That night, the man had taken his fill of Chu Fengge's body. As he withdrew and left, he hung a jade pendant around her neck and whispered in her ear, "Wait for me. Someone will come for you…"
Chu Fengge ran away, and she went mad.
After ten months of pregnancy, she gave birth to a pair of twins—a boy and a girl. But the baby boy died. She buried the jade pendant the man had left her along with her son, then, clutching her daughter, wandered back to the Chu family in a daze.
…
"Mother, Mother, wake up, don't leave Hua An behind." Hua An's sobs rippled wave after wave into Chu Fengge's ears, pulling her out of the nightmare.
She opened her eyes to find Hua An gazing at her with tear-filled eyes.
Chu Fengge's heart stirred with a faint ache.
The Chu Fengge in her dream must have been everything the original owner had experienced. This was no ordinary kidnapping case—those men had set out to destroy the original owner with purpose and method.
And they had indeed destroyed Chu Fengge. In this feudal era, what future could an unmarried pregnant woman possibly have?
No wonder Mo Qianhan wanted her dead at every turn. It really was remarkable of him to marry a woman like Chu Fengge—tainted and with a child, no less!
"An An, how long did Mother sleep?"
"Mother, you slept for two whole days."
Two days…
A "gurgle" suddenly sounded.
Hua An immediately covered her stomach, glancing at Chu Fengge in embarrassment, then turned to look at the exquisite breakfast laid out on the table behind her.
Chu Fengge assumed that during her days of unconsciousness, Hua An hadn't eaten anything, and that Mo Qianhan had been cruel to the child. She struggled to prop up her weak body and said, "Mother will go find you something to eat."
"Mother, the Prince Regent sends food in every day, but when Hua An thinks of that poisoned pastry, Hua An is afraid the food might be poisoned too. I don't dare eat anything from the Prince's Manor carelessly. I'll bring it over for Mother to check."
Hua An turned and trotted over on her little legs to the table, arranging the dishes and bowls one by one on the small square table in front of Chu Fengge.
Hua An's thoughtfulness made Chu Fengge's heart ache.
Chu Fengge glanced at the dishes and said, "Don't eat this plate of vegetables. You can eat everything else—there's no poison."
There truly was no poison, but the ingredients in that dish were incompatible. Eating it would cause poisoning all the same.
The Prince Regent truly intended to kill her and the child without leaving any room. She had to take Hua An and leave the Prince's Manor.
"Eat quickly." Seeing Hua An staring blankly at her, Chu Fengge said gently.
Hua An's lips suddenly puckered, and she threw herself into Chu Fengge's arms. "Mother!"
When Hua An pounced on her, Chu Fengge realized there was a wound on her chest, burning with pain.
It must have been from the night Mo Qianhan injured her with his inner power.
"Mother, you're really better now."
Chu Fengge was briefly stunned before remembering—the original owner had been a foolish, mad woman who couldn't even care for herself. Now that she had taken over the original owner's body, her behavior was far too unusual. No wonder Hua An reacted this way.
Chu Fengge prepared her explanation, and despite the searing pain, pulled Hua An into her embrace. "Yes, Mother remembers everything now. From now on, Hua An has Mother to protect her. Mother will never let anyone bully my Hua An again."
"Bang!"
The door was shoved open forcefully.
A graceful, elegant figure walked in from outside.
Chu Fengge abruptly looked up at the figure entering the door—it was the Prince's Manor's Cousin, Bai Ruoshui.
She was no longer the weak, delicate creature she had been before. She stood before her with high spirits, a mocking smile on her face, and said, "Cousin-in-law, you're finally awake."
Chu Fengge's eyes narrowed slightly. "The poisoned sweet pastry on our wedding night—that was your doing."
With Mo Qianhan away from the manor, Bai Ruoshui couldn't even be bothered to keep up her hypocritical facade. She said in a snide, sarcastic tone, "Don't you dare wrongly accuse others. I watched Zilou grow up; I love him like my own child. If you hadn't butted in, why would Cousin have married a madwoman like you—a woman who's lost her virtue? You did the deed yourself, yet you still have the nerve to slander me. What an idiot."
"Who the real idiot is, you know perfectly well," Chu Fengge retorted forcefully. "The potent poison you put in the sweet pastry is called Seven-Hour Heartbreak. Before I was even brought into the Prince Regent's Manor, you had someone tamper with the pastry. The cunning of Seven-Hour Heartbreak lies in this: once it comes into contact with air, it doesn't release its toxins immediately, so it can evade the poison tester's detection. It's when the Shizi eats the pastry that the poison is at its most concentrated—exactly seven hours. By the time the Prince Regent sent someone to test the pastry again, the potent poison in it had all but dissipated. Did you really think your scheme was flawless?"
A flicker of surprise crossed Bai Ruoshui's eyes. She had never expected Chu Fengge to know medicine.
But then, thick mockery surged in her gaze. "So what? Do you really think the sweet pastry you kept can clear your name?"
"So it was you who poisoned it…"