Winter, with snow blanketing the earth in white.
Outside the courtyard, the pink walls were covered in frost, and willow branches swayed gently in the wind.
Outside Guanyuan Garden of the Shen residence, the snow reached knee-deep.
A young woman, having shed her luxurious and intricate warm clothing, knelt in the icy, snow-covered ground.
The relentless wind and snow battered her body, leaving her lotus-like, moon-bright face pale and her lips trembling. Even her delicate eyebrows were obscured by the biting cold.
The stewardess of Guanyuan Garden had initially come out joyfully to welcome their eldest young lady back from her medical studies. However, as soon as she stepped through the moon gate and crossed the corridor, she saw the Shen family’s cherished daughter kneeling in the snow.
Stewardess Yan’s legs gave way, and she fell to her knees with a thud, crawling toward the young girl. “Eldest Young Lady, you’ve studied medicine for six years. Old Madam and Madam have been eagerly awaiting your return. How can you kneel in the snow? Please get up—the ground is too cold.”
The young girl kneeling before her was none other than the Shen family’s eldest young lady, Shen Wan, who had just returned from her medical studies. She was also the soul reborn from hell—Shen Wan!
She never imagined that when she opened her eyes, she would return to the year she was nine years old.
That year, she had just been taken by her master to Muxian Mountain to study medicine.
It wasn’t until she turned fifteen that she completed her studies and left the mountain, becoming the most outstanding physician of her generation in the Medical Sect.
During those six years, she secretly investigated her origins, uncovering the truth behind her exchange with Shen Lian all those years ago.
Now, she had finally found some clues.
She was indeed not the legitimate daughter of the Shen family.
“Suisui, why are you kneeling on the ground? Hurry and help the eldest young lady up.” Old Madam Shen approached from another corridor. Seeing Shen Wan kneeling in the snow in thin clothing, she stepped directly into the snow and walked toward her.
The “Suisui” Old Madam Shen referred to was Shen Wan’s childhood name.
At the same time, Madam Shen and the two young masters of the Shen family also arrived.
Shen Wan’s gaze swept over the members of the Shen family one by one.
Following behind Madam Shen was the eldest son, Shen Chengxiao, and the second son, Shen Chengfeng.
The woman wearing the floral-patterned cloak was her adoptive mother, Jing Miaoyi!
Only her adoptive father, Shen Zhengyi, and the third, fourth, and fifth sons of the Shen family were absent.
But it didn’t matter—those present were enough.
Old Madam Shen had already reached her and grasped her hand, saying, “Suisui, get up quickly.”
Madam Shen also approached and instructed her two sons beside her, “Quickly, drape your cloaks over your sister…”
“Suisui…” The eldest young master of the Shen family, Shen Chengxiao, immediately removed his cloak and walked toward Shen Wan. But just as he reached her side…
Shen Wan suddenly kowtowed heavily and said, “Grandmother, Mother, Eldest Brother, there’s no need.”
What did she mean, “no need”?
Old Madam Shen and Madam Shen were both confused and bewildered.
The second son, Shen Chengfeng, said, “Suisui, did someone outside bully you? Tell your second brother.”
“Second Brother, no one bullied me. It’s just… I’m afraid I will disappoint Grandmother, Mother, and all my brothers.”
“What do you mean, Suisui? Stand up and speak. Don’t kneel—stand up and let’s talk inside.” Old Madam Shen’s eyes reddened with urgency as she tried to help Shen Wan up.
Shen Wan instead grasped Old Madam Shen’s wrist, tears welling in her eyes as she shook her head. “On my way back to the Shen residence, I saved a father and daughter. The girl was born in the same year, month, and day as me, and her name is Zhong Lian.”
At this, Shen Wan looked up at Madam Shen. “When I first saw her, I felt her appearance bore a striking resemblance to Mother.”
“There are many women who resemble Mother in appearance, and countless others share your exact birthdate. Kneeling in the icy snow for this matter not only harms yourself but also worries Grandmother and Mother. Suisui, please rise first and speak.” Shen Chengxiao finished speaking and reached out to help her up.
However, Shen Wan’s words caused Shen Chengxiao to pause his movement: “When Mother gave birth to me, she encountered floods and landslides on her way back to her maternal home and was stranded in Anlin Village, leading to her premature delivery of a daughter.”
“The family that took Mother in also gave birth to a daughter on the same day. Mother placed the longevity lock that Grandmother had commissioned in advance on the child.”
“But I heard from Nanny Yan that the longevity lock later went missing. Grandmother then had another identical one made for me. Yet, on that woman, I saw her wearing a lock identical to mine.”
“If it were an ordinary longevity lock, it might not matter, but the lotus and koi pattern on that lock matches the one I wear, and it is also engraved with the character ‘Sui’.”
“Filled with doubt, I inquired with the woman’s father and learned that she was a child he had picked up from a mountain gully while passing through Anlin Village.”
“Thus, I deliberately returned to Anlin Village, found the family that had sheltered Mother back then, and learned the truth from them…”
It turned out that back then, it was not that family who secretly swapped her and Shen Lian; rather, it was her adoptive father, Shen Zhengyi, who orchestrated everything…
Shen Lian had a palm-sized black birthmark on her left cheek. Shen Zhengyi despised Shen Lian, and since she was born prematurely with a wrinkled face, he considered her inauspicious and feared she would frighten the elderly lady if brought home.
Moreover, in the Shang Kingdom, there was an unwritten rule that all empresses throughout history came from the Shen family. With Shen Lian’s appearance, she could never become the future empress.
To preserve the honor and mission of the Shen family, Shen Zhengyi forcibly swapped the fully developed, three-day-old Shen Wan with Shen Lian. He paid off the family to keep silent and, before leaving the village, poisoned the couple to render them mute, then ordered them to bury Shen Lian.
Steward Zhong likely found Shen Lian around that time.
Of course, Shen Wan did not tell Jing Miaoyi that it was Shen Zhengyi who swapped her and Shen Lian’s identities.
She believed that once Jing Miaoyi learned the truth, she would confront Shen Zhengyi for an explanation.
What she looked forward to even more was that in this lifetime, without the medicine she had prepared to help Shen Lian remove the fetal toxin and restore her appearance, whether the Shen family would still cherish Shen Lian and hold her dear…
Soon, Jing Miaoyi sent someone to bring Shen Lian back to the mansion, and the eldest son of the Shen family immediately went to the palace to inform his father, Shen Zhengyi, about the matter.
Upon learning that his biological daughter was alive and had been brought back to the Minister’s Mansion, Shen Zhengyi frowned angrily and said, “This is absurd.”
“Master, shouldn’t you give me an explanation? The young lady I have raised for fifteen years turns out to be someone else’s child.” As soon as Shen Zhengyi returned to the mansion, he went to the South Wing Pavilion, where Jing Miaoyi asked with reddened eyes.
Shen Zhengyi replied, “Suisui has now grown into an elegant young woman. She is the favored disciple of the Sacred Physician of Muxian Mountain, well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics, proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and possesses dignified and graceful manners. What more could you possibly find lacking in such a clever and beautiful daughter? Why bring that other child back?”
Jing Miaoyi was stunned: “Master, your words… I don’t understand. You…”
“Master, Madam, she has been brought back.” Nanny Song entered from outside, interrupting their conversation.
Shen Zhengyi said, “No need to tell her her identity just yet. You have seen her yourself, so we shall discuss it later.”
Jing Miaoyi was filled with doubt, utterly confused by Shen Zhengyi’s reaction. When she saw Shen Lian’s true face beneath the veil, she nearly fainted.
The black birthmark on Shen Lian’s face had not faded with time; instead, as she grew older, the mark had darkened and spread toward the bridge of her nose. The entire left side of her face was slightly raised by the birthmark, making it shockingly hideous.
How could she resemble her in any way?
No, if she wore a veil, she would still look quite similar. Shen Lian’s eyes and brows were strikingly like Jing Miaoyi’s.
When Nanny Song first saw her, she thought she looked exactly like Jing Miaoyi in her youth.
But who could have known that beneath the veil lay a face as ghastly as a demon or a yaksha, nauseating to behold.
Jing Miaoyi only glanced from afar before quickly turning back to her own courtyard. “Master, that thing on her face…”
“It is innate,” Shen Zhengyi replied calmly to Jing Miaoyi. Recalling the night fifteen years ago, he sighed and said, “You know as well that our Shen family is different from others. When you were pregnant with the last child, the entire family, even the Empress, hoped for a girl, to ensure the continuation of the phoenix throne through the Shen family. But with the child growing into such a state, how could I dare present her to the Empress?”
“So, Shen Wan is the child of that family in Anlin Village?” Jing Miaoyi asked.
Shen Zhengyi did not deny it. “She was born three days earlier than our child and was full-term. I saw that she looked exceptionally beautiful, fair and tender, with a face full of fortune. Such an appearance should have been our daughter’s, so I took the child from that family.”
Having long navigated the officialdom, experienced countless schemes and deceptions, and witnessed too much darkness, he spoke of this matter with an unruffled expression.
“If you truly wish to bring her back to the Shen residence, it is not impossible. We can announce to the outside that she and Suisui are twin sisters, ranking as the second daughter. She has been frail since childhood and remained at the estate to recuperate. Now that she has reached the age of coming of age, she has returned to the capital to discuss marriage. As for Shen Wan, she must remain the legitimate eldest daughter of our Shen family, the future Empress!”