Li Zhao was quite curious about Ye Wanmian's life in the Ye family. In fact, such inquisitiveness had already crossed the line.
But perhaps because Xiao Jingcheng had regained his memory and the former "Goudan" who always clung to her, shared candies with her, and helped her catch fireflies was gone, she felt somewhat empty inside today. Li Zhao's concern warmed her heart, so she simply sat down beside him.
"Lord Ye, the imperial censor, and Lady Ye have two sons and one daughter. I have two elder brothers. One is Ye Huan, the one Uncle Li met some time ago. The other is Ye Huai. He didn't come to Dongli Town and should still be in the capital at this moment."
"Since I'm the only girl in the family, my two elder brothers doted on me and gave in to me at first. They were quite nice to me."
The night wind blew gently, and Ye Wanmian gently waved the cattail fan in her hand.
"Lord Ye, the imperial censor, is a rigid man. He has high requirements for his children, and I'm no exception. I have to learn what other girls can do, and I also have to learn what they can't. So I've dabbled in the four arts of the Chinese scholar - music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Thanks to my good memory, I also got top - grade grades in my studies at the academy."
"As for Lady Ye..."
The image of Lady Ye emerged in Ye Wanmian's mind.
In fact, Lady Ye had never been overly enthusiastic towards her from beginning to end, and she rarely saw Lady Ye. Unlike other familiar noble girls, whose mothers would take them out for socializing, for choosing jewelry, playing polo, or going on spring outings.
Since there were no other girls in the family and she had the eating, clothing, and daily necessities of a legitimate daughter, she thought that was just Lady Ye's true nature.
It wasn't until Ye Wanxing was brought back that she saw Lady Ye hugging Ye Wanxing in her arms with tears in her eyes, taking Ye Wanxing out for social events, and buying jewelry for her. Only then did she realize that Lady Ye wasn't indifferent to her daughter; she just didn't love her.
After listening to her story, Li Zhao keenly caught the doubts in it.
"You mean Lady Ye completely changed after bringing back her other daughter?"
"And she was rarely at home?"
Li Zhao frowned. He intuitively felt that there was some connection.
Ye Wanmian nodded. "Uncle Li, do you know that when Ye Wanxing was brought back home, she told Lord Ye and Lady Ye in person that there were no relatives left in her family."
Li Zhao clenched his fists. "But I remember you said your mother was still alive?"
Ye Wanmian snorted. "That's right. My mother is still alive. So, they lied to me. If I hadn't eloped from Xuanzhou and eventually come to Dongli Town, I might have been deceived by them for a lifetime!"
...
Inside the room, Xiao Jingcheng suddenly opened his eyes and sat up from the bed.
Eloped from Xuanzhou?
His hearing was far more acute than ordinary people's now, and he could hear many extremely faint sounds. So he heard every word of the conversation between Ye Wanmian and Li Zhao.
He had already recalled Ye Wanmian's background after she revealed her identity.
The story of the swapped true and false daughters in the Ye family had once been a hot topic in the circle of the capital's powerful and noble. Even he, who was in the Eastern Palace, had heard of it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have mistakenly thought that she was trying to climb the social ladder and achieve sudden success when he learned that the letter was written by her.
But she clearly told him that she was already married, yet now she told Li Zhao that she had broken off the engagement in Xuanzhou.
What was going on?
Xiao Jingcheng was suspicious, but he didn't go out to find Ye Wanmian to ask. Instead, he continued to listen to the conversation outside.
Outside the house, Li Zhao continued to ask. "How did you find out they lied to you?"
He pinched his palm tightly to keep his emotions in check.
Ye Wanmian said, "After Ye Wanxing was brought back, the Ye family held a special banquet to announce her identity. The Prince of Xuan, who had a family - related marriage with the Ye family, also attended the banquet."
"When they were chatting in the Ye Mansion, Ye Wanxing told the Prince of Xuan that she had grown up in Dongli Town since childhood. The graves of her adoptive parents were on the hillside of the back mountain in Dongli Town, and she even mentioned their names. I happened to pass by and heard it."
"After leaving Xuanzhou, I planned to go south. I wanted to find my parents' graves in Dongli Town, offer incense to them, and then continue going south."
"But after I came to Dongli Town, I searched the entire back mountain but couldn't find the graves she mentioned. I thought I had remembered wrong, so I went down the mountain and asked the villagers in the town. The villagers told me that those two people were still alive and were doing a small business of selling oil lamps in the town."
"After I found them, I didn't rush to recognize them. Instead, I inquired about them from others. I learned that they only had a son and had never adopted any daughter. That is to say, Ye Wanxing had never lived in Dongli Town at all."
"That's how I found out they lied to me," Ye Wanmian said.
She was afraid that her identity would be exposed, so she was very cautious at every step. She would change her outfit every time she asked someone, so she never alerted those two people and let them know of her existence.
"After I found out about this, I was also quite puzzled. Since Ye Wanxing had never lived in Dongli Town, why could she accurately tell the location of Dongli Town, describe the street view of Dongli Town, and even mention the names of those two people?"
"I guessed that although she had never been to Dongli Town, she had a very close connection with these two people. So I secretly followed them. After about half a month, I found that there was a silly woman locked in the yard next to theirs, and that woman looked very similar to me."
She took a deep breath and said slowly, "I didn't need a blood - relation test to know that she was my real mother."
With a "bang", Ye Wanmian was startled. She looked up and saw Li Zhao standing there with trembling hands. There were broken porcelain pieces all over the ground at his feet.
She felt rather helpless.
What was going on today? Why was everyone dropping things? It made this already poor family even more difficult.
Li Zhao was so emotional that it affected his lungs. He covered his mouth and coughed, and his face turned terrifyingly pale.
Ye Wanmian originally wanted to bend down to clean up the broken porcelain pieces, but seeing Li Zhao like this, she didn't care about the broken porcelain and quickly stepped forward to support him and gently pat his back.
"Uncle Li, how are you?"
Why did he suddenly start coughing again? Wasn't he much better before?
Ye Wanmian held Li Zhao's wrist and wanted to feel his pulse, but instead, she was firmly grabbed by Li Zhao. "She - cough, cough, cough!"
"You - cough, cough, cough -"
His strength was terrifying, and his eyes were as red as blood. He was eager to say something to Ye Wanmian, but the more eager he was, the more severely he coughed.
Suddenly, his body shook violently. With a "wow", he spat out a large mouthful of blood and slumped to the side.
"Uncle Li!"
Ye Wanmian screamed.