Doted By The Regent King-Chapter 552 Treat it as Almsgiving

Wufu looked at Madam Zhou with the expression of someone who had done something wrong and sighed lightly. She had long seen through Madam Zhou’s soft-hearted nature; for Madam Zhou to regard the Zhou family members as enemies, she must really be driven to death by their hands.

"Mother, your filial piety is true, but are you certain that those five taels of silver will end up in Old Madam Zhou’s hands?" Wufu asked indifferently.

Madam Zhou’s body stiffened slightly, and she smiled bitterly, "Whether or not it reaches her, my intentions are there, and Heaven cannot overlook them."

In the end, it’s all about having a clear conscience.

"But this action of yours will also whet their appetite," Wufu said. "With this time, they will entangle you endlessly, and you won’t be able to shake them off. Their demands will only grow more numerous. Feeding those who have become spoiled will not earn their gratitude once you stop; instead, they will only blame you, and they will never cease their verbal abuse."

There are some people who are not worth supporting; they do not appreciate it, and they take it for granted. Once you stop supporting them, they accuse you of being heartless and indifferent, resentful that you, with all your wealth, won’t even let a bit of it slip through your fingers to your kin.

In her previous life, had Wufu not seen enough of such situations? Not to mention kin, even with strangers, your kindness is met with attack and insults, and you become a victim of moral hijacking.

Let alone with blood relatives like Madam Zhou and the Zhou family.

In this era, the emphasis is on filial piety, loyalty, and integrity. If Madam Zhou truly were heartless and indifferent, neglecting the life and death of her birth mother, the world would likely point at her spine and curse.

The color drained from Madam Zhou’s face as she looked at her and said, "I didn’t agree to their demands, I just sent back five taels of silver, and giving some New Year’s gifts was my way of showing filial piety."

"What other demands did they make?" Wufu narrowed her eyes, sensing there was more to it.

Madam Zhou pursed her lips, cursing her own loose tongue.

"Let me guess," Wufu suddenly said with a sly twinkling in her eye. "They must have talked about how hard their lives are now, how pitiable, and about Zhou Xuennian’s pathetic situation. They wanted you to plead with me to use my connections to find him a profitable position, right? Or perhaps to have him serve as an accountant for our mother-and-child household, to manage an estate or something of the sort?"

Madam Zhou’s eyes widened, her shock plain on her face, telling Wufu that her guess was very close to the truth.

Under her mocking gaze, Madam Zhou’s face reddened as she said, "I, I didn’t agree."

"Mother, even if you had agreed, they would not have gotten what they wanted," Wufu said. "The real head of this household bears the name Wu."

Madam Zhou was taken aback.

"When you first decided to give me this surname, you should have understood this fact," Wufu said in a measured tone. "My surname is Wu, not Zhou. In this household, you are my birth mother, and you can make decisions about what’s given to me. But regarding external matters, you have no control or say. I will allocate private funds for your monthly money; I will ensure that you live in luxury and comfort, allowing you to be a respected elder, but as for the rest, you cannot intervene, especially not with the people from the main branch of the Zhou family, do you understand?"

Madam Zhou’s heart clenched, and she nodded somewhat mechanically.

"It’s not that my heart is cruel, but they are not worth our help, they don’t deserve it!"

Wufu sipped her tea, her fingertips caressing the lid of the teacup as she said, "Your kindness and filial duty need only be directed at the person who gave you life; that’s in acknowledgement of Old Madam Zhou’s having brought you into this world. As for the others, they have given you nothing, no care, no consideration, only schemes and humiliation. Therefore, I ask you to disregard them."

She couldn’t sever the blood ties between Madam Zhou and her mother. If that bit of silver could bring peace of mind to Madam Zhou, she would turn a blind eye, considering it alms thrown among beggars.