The real and fake heiresses 2

[The family whose home they borrowed had also had a baby two days earlier. The wife had given birth to a girl—Xu Zhen.

The Lady of the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity gave Xu Zhen's parents a large sum of money for the use of their home. Seeing how much she paid just to borrow a place, they grew greedy.

When they saw that she had also given birth to a daughter, wicked thoughts got the better of them, and they switched Xu Qing and Xu Zhen.

After the switch, the couple grew uneasy, terrified that someone would discover what they had done.

But the Lady of the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity passed out after giving birth to Xu Qing. She had not even gotten a good look at her own child.

None of the attendants with her had ever had children. When they saw that the baby looked a little different, they thought nothing of it.

They merely marveled at how quickly babies changed. They had heard that newborns looked different every day, but this one had changed in less than half a day.

So the party returned to the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence with Xu Zhen, the switched baby. Meanwhile, Xu Qing, the residence's true eldest daughter, was left with that couple.]

Xu Qing's mind was in turmoil as she listened to how she had been switched. Such a detailed account did not sound fabricated. Besides, someone who could exist inside Shen Shixu's body presumably would not tell such lies.

[The most despicable part was that, after switching someone else's child, the couple wanted to eliminate any future trouble by killing Xu Qing. They were terrified of being found out someday.

They thought that as long as Xu Qing was gone, the switch would never come to light. After all, babies often died. Even if she died, no one nearby would suspect anything.

Just as they were about to act, Xu Qing's grandmother arrived. She lived far away and only learned of the birth several days afterward, so she came carrying gifts to visit her granddaughter.

When she saw the couple carrying the baby outside to throw her away, she shook with rage.

The old woman assumed they favored sons over daughters and did not want a girl. After giving them a furious scolding, she took Xu Qing back to her own home and raised her herself.

That was how Xu Qing escaped death at the hands of that heartless couple.]

Hearing 011 mention her late grandmother, Xu Qing remembered the sharp-tongued, softhearted old woman. The happiest years of her life had been those she spent with her grandmother.

Her grandmother lived alone and barely scraped by. Life was hard for the two of them, but no matter how difficult things became, her grandmother always gave her the best of everything.

Whatever other girls had, she would have too, even if she had to wait a few more days.

Then, when she was seven, her grandmother died. The couple took her back to their home, where she became their servant.

She washed clothes, cooked, and worked in the fields. She did the most work yet never had enough to eat, and the little bit of flesh her grandmother had painstakingly put on her dwindled until she was skin and bones.

She lived that way for eight years, until she happened to save Yan Weixuan. When he brought her to the city, she happened to run into her biological aunt.

Only then was Xu Qing's identity discovered.

[Her grandmother must have passed away, right?]

[Huh? How did you know, big brother?]

An Chengyu and Jiang Bin both looked curiously at Shen Shixu. Neither 011 nor Xu Qing had mentioned that part of her past, so how had their master known?

[It was simple. I could tell from Xu Qing's eyes. If someone still had somewhere to turn, their eyes would not be as full of bitterness as hers. There would at least be a trace of hope.

But when Xu Qing knelt and begged me to seek justice for her just now, all I saw in her eyes was hatred for the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence and disgust for Yan Weixuan and Xu Zhen.]

Hearing how much Shen Shixu had discerned from a single look, Jiang Bin was utterly awestruck.

An Chengyu was still young and only vaguely understood much of what had been said. But seeing the admiration on his junior fellow disciple's face, he knew his master was amazing and gazed at Shen Shixu in adoration.

[Big brother, how are you so amazing? You figured out all that from just a few looks! Your eyes and brain are incredible! You feel even more like a system than I do!]

Shen Shixu laughed at his praise. [It's not nearly as impressive as you make it sound. I just made a point of studying it in my previous life. The actors on television were so convincing that I found it fascinating and started learning from them. I practiced crying and laughing in front of a mirror every day. It frightened our orphanage director so much that she thought I had gone mad and nearly sent me to a psychiatric hospital.]

Jiang Bin and An Chengyu gaped. They had never imagined their master could even remember his previous life. No wonder he was so amazing!

[Oh, I see. Then I'll keep going.

After that kind old woman passed away, the heartless couple took Xu Qing back and made her their unpaid maid.

She handled all the little chores, like washing clothes and cooking, and all the heavy labor in the fields as well. She worked the most in the household but ate the least.

Eight years passed like that, until she happened to help Yan Weixuan. He brought her to the Capital, where she happened to meet the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's younger sister.

Xu Qing looked remarkably like the late dowager lady of the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's family. After seeing her face, that lady began investigating in secret.

When she learned that Xu Qing was living with the very family whose home her sister-in-law had used to give birth all those years ago, she realized Xu Zhen was an impostor.

She sought out Xu Qing and rescued her from that family. Had she arrived even a little later, those unscrupulous parents would have sold Xu Qing to a brothel.

That lady truly saved Xu Qing from a living hell, and she also told her the truth about her birth.

Once Xu Qing learned that she was not the couple's biological child, she began to hope for something from her birth parents.

Unfortunately, the greater her hopes, the greater her disappointment.

After the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence learned the truth about the switch, they neither sent Xu Zhen away nor did much to punish that family.

They had originally intended to teach the family a proper lesson. But after Xu Zhen tearfully pleaded with them, they let the matter slide. They merely sent people to beat up the family and left it at that.

That was when Xu Qing first began to lose faith in the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence.]

A sorrowful expression crossed Xu Qing's face as she recalled what had happened that day.

Jiang Bin and An Chengyu both looked at her sympathetically. An Chengyu thought this young lady was terribly pitiful. Even her own birth parents treated her so badly.

They would not even help her punish the people who had bullied her. Feeling sorry for her, he handed Xu Qing a pastry and whispered, "Don't be sad over those people, big sister. Let's eat pastries and forget all those bad people."

Xu Qing accepted the pastry he offered, her heart filled with both bitterness and warmth.

Even a stranger would comfort her upon learning how she had suffered. Yet her supposed blood relatives turned a blind eye to her grievances. Or perhaps they had never cared about her at all, and that was why they ignored her suffering.

[The Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence probably refused to send Xu Zhen back because, even without blood ties, they had kept her by their side and loved her for so many years that they could not bear to let her go. And there was also...]