Imperial Physician Hong: ?
What could he say? He was merely dragged here to examine a patient and knew nothing at all.
He had come to understand—he was just a tool.
Lin Wanrou’s face grew increasingly pale, beads of cold sweat forming on her forehead.
She had considered various possibilities before coming, but she never expected Meng Nanzhi to be so direct.
With just that one question, she knew—it was her, it was Meng Nanzhi.
She had returned.
After all, aside from her, no one knew that beneath Da Yan Lake, it was Meng Nanzhi who had desperately held her up.
She did not know how much of her affairs Meng Nanzhi, whom she had not seen for ten years, was aware of.
However, when she raised her eyes again, the panic in Lin Wanrou’s gaze had completely vanished, replaced only by a look of astonishment and urgent concern.
She gambled—the real Meng Nanzhi would never take her life.
Ignoring the sharp object pressed against her throat, she took a step forward and asked, “You… are you truly Nanzhi? Yes, this appearance is exactly the same as Nanzhi’s.”
Sure enough, the hairpin at her throat shifted slightly to the side.
Seizing the opportunity, Lin Wanrou extended her arms, intending to embrace Meng Nanzhi in a show of intimacy. “Nanzhi, do you know how much I’ve missed you? Where have you been all these years…”
Meng Nanzhi silently took a step back.
Lin Wanrou’s arms closed on empty air, frozen mid-motion, yet she showed no trace of embarrassment.
She raised her hand, retrieved an embroidered handkerchief from her sleeve, and gently dabbed the corners of her eyes. Tears once again fell like broken strings of pearls. “Nanzhi, do you blame me? Yes, you should blame me.”
“If it weren’t for saving me back then, you, who were so skilled in water, would not have drowned. All these years you’ve been gone, I’ve been unable to eat or sleep in peace. I’ve always thought that it should have been me who sank to the bottom of the lake that day.”
As she spoke, her knees weakened, and she knelt straight down once more. “Nanzhi, I have wronged you. It is only right for you to resent me, to hate me. I should not have accepted the Empress Dowager’s decree to marry into the Marquis’s Mansion as a ping wife. But I truly had no other choice. I only wanted to guard Houye for you and take good care of Xiu’er and the other two children.”
Meng Nanzhi raised an eyebrow slightly. Marquis Zhenbei was a grown man with hands and feet, and servants at his disposal.
As for her children, they had a father, a maternal grandfather, and at the very least, wet nurses and maids.
Did it require her to sacrifice her reputation and marry into the Marquis’s Mansion as a ping wife?
Moreover, she hadn’t even said anything yet, and here Lin Wanrou was, kneeling and crying again. Who was this performance meant for?
Meng Nanzhi stood unmoving, growing increasingly curious to see what “miracle” would come next.
Sure enough, a cold voice rang out, “Wanrou, do not kneel before him. Rise quickly.”
Immediately after came a thunderous roar: “You unfilial son, Shen Yanxiu! What trouble have you caused this time? Not only did you make your Aunt Wan specially come to Meng Residence to ask you to return, but you even made her kneel before you! You want to break off the engagement? Fine! Go now!”
Upon hearing this, Meng Nanzhi narrowed her eyes in displeasure.
How audacious—these two had come one after another to the Meng family, causing such disrespectful disturbances.
In the years she had been gone, Marquis Zhenbei had disregarded even her father’s dignity.
As he spoke, Marquis Zhenbei Shen Qingzhi strode in with large steps.
He wore a dark blue brocade robe with subtle patterns, a short beard of about an inch beneath his chin. His face, marked by fine wrinkles from the years, was flushed red. His gaze swept across the hall but settled on no one. He walked directly up to Shen Yanxiu and raised his hand to strike his face.
Yet before that palm, carrying a fierce gust of wind, could land, it was firmly intercepted by a hand as fair and smooth as jade.
In the next instant, a crisp "slap" echoed through the air—the jade-like hand had forcefully struck back, landing squarely on his face.
"Marquis Zhenbei, is this how you teach your children?!"
Shen Yanxiu: ?
Imperial Physician Hong: ?
Meng Zhengde lowered his gaze to conceal a smile, secretly applauding: Well struck!
Lin Wanrou instinctively touched her own cheek: She truly dared to hit him…
Shen Qingzhi, Marquis Zhenbei, felt his head buzzing. He had actually been struck?
Instantly, rage surged within him. Without even looking, he roared sharply, "Who do you think you are, daring to strike this Marquis?"
Only when he caught sight of Shen Yanxiu instinctively shrinking behind the woman did he abruptly lift his gaze, his eyes sharp as blades, piercing toward the figure in plain attire.
The woman appeared to be in her twenties, as if she had just shed the naivety of youth yet bore no trace of weariness. Her eyebrows arched like distant mountains tinged with indigo, carrying a hint of spiritedness, while the corners of her eyes tilted slightly upward. Her pupils resembled ink stained with a thin layer of ice, and as she looked at him, her gaze held a touch of indifference and detachment.
"Nanzhi?"
A low murmur escaped Shen Qingzhi's throat, his fingertips trembling slightly. "Nanzhi, how can it be you? Have you returned?"
Lin Wanrou, who had been kneeling on the ground, hastily seized the moment to rise, her eyes glistening with tears. She hurried forward and affectionately wrapped her arm around Marquis Zhenbei's elbow. "Houye, it truly is Nanzhi who has returned. Look at her appearance—after ten years, she hasn’t changed in the slightest. It’s as if she were carved directly from the portraits we once plastered all over the capital."
If this were truly Meng Nanzhi, how could someone unseen for a decade show not a single trace of time’s passage on her face?
Indeed, how could it be possible that after ten years, she hadn’t aged a day?
Under Lin Wanrou’s gentle tug, Shen Qingzhi, Marquis Zhenbei, snapped back to his senses. The fury churning in his chest subsided slightly, but a cold, vigilant gleam rose in his eyes. "Who exactly are you? How dare you impersonate this Marquis’s deceased wife!"
He lightly patted the back of Lin Wanrou’s hand to reassure her, then turned to Meng Zhengde and said, "Grand Tutor, this is a deception. Do not be fooled."
Yet when his gaze once again met the woman’s eyes and brows, he couldn’t help but feel his heart tremble violently.
How could there be someone in this world who resembled her so closely? The curve of her brows, the angle of her upturned eyes—it wasn’t merely similarity, but an exact match.
She looked precisely the same as his long-deceased wife had before her drowning.
There had been impostors who resembled her in the past, attempting to approach him, but he could always discern the differences with a single glance.
But this woman before him—even he could barely distinguish her, nearly believing she was his deceased wife.
Meng Nanzhi remained expressionless throughout, but now, the corner of her mouth curled into a mocking sneer. "Marquis Zhenbei’s authority seems even more imposing than before. In the years I’ve been gone, is this how you’ve mistreated my son? Without even asking for the truth, you resort to beating and kicking him?"
Shen Qingzhi’s face darkened. Avoiding the question, he instead demanded sharply, "Who sent you as a spy? Your methods are quite novel—not only daring to impersonate this Marquis’s deceased wife, but even presuming to comment on how I discipline my son. Guards!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, two black-clad guards strode through the door, hands resting on the sabers at their waists, awaiting their master’s command.
"Get out!"
Meng Zhengde, who had remained silent since Marquis Zhenbei entered, suddenly slammed the armrest of his grand chair with such force that the window frames trembled, startling the fledgling birds perched outside into flight. "What, does Marquis Zhenbei take me for dead, that he dares to issue orders in my Meng Residence?"
Marquis Zhenbei's throat bobbed as he suppressed his anger. "Grand Tutor, I know you are sick with longing for your daughter, day and night hoping for Nanzhi to return. But Nanzhi was my lawful wife, and her death grieves me deeply. You should understand that my feelings are the same as yours, yet this woman…"
His gaze swept over the young figure, his tone turning cold and rigid. "She is far too young to be Nanzhi. It is precisely because villains have seen through your heart's desire that they found a girl so strikingly similar to Nanzhi and deliberately sent her to approach you."
Marquis Zhenbei emphasized his words, speaking earnestly. "Grand Tutor, do not let yourself be deceived."