Marquis Zhongyi was summoned to Shou Kang Garden as soon as he returned to his residence. He did not have the same debt-collecting look as before. Cen Shi must have something important to discuss with him at this time.
"You went to the Wei family today, but what happened?" He went straight to the point.
"We've found Xiao Si," Cen said, her voice slightly excited.
She was actually still a little dazed at this moment, and she actually found it.
Ever since she learned that Jiang Chengyi, whom the Marquis's family had raised for fifteen years, was a fake, she hadn't had a good night's sleep. She went to great lengths to go to Qingxi Pavilion, hoping to get the artifact to tell her where the real young master was, but she was never able to do so.
After all this time, I never expected my own son to be so close.
"Which one—" Marquis Zhongyi was about to ask when he suddenly realized who Cen was referring to, and he was startled: "Who is it? The one you met at the Wei family banquet?"
"It's Wei Sheng."
"Wei Sheng? Are you sure you're not mistaken? How could it be him?" Marquis Zhongyi frowned, trying hard to recall what Wei Sheng looked like. However, he rarely went to the Wei family, since he really had nothing to say to Wei Xian and would avoid him if possible.
“It was him, the artifact said it himself, there’s no mistake. These two cousins were born on the same day, only a few hours apart. Also, at that time, Cen Jie and I were living together at Fajue Temple. The mountain was blocked by heavy snow, and we couldn’t go down the mountain at all. I never expected it to be activated.”
Ever since she learned that her child had been switched, Ms. Cen has been recalling the scene of her childbirth, and many vague memories have gradually come back to her.
Madam Cen pushed a note over: "This note was sent from Qingxi Pavilion. The third son's wife said directly that someone threw it into her yard. She couldn't find out who it was and didn't dare to look at it randomly, so she handed it over to me to decide."
The Marquis of Loyalty opened the note and saw two lines written on it: "A pair of fire phoenixes flew into the Marquis's mansion. The phoenix is real, but the dragon is fake. The real phoenix is Wei Jialang, and the cousins are so confused they can't tell the difference."
He looked at it for a long time, then held the note up to the oil lamp, his eyes squinting.
When Cen saw him like this, she immediately rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Can't you read? Why do you need to look at it for so long?"
"Tsk, of course I can read, but what does the note mean?"
“I won’t believe you just because I say you’re illiterate. A pair of fire phoenixes flew into the Marquis’s mansion, which means I gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The phoenix is male and the dragon is female, which means the girl is of the Jiang family bloodline and the boy is fake. You can understand the last sentence, right?” Cen explained in a rough tone.
Marquis Zhongyi coughed lightly and burned the note on the candle flame: "I understand both sentences, but I was a little slow to react. This third wife is really something. She's not exactly a talented woman. Couldn't she have written more directly? Why did she have to make it so convoluted?"
"She's trying to pretend to be a master. Masters naturally talk a lot of nonsense, unlike you. Let's not talk about that and get back to the point. After the child was born, she never left the room, and there were countless old women and maids watching over her. How could she have switched the baby in front of everyone? I really can't figure it out."
"It's alright, if you can't remember, just check. There were so many people there, someone must remember clearly," Marquis Zhongyi said coldly.
Cen was a new mother who was exhausted after giving birth to twins. She had no energy to take care of the children and could only rely on the people around her to serve her.
As for the Marquis of Zhongyi, he was in his residence at the time, and due to the heavy snow blocking the mountain passes, news could not be transmitted. He didn't even know that Lady Cen had already given birth.
"All the servants who served me at Fajue Temple back then, as long as they are still alive, have been brought back and are waiting for the Marquis to return. I will interrogate them first, and if they do not confess, then the Marquis can use torture to force them to confess." Cen Shi clearly had this plan as well, and the preparations were already made.
In fact, ever since they learned that the children had been switched, Cen Shi and Marquis Zhongyi had been investigating.
However, since they didn't know where the real young master had ended up, and were afraid of alerting the enemy and having them kill him to silence him, leaving no evidence, the people they sent out were very careful in their investigation.
Every servant who was working at Fajue Temple at that time has been being watched these days.
They reported in detail where they went, who they met, and what they did.
But they found nothing. All these people acted normally, as if the children being switched was just an illusion.
Now that they finally know who the real young master is, Madam Cen immediately ordered them all to be brought back without any further hesitation.
The couple exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.
***
Inside Shou Kang Garden, several old men and women were kneeling on the ground. They were all prominent managers or shopkeepers' wives outside, but when they came to Cen Shi, they still had to kneel if they made a mistake.
“I’ll ask you one more time: fifteen years ago, on the night I gave birth to Yi Ge’er and Yu Jie’er at Fajue Temple, did anyone have any wicked thoughts or commit any heinous crimes?” Cen Ying sat in her chair and asked coldly.
Her voice wasn't very loud, about the same volume as usual, but the icy aura that swept over them instantly made everyone shiver.
Having served as the Lady of the Marquis for so many years, holding a high position and managing the household affairs, Lady Cen was usually rather aloof. Now, when she put on her imposing manner, her accumulated power was even more profound, making her difficult to resist.
"No, Madam Hou, I was just a doorman and errand boy at the time. I couldn't get into the inner room at all, and I didn't see the Fourth Master and the eldest daughter then."
"That's all I knew. I only had a maidservant who did odd jobs outside. I only heard the child crying, and I didn't know anything else."
"At that time, I was a second-class maid and could only watch from the side. I had no chance to get close to the Fourth Master and the eldest young lady."
"Yes, besides the midwife, the only people who can hold Fourth Master and the eldest daughter are Sister Caihua and Sister Suyi."
"Yes, these two were the head maids who served the Lady of the Marquis. Only the two of them were allowed to hug the Fourth Master and the eldest daughter. No one else dared to touch them."
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