Leaving

Lady Wei seemed to have given up resisting as well. She cast Xu Xue a sorrowful glance, then obediently followed Zhao Yuanliang away.

Once inside the carriage, Zhao Yuanliang asked Lady Wei, "Are you really sure that Xu Xue is our daughter? Did she have a birthmark when she was born?"

Lady Wei awkwardly turned to look out the window. "What birthmark? If she'd had one, I wouldn't have raised Miss Yu for more than ten years without realizing she wasn't my own."

At that, she seemed to have a flash of inspiration. She turned to Zhao Yuanliang and said, "You always used to say I wasn't close to Miss Yu and didn't care about her. Now you know why, don't you? Because she isn't my daughter. Even if I didn't know it, my heart couldn't be fooled. I just couldn't feel close to her. But Xu Xue was different. The first time I saw her, I knew she was my daughter."

Zhao Yuanliang had still harbored some doubts. After all, the clan chief and village head of Little Banyan Village, as well as Xu Yongyi, had no reason to lie to him. And judging by how utterly heartbroken Xu Xi had clearly been, it was very possible that Xu Xi was their daughter.

But hearing Lady Wei say that finally dispelled the last of his doubts.

He thought that a child was a piece of flesh that had fallen from its mother's body, so perhaps they really did share a bond of the heart. Lady Wei had never been close to Zhao Ruyu or cared about her, yet she was attentive to their son in every possible way. Clearly, she wasn't heartless; it was simply because Zhao Ruyu wasn't her biological daughter.

He let out a long sigh. "But we can't produce any proof, and Xiaoxue isn't willing to come back with us. What are we going to do?" He rubbed the space between his brows. "If word of this gets out, people in the capital will laugh at our family again. Sigh!"

Lady Wei secretly curled her lip but said nothing.

Everyone else in the marquis's residence was unwilling to see it fall into decline, but Lady Wei didn't care. Not only did she not care, she was even somewhat glad.

If the marquis's residence hadn't been visibly on its last legs while her maiden family prospered day by day, her life wouldn't have been as comfortable as it was now. No matter how badly off the marquis's residence became, she still had all the food and clothing she needed. Instead, her mother-in-law and sister-in-law didn't dare pull long faces at her whenever they pleased, allowing her to hold her head high in triumph. She felt life couldn't possibly be more satisfying.

Still, she had to make plans for her son.

Back in Little Banyan Village, Xu Chengguan and Zhang Chenglin hardly knew what to say now that things had come to this. Seeing how grim Zhao Yuanliang and Lady Wei looked, neither man dared say anything. They saw the couple to the end of the lane and watched them leave before returning together to persuade Xu Yongyi.

"Going to the marquis's residence means a life of ease. Since Miss Xi isn't willing to go, and the second madam insists that Miss Xue is her daughter, why not let Miss Xue go and live a good life there? Leaving everything else aside, how could a family like ours ever hope to reach high enough to secure the kind of marriage a young lady of the marquis's residence could make? Even if you won't think of yourselves, you must think of Miss Xue's future, mustn't you?"

Ordinarily, a country girl like Xu Xue wouldn't even have had the chance to speak before the village head and the clan chief, nor would she have dared. But when she heard this, she grew anxious and stepped forward to say to them, "I'm not going."

Even if she might soon become a young lady of the marquis's residence, Xu Chengguan couldn't immediately bring himself to take her seriously.

He waved a hand. "I'm talking to your father. Go back to your room."

Seeing that Xu Xue still wanted to say something, Xu Xi quickly pulled her back to her room.

"Sister, what's going on?" As soon as Xu Xue entered the room, she clutched her head, wailed, and sat down at the table.

"If you don't want to go, just stick firmly to saying you're not her daughter. Leave the rest to me." Xu Xi poured two cups of tea and set one in front of Xu Xue, then took her own and began sipping it slowly.

Seeing how unhurried Xu Xi still was, Xu Xue felt a little more at ease. Even so, she couldn't settle down and asked, "Then what are you going to do?"

"The academy will post its admission list tomorrow. If we both get in, we'll try to live there. Whatever else the marquis's residence might do, surely they wouldn't dare storm into the academy and seize someone? As for what comes later, we'll deal with it later."

Those words finally reassured Xu Xue. She let out a long breath, picked up the cup of cold tea, and gulped it down. All that wailing just now had worn her out.

By then, Xu Yongyi had sent Xu Chengguan and Zhang Chenglin on their way. He too came into the room and looked at Xu Xi, his face heavy with worry. "How did things turn out like this?"

He didn't know whether Xu Xi was the daughter of the marquis's residence, but no one knew whose daughter Xu Xue was better than he did as her father. He truly couldn't understand why the second madam was so fixated on his daughter, yet wouldn't even look at Xu Xi, who might well be her own.

Did madams from wealthy families recognize their own children based solely on whether they looked alike? Could every girl with a round face and big eyes go to the marquis's residence to claim her birth mother?

"Uncle, I don't care to be a young lady of the marquis's residence anyway. Just send them away. Never mind the Marquis of Suiping's Residence-even the imperial family and its relatives can't point at someone's daughter and drag her away whenever they please. Surely there are laws in this country?" Xu Xi said.

"But they won't let this go..." Xu Yongyi sighed heavily.

He was no pushover either; he was strong-willed and had a mind of his own. If his elder brother's wife hadn't swapped the children, he could naturally have sent the people from the marquis's residence away with every right on his side, even if it meant taking the matter to the authorities.

But now the Xu Family was in the wrong. Even if the culprit behind the swap was dead, it was still a member of the Xu Family who had done it. If the marquis's residence bribed the authorities to pin a charge on him, others really wouldn't be able to say much.

But neither could he stand by and watch the second madam of the marquis's residence claim his own daughter as hers.