Chapter 152 I've Only Regained Part of Memories
Liu Cuihua walked in, only to see her son sitting alone at the desk and reading. She was stunned for a moment. "Xiyuan, are you...reading?"
Wu Xiyuan turned to the cover and showed it to her with a grin. "Jiuyue has taught Three Character Classic and I can already recite it."
Liu Cuihua was beamed with pleasure. "Good boy! You're the best!"
Wu Xiyuan picked up the pen, dipped it into the ink, and wrote down some words. "Mom, look!"
Liu Cuihua leaned in. Despite her illiteracy, she could see his handwriting was good, unlike some beginner's scrawl.
"What does it say?" she asked.
"Man on earth, good at birth." Wu Xiyuan read primly and continued, "Mom, what do you think of my handwriting?"
The reason why Liu Cuihua worked hard to get him schooled was to enable him to land a decent job. In doing so, he could get rid of the same dilemma as she got into where she had to live off the land and would face starvation with a poor harvest awaiting her at any time.
"It's great!" She was never mean with praises for her sons.
Wu Xiyuan was greatly delighted by such praises his mother used to give him as a kid. But since he grew up and started his political career, she had never done so probably out of consideration for making him keep a low profile.
"Mom, can I..." he hesitated.
"Just tell me about it."
Wu Xiyuan bit his lower lip, saying, "Mom, I want to go to school."
He knew his family could afford it given the additional income over the past few months and Su Jiuyue's savings.
But he was too embarrassed to ask for it since he had done nothing for the family over the years. Besides, schooling cost a lot.
Liu Cuihua widened her eyes in shock. Much later on, when she recovered from it, she grabbed Wu Xiyuan by the arm with her eyes fixed on his face in surprise. "Xiyuan, have you remembered something?"
Wu Xiyuan nodded and then shook his head.
Liu Cuihua's smile froze on her lips. "What do you mean?"
Wu Xiyuan stretched out his hand, gesturing with his thumb and index finger. "Just a little bit."
Confused by the chaos of his memories, he couldn't even separate what happened in this life from that in the previous life.
So he could only give an ambiguous answer in case he was wrong about something.
Even such a bit of improvement made Liu Cuihua overjoyed.
She held him in her arms and patted him on the back joyfully. "Good boy! I know you'll get better! I know that! Good for you! If you want to go to school, I'll send you to whichever school you prefer!"
Much later on, she calmed down and suddenly thought of something. "Have Jiuyue known it?"
When Wu Xiyuan shook his head, Liu Cuihua immediately stood up and was about to walk outside. "Then I'll tell her about it. She will be overjoyed if she knows that."
But Wu Xiyuan stopped her. Liu Cuihua looked back in dismay. "What's wrong?"
Wu Xiyuan seemed a little embarrassed. "Mom, what about...telling her about it later?"
It was beyond Liu Cuihua why he stopped her from sharing the great news with Su Jiuyue.
"Why?"
Wu Xiyuan pursed his lips, somewhat coy about it. Finally, he stammered and went very red in the face. "I...I'm afraid we will drift apart if she knows that..."
Liu Cuihua suddenly realized something. As a shy girl, Su Jiuyue would probably be ill at ease if she knew Wu Xiyuan had regained his memories.
Thinking of this, Liu Cuihua smiled and tapped Wu Xiyuan on the forehead. "What a naughty boy. Well, then I'll leave it to the two of you."
Speaking of this, she found it necessary to stress something. Then she said seriously, "Since you've regained your memories, you must have known Jiuyue chose to be with you despite your bad condition. If you dare to be bad to her in the future, I won't let go of you."
But this would never happen since this was the last thing Wu Xiyuan would do.
"I won't, mom. I'm so lucky to have Jiuyue."
Then Liu Cuihua nodded with satisfaction. "I hope so. Well, I have to go look out for Jiuyue. Let's talk about schooling later"
Wu Xiyuan was still worried and repeated, "Mom, remember to keep it a secret."
Liu Cuihua looked back and rolled her eyes with a smile. "I know. I'm much better than you at that."
When she finished speaking, she lifted the curtains and walked out, leaving Wu Xiyuan alone in the room, staring at the paper saying 'Man on earth, good at birth' unfolded in front of him.
The corners of his mouth curled into a smile. Then he got some ink, picked up his pen, and added another sentence, saying, "By riverside are cooing a pair of turtledoves; A good young man is wooing a fair maiden he loves."
He looked at what he wrote with satisfaction. Then he crumpled the paper up into a ball and threw it into the hole in the bed lest his disguise would fail once Su Jiuyue saw it. After all, she was no longer illiterate and might know what it meant.
Su Jiuyue was oblivious of that and was talking to Liu Cuihua.
"Jiuyue, what was wrong? Your mother..." Liu Cuihua couldn't find an easy way to say it.
Aware that she had probably heard the gossip, Su Jiuyue sighed, "Mom, it's true."
Liu Cuihua asked with a frown, "Then what exactly happened? Why..."
"My mom always gives whatever she has to my grandma regardless of our poor family. This time, she even brought a full basket of food, leaving little at home. With a weak father and young siblings, I had to make this difficult decision, or they will still suffer."
Su Jiuyue knew Liu Cuihua might have a problem with that and it came no surprise to be accused of the way she was mean and ungrateful to her mother.
On the contrary, Liu Cuihua was impressed by it. "Jiuyue, you've grown up. You have to know anyone will make mistakes and parents are no exception. As a married woman, she has every right to support her parents if she is well off, just like Xiuniang. I never stop her since this is what she has saved up by scrimping and doing the embroidery. So I can't stop her from reasonably supporting her parents...Do you know what I mean?"
Su Jiuyue nodded. "I see."
Liu Cuihua patted her on the hand, saying, "Don't feel guilty about it. Sometimes blind obedience to parents means a mistake. I'm glad that you have a mind of your own and you don't have to give it another thought."