Turning Against Each Other

Xu Qing was not foolish enough to stand there and let him hit her. When she saw the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity raise his hand, she slipped behind Jiang Bin as nimbly as an eel.

Jiang Bin reached up and caught the earl's descending arm. "What are you trying to do, Earl? Hit me?"

The earl withdrew his hand and forced a stiff smile. "Of course not. I only wanted to discipline that unfilial daughter of mine. With so little self-respect, how can she call herself a young lady of the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence?"

Jiang Bin nodded as though enlightened and pointed behind the earl. "Oh, so that's it. But if you want to discipline your daughter, why are you swinging at me? Isn't your daughter standing right behind you?"

The earl turned and saw Xu Zhen standing behind him. He was about to say that Xu Qing was his daughter too, but suddenly remembered that her identity had never been publicly announced.

No one in the Capital's aristocratic circles knew he had another daughter. They all thought Xu Zhen was his only daughter.

And the truth about the real and false daughters absolutely could not get out. A dignified earl's household had actually been duped into raising someone else's daughter for over a decade.

If anyone found out, they would never be able to hold their heads high in the Capital's aristocratic circles again. Jiang Bin absolutely could not be allowed to learn Xu Qing's true identity.

So the earl lied. "There's something you don't know, Young Master Jiang. The young woman you're protecting behind you is also my daughter, but she was born to a concubine.

"She grew up in the countryside and has no manners. Now she's even done something that disgraces our family. I must teach her a proper lesson."

Seeing that he still refused to reveal her identity, preferring to call her a concubine's daughter rather than acknowledge her as his legitimate daughter, Xu Qing poked her head out from behind Jiang Bin.

She looked at him mockingly. "Are you really certain I'm your concubine's daughter, Earl?"

Looking at the scorn in her eyes, the earl felt a brief pang of guilt. But it lasted only a moment before he felt that his authority as her father had been challenged.

"If you aren't my daughter, whose daughter could you be? Would a father fail to recognize his own daughter?"

The earl said this without the slightest blush or guilty hesitation. Even Shen Shixu, watching from the sidelines, felt embarrassed for him.

If he truly could not mistake his own daughter, then what was Xu Zhen?

An Chengyu made a face at the earl, then pointed at him. "Shame on you! You already mistook someone else for your daughter, yet here you are saying a father could never fail to recognize his own child. Xu Qing must have the worst luck imaginable to have a father like you."

An Chengyu's words made the earl itch to throw a punch. If the boy had not been Duke An's heir, and if Duke An had not been so difficult to deal with and dangerous to offend, he would have taught the brat a lesson.

An Chengyu's outburst also drew the earl's attention to the handsome young man sitting beside him, whose gaze was piercing.

For some reason, looking at this man gave the earl a sense of foreboding, as though his greatest secret had already been seen through.

At that thought, he decided to finish this quickly and take Xu Qing home. He strode forward and reached for her.

At the crucial moment, Jiang Bin stepped in to thwart him again, catching the earl's wrist. Though he knew perfectly well why the earl wanted to grab Xu Qing, he deliberately needled him.

"You haven't proved that the young lady behind me is your daughter yet, Earl. Why are you in such a hurry to take her away? Could it be that she isn't your daughter at all?

"And you simply fancy her beauty and want to take her home for something unspeakable?"

The moment Jiang Bin said that, everyone stared at him.

Xu Qing had not expected him to say something so infuriating. The earl was so enraged by his outrageous words that his beard quivered. He pointed a trembling finger at Jiang Bin, unable to utter a word.

Shen Shixu covered An Chengyu's ears with both hands. A child like An Chengyu was better off not hearing such things. At the same time, he glared at Jiang Bin, signaling for him to rein it in.

Catching his master's look, Jiang Bin also realized that he had gone too far. He toned down his shameless demeanor a little.

"Ahem. Just a joke. Don't take it seriously." Jiang Bin addressed the earl again. "It's not that I refuse to let her go, Earl. You know how little tolerance our Great Qian has for human traffickers.

"If you can't prove you're this young lady's father, don't blame me for reporting you to the authorities as a human trafficker."

Hiding behind Jiang Bin and gripping his arm with both hands, Xu Qing borrowed his clout to bluster, "Exactly! You say you're my father, and that makes you my father? Then if I say I'm the emperor's daughter, does that make me a princess?"

When it came to making a scene, Xu Qing was far more formidable than Jiang Bin. He still had to consider his own reputation and the Eldest Princess's, so he could not act as freely as she did.

Xu Qing had nothing and feared losing nothing. She did not care about her reputation at all. What she wanted most now was to escape the den of wolves that was the Earl of Everlasting Prosperity's Residence and leave that disgusting man, Yan Weixuan.

The earl had never expected this daughter, who had always been quiet and barely noticeable in their presence, to dare defy him, much less in front of so many people.

"You—you wretch! I am your father! Is this how you speak to me?"

The earl was both furious and disappointed. Just then, Xu Zhen, who had been standing silently behind him, suddenly stepped forward.

"Sister, how can you be so rude to Father?" Supporting the earl, Xu Zhen put on a heartbroken expression. "Whatever happens, he is still your biological father. How can a daughter defy her elders?"

Xu Qing wanted nothing to do with this scheming, affected woman, but she had been holding certain words inside for a long time. Since she would soon be leaving, if she did not say them now, she would never have another chance to say them to their faces.

So Xu Qing stepped out from behind Jiang Bin, planted her hands on her hips, and pointed at the earl and Xu Zhen as she berated them. "Sister, sister—you call me that all day long! Have you forgotten that you're older than me?

"Aren't you ashamed to call me your older sister? Even if you want to, I don't want to hear it, you vermin! You stole my life, and now you want to ruin my future too.

"Do you have any idea how agonizing it is for me to spend every day under the same roof as you?

"You're one happy, loving family, while I'm the lonely outsider. I'm the one who's actually your flesh and blood, yet my so-called parents ignore me for someone else.

"I suffered so much, and all I wanted was for you to help punish the people who made me suffer. But a few words from her were enough for you to let them off lightly.

"I wanted to live peacefully with you, but you find fault with everything about me. I'm vulgar, I have no manners, and I don't fit in with you!"