Jiang Xuehui quietly gazed at her. Beneath her jet-black eyes seemed hidden several threads of sighing. After a long while, she finally said, “You’ve been waiting for me to ask, haven’t you?”

But Jiang Xuening acted as if she hadn’t heard, instead directly ordering the maid in her room, “Mei’er, why don’t you quickly bring me a cup of tea? The story is long—it must be told slowly.”

Mei’er was so angry she couldn’t speak.

Yet Jiang Xuehui actually said, “Go and bring it.”

Mei’er was immediately stunned and directly cried out, “Eldest Miss!”

Jiang Xuehui paid no attention.

So Mei’er swallowed her anger, glared viciously at Jiang Xuening, then turned to go fetch tea.

Jiang Xuening smiled. “Elder Sister truly has such a good temperament.”

Jiang Xuehui only said, “After all, losing my temper won’t make you leave from here. So good temperament and bad temperament—there’s no difference.”

This was truly something Jiang Xuehui would say.

She had been like this in the previous life too.

Even when bullied by her, she could still maintain dignity and propriety, as if nothing was enough to make her angry. But for someone living in this world, if they didn’t even have a bit of temper, they truly wouldn’t seem like a real person anymore.

Hearing these words from her, Jiang Xuening only wandered leisurely about her room, looking at the exquisite zelkova wood canopy bed, the carved lacquer dressing table with intertwining lotus patterns, and those freshly incense-scented dresses…

She had these things too.

But Jiang Xuehui’s were given by Meng Shi; hers were fought for and seized by herself.

“You truly don’t resemble Wanniang’s daughter at all.” Jiang Xuening gently picked up a bracelet made of red coral beads from her dressing table. “Since I can remember, Wanniang has been a person with quite a temper. Back then, we lived in a manor in the countryside. Because we had been driven out by the manor, many people bullied us and spread malicious gossip. I was very afraid. But she would walk out from the house and stand under the eaves, smiling as she cursed them back line by line.”

Jiang Xuehui slowly closed her eyes.

But Jiang Xuening’s voice kept ringing in her ears. “You wouldn’t dare believe it, would you? Even in such poor mountains and hostile waters, she always dressed herself beautifully, even with the most inferior rouge and powder. She could keep accounts, could read, could compose poetry, and could curse at people. She wouldn’t talk with those village women because she never considered herself the same as them. Even when children from other families came to play with me, she wouldn’t allow it. She told me I wasn’t a child of country farmers and village folk, that I was different from others. At that time, Wanniang was the most different, most beautiful, and most formidable woman I could see…”

Jiang Xuehui had always lived in this prosperous capital.

She had never seen life in the countryside, nor could she imagine what kind of crude appearance those village men and farmers had, much less imagine the scene of a woman standing under the eaves smiling as she exchanged curses with others…

Luxurious clothes and fine food, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

These were what she was familiar with.

And everything Jiang Xuening described was foreign to her.

“When I was small, I played in the courtyard, catching dragonflies, breaking off peach blossoms. Wanniang would occasionally sit on the steps under the eaves watching me, and sometimes stand behind that small window watching me. At that time, I only felt that Wanniang’s posture and appearance were truly beautiful. When I grew a bit older, I could sense that the way she looked at me was actually very different—always lost in thought, always in a daze, as if thinking of something else.”

When she spoke to this point, Jiang Xuening’s voice suddenly became somewhat mocking, pulling a trace of a smile at the corner of her lips, as if this could suppress some faint astringency within her heart.

“Others all said Wanniang was a minor wife from a wealthy family, and I was a concubine daughter from a wealthy family. In any case, we came from a wealthy family. So I thought perhaps Wanniang wanted to return to the capital. Thus one day, when Wanniang was looking at me with such eyes again, I ran inside, pulled her hand and said that it didn’t matter if the manor wouldn’t let her return to the capital. One day, I would take her back, buy her the best rouge and clothes, so that no one could bully us anymore.”

Clearly, she was reborn. This segment of memory was truly very, very long ago for her. She had thought she’d actually forgotten most of it.

But when truly speaking of it, it was vivid before her eyes.

Jiang Xuening even remembered that day Wanniang had styled her hair in a three-strand bun, hanging on her soft earlobes an already aged red coral earring of hers…

“When she looked back at me, she seemed moved. I was very happy. But then her eyes suddenly changed, and she actually pushed me away at once. Do you know what Wanniang said to me?” Jiang Xuening put Jiang Xuehui’s string of red coral beads on her own slender wrist, lowering her eyes to admire them. “She told me to get lost, and said I was the spawn of a wretched woman, telling me if I wanted to return to the capital, to get lost back there alone.”

Her skin was very fair. Set off by the superior quality red coral, it was like a patch of snow.

From this extreme color contrast, Jiang Xuehui felt shocked and alarmed.

This bracelet was beautiful, certainly beautiful.

Only, what a pity…

Like Wanniang, it didn’t belong to her.

Jiang Xuening suddenly felt that kind of coldness with nowhere to place it and smiled. “Wanniang used to treat me very well. I didn’t know why she would curse at me. Aggrieved, I hugged myself, sat under the eaves crying, thinking perhaps Wanniang hated the capital, so she feared if I went to the capital I wouldn’t want her anymore. Perhaps Wanniang hated Father for being fickle, so she cursed me as the spawn of a wretched man. How ridiculous, how pitiful?”

Gazing at that bracelet for a long while, she still removed it.

Then she walked back before Jiang Xuehui, took her hand and put it on her, her expression actually quite gentle. “Not until four years ago, when I learned of my origins and recalled everything from the past, did I understand why she cursed me and why she looked at me with those eyes…”

Jiang Xuehui slowly clenched her hand, only feeling that when the red coral bracelet was placed on her wrist, it was like a string of branding irons falling on her skin, making her voice finally carry a trace of secretly imperceptible trembling. “Enough, stop talking.”

But Jiang Xuening acted as if she hadn’t heard and continued, “You see, how unfair heaven is. Clearly you and I were switched, so we should each possess everything the other should have. Some things, at least I should have a share too. But Wanniang knew I wasn’t her daughter—her real daughter was in the capital. Yet my birth mother happened not to know you weren’t her daughter and raised you as her own flesh and blood, pouring over ten years of affection into you. Thus, I not only lacked the love from my birth mother, I also lacked that portion of love from Wanniang. You enjoyed the love of both of them, having everything, but I…”

I had nothing.

She seemed to hear that wind from the mountain trees blow through her heart again, sweeping everything away, leaving nothing behind. “So everything you have, I must have too. Everything good you have, I must seize. But some things, I’ll never be able to seize in this lifetime. Even on her deathbed, Wanniang was thinking of her real daughter. I was nearly mad with jealousy, yet you were dismissive…”

“Pa!”

Jiang Xuehui’s face finally turned cold. She actually rose abruptly, tore off the bracelet she had just placed on her wrist and threw it on the table, asking in return, “Why should I care? Why should I inquire? You’re jealous because you can’t have it. But what you’re jealous of isn’t necessarily what I want.”

Jiang Xuening looked back at her.

Jiang Xuehui’s voice carried a rare severity. “Though Wanniang was indeed my birth mother, I never met her even once, much less that she had ill intentions first, deliberately switching you and me, which led to all that followed. All pitifulness originates from hatefulness. Younger Sister Ning, you are a sentimental and willful person, but I cannot be. I was raised from childhood by Mother and learned to protect myself wisely. If I don’t inquire about Wanniang’s matters, I fail Wanniang’s gift of life. If I inquire about Wanniang’s matters, I fail Mother’s gift of nurturing. Since no matter what I cannot satisfy both, why should I put myself in an unfavorable position? Moreover, for these past ten to nearly twenty years, Mother has carefully raised and taught me. Though she wronged you, she didn’t wrong me. How can you expect me to harden my heart enough to hurt her?”

Speaking to this point, she actually showed some sorrow too.

Only sitting back down dejectedly, she said, “I know that between you and Mother there’s now a chasm like heaven and earth. But four years ago when you first returned to the manor, Mother also wanted to compensate you. But you always brought up Wanniang and refused discipline, everywhere poking at her sore spots. Even ten parts of guilt were worn away, and instead made her constantly think of Wanniang. I advised you, but you also hated me. You wouldn’t listen.”

Without doubt, Jiang Xuehui was a clever person.

But this kind of cleverness always made Jiang Xuening feel cold. “In this world, not everyone can be like you, weighing pros and cons in everything, so detached as to be nearly cold-blooded.”

Jiang Xuehui said, “So it’s right that you hate me, and I never retaliate against you.”

Jiang Xuening couldn’t help but laugh aloud, as if only today had she truly, truly come to know her.

For a moment, both previous life and present life came to mind.

She looked at her, murmuring in a daze, “How did I never discover before that you’re the material for becoming Empress…”

This voice was too low, light as a sleep-murmur.

Jiang Xuehui didn’t hear clearly.

But this didn’t prevent her from issuing an order to leave. “So much has been said today. I suppose Mother will also be upset for quite a while, suspicious of me for quite a while. You’ve had your satisfaction—shouldn’t you leave now?”

Jiang Xuening said, “I should leave indeed.”

Only after taking two steps outward did she stop, turning back to look at her with a deep gaze. “When I dream at night, I always see Wanniang. However, you never met her, so you probably can’t dream of her, can you?”

Having said this, she smiled, turned, and left.

Jiang Xuehui sat in the room, only looking at that string of red coral that had already been broken and scattered, lowering her eyes without speaking.

It was early the next morning when Meng Shi learned from the senior maid attending her that last night Jiang Xuening had sat in Hui’er’s room for a long time and talked for a long time. She trembled all over with anger and smashed all the teacups in the room.

She even cursed several times.

She had people summon Jiang Xuening to “talk.” Jiang Xuening couldn’t be bothered to pay attention.

Having returned from the palace, she was indeed very tired and had slept a dreamless, good night’s sleep that evening.

When Meng Shi’s people came, she was just placing a hot towel on her face.

Hearing that Meng Shi was summoning her, she only laughed once. Her voice mixed with the hot steam floating upward, vague and indistinct, light and airy. “Today I’m receiving a guest, and later I have an appointment with Young Master Yan. I’m afraid I don’t have time to pay respects to Mother. Please just tell Mother on my behalf—from now on, be a bit more polite to me. Don’t think you can order me around at the drop of a hat. Otherwise, I have my own methods to let all of the capital know what origins the ‘daughter’ she so lovingly dotes on has…”