Here, Cao Cao’s emotions became incredibly complex.
Cai Zhaoji recounted the events truthfully. “Fifteen years ago, my father and I were passing through Dunqiu County in Puyang. We happened to arrive just as the imperial troops had quelled the local Yellow Turban rebellion. The entire county was desolate, with widespread suffering and displacement.”
“It was then that my father and I found a six-month-old child in a bamboo basket. Beside it lay a deceased woman, her hands still protectively clasped around the basket. I surmised she was the child’s mother.”
“The child cried incessantly, a pitiful sight. I persuaded my father to take him in and raise him. Inside the basket, there was a pale green jade pendant. Besides that, there was a wooden tablet inscribed with his birthdate and time, and also his name – Lu Yu!”
As she spoke, Cai Zhaoji looked up at Cao Cao.
At this moment, Cao Cao’s eyes were wide and bulging, his mouth hanging open unnaturally, his entire demeanor decidedly unrefined.
A pale green jade pendant, a wooden tablet inscribed with his birthdate, Lu Yu… Yu… Yu!
“Where is the jade pendant? And where is the wooden tablet?” Cao Cao’s voice turned anxious, laced with immense panic and urgency!
Even when facing life-threatening situations on the battlefield, Cao Cao had never been this flustered.
Cai Zhaoji, not understanding the reason for his reaction, immediately asked, “Brother, why are you so concerned about this?”
How could he not be concerned?
Cao Cao clearly remembered that fifteen years ago, after learning that the Lu family’s daughter had given birth to a son, he had expressed his hope that this child would be like a soaring eagle, his ‘Yu’ wings sharp, soaring through the heavens…
Fifteen years ago, he had personally inscribed the child’s birthdate and time onto a wooden tablet. Before leaving, he had also given the mother and child a jade pendant engraved with the word “Ji Li” (auspicious).
All of this perfectly matched the events Cai Zhaoji had just recounted.
In other words, if he could see the jade pendant and the wooden tablet with his own eyes, Cao Cao could determine if Lu Yu… was perhaps his son, whom he had been desperately searching for, lost for fifteen years!
Huu…
Exhaling a long breath, Cao Cao forcibly suppressed his surging excitement.
“I’m merely curious about the jade pendant and the wooden tablet. My dear sister, as you know, I was once the magistrate of Puyang’s Dun… Dunqiu County. Perhaps… I can help Lu Yu find his relatives!”
Despite his deliberate effort to control his emotions, Cao Cao paused three times mid-sentence. This was a stark contrast to his usual uninhibited demeanor.
Cai Zhaoji, however, didn't seem to notice. “Lu Yu carries this jade pendant and wooden tablet with him. Since you were once the magistrate of Dunqiu, perhaps… you truly can help Lu Yu find his relatives.”
Relatives, Cao Cao mused inwardly. It wasn’t just about finding relatives; it was about helping him find his father, lost for many years!
The agitation within Cao Cao was becoming uncontrollable, on the verge of bursting forth.
Meanwhile, Cai Zhaoji suddenly remembered something. “I forgot to tell you, brother. If you help him find other relatives, that’s fine. But absolutely do not let it be Lu Yu’s father. Lu Yu… hates this father with every fiber of his being!”
Uh… this…
Cao Cao was taken aback, and suddenly felt a sense of confusion.
“This is for…”
He intended to ask why, but upon reflection, he immediately understood.
Regardless of the reasons, abandoning his wife and child was always wrong, even if this "abandonment" was for their "protection" in a different sense.
Unknown to anyone but Cao Cao, at that time, the Cao family was implicated in the “Empress Song Case” and could barely protect themselves. How could they dare to involve this mother and child?
Cao Cao had no choice but to temporarily leave them behind, intending to bring them back to the Cao mansion once the situation had stabilized!
However, by a cruel twist of fate, the "Empress Song Case" had only just settled when the Yellow Turban Rebellion erupted, throwing the realm into chaos.
He, Cao Cao, wanted to go back for the mother and child, but… ultimately, he was powerless.
No one could know Cao Cao’s predicament. Perhaps in the eyes of the mother and child, he, Cao Cao, was already a heartless man?
How could this be blamed… for Lu Yu’s hostility towards his father!
“This…”
Cao Cao’s heart was filled with remorse. He wanted to say something, but the words caught in his throat and he swallowed them back.
Never mind, he couldn’t dwell on it for now.
He had to verify the wooden tablet and the jade pendant first… Besides that, Cao Cao clearly remembered that he and the Lu family’s daughter’s son shared a distinct birthmark!
As long as this birthmark was present, then… undoubtedly, Lu Yu was Cao Cao’s eldest son.
…
“Brother, we’ve been waiting for an hour. Should this little sister go and call Lu Yu out?”
It was the cusp of winter, and the wind in the courtyard outside the study was biting cold. Cao Cao draped his cloak over Cai Zhaoji. He was visibly trembling.
What Cai Zhaoji didn’t realize was that it wasn’t the cold that was making Cao Cao shiver. It was the burning heat, the overwhelming guilt, and the intense excitement within him.
“Don’t call him. Let me wait here! Just a little longer!”
It seemed that the longer he waited in the cold courtyard, the more it could dissipate Cao Cao’s guilt towards the mother and child, making him feel somewhat better.
Just then.
With a creak, the study door opened, and a young gentleman with a refined appearance, lightly tapping his forehead, slowly emerged.
He wasn’t tall but carried himself with remarkable spirit. His build wasn’t strong, but like Cao Cao, he exuded an innate heroic aura!
If this young man wasn’t Lu Yu, who else could it be?
Even after stepping out of the study, Lu Yu was still frowning, meticulously reviewing the ancient texts and documents he had recorded that day.
He hadn’t noticed Cao Cao and Cai Zhaoji at all.
It was a state of absorption, as if he needed to constantly open the gates of his mental memory palace, filling it with vast knowledge and learning, ensuring every piece of information was clearly organized.
Seeing him like this, Cao Cao and Cai Zhaoji tacitly chose to remain silent, not wanting to disturb him.
However, Cao Cao’s eyes were fixed intently on Lu Yu’s face.
His eyes, nose, ears, even his chin, were so much like the woman who had occupied Cao Cao’s thoughts fifteen years ago. He was truly as refined as she was, as if carved from the same mold.
If, originally, Cao Cao’s suspicion about Lu Yu’s identity was only fifty percent certain, then now, he was almost certain that this child was his long-lost eldest son!
Lu Yu? Where was Lu Yu?
Clearly, clearly he was Cao Yu!
…
Huh…
The gates of the memory palace closed, and Lu Yu slowly opened his eyes.
Only then did he notice that besides his sister Cai Zhaoji, there was a middle-aged man of no particular handsomeness standing before the study door, gazing at him intently.
From head to toe, inside and out, it seemed every part of him was being meticulously observed.
Good heavens, with the beautiful sister Zhaoji right there, this man didn't even glance at her, but instead… his eyes were fixed solely on Lu Yu?
What’s more, his gaze was peculiar. While strange, it also emitted rays of brilliant light, like a famished lion spotting prey.
… Lu Yu suddenly had a bad premonition!
Could this guy be a pervert? Was he… lusting after him?
Uh… I, Lu Yu, am male, attracted to females, and my orientation is very, very, very normal!
…
…