The dilapidated marquis’s residence was not even worth a free-range chicken.
The Wuning Marquis’s Residence had long since drifted away from the center of power and had become thoroughly unremarkable in the capital in recent years.
Yet today, when the residence was marrying off its daughter, even His Majesty had come in person. The reason was that the legitimate daughter of the residence was marrying none other than Commandery Prince Danshuo, who was currently in His Majesty’s favor.
Cheng Nianying listened to the commotion coming from the distance, crouching until her legs went numb.
She was different from all of them. She had come to kill someone.
The person she had come to kill was precisely the legitimate daughter of the marquis’s residence—the bride of the day.
“Quick! Quick, go and fetch the Marchioness!” The maids and serving women suddenly hurried out of the bedchamber.
In the blink of an eye, not a single person remained.
Cheng Nianying knew the moment had arrived. Light-footed as a cat, she descended from the roof beam.
She came to the bed and lifted the curtains, revealing a woman in bridal robes with a red veil covering her face.
Fine gold thread had been embroidered across the bridal robes, forming clusters of splendid blossoms.
Cheng Nianying could not help staring at them greedily for a couple of extra moments.
Then, with one hand she took out a poisoned needle, while with the other she covered the woman’s face.
But the moment she pressed down, there was not the slightest struggle.
Cheng Nianying froze for a moment, then lifted the veil.
The legitimate daughter of the marquis’s residence had her eyes tightly shut, her face pale, as though she were dead.
Most importantly… that face was nearly identical to hers!
“Did I run into a ghost in broad daylight?” Cheng Nianying sucked in a faint breath.
Before she could even recover, hurried footsteps sounded. The next moment, the door was thrown open.
“Use whatever method you can! You must keep her alive…”
“His Majesty has come in person today! If he learns that the bride has taken her own life, the entire residence will be finished!”
The woman at the head of the group was dressed neatly, but her face was drenched in sweat, ruining her makeup.
Cheng Nianying had no time to hide herself back on the beam, so she simply stood still.
“You…” The woman was startled when she suddenly noticed that someone else was in the room. “Who are you?”
Cheng Nianying had made thorough preparations in order to infiltrate the residence.
She had styled her hair in twin buns and was wearing a pale green half-sleeved jacket, looking exactly like a maid.
She turned around gracefully. With delicate brows and almond-shaped eyes, she was as pure and innocent as a flower holding dew.
Everyone present stared at her, dumbfounded.
The woman murmured, “Yurong.”
A maid’s throat likewise let out a sharp cry. “Miss! How did you come back to life?”
Cheng Nianying quickly curtsied and said in a clear voice, “Marchioness, you have mistaken me for someone else. This servant came to work at the residence.”
The woman hurriedly drew two breaths and looked toward the bed.
Sure enough, the person who should have been lying there was still lying there.
“Quick, the physician! Quickly!” The woman regained her composure and directed the female physician forward.
The other maids and serving women finally came to their senses as well. They withdrew their stunned gazes and crowded around the bed to attend to the woman.
The woman did not join them. Instead, she fixed her eyes on Cheng Nianying and examined her from head to toe.
The longer she looked, the stranger her expression became.
“Come here.” The woman beckoned Cheng Nianying over.
The woman was in her forties. Her beauty remained, though there were more wrinkles between her brows. Yet at this moment, those wrinkles smoothed away, and she smiled gently at Cheng Nianying.
“I am the Marchioness of Wuning. My surname is Chu. You… are your parents still alive?” the woman asked.
Cheng Nianying knew she could not leave in a hurry, so she answered honestly, “I have never seen my birth parents.”
Why was the Marchioness of Wuning asking her this?
Could it be…
Cheng Nianying unconsciously touched her own face.
Marchioness Chu Zhen could no longer restrain herself. She seized Cheng Nianying’s wrist and cried, “My residence should have had another legitimate daughter. But in the year she was born, she was stolen by an evil servant, and we have received no news of her ever since…”
“Child, let me have a look at you…”
Chu Zhen held her face and carefully traced it with her thumbs.
Cheng Nianying had never been so close to anyone before. It took a tremendous effort to keep herself from drawing her weapon and stabbing the person in front of her.
She stared at Chu Zhen’s face in a daze. “Then, Marchioness, you mean…”
“Silly child, I fear I am your birth mother!” Chu Zhen said, pulling Cheng Nianying into her arms and bursting into tears.
“I… have a mother?”
She was an assassin. What assassin had ever seen her own birth mother? When she was little, they had all told her that she had grown out of the earth.
Chu Zhen choked back a sob. “Silly child, who isn’t born of a father and mother? Not only do you have a mother, you have a father too!”
“Marchioness! Marchioness!” a serving woman called urgently.
Chu Zhen patted Cheng Nianying’s hand. “Sit here and don’t leave. I’ll come back and speak with you in a moment.”
Cheng Nianying nodded and touched the spot on her shoulder that had been soaked by tears.
Was she deceiving her?
But the Marchioness was crying so sadly.
No one had ever cried for her before.
Curious, she poked her head out and looked at the shifting figures behind the screen. Faintly, the sound of stifled sobs drifted over.
Only then did she remember: if that was true, then the girl on the bed ought to be her biological older sister?
Biological older sister.
What a strange term.
Cheng Nianying pressed a hand to her chest and stood up.
When someone hanged themselves, if their breath had stopped but life had not yet been extinguished, there was still a chance of saving them if needles were applied early to reopen their blocked channels.
Save her?
Or not?
That was the person she had been hired to kill.
If the legitimate daughter of the marquis’s residence did not die, the organization would send people to hunt her down.
Cheng Nianying rarely found herself in such a predicament. She let out a soft sigh, drawing a furtive glance from a maid nearby.
The maid thought to herself that she really did look alike, though this person’s brows and eyes were even three parts more delicate and charming than their young miss’s.
Before long, Chu Zhen returned, with a middle-aged man in splendid clothes following behind her.
It was none other than the Marquis Wuning.
He strode over, tears already flowing before he could speak. “You… You have been lost outside for so many years. That was your father and mother’s fault. Now that fate has brought you back today, you ought to live the days of a daughter cherished by her parents…
“But what terrible timing. Your elder sister hanged herself on the day of her wedding. I fear the entire marquis’s residence will be dragged down to the grave with her!”
The other maids and serving women promptly knelt as well and pleaded mournfully, “We beg you, Miss, save the marquis’s residence!”
Only Chu Zhen remained silent, covering her face with a handkerchief and weeping even more bitterly.
Cheng Nianying opened and closed her mouth.
She… she was only an assassin.
“How can I save it?”
The middle-aged man’s throat worked. Unable to bring himself to say it directly, he replied, “Take your sister’s place… and marry in her stead.”
Cheng Nianying was silent for a moment. Then she turned and walked to the bed. At some point, the female physician had left, leaving only the maids gathered around it.
She raised her hand and touched the bride’s neck. Curling her fingers, she first struck it heavily.
The bride’s entire body convulsed, springing up from the bed before falling back down.
The maids were so shocked that they even forgot to cry, merely murmuring, “What are you doing?”
Cheng Nianying did not answer. She swiftly took out silver needles and inserted them into the bride’s Tianding and Qishe acupoints.
Chu Zhen and the others quickly gathered around. They watched with their own eyes as the bride’s face gradually lost its bluish pallor.
Cheng Nianying pointed at her and said, “She’s alive.”
For a moment, everyone was stunned. They even forgot how to make a sound.
Only when one of the maids cautiously reached out a finger to test the bride’s breath did she suddenly leap up. “She’s breathing! It’s weak, but she truly is breathing!”
Chu Zhen hurriedly asked, “When will she wake up?”
Cheng Nianying replied, “Twenty-four hours.”
The middle-aged man’s face turned ashen. “Too late. That’s still too late. There isn’t enough time…”
Cheng Nianying asked, “What will happen?”
“Disobeying the imperial decree. The household will be confiscated, and we will all be beheaded.”
Cheng Nianying could not help touching the weapon hidden at her waist. Its presence reassured her.
She said quietly, “I have never had a father or mother. I still don’t know what it is like to have parents, so you should all try not to die just yet. I’ll go.”
Everyone around them let out a tremendous sigh of relief.
“Quick! Quickly help the young miss change!”
Cheng Nianying was carried away by them. She could not help turning her head back to look at Chu Zhen, who was covering her face as she and the middle-aged man supported each other out.
Is that my father? she wondered.
Once the Marquis Wuning and his wife had left the room, the Marquis’s expression darkened. Gritting his teeth, he said, “This is all because you spoiled her. She actually dared to hang herself today!”
Chu Zhen snapped back, “Although Commandery Prince Danshuo is favored before His Majesty, he was gravely wounded while saving His Majesty. Rumor has it everywhere that he cannot be cured. His Majesty arranged this marriage precisely to leave him a bloodline. Marrying into that household means she is destined to become a widow! Who could possibly take that well?”
The Marquis Wuning gave a cold snort and fell silent.
Chu Zhen also turned her face away, still looking sorrowful.
Nanny Liu hurriedly consoled her from the side. “Marchioness, please don’t grieve over the new young miss, either. Since she was only recognized as your daughter today, and she ultimately wasn’t raised at your knee all these years, protecting the marquis’s residence is what matters most.”
Another serving woman looked astonished. “Did the Marchioness once give birth to another daughter?” She had been Chu Zhen’s wet nurse. How had she never heard of this?
Chu Zhen lowered her handkerchief. The tear stains on her face had already dried, and her tone was indifferent.
“I never did.”