Back when Yang Wang and Cen Hong insisted on digging up the village, he did not know Yang Wenxiao and Liuli's plan, and both he and Tong Tiehu thought the Tong Family was doomed. Tiehu had told him to leave, to take Qiao Xiaomai with him and go.
He had agreed at the time.
This agreement meant abandoning the Tong Family members, including the Zhang Family.
If the situation that Qiao Xiaomai described ever came to pass, where he could only save one, he would definitely save Qiao Xiaomai.
But Qiao Xiaomai was safe when she asked him the question, so he was pondering this in a safe environment, thinking about an absurd matter in security, that's why he hesitated.
Yes, faced with the question of whom to save first between his birth mother and his wife, his initial reaction was just two words: absurd.
One is his birth mother, who granted the grace of life.
The other is his wife, his companion for life.
Why compare two people with different statuses in such a context?