Chapter 119 "You're completely fake..."

"Xue'e!"

Princess Tong'an heard a suppressed gasp and turned to see Meng Wanyin rushing to the side of the swaying Princess Chun, trying to support her so she wouldn't fall. She hurriedly whispered to the kneeling maids, "Quickly get the cushions and blankets, and the Princess's medicine... no, no, she can't take the medicine anymore! Yan Yi, A Yue, come and help!"

Noticing the glance from Princess Tong'an, Meng Wanyin mustered her courage and gave her an awkward yet polite smile.

...She didn't want to interrupt His Highness's interrogation at this time, but she couldn't just watch Xue'e collapse.

Meng Wanyin secretly glared at Prince Chun and Xiao Chuyang.

Men are unreliable! Even their own children are useless!

If Xiao Chuyang could make Xue'e worry less and show her more care, or even just marry her off sooner, Xue'e wouldn't devote all her attention to her adopted daughter Wu Qiong and rack her brains to plan her future.

Holding Xue'e in her arms, she felt as if the person in her arms was so light that she was just a skeleton, and she felt even more heartbroken for her friend.

Even she, an outsider, was shocked by Wu Qiong's background and the numerous crimes she had committed. How heartbroken must Xue'e, as her adoptive mother who lived with her day and night, have been to learn such a shocking truth?

...

"Good heavens! Wu Qiong actually... actually did so many bad things..."

Shen Lingyue stared in disbelief, grabbing Yan Yi and asking, "Why didn't you tell me before?"

She thought Wu Qiong would at most stay in one place for a few years and then secretly run away.

I never expected that she would even target the family that took her in?

Yan Yi lowered her eyelashes and sighed softly, "I only started seeing them gradually after that day."

At first, she shared the same thoughts as Xiaoyueliang, and even felt a little sympathy for Wu Qiong's unfortunate situation.

Until she "unlocked" more of Wu Qiong's memories, the pure malice and revenge she felt were too much to bear, so she could only organize the information as best she could and hand it over to Princess Tong'an so that her people could investigate more of the truth.

Shen Lingyue got goosebumps all over her body and clung tightly to Yan Yi, as if trying to keep each other warm.

...

"I hate them, I hate that they have everything I don't!"

Wu Qiong screamed hysterically, crying and laughing at the same time, acting like a madwoman.

"You are a princess, high above, born into nobility. How could you possibly understand the thoughts of a little ant like me? What do you think it took for me to infiltrate these wealthy families, and how did I climb step by step to become their confidante? Do you know how I lived those days when I had to be on high alert at all times, never daring to slack off in the slightest, and had to guess what the young lady was thinking the moment she reached out?"

“Zhang Qianniang gave me the snacks and leftovers that she didn’t like, just like feeding a dog on the street! I had to kneel down and thank her for her ‘great mercy’ while pretending to eat them with relish… Didn’t she drink a bowl of soup made from three old hens every day? I let her drink her fill.”

“Li Pingting…she said my eyes were prettier than hers, and forbade me to show my forehead. I could only cover them with thick bangs. She even joked several times that she would gouge out my eyes and give them to her.”

A sinister smile crept across Wu Qiong's lips. "The night the robbers stormed into the Li family compound, I watched with my own eyes as several burly men dragged her into a room. No matter how much she screamed, no one could save her... Oh, she saw me. I was standing outside the door, watching her until her ugly eyes gradually lost their light. She could no longer switch places with me, haha!"

"And He Xinfang." Wu Qiong murmured the name, her voice filled with such intense resentment that it was almost dripping with hatred, as if the venom had burned a large hole in the stone slab in front of her.

"She noticed that her fiancé was always glancing at me intentionally or unintentionally, so she asked me if I wanted to wait a couple of years until I was a little older and then become his concubine... But she had no idea that I would never live to see that day!"

When He Xinfang first asked her, Wu Qiong was terrified, fearing that this was a test from her mistress. She denied it repeatedly and swore to the heavens that she would only be loyal to her for the rest of her life.

But the way her son-in-law looked at her became increasingly strange. He repeatedly asked her to deliver things to his study, and the worst time he even locked her in the room and tried to take off her skirt...

She struggled desperately, crying and screaming, before finally managing to escape. She finally realized that her son-in-law was just like all the other nasty men she had met outside—a beast who was attracted to her innocent face.

She felt both hatred and regret. No man would truly appreciate her as a person beyond her physical appearance. If she told him that she was actually twenty-five years old, he would look at her like she was a monster and then run away in panic.

“Setting a fire is easy,” Wu Qiong chuckled softly. “Since Miss likes to plan for her son-in-law so much, then let him go down there and continue being a virtuous wife and loving mother.”

Princess Tong'an closed her eyes, unmoved by the jealousy in Wu Qiong's tone.

"These are all your side of the story." Her tone was calm. "It's because you harbored hatred in your heart that you perceive the actions of those around you as contempt, mockery, ridicule, and mockery. My people have investigated the area around the houses where the incident occurred, and they all have good reputations and there have never been any rumors of them mistreating their servants."

Princess Tong'an's sharp gaze seemed to pierce through Wu Qiong's exaggerated accusations. "I ask you, if they were truly such a wicked and evil family, why did you go to such lengths to make a good impression and infiltrate their ranks?"

The water sphere filled with venom was instantly punctured, and Wu Qiong had no more reason to argue, awkwardly avoiding her gaze.

Princess Tong'an, however, was unwilling to let her off so easily, pressing her further, "Fine, even if what you say is true, then I want to ask you again, what did the Princess Consort of Chun County do wrong? Wasn't she good enough to you? How could you conspire with Xiao Chuwen to harm her? Where is your conscience?"

"I, I..."

Wu Qiong stammered, those chaotic emotions raging through her body, unable to find an outlet.

Finally, she closed her eyes and cried out in despair, "It's because she won't stay by my side for long, it's because she keeps nagging me to grow up quickly, get married, and have children... But how can I satisfy her? I just can't do it!"

"That's absurd."

Meng Wanyin could no longer contain herself and rushed to Wu Qiong, her fingertips trembling slightly: "Which mother doesn't have such high hopes for her daughter? Only someone with a twisted heart like you would take these words as coercion! You never tell Xue'e the truth, so how can you expect her to understand you and accept you? Do you think she can read your mind?"

Wu Qiong finally dared to look in the direction of Princess Chun.

She sat pale-faced on the cushions, barely breathing, tears streaming down her face like broken pearls. She clutched her chest in sorrow, unable to utter a single word.

Wu Qiong had never seen her so heartbroken; every tear that fell was scalding hot as it hit her.

From the moment she learned that Wu Qiong and Xiao Chuwen had conspired, and that their encounter was the beginning of a meticulously planned scheme, Princess Chun quickly grasped the intricacies of the plot, but became increasingly heartbroken and unable to control herself.

Even when Xiao Chuwen pushed her into the water back then, and she woke up to find out that she had lost her baby, she wasn't in as much pain as she is now.

She was smug, thinking that God had taken pity on her lonely life and sent her such a thoughtful and sensible daughter.

Ah, when she was showing Qiong'er all sorts of care and concern, and when she was defying Prince Chun for her sake, Xiao Chuwen must have been secretly laughing out loud under the covers, right?

Laugh at her for being stupid, for being easily fooled, for being a complete idiot!

Princess Chun suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood.

“Mother!” Wu Qiong suddenly stood up and blurted out.

"How dare you call her mother?"

"...Don't call me mother!"

Xiao Chuyang and the Princess Consort of Chun County spoke one after the other. He rushed over and knelt on the ground, carefully rubbing her chest. His slightly hoarse voice was full of regret.

“Mother, it’s all my fault. I didn’t think you would be lonely living alone in the mansion, which allowed that beast to take advantage of the situation.”

Ever since Xiao Chuwen beat him to the punch and married Arou, he has been immersed in the anger of having his lover taken away, as if this is the only important thing left to do in the whole world.

But he didn't want to. Arou was already Xiao Chuwen's wife, so it wasn't good for her to get too close to her stepmother-in-law. And because of their previous relationship, she was even more afraid to approach the Princess Consort of Chun County, for fear that something would be discovered.

He himself refused to get married for a long time without explaining why, causing his mother to worry about him and her health to deteriorate due to excessive thinking.

"You bastard Xiao Chuwen, you should die!"

Xiao Chuyang suddenly lunged at him, delivering several powerful punches to Xiao Chuwen's face.

Xiao Chuwen screamed repeatedly, and everyone could almost hear the crisp sound of his nose breaking.

Princess Tong'an immediately ordered the captain of the guards to restrain Xiao Chuyang.

We cannot allow him to bear the infamy of murdering his brother and seizing his title.

Amidst the chaos, Yan Yi somehow found herself standing in front of Wu Qiong.

Wu Qiong was still reeling from the Princess Consort of Chun County's rejection. She looked up at her and sneered, "Are you here to laugh at me too, Princess Consort?"

She also disliked Yan Yi, because Yan Yi was the kind of woman she dreamed of becoming.

Wu Qiong admitted that Princess Tong'an was right; her mind had long been unstable, and she hated everything in this world.

"Wu Qiong, if you choose to confess everything to Princess Chun sooner, do you think she will treat you like a monster, just like everyone else?"

Yan Yi's calm voice pierced through the scene that Wu Qiong least wanted to face.

Ignoring Wu Qiong's panicked and shifty gaze, she continued, "She truly treats you like a daughter. So what if you never grow up? It's you who'd rather believe Xiao Chuwen's lies and insist on going down this dark path. Even if he really succeeds in murdering the Princess Consort, what benefit will you gain? How do you know you won't be used as a scapegoat?"

"Stop talking, stop talking!" Wu Qiong covered her ears and shook her head desperately.

Yan Yi ignored her completely; her voice, like fine threads, seeped into Wu Qiong's mind.

"Do you love him? Or has he given you the illusion that he would love you? You were jealous of the Crown Princess's pregnancy and caused her to fall and get injured. How did Xiao Chuwen treat you? Do you really think he would abandon the noble lady, the gentle and virtuous Crown Princess, and choose...you instead?"

"You'd rather believe a man's empty promises than open your eyes and see the one who's truly by your side, caring whether you've eaten enough or are warm enough—your mother."

“Wu Qiong, even if your entire identity, from your name to your background, is fake, her love for you is real.”

Yan Yi's voice was not loud, unlike Princess Tong'an's thunderous roar, nor Xiao Chuyang's furious curses, yet it was more powerful than either of them.

Wu Qiong turned her head blankly and met Xiao Chuwen's face, which was bleeding from his nose and looked extremely disheveled.

She suddenly chuckled and said softly in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Lady of the Heir Apparent, how do you think Xiao Chuwen found me? Guess where we met?"

Yan Yi frowned slightly, as if she had grasped something in a daze.

At that moment, Wu Qiong suddenly rushed towards Xiao Chuwen with unexpected speed, pulled out a small pair of embroidery scissors from her sleeve, and stabbed it hard into his throat.

Xiao Chuwen's pupils suddenly contracted, the excruciating pain rendering him unable to speak, and he could only utter meaningless hoarse sounds.

Wu Qiong stared straight at him, a neurotic smile on her face.

"Now, I can be my mother's only daughter."