Chapter 132

"You may never have meant to separate father and son, but you made me suffer sixteen years of being unable to know or be with my own son!"

Madam Li tried to defend herself. "But you didn't know the truth all those years. You thought Wanru was your daughter. Were you ever unhappy? Wasn't Wanru sweet, innocent, and filial?"

"All I did was exchange the children. I didn't make either of them suffer. Didn't Qingyu still grow up at his father's side?"

Madam Xie could not listen any longer.

"You didn't make him suffer? You made him carry his own water to wash his face. You never gave him new clothes; when his clothes tore, you patched them and made him wear them again. And that's only what we know. How many other cruel things did you do where no one could see? You treated him that way because you knew he wasn't your son, but Madam Zheng's. And you dare say you aren't vicious?"

"You even made him carry his own water and wear old clothes."

Madam Zheng's heart broke.

She had given Zheng Wanru everything she asked for, while her own son had suffered under someone else's roof.

"I... I..." Madam Li could find no defense.

Madam Zheng had seldom spent time with Madam Li and naturally did not know how she had raised the boy. Zheng Yuanqing did. He had once thought she was merely strict, but looking back now, much of what she had done made no sense.

He was genuinely furious, yet twenty years together pulled at him, leaving him torn.

Seeing his hesitation, Xie Heng's gaze cooled with disappointment.

"Have you still not decided?"

"My lord, I..."

Marquis Huainan gave a cold snort. "Think carefully before you speak. Your entire future depends on this."