The Pampered Impostor Princess (1)

"Fu'er! Quick, take this bundle and find Xue'er. Once you find her, go to the capital together and seek out Lord Ling of the Ling Family!"

The situation was urgent, and the woman had no time to say more. After hurriedly giving those instructions, she shoved the bundle into the little girl's arms, then picked her up and ran to the wall at the back of the courtyard, straining to hoist her up.

"Fu'er, remember, you must give the bundle to Xue'er!"

The moment the woman finished speaking, someone kicked the tightly locked courtyard gate open. A group of men in black stormed in, looking vicious, their broadswords still dripping with blood.

"There! Kill!"

Jiang Xuefu scrambled down from the courtyard wall, her dazed mind filled with the gruesome sight of Qi Jingshu being hacked in two, blood pouring from her body.

She was terrified and wasn't sure whether the men in black had seen her. Tears streaming down her face, the girl clutched the bundle tightly and ran for the city gates as if her life depended on it.

Jiang Xuefu had once been a little beggar. She didn't know who her family was, only that she had been begging alongside her master for as long as she could remember, and had done every kind of petty stealing imaginable.

She had no name until she was four. Then a fortune-teller took pity on her, told her fortune for free, and gave her the name Jiang Xuefu.

He said the name would turn her luck around.

Little Jiang Xuefu was only four, but she had already seen through the fickleness of the world. She dismissed the fortune-teller's words as nothing but farts.

Yet, unexpectedly, good fortune really did come knocking one day.

That day, she was about to steal a man's purse on the street when he caught her. The man had been drinking, and in a drunken fit, he punched and kicked her right there in the street.

Jiang Xuefu held her head tightly and squeezed her eyes shut, but she had no thought of fighting back.

Beatings were an everyday affair for her, and when there was truly no other way, submitting without resistance was also a way to protect herself.

But she hadn't expected anyone to step in and stop it this time.

It was a very kind and beautiful lady, holding the hand of a finely dressed little girl.

After speaking up and driving the drunken man away, the beautiful lady crouched beside her, her lovely eyes full of pity and concern. "What's your name?"

It was the first time anyone had asked her name. Before, everyone had simply called her "little beggar."

Only then did she finally feel that the fortune-teller had been a little useful.

"Jiang Xuefu. My name is Jiang Xuefu."

The beautiful lady, Qi Jingshu, was taken aback for a moment, then laughed. "You have the same name as my daughter. You and the Jiang Family must be fated to meet today. Would you be willing to come with me?"

Jiang Xuefu looked her up and down. Though Qi Jingshu wasn't dressed in the height of wealth and luxury, her clothes were still quite refined. Both she and the little girl beside her had fair, clean faces and no calluses on their hands. At a glance, neither looked like someone who did hard labor.

"Madam, I'm willing. I'm willing to go with you."

From then on, the nameless little beggar vanished from South Street in Wang City, and in her place was Jiang Xuefu, the newly adopted young miss of the Jiang Family in the north of the city.

As luck would have it, the Jiang Family's own young miss was also named Jiang Xuefu, though her fu was the character for good fortune: Jiang Xuefu.

Qi Jingshu had no intention of making Jiang Xuefu change her name. To tell the two apart, she simply called one Xue'er and the other Fu'er.

Life at the Jiang Residence was something Jiang Xuefu had never dared dream of before.

She no longer had to go hungry or suffer the cold. Every day she could eat her fill and wear pretty clothes, with maids to wait on her and a companion to play with.

She didn't have to think about what she would do if she failed to beg any money that day, nor did she have to worry about being beaten.

Master and Madam Jiang were both very good people. Since they had decided to adopt Jiang Xuefu, they treated her as their own, no differently from their biological daughter.

Jiang Xuefu had to admit that the fortune-teller knew a thing or two. Her life really had changed because of that name.

But disaster struck in the year she turned five.

That day, Xuefu was studying medicine at the home of an old doctor outside the city. She had loved handling medicinal herbs since she was little, and later, through a chance encounter, she had taken a physician outside the city as her master. From then on, rain or shine, she left early and returned late every day, never slacking off for a single day.

Jiang Xuefu's life was much simpler. Every day, she did little besides sleep and eat, occasionally going out to play in the streets. In just one year, her body, which had barely put on any flesh because of hunger, had filled out again.

When she first arrived at the Jiang Family, she had been willing to put on an act, rising every morning to pay her respects in Qi Jingshu's courtyard. But as time passed and she realized that the Jiang couple were good people who wouldn't abandon her, Jiang Xuefu gradually revealed her true nature.

When disaster struck the Jiang Family, she had been taking her afternoon nap at home as usual. Summer was approaching, and the air was growing ever hotter and more stifling. Every now and then, cicadas could be heard in the courtyard. A maid knelt beside the bed with a round fan, gently fanning her.

But the peaceful, pleasant scene was soon shattered. Faint cries and screams from adults and children came from the front courtyard, and immediately afterward, Qi Jingshu burst in with a bundle and shook Jiang Xuefu awake from her sweet dreams.

"Fu'er, quick! Take the bundle and find Xue'er! Run!" The woman's face was full of anxiety; she hadn't even had time to shed tears for her husband, who had just died.

In a daze, Jiang Xuefu ran all the way toward the edge of the city, clutching the bundle. Just as she neared the city gate, she suddenly stopped.

Someone was patrolling the gate! They were the same men in black who had slaughtered people at the Jiang Residence just now! In groups of four, they kept inspecting and watching the line of people leaving the city, as though searching for someone.

Jiang Xuefu's little face went pale. She knew she couldn't take the main road. Fortunately, when she was a little beggar, she had crawled through a dog hole in the city wall. It was in a secluded spot, hidden by weeds, so though it had been broken for a long time, no one had repaired it.

At the thought, Jiang Xuefu hurried toward the dog hole. As she ran, she couldn't help complaining. The fortune-teller really was a fraud after all. How had her luck turned around? She was about to lose her life!

But Heaven was still looking after her. After she pushed aside the weeds taller than herself, a small, broken hole appeared before her.

With no time to think, Jiang Xuefu quickly crawled out through the dog hole. She had eaten and drunk well over the past year and put on quite a bit of flesh, so it took her considerable effort to squeeze through.

She sat panting on the grass, her delicate little face smeared with dirt and her once neatly combed hair in disarray. Her pink-and-white dress had been torn in several places somewhere along the way, and she looked utterly pitiful and disheveled.

One corner of the once tightly wrapped bundle had also come loose during her frantic flight, accidentally exposing the letters inside.

Jiang Xuefu stuffed the letters back in and was about to set the bundle in order when a flash of gold suddenly caught her eye. Could that be gold?

That was right. The bundle had felt heavy all the way here. Could it be full of gold, silver, and jewels?

At the thought, Jiang Xuefu paused and looked up and around. There was no one nearby.

Deserted grassland stretched all around her, with only a few scattered figures visible in the distance.

In that case, there was no harm in taking a look, was there? Right! She wasn't stealing or robbing anyone; she was only looking.

The bundle was opened, and everything inside was laid bare.

First were two letters. Jiang Xuefu gave them a cursory look, but there were many characters she couldn't understand, so she gave up.

She tossed the letters aside, and the next moment, her eyes widened in shock at the bundle packed full of jewelry!

Th-this! Was this the gold hairpin Master had talked about?

Jiang Xuefu hurriedly wiped her filthy little hands, held her breath, and tentatively picked up one of the dangling hair ornaments.

Its brilliant golden color was like sunlight made solid, radiant and dazzlingly beautiful.

So beautiful!

Jiang Xuefu had read few books and couldn't think of the right words to describe it, but her first impression was that it was beautiful-a beauty of luxury and wealth.

How could something so precious be in the Jiang Family's possession?

Once her amazement passed, Jiang Xuefu began to grow suspicious.

Though the Jiang Family lived well, they were not a particularly rich or noble household. The jewelry Qi Jingshu usually wore was mostly simple, elegant silver, and even Master Wang's concubine next door dressed better than she did.

Could it be that they were only pretending? That they simply didn't want to give her the good things?

That had to be it! How else could she explain all these jewels spread on the ground?

Jiang Xuefu felt indignant. And to think she had believed the Jiang Family were good people. Now she could see they were nothing special!

The young girl crouched on the ground, looking at the pile of jewelry before her, greed gradually rising in the depths of her round, clear eyes.

You wronged me first, so let these things serve as compensation.

If she went to find Xue'er, all these things would become Xue'er's.

But if she didn't, wouldn't these gold hair ornaments, pearl earrings, emerald-green jade, and brightly colored gemstones... all be hers?

No, that wasn't right either.

How could anyone say she hadn't gone looking? She clearly had looked and simply hadn't found her, so no one could blame her for that.

If anyone was to blame, it was Xue'er. Who told her not to be home today?

Jiang Xuefu swallowed, though her mouth was dry, and, having made up her mind, quickly packed up the bundle. Then she turned and ran the other way, toward a place in the exact opposite direction from where Jiang Xuefu was.