"..."
When Ji Haitang was young, a major event occurred that cemented her status within the family.
At the time, a young woman from a collateral branch was sent by the family to the Ji Family branch to attend to her daily needs.
This person always kept to her proper place, clever and composed, knowing when to advance and when to retreat.
Thus, she was unlike those ordinary servants who could be dismissed with a wave and summoned with a call.
Ji Haitang addressed her as "younger sister" and treated her warmly. Their relationship was quite deep.
This matter swiftly spread through the Ji Family headquarters and even the great aristocratic clans in the surrounding area.
Before long, rumors began to circulate.
They claimed that this girl was actually the illegitimate daughter of the Ji Family Patriarch.
That she had been sent to serve as Ji Haitang's maid so Ji Haitang could look after this younger sister whose identity could not see the light of day.
This explanation was not without merit.
After all, the current Matriarch of the Ji Family held an extraordinarily distinguished status and cared greatly about such family matters.
If the Ji Family Patriarch truly had offspring outside the family, he might indeed have chosen to keep it under wraps out of consideration for the Matriarch.
After learning of the rumors, Ji Haitang did not panic.
To keep the matter from reaching the Patriarch, after a brief consideration, she immediately chose to strangle it with her own hands before the rumors could ferment.
Thus, within mere days, the rumors collapsed without attack.
Because the head of that collateral-branch girl had been severed cleanly at the neck and placed openly outside her own Mansion Gate.
The girl's delicate face bore a pair of wide-open eyes, unwilling to