Volume One, Chapter 11: Sixteen Years Ago-Falsa Filha Jura Não Ser Escrava, Reencarna Para Vencer a Mansão do Marquês(A Pequena Flor do Novo Céu Claro)

Nanny Liu’s forehead was bruised from knocking her head against the floor, and by the time she looked up, her face was streaked with the tears of an old woman.

"Marquis, Madam, all my kin are dead. I am left alone in this world, relying entirely on the Marquis’s estate to survive. How could I possibly have a niece to swap with the Young Miss?"

"You lie!" Jiang Yao’s words were sharp as blades. "You admitted it yourself just yesterday!"

Nanny Liu trembled violently. She dared not look at Jiang Yao and merely repeated, "I can swear to the heavens, I absolutely did not swap the Young Miss!"

The Marquis of Anle frowned as he looked at her. "Then what is this deception you speak of?"

Nanny Liu bowed deeply to the Marquis once more and said, "Sixteen years ago, I had the honor of serving the Madam. That night in the dilapidated temple, the Madam and another woman gave birth to daughters at the same time. That woman had nothing with her save for a young boy of three or four; even the swaddling clothes they used were provided by our estate. Because we were fleeing, our supplies were limited and our staff sparse. Both ladies were exhausted after childbirth and had fallen asleep, so I had to look after both infants together."

Hearing this, the Marquis recalled the circumstances of that year. The estate had received urgent news and fled in haste, taking only two carriages and a few personal servants and guards. Aside from gold, silver, and valuables, they truly had little else. When Madam Shen was in labor, the Marquis and the other men had camped outside the temple to avoid impropriety, so he was unaware of the specific events inside.

"Are you saying that while caring for both children, you mixed them up?" the Marquis asked.

"I dare not!" Nanny Liu shook her head frantically. "Although the newborns were similar, to distinguish them, the swaddling cloths used for the two young misses were of different patterns and colors. It was easy to tell them apart; it would have been impossible to confuse them. It is just..."

"Just what?" Madam Shen urged. "Speak quickly!"

"It is just that by midnight, while I was tending to the two misses, I was so exhausted that I dozed off and allowed the maid Lianxiang to watch over them." Nanny Liu was covered in sweat, her face a mess of tears as she explained in a rush. "When I awoke, it was already bright daylight, and only one of the infants remained. I heard from Lianxiang that the woman who had given birth alongside the Madam had left in a hurry early that morning to take her child. At the time, I even specifically checked the color and pattern of our young miss’s swaddling clothes to confirm everything was correct before I set my mind at ease."

"You old wretch! You actually let that slut Lianxiang care for my daughter? And you swapped my daughter!" Madam Shen’s face twisted with rage, and she moved to kick Nanny Liu.

Jiang Rui quickly held her back. "Mother, calm your anger. If it is as Nanny Liu says, the swap likely occurred because of Lianxiang. If we summon her now to question her, the truth will be revealed."

Madam Shen’s expression froze. She shook off Jiang Rui’s hand. "There is no Lianxiang! That slut has long been dead!"

Jiang Rui looked toward the Marquis, only to see him turn his head away uncomfortably.

"Lianxiang is dead. I do have some memory of that woman leaving early in the morning. At the time, the men of the household were camped outside the temple, and the guards on night watch reported that the woman had departed. I felt that it was better to avoid trouble, so I did not have anyone stop her."

"Marquis, how could you not care? The one she took away was our daughter!" Madam Shen threw herself onto the Marquis, tears soaking his lapel.

"How could I have known at the time?" The Marquis steadied her, a flash of guilt crossing his eyes.

Jiang Rui noticed that the reactions of the Marquis and Madam Shen were strange whenever Lianxiang was mentioned. Before Jiang Rui could ask, Jiang Yao spoke up.

"How did the maid Lianxiang die?" Jiang Yao’s voice was cold as she scrutinized the Marquis and Madam Shen. "Do you hold a grudge against her? Otherwise, why are you so certain that she took the opportunity to steal the child out of spite?"

The Marquis turned away awkwardly, refusing to meet Jiang Yao’s gaze. Madam Shen kept her head bowed, wiping her tears in silence.

Jiang Yao walked over to Nanny Liu, kicked her leg, and spoke in a chilling tone. "You tell me—how did Lianxiang die?"

Nanny Liu shrank back, trying to evade Jiang Yao, but was hoisted up by her collar.

"Speak! Don't make me ask a third time."

Jiang Rui was startled by Jiang Yao’s sudden violence. After failing to frame her for being a slave, what was Jiang Yao plotting now? Why did she care so much about Lianxiang’s death?

"Ah—don't hit me, I'll speak, I'll speak!" Nanny Liu trembled, screaming as she confessed. "After the Madam became pregnant, the Marquis took Lianxiang as a concubine. She displeased the Madam while we were on the road and was sold off. After all these years, sold into such filthy places, she must have died long ago..."

"Ha!" Jiang Yao flung Nanny Liu aside, laughing with a mixture of self-mockery and coldness. "So this is the truth."

She looked coldly at the Marquis and Madam Shen. "Father, Mother, you harmed Lianxiang, and so Lianxiang came to harm me!"

The Marquis sighed, as if drained of all strength, and slumped back into his chair. Madam Shen wept as she pulled Jiang Yao into her arms. "My poor daughter, it is we who have failed you!"

Standing to the side, Jiang Rui watched their display of mother-daughter affection with indifference. By now, the Marquis and Madam Shen had concluded that Jiang Yao was the true daughter of the house and that Lianxiang was the culprit who had swapped the children. As for her, Jiang Rui, she was merely the fake daughter swapped by mistake, an innocent party. She had no need to say anything more.

Jiang Rui suddenly recalled her past life—the torture she endured after the Marquis and Madam Shen decided Nanny Liu was the culprit and that she, Jiang Rui, was a servant who had intentionally usurped the position of the young miss. Madam Shen had blamed her for taking the place of the true daughter, stripped her of her status, and forced her to serve Jiang Yao as penance. The Marquis had seized the family businesses she had managed, claiming a servant like her could not be allowed to embarrass the family in public. When Jiang Yao tormented her, she would repeatedly insult her as a slave who dared to covet things that were not hers...

A thought flashed through her mind, and Jiang Rui suddenly felt something was amiss. Jiang Yao’s desire to reduce her to a slave seemed to be about more than just humiliation. In her past life, after being demoted, Jiang Rui had been renamed and had not stepped outside the estate for a long time. The entire family seemed to be preventing her from leaving. They had bound her with the status of a slave, and less than a year later, they had sold her as a courtesan to a powerful official, sending her far away from the capital...

Could it be that someone in the capital was looking for her? Could it be her real parents? And the Marquis and his wife—were they trying to prevent her from being found? Why?

Placing a hand over her rapidly beating heart, Jiang Rui forced herself to remain calm. She had already escaped the fate of being a slave this time. The next step was to recover her true identity.

Jiang Rui looked steadily at Jiang Yao. "Miss Yao, since Lianxiang is dead and cannot testify, if we are to fully prove our identities, we must invite the woman who gave birth in the temple that year—your foster mother—to the estate to clarify the matter once and for all."