Noticing Jiang Si’s unusual expression, Jiang Qiao quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Si regained her composure. “Nothing.”
Given Er’niu’s cleverness, if he could secretly infiltrate Marquis Changxing’s manor, he should have no trouble leaving.
“Third Sister, what’s with those red rashes on your arm?”
She didn’t believe in such coincidences.
Jiang Qiao raised her arm, letting her sleeve fall to her elbow, and said with a grin, “Oh, this? We had shrimp porridge this morning, and I ate quite a bit. I always get these when I eat shrimp.”
Jiang Si suddenly remembered that the bowl of shrimp porridge placed before Jiang Qiao had been emptied, and she’d even asked for seconds.
Jiang Si grabbed Jiang Qiao’s hand. “Third Sister, thank you.”
She’d heard that some people would break out in rashes after eating certain foods, experiencing severe itching and even fainting in serious cases.
Though she’d resolved to leave Marquis Changxing’s manor, even if it meant burning bridges, she hadn’t expected Jiang Qiao to go to such lengths.
“What’s there to thank?” Jiang Qiao lowered her sleeve. “It’s not serious—it’ll fade by tomorrow. After what happened last night, staying there even a moment longer felt unbearable. Leaving early was the right choice.”
She then casually opened the gift box from Marchioness Changxing, finding hairpins, rings, and other ornaments that young ladies typically enjoyed. She sighed, “The Marchioness is a good person, but unfortunately—”
Jiang Si laughed coldly inside.
Was the Marchioness a good person?
In her previous life, after fleeing to the Southern Borders and becoming the Seventh Prince’s consort, she’d returned to the capital and secretly investigated behind Prince Yu’s back. Only then did she learn that the Heir of Marquis Changxing had died long ago.
His death had been gruesome—dismembered below the waist and left naked in the bustling marketplace.
The deaths of both the Heir and Divine Lady Liu became famous unsolved cases, with neither the culprit nor the motive ever discovered.
Jiang Si could have waited patiently for two years until some nameless hero dealt with that beast of an Heir.
But she wasn’t willing to wait, nor could she bear it.
She couldn’t bear to let his horrific deeds be buried with his death, leaving people to sigh with misplaced pity. Even more unbearable was the thought of how many innocent girls would suffer at his hands in those two years.
As for the Marchioness—
Thinking of her, Jiang Si couldn’t decide whether to feel angry or disgusted. Perhaps she could only sigh that birds of a feather flock together.
After years of childlessness, following the Heir’s violent death, the manor announced Jiang Qian’s pregnancy, and by the next year, she had delivered a premature “posthumous child.”
It wasn’t unusual for a new widow to deliver early due to excessive grief, so people didn’t suspect anything. However, through her quiet investigation of Second Uncle’s family, she discovered a shocking secret: Jiang Qian’s child wasn’t the Heir’s, but the Marquis’s!
The truth was even more despicable than imagined. Jiang Qian bearing the Marquis’s child wasn’t due to any illicit affair—rather, the Marquis and his wife, unwilling to let their son’s lineage end and not wanting a concubine’s son to inherit their vast estate, had used their daughter-in-law to produce a “legitimate grandson.”
And all of this—the seemingly fragile Marchioness hadn’t been kept in the dark.
She was a participant.
Perhaps for that woman, this was preferable to watching the Marquis have a son with a concubine who would inherit everything from her son.
These thoughts made Jiang Si nauseous.
She could say without hesitation that everyone in the Marquis’s manor, down to the stone lions at the gate, was tainted.
“You can’t judge a book by its cover. Has Third Sister been bought over by a box of trinkets?” Jiang Si teased.
Jiang Qiao started, then quickly understood: “Fourth Sister thinks the Marchioness is suspicious too?”
Jiang Si replied coolly, “I believe a person’s character is inevitably tied to their environment. With a son like that, could his mother truly be such a saint?”
Jiang Qiao considered this and nodded: “You have a point, but however disgusting they are, it’s no longer our concern. We’ll just stay far away from them from now on.”
Jiang Si certainly didn’t want Jiang Qiao too deeply involved, so she smiled in agreement.
“Fourth Sister, how do you plan to deal with that beast?”
Jiang Si answered vaguely: “I haven’t thought it through. I was scared at the time and said that just to leave the manor quickly. Let me think about it properly when we get back.”
Jiang Qiao gave her a sidelong glance: “Stop treating me like a child.”
If anyone had been scared, she’d shown far more fear than Fourth Sister, who had remained composed throughout, as if completely unaware of last night’s events.
Seeing through her deflection, Jiang Si conceded: “I can’t discuss that method right now. If it succeeds, I’ll tell Third Sister everything. If it fails—”
Noticing Jiang Qiao’s skeptical look, Jiang Si smiled, “If it fails, I’ll seek Third Sister’s help in finding another way.”
“That’s better.” Jiang Qiao tactfully dropped the subject.
Having reached an unspoken understanding, they moved on to casual conversation.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped.
“What’s happening?” Jiang Qiao called out.
The driver responded from outside: “There’s a wedding procession, miss. Too many spectators have blocked the road ahead.”
“A wedding?” The excitement-loving Jiang Qiao immediately lifted the window curtain.
A breeze swept through the window, instantly clearing the stuffiness from the carriage.
Outside, the crowd was dense and lively.
Soon, the sound of firecrackers approached from afar, accompanied by children’s excited screams.
From the scale of things, it must be a wedding for some noble family’s young master.
Seeing no way forward and unable to turn around easily, the driver guided the carriage to the roadside to wait for the procession and crowd to pass.
Jiang Qiao rested her chin on her hand by the window, asking curiously, “I wonder whose wedding this is?”
Jiang Si cast a casual glance outside.
The wedding procession gradually approached, with festive suona music making the atmosphere even more jubilant.
At the front of the procession sat the groom on a horse decorated with red silk. As they drew closer, both sisters heard the admiring murmurs from the crowd.
“My, I never expected the Third Young Master of Duke An’s manor to be so handsome!”
“What’s surprising about that? How else could he make an unmarried maiden commit suicide with him…”
“That’s wrong thinking. When a common girl secretly pledges herself to a duke’s son, she might commit suicide with him even if he had a face full of pockmarks.”
The crowd’s tones ranged from excited to teasing as they discussed the recent scandal of Duke An’s Third Young Master and a commoner girl’s suicide pact.
This was prime gossip material—it was said to have even reached the Emperor’s ears.
Sitting in their carriage, the sisters could feel the burning curiosity of the capital’s citizens nearly scorching through to their compartment.
Jiang Qiao’s expression changed, and she glanced at Jiang Si, relaxing only when she saw her expressionless face and averted gaze.
Now at ease, the Third Miss stuck her head out further, craning her neck to look.
“Third Sister, what’s so interesting to see?” Jiang Si asked helplessly.
“Don’t disturb me—I want to see what this blind fool looks like.”