He Zhiran looked towards Old Lady Mo and Fifth Sister-In-Law.
"Mother, Fifth Sister-In-Law, try telling Fifth Elder Brother some happy things from the past, and see if you can get him to come out of his pain."
Hearing Ninth Younger Sister-in-Law's words, Fifth Sister-In-Law no longer cared about keeping up appearances. She took off her shoes and climbed onto the kang beside the fireplace, while Old Lady Mo sat on the other side.
Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law embraced Fifth Elder Brother's arms from both left and right.
"Chongyuan, do you still remember when you were sixteen? Mother had taken a liking to the eldest daughter of the Chen Family, and wanted to find someone to help arrange your marriage alliance, but you refused no matter what.
Later, under Mother's repeated questioning, you said you liked a girl... "
Hearing this, Fifth Elder Brother's pained expression relaxed a lot. He said softly, "It's Jiajia. I liked Jiajia, so I didn't want to marry the Chen Family's eldest daughter."
When Fifth Sister-In-Law heard her husband say her name, tears rolled down her face again like a broken strand of pearls.
She hugged Mo Chongyuan's arm tightly and sobbed, "Husband, look at me, I'm Jiajia..."
Mo Chongyuan seemed to have heard a familiar voice and instinctively looked at his tearful wife.
When their eyes met, Fifth Elder Brother immediately took her into his arms.
"Jiajia, my Jiajia."
Fifth Sister-In-Law was now sobbing uncontrollably.
"Hus...husband...you remember me, don't you?"
At this moment, with his beloved wife in his arms, Mo Chongyuan could no longer avoid the truth.
"Yes, I remember. You're my wife, my Jiajia..."
Seeing this scene, the women of the family began to wipe their tears.
Eighth Sister-in-law was still doing better. Mo Chuhan had not lost his memory, so he treated her the same as before, and the couple was even more affectionate now. The only regret was that they didn't have children yet.
Although Third Sister-in-law knew her husband was still alive, it had not yet been made public in the family. Also, after meeting her briefly, her husband had left, and she didn't know where he was now, so her heart was anxious every day.
Seeing Fifth Elder Brother and Fifth Sister-In-Law, Third Sister-In-Law missed her own husband even more.
The other sisters-in-law had completely different feelings. They dreamed that their own husbands could also return from the dead. Seeing Mo Chongyuan and his wife reunited, they were extremely envious.
Mo Hanyue pulled Old Lady Mo's arm and sobbed, "Mother, Fifth Elder Brother really remembers now..."
Old Lady Mo nodded with tears: "Yes, he remembers."
After a long time, everyone finally calmed down a little.
Considering Fifth Elder Brother's emotional outburst when he first woke up, everyone tacitly avoided asking him about his past.
Mo Chongyuan also seemed to realize his condition earlier. But after communicating with his wife and mother, his emotions had gradually stabilized. Recalling that humiliating past now, he seemed able to bear it.
He looked at everyone in the room and said, "Back then, I was reckless and fell into their trap because of the sinister scheme of the Southerners, and suffered all kinds of torments."
Everyone's gaze fell on Mo Chongyuan as he spoke. They knew he was going to recount that experience.
Fifth Elder Brother went on, "That year I led a group of men to pursue the retreating Southerners, but accidentally fell into their ambush.
Many of the men I brought were shot dead by their chaotic arrows. I wanted to go rescue them, but my lone horse was frightened and completely beyond my control. In its panic, it brought me deep into the valley.
Just as I realized the danger and was about to abandon the horse to escape, a white smoke suddenly appeared and I immediately lost consciousness.
When I woke up again, I was chained in a prison cell. At that time, I could feel that my mind was sometimes clear and sometimes very blurred."
Upon hearing this, Mo Jiuye's eyes had turned red. He knew that at this point, Fifth Elder Brother had been poisoned.
"Fifth Brother, do you know who poisoned you?"
"I couldn't see that person's appearance clearly, but I still have a vivid memory of a lock of white hair that was exposed from under his hat. "
Hearing about the lock of white hair, both Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran immediately thought of the same person - the mysterious man who was Cloud Li's master, as Nan Rui had said.
Now the disappearance of several surviving elder brothers in the family was related to that man, they just didn't know why the mysterious man had been so obsessed with the Mo family.
Mo Jiuye knew clearly that now was not the time to investigate the reasons. What he wanted to know more was what happened to Fifth Elder Brother afterward.
"What happened then?"
"Later, that man took out a white porcelain bottle in front of me. The moment he removed the stopper, a bug flew out from inside. I knew the Southerners were not lacking in gu raisers, so I determined it must be a gu worm.
I saw with my own eyes as that bug pierced my skin and drilled into my body. And I felt a voice in my brain constantly calling to me, telling me to do things I didn't want to do.
I was very resistant to this and struggled hard against that voice. I don't know how long passed, but I guess my willpower eventually defeated the voice controlling me, and the gu worm drilled back out through a hole in my arm by itself.
Not long after, that man came before me again. He was very angry that the gu didn't succeed in controlling me.
He ordered his men that since they couldn't manipulate me, they shouldn't let me keep my life.
While struggling against the gu worm, I was also trying to break free of my restraints. Before those people could lay a hand on me, I had already desperately broken free of one side of the chains and escaped with all the internal energy in my body.
They chased me relentlessly until I reached a cliff. I had used up all my internal energy breaking the chains, so in order not to become their puppet again, I chose to jump off the cliff.
When I woke up, I found myself lying in the house of a farming family, and at the same time I had lost my former memories.
It just so happened to be nearing dusk then. Without my memories, I didn't know that was when the toxins in my body acted up. Fortunately, I had injured my leg in the fall. My benefactor was quick on his feet, so I didn't hurt him.
It was like this for two consecutive days. Worried that I might accidentally hurt my life-saving benefactor, I asked him to help bring me to the mountains.
I barely survived in the mountains for over a month until my leg injury healed before I thought about leaving.
But I didn't know who I was or where to go, so I wanted to find a more remote place away from crowds.
Later I discovered Xi Ling Village at the foot of the mountains. It didn't have many people, and there was a house that could shelter from wind and rain, so I temporarily settled there until your arrival..."
Hearing Mo Chongyuan recount his experiences, the Mo family felt both hatred and heartache—hatred for the mysterious man who had treated Fifth Elder Brother so badly, and heartache for the humiliating ordeal Fifth Elder Brother suffered.
If they hadn't been exiled here and if He Zhiran hadn't helped with the treatment, Mo Chongyuan might never have been able to reunite with his family again in this lifetime.
Thinking of this, Old Lady Mo was still apprehensive.
Her sons, all stalwart and devoted to protecting their family and country, had ended up in such circumstances...
