The Suzhou embroidered peacock on the rosewood screen shone brilliantly in the candlelight. Jiang Baichuan wheeled his wheelchair to a stop in front of the antique display case. His fingertips brushed against the broken-winged jade crane—the very one Jiang Yuyao had accidentally broken earlier last month.
"Liao Xianxian is Yuyao's cousin." Jiang Baichuan looked at the green jade brush washer that Jiang Yuyao had given him at Duobao Pavilion. The cracks on the glaze spread like spider webs. "Three years ago, my mother wanted to sell her, but Yuyao begged for her and left her here."
Jiang Jinzhao dropped the teacup on the table. He suddenly remembered last Mid-Autumn Festival, when Liao Xianxian held Jiang Yuyao's favorite sweet-scented osmanthus cake and burned the back of her hand red. At that time, Jiang Yuyao said that the maid was clumsy, which turned out to be a cover-up for her blood relationship.
"Yuyao." Jiang Jinzhao looked at his concubine, huddled in the corner. The moon-white skirt she wore today, trimmed with silver thread, made her look even more elegant than the legitimate daughter's. The wind filtering in through the window lattice lifted her sleeves, revealing the gold-inlaid jade bracelet on her wrist—the one he had sent back from Jiangnan last month as a gift for her coming-of-age ceremony.
Yu Chuwei suddenly chuckled. The kingfisher butterfly hairpin in her hair fluttered, ready to fly. "Second Miss Jiang is so funny, letting her own cousin be a foot-washing maid?" The jeweled armor brushed against Liao Xianxian's swollen cheek. "With such kindness, no wonder she's throwing dirty water on the Linchuan County Lady."
Jiang Yuyao dug her nails into her palms. She had intended to use the scars on Liao Xianxian's face to prove Jiang Songyi's harsh treatment of his servants, but she hadn't expected Jiang Baichuan to expose her true colors. She caught a glimpse of Liao Xianxian's cowering expression and wished she could kick the idiot out.
"My cousin treats me very well." Liao Xianxian suddenly knelt on the ground, and the sleeves of her coarse cloth slipped down, revealing the old whip marks on her arms. "I did it voluntarily!" When she raised her head, she deliberately revealed the bruises on her neck, which were caused by Jiang Yuyao hitting her with a jade ruyi this morning.
Yu Chuwei covered the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief. The interweaving of scars, old and new, was even more dramatic than the melancholy drama on stage. She glanced at the servant peering out the door and deliberately raised her voice, "It turns out that the Linchuan County Master is so kindhearted that she's willing to take in even the cousin of her enemy."
Jiang Yuyao trembled all over. She remembered that rainy night three years ago, when her stepmother, Xu, had redeemed Liao Xianxian from the brothel, Jiang Songyi had stood in the corridor, sneering. Now this lowly servant had imitated Jiang Songyi's expression. Damn it!
"Enough!" Jiang Jinzhao suddenly slammed the table. The celadon teacup on the table fell over and rolled to the side of Jiang Baichuan's wheelchair. He looked at his clever half-sister, and suddenly remembered what the academy's headmaster had said last year: "The ginseng soup your sister sent me has strangely conflicting medicinal properties."
Jiang Baichuan leaned over to pick up the tea pet, the glaze gleaming coldly on his pale fingertips. "Yuyao, do you know why the Liao family was convicted?" He wheeled his wheelchair closer to Jiang Yuyao. "Three years ago, Master Liao impeached the Ministry of Revenue for financial losses, but before the memorial even left Cangzhou, it was attacked by bandits."
Jiang Yuyao stumbled back, her embroidered shoes catching on the hem of her skirt. Of course she knew—those "bandit" waist badges were clearly engraved with the emblem of the Duke of Jingguo's Mansion. Otherwise, why would her stepmother be so eager to sever ties with the Liao family?
Yu Chuwei suddenly cried out, "Ouch!" and pulled a half-bloodstained handkerchief from Liao Xianxian's arms. Embroidered on the corner of the handkerchief was the crooked Chinese character "窈" (meaning "窈"), which was the one Jiang Yuyao had given to a servant when she came of age: "It's a pity to give such precious material to a maid."
"Give it back to me!" Jiang Yuyao pounced forward to grab it, the golden thread in her hair catching Yu Chuwei's pearl necklace. There was a crackling sound, and the pearls rolled all over the ground, just like her shattered plan.
Suddenly, the sound of rings and pendants jingled outside the door. Xu, holding the hand of her maid, entered. Seeing the mess on the floor, her face darkened. "Zhao'er rarely comes home, what's the fuss?" She glanced at Liao Xianxian's face and suddenly sneered, "Isn't this Miss Liao? When I sold you three years ago, I gave you a travel permit."
Jiang Baichuan turned his wheelchair to block Liao Xianxian: "Mother may have forgotten Miss Liao's indenture." He took out a yellowed piece of paper from his sleeve, "It was a living contract."
The room was dead silent.
Jiang Yuyao stared at the thin paper and finally understood why Liao Xianxian had never dared to betray her—it turned out that her life and death were always in the hands of her stepmother. She suddenly laughed out loud, realizing that she was the clown on the stage.
Thunder roared outside the window, and heavy rain poured down. Liao Xianxian looked at Jiang Yuyao's distorted face and suddenly remembered that rainy night three years ago. When Jiang Songyi handed her the indenture contract, he said, "Remember, it's never your master who can save you."
Jiang Yuyao's slender fingers clutched the handkerchief tightly, their knuckles turning white. The gentlemen who had just cast a look of pity at her were now whispering to each other, their lips covered, the rustling sound more piercing than the autumn cicadas.
"Everyone, please look at this girl's face." Yu Chuwei suddenly grabbed Liao Xianxian's wrist. Five red, swollen finger marks crisscrossed the girl's face, like a spider web. Blood at the corners of her mouth formed dark red beads, making her pale complexion even more terrifying.
The crowd gasped. A young woman in a moon-white skirt trembled and said, "This... This must have taken 100% of her strength."
"If you ask me..." Yao Zhe leaned against the vermilion lacquer column, the jade pendant on his waist belt jingling, "Second Miss Jiang is worthy of being the descendant of the Jiang family's military family. Her strength is better than us men." He deliberately glanced in the direction of Jiang Jinzhao, and saw that the other party's brows were furrowed, and the smile on the corner of his mouth deepened.
Xinyi Zigu stroked his jade ring, his dark python-patterned uniform gleaming coldly in the sunlight. "I had someone investigate the day before yesterday. The drowning incident last year was a misunderstanding. Miss Jiang nearly drowned while saving her younger sister, yet rumors circulated that she pushed someone into the water. This is truly absurd." He glanced at Jiang Yuyao's face, which had instantly turned pale. "We've learned from this previous experience. Please don't spread false rumors any further."
Jiang Yuyao stumbled half a step, her pearl hairpin bumping against the porch pillar. She clearly remembered that day in the pleasure boat, when the Fourth Prince had witnessed Jiang Songyi kicking her into the lake, yet now he was turning black into white. Her nails dug deep into her palm, and she suddenly smelled blood—she had broken flesh.
"Your Highness!" Jiang Yuyao was about to cry, "That day on the pleasure boat."
"Enough." Xinyi Zigu interrupted coldly, "Gu Nian, you are about to enter the mansion as a concubine, so there is no need to say some things too clearly." When he turned around, the corners of his robe fluttered, and the dragon-patterned forbidden steps on his waist made a crisp sound, startling the sparrows under the eaves and making them fly away.
Yu Chuwei took the opportunity to support the staggering Liao Xianxian, and an apricot-colored shawl brushed across the girl's swollen cheeks: "My dear sister, please stop crying. Be careful not to let your tears marinate the wound." She turned to the crowd and suddenly raised her voice, "Please judge for yourself! Even if a servant made a mistake, the master should punish him according to the family rules. But this person—" She pointed her finger at Jiang Yuyao, "actually beat up my blood cousin in the street!"
"I didn't!" Jiang Yuyao's voice trembled with anxiety, "It was her."
"Don't panic, Sister Yuyao," Yu Chuwei interrupted with a smile. "Your cousin just admitted that you were punished because she vomited from motion sickness and soiled your clothes." She shook out the stained hem of Liao Xianxian's skirt. "Coincidentally, I have three sets of clean clothes in the carriage, if you don't mind."
"Miss Yu, be careful with your words!" Jiang Yuyao trembled with anger. This tactic of retreating to advance was familiar to her—last year at the flower viewing banquet, she had publicly "gifted" Jiang Songyi embroidered shoes in this way, solidifying her reputation as a domineering person. Now that this soft knife had stabbed her, she realized how piercing it was.
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