The largest and most luxurious mansion outside the capital.
Half a month had passed since the day of the chrysanthemum viewing at Hanshan Temple, and Mu Jiaojiao had uncovered the truth behind the accident.
She clutched the thin piece of paper, feeling its immense weight; on it was written the name Mu Mingzhu.
Mu Jiaojiao couldn’t believe that the person who harmed her was her cousin. The two had grown up together; they were practically sisters.
Mu Jiaojiao immediately took all the evidence to her father. The head of the Mu family also knew about his daughter’s near fall.
He had ordered a thorough investigation, but the investigation only concluded it was an accident, so he beat the coachman and threw him out of the mansion.
Now, his daughter had come to him, claiming her niece had tried to harm her; he was completely bewildered.
Mu Jiaojiao knelt on the ground, tears streaming down her face. She would never forget the crisis of that day.
That cliff was so high; she would have been crippled if not killed.
“Father, you must avenge me! If it weren’t for my benefactor, Sister, saving me, I would be buried in the ground by now.”
The head of the Mu family helped her up and asked carefully, “Jiaojiao, how can you be so sure it was Mingzhu who did it?”
After all, he had investigated for a long time without finding the truth. Mu Jiaojiao stood up and wiped away her tears.
“I deliberately set up a trap, saying that I was going boating on the lake today, and I specially asked Shuxiang, who is good at swimming, to impersonate me. Who knew that among dozens of boats, only the one Shuxiang was sitting on leaked.”
“The day before the boat trip, I asked my uncle to keep a close eye on the servants in the house. He said that only the second branch of the family had gone out in the past two days, and Mingzhu’s wet nurse had even gone to the boat I arranged to row around twice.”
Everyone in the Mu family knew that she couldn’t swim, and Mu Mingzhu, whose first plan had failed, naturally wouldn’t let this opportunity pass.
“Hmph! How dare they harm my daughter!”
The head of the Mu family angrily smashed a teacup and ordered everyone from the second branch of the family to be invited to the ancestral hall, and also summoned all the masters in the mansion.
An incense stick later, all the masters of the Mu family had arrived.
Everyone looked at the head of the Mu family in confusion, except for Mu Mingzhu, who huddled in a corner, her face pale.
The head of the Mu family swept over everyone’s expressions before standing in front and saying in a gloomy tone,
“Half a month ago, Jiaojiao almost fell off a cliff, and today she fell into the lake while swimming. Don’t you have anything to explain?”
As he spoke, the head of the Mu family stared in the direction of the second branch of the family. The second master of the Mu family felt a jolt in his heart and asked incredulously, “Brother, do you suspect me?”
Although he had heard that Mu Jiaojiao had almost died, he felt a surge of excitement and secret joy, after all, the Mu family only had these two girls.
If Jiaojiao had died or been crippled, the one who would marry the Prince Ke’s heir would have been his Mingzhu.
But he dared not take action. The sudden suspicion from the head of the Mu family also angered the second master of the Mu family.
“Jiaojiao is my eldest niece, how could I harm her? Besides, what benefit would I gain from harming her?”
Seeing that the second master of the Mu family was not speaking, the head of the Mu family began to feel uncertain.
He couldn’t help but look for Mu Mingzhu, only to find her hiding behind everyone, her face deathly pale, clearly a sign of guilt.
Seeing her guilty look, the head of the Mu family was enraged and shouted, “You say it wasn’t you? Then why is your Mingzhu hiding?”
Everyone looked at Mu Mingzhu, who, upon hearing the angry shout, collapsed to the ground, her face deathly pale.
The Second Master Mu stared in shock; even if he wanted to play dumb, anyone with a brain could guess what was going on with Mingzhu.
“Mu Mingzhu, won’t you confess?”
Suddenly, the ancestral hall door was pushed open, and Mu Jiaojiao dragged in her wet nurse, throwing her in front of Mu Mingzhu.
“Mingzhu, your wet nurse has confessed everything. Why did you try to harm me?” Mu Jiaojiao asked, her eyes bloodshot.
Seeing that her secret was out, Mu Mingzhu stopped hiding and stood up to meet Mu Jiaojiao’s gaze, the hatred in her eyes chilling.
“Why? Do you know that the young master Ke is going to marry me, not you! You stole my marriage!”
The crowd erupted in uproar, even the Second Master Mu couldn’t bear to listen. The matchmaker had made it very clear that he wanted to marry the eldest daughter of the Mu family.
Mingzhu was two months younger than Jiaojiao, and Jiaojiao was the only daughter of the eldest branch of the family.
No matter how you looked at it, the young master definitely wanted to marry Jiaojiao.
Compared to the others, Mu Jiaojiao was much calmer, a hint of mockery flashing in her eyes.
“So you’re going to take my life for a man? We’re blood sisters!”
Tears streamed down Mu Mingzhu’s cheeks, unable to look the other woman in the eye. Her guilt paled in comparison to the power of love.
“Jiaojiao, you’ve always been favored by everyone in the family since you were little, and I have no objection to that. But this time, I refuse to give in. I knew the Prince before he came to propose marriage, and he said he liked me and wanted to marry me.”
“Yet none of you put me in your eyes, giving you the marriage that rightfully belonged to me! You’re the thief!”
Everyone present fell silent. Yes, the matchmaker had only mentioned Miss Mu that day, without naming her, so they naturally decided on Jiaojiao.
This farce ended with Mu Mingzhu being beaten twenty times and confined, and the first and second branches of the family separating.
Madam Mu held Mu Jiaojiao with heartache, unsure how to comfort her. The wedding date had been set, and the mistake had been made.
Changing it might anger the Prince Ke’s mansion; if it wasn’t changed, the two sisters would be enemies for life.
After a long silence, Mu Jiaojiao suddenly smiled, leaned against Madam Mu’s chest, and whispered, “Mother, I don’t want to marry Prince Ke. Let’s give the marriage back to Mingzhu.”
“My poor Jiaojiao,” Madam Mu said, tears streaming down her face, gently stroking Mu Jiaojiao’s cheek. “If you are interested in Prince Ke, we won’t back down.”
“Mingzhu almost killed you because of this marriage, why should we give in to her wishes?”
“Mother!” Mu Jiaojiao frowned in dissatisfaction. Compared to the prince, she cared more about the harmony of the family.
“This marriage was never meant to be mine, and it almost cost me my life. Besides, the prince doesn’t even like me. Even if I force myself into it, I’ll just be relegated to the sidelines.”
Seeing that her daughter was truly uninterested, Madam Mu hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
“Don’t worry about this, your father and I will handle it.”
Mu Jiaojiao immediately beamed with joy, then suddenly asked, “Have you found the benefactor sister I asked Mother to help find?”
She had told her parents about this the day after she returned, but half a month had passed without any news.
Mentioning this, Madam Mu shook her head with a worried face: “We’ve looked. We’ve sent people to inquire at all the noble families in the capital who went to Hanshan Temple that day, but they all said they didn’t know that lady.”
Mu Jiaojiao felt slightly disappointed, secretly blaming herself for not asking her surname in time.
…
At this time, Jiang Lanyue, who was being thought of, was engrossed in studying rare books on spices.
After Junyao returned to the palace, he had people search for spice recipes and selected several rare books to send over.
This gift truly touched Jiang Lanyue’s heart, and she immediately returned the favor with a gift of spices.
The two of them exchanged letters like this for several days, a habit that Jiang Lanyue was happy to see.
Life was peaceful on the estate, while the Wei mansion was bustling like a marketplace.
The debt collectors had lined up in a long queue, attracting onlookers.
“Don’t miss out! Wei Tanhua owes money and won’t pay it back. He’s broke but still dares to act like a big shot. He won’t even pay for prostitution…”
“Shut up! When have I ever owed you money for prostitution?”
Seeing that the other party was getting more and more offensive, Wei Chi couldn’t stand it anymore and opened the door to deal with them.