bracelets

Lin Yan returned to the Lin Mansion and bumped into Lin Yi who was about to go out as soon as he entered the door.

"Sister, where did you go last night? You didn't even come to the banquet. The same goes for Song Yizhou. He suddenly ran away without explaining clearly. He only sent someone to tell me this morning that you were at his house." Lin Yi said a lot in one breath.

He never thought about how Lin Yan would behave as a lone man in Song Yizhou's house. After all, in his eyes, Lin Yan was just a piece of wood that could not be moved at all.

Thinking that Lin Yi and Song Yizhou had been staying together for all these years, he might know something. Without saying a word, Lin Yan pulled him to the study and asked him to resolve his doubts.

Lin Yi was confused at first, but after hearing what Lin Yan said, his eyes widened, "You said you like Song Yizhou."

"Is it strange?" Lin Yan looked puzzled. "Azhou and I grew up together. It's natural for me to like him. Why are you so surprised?"

"Sister, you have never revealed your feelings for Yizhou in front of us. I always thought that you were a hard nut to crack and would never bloom in your life." Lin Yi cried out to the sky. He sympathized with Song Yizhou and fell in love with such a wooden man like sister. He didn't expect that the man had feelings for him and the woman also had feelings for him.

Lin Yan fell into deep thought, it seemed to be so, but she had not realized her feelings before, so it was understandable. She got to the point: "Then why does Azhou like me but has never dared to tell me? Why is he so timid? Is it because he is hiding something from me, or is he worried about something in his heart and dare not tell me."

Lin Yi was stuck for a moment, remembering what he had said to Song Yizhou. It was his fault after all, so he told the truth: "Aning told me about you and the young master of Broken Sword Villa. I remember that the young master was good at martial arts, and you two often practiced with each other. But after he expressed his feelings to you, you broke off all ties with him without saying a word."

After hearing this, Lin Yan was speechless for a while, "That young master is just an idiot. After I beat him up, he actually said something stupid like I liked him. He kept pestering me. When his father found out, he knew it was impossible for me to be with him, so he begged me to be cruel and break off all ties with his son. I did as he said, and I never went to Broken Sword Villa again after that."

After she finished speaking, she realized, "So Azhou is worried that after he expresses his feelings to me, I will treat him like I did to that young master and break off all ties with him."

Lin Yi looked confused. He was also helpless. The relationship was just a misunderstanding.

Lin Yan scratched his head in annoyance and said, "Lin Yi, don't talk nonsense in front of Azhou in the future. It will only cause trouble."

After saying that, she stood up, pushed the door open and left. Before leaving, she warned Lin Yi not to cause any more trouble and asked him not to let Song Yizhou know that she liked him.

Now that she knew what Azhou was worried about, Lin Yan, who was a straightforward person, no longer had any concerns. She planned to find a suitable opportunity to express her feelings to Azhou. Since he didn't dare to say it, she would let him say it.

After leaving the house, Lin Yan remembered that he had to go to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion today. When he went to Zhou's Mansion, he found that Aning was not there. He thought that Aning must have gone to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion before he saw her return.

Zhenguogong Mansion

When Lin Yan was led into the mansion by the servant, she saw Xiao Yue had already taken up horse stance. She smiled with relief.

Zhou Ningning had just taken Madam Gu's pulse and was telling Madam Li about her condition, "Madam Gu's spirits are gradually improving. If she takes her medicine on time in the future, she will be able to recover."

When Lin Yan came over, Mrs. Gu's eyes lit up when she saw her. She hurried over and held her hand, complaining like a child, "Yan'er, why did you come just now?"

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long," Lin Yan quickly apologized to her and walked over to help Mrs. Gu sit down.

Ever since Zhou Ningning asked Lin Yan to pretend to be Madam Gu's daughter, she has called Madam Gu "Aniang".

It was just a verbal name, and Mrs. Gu made her feel very intimate, so it was very easy for Lin Yan to call her that. After all, she was a motherless girl, so she didn't mind it.

Zhou Ningning put her hands on her hips and asked Lin Yan: "Sister, where did you go last night? You didn't come to Brother Liu's celebration party."

"I was delayed by something." Lin Yan didn't dare to tell her that he went out for a drink, otherwise someone would start nagging him again.

Fortunately, Zhou Ningning did not delve into it. Seeing that Xiao Yue was still squatting obediently, Lin Yan walked over and adjusted her posture, "Squat for another half an hour."

"Okay." Xiao Yue responded with difficulty, sweat on his forehead.

Beijing Inn

After arriving in the capital, the Xu family found an inn to stay in. They had only one purpose in coming to the capital, which was to make the Duke of Zhenguo believe that their daughter Xu Yan was the Duke of Zhenguo's sister.

A month ago, Wang Ji, the Xu family’s neighbor who lived in Beijing many years ago, came to Fuzhou to do business and met Xu Zhuang who was at the market.

When Wang Ji saw Xu Zhuang, he was very excited and said that he had been looking for them for a long time.

Xu Zhuang was puzzled, and then thought fearfully: "Could it be that the family knew that the son they exchanged for them was dead, and they came to settle the score with them?"

Thinking of this, Xu Zhuang hurriedly said, "You've made a mistake," and prepared to run away.

Wang Ji grabbed Xu Zhuang and said, "Don't run. I know that you exchanged your son back then. Do you want to know the identity of the family that exchanged your child with?"

Xu Zhuang turned around and said, "What do you mean? Isn't that just an ordinary merchant family?"

Wang Ji had a mysterious look on his face. He pulled him to sit in a corner where no one noticed him and whispered, "Didn't you leave the capital after you exchanged your son with that family's daughter? But what you didn't know is that that family belonged to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion."

"What did you say!" Xu Zhuang stood up in horror, "If they knew we replaced a dead fetus with theirs, they would want to skin us alive."

Wang Ji's face was full of calculation, and he smiled and said: "Please be patient, I have good news to tell you. The matter of you swapping children was planned by the wet nurse of the Zhenguo Mansion. The wife of the Zhenguo Mansion had no idea about it. After she found out, she immediately sent people to look for her daughter."

"Seven years after your family left the capital, the Duke of Zhenguo learned the truth and hurriedly began to investigate. He found out that your family had exchanged their daughter, so he asked me where you had been. Unfortunately, there was no news from your family after you left, and I know nothing."

"But the people from the Zhenguo Mansion gave me a large sum of money and told me to tell them immediately if I ever heard any news about you. That's how I got the money to do business."

Wang Ji's eyes were full of greed. "They also said that if you find the second young lady, they will reward you handsomely. If I see you, I will tell you that you are not to be blamed for what happened back then. If you return the second young lady, I will reward you handsomely."

It was clearly winter, but Xu Zhuang was sweating coldly. If the second young lady was still here, he would take her to the capital without saying a word. But the problem was that she had died a long time ago, washed away by a flood more than ten years ago. If the people of the Duke of Zhenguo knew about this, their whole family would suffer.

"The Duke of Zhenguo is dead, and now his son has inherited the throne. You have raised the Duke of Zhenguo's sister for so many years, and I believe she will be grateful to your family," Wang Ji continued to persuade.

He could no longer listen to Wang Ji's words and just wanted to go home to discuss with Luo, but Wang Ji could not leave now. If he returned to Beijing and told the Duke of Zhenguo, it would be really over.

Xu Zhuang first calmed Wang Ji down and said, "Don't tell the Duke of Zhenguo yet. I'll go back and discuss it with my wife, and then we'll talk about it later."

Wang Ji looked at me with a look that said I understood, "Go ahead, I'll be waiting."

After returning home, Xu Zhuang told Luo the whole story and was extremely anxious. "What should we do? If the Duke of Zhenguo knew that his sister was killed by us, he would definitely want to kill us."

"What do you mean we killed her? She just had a bad fate. What does it have to do with us?" Luo's shrill voice spread throughout the room.

Xu Zhuang was grimacing and regretting deeply at this moment, "But now Wang Ji knows that we are here. If he returns to the capital, we will all die. If I had known earlier, I would have saved that girl."

Mrs. Luo paced back and forth in the room with a frown on her face.

When they lived in the capital, there was a lady living in a farm near their home. It was said that she was the wife of a wealthy businessman and was pregnant there.

It happened that she was pregnant at that time. After giving birth, the doctor said that the child would not live more than three days. She was extremely sad. At this time, the lady's wet nurse came to her and exchanged the child with her for ten taels of silver.

The wet nurse said that her master's life or death was uncertain, and she wanted a son to support the family. Unfortunately, his wife gave birth to a daughter, so she had no choice but to resort to this last resort.

When Mrs. Luo heard this, the sadness in her heart disappeared instantly, and she even smiled and accepted it decisively.

After receiving the ten taels of gold, Luo Shi ignored her newly born child and left the capital overnight with the child she had exchanged for and Xu Zhuang, fearing that the other party would find out that the child was dying.

As for why she brought the child she had exchanged for, it was of course because the wet nurse paid her another sum of money and asked her to take good care of the child. She didn't know what to do with the child, so fortunately she took it with her.

Later they found a place several miles away from the capital, where even the king could not find them.

After settling down in Fuzhou, Luo began to think about what to do with the child, but the doctor diagnosed that she would have no children in this life. Thinking that the child was exchanged for her own son, she kept the child.

Two years after settling in Fuzhou, Luo became pregnant and gave birth to Xu Yan. She was extremely happy, but the child she exchanged for another became a thorn in her heart. She was worried that the child would take away her daughter's blessings, so she gradually became dissatisfied with her.

Fortunately, God was merciful and a flood washed the child away, so she didn't have to drive the child out herself.

But unfortunately, the silver they got in exchange for the child was stolen by a group of bandits, and their family has not had a good life in recent years.

My daughter Xu Yan got married once, but unfortunately her husband was in poor health and died less than half a year after their marriage. After that, the neighbors spread the rumor that my daughter was unlucky, and she has not been able to remarry since then.

Now, upon hearing the news that the child was actually the second daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo, Luo was extremely nervous, but she was a woman of her own ideas and began to think of a solution.

Just at this moment, his daughter came into the room and asked what happened. Luo's eyes lit up and he came up with an idea.

Xu Yan followed Luo. Although her appearance was not stunningly beautiful, she was also a pretty girl from a small family. If she dressed up, she would look like a young lady from the boudoir.

She is only two years younger than Daya. If she were to pretend to be Daya and go to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion to recognize her relatives, could her own daughter become the second daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion?

Mrs. Luo was extremely excited. If this happened, wouldn't their whole family be able to live the life they had always dreamed of?

After hearing her mother's plan, Xu Yan couldn't help but worry, "The Duke of Zhenguo is not someone who can be easily deceived. How can they believe that I am his sister?"

Luo thought of the string of beads that Lin Yan had worn since she was a child, which she could never take off. The string of beads must have been given to her by someone from the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, and this could definitely be proven.

She remembered that there was a word on the bead and asked Xu Zhuang: "Do you still remember what the word was?"

Xu Zhuang could read, and the bracelet was so strange that he studied it. He remembered the word and said, "玚".

"Based on this, I think the Zhenguo Guild will believe us. Add to that Wang Ji, he can testify for us," said Luo.

The whole family thought this method was feasible. If the Duke of Zhenguo believed that Xu Yan was his sister, they couldn't imagine how good their family's life would be.

Xu Zhuang found Wang Ji and asked him to meet Xu Yan, telling him that she was the child he had exchanged for.

After seeing Xu Yan, Wang Ji sneered: "You are trying to trick me. Others have not seen what Luo looked like when she was young, but I haven't. She is clearly carved from the same mold as Luo when she was young."

Luo had long expected that Wang Ji would know, so she made preparations in advance and persuaded him: "That child died a long time ago. I don't believe you don't want the reward from the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion. If you don't say it, no one will know."

Wang Ji was hesitating. If this matter was discovered, he would have no chance of getting out of it. However, the money from the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion was too tempting.

Luo continued to persuade: "My daughter has become the second lady of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, and you will definitely benefit from her in the future. What do you think?"

Wang Ji gritted his teeth and agreed, "One hundred taels of gold after the task is completed."

Mrs. Luo lowered her eyes and smiled contemptuously. She thought that when her daughter became the second young lady, she would have plenty of ways to deal with him.

She looked up and smiled, "Okay, okay, when the time comes, you can have as much as you want."

Afterwards, Wang Ji brought the three members of the Xu family back to Beijing.

However, after arriving in Beijing, Wang Ji first asked a few people to find an inn to stay in, and he first talked to the Duke of Zhenguo, and when the time came, he would let them come to his house to recognize their relatives.

During this period, the Xu family was approached by a woman.