Chapter 46
Chapter 46
“Yanzhi, what happened?”
A kindly voice came from behind him.
Xie Yanzhi quickly set Jin Bao down, turned around, and bowed respectfully.
“Grandson greets Grandmother. Did Grandmother rest well last night?”
Old Madam Zheng nodded, her gaze falling on Jin Bao.
Jin Bao was also tilting her little head, sizing up Old Madam Zheng.
This Great-grandmother made Jin Bao feel so close to her.
“Grandmother? What’s wrong?”
Xie Yanzhi noticed that Old Madam Zheng looked agitated. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she was staring fixedly at Jin Bao without blinking.
Old Madam Zheng realized she had lost her composure and forced the corners of her lips upward.
“Yanzhi, whose child is this? Do you know each other?”
Before Xie Yanzhi could answer, Jin Bao had already spoken in her soft, sticky little voice. “Great-grandmother, my name is Xiao Jinru. I’m my mother’s child.”
“Jin Bao, why are you here? You had your mother searching everywhere.”
Pei Wanqing had heard Jin Bao’s voice and followed it over. Early that morning, she had been busy packing with Nanny Chen, so she had let Jin Bao go off and play by herself. During that time, she had seen the little girl busily running in and out of the room a few times, but then she had disappeared.
Jin Bao turned and pattered down the stairs, throwing herself into Pei Wanqing’s arms.
Only then did Pei Wanqing get a clear look at the old madam upstairs. Surprise flashed through her eyes as well. She had not expected to run into the old madam of the Chancellor’s Mansion here.
“This junior greets Old Madam.”
Old Madam Zheng’s emotions had already been greatly stirred so early in the morning. Now, seeing members of the Xiao Family, she found it even harder to calm herself.
It was not until she saw Old Madam Xiao that she learned the Zhen Guo Gong Mansion had been confiscated and its people exiled.
She had been gone for more than half a year and knew nothing of what had happened in the capital.
“Niece-in-law, forgive me for asking so abruptly, but I don’t recall your family ever having added a daughter. This child is…?”
Old Madam Zheng looked at the little girl off to the side, who was clinging to Xie Yanzhi and pestering him to play, her heart full of doubts.
Pei Wanqing’s heart tightened. Could Old Madam Zheng have noticed something?
But thinking about it, it made sense. After all, the Imperial Consort had been the Chancellor’s full-blooded younger sister, Old Madam Zheng’s daughter born in her later years.
When Old Madam Zheng had been pregnant back then, she had already been somewhat advanced in age. As a result, the Imperial Consort’s health had been poor while she was still an unmarried young lady, and she had almost never attended any banquets in the capital. Until the day she passed away like a withered blossom, very few people had ever seen her true appearance.
By rights, with a body like that, she should never have had any fate with the palace. It was said that she had saved the Emperor when he fell into the water, and the two had fallen in love at first sight.
The Emperor had swept aside all objections and, upon bringing her into the palace, granted her the rank of Imperial Consort. For a time, the Chancellor’s Mansion had been raised to the height of glory.
Now Jin Bao looked exactly like that woman. It would be difficult not to arouse suspicion.
“Old Madam, she is a distant niece from my maiden family.
“Her parents died young, and the uncles in her clan swallowed up her household’s property.
“Fortunately, her wet nurse was loyal and risked her life to send the child to the Marquis’s Mansion.
“It just so happened that I had no daughter, so I took her in as my own.
“It’s only that this child has had a hard fate. She happened to arrive just as our Marquis’s Mansion was confiscated and we were exiled. She hasn’t enjoyed a single day of good fortune.”
As Pei Wanqing spoke, she lowered her head and wiped at the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.
Only then did some of the doubt in Old Madam Zheng’s heart disperse.
“Old Madam, breakfast is ready.”
Pei Wanqing quickly rose to her feet.
“I won’t disturb Old Madam’s meal, then.”
Old Madam Zheng directly took hold of Pei Wanqing’s and Old Madam Xiao’s wrists.
“Since we have met here, it must be fate. Eat with me. From now on, mountains will be high and roads will be long. I’m afraid we may never meet again in this lifetime.”
Old Madam Zheng felt a little sorrowful. In her heart, she deeply regretted what had happened to the Mansion of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery.
She did not believe the Mansion of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery had plotted rebellion.
But such words could not be spoken openly. Otherwise, someone might seize on them as a fault and claim the Chancellor’s Mansion was questioning the Emperor. Perhaps they would even have a crime pinned on them for it.
Ever since her daughter had died in childbirth, the Emperor seemed to have grown suspicious of everyone.
At Old Madam Zheng’s invitation, the women of the Xiao Family did not refuse and took their seats one after another.
Breakfast was plain white rice porridge with meat buns and two small plates of pickled vegetables.
Pei Wanqing beckoned to Jin Bao.
“Good girl, come eat.”
“Okay, Mother. Baby’s coming!”
Jin Bao came bouncing over to Pei Wanqing’s side with a beaming smile. Beneath the red ribbons tied around her two little buns hung a pair of tiny bells, which chimed with every step she took. The sound was crisp and pleasant.
The more Old Madam Zheng looked at Jin Bao, the more she felt the child was the very image of her daughter when she had been little.
But she had seen with her own eyes her young granddaughter’s body wrapped in a brocade quilt and buried together with her daughter.
Could this child be her daughter’s reincarnation?
This child was exactly three years old, and her daughter had been dead for three years. Counting the time, it matched perfectly.
The thought made Old Madam Zheng’s heart grow even warmer toward her.
“Niece-in-law, may this old woman hold Jin Bao?”
Pei Wanqing still could not be certain of Jin Bao’s identity. The more she tried to hide it, the more suspicious it would seem. It looked like she would have to tell the family about this sooner rather than later.
Generously, she placed Jin Bao into Old Madam Zheng’s arms.
“It is her blessing that you like her, Old Madam.”
Holding Jin Bao in her arms, Old Madam Zheng could not get enough of her. A sense of fulfillment rose in her heart, as if the scar she had deliberately kept hidden away had finally healed at this moment.
“Jin Bao, shall Great-grandmother feed you some porridge?”
Jin Bao smelled Old Madam Zheng’s scent and felt an intimate closeness in her heart, a feeling she did not have with anyone in the Xiao Family.
“Thank you, Great-grandmother.”
Old Madam Zheng laughed with genuine delight.
Xie Yanzhi watched, joy blooming in his heart as well. His grandmother had not smiled so happily in a very long time. The last time had been when his aunt was still alive.
Still, this little sister from the Xiao Family really did look like his late aunt. No wonder Grandmother was overthinking things.
“Great-grandmother, don’t drink it. The porridge is bitter. It can kill people.”
As soon as Jin Bao smelled the bowl of white porridge being brought to her, she immediately pursed her little mouth in disgust and hurriedly pushed the bowl away with both small hands.
Pei Wanqing’s expression changed drastically. She at once looked toward Xiao Che, the Xiao Family men, and the bailiffs at the neighboring table.
“Husband, the porridge is poisoned.”
Xiao Che had just eaten a meat bun and was about to lower his head to drink the porridge. At Pei Wanqing’s sudden shout, the bowl in his hand slipped and crashed to the floor with a sizzling hiss.
“This porridge…”
Li Si’s face went pale as he stared at the white foam bubbling up from the floor. It was easy to imagine just how poisonous the porridge was.
One sip, and even an immortal would likely be beyond saving.
Li Si immediately overturned the table.
“How dare your post station poison us? This must be reported to the authorities.”
As Li Si spoke, his eyes never left Cui Jin and Zou Yong in the corner. There was no white porridge on their table.
Cui Jin’s face remained calm, but a flicker of doubt flashed through his eyes.
His gaze landed on Pei Wanqing.
How had this woman known the porridge was poisoned?
And there was last night’s incident too. He had already questioned the kitchen. The waiter who delivered pastries to him last night had left the post station and vanished without a trace. If no one had deliberately drugged him, then he, Cui Jin, would write his name backward.
Could it be that his plan to poison them had already been exposed last night?
Had the other side drugged him precisely because they knew, in order to stop him from carrying out the poisoning?
Star Maiden!
Those two words suddenly appeared in his mind.
His master had said that the Star Maiden’s ability was to glimpse the secrets of heaven. Otherwise, how could what happened last night be explained? And what about what was happening now?
For the first time, Cui Jin seriously studied this youngest daughter of the Xiao Family, Jin Bao.
Whether it was her age or all the coincidences along the way, everything seemed connected to that legendary Star Maiden.
It seemed he would have to have his master thoroughly investigate the background of this adopted daughter of the Xiao Family.