This Life, I'm Raising the Right Man

”Why?” Marquis Cheng’an was puzzled.

”If you truly cared about having such a son, how could you not recognize whether the deceased was your biological son? This shows that you don’t really understand your own son. Since you don’t care about him, how genuine could your feelings be? What reason do I have to return?”

”You are now an official at court. You should know how busy daily duties are. As a man, I can’t possibly be confined to the inner quarters all day, managing women and children in the household, can I? I do care about my children, though I have indeed been neglectful. I have already sent someone to bring back your wet nurse; there is no one more familiar with you than she is. By then, it can be proven whether you are my Jing’er.”

”Then let’s wait until she arrives. Marquis, don’t hold too high hopes, lest you end up with empty happiness.”

Zhou Wangshu stood up and said, ”I will take my leave. Marquis, please take your time.”

Marquis Cheng’an watched Zhou Wangshu’s retreating figure, frowning: ”Any smart person would not need any proof at this moment, just acknowledge the relationship and joyfully return to inherit the family title. Is this lad foolish?”

The gentlemen next door, having heard the whole spectacle, were all astonished.

”Do you think Mr. Zhou will return to the Cheng’an Hou Mansion?”

”If he really is the legitimate eldest son of Marquis Cheng’an, he should go back to inherit the title! The legitimate son born of the second wife is already a failure, making the whole Cheng’an Hou Mansion a laughingstock. Now, even the servants of the Cheng’an Hou Mansion are embarrassed to go out, for fear of being pointed at, let alone the masters of the Cheng’an Hou Mansion. Several branches of the Cheng’an Hou Mansion have been implicated, and they are very dissatisfied with the main branch of the Cheng’an Hou Mansion!”

”However, even without the title of Cheng’an Hou Mansion, Mr. Zhou has the National Guardian General as a backing; his future can’t be too bad.”

”The title should rightfully be his; there’s no harm in taking it. The title doesn’t conflict with a promotion.”

”That’s reasonable. The title of Cheng’an Hou Mansion has been passed down for three generations. By their generation, it already lacks glory. Simply inheriting their title is useless; one needs to make oneself valuable. As Mr. Wang said, you can claim the title and still be promoted!”

Zhou Wangshu returned to the National Guardian General Mansion. As soon as he entered, he asked the housekeeper if he had seen his wife.

The housekeeper smiled and said, ”The eldest miss’s sworn sister and cousin have come, and the young ladies are accompanying the general’s wife doing skincare and beauty treatments. The Great General returned earlier and saw that the wife was accompanied, didn’t need him, so he took a few trusted confidants and left to train. He won’t come back for dinner tonight.”

”My father-in-law has company, but I have no one, alas...” Zhou Wangshu wore a pitiful expression.

”If Mr. Zhou is feeling bored, we can accompany you in archery practice,” said a few of the house guards nearby.

The guards in the National Guardian General Mansion are all retired from the army. These people were promoted by Su Rende as confidants; after being injured, they couldn’t endure the military camp’s difficult tasks anymore, nor did they want to idle away their time, so they were placed in the mansion as guards.

Although these men were injured, a toothless tiger is still a tiger, and dealing with ordinary experts is no problem for them.

Zhou Wangshu wanted to improve himself too. Being idle, he decided to spend some time with them.

After several hours, the guards greatly admired Zhou Wangshu.

”Young master, have you really never served in the military?”

Zhou Wangshu shot the last arrow, which did not hit the bullseye but instead struck a bird flying in the sky.

”I have never served in the military, but for the sake of fitness, I practiced secretly,” Zhou Wangshu said. ”In past years, our life was hard, and initially, there was no man in the family; Yaoguang and others were always bullied. Later, they bought me; because I was young and weak, they were still bullied. So, I secretly trained, wanting to make myself stronger, and that brought about my current good health.”

”The madam and the eldest miss really suffered quite a lot. But our general was not idle either; he lost his memory, it’s not like he didn’t return on purpose.”

”Rest assured, my mother-in-law has forgiven him; as the younger generation, we can only admire his dedication to the country and people, how could we blame him?”

Zhou Wangshu thought that Su Yaoguang should be almost finished by now, so he hurried to the back courtyard.

Su Yaoguang was lying on a recliner. Seeing Zhou Wangshu approaching, she waved, ”You’re just in time, my mask has dried, quickly help me remove it.”