Chapter Forty-Eight: The Little White Rabbit Was Actually a Little Golden Rabbit

Song Yiqiu remained completely calm, chuckled softly, and then looked intently at Song Sangyu with deep eyes:

"If you are willing, you can certainly compete for it. I have earned military merits during my seven years of fighting on the frontier, and His Majesty has personally approved my inheritance of the title. If you find that title tempting, you can also go to the frontier for seven years. If you can achieve the same merits, His Majesty may also look at you differently."

"I just wonder, little sister, can your delicate body withstand the wind and sand of the border, where swords and spears have no eyes?"

Her tone was calm, yet she stated an undeniable truth: the insurmountable gap between them was never about the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate sects, but rather about achievements on the frontier.

Song Sangyu was rendered speechless, and after making two "uh" sounds, the surrounding whispers that were biased towards her subsided.

In the crowd, one could faintly hear someone sighing:

"...Seven years on the frontier, that was truly a life-or-death struggle..."

"That's right, how would those weak and helpless young ladies understand!"

"That's right. It's not like who was born first inherits everything. It was earned with blood and sweat, so there's nothing to argue about."

Seeing that the situation was not good, a noblewoman forced herself to speak:

"Even so, the principles of bloodline and morality must never be disregarded! A legitimate son is a legitimate son, and a son from a concubine is a son from a concubine; a sparrow that flies to the top of a branch will never become a phoenix!"

Song Yiqiu suddenly laughed, but the smile didn't reach her eyes; it was more of a forced, insincere laugh.

“What this young lady says is absolutely right. ‘The legitimate wife is the legitimate wife, and the illegitimate wife is the illegitimate wife.’ I wholeheartedly agree with her words.”

Her gaze swept meaningfully over Ruan Jiawen.

"Therefore, a true phoenix, even if it falls into disgrace for a time, is still a phoenix. But one that barely manages to stay on a branch by borrowing the east wind... has ultimately changed its nature."

"If a cuckoo takes over a magpie's nest, does that mean the nest will truly belong to it if it occupies it for a long time? It's nothing but self-deception."

Her words were a double entendre, both satirizing Ruan Jiawen's illegitimate origins as the legitimate daughter and subtly touching on Song Sangyu's anxieties about being an adopted daughter.

Ruan Jiawen's expression suddenly changed, and the noble ladies around her looked at each other, none of them daring to speak easily for fear of being criticized.

The tone of the discussion among the onlookers began to subtly shift:

"That statement... does have a bit of twisted logic..."

"It sounds harsh, but upon reflection, I don't know how to refute it; it seems to be just like the truth..."

"This Song Yiqiu, her tongue is so sharp?"

Not far away, the group of young men who had originally just been watching the commotion also noticed the heated exchange taking place.

The rising star Su Xinjiu listened intently, a look of admiration flashing in his eyes. He couldn't help but whisper to his companion:

"Such sharp words, such clear reasoning. To be able to refute the argument of legitimacy from both sides is truly remarkable. I never expected a woman to have such insight and breadth of mind!"

Someone nearby chimed in with a chuckle:

"Brother Su, you probably don't know yet, but that's Brother Fu's fiancée whom he can't shake off, Miss Song Yiqiu of the Song family! She's quite fierce!"

Su Xinjiu was even more surprised and looked at Fu Langxing:

"Brother Fu, such an extraordinary woman, yet you still want to break off the engagement?"

Fu Langxing was embarrassed by being teased in public, waved his hand, and said irritably:

"Stop talking nonsense! Marriage is not a child's play. Don't joke about it anymore."

Although he denied it verbally, his gaze involuntarily turned to Song Yiqiu again.

He truly hadn't expected Song Yiqiu to stand up for the unrelated Ruan Tianxin, and even more so, he hadn't expected her to speak so logically and clearly.

The disgust in his heart softened slightly, and a curiosity arose that he himself was unaware of.

Song Yiqiu ignored the group of noble ladies with unpleasant expressions and led Ruan Tianxin to a clump of green bamboo not far away.

Still shaken, with tears still clinging to her beautiful face, Ruan Tianxin timidly thanked Song Yiqiu:

"Thank you so much, Sister Yiqiu, for coming to my rescue... If, if my mother were still alive, I would never have suffered such injustice..."

"I...I really wish you could be my real sister..."

As she spoke, tears streamed down her face again, as if they were free.

Song Yiqiu was never good at dealing with tears, and seeing this, she was a little flustered. She awkwardly raised her hand to wipe her tears with a handkerchief, but her movements were surprisingly not rude.

Bai Mei, being straightforward, looked at Ruan Tianxin's priceless Yanmiao silk dress and asked in confusion:

"Miss Ruan, your attire... doesn't look like you've been mistreated."

Ruan Tianxin sniffed and explained, her voice choked with emotion:

"It's all an illusion...it's my stepmother's doing. She deliberately made me wear such extravagant and eye-catching clothes when I went out to banquets, just to leave everyone with the impression that I'm wasteful and ill-mannered. Sister, look at Ruan Jiawen,"

She gestured to Ruan Jiawen, who was trying to salvage her image not far away.

"She's wearing moon-white silk today, which looks simple and elegant, but is actually more valuable than gold and is even more difficult to make, so it's priceless and unavailable. But she looks much more 'sensible' than someone as flamboyant as me..."

After listening, Song Yiqiu's eyes were unfathomable:

"Our laws are clear: a second wife can never be compared to the first wife, let alone such an absurd thing as demoting a legitimate daughter to a concubine's daughter! What means did she use?"

Ruan Tianxin angrily recounted, in fits and starts, how her stepmother used pressure from the family elders, how she forged her birth mother's will, and how she bribed low-ranking officials to tamper with her household register.

After listening intently, Song Yiqiu said calmly:

"It was indeed a brilliant yet vicious scheme, with each step carefully designed to exploit loopholes in the rules."

She looked at Ruan Tianxin.

"But if you keep swallowing your anger, she will only become more and more aggressive. People must save themselves before others can save them."

“You need to learn to be brave. If you encounter this situation again, you don’t have to just endure it. You can argue your case based on reason. If you are unable to do so… you can come to me. I don’t mind giving Miss Ruan some advice.”

Upon hearing this, Ruan Tianxin was so excited that she momentarily forgot herself and suddenly reached out to hug Song Yiqiu:

"Thank you! Thank you, Sister Yiqiu!"

Song Yiqiu froze instantly, caught off guard by the sudden intimate contact. Her ears turned slightly red, and a rare look of embarrassment appeared on her face. Her hand hung in mid-air, unsure whether to push him away or pat him to comfort him.

Suddenly, Ruan Tianxin seemed to remember something, and hurriedly took out a heavy little object from her bosom and stuffed it into Song Yiqiu's hand without saying a word.

It was extremely heavy. When Song Yiqiu opened it, she found it to be an exquisitely crafted gold ingot, so bright and dazzling that it almost blinded her.

"Sister Yiqiu, thank you so much for helping me out today. I... I have nothing to repay you with,"

Ruan Tianxin whispered,

"What my mother left me was mostly money and a few shops. Fortunately, I still have these savings firmly in my own hands. It's just that my stepmother is always eyeing me covetously, and I don't know when they will find a reason to take them away... Rather than letting them benefit, it's better to give them to the people who are truly good to me and close to me."