Seeing that she still lingered, Liu Wan asked, "What's wrong?"
Mama Qing drew a deep breath and said, "You should write the Ninth Prince a letter. He'll surely help you."
"Why are you always so certain?" Liu Wan asked in confusion. Was there more to this than she knew?
Mama Qing pressed her lips tightly together.
With a thud, she dropped to her knees before Liu Wan.
"Get up! What are you doing?" Liu Wan stepped forward to help her.
"No, Eldest Madam. This old servant has done wrong. I've wronged you!" Ignoring her attempts to stop her, Mama Qing insisted on kowtowing three times.
Liu Wan could do nothing.
Mama Qing said, "There's something I must tell you. Actually, Miss Wanwan is..."
"Chirp, chirp, chirp! Chirp, chirp, chirp!"
The signal suddenly sounded outside. Mama Qing went pale and abruptly fell silent.
Apparently, the person outside did not want Liu Wan to know.
She rose silently and could only hint, "The things Old Madam has done to you go far beyond this, Eldest Madam. You've always been clever. Think about why the Ninth Prince has helped Miss Wanwan again and again."
"Do Miss Wanwan and the Heir Apparent... look alike?"
Mama Qing left her with those words as she turned to go.
Those words.
They left Liu Wan rooted to the spot, as though struck by lightning.
Did Wanwan look like the Heir Apparent?
The question plagued her all night.
While her daughter slept soundly, she studied her features in the faint moonlight.
Gradually, the moonlight seeped into her heart, and the hazy image of a little boy emerged within it.
That little boy who had secretly broken off a sprig of winter plum, been brutally beaten by a eunuch, and then nearly frozen to death!
Winter plum...
Liu Wan's