Chapter 379 Forgiveness

For a moment, Wei Qingqing forgot about how Xiao He had angered her, and hurriedly went to meet her, approaching the crack and asking with a smile:

"Auntie! Has the princess agreed to see me?"

She expected a positive answer, but instead, the other person simply looked Wei Qingqing up and down before criticizing her:

"Aunt Wei, as a concubine of the master, why don't you stay in the Xiao family properly? Why have you run out to see the princess without permission?"

The moment the words "Aunt Wei" were uttered, Wei Qingqing's heart turned ice-cold.

Oh no, how did the Grand Princess even know about this?!

She hurriedly took two steps forward and explained, "That's not how it is. There's a misunderstanding. I'm not a concubine of the Xiao family. I only said that to others for the sake of convenience and to cover my tracks..."

The neatly dressed and composed old woman immediately interrupted her: "Aunt Wei, I've lived for so many years and I've never heard of any young lady daring to joke about her own reputation. You'd better go back quickly, or your master will find out and you'll be in big trouble!"

Wei Qingqing panicked: "No, I'm really not a concubine. I'm not married yet. I'm just temporarily staying at the Xiao family. To tell you the truth, I'm actually the fifth daughter of the Wei family, the former Prefect of Kuncheng..."

The old woman sneered, "You lie without even thinking. Why don't you go and find out, Aunt Wei? The Wei family of the Prefect of Kuncheng has long been purged. If you really were some Fifth Miss, you should be working as a government maid by now. How can you stand here and argue with an old woman like this?"

"Since Aunt Wei doesn't intend to explain her purpose, then I'm afraid I can't let her pass. Please leave!"

"Hey, hey!" Wei Qingqing hurriedly blocked the door with her hands and feet, glancing back at Xiao He, "Are you dead? Come and help me!"

Xiao He immediately stepped forward to help block the door.

Wei Qingqing took out the money pouch from her sleeve and secretly tried to slip it to the old woman inside the door, a fawning smile on her face, and said in a low voice:

"Good aunt, to tell you the truth, during the palace coup before the New Year, I was entrusted by His Majesty and the Princess, and with the help of Lord Xiao Jue, I entered the palace and took the Imperial Concubine hostage. In the end, the Imperial Concubine still died at my hands, which did His Majesty and the Princess a great favor... How about this, I will not ask to see the Princess anymore, I only ask you to help remind the Princess that Wei Qingqing is still waiting for the Princess to show her favor!"

After saying all that, the old woman looked at the money bag that had been stuffed into her hand, subtly weighed it in her hand, and then thought for a moment before saying, "I'll just mention it briefly; whether the princess will actually remember you is none of my concern."

Wei Qingqing quickly replied, "Of course, of course! Thank you, Auntie..."

"Bang—" The small door slammed shut, almost hitting her face.

“Miss Wei…” Xiao He looked over with concern.

Wei Qingqing rolled her eyes, touched the dust that had gotten on her nose, and walked away with a snort.

Half an hour later.

Qi Yuxuan looked at the money pouch the old woman offered with both hands, then looked away without much interest: "Did she really say that?"

The maidservant immediately replied, "It's absolutely true. This old servant has a pretty good memory. I remember every single word that Concubine Wei said clearly, without any embellishment."

Qi Yuxuan stared at the few tea leaves in the teacup in front of her. "She helped us a lot... She really dares to say that."

Xiao Jue was incredibly audacious. When she suddenly appeared with the Imperial Concubine that day, she was already outside Fu Ning Palace, but she also saw Wei Qingqing's "heroic figure". It would be a lie to say that she wasn't worried, but after worrying, she felt an even heavier disapproval.

This move was completely superfluous. The imperial concubine held no weight with Qi Huan. Instead of using her to blackmail him, he would have been better off killing a few more of the Zou family's private soldiers outside the city.

But for some reason, Wei Qingqing actually started to think of herself as someone important, and even dared to come here to ask for a reward.

She rubbed her temples; this was an annoying presence.

She instructed the maid in front of her: "Keep this money for yourself, consider it a reward for your good memory. I won't be staying in the manor for many more days anyway. If she comes again, just tell her that I already know about this and will consider it carefully. Don't reveal anything else."

"As for Mother, I will explain to her personally later. You may go now."

The maid was overjoyed, and immediately put away the money bag and respectfully withdrew.

After the person left, the room returned to its quiet state, and she sent the other maids away to wait.

Half an hour ago, Bi Sui's words were still ringing in her ears, and she had no energy to think about anything else.

Bihui said, "When you first returned to the Xiao family, there was another Miss Xiao who had taken your place. Miss Xiao was narrow-minded and hypocritical. In public, she pretended to be generous and dignified, but in private, she often bullied you. Unfortunately, the master, mistress, and several young masters of the Xiao family all believed that Miss Xiao..."

She recounted most of what had happened between her and Xiao Yuyao, focusing on the incident of falling into the water.

"Princess, it was after that fall into the water and developed a fever that you suddenly came to your senses. You stopped trying to appease everyone and even tried to win the favor of several masters of the Xiao family, just like Miss Xiao Si. But your good fortune didn't last long..."

"The identity of Miss Xiao has also been revealed. She is the illegitimate daughter of Master Xiao and a mistress. So the girl swap back then had a hidden story and was not an accident."

"...Finally, you abandoned the Xiao family and turned to the Grand Princess as your godmother. Fortunately, with the protection of His Highness, you were able to enter the clan and change your surname, thus completely breaking away from the Xiao family and severing all ties with them, becoming strangers to them when you meet again."

After Bi Sui finished speaking, Qi Yuxuan fell silent.

Even without her memories, she knew that, given her personality, old clothes, dilapidated housing, and favoritism would never be reasons for her to completely sever ties with her biological parents and brothers and instead turn to the princess.

Or at least not entirely.

She loves her family so much that she cherishes even her mother, with whom she has no blood relation, and she feels deep affection and attachment. Not to mention her biological parents and brother, with whom she shares blood ties.

There must be something that Bi Sui doesn't know about, something that only she knows has happened, something that someone in the Xiao family did to her that is absolutely unforgivable, but she can't remember it.

What exactly did she forget?

Before she could recall what important thing she had forgotten, Bihui looked at her worriedly and asked a question that struck her like a thunderbolt:

"Miss, why do you suddenly want to hear me say these things? Have you stopped hating me?"

As if realizing her inappropriate wording, Bi Sui changed her question: "Do you now intend to forgive the Xiao family?"

Qi Yuxuan's gaze fell on Bi Sui's face, and she slowly shook her head. She heard herself say, "No, if I can forgive everything, then everything I've experienced is what I deserve."