The Old Madam of the Yining Marquis’s eyebrows twitched involuntarily as she gazed deeply at Jiang Si.

Jiang Si gently bit her lip, her heart suspended.

Having come this far in the conversation, if her maternal great-grandmother still refused to discuss the past, she would have to seek another way.

After a moment of tense silence, the Old Madam finally spoke: “The Empress Dowager and I aren’t exactly at odds.”

Jiang Si was taken aback, her eyes fixed on the Old Madam.

The Old Madam smiled bitterly: “At least, it’s not the usual kind of estrangement caused by some unsavory incident.”

Jiang Si couldn’t help but ask, “But I heard that you and the Empress Dowager were once as close as sisters. Why did you rarely interact later?”

Could it be simply because the Empress Dowager’s entry into the palace made it inconvenient?

“As close as sisters…” the Old Madam murmured, her expression somewhat strange.

“Maternal Great-grandmother?” Jiang Si called out, fearing that the Old Madam might close up again after finally opening up.

The Old Madam snapped back from her thoughts and looked at her anxious great-granddaughter with self-mockery, “The problem lies in that very closeness, but to speak of it seems rather absurd…”

Jiang Si obediently massaged the Old Madam’s legs, saying softly, “Maternal Great-grandmother, please feel free to speak. After all, there’s no one else here to hear.”

The Old Madam nodded slightly, her expression growing even more peculiar as she uttered a shocking statement: “I felt as if she had become a different person!”

Jiang Si’s hand trembled, and she bit her lip hard to keep from making a sound.

The Old Madam’s eyes grew misty as she fell into reminiscence: “The Empress Dowager and I were indeed close friends, and our friendship didn’t fade even after I married. At that time, she often visited the Marquis’s mansion. But from some point on, I began to feel she was somehow different. Although her appearance, behavior, and even habitual gestures hadn’t changed, I just had this feeling that she wasn’t herself anymore…”

The Old Madam’s face darkened as she stared at Jiang Si: “Si’er, can you understand that feeling?”

Jiang Si’s eyes flickered, but she remained silent.

The Old Madam didn’t need an answer. She sighed deeply and continued, “Every time I looked at her, I felt that while it was the shell of my close friend, the soul inside was different. I even wondered if she had been possessed by a wandering spirit, like in those wild historical tales…”

At this point, the Old Madam’s bitter smile deepened: “Those bizarre stories are just fiction after all. I thought I must have been bewitched to have such strange notions. But once the idea took root, I couldn’t shake it off. When facing her, I felt only fear, and distancing myself came naturally.”

“So, the Empress Dowager didn’t know your thoughts at the time?” Jiang Si asked calmly, suppressing the tumultuous emotions within her.

The Old Madam shook her head: “Of course I wouldn’t say anything. Such thoughts were too absurd to voice.”

Jiang Si nodded in understanding.

If a close friend came to her asking if she had been possessed by a wandering spirit, she would certainly think that person was ill.

The Old Madam lovingly stroked Jiang Si’s hair, sighing, “If not for your persistent questions, child, I would have taken this to my grave.”

After all, she had her pride. How could she let her descendants know she had such outlandish thoughts in her youth?

Jiang Si looked up at the Old Madam and asked seriously, “Maternal Great-grandmother, have you ever considered that perhaps your feeling was correct?”

The Old Madam’s body jolted, and she spoke hoarsely, “Si’er, how could you have such a thought?”

“Maternal Great-grandmother may not know, but Princess Fuqing has faced multiple assassination attempts in the palace, each time linked to Cining Palace. The Fourteenth Princess even lost her life because of this. If this were related to the Empress Dowager, it’s puzzling because she seems perfect in every way, with hardly any setbacks. It’s impossible to imagine why she would have a grudge against a princess. I couldn’t make sense of it, but after hearing your words, I have a new perspective—”

Hearing Jiang Si speak of the palace’s shocking events, the Old Madam’s heart raced. She quickly asked, “What perspective?”

Jiang Si pursed her lips and said gravely, “What if the Empress Dowager was never the real Empress Dowager from the beginning? If so, the person who went to such lengths to replace the real Empress Dowager and enter the palace must have had a grand scheme. This would explain all these puzzling events.”

The Old Madam’s face was filled with shock: “If the Empress Dowager isn’t the Empress Dowager, then who is she?”

Jiang Si remained silent for a moment before asking, “Maternal Great-grandmother, didn’t you notice any clues?”

The Old Madam pondered for a long while but still shook her head: “I only had that feeling of something being off, and soon after, she entered the palace. Since then, we’ve hardly interacted, only seeing each other briefly during New Year’s greetings in the palace. How could I discover anything?”

Seeing that no more information could be gleaned about the Empress Dowager, Jiang Si changed the subject: “I also heard that a foreign woman was staying at the Marquis’s mansion at that time?”

The Old Madam’s expression changed slightly, her body instinctively tensing.

Jiang Si paused, then asked, “Did anything unusual happen between that foreign woman and the Empress Dowager? And where did she go afterward?”

The Old Madam gave Jiang Si a long, deep look before falling completely silent.

Jiang Si didn’t dare to press further, lowering her gaze to wait.

The room wasn’t very bright, and the Old Madam’s voice seemed almost ethereal.

Jiang Si listened as she spoke word by word: “Actually, that foreign woman is your real maternal grandmother.”

Jiang Si’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at the Old Madam in disbelief.

She had speculated about her resemblance to Ah Sang, but hearing it confirmed by her great-grandmother still stirred up a storm of emotions within her.

Having uttered the most difficult words, the Old Madam’s subsequent explanation flowed more smoothly: “That year, I encountered danger while out for a spring outing and was fortunately saved by a foreign woman. Seeing her alone and wandering, I brought her back to the Marquis’s mansion for a short stay… Later, she met a scholar who had come to the capital for the imperial examinations. After he failed the exam, he disappeared without a trace. Not long after, she discovered she was with child and gave birth to twin daughters.”

The Old Madam looked at Jiang Si and sighed: “One of those twin sisters is your mother, Ah Ke.”

“And the other?”

“Disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

The Old Madam smiled bitterly: “Yes, on the second day after she gave birth, she vanished. Along with her, the elder of the twin sisters disappeared, while the younger was left at the Marquis’s mansion. At that time, I was about to give birth myself. Half a month later, I gave birth to a daughter who unfortunately passed away, so I raised her abandoned daughter as my own.”

It wasn’t unusual for the Old Madam to do this, as daughters weren’t involved in succession or inheritance disputes. A well-raised daughter with a good dowry could be a valuable asset to the family when married off.

“Maternal Great-grandmother, do you know where she was from?” Jiang Si asked.

The Old Madam was silent for a moment before answering, “She was likely from the Wu Miao people.”