Chapter 47

Chapter 47

## The True and False Heiresses 17

Li Hui’er clung to Lady Wang and sobbed until she could scarcely breathe. Lady Bai had only just managed to stop crying, but now her heart ached all over again. She let the girl cry out her pain for a long while, then ordered warm water brought so that Hui’er’s face could be washed again. Once the girl was clean, Lady Bai sent her into the inner room to wait and ordered Lady Tang brought in for questioning.

When the matron and her people had entered the Li Family home that day, Lady Tang had been completely bewildered and had no idea why they had come. But then the visitors confined the rest of the Li Family together while separating Li Hui’er from them, serving the girl fine food and drink and even buying her new clothes and necessities. How could Lady Tang fail to understand?

The events of that year had probably been exposed. That family had come looking for them!

The Li Family consisted only of ordinary commoners, while the other side belonged to the highest nobility. If the truth from all those years ago was uncovered, disaster would certainly fall upon her family. Nor would her youngest daughter, who had lived more than ten years of comfort under another identity, meet a pleasant end.

Lady Tang was frightened and uneasy. But for the sake of the Li Family’s lives and those of her children, she resolved to grit her teeth and deny everything, no matter how the other family interrogated her. So many years had passed. What evidence could possibly remain?

Confessing would certainly lead to a terrible end. If she denied it to her dying breath, there might still be a path to survival.

With that thought in mind, she had secretly warned her husband as well. Li Dalang had always obeyed his wife in everything and naturally agreed. Yet worry and terror filled his face. He plainly knew this trial would not be easy to survive.

When someone came to summon her, Lady Tang silently encouraged herself. She glanced at her anxious children sitting to one side, gritted her teeth, and walked out.

Old Man Li was advanced in years and badly frightened by this sudden calamity. Along the road, he had seen his family crammed together while his youngest granddaughter received special treatment. His heart had filled with uncertainty and suspicion. He quietly asked his son and daughter-in-law whether they knew the reason, but how could the couple dare tell him? They could only claim ignorance.

Now that Lady Tang had been taken away, Old Man Li’s suspicions deepened. He demanded sternly of his son, “What in the world is happening? What do you know? Hurry up and tell me! Do you mean to drag the entire family to death with you?”

Li Dalang lowered his head and answered in a muffled voice, “Father, I truly know nothing…”

Lady Tang knew she had chosen a wealthy family for her daughter all those years ago, but she had never imagined wealth on this scale. As she was escorted past the residence’s towers, terraces, pavilions, and music halls, the sights overwhelmed her eyes.

Had her youngest daughter grown up in a family like this?

How wonderful.

A brief spark of happiness rose in her heart, only to be smothered by the shadow of imminent disaster. A family of such incomparable wealth and power could crush her as easily as stepping on an ant. How could she not panic?

Lady Tang was led into the front hall. Lady Wang and Li Hui’er remained hidden in the inner room, while Lady Bai alone sat high in her chair, looking down upon her.

“Kneel!” The older maidservant escorting Lady Tang kicked the back of her knee. Lady Tang stumbled, then quickly knelt meekly on the carpet.

Lady Bai did not reveal her identity or waste time entangling herself in explanations. After looking Lady Tang up and down, she came straight to the point. “Do you know why I had you brought here?”

How could Lady Tang admit anything?

She immediately feigned confusion. With the timidity of a commoner before the powerful, she shook her head. “This common woman does not know.”

Lady Bai smiled. Holding her teacup, she idly lifted and lowered the lid. “If you mean to play games with me because you think I am easy to fool, then you have judged badly. At thirteen, I carried a blade to defend a city beside my father. I cut down more than twenty people and stopped only after the blade curled at the edge. Do you think I would let you make trouble beneath my very eyes?”

With a muffled bang, she set the teacup down, half placing and half slamming it against the table. Her voice turned cold. “You do not know? Very well. Bring out the two children she bore and hang them in the courtyard. If she still cannot remember, chop off an arm. If she needs more help, chop off a leg. Between the two of them, there are four arms and four legs. You will have plenty of time to remember slowly!”

Lady Bai had managed the King of Wu’s household for years and commanded considerable authority. Most of her attendants had also followed her from her maiden family. At her command, no one dared hesitate. Several immediately left to bring Lady Tang’s son and daughter, while others went to prepare heavy blades and axes.

Her limited world and experience meant that the worst women Lady Tang had ever known merely tormented their daughters-in-law or savaged others with spiteful gossip. Hearing Lady Bai so ruthlessly threaten her children’s lives, she panicked at once and shrieked, “You dare!”

Only after the shout escaped did she remember that she was at another’s mercy, with no means of escape. Her face flushed, and she was speechless for a long moment before demanding indignantly, “How can you do this? Is there no law in this realm?!”

Lady Bai sneered. “Strike her twenty times across the mouth and clear her head.”

The servants obeyed. One took a bamboo paddle and stepped forward. Lady Tang had no intention of submitting meekly. She surged to her feet and tried to leave, only to be pinned in place. Just as she opened her mouth to curse, Lady Bai’s cold gaze swept toward her. “Speak one more word, and I will have one of your children’s fingers chopped off. There are only twenty altogether. Count your words carefully.”

Lady Tang did not doubt Lady Bai’s ability to carry out the threat. Her mouth was already half open, but she obediently closed it again without uttering a sound and endured twenty strikes of the bamboo paddle.

In the inner room, Li Hui’er clung to the folding screen and stared outside with wide eyes. She was dumbfounded. Her gaze remained fixed on Lady Bai, shining with reverence.

After twenty strikes, Lady Tang’s head rang. The flesh of her face no longer felt like her own. The older maidservants holding her released her for the moment. Unable to support herself, Lady Tang collapsed abruptly to the floor, terror clouding her face.

At that moment, a maid entered from outside and hurried to Lady Bai’s side. She whispered several words. Lady Bai’s face visibly chilled, contempt and scorn nearly overflowing from her eyes.
“You cannot endure even this? Why did you not imagine this day when you committed such a crime? Did you think that if you gritted your teeth and said nothing, we would remain deceived and never discover the truth? Dream on!”

Lady Bai sneered. “That wretched girl was born sick. The family spent an untold amount of manpower and resources just to keep her alive. But the physicians said the illness came from the womb and could only pass to a child if the parents had suffered from it. No one in our family has anything to do with that illness, and the girl resembles none of us. If she is not some bastard from outside, what else could she be?!”

Lady Tang denied everything to the bitter end. “A bastard is a bastard. What does that have to do with our family? Perhaps one of the women in your family went out and slept with another man!”

That single remark was enough for Lady Bai to sentence Lady Tang to death in her heart. The woman had switched another family’s child, yet with disaster upon her, she dared turn around and accuse someone else of adultery. What a vile creature!

Coldness flashed through Lady Bai’s eyes, though her tone remained leisurely. “What an excellent argument. But why does that girl look nothing like our family and somewhat like you? There is one more thing I simply cannot understand…”

Lady Tang watched her warily. “What?”

Genuine puzzlement showed between Lady Bai’s brows. “I am a mother too. I understand loving one’s child and wanting to find a path to survival for a daughter. But is the youngest daughter’s life precious while the older son and daughter are weeds? Our family was not as powerful or wealthy then as it is now, but the pregnant woman still had several matrons and maids attending her. You may have enjoyed the advantage of the location, yet successfully switching two babies proves you were no fool. How, then, could you fail to imagine what vengeance would fall upon you if the truth emerged?”

She looked deeply at Lady Tang, a thousand unspoken words seemingly contained in her eyes. “Your youngest daughter was ill, but she was still alive. How could you gamble the lives of your entire family, including your two older children, in exchange for curing the youngest and giving her a prosperous life? I do not believe you truly thought the scheme flawless or that no one would ever discover the cracks.”

Lady Tang trembled almost imperceptibly. The flush left by the bamboo paddle rapidly drained from her cheeks. At last, she forced a smile. “I do not understand what you are saying. I only know that all three children came from my body. I love and cherish them equally.”

“Not equally, surely.” Lady Bai smiled at her, resting her chin on one hand. “Do you remember what I said earlier?”

Lady Tang looked back in confused unease.

Lady Bai did not keep her guessing. She revealed the answer directly. “The girl’s illness came from her parents. But I just sent a physician to examine your husband, and he has never suffered from that illness!”

She fixed Lady Tang with a meaningful look until cold sweat poured from the woman’s body and panic became impossible to conceal. Then she waved a hand and ordered, “Where is the physician? Examine her as well.”

Lady Tang suddenly realized the fatal mistake she had made.

Bracing her hands against the carpet, she scrambled backward in panic. The servants still pinned her down, allowing the physician to place his fingers on her wrist.

Despair surged into Lady Tang’s eyes.

Before long, the physician withdrew his hand and shook his head. “She has never suffered from the illness either.”

For the first time since Lady Tang entered the room, Lady Bai smiled from the heart. To Lady Tang, however, that smile was more terrifying than the face of an evil spirit.

“I kept wondering,” Lady Bai said. “You are no fool. Why would you plant such a hidden danger beneath your entire family merely to give your youngest daughter a perfect life? Then, when you began spewing filth and slandering another woman, I suddenly thought of you. Perhaps you imagined others so vile because you had willingly debased yourself in the same way. I hear the Li Family paid a hundred and twenty taels to buy you as a daughter-in-law. I also hear your husband is ugly, has a wretched character, and is lame.”

Every trace of color vanished from Lady Tang’s face, leaving behind only the dead gray of charcoal burned to ash.

She bit her lips fiercely and said nothing.

Lady Bai gazed at her with a cheerful smile. “I am right, aren’t I? You must despise such an ugly, repulsive husband. If he had not bought you with money, and if your family had not needed the silver to arrange your brother’s marriage, you would never have looked at him twice. Isn’t that so?”

Lady Tang bit her lips until they bled. “You are talking nonsense! I did no such thing!”

Lady Bai ignored her and continued in the same mocking tone. “You found him revolting, so you cared less for his children as well. Then, when you met a man you truly loved, you cast aside every restraint. You betrayed your husband and bore that other man’s child. To secure a future for the daughter you shared with your beloved, you even gambled the lives of the entire Li Family, including your two older children. Isn’t that right? Of course you love those two as well, but unfortunately, their father cannot compare to your youngest daughter’s father. He is ugly, repulsive, and lame…”

Unable to bear another word, Lady Tang shrieked, “Shut up!” Then, fingers clawed, she lunged forward like a madwoman.

The servants moved to stop her, but Lady Bai swept them aside. She raised one foot and kicked Lady Tang backward.

Lady Bai ordered, “Drag her out.”

The servants hauled Lady Tang from the hall. The hanging curtain lifted, and they threw her directly beneath the covered walkway.

Lady Tang struck the ground hard and took a long time to struggle upright. When she raised her head, her gaze landed on a pair of cloth shoes that had been patched several times. Looking upward, she saw two unattractive legs, one straight and one bent.

A chill rose along her spine. Lady Tang lifted her head in terror and met her husband’s deathly pale face. His features twitched several times beyond his control before he asked in a trembling voice, “That bastard was the child you secretly had with another man?”

For the first time in her life, Lady Tang faltered before her lame husband. “No… no…”