"Oh--"
Shen Yuan chuckled softly, lowered her eyes to look at Jiang Shi, and smiled with a hint of sarcasm: "You've lived with my mother's name for seventeen years, and you've already forgotten what your own name is?"
Madam Jiang bit her lower lip tightly: "No, I...I am Jiang Qinxue, the only daughter of the Jiang family! Your father's lawfully wedded wife!"
"Do you dare swear on the lives of Shen Qingshu and Shen Changshu?"
"I..." Madam Jiang opened her mouth, but dared not reply.
Shen Yuan let out a cold snort: "Grandma is awake, and not only that, she remembers everything from the past! It was you! You pushed my mother into the water, causing her to have a premature birth, and then you tried to kill all three of us, my mother and me, killing my mother!"
"Granny Liu, are you awake?"
Jiang stared wide-eyed in disbelief. Wasn't that old woman about to die?
The imperial physician said he couldn't cure her. So many doctors have been brought in but none of them could cure her. How could she wake up?
And why did you start thinking about things from the past after you woke up?
But if she hadn't regained her memories, how would Shen Yuan have known all this?
She was the only witness back then!
A look of panic flashed across Jiang's face, but she quickly calmed down. So what if the truth of what happened back then was exposed?
She had been married to Shen Wei for seventeen years and had given birth to two sons and a daughter for the Shen family; her daughter was even the Crown Princess. Her position was absolutely not something that brat Shen Yuan could easily shake!
What is she afraid of?
And so what if Granny Liu identifies her? Does that mean that if Granny Liu says she is Jiang Qingshuang, then she is Jiang Qingshuang?
What persuasive power does an old woman like her have?
Perhaps anticipating what Madam Jiang was thinking, Shen Yuan suddenly said, "When Grandma woke up, I sent someone to the Jiang family to invite the two elders over. After all, they know best what happened back then!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang crawled to the bedside in terror.
"What...what have you done to my parents?"
"Nothing much," Shen Yuan sneered. "I just used a few tricks to get them to tell the truth."
Jiang gritted her teeth, glaring at Shen Yuan with intense resentment: "My father and mother are so old, how can they endure torture? If you kill them, I will definitely report you to the authorities and make you pay with your life!"
After uttering those harsh words, Jiang Shi climbed off the bed, knelt a few steps, and approached Shen Wei, grabbing his clothes and crying, "Husband! I really am Xue'er. We first met by the river in Yanbei. When you proposed to me, you swore to be my one and only for life, and I still remember it! I know everything that happened between our first meeting, our getting to know each other, and our falling in love. I really am Xue'er!"
"You've never doubted me all these years, how can you doubt your husband just because of what that old woman said? Maybe that old woman and this brat are working together to harm me!"
Shen Wei lowered his head, the dim candlelight casting a wisp of ash between his brows.
The once mighty general now looked utterly dejected, as if he had aged several years overnight. He looked wearily at Jiang and asked, "From what day did you begin to take her place?"
"Was it the day I heard she had fallen into the water and rushed back from the army?"
"Or was it even earlier, the moment she fell into the water, that you secretly switched her identity at the Jiang family's house and returned to the Shen family in her place?"
Jiang looked up and saw the disgust in Shen Wei's eyes. She felt as if she had been slapped across the face. There was no sound, but the pain made her want to cry.
She had been with Shen Wei for seventeen years. Was seventeen years of day and night companionship not as valuable as the year Jiang Qinxue appeared?
Is she really that inferior to Jiang Qinxue?
They clearly have the same face, so why can Shen Wei love Jiang Qinxue but not him?
Jiang slumped to the ground, her shoulders drooping, tears streaming down her face like a burst dam.
Shen Wei continued, "So, the person I rushed back to, killing three Akhal-Teke horses and burning with anxiety... was you?"
"Yes! It's me! Aren't you disappointed? Frustrated? Hard to accept?"
Jiang wiped away her tears, looked up at Shen Wei, and grinned, laughing heartily. She seemed ready to break off all ties with Shen Wei and throw caution to the wind.
"But so what?"
"You've shared a bed with me for seventeen years!"
"You even made me have three children for you! We're already husband and wife!"
"Shut up!" Shen Wei shouted angrily, raising his hand to grab Jiang Shi's neck, stopping her from continuing.
The more Shen Wei tried to stop Jiang Shi from speaking, the harsher her words became.
"Ahem... Dare you say that all these years, you've never doubted that I'm not Jiang Qinxue? My personality is completely different from hers, you should have noticed that long ago! But you didn't dare to admit it, you didn't dare to face it! You and I both thought that as long as this fig leaf between us wasn't torn off, we would just make do day by day! Am I right?"
These words were like a venomous whip, lashing Shen Wei's hand so hard that his hands, which were gripping Jiang's neck, instantly lost all strength.
"Cough cough cough!"
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jiang broke free and ran to the side, panting heavily.
Shen Wei staggered two steps and collapsed beside the bed, his chest heaving violently as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Shen Yuan stepped forward and used a fine needle to seal Shen Wei's heart meridian, then glanced at Bai Zhi, who was guarding the bedroom door: "Have the two elders of the Jiang family arrived?"
Jiang was taken aback.
Bai Zhi replied, "I just arrived and I'm waiting outside the courtyard right now."
Shen Yuan: "Bring her in!"
Bai Zhi turned and went out, and soon returned holding an oil-paper umbrella, followed by Master Jiang and Madam Jiang.
The Jiang family elders had no idea why Shen Wei had invited them over in the middle of the night, but seeing Jiang Shi sitting on the ground with tears streaming down her face and Shen Wei's clothes stained with blood, they assumed the couple had quarreled and hurriedly came in to comfort them, saying, "What happened? What could have caused this between husband and wife? How did things get like this?"
Shen Yuan spoke before Jiang Shi could: "I invited you two here to ask you only one question: Did you know about Jiang Qingshuang pushing my mother into the water?"
Mr. and Mrs. Jiang froze, staring at Shen Yuan in shock before turning to look at Madam Jiang.
But Shen Yuan didn't give Jiang a chance to speak.
"She has already admitted it."
Although Jiang knew that Shen Yuan had just tricked her, and that her parents hadn't explained anything, her background had already been exposed, so Jiang didn't bother to deny it anymore.
All she wanted to know was whether, even if she were Jiang Qingshuang, Shen Wei would still act as a couple with a facade of harmony but no real relationship with her.
After all, she had been with him for seventeen years...
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