Rebirth: The Journey of an Heiress-Chapter 600 - 597 - : A Good Dog_1

"Here we are! This is it..." The prison guard of the Court of Judicial Review opened the cell door and respectfully addressed Madam Fu.

"Thank you!" Madam Fu signaled the nanny beside her to reward the prison guard. She smiled and said, "You’ve worked hard. This is a token of appreciation for you."

With shackles on his legs, kneeling among the straw, missing an arm and covered in dirt, Fu Ruoxi raised his head. By the dim light in the cell, he saw his mother’s solemn features. Fu Ruoxi’s hand tightened on his knee, and his dry, cracked lips pressed together tightly.

The prison guard weighed the purse filled with silver, smiling as he tucked it into his sleeve. "What are you saying, Madam Fu! The Crown Prince has ordered us to comply. Take your time talking! I will take my leave now!"

Madam Fu nodded and smiled at the guard. She then focused her gaze on the bedraggled and one-armed Fu Ruoxi in the cell.

Madam Fu’s eyes were bloodshot. She told the nanny beside her, "Let me know if anyone comes."

"Yes!" The nanny nodded, saluted, and walked aside to wait.

Madam Fu stepped into the old room, her red eyes sharp as she stared at Fu Ruoxi.

Fu Ruoxi felt a lump in his throat, supported himself with one arm on the straw. The clinking sound of chains echoed from his feet. He lowered his eyes, not daring to look into Madam Fu’s piercing gaze, and heavily kowtowed to her.

Seeing her son’s empty sleeve, Madam Fu almost couldn’t hold back her tears. She straightened her back and tightly gripped her cane, saying, "For the Empress, you really dared to do anything! You don’t care about this old woman. You don’t care about your brothers, your nephews, not even your wife. What about your two sons? Would you let them die for the Empress too?"

Hearing Madam Fu’s angry and choked voice, Fu Ruoxi’s body hunched even lower. "Mother...the Empress, she, she is pregnant. It was I..."

Before Fu Ruoxi could finish, Madam Fu raised her cane and struck him, causing Fu Ruoxi to grunt in pain.

Tears fell from Madam Fu’s eyes like broken strings. She gritted her teeth and swung the cane again and again. Fu Ruoxi, with one hand on the ground, knelt there, clutching the straw beneath him, silently enduring the beating, nearly collapsing to the ground.

No one knew how many times Madam Fu struck Fu Ruoxi. When she could no longer lift the cane, it slipped from her trembling hand.

Madam Fu also fell to her knees, crying aloud, pounding Fu Ruoxi’s shoulder with her fists. "Have you gone insane? Do you know what will happen to our entire Fu Family if these words come out? Are you really so determined to disregard everything for that woman Zhong Shaorong? Hundreds of lives in the Fu Family and your two sons... The younger one is only six years old. What did he do wrong? Should he die for that woman? Do you really want to see our entire family, from the eighty-year-old elders to the newborn babies, all sent to the execution block just to pave the way for that woman’s future?"

Thinking of his innocent and naive younger son, Xiao Rong, Fu Ruoxi closed his eyes, feeling anguished in his heart.

"Remember Jian Congwen’s family back then! Jian Yushi’s little grandson was only four years old. He went to the execution block crying for sweets. What did you say then? Do you remember? How could you not be moved by the suffering of others’ children but be so heartless to your own six-year-old son?" Madam Fu grabbed Fu Ruoxi’s collar, crying out in sorrow.

Thinking about Jian Congwen’s young grandson, who spoke of going home to eat sweets while tied to the execution block with his mother, Fu Ruoxi’s blood rushed to his head, and he wept bitterly.

Back then, when Fu Ruoxi heard the words of the four-year-old child, he couldn’t bear it and almost rushed into the palace to beg the emperor for mercy for the innocent child.

But now, consumed by guilt and emotional ties, he ignored his elderly mother, wife, and children.

"Mother..." Fu Ruoxi sobbed, "Mother, I wronged you, wronged my brothers and wife and children."

Madam Fu, choking with emotion, took a deep breath and grabbed Fu Ruoxi’s shoulder, speaking solemnly. "My son, your life cannot be saved, but at least we can save the lives of the rest of the Fu Family, your sons and wife! Tell the truth about the Empress using our family’s lives to force you to help King Xin seize the throne. The Crown Prince will spare everyone else."

"Mother... The Crown Prince’s words cannot be trusted!" Fu Ruoxi said.

"If we can’t trust the Crown Prince, can’t we trust Princess of Zhen? I first went to Princess of Zhen. She guided me to the Crown Prince!" Madam Fu gritted her teeth and lowered her voice. "The Princess’s plan is to save the children. If we prepare early, use some silver to ease their suffering, once the Crown Prince ascends the throne and pardons everyone, the children can return."

Fu Ruoxi could trust Bai Qingyan.

He knew that day Bai Qingyan severed his arm instead of taking his life, using the Fu Family members in Dadu to remind him, to leave the Fu Family a way out.

Otherwise, if he had died then, the entire Fu Family in Dadu would not have survived, even if it wasn’t the Nine Clans.

Just for this reason, Fu Ruoxi trusted Bai Qingyan.

But fabricating the story that the Empress used the family’s lives to blackmail him, could the Empress still live?

"My son! There’s no time for hesitation!" Tears filled the deep wrinkles on Madam Fu’s face as she worried.

"Mother, when Minister Lu of the Court of Judicial Review comes to interrogate, I will...tell the truth. But to falsely accuse the Empress, I...cannot do it!" Fu Ruoxi choked up.

"Good! Good! You are a good son! A good husband! A good father!" Madam Fu shook her head and struggled to stand up. "No one in the Fu Family matters; only Zhong Shaorong matters! I have...truly raised a good dog for Zhong Shaorong! I am sorry to your wife and children... If I had known, why would I have made you marry, harming a good girl and my grandson... I have wronged our in-laws and your wife!"

Madam Fu’s voice weakened. "Before your mother-in-law died, she entrusted her daughter to me, hoping I could protect their young daughter forever! I buried my conscience to hide your affair with Zhong Shaorong and made you marry. Over the years, she managed household affairs, served her mother-in-law, doing everything perfectly! Such a good daughter-in-law, such good grandchildren... all because of my son, who couldn’t let go of another woman, they had to die..."

"Mother..." Fu Ruoxi’s fists clenched tightly, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Don’t call me mother! I am not your mother!" Madam Fu beat her chest and stamped her feet, crying towards the sky.