Turmoil

Zhao Yuanliang had never been a particularly capable man. As a son born to a concubine, he had never needed to make any decisions in the residence; he only had to do as he was told. As a result, he had grown into a man with little mind of his own.

Now that things had come to this, he was truly at a loss.

He had not even figured out which one was his daughter, much less persuaded her to return with him. Besides, if she refused to go, he could hardly kidnap her, could he? This really was not something he could handle. He needed to report it to the old madam and his elder brother, the marquis, and make a decision once they had gotten to the bottom of it.

He glanced at Lady Wei and saw that her face was dark. She was looking at Xu Xi with hostility, glancing at Xu Xue from time to time. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and she said nothing. Her eyes were unreadable, and he had no idea what she was thinking.

Zhao Yuanliang rubbed his brow, his head aching.

"All right, I'll report this to the old madam and let her decide." He stood up and headed outside.

Lady Wei, however, rose and walked over to Xu Xue. "Miss Xue," she called eagerly, "I'm your birth mother. Come back to the residence with me. I'll buy you lots of pretty dresses and precious jewelry." As she spoke, she took a dangling hair ornament from her hair and tried to put it in Xu Xue's. "This is my gift to you for our first meeting."

Xu Xue had been startled when Lady Wei approached and had wanted to dodge her. But the room was only so big, and with so many people sitting or standing in it, she had nowhere to go. She could only twist away from Lady Wei's outstretched hand, crying, "I'm not your daughter. I really am not." In her distress, she burst into tears and looked to Xu Yongyi and Xu Xi for help.

"Second Madam, if you keep this up, I'll go to the yamen," Xu Yongyi said angrily, rising to his feet.

Hearing him, Zhao Yuanliang stopped and said to Xu Yongyi, "Fine, go ahead. Our marquis residence hasn't even held you accountable for switching the children back then, and yet you think you're in the right."

That frightened Xu Yongyi into silence.

The clan leader, Xu Chengguan, hurriedly said, "Yongyi, since Second Madam is certain Miss Xue is hers, why not let Miss Xue go back with her first? She'll be going there to enjoy a life of ease, after all; she won't suffer. As for who's right and who's wrong, that can be discussed later."

As he spoke, he kept giving Xu Yongyi pointed looks, telling him not to be so stubborn.

Zhao Yuanliang, however, was unwilling to settle the matter carelessly. He had mistaken someone else for his daughter more than ten years ago, and he could not make the same mistake this time.

He turned back and frowned at Lady Wei. "Wife, let's go back first." It would not be too late to come for their daughter after they had gotten to the bottom of things.

Lady Wei did not listen to him. Seeing that Xu Xue had been frightened to tears, she withdrew her hand and held the hair ornament. She blinked hard several times, bringing a trace of tears to her eyes, and gazed sorrowfully at Xu Xue. "Xue'er, won't you come back with me? I love you, and I'll make it up to you for all the suffering you've endured over the years. When the time comes, I'll certainly arrange a good marriage for you, so you can enjoy a lifetime of glory and wealth."

No matter how eager and loving her gaze or how sad and pitiful her expression, Xu Xue was convinced that the marquis residence was a dragon's pool and a tiger's den, and that the woman trying to drag her into it harbored ill intentions. Lady Wei's heartfelt performance was like casting flirtatious glances at a blind man.

She clutched Xu Xi's sleeve tightly and buried her face in her shoulder, refusing even to look at Lady Wei. "I won't go, I won't go! I'm not your daughter. Stop talking to me!"

Her refusal was so resolute that Lady Wei was nearly driven to despair.

She turned to Zhao Yuanliang, looking at him pleadingly. "Husband..." she said in a mournful voice.

It was only around the time they had married that Lady Wei had treated Zhao Yuanliang this way. Later, Zhao Yuanliang had taken concubines, and Lady Wei's father had climbed higher and higher. She had long since abandoned her former gentleness toward Zhao Yuanliang, usually meeting him with either cold glares or biting sarcasm. It truly had been many years since he had seen her behave as she did now.

He froze for a moment, and an emotion he could neither name nor explain suddenly welled up in his heart.

Did Lady Wei, after all, truly love her daughter?

He walked back, intending to take a close look at Xu Xue and see whether she was his daughter. But Xu Xue refused to raise her head no matter what, and Zhao Yuanliang could not see her face at all.

Xu Xi hardly knew whether to laugh or cry at today's farce.

She patted Xu Xue's back comfortingly and said to Zhao Yuanliang, who was clearly more reasonable than Lady Wei, "Whether you claim it's me or Xiaoxue, neither of us will go to the marquis residence with you. Please go home. If you don't have conclusive evidence, don't come back."

She looked at Zhao Ruyu outside the door. "You're so careless about claiming a daughter, claiming whoever you happen to find. You'd do better to treat the daughter you raised as your own. Wouldn't it be better for everyone to stay out of each other's way and live their own lives? You had to make such a fuss and give people something to laugh at."

Zhao Yuanliang was startled again by her words. At last, he shifted his gaze from Xu Xue and studied Xu Xi carefully.

Ever since they had met, this girl had been remarkably calm, calm to the point of coldness. Her words hit the nail on the head, her expression was hard, and her gaze sharp. The way she looked at them, it was as though they were a troupe of buffoonish clowns, while she watched with cold eyes, as though none of it concerned her.

Yet she was the one everyone said was his birth daughter, the true young lady of the marquis residence.

"You... are you really my daughter?" he asked.

When Lady Wei heard that, she trembled as though struck by lightning and turned toward them. "No, that's impossible." She pointed at Xu Xue. "Husband, this is our daughter. I couldn't possibly mistake my own daughter."

Before anyone in the room could think further on it, Xu Xi gave a cold laugh. "You couldn't mistake her? Then where were you more than ten years ago? You raised someone else's child as your own for more than ten years, and now you say you couldn't be mistaken? I'm embarrassed for you."

In the original book, Lady Wei had always treated the daughter she reclaimed poorly, setting traps for her again and again. Even if Xu Xi really did return to the marquis residence, she would not count on Lady Wei. So she felt no pressure at all in talking back to her.

Besides, she thought Lady Wei's behavior was highly abnormal. Since the system had identified her as the original host, there could be no mistake between her and Xu Xue. Why, then, would Lady Wei not even look at her, instead keeping such a tight hold on Xu Xue? Was it just because Xu Xue had the same sweet looks as her?

Lady Wei's reaction was suspicious in every possible way.

Thinking of this, Xu Xi really did feel a headache coming on.

Xu Xue did not want to go to the marquis residence, and there was no DNA testing in this era. If Lady Wei insisted that Xu Xue was her daughter, the matter really would be hard to resolve.

After all, a mother's sixth sense about her own child was truly beyond reason. If word of this got out, others would believe Lady Wei's feeling too.

System, is there anything I can do? she could not help asking.

"Host, the time has come to test your intelligence." The system's tone actually held a hint of excitement.

Xu Xi: ... MMP, right back at you.

Meanwhile, Xu Xi's words had left Lady Wei speechless for a long while. Her face alternated between red and white, and the gaze she fixed on Xu Xi seemed dipped in poison, as though she wanted nothing more than to devour her in one bite.

Xu Xi was not afraid of her. She met her gaze coldly, then turned to Zhao Yuanliang. "Second Master, please go back for now. Once you've found evidence at the yamen, come looking for your daughter again."

Faced with Xu Xi like this, Zhao Yuanliang suddenly felt a flicker of fear for no apparent reason.

He seized Lady Wei by the arm. "We're going back first," he said in a low voice.