Chapter 224: Going Up the Mountain

The snow had started falling again without anyone noticing, but Gu Lingling had no desire to go home.

In her memory, Yao Ruanqian was a very elegant and gentle woman, who always spoke kindly to her and her brother, no, it could be said that Yao Ruanqian spoke softly to everyone.

She was kind to others, but what she got in return was malicious harm.

No evidence?

Hawthorns? When Yao Ruanqian gave birth to her at the end of October, it was the height of the hawthorn season in the mountains, and children would go into the hills to pick some hawthorns to bring home and eat.

But few people knew that pregnant women should not eat hawthorns.

Because there weren’t many hawthorn trees in the mountains, and the villages were many, there wouldn’t be much hawthorn fruit available.

But Wang said she saw plenty of hawthorn cakes in their house, and even the water that Gu Chunmei brought her was hawthorn water, which proved they had a lot of hawthorns that day.

With uneven footsteps, Gu Lingling climbed toward the mountain.

After leaving Wang’s house, she wanted to see Yao Ruanqian, even though it was snowing now.

Not far from the foot of the mountain, a group of soldiers was shoveling snow.

Gu Lingling glanced over there. The area where she stood had already been shoveled, but since it started snowing again, there was still a layer of snow on the ground.

"Strange," a young soldier muttered to himself.

"What’s wrong?" another asked.

"I seemed to see someone enter the mountain just now," the young soldier said, "and it was a girl."

"Come on, has the cold frozen your brain? Who would want to come out in such cold weather?" the other soldier said, holding a shovel.

True indeed.

The young soldier thought about it; if it were him, he would rather stay at home and sleep in.

Why come out? It’s freezing.

But... he really did see someone just now.

Was it a ghost?

The snow seemed to lighten a bit, and the young soldier decided not to dwell on it since he had to finish shoveling the snow. After that, they’d return to the barracks for lunch and come back in the afternoon to continue.

He must have been seeing things.

Gu Lingling, unaware of this, just wanted to visit her mother’s grave, as something heavy was pressing on her since she left Wang’s house.

It was hard to breathe.

"Mom, today I came to see you alone," Gu Lingling said, standing in front of Yao Ruanqian’s grave.

The tombstone was erected by Gu Chunhai in the name of her and her brother.

Gu Lingling brushed the snow off the tombstone with her hand.

Tears fell one by one on the snow-covered ground, "I won’t let you die in vain."

Since her rebirth, Gu Lingling had thought that her tragic fate in the past life couldn’t entirely be blamed on Wang Meili and her daughter, who could she blame for her own foolishness?

Willing to believe others’ words, she had brought it upon herself.

So, she hadn’t thought about seeking revenge or anything; if Wang Meili and her daughter hadn’t gone too far, she wouldn’t have thought of how to deal with them.

But now it’s different.

Even though Wang said those things couldn’t prove Wang Meili and Old Mrs. Gu knew that hawthorns were not to be consumed by pregnant women.

But who was Wang Meili? And Old Mrs. Gu, would they be so kind as to make hawthorn cakes?

Knowing them, people here mostly dried hawthorns to make tea; who would make cakes? It was too extravagant.

She must uncover the truth behind these matters.

"Mom, I miss you."

Although Wang Meili wasn’t a good person, she was genuinely kind to Gu Juan and Gu Haojun.

She also longed for someone to care for her, to have someone hold her gently and comfort her when she felt wronged.