She was practically rushing to her own death. Then she couldn't blame Song Yaoyao for what came next.
Song Yaoyao called out to Guagua:
[Guagua, who is this woman in the pomegranate-red dress?]
Guagua's voice rang out:
[Host, this woman is the daughter of your father's superior.]
Song Yaoyao studied the woman before her and continued asking:
[My father's superior? Isn't that Qin Hanshan, the Minister of Revenue?]
Guagua: [Yes, Host, that's her.
The woman before you is Qin Hanshan's adopted daughter, Qin Mengdai.]
When everyone heard Song Yaoyao's inner voice, the people accompanying Qin Mengdai all took a step back.
They hadn't wanted to come over with Qin Mengdai in the first place, but her father held a higher office than their own fathers, so they had been forced to steel themselves and follow her.
Now that they had heard Song Yaoyao's inner voice, they were all shocked. Qin Mengdai was adopted?
How had they never heard about this?
Knowing that Song Yaoyao was about to spill some secrets, they all moved farther away from Qin Mengdai.
Of course, Qin Mengdai could hear Song Yaoyao's inner voice too. She immediately shouted:
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
Song Yaoyao looked at the woman before her and said:
"Did I say anything? I haven't even opened my mouth, all right?
Even if you're looking for trouble, at least come up with a believable excuse!"
Qin Mengdai's chest heaved with anger, but she couldn't find any way to argue back!
Song Yaoyao really hadn't opened her mouth!
Qin Mengdai wanted to say more, but it felt as though someone had seized her throat. She couldn't utter a word.
Seeing the woman before her struggling to breathe, Song Yaoyao hurriedly pulled Song Qingling several steps back:
"Sis, she's getting ready to stage an accident and extort us. Let's stay farther away so she can't pin it on us."
Song Qingling answered with a perfectly serious air:
"All right."
Qin Mengdai's face flushed scarlet with anger, yet she couldn't say a single word.
Whenever she tried to mention Song Yaoyao's inner voice.
A suffocating sensation immediately seized her. She couldn't breathe properly, and it was agonizing!
Looking at Qin Mengdai, Song Yaoyao grumbled to Guagua:
[This woman doesn't seem right in the head. Is she going to drop to the ground any second now?]
Guagua thought for a moment and said:
[Hard to say!]
Hearing that, Song Yaoyao took another two steps back, putting even more distance between them.
[Guagua, she shouldn't be able to extort us from here.]
Qin Mengdai had only just managed to breathe a little more easily when she heard those words. They nearly angered her to death.
Song Yaoyao paid no attention to Qin Mengdai's expression and continued asking Guagua:
*[Guagua, you said Qin Mengdai is adopted. What's that about?
I've never heard anything about it before.]*
Guagua: [Host, this is the classic story of a true heiress and a false heiress.
Qin Mengdai is the false heiress-the actual adopted daughter. The true heiress is someone else.]
Song Yaoyao had often encountered plots about true and false heiresses in the novels she read in her previous life. She hadn't expected fiction to step into reality.
Song Yaoyao said excitedly,
*[Hurry up and tell me what happened!
How could something like this happen in such a large household?]*
Guagua: [Host, let me tell you the whole story.
Qin Hanshan, the Minister of Revenue, married Su Wan'er, the Grand Preceptor's legitimate daughter. Only three years after their marriage did Madam Qin become pregnant.
Nine months later, Madam Qin suffered pregnancy complications. After narrowly escaping death, she gave birth to a daughter, whom they named Qin Mengdai.
Madam Qin's health was damaged as a result, leaving her unable to have any more children.
She cherished her only daughter to the very depths of her heart.
It wasn't until recently, just before Madam Qin's wet nurse died, that she revealed a shocking secret.
More than a decade ago, Madam Qin had fainted from exhaustion after giving birth.
That was when the wet nurse switched the babies.
She took away the baby Madam Qin had given birth to and placed another baby, whose origins were unknown, beside her.
Madam Qin asked the wet nurse why she had done it.
The wet nurse tearfully said that she hadn't wanted to either, but her husband had owed a gambling den a thousand taels of silver. The Gambling House's men had come to their door, threatening to chop off her husband's hand if he didn't repay them.
They had been terrified.
Just then, a man dressed entirely in black, wearing a bamboo hat, appeared. He said that as long as the wet nurse and her husband obeyed him, he could repay the debt for them.
With nowhere left to turn, the wet nurse and her husband had no choice but to agree.
After paying off the debt, the man in black told the couple to await his orders. When he needed them, he would come looking for them again.
Half a year passed like that, and the wet nurse had almost forgotten about him.
Then, unexpectedly, the man in black appeared again. He ordered the wet nurse to seize the opportunity to switch the babies after Madam Qin gave birth.
Then she was to drown the true heiress.
After switching the babies, the wet nurse felt she had wronged Madam Qin. Instead of drowning the true heiress, she secretly sent her to a farming family in the countryside.]
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this. At least the wet nurse had possessed enough conscience not to kill the true heiress.
Song Yaoyao, however, focused on something different from everyone else. She had caught a faint whiff of conspiracy:
*[Guagua, why do I feel like this whole thing was a conspiracy from beginning to end?
Someone deliberately lured the wet nurse's husband into a casino and made him lose a thousand taels of silver. When he couldn't repay it and the Gambling House was about to chop off his hand, a man in black appeared and paid off their debt.
That gave him a hold over the wet nurse and her husband.
How could all of this have been such a coincidence?
Doesn't it seem like everything was arranged specifically to get the wet nurse under his thumb, laying the groundwork for her to switch the babies later?]*
Once Song Yaoyao pointed it out, everyone else also found the whole affair extremely suspicious.
Guagua praised her:
[Host, you're so clever! It was exactly as you guessed!
This was a conspiracy from beginning to end, all in preparation for switching the babies.
The person behind it simply hadn't expected the wet nurse to reveal the truth before she died.
After Madam Qin learned the truth, however furious she was, the wet nurse was already dead. Her anger was trapped inside with nowhere to go.
Lord Qin and his wife followed the address the wet nurse had given them and went to the countryside to bring the true heiress home.
They named the true heiress Qin Youyou.
But after bringing her home, they found her completely different from what they had expected.
The couple discovered that Qin Youyou had been raised to be timid and weak. She shrank away from people and acted meek and submissive. Her skin was rough and sallow, and her hands were covered in calluses...
She was nothing like the noble young lady they had envisioned!
The two began to disdain Qin Youyou, finding her an embarrassment!
As soon as Qin Youyou returned, they settled her in a secluded little courtyard and wouldn't let her leave.
On the surface, Qin Youyou was a noble young lady. In reality, her life was worse than that of the servants in their household.
None of the servants in Qin Youyou's courtyard had any regard for her. They never did any work, spending all day eating melon seeds and chatting.
Qin Youyou did all the work in the courtyard herself.
The kitchen was even worse. Every day, they sent Qin Youyou cold scraps and leftovers. Sometimes, when there weren't enough leftovers, they gave her water used to rinse the pots.
Her life was worse than it had been in the countryside!
Yet the couple continued to dote on the false heiress just as they always had.]