The couple smiled sheepishly when their interaction was interrupted by Lin Jian's cough, and then finally back to business. Yao Ling said, "What do you want to know?" There were a lot of unanswered questions about Lin Jian's mother's whereabouts, could she possibly be...? She was curious as well.

"Your mother's origin!" Lin Jian quickly said. Xiao Fang didn't say anything, but everyone could see the anxiousness in her eyes.

Yao Ling shook her head. "I don't know... I only knew that I'm only an adopted daughter when she was on the last stage of her sickness..." Yao Ling said weakly. She started to realize that there were so many things that she didn't know about her mother... If her mother was alive and well, Yao Ling knew that she wouldn't tell her that Yao Ling was adopted. She merely told her, so she had a new task in life and not to drown herself in sorrow after Jiu Lan's death.

Yao Ling asked hesitantly, "Does your mother has a twin?"

Lin Jian shook his head. "No..."

Yao Ling looked at Yao Ying, and with Yao Ying's encouragement, she asked, "Is... is it possible that my mother is also yours?!"

Lin Jian couldn't believe that the truth could turn out this way. Did Heaven play a joke with their fate?

Lin Jian answered sadly, "I don't know... I hope it's true and at the same time, it's not... If we have the same mother, doesn't it mean that mine and Xiao Fang's mother was already dead?"

Yao Ling said, "If you want to say about appearance, Xiao Fang looks just like my mother. However, if you are still unconvinced, do you remember whether your mother has any distinguished characteristic or not?"

Yao Ling thought that it was the only possible way to prove they had the same mother. Life was surely full of fate. The four people here... their life was actually connected from the start... They had the same mother... How funny was that?

This revelation left them speechless. After all, they thought each other as best friends... It turned out their relations.h.i.+p was more than that.

Lin Jian finally answered Yao Ling's question, "I don't really remember much about it... However, one person could..." At that time, Lin Jian was still a little boy and based on his memory, he could only remember his mother's blurry face. If it wasn't because of his mother's painting that his father had, he probably would have forgotten what she looked like.

Yao Ying said, "General Lin."

Lin Jian nodded. "He's the one who will be able to answer this..."

They had their suspicion, but actually... deep within, they already knew the answer. It was just Lin Jian didn't want to face it. He had long wanted to meet his mother once again, but if she was dead... he... would crumble... He could only close his eyes and sigh in defeat.

On the other hand, Xiao Fang just found out that she had this mother. Now, she found out that she was probably dead. She didn't know what to think... At first, she didn't know whether she would admit the Ce Fei as her mother, but... now... she had no chance to know the woman at all. She was already gone...

Yao Ying tried to make a concession by saying, "You can send a message to General Lin. Ask about your mother's distinguished character and we can match it up with Yao Ling's mother."

Lin Jian nodded numbly. That was the only thing that he could do. However, there were so many things that he wanted to ask... He decided to ask, after all, they were good friends and he didn't need to feel hesitate, "How... how did she live all this time?"

Yao Ling told him and Xiao Fang what happened back then. They lived in a small village but didn't really blend in with everyone else. Jiu Lan had a good talent at embroidering and Lin Jian confirmed that her mother also had the same talent. She used to personally make clothing for Lin Jian and General Lin.

Yao Ling also told him that Jiu Lan also had medicine skills that were quite good. Lin Jian said that his mother didn't have this talent. However, the Ce Fei went away with the medicine valley's entourage... so, there was a possibility that she learned everything from there. They didn't think that it was a coincidence.

However, Lin Jian could sigh in relief. After all, at the lowest point of her life, she found Yao Ling to accompany her. Despite his jealousy, he needed to thank Yao Ling for this. Lin Jian couldn't help but ask, "Was she... happy?"

Yao Ling nodded. "She was happy..." However, after knowing that her mother was actually the Ce Fei, she started to realize a few small things... For example, she always stared blankly and seemed to be depressed... Yao Ling asked a few times what happened, but Jiu Lan never told her anything. After she was bigger, she decided to avoid her mother whenever this happened...

She also noticed that on a certain day, her mother would feel pain all over her body and she looked frail. At this time, her mother shut herself inside her room and there was no sound in there... Yao Ling asked inwardly, 'Mother... was it the time when the remnant of the poison's effect was acting up?"

Yao Ling started to feel that she was unfilial. She was there... but, she didn't know anything at all!

Now, she was regretting her unawareness...

She should be there and accompany her through her darkest moment! However, it was already too late. Her mother was gone.

Yao Ling also remembered that her mother always pulled out a handkerchief that she loved so much every day... she always stared at it longingly... Because her mother never wanted to talk about it, Yao Ling didn't ask. She knew that her mother had her own secret and no matter how many times she asked, her mother only answered with a smile.

'Mother... all of those time... did you actually miss General Lin?' She asked to herself. However, her mother was no longer able to answer her.

Lin Jian asked, "Why... why didn't she come back to us? Why did she stay away and live a commoner's life? Why...?" This was the part where he didn't understand the most! She had a family back at Shu Kingdom, but why... she didn't try to look for them?!

There were so many why... however, who could answer them? They could only guess...

Yao Ling sighed, "If we see it from political view, she didn't want to endanger your life and also the General. If you protect her, there was a possibility someone would use it against Lin Fu and if the current Han Emperor wanted to find a loophole, he would use it to start a war or ask the Ce Fei back..."

The men nodded at the same time. They understood this point.

"However... there is also another reason, but solely from woman's view..." Yao Ling said weakly. She glanced at Xiao Fang and the latter nodded in understanding. Both were women and they knew the reason perfectly well.

"What do you mean?" The men asked at the same time. There was also another reason? They tried to think of an answer, but they couldn't. Thus, they decided to ask.

Yao Ling wanted to say something but she didn't know how to... She sighed and finally decided to be blunt, "We, women, are quite sensitive... I believe that my mother must have been very depressed back then and she felt that her body was dirty..." Saying this far, should be enough, right?

Lin Jian stared blankly at Yao Ling and asked, "Dirty...? What kind of dirty?"

Xiao Fang and Yao Ling felt helpless. They took a look at Yao Ying and even he... also looked puzzled.