Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 89 - 50 Dawn_1

Chapter 89: Chapter 50 Dawn_1
Deep into the night, asking for subscriptions, likes, rewards, and all kinds of votes.
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When Lian Manman and the others returned to the room, Lady Zhang was still on the side, sobbing and rambling to Lian Shouxin, seemingly wanting to spill out all the grievances of the past decade or so in one go.
"Xiuxiu, I never expected her to treat me this way. Back then, your nanny passed away just a few days after I had given birth to Zhizhi, and she gave birth to Xiuxiu. Because your nanny was old then, Xiuxiu was born without milk to eat, so I had you bring Xiuxiu to me, even if it meant starving Zhizhi, I insisted on feeding Xiuxiu first. Xiuxiu nursed on me for an entire year. She even monopolized the breast, later refusing to let Zhizhi nurse. When Zhizhi was just a few months old, she had to start eating rice porridge..."
Lian Manman was astonished, looking alternately at Lian Zhizhi and Lady Zhang.
"No wonder, though we are all one family and about the same age, my sister is so thin, while the older cousin is so plump and sturdy," Lian Manman said.
"I’m sorry, my Zhizhi," Lady Zhang said, "Zhizhi, do you resent your mother?"
"Mother, it’s all in the past now, look, I’m quite fine. I don’t resent you," Lian Zhizhi said.
"I treated Xiuxiu as my own, even more than my own. After a week, when Xiuxiu started to learn to speak, her first word ’mother’ was directed at me," Lady Zhang continued, "Your nanny heard it, and after that, she wouldn’t let me take care of Xiuxiu anymore. She gave me the cold shoulder for a long time, until Xiuxiu grew close to her, started calling her mother and stopped bothering with me, only then things improved a bit."
Lady Zhou must have felt that Lady Zhang stole her daughter and thus bore a grudge against her. Lian Manman sighed, feeling it was truly a case of ’the same rice feeds a hundred different people.’ In the eyes of ordinary folks, they would treat Lady Zhang with utmost gratitude, as one would a Bodhisattva.
"Xiuxiu was taken away by her nanny, stopped nursing on me, and only then did my Zhizhi start to nurse again. But when Xiuxiu saw that, she cried and made a fuss. I had no choice but to harden my heart and wean Zhizhi as well," Lady Zhang said.
Is this a case of ’like mother, like daughter’? Lian Xiuxiu’s temperament really does resemble that of Lady Zhou, and she had always been that way since she was young.
"It was my first time as a mother, nursing Xiuxiu for over a year. Perhaps that’s why, I’ve always held a soft spot for her in my heart. Whatever I had, food or clothes, I would think of her first, then Zhizhi, and later, when we had Wu Lang, Manman, and Xiao Qi, it was still the same. But Xiuxiu grew more and more distant from me by the day, looking at me sometimes as if I were an enemy, but I never took it to heart."
"Mother, seeing how the older cousin looks down on you, I thought you two must have some feud or enmity. But where’s the enmity? It’s clear that you have been kind to her, how could she treat you like this?" Lian Manman said.
"It was our nanny," Lian Zhizhi spoke up, "Several times, I overheard our nanny speaking ill of our mother to the older cousin."
"Ah? Could it be that our nanny was afraid the older cousin would grow too close to our mother, so she kept badmouthing our mother behind her back?" Lian Manman said.
No one answered, but everyone understood; that must be the truth.
"...I thought, since she was the cherished daughter of the household, her nanny indulged her, and her nature was such, but deep down she should know how well I treated her. I didn’t expect her to be so heartless. I begged her to help me return to the room, to find a doctor for me, but she said I was trying to scare her and then walked away..." Lady Zhang wiped away her tears, "His father, all these years, I’ve been wholeheartedly devoted; I haven’t held back anything except for not literally cutting off my flesh for her nanny and Xiuxiu to eat. How could I fall into such a state? Did I do something wrong? My heart feels so cold."
"You did nothing wrong. Don’t cry anymore; you’ll harm your body," Lian Shouxin awkwardly patted Lady Zhang’s back, "Let’s look forward; you need to recover for me and the children’s sake."
Lian Shouxin, this time, did not offer a defense for Lady Zhou and Lian Xiuxiu.
"My heart is completely in despair; if not for hearing Xiao Qi and the others calling me, I would have thought to just die. But," Lady Zhang said.
"Mother, please don’t die," the children all gathered around Lady Zhang.
"Mother won’t die; mother will live on," Lady Zhang touched one and then another, "Everything that happened yesterday, I know all about it. It was my Zhizhi who stayed by my side, taking care of me, and it was my Manman, Wu Lang, and Xiao Qi who went to town, summoned a capable doctor for me, and even invited the Imperial Physician from the palace. My life was saved by you all. Having narrowly escaped death this time, I’ve come to understand. I won’t waste my kindness on those who don’t reciprocate anymore. My goodwill is reserved only for those who are kind to us. As for others, let them be..."
After saying this, Lady Zhang, thinking of the target of her words, being Lian Shouxin’s mother and sister, glanced at Lian Shouxin.