Chapter 54 Chapter 54 is the only authentic version...
At this moment, Ji Shi couldn't even feel the pain under her body. She sat on the ground, tilted her head, her eyes full of shock.
How does she know?
How did she know that her real name was Ji Ruo!
This thought kept circling in her mind, and her brain went blank.
Gu Zhizhuo stood condescendingly before Ji Shi, saying with a half-smile, "I told you to behave yourself. But you just won't listen."
She bent down and whispered in her ear, the faint voice sounding like it came from the underworld: "Even if you were born exactly like Ji Yuanchu, you will never become Ji Yuanchu."
"Is that so? Ji Ruo."
Ji Ruo.
Ji Ruo!
The name echoed in Ji's ears again and again.
Nanny Wan widened her eyes in horror, with thin beads of cold sweat dripping from her forehead. She couldn't help but look at Ji.
Ji's eyes were empty.
How would you know!
Why?
Gu Zhizhuo straightened her veil and said flatly, "You are not Ji Yuanchu, your name is Ji Ruo!"
"You took over Ji Yuanchu's identity."
"You killed Ji Yuanchu in order to marry into the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion."
"No, that's not right—"
The most tense string in Ji's heart was plucked, and her sanity almost collapsed.
Hatred and fear towards Gu Zhizhuo reached its peak at this moment.
Don’t let anyone know! Her eyes flashed with a fierce look, and she jumped up from the ground, rolled up the gauze curtain of her hood, and put it around Gu Zhizhuo’s neck.
Die! Die!!
No one will know if you die!
Gu Zhizhuo did not hide. She turned her back to the partition door and curled the corners of her mouth slightly.
"Let her go!"
The partition door was broken with great force. Madam Gu struggled to shake off the arm of a strange nanny and stumbled over. She pulled Ji away and hugged Gu Zhizhuo in her arms in a state of shock.
After all, Madam Gu was old and her strength was not enough, so Ji was only pushed and staggered a few steps.
Ji's sanity returned at this time, and she suddenly remembered the purpose of today.
She moved her eyes dazedly and saw that the partition door was completely open. The queen mother sitting inside was looking at her angrily, and the familiar officials around her were either shocked, or suspicious, or had strange expressions and were dumbfounded.
What she did.
What did she just do!?
It’s over!
A chill rose from the soles of Ji's feet, making her shiver all over.
Bang!
A slap hit her face hard, the sound was extremely loud.
Ji's face was twisted by the beating, and the pain on her cheek, which had not yet healed, made her tears well up in the corners of her eyes.
The veil tilted to the side, revealing the face hidden under the gauze curtain. Her cheeks were covered with tiny scars and her skin was red.
Madam Gu shook her hands, looked at her with disgust, hugged Gu Zhizhuo in her arms, and repeatedly touched her neck to see if she was hurt.
"It's okay, grandma." Gu Zhizhuo would never allow himself to take even the slightest risk.
"You girl..."
Madam Gu was terrified and slapped her on the back: "Don't you know how to hide? If you can't hide, hit her!"
Gu Zhizhuo lowered his eyes silently.
In her previous life, when the yamen runner whipped her, it was her grandmother who protected her behind him.
At that time, she was sure that her grandmother liked her.
But she was not as good at acting like a spoiled child as Ji Nan Ke. She was spoiled and willful because of Ji's flattery, and had a particularly bad temper. She always liked to confront her grandmother, like a needle against a thorn.
Seeing that she hadn't spoken for a long time, the old lady was stunned for a moment. Gu Zhizhuo's thick eyelashes trembled slightly: "Grandma, I'm so scared."
As soon as Gu Zhizhuo complained, Madam Gu immediately fell silent, probably thinking her granddaughter was already frightened, and any further harsh words would be a bit excessive. Madam Gu glared at her, her anger radiating outward: "She's almost been killed by the Ji family, and you're still unfilial? What, you must kill every member of the Gu family?!"
The Queen Mother's face looked unhappy. She felt that every word was an accusation against her.
The scene became cold for a while.
Princess Li broke the silence and said, "Miss Gu, what did you mean by what you just said?"
Princess Li was specially summoned from the capital by the Empress Dowager.
She had witnessed Gu Zhizhuo fall into a trap, nearly being completely convicted of the crime of disobedience, yet, even after such a fate, he was able to turn the tables! It wasn't just her who was confused; everyone else was the same.
What do you mean by Ji Shi being a wandering ghost? Wasn't she the Duke's wife, the one who was married by imperial decree? How could this be false?
Gu Zhizhuo signaled the Madam not to worry. She knelt towards the Empress Dowager and said meaningfully, "Empress Dowager, I'm so glad you're here too."
The Queen Mother: “…”
Gu Zhizhuo flicked his sleeves, raised his finger, pointed at Ji Shi, and said coldly, "Back then, the late emperor arranged a marriage for my father, granting him the marriage of Ji Yuanchu, the eldest daughter of the Ji family, as his heir."
"The engagement letter and marriage certificate are both written in Ji Yuanchu's name."
"But Ji Yuanchu died eight years ago. And she is Ji Yuanchu's twin sister, Ji Ruo, the second daughter of the Ji family!"
Gu Zhizhuo sneered, "Cousin Ke said I was unfilial. May I ask the Empress Dowager, who should I be filial to?!"
Oh my god!
This sentence almost shattered everyone's cognition, and even the Queen Mother could not hide her shock.
Madam Gu said in a trembling voice, "Zhuo girl, are you telling the truth?"
Gu Zhizhuo nodded slightly to her, indicating that what he said was absolutely true.
She smiled lightly, full of sarcasm: "Ji. You have no status or position, so why should I, the eldest daughter, serve you as a nurse?"
"And you want me to kneel down and beg for your forgiveness."
"Tell me, are you worthy?"
The same question, "Are you worthy?", the same unyielding arrogance, was heard by the same people, but everyone's mood was completely different this time. Princess Li shook her head calmly: "She's not worthy."
She doesn't deserve it!
"No! No—"
Ji finally came back to his senses from the chaos.
She looked around in panic, her heart felt like it had fallen into an abyss and was still sinking.
She felt as if she had been stripped naked and thrown into a crowd, and all she wanted was to curl up in a corner.
"aunt."
Ji Nanke supported her and said softly, "Gu Zhizhuo is talking nonsense again, isn't he?"
She pinched Ji secretly, telling her not to admit it! Whether she was Ji Yuanchu or not, she had to be Ji Yuanchu, otherwise both of them would be finished.
Deny it quickly! Cry quickly and then bang your head against the wall! Quick! I have a way to make the Queen Mother believe her.
These little movements could not be hidden from Gu Zhizhuo's eyes.
She cut Ji off from speaking and pressed him, "You were jealous of Ji Yuanchu, so you killed her. You pretended to be her and stole eight years of wealth and glory!"
"Cousin Zhuo, my aunt is definitely not that kind of person, you..."
Gu Zhizhuo didn't even look at her and continued, "Ji Ruo, how do you think I know your name? If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself! Ji Ruo, how many secrets are there under this skin of yours that you don't want others to know!"
This sentence shattered all of Ji's hopes.
Her secret...
Ji covered her face. She remembered that day when the thunder struck. She seemed to see the girl smiling at her again. Her face was exactly the same as hers.
On the cliff, she pushed her down.
The girl's head hit the stone and blood flowed out.
“Ahhhhhh!”
Gu Zhizhuo was calm and composed: "Ji, I know all your secrets, and I also know you..."
"Don't force Madam." Nanny Wan yelled and stood in front of Ji. She knelt down in front of the Queen Mother and said, "Your Highness, my Madam is definitely not Miss Ji Yuanchu."
She hardened her heart and spoke out loud, "Madam and the eldest daughter are twin sisters. Not long after the marriage was granted, my eldest daughter met with an accident. It was the master and his wife who had Madam take the eldest daughter's place and marry into the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion."
"None of this has anything to do with Madam. Madam cannot disobey her parents at home, so she behaved this way."
"Please, Queen Mother, please enlighten me!"
Nanny Wan leaned down and buried her head deeply on the ground.
Stupid! Ji Nanke turned her head away indifferently, feeling heavy in her heart.
Even though Ji's attitude had already clearly proved that what Gu Zhizhuo said was true, everyone still gasped when they heard Nanny Wan admit it herself.
This is too unbelievable.
The Ji family actually took advantage of the identical appearance of the twins and married the sisters off instead!
This marriage at the Zhenguo Mansion was granted by the late emperor himself. The Ji family's secret replacement is a violation of the emperor's order.
The crime of disobeying the imperial order is punishable by exiling nine generations of the family. The Ji family is really too bold.
Aunt Wan knelt on the ground, trembling.
It's so scary.
She advised the lady to let the cousin come back peacefully and not to provoke the eldest daughter again.
The girl's eyes seemed to be able to see through all the evil spirits.
She was scared.
If they continue like this, they will be doomed.
"explain!"
The veins on the Queen Mother's forehead throbbed and she let out a loud roar.
Aunt Wan shuddered.
"At that time, at that time..." Nanny Wan swallowed and said tremblingly, "The two girls of the Ji family are twins..." She had said this before and couldn't help but repeat it. "In the Ji family, the rule passed down from our ancestors is that twins are unlucky. Madam was born half an hour after the eldest girl and was sent back to her hometown at birth. Her name was not recorded in the family tree. It was not until Madam was fourteen that the Ji family took her back."
In fact, the Ji family had never thought about taking the lady back, and had never even mentioned this person to anyone else.
The eldest girl accidentally learned that she had a twin sister, so she begged her parents to take her sister back. The master initially said he would not agree until the palace sent someone to take a look.
The late emperor planned to marry the eldest daughter of the Ji family to the prince of the then Duke of Zhenguo as his second wife.
After the fall of the previous dynasty, no one from the Ji family took up official duties. If this continues, it will only take three or four generations for the family to gradually decline.
The Ji family was already extremely anxious at the time. This visit to the palace was like a pie in the sky, hitting them on the head. The Duke of Zhenguo Mansion held a prominent position in the Great Qi Dynasty. If they could take advantage of this opportunity to join the Duke of Zhenguo Mansion, the Ji family would still have a chance to rise again.
This concerns the family's honor and future, so how can we not take it seriously?
Because of this, the eldest daughter Ji Yuanchu also had some say in the family. She insisted on taking her sister back, and the master finally agreed.
"The two girls look exactly alike; no one can tell them apart."
The second girl was raised in the countryside, but she had never suffered any hardship. She had two maids to serve her since she was a child, and she didn't need to do any work. Except for her skin being a little rough due to frequent sun exposure and running around, she was no different from the eldest girl, even her height and weight were the same.
"Later, later..."
Nanny Wan's eyes flickered for a moment.
She lowered her head and continued, "Shortly after the imperial edict was issued, the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion sent someone to deliver the marriage certificate and set a date for the wedding. The wife took the two girls to the temple to burn incense. On the way back, the carriage overturned and the two girls rolled off the cliff."
She mumbled, "The eldest girl died right there. The second girl was also injured and is unconscious."
"Why didn't the Ji family say anything at the time!" The Queen Mother slammed the table and said angrily.
Nanny Wan was so frightened that she kowtowed hard.
She was afraid, very afraid, but for the sake of her second daughter, she couldn't be afraid.
Otherwise, her girl would die.
She had been raising her since she was little, with her own child dying at birth, and all she had was her second daughter.
Nanny Wan leaned her forehead against the ground and said in a trembling voice, "The eldest daughter died. The master said it was the second daughter who caused the disaster. She said the second daughter was a calamity star. If the second daughter hadn't come back, the eldest daughter wouldn't have died. The entire Ji family was ruined by the second daughter."
"The master almost beat the second girl to death and locked her up in the woodshed."
"Later, three days later, the master opened the door of the woodshed and told the second girl that from now on she was Ji Yuanchu."
Nanny Wan raised her head. Her forehead was stained with blood, and blood flowed from her forehead into her eyes. She blinked and said through gritted teeth, "It was the master who asked the second daughter to take the eldest daughter's place. The master said that since the second daughter's name was not in the family tree anyway, there has only been one daughter in the eldest branch of the Ji family from beginning to end. That is the one who was engaged to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion."
"If the second lady doesn't agree, she will die."
"I beg the Empress Dowager for your understanding."
Nanny Wan held onto a glimmer of hope. The second young lady was also the legitimate daughter of the Ji family, not a daughter of an illegitimate family or a concubine. It was just a different name, so why couldn't she just let it go?!
The Queen Mother remained silent.
Ji Nan Ke supported Ji Shi and knelt down together, her little face half raised, with sincerity in her determined eyes.
"Empress Dowager, this matter was a complete mistake, and my aunt is innocent."
"She has been in the Gu family for eight years, managing household chores, being filial to her mother-in-law, and bearing children for her husband's family. My aunt has done nothing wrong! The Zhenguogong Mansion should consider her the head mistress."
The sleeve of her Taoist robe slipped down slightly, revealing the gauze wrapped around her wrist. Zhaoyang felt a little sorry and echoed, "Yes, Grandmother, no one in the capital has ever said anything bad about the Duke's wife. She has given birth to a son, and she has also been filial to the old Duke and filial to the Duke of Zhenguo. How can she not be called the legitimate wife?"
This made sense. The Queen Mother nodded silently.
Mourning for one’s parents-in-law is one of the “three things not to do”.
Furthermore, it was the late emperor's decision to grant the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion a marriage with the Ji family. Now that it has turned out like this, if the news gets out, even the late emperor will lose face.
It would be better to complete the marriage certificate and let the mistake go.
Ji Nan Ke observed his expression, raised her lips, and continued, "The grace of giving birth is greater than that of others, and the grace of raising a child is greater than that of heaven. My aunt raised the first wife's two children and treated them as her own. The Gu family brothers and sisters should also regard her as their mother." (Note 1)
Gu Zhizhuo sneered: "Praising me to death and deceiving me, you call that raising me?"
"You're sweet on the outside, but you're a dagger in your heart. You're saying this to me, brother and sister, as if they were your own children?"
"She's been married into the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion for eight years, embezzled funds, and sold off properties at a low price. Is this what you call fulfilling your duties?"
"As for observing mourning for my grandfather, I would like to ask you ladies, if it was during the mourning period, were the concubines and maids in your mansions not also required to observe mourning? Does it mean that after observing mourning, they must be treated as legitimate wives and first wives and worshipped with reverence from then on?"
"Of course that doesn't make sense!" One lady immediately said with a stern face, "A wife is equal to her husband, equal in body and soul. Without the Three Books and Six Ceremonies, it's like an unmediated marriage. How can it be compared to a wife?" (Note 2)
The others nodded in agreement.
There must be no ambiguity on this matter! This is the dignity of being the legitimate wife and the first wife.
Gu Zhizhuo pointed at Ji Shi and asked bluntly, "May I ask the Queen Mother, what is her status that makes my brother and I regard her as our mother?"
"Wife? No matchmaker, no engagement."
"Concubine? I am rude and uneducated."
"At most, she's just a concubine."
Gu Zhizhuo chuckled softly, "In my Great Qi Dynasty, the children of the first wife must regard the concubine as their mother?"
"A noble mansion must be run by a concubine?!"
Absurd! Princess Li said, "Empress Dowager, you must not set such a precedent. This will confuse the hierarchy."
Ji suddenly raised his head, and his whole body seemed to be greatly stimulated and was about to collapse.
The lady took Gu Zhizhuo's hand and said, "My daughter Zhuo is the most filial. Whoever says you are unfilial should get their eyes treated and their heart examined."
Ji Nanke choked.
Even without mentioning it explicitly, she could feel that the lady's words were directed at her.
Sure enough, the next moment, the lady continued, "You eat the Gu family's food, wear the Gu family's clothes, use the Gu family's things, and in the end, you hide behind the Gu family and stab them hard. You are just an ungrateful person!"
Ji Nanke:!
The Daqi Dynasty had been established for less than fifty years, but the Lady Dowager had been a noble lady for more than forty years. When she was reckless, she didn't care at all about the Empress Dowager's presence.
She bowed towards the Empress Dowager and said, "Your Majesty, my Gu family was deceived into marriage first, then deceived for eight years, and even lost countless gold, silver, and fertile land. I beg Your Majesty to help us."
Gu Zhizhuo turned to the Ji family and said, "The Ji family is deceiving the emperor by marrying in his place. They should be punished!"
"Miss Ji, the Gu family will get to the bottom of this."
The crime of deceiving the emperor will bring disaster to nine generations of the family.
Heaven favors Ji Nan Ke.
She will not be able to become the Third Prince's consort. Heaven will definitely help her and give her a chance to turn things around!
Gu Zhizhuo's eyes were filled with provocation as he continued to press, "No matter how much the Third Prince likes you, he will never marry a criminal as his principal wife. You will never get what you wish for."
"You're done!"
Ji Nan Ke lowered her eyes, and her feathery eyelashes covered her dark pupils.
"Aunt, please don't do anything stupid." Ji Nanke pinched Ji's palm, "Think about your cousin Yan. What will he do if anything happens to you?"
"Can you bear to let him live under someone else's roof like me?"
The Queen Mother had not yet made up her mind. As long as Ji died, she would still be the Lady of the Duke until her death. Even if her title of Lady of the Duke was taken away after her death, the Ji family would not be implicated because of her death.
It was like a sudden enlightenment for Ji, and she understood everything at once. She stood up with trembling knees, moving very slowly, and as she stood firm, she ran towards the pillar without hesitation.
The ladies were filled with panic and covered their faces, not daring to look.
Bang!
The guard stood in front of her, grabbed her shoulders and threw her to the ground.
A jade pendant unexpectedly rolled out from Ji's arms.
The Queen Mother was about to order Ji to be dragged away when she suddenly saw the jade pendant. She almost lost her composure and stood up, leaning forward, staring straight at the auspicious clouds and five-clawed dragon pattern on it.
In folk dragon patterns, the dragon pattern cannot have five claws or a dotted eye, but the dragon pattern above has a pair of lifelike eyes with lightning inside.
this……
The Queen Mother winked, and Aunt Yan, her personal attendant, was about to go over and pick up the jade pendant, but Gu Zhizhuo had already grabbed it. Playing with the pendant's string, she said without looking away, "Queen Mother, Ji is trying to threaten you with death."
"You can't just want to die."
She raised the jade pendant and said coldly, "Even if it means we have to fight to the death, my Gu family will seek justice!"
The Queen Mother was about to lose her temper when she saw Gu Zhizhuo staring straight at the jade pendant in his hand. This unreserved look made the Queen Mother subconsciously clench her hands.
"This matter," the Empress Dowager pondered over it again and again, and finally said, "The Ji family's marriage was granted by the late Emperor, and the Zhenguogong Mansion is a noble family of superb rank. With such a scandal happening, the Emperor must make the final decision."
"The Gu family is waiting for the emperor's justice."
Come on, if you want to save the Ji family, you have to pay the price I want!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
