Zhan Yichen sat on the narrow sofa, tears streaming down his face. He couldn't tell if he was crying tears of joy because Wen Yulan was alive, or tears of hatred because she had deceived him about such a crucial matter. In any case, his feelings were indescribably complex.
To prevent Wen Yulan from going anywhere he didn't know about, he composed himself, went out, and knocked on the door of the adjacent room.
Wen Yulan assumed it was Feng Shiming at the door, as only Feng Shiming knew she was there.
She directly opened the door, only to be stunned to find Zhan Yichen standing there. She was so shocked that she couldn't speak.
Zhan Yichen's face was cold. "Mom, after surviving a disaster, won't you invite your son in for a moment?"
With that, he walked past Wen Yulan into the room.
Wen Yulan hurriedly closed the door, trying to explain, "Yichen, things are not what you think. Listen to Mom explain."
He pulled his hand away and stared at Wen Yulan coldly. "Not what I think? You didn't deliberately fake your death?"
"Mom had no choice but to..."
"What choice did you have?" Zhan Yichen was annoyed. "Did someone hold a gun to your head and threaten to kill you if you didn't do this?"
Being accused by her own son, Wen Yulan felt extremely wronged. "Yichen, I am your birth mother. How can you speak to me like this?"
Seeing her like this, Zhan Yichen felt no guilt.
"Yes, you are my birth mother. Should I, as your son, have to endure all this? You feigned illness before, and now you can even pull off something like this? Is there anything you cannot fabricate? I truly don't understand why you did this. Is watching me suffer your real goal?"
Wen Yulan became flustered. "You are my son. How could I bear to see you suffer? But you, as my son, insisted on keeping me under house arrest, so I had no choice but to resort to this."
"You're still shirking responsibility. Isn't it ultimately someone else's fault?"
Facing his questioning, Wen Yulan remained silent, but her expression showed that she did, in fact, think that way.
Zhan Yichen could almost guess that she still believed it was Mu Linjing's appearance that had brought them, mother and son, to this point.
Arguing about right and wrong with her was now meaningless. Zhan Yichen directly grabbed her arm. "You're coming back with me."
"No, impossible. If I go back with you, you'll still keep me under house arrest."
Despite her desperate struggles, her strength was no match for an adult man's. Zhan Yichen took her back home.
Upon seeing her, Old Master Zhan was also full of shock. "Yichen, what is going on?"
Zhan Yichen released Wen Yulan and sat down on the sofa. "Do you want to tell me yourself, or should I explain?"
Seeing the situation, Wen Yulan knew she couldn't hide it anymore. However, she still didn't have the courage to recount the whole story in front of Old Master Zhan.
Although Old Master Zhan didn't know the details, he could imagine that the unfolding of events would be infuriating.
He asked Wei Yumeng to summon Zhan Mohan back, as a "resurrection" was a significant event.
Wei Yumeng didn't explain why he was being called back on the phone, only that there was a major family crisis. He rushed back, only to see Wen Yulan, who everyone believed had drowned, standing there alive and well. This was a huge shock to anyone.
"What is going on?"
Seeing that Wen Yulan refused to speak, Zhan Yichen recounted the entire process of how he discovered the matter. Everyone looked at Wen Yulan with ashen faces.
Since the collision incident, everyone had felt some responsibility for the matter. They had all felt guilt over Wen Yulan's "death." However, now that they knew she was alive, their deepest emotion was not relief or ease, but rather a surge of blame.
Wei Yumeng, who already had a considerable history with Wen Yulan, should ideally have stayed out of it. However, she had been with Old Master Zhan for the past few days and had witnessed how much his health had deteriorated due to Wen Yulan's death.
Knowing that Wen Yulan had faked her death, she couldn't contain her anger and began to accuse her in front of everyone.
"Do you know that Grandpa's health has been poor lately because of this? To fake such a life-and-death matter, have you considered what Grandpa and Yichen would go through?"
Wen Yulan disliked Wei Yumeng. Even though she knew she might have done wrong, being accused by Wei Yumeng, she had to retort, even if it meant putting on a brave face.
"You speak with such righteousness because you weren't the one being sent for house arrest. Of course, you can speak without consequence. If it were you, would you just sit and wait to die?"
"But the person sent away was not me, and never will be me. There are simply not that many 'ifs' in the world."
Even though Wei Yumeng knew that when a person truly faced the loss of freedom, they would likely go mad trying to escape, or like Jiang Siyu, prefer death to no freedom.
However, she ultimately couldn't empathize, nor did she possess that kind of obsession. She probably wouldn't experience such a crisis in her lifetime, so Wen Yulan's question was meaningless to her.
Bluntly shut down by her words, Wen Yulan opened her mouth but said nothing.
Old Master Zhan was also utterly disappointed in her. "Cen Yuan, find a separate apartment and confine her there. Arrange for some elderly servants to attend to her. From now on, except for holidays, she is not allowed to leave or contact anyone."
He made all these arrangements in front of Wen Yulan, to make it clear that this was his decision. If Wen Yulan wanted to hate someone, she should hate him and not take it out on others.
Cen Yuan understood the old master's intentions and immediately selected a vacant property. "Do you think this one is suitable? It's in the western suburbs, very quiet, and spacious."
Old Master Zhan nodded without even looking. He merely wanted a place to confine Wen Yulan; he didn't care whether the place was good or not.
Although dealing with the matter this way in front of everyone was not ideal for Wen Yulan and her son, it was ultimately her own doing. Zhan Yichen, though heartbroken, would not intervene.
Wen Yulan cried out in pain, "Zhan Yichen, are you just going to watch like this?"
He turned his head. "If you stay put inside, the next time I visit you, it will be the day of my wedding with Lin Jing."
Upon hearing this, Wen Yulan burst into laughter.