“I am General Ji’s widow.”
After knocking on the main gate of the Ji Mansion, Feng Qingsui announced her identity with a sorrowful expression.
A strange look appeared on the gatekeeper’s face.
“Why is there another one?” he muttered under his breath.
Another one?
Feng Qingsui’s heart sank slightly.
Could it be…
When she followed a servant into the mansion with her maid, she saw a young woman in the main hall, sitting in a grand master’s chair with a three or four-year-old boy in her arms. At that, her heart sank completely.
She wasn’t the only one who had come to be the late General Ji’s widow!
The other woman had even brought a child!
Before coming, she had considered every possibility, but it had never occurred to her that someone else would show up to claim kinship at the same time.
It was all the fault of that “Confiscation Chancellor.”
If he hadn’t raided the homes of three families she had planned to seek refuge with in a row, leaving her with nowhere to turn, she wouldn’t have run to the Ji Mansion in a fit of pique. And this accident would never have happened!
She sat down in a chair on the other side, her face tense.
While the maid served tea, she took a couple more glances at the child. Seeing that his features bore a thirty to forty percent resemblance to the General Ji she had once seen, her heart sank even further.
Could this mother and son truly be Ji Changfeng’s wife and child?
She only wanted to infiltrate a prominent household to uncover the truth behind her sister’s family’s annihilation and avenge them; she had never intended to usurp anyone’s identity…
The sister was not her biological sister.
Born blind, she had been abandoned in a mass grave. Her sister, who was there to pay respects to her own parents, found her, brought her back to the Charity Orphanage, and cared for her as she grew up.
When she was eleven, her sister married Jiang Jiyan. She left the capital with a master she had just met to seek a cure for her eyes.
Seven years passed since that parting.
Half a month ago, she had returned to the capital, filled with excitement for a reunion with her sister.
But when she arrived at the Jiang residence, all she found was a field of ruins.
Upon asking around, she learned that her sister’s daughter had drowned half a year ago. Subsequently, her brother-in-law had angered the Emperor, was thrown into the Heavenly Prison, and died there.
Overcome with grief, her sister suffered a miscarriage and died.
Her brother-in-law’s widowed mother went to a temple in the suburbs to light an Eternal Lamp for them. On her way back, her horse was spooked, and she fell from a cliff to her death.
In less than ten days, a perfectly fine family had all met their demise.
The neighbors sighed endlessly.
“…When the servants of the Jiang residence were holding a wake for the old madam, a fire accidentally started, and they were all burned to death…”
Feng Qingsui refused to believe such a series of coincidences could happen in this world.
Her sister’s family had definitely been exterminated.
After discovering that her sister’s daughter had drowned in the Rongchang Marquis Mansion on the day of the Old Madam of Rongchang’s sixtieth birthday, she had a gut feeling that her sister’s family’s death was inextricably linked to the Rongchang Marquis Mansion.
But investigating the truth was difficult.
The Rongchang Marquis Mansion was the Empress’s maternal home. The estate occupied an entire street, and the servants who personally attended to the masters were all born into servitude and lived within the mansion.
She couldn’t even get close to these servants, let alone their masters.
After much thought, she concluded that only by infiltrating a prominent family could she hope to uncover a clue or two.
Who would have thought that a Ji Changqing would appear out of nowhere…
The child, sensing her gaze, bared his teeth and made a face at her.
Looking at the wide gap between his front teeth, Feng Qingsui suddenly recalled something her master had once mentioned, and the turmoil in her heart instantly calmed.
She returned a smile.
The young woman frowned, eyeing Feng Qingsui with a wary expression.
A tall, slender figure with a devastatingly handsome face strode in from the right-side entrance of the hall.
It was none other than the “Confiscation Chancellor,” Ji Changqing.
Ji Changqing undid his cloak and handed it to a waiting maid. He walked to the grand master’s chair at the head of the hall, lifted the hem of his robe, and sat down.
“My elder brother lived a solitary life, yet two widows have appeared after his death. If the world were to know of this, I fear they would think my brother was no different from those philandering rakes who leave a trail of romance everywhere.”
“I wonder how my brother has offended you two, that you would seek to ruin his lifelong reputation?”
Only then did the young woman realize that Feng Qingsui was also there to claim kinship. She said indignantly, “Second Master, how can you lump me in with a common swindler!”
“Our An Ge’er looks so much like the Eldest Master. Anyone who sees him would know he is the Eldest Master’s child.”
She pushed the child forward slightly so that Ji Changqing could see his face more clearly.
Then she shot a contemptuous glance at Feng Qingsui.
“Unlike some people, who you can tell at a glance are here to swindle. Daring to try and deceive the Second Master, you truly don’t know what’s good for you.”
Feng Qingsui’s face was calm. “This child of yours doesn’t look like General Ji.”
Just as the young woman was about to retort, Ji Changqing interrupted.
“In what way does he not look like him?” he asked, looking at Feng Qingsui with great interest.
“His teeth,” Feng Qingsui replied. “A parent’s dental condition is often passed down to their children.”
“This child has a large gap between his front teeth. General Ji had a full set of perfectly straight teeth with no gaps. This lady’s front teeth are also quite close together. Why is the child so different from them?”
“His biological father must be someone else.”
A trace of panic flashed in the young woman’s eyes.
“Nonsense!” she snapped. “An Ge’er’s gap is from gnawing on bones! Just look at his eyes and brows—he’s the spitting image of the Eldest Master!”
Feng Qingsui said, “I’ve heard that the men of the Ji family all inherit the ‘peach blossom eyes’ of their ancestor, Jiangzhou’s Most Handsome Man. Even if this child’s eyes and brows resemble General Ji’s, it’s not enough to prove he is General Ji’s son.”
“The young lady has a point.”
Ji Changqing suddenly spoke.
“This child’s appearance doesn’t much resemble my elder brother. He does, however, look exactly like one of the Ji clan’s relatives.”
The young woman covered her face and wailed, “Second Master, if you don’t want An Ge’er to be acknowledged by the family, so be it, but why must you humiliate me like this! How could I not know with whom I had a child!”
“Four years ago, the Eldest Master returned to the capital to report on his duties. He took a group of his brothers to Paiyun Tower for drinks. I was a singer at Paiyun Tower and was unfortunately drugged and sent to the room where the Eldest Master was resting in his drunken state…”
“When I woke up the next day, I fled in a panic. It was only later, when I discovered I was pregnant and wanted to find the Eldest Master to clear things up, that I learned he had already left the capital.”
“I had no choice but to give birth to the child alone, raising him while I waited for the Eldest Master to return. Who knew that the news I would be waiting for was such a tragedy…”
After listening, Ji Changqing quietly looked at the young woman.
“Are you saying my brother got drunk and, in a stupor, things happened between you?”
The young woman nodded. “Exactly!”
“There’s something you might not know,” Ji Changqing said nonchalantly. “My elder brother gets short of breath the moment he drinks alcohol. He has always been a teetotaler and would never have been in the situation you described.”
The young woman was stunned. “How can that be? That night, it was clearly…”
“Go make up your story for another family.”
Ji Changqing waved his hand.
“Someone, see our guest out.”
The young woman still wanted to argue, but two maids who had been waiting at the side grabbed her arms and dragged her out. The child followed them away, his face filled with alarm.
Watching this scene, Feng Qingsui felt a little conflicted.
It was certainly a good thing that her rival had failed, but Ji Changqing had dismissed the woman with just a few words. He was clearly not easy to fool.
She wondered if she could fool him…
Turning her head, she met Ji Changqing’s all-seeing gaze, and her heart skipped a beat.
“Alright, now it’s your turn.”
Ji Changqing took a sip of tea and leaned back in his chair, assuming the posture of someone settling in to watch a play.
“I hope the story you’ve fabricated is a little more thorough than hers.”
Feng Qingsui: “…”
She was silent for a moment, then slowly began to speak.