The abstinent and powerful minister is cold and aloof during the day, but he adores her in his dream

Chapter 329 So this child... is it my cousin's?
When the auspicious hour arrived, Ouyang Zhenzhu stepped out of the house, surrounded by the crowd.

After seeing her out the door, Zhiwan did not follow.

To the outside world, she was only three months pregnant, but in reality, she was already three and a half months pregnant.

In addition, she has been taking nourishing supplements every day for the past three months, and her lower abdomen has become slightly protruding.

The wedding banquet was festive and lively, with many people, and she was afraid of being bumped into.

In addition, there is a saying that pregnant women cannot attend weddings, as it will steal the bride's good luck.

Although neither Ouyang Zhenzhu nor Duan Ling minded, the elders of the Huainan Prince's Mansion might. She couldn't be so insensible.

Princess Chang Le went to the Prince of Huainan's residence with the wedding procession.

Madam Ouyang then sent someone else to escort Zhiwan back.

As soon as she returned to the manor, Granny Fang hurried up to greet her, "Young Madam, you're finally back."

Seeing her so anxious, Zhiwan's heart tightened, and she quickly asked, "Granny Fang, has something happened?"

"Please go to the side hall first, Madam. She is already waiting for you there," Fang Mama replied.

Upon hearing this, Zhiwan hurriedly followed her to the side hall.

She thought something terrible had happened, but when she went in, she saw her mother-in-law sitting in a chair, holding a small baby in her arms.

Zhiwan was extremely surprised.

Where did such a small child come from in the Duke of Dingguo's mansion?

Seeing her mother-in-law looking at the child in her arms with loving eyes, Zhiwan's heart sank. She slowly walked over and said, "Mother, this is..."

Upon seeing her return, Madam Wei said with delight, "Wan'er, come and see this child. This child is fair-skinned and very beautiful."

Upon hearing this, Zhiwan felt even heavier, and looked solemnly at the child in her mother-in-law's arms.

The child was indeed beautiful. She was asleep, eyes closed, lying quietly and obediently in her mother-in-law's arms, looking very endearing. However, the child's features looked somewhat familiar…

Could this child be...?

Realizing the possibility, Zhiwan clenched the handkerchief in her hand, her voice hoarse as she asked, "So this child... is it my cousin's?"

Upon hearing this, both Madam Wei and Granny Fang looked at her with strange expressions.

After realizing what had happened, the two were left speechless, both amused and exasperated.

"What are you thinking about?"

"How could this be the Crown Prince's child?"

Upon hearing this, Zhiwan felt a slight sense of relief. "Not my cousin's?"

"Of course not!" Madam Wei said with amusement, then looked at her stomach. "Isn't your cousin's child still in your belly?"

"Then this child is..." Zhiwan was a little confused.

If this child isn't my cousin's, where did he come from? And whose is he?
It couldn't possibly be another illegitimate child born from his father-in-law, could it?
Then Wei remembered and turned her head to the side, saying, "Old sir, why don't you explain it?"

Only then did Zhiwan notice that there was another elderly man with gray hair sitting in the hall.

The old man sat there quietly without saying a word, and when Zhiwan came in, her attention was drawn to the child, so she didn't even see him.

Zhiwan was extremely surprised. Could it be that the child was brought by the old man?

The old man stood up, bowed to Zhiwan, and said, "I was entrusted by someone to bring this child to your residence. This child is your... cousin."

Zhiwan was stunned. "My cousin? How...how could this be?"

She only has one uncle, and she has never heard of him having any children. Moreover, her uncle passed away a few months ago, and she was the one who handled his funeral arrangements.

"How come a cousin suddenly appears now?" the old man suddenly asked. "Does the young master's wife still remember Lady Liu?"

“Liu Niang?” Zhi Wan naturally remembered her. She was a female river bandit who had pretended to be a pitiful woman being abused by her husband and had fallen into the river before being rescued.

Later, in order to find the bandits' hideout, Chen Jiu was ordered by his cousin to deliberately get close to Liu Niang and pretend to be a snake with her.

But she never saw Liu Niang again after that.

Her gaze fell on the child's face. "You mean... this child is Liu Niang's?"

"Yes." The old man nodded, then sighed. "She was a river bandit who did many evil deeds and should have been executed long ago. However, the government gave her a few months' grace because she was pregnant and quite far along in her pregnancy. They waited until the child was born before carrying out her execution."

Before her execution, Lady Liu asked the jailer to find me. She entrusted this child to me and asked me to bring him to you in the capital.

She told me that the child belonged to Zhi Ye, but Zhi Ye was probably no longer alive. She couldn't find anyone to adopt the child, so she thought of you and begged you to consider that the child was a member of the Zhi family and adopt him.

Zhiwan was utterly astonished.

She never imagined that Liu Niang was actually her uncle's woman.

No wonder she thought the child's features looked familiar.

This child looks exactly like his uncle.

For a moment, Zhiwan's heart was filled with complex emotions.

She really didn't expect that her uncle still had any descendants in this world.

"Then you are..."

"I am Zhiye's father-in-law. My daughter was unfortunate. She married Zhiye and died in childbirth a few years later, along with her child." The old man's already weathered face looked even more aged and haggard as he spoke of his daughter.

Zhiwan was somewhat surprised when she heard this.

It turned out that the old man was actually my uncle's father-in-law.

She paused for a moment before saying, "My uncle... passed away a few months ago."

The old man paused for a moment, but wasn't too surprised. He sighed and said, "I tried to persuade him, but he always went his own way. Liu Niang has already guessed that he might be gone."

Upon hearing this, Zhiwan couldn't help but say, "My uncle had already repented when he passed away."

Upon hearing this, the old man sighed deeply.

After a long silence, he said sincerely, “My lady, I know that my visit with the child today has put you in a difficult position. Moreover, Zhiye is not a good uncle and has never helped you. But I am old and do not know when I will pass away. If this child stays with me, he will only suffer. When I am gone, he will be left with no one to rely on and will become an orphan.”

Therefore, I have no choice but to swallow my pride and beg you to adopt this child. After saying this, he knelt down and even tried to kowtow to Zhiwan.

"Sir, please don't do this, get up quickly," Zhiwan hurriedly stopped him.

Madam Wei and Granny Fang also came forward and helped the old man up.

"You old man, really! You can talk all you want, but why did you have to kneel and kowtow to my daughter-in-law? It scared her half to death," Madam Wei complained.

The old man felt both ashamed and at a loss.

Madam Wei sighed and said, "Alright, since this child is really my daughter-in-law's cousin, then I will take the initiative to adopt him."

Upon hearing this, the old man was both surprised and delighted. He wanted to kneel down and kowtow to her, but he was afraid of displeasing her, so he could only tremblingly say thank you, "Thank you, thank you, Madam, thank you, Lady of the Heir Apparent."

Madam Wei looked at Zhiwan and asked, "Then, shall we... adopt this child?"

Zhiwan was both amused and exasperated. Hadn't her mother-in-law already agreed? Why was she still asking her?
However, she knew in her heart that her mother-in-law had agreed entirely because of her.

No matter how heinous Zhiye and Liuniang's crimes were, the child was innocent.

Moreover, the old man was indeed too old to raise the child.

Zhi Wan thought that she could send the child to the Zhi family mansion and ask Da Niu and Qiao E to help take care of him, so she nodded and said, "Okay."