That winter night, amid heavy snowfall, she was sent out of the capital at the tender age of six, taken to a remote mountain estate without a single servant left behind—whether she lived or died was left entirely to fate.
That departure lasted ten years.
Even in countless cold winter nights that followed, she still remembered the swirling snow of that night, the biting chill that paled in comparison to the desolation in her heart.
Emerging from her memories, Jiang Wantang suddenly let out a low, bitter laugh.
Her eyes fixed unwaveringly on her mother, Madam Qin, before her, she sneered coldly, “So, your visit to see me is just a pretense. What you truly want is for your own daughter to enter the Cold Palace and suffer in place of your stepdaughter, isn’t it?”
“What stepdaughter, what own daughter—you are both the minister’s children, and both are my children,” Madam Qin retorted softly, somewhat displeased. “This was originally meant for your elder sister. There’s no question of ‘taking her place.'”
These words were truly…
Utterly absurd!
For the sake of her grand love, to please Jiang Zhixu, she had spared no effort in treasuring the child born to his beloved first wife, while casting aside her own daughter like worthless trash.
Jiang Wantang looked at this selfish and absurd mother before her with complex emotions.
She curled her lips into an icy smile. “Mother, you truly have a short memory. Don’t forget, it was you who begged me to take her place in the marriage back then!”
“Now that Jiang Wanfu has been thrown into the Cold Palace, you blame me for occupying her position, stealing what was hers, and even expect me to be grateful for her charity?!”
“Search your conscience—everything I have now, wasn’t it all what Jiang Wanfu didn’t want?”
Her cold, accusing words pierced the air.
Hearing this, Madam Qin flushed with anger and shame, pointing at Jiang Wantang’s nose as she scolded, “You… you unfilial daughter! How can you be so selfish?!”
“If it weren’t for your elder sister back then, how could a wild girl like you, raised in the countryside, ever have entered the Marquis Estate and married Xiao Jingheng?”
Back then, Jiang Wanfu had deliberately scheduled her wedding to coincide with the day she entered the palace for the selection.
While she entered the palace for the imperial selection, she had Jiang Wantang take her place in entering the Pingyang Marquis Estate and marrying Xiao Jingheng.
Jiang Wantang’s eyes held a thin, mocking smile, cold as ice.
“Hmph, taking her place in the Cold Palace is impossible!”
“The predicament she finds herself in now is entirely of her own making. She has no one else to blame!”
“With that said, Madam Minister, please leave.”
Madam Qin looked at her second daughter, who had always been obedient and sensible, with disbelief. “Tang’er, are you driving your mother away?”
Seeing Jiang Wantang remain silent, she grew anxious. “If you don’t agree to this, your mother and your younger sister will have no peace in the estate. Good Tang’er, please help your mother once more.”
“Just this once—help your mother this one last time!”
“Your father said that after you enter the Cold Palace, he will find a way to rescue you.”
Hah…
How laughable.
Utterly ridiculous!
Her ‘good father’ couldn’t even rescue his most beloved treasure, Jiang Wanfu—how could he possibly rescue her?
He was merely trying to coax her again, to continue using her.
In their eyes, her marriage was nothing but a bargaining chip.
And she was merely a pawn, used to pave the way for Jiang Wanfu.
No one cares about the life or death of a pawn.
To this couple, she was not their own daughter—she was merely an object in their hands, something to be exchanged.
Jiang Wantang inwardly sneered repeatedly. Look, this is the blood-tied kinship you’ve yearned for all these years!
She closed her eyes heavily, and when she opened them again, her gaze was filled with indifference as she looked at Madam Qin, who wore a pleading expression before her. Word by word, she said, “Many times, I truly wish I weren’t your biological daughter.”
“Perhaps I should have understood this ten years ago.”
“Someone, see the guest out!”
After speaking, Jiang Wantang turned and left.
For this selfish and cold-hearted mother, she had nothing more to say.
“Jiang Wantang! How dare you speak to your mother like that!”
“Jiang Wantang, you’re nothing but a jinx, an ungrateful wretch! I never should have given birth to you in the first place!”
“With a heart as cruel as yours, no wonder everyone dislikes you!”
“…”
Madam Qin shouted angrily from behind, her words filled with venom.
It wasn’t until today that Jiang Wantang realized that from the moment her father arranged for her to marry into the Marquis Estate, he had already planned to pave the way for his beloved daughter, Jiang Wanfu.
And she was merely a stepping stone for Jiang Wanfu.
Whether ten years ago or ten years later, she was always the one they heartlessly discarded.
No sooner had Madam Qin left than Huai’an, the attendant by Xiao Jingheng’s side, hurried in from outside, carrying a food box in his hand.
“Young Madam, the young master specially ordered someone to buy this osmanthus sugar for you from that pastry shop in the west of the city.”
As he spoke, Huai’an cheerfully handed the food box to Jiang Wantang.
Jiang Wantang took the food box and heard Huai’an continue, “The young master has reserved the best private room at the Moon-Gazing Pavilion and invites you to join him…”
Jiang Wantang looked at him, puzzled.
Huai’an scratched his head, feeling somewhat embarrassed under her gaze. “The young master said he promised last time to take you to see the fireworks of Shengjing…”
“He… he even prepared a surprise for you today. You’ll know when you go.”
With that, Huai’an, realizing he had let slip too much, quickly ran out.
Jiang Wantang slowly opened the food box, and a sweet, fragrant aroma of osmanthus wafted out…
Her gaze fixed intently on the osmanthus sugar inside the box, and for a moment, she felt dazed.
In Jiang Wantang’s memory, there had always been a vague figure.
It had appeared many times in her dreams.
She always remembered a spirited young man in white robes beneath a peach blossom tree, looking at her with a warm smile.
Later, on the day of the grand wedding, when the red candles burned brightly, the one who lifted her bridal veil resembled the young man from her memory.
He said, “You’ve had a difficult life since childhood. From now on, I will love you, protect you, and ensure you never suffer again.”
He said he would give her a home.
He also said that for the rest of his life, he would be her family.
She was moved and took it to heart.
She learned to be a virtuous wife, cooking for him with her own hands, and he, like an ordinary husband, would bring back little trinkets she liked to make her happy…
The warmth and beauty of those days were still vivid in her mind.
But now, what did it all mean?
Everyone pitied Jiang Wanfu for the hardships she endured in the palace in less than a year.
Yet they all forgot that she had spent ten years alone in a forgotten corner, enduring days even more bitter than those.