opened, and Little Tang Mo appeared, rubbing his eyes.
"Grandma." He looked up at Mrs. Tang and greeted her.
Mrs. Tang looked down at Little Tang Mo, and her face twitched violently.
