Reborn to Become A Queen: The Real Heiress's Comeback

Old Madam scolded, "The servants of General Mansion are getting increasingly outrageous, babbling all day long. I shall go and see for myself."

Old Madam led the way, with Qin Shuang following behind, to the woodshed in the west wing.

Aunt Ji Yue felt something was amiss and followed as well.

The maid pushed open the door, and Zhan Lan's body was bound. She looked panicked, holding a stick as if to resist something, but upon seeing the Old Madam and Madam, Zhan Lan dropped the stick, and tears fell.

"Grandmother, Madam!" Zhan Lan trembled, with blood still dripping from the palm of her right hand. After seeing Aunt Ji Yue, she called out softly, "Aunt Ji Yue."

"What happened here?" Old Madam frowned and looked at Aunt Ji Yue Ji Yue.

Even if Ji Yue disliked the mother and daughter of the inner courtyard, she shouldn't go to such extremes!

It was merely a matter of a few less Silver Taels each month, there was no need to target them so blatantly with such lowly tactics.

Moreover, if you were to deal with someone, wouldn't it be more secure to take them out of the mansion?

Foolish!

Old Madam glanced at Aunt Ji Yue.

She had heard before that Zhan Lan was occasionally locked in the woodshed and starved by Aunt Ji Yue during her childhood. She never expected that after so many years, she had not repented!

Qin Shuang frowned and checked Zhan Lan's wounds, "Lan'er, who hit you? Besides the wounds on your hands, are there any others?"

"No one hurt me, it was an accidental cut," Zhan Lan shook her head, her gaze evading Ji Yue.

Ji Yue sneered, "I thought it was something serious. Such a small injury just needs a bit of medicine. Stop playing the pitiful card. I will go take care of Qingqing!"

She felt somewhat disappointed in her heart. Could it be that Qinglian was not killed by Zhan Lan? She had thought that Zhan Lan had also been harmed, but it turned out to be just this!

Old Madam stopped Ji Yue, "Hold on, fourth daughter, speak boldly who hurt you, your grandmother will stand up for you!"

This Aunt Ji Yue, relying on having borne a son and a daughter for Zhan Beicang, didn't even respect her as a stepmother.

Today, she was going to set rules for Ji Yue.

Hearing Old Madam getting angry, Ji Yue could only obediently stand in place.

Zhan Lan spoke, "This afternoon, Qinglian was called away by Aunt Ji Yue, and Xiao Tao and I were strolling in the courtyard when we found a Silver Ingot."

"I thought it must belong to someone in the mansion, so I had Xiao Tao give it to Madam. After Xiao Tao left, I was attacked from behind, knocked unconscious, and when I woke up, I was here. By the way, where's Qinglian?"

Zhan Lan asked with a confused face.

Old Madam's expression darkened, and Qin Shuang looked at Ji Yue.

Ji Yue suddenly realized something was wrong—a Silver Ingot!

She was thinking while leaving the house today: why was one of her private Silver Ingots missing? Those Silver Taels were secretly taken out from the storeroom!

Old Madam looked at Ji Yue's changing facial expressions, and with sarcasm said, "It appears that we have a thief in the mansion, and Qinglian's death is also mysterious."

Furthermore, Ji Yue summoning Qinglian, the maid of the fourth daughter, to ask questions was also very strange.

Zhan Lan lowered her head, and no one saw her initially subservient gaze become dark.

In her previous life, Aunt Ji Yue embezzled Silver from the warehouse. This was only discovered after Zhan Beicang's last campaign.

Ji Yue pointed at Zhan Lan's nose and scolded, "You're framing me, you first harmed Qingqing, then killed Qinglian, and now you're playing the victim here!"

Zhan Lan looked up at Ji Yue, her eyes reddening, "Aunt, was it because I saw you giving Silver to your own cousin that day, so you treat me like this? Aunt Ji Yue, since my childhood I've had no father—if I've done something wrong, please do not implicate my mother, just punish me alone."

A single tear rolled in Zhan Lan's eyes, then suddenly fell, creating an aura of brokenness.

This was the first time Qin Shuang saw Zhan Lan cry, and she tenderly held Zhan Lan's hand with a heart full of pity.

The child's eyes and brows somewhat resembled Zhan Beicang. She wondered if it was because they spent more time together or grew more alike. Qin Shuang had once suspected that Zhan Lan was her husband's illegitimate daughter.

Zhan Beicang scolded her for being narrow-minded and having absurd thoughts, to actually think like that about the daughter of a benefactor.

Qin Shuang had watched Zhan Lan grow up since she was little. The child had been pitiable from a young age, sensible, and never causing trouble. For some reason, seeing Zhan Lan cry was even more painful for Qin Shuang than for Zhan Lan herself.

Zhan Lan's injured hand was being checked for wounds by Qin Shuang. Zhan Lan's throat bobbed, touched by Qin Shuang's gentle touch—Madam was indeed like her real mother.

No wonder she always felt so close to Madam every time she saw her.

Once this realization settled in, she looked carefully at Qin Shuang's features; their noses did indeed resemble each other.

But in her past life, she had never paid attention to this.

At the mention of the term "cousin," Ji Yue's entire being froze; angrily, she rebuked: "Zhan Lan, what nonsense are you spouting!"

Aside from the maid Xiao He, no one knew she had a cousin.

"What cousin?" Old Madam's suspicion was piqued; "I recall you don't have any relatives."

Ji Yue's gaze flickered; kneeling, she said, "Mother, it's a distant relative of mine who owed debts at the gambling den, so I helped him out!"

"Lan, what else did you see, speak up!" Old Madam's eyes could tolerate no deceit, she continued inquiring.

Under Ji Yue's warning gaze, Zhan Lan timidly said: "At the doorstep of the last house in the north city's Cat Ear Alley, I saw Aunt Ji Yue visit her cousin and she didn't come out for a long time. Aunt Ji Yue also said not to tell anyone I've seen her."

"Nonsense!" Ji Yue almost spat out blood in her outrage; Zhan Lan was framing her!

No, she had never encountered Zhan Lan in Cat Ear Alley, Ji Yue realized, a sensation like centipedes crawling across her scalp sending chills all over her body.

How did Zhan Lan know the whereabouts of her cousin!

"Go, Nanny Liu, take people and discreetly capture them!" Old Madam's grip tightened on her cane, her expression stern.

Unable to stand steadily as she rose, Ji Yue clung to the doorframe, desiring nothing more than Zhan Lan's death!

A while later, a handsome, scholarly-looking man, bound tightly, was brought into the back door of the General Mansion, the man bore numerous scars.

"Old Madam, this man Li Kang has confessed everything; the two of them have been carrying out their indecent affair for over three years," Nanny Liu reported, bowing deeply.

Ji Yue went mad with fury, exclaiming: "No, this is Zhan Lan's trap!"

"What about these then, utterly filthy!" After Qin Shuang glanced over the letters in Nanny Liu's hands, she flung them at Ji Yue's face.

Of course, Ji Yue recognized them; they were the love poems she had written with Li Kang. Hadn't he said they were all destroyed?

Li Kang dared not look at Ji Yue; he had thought that if he couldn't extract silver from this woman, he would threaten her with these poems, ensuring his comfort for the rest of his life.

Little did he expect these letters would become the very evidence of their affair!

"Tie them up!" Old Madam commanded coldly.

Nanny Liu asked, "May I ask how the Old Madam wishes to deal with them?"

Old Madam lifted her head to glance at the overcast sky and spoke in a lowered voice: "Ji Yue is without virtue; first, she murdered to seal lips, then stole from the treasury, and later committed adultery; unforgivable sins. This is a disgrace to the General Mansion; keep it quiet. According to the family rules, punish this adulterous pair with fifty lashes and drown them in the pond."

"No!" Ji Yue turned as pale as paper; the situation was out of control.

Just yesterday she was living in luxury, planning only to make Zhan Lan lose her chastity in a marriage to Zhu Touyuan – how did it backfire?

Not only had her daughter Zhan Qingqing lost her virginity, but now her carefully hidden affair had also been exposed!

She had been so cautious; Zhan Lan must be, a demon!

Otherwise, how could she have known about these things!

As Zhan Lan watched Ji Yue and her lover being bound and taken away, she wiped the tears from her face and strode out of the firewood room with her head held high.

Sometimes, a woman's most formidable weapon is her tears!

This was something Zhan Lan had learned from Zhan Xuerou; if it didn't cost a silver tael, why not use it! In shamelessness, she could not afford to lose!

Revived to seek vengeance, she would not hesitate to use conspiracy, stratagem, cunning, or despicable means.

A rag was stuffed into Ji Yue's mouth; as she turned, she saw Zhan Lan's detached, composed gaze, like the smallest, weakest wolf in the forest suddenly looking at her with the eyes of a King Beast.

Ji Yue wanted to scream frantically, Zhan Lan, you've ruined me! May you die a terrible death!

But no one cared what she had to say anymore!

On a dark, tempestuous night by the Black Sand River, the whistling winds blew over, bringing grains of black sand that stung the face.

Ji Yue and Li Kang were beaten to a bruised mess and stuffed into a pig cage; by now, the Madam's people, who despised the cold, had departed.

As the wailing pair in the pig cage slowly began to sink, they saw two figures.

"Zhan Lan!" Ji Yue glared at Zhan Lan like a vengeful ghost.

Zhan Lan gave a smile as radiant as flowers, arms folded as she declared: "Let you die with understanding!"