Song Yue touched her chin, increasingly finding this Miss Fan suspicious.
"Ling Yi!"
Ling Yi's figure flashed by.
Song Yue whispered a few words of advice, and Ling Yi nodded in surprise before setting off immediately. As soon as Ling Yi left, Song Yue gently patted Zhang Mama: "From today onwards, Mama, do not leave Yuehua Pavilion, and do not go to see anyone who summons you."
Granny Zhang was puzzled.
"Granny, I'm doing this for your own good."
"Young lady, this old servant will obey your wishes."
Once inside, she picked up a brush and sketched Song Hengchuan's appearance. She sat down in front of the chair and examined the drawing carefully. After thinking it over, she took the portrait to find Madam Tao.
Now that Ms. Tao is in charge of the household, perhaps there are some things she can handle.
The second branch of the household was peaceful. Tao was not at home. She stayed with Song Huan for a while before Tao returned from her parents' home, bringing the two of them some food with a smile.
Song Yue accepted the gift and thanked her, saying, "Second Aunt, I have something I'd like to say to you privately."
Seeing that Song Yue was absent-minded, Tao Shi put away her smile and said to her, "The sun is shining brightly outside right now, let's go outside and sit for a while."
After dismissing her attendants, Tao sat down in the pavilion. Song Yue didn't mince words and directly unfurled the scroll. Upon seeing who it was, Tao asked, "Has Chuan-ge'er done something outrageous again to offend you?"
"I would like to ask my second aunt to draw what Song Hengchuan looked like one year after my mother passed away and one year before."
Tao nodded: "That's not difficult either."
She had someone bring her paintbrush, and after a moment's thought, Tao quickly drew a person on the paper. The young man was spirited and had bright eyes, and his eyebrows and eyes were somewhat similar to Song Yue's.
The next picture shows a completely different person, with a fierce and selfish expression.
"Second Aunt, don't you think these are two different people?" Song Yue became more and more certain that Song Hengchuan had been switched. She pointed to the second portrait: "A person's clothes and appearance can change, but their bone structure cannot be changed. The current Song Hengchuan does not resemble his mother at all."
Tao was taken aback: "You, who are you? Isn't the current Song Hengchuan your elder brother?"
Song Yue nodded.
"This...how is this possible?" Tao was shocked.
"My mother was ordered by the Emperor to be sent away to pray for blessings. The Duke of Jingguo's mansion wouldn't even spare a three-month-old baby, insisting on sending him away, but kept Song Hengchuan on the grounds that he was the eldest son. Unfortunately, Song Hengchuan was sick for more than a year. When he returned, his personality had changed drastically, and all the people who served my mother were sent away by the Duke of Jingguo's mansion." Song Yue took a deep breath: "From the first time I saw Song Hengchuan, I felt that he was cold and didn't even have the demeanor of an elder brother. Now I know that he was just a bastard child who had taken over the family!"
Tao's gaze remained fixed on the portrait, unable to snap out of her reverie. How could two people possibly look so alike within a year?
“I do remember that after Song Hengchuan fell ill, he was sent to the estate to recuperate for a year. After he came back, he became quiet and didn’t like to talk. For a while, he hid in Tingyuxuan and refused to come out. I just thought he couldn’t bear your mother leaving. Now that I think about it carefully, it is indeed suspicious.”
Tao stood up abruptly: "No wonder your father insisted on transferring your second uncle away from the capital back then, saying he was afraid of implicating the second branch of the family, and that the second branch would be allowed to return after the arrangements were settled. If the Tao family hadn't encountered some trouble, I would have definitely come back. I happened to run into Song Hengchuan and wondered how he had changed so much in just one year. Your grandmother only said that she was unwell, had taken medicine, and couldn't stop eating, which caused her to gain a lot of weight."
Tao didn't think much of it, after all, he wasn't her son.
But now it seems that the old lady was clearly in the know as well!
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