Bai Manman couldn’t really be blamed for thinking Liu Xiyin was inferior to Liu Mingyue.
After all…
Liu Xiyin, the cannon-fodder character, had never once wanted to compete with the dazzling heroine of the original novel.
After comforting Bai Manman, Liu Mingyue turned toward Liu Xiyin.
“Little Sister.”
“You came home today, yet I couldn’t go out to welcome you.”
“I hope you won’t blame me.”
Bai Manman carefully fastened the ties of Liu Mingyue’s cloak before turning toward Liu Xiyin.
Frowning, she explained,
“Your sister is ill.”
“I already told you.”
“I was the one who wouldn’t let her go outside.”
Liu Xiyin smiled faintly.
“I’m not some important guest.”
“It doesn’t really matter whether anyone welcomed me.”
Liu Mingyue’s willow-shaped brows knitted together as if she wanted to say something.
But Liu Xiyin spoke first.
“Madam Liu said you became violently ill after eating something sent from my courtyard.”
“I want to hear it directly from you.”
“Did you really vomit because you ate something I sent?”
For a brief instant…
Liu Mingyue felt as though every one of her secrets had already been seen through.
She couldn’t help trembling.
Bai Manman, who was supporting her, felt it immediately.
She glared even more fiercely at Liu Xiyin.
“You did it, and now you’re forcing your sister to answer?”
“Are you trying to drive her to death?”
Only then did she realize something.
“…What did you just call me?”
Liu Xiyin ignored her completely.
She kept her eyes on Liu Mingyue.
“On my wedding day…”
“Madam Liu forbade the kitchens from sending me any food.”
“My private kitchen wasn’t allowed to cook either.”
“There wasn’t a single bite of food in my courtyard.”
“Madam Liu may have forgotten what she herself did.”
“But you’re young.”
“Have you forgotten where the food you ate actually came from?”
Liu Mingyue frowned.
“Little Sister…”
“How can you address Mother like that?”
“You only need to answer my question.”
Suddenly…
Liu Mingyue covered her mouth and retched.
Bai Manman hurriedly reached for a spittoon.
Liu Mingyue waved her away.
After suppressing the nausea for quite some time, she finally looked up again.
Her eyes had reddened.
“It was…”
“…a wedding pastry from your courtyard.”
She pointed toward a porcelain plate on the table.
“That’s the plate from your courtyard.”
“It was part of the Marshal’s betrothal gifts.”
“Yuan blue-and-white porcelain.”
“There are only two of this pattern in the entire world.”
Liu Xiyin glanced at the plate.
Then she turned toward Bai Manman.
“Madam Liu.”
“Would you care to explain?”
Bai Manman froze completely.
Liu Xiyin continued,
“I’m from the countryside.”
“I don’t understand all the rules.”
“But the wedding pastries distributed to relatives are prepared by the mistress of the house.”
“You personally had people take the Yuan porcelain from my courtyard.”
“You said it would be used to hold the pastries before they were sent to the Marshal’s residence with my dowry.”
“So why…”
“…is one of those plates now in Biyu Pavilion?”
“And why has it become evidence that I harmed my sister?”
Bai Manman couldn’t answer.
The wedding pastries intended for the Marshal’s residence had somehow ended up in Biyu Pavilion.
Liu Mingyue had become violently ill after eating them.
No matter what had gone wrong…
It certainly wasn’t Liu Xiyin’s doing.
Because Bai Manman herself had packed those pastries into the food boxes.
Liu Xiyin had never even seen them.
Much less touched them.
Liu Xiyin continued calmly,
“Madam Liu…”
“You’d better pray the problem wasn’t with the wedding pastries.”
“Otherwise…”
“The Liu family distributed poisoned wedding pastries on the day of its daughter’s marriage.”
“Even the gifts sent to the Marshal’s residence were compromised.”
“Not only would the Police Department become involved…”
“You’d become the laughingstock of high society.”
She looked back at Liu Mingyue.
“They also said…”
“I pushed you into the lake.”
“Did I?”
Liu Mingyue blinked in surprise.
It was as though she’d never even heard such a rumor.
“No.”
“I was distracted.”
“I accidentally fell into the lake.”
“It had nothing to do with anyone else.”
“I told Mother that already.”
She turned toward Bai Manman.
“Didn’t I?”
Bai Manman gripped her daughter’s hand.
Her own fingers trembled.
“But Hongcha said…”
“You were the only one nearby.”
“Weren’t you just covering for her?”
Her expression was conflicted.
Half a month had passed since Liu Mingyue’s fall into the lake.
Ever since discovering she wasn’t the Liu family’s real daughter…
Liu Mingyue had been depressed.
Every smile she showed in public looked painfully forced.
The Marshal had ordered the marriage partner changed without postponing the wedding.
The Liu family had no time to prepare another dowry.
It had been Liu Mingyue herself…
Who voluntarily gave up the dowry prepared for her.
That act had saved the Liu family from an impossible situation.
Because of it…
Bai Manman believed Liu Mingyue had suffered greatly.
She believed she’d been gracious.
When Liu Mingyue insisted she’d fallen accidentally…
Bai Manman instinctively assumed she was protecting Liu Xiyin for the sake of family harmony.
Ever since learning she wasn’t the Liu family’s biological daughter…
Liu Mingyue had always felt indebted to Liu Xiyin.
Bai Manman believed such self-sacrifice was entirely in character.
And that only made Liu Xiyin seem even more lacking by comparison.
Liu Mingyue clasped Bai Manman’s hand in return.
Her brows furrowed more tightly.
“Mother…”
“What are you talking about?”
“I never even saw Ayin in the garden that day.”
“Did Hongcha really tell you that?”
Bai Manman’s face alternated between pale and flushed.
She turned toward Liu Xiyin.
“Ayin… Mother…”
Liu Xiyin paid no attention.
She simply continued asking Liu Mingyue,
“And I stole your hairpin?”
“And bullied you at Huifeng Teahouse?”
Liu Mingyue shook her head.
“I lost the hairpin myself over a month ago.”
“You never bullied me.”
“I already dismissed Xiangcha, the maid who spread those rumors.”
“The one who truly owes someone an apology…”
“…is me.”
Good.
Very good.
The heroine had known all along that Liu Xiyin hadn’t done any of those things.
Yet somehow…
Every accusation had still landed on Liu Xiyin’s shoulders.
Could this really be the novel’s plot correcting itself?
If so…
Why hadn’t it corrected the part where Yan Changye was supposed to lose his leg?
Or the thirty-two civilians who were meant to die near Xinmao Department Store?
Liu Xiyin inhaled deeply.
Ignoring Bai Manman, who wanted to approach…
She looked only at Liu Mingyue.
“You do owe me.”
“You lived sixteen glorious years as the Liu family’s daughter.”
“You enjoyed every resource that should’ve belonged to me.”
“And yet…”
“Because of a few careless words from other people…”
“You let yourself collapse.”
“You made mistake after mistake.”
“And dragged me down with your reputation.”
“I will never tell you…”
“…or the Liu family…”
“…that I forgive you.”
“Even though my first sixteen years were happy…”
“That was because I was fortunate.”
“I won’t waste time resenting hardships that never happened.”
“But neither will I dismiss them so lightly.”
“Perhaps…”
“In another lifetime…”
“Someone else bore this identity.”
“And suffered beyond imagination.”
She paused.
“When I stand here…”
“I speak only for myself.”
“So let me repeat this one last time.”
“I have no interest in anyone…”
“Or anything…”
“Belonging to the Liu family.”
“‘Poisoning you.'”
“‘Stealing your jewelry.'”
“‘Pushing you into the lake.'”
“‘Humiliating you in public.'”
“I never want to hear any accusation like that again.”
“Not even once.”
“If you can’t stop it…”
“Then find somewhere quiet…”
“…hang yourself…”
“…and give me a clean ending.”
Having said everything she needed to say…
Liu Xiyin turned around…
And walked away.