Blissful Days After Widowhood - Chapter 443

Later, Gu Yin and Gu Ye returned to the mansion.

Upon reuniting, Gu Ye inquired, “I heard that the Empress left the palace today. Did she come to our house?”

Gu Yin was surprised by his knowledge, saying, “You seem to be well-informed.”

In reality, Empress Zhou had wanted to surprise Gu Ye. If he had discovered her presence, she might not have mentioned it.

“It’s not that I’m well-informed,” Gu Ye explained, “When I sent Lu Zhao home after the lecture, I didn’t see her. I asked the palace servants and learned that she had left the palace. The Empress is in the capital and doesn’t know anyone else, so where else could she go besides our house? Could it be that my guess is incorrect?”

Gu Ye’s understanding and reasoning skills were clearly improving. Gu Yin didn’t wish to deceive him but couldn’t divulge Empress Zhou’s intentions, so she merely nodded and offered a vague response.

Gu Ye, satisfied with the answer, asked with a touch of nervousness, “So… how did you get along?”

“Very well,” Gu Yin replied, casting a suspicious glance at him. “Why are you so worried?”

Blushing, Gu Ye scratched his head and confessed, “I was worried that the two of you might get jealous because of me.”

Gu Yin couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Gu Ye’s cheeks turned even redder at her laughter. “Why are you laughing, Mother? I’m such a good child, yet I have two mothers. Isn’t it normal for you to feel jealous because of me?”

Gu Yin suppressed her amusement and said, “The lady is very kind, and it didn’t turn out as you expected. I think there must have been a well-behaved child who handled the situation before, which is why it went smoothly.”

Gu Ye beamed with pride and lifted his chin. “That’s for sure.”

While Empress Zhou was his biological mother, and there was a natural connection between them, Gu Ye’s memory of the time before he went missing was completely blurred. He didn’t hold his mother responsible for losing him. Nonetheless, he had a closer bond with Gu Yin, who had raised him.

Gu Ye recognized that openly favoring his foster mother and forgetting his biological mother would make Empress Zhou uncomfortable and might even lead to the blame falling on Gu Yin. Thus, when he was with Empress Zhou, he refrained from talking about her as he once did. He genuinely put effort into building a mother-son relationship with her, following the advice Gu Yin had given him to exchange sincerity for sincerity, allowing him to maintain the best of both worlds.

“But you still have all the abilities, great skills, a wonderful personality, and you can get along with anyone,” Gu Ye continued with his usual sweet tone.

Gu Yin gave him an amused look, though she knew deep down that her abilities had little to do with what had transpired. It was Empress Zhou who had approached with kindness from the very beginning.

Just like when the Empress Dowager and Mrs. Wang first met in the palace, their kind approach had allowed them to see each other for who they truly were. If they had initially held malice toward each other, like Concubine Feng and Mrs. Qin did, no matter how much they liked each other, they would have struggled to get along.

Gu Ye was pleased that they were getting along well, but he couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed.

Later, after eating and finishing his homework, Gu Ye washed up and rested in his room. He tossed and turned on his bed for a while before eventually getting up and going to his mother’s room.

Gu Yin was already lying down, and when he approached, the bed next to her had a small bump. Gu Yin wasn’t surprised.

Gu Ye twisted his fingers, buried his head in Gu Yin’s ear, and softly asked, “Aren’t you even a little bit unhappy? Am I not your baby boy? Like, I know that one day in the future, you might have another child. But I still don’t like the idea of you loving someone else as much as you love me… I have an extra mother now! Maybe one day I’ll be closer to her than to you…”

He rambled on, and Gu Yin was on the verge of falling asleep. However, after listening to his words, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“What if I were unhappy? Would I fight her like two roosters in a cockfight?”

“I didn’t mean that, but… You could be a little bit unhappy, just a bit. It’s okay, but I’m afraid of causing trouble for you and our family,” Gu Ye responded with concern.

Gu Yin extended her hand and gently stroked his chubby little back. “Okay, I won’t tease you. I’m not unhappy, not because I don’t cherish you. You must understand, Xiao Ye, that everyone is an individual. You’re not my accessory or my possession. Love isn’t about imposing your will on someone; it’s about their happiness. It’s about witnessing their joy… Like when you recognized your biological parents, I could see that you were much happier than before. When I see you like this, I can’t help but feel happy for you…”

After speaking, Gu Ye didn’t respond, and Gu Yin thought he had fallen asleep. She herself was feeling quite drowsy. She arranged the extra small quilt next to him, adjusted his blanket, and closed her eyes once more.

When Gu Yin had drifted off to sleep, Gu Ye raised his head with red eyes.

“Why is my mother so wonderful?” Gu Ye whispered in a nasal voice, affectionately rubbing his cheek on her like a puppy.