The Substitute
The third year of Suihe, summer.
The Jiang Residence was thick with trees and layers of green shade. Covered walkways appeared and disappeared among the foliage, and anyone walking through them was not easily noticed.
Mu Mingtang wore a pale-blue, silver-patterned cross-collared jacket over a six-panel pleated skirt. She stood behind a cluster of trees.
The two people outside were absorbed in conversation and had not noticed her.
Her clothes were already light and subdued in colour, and blended easily into the mottled shadows beneath the trees. Unless someone looked carefully, she really was difficult to spot.
But Mu Mingtang knew that wasn’t the true reason.
The Prince of Jin had recovered what he thought he had lost. Reunited with his former love, he was far too happy.
So happy that even a man as habitually vigilant as he was had failed to notice someone standing behind the trees.
“Brother Ji, I was the one who wronged you back then. It was my fault for losing my senses and being deceived by a villain. Not only did I misunderstand you, I even abandoned my parents and ran away from home. Fortunately, you’ve been well this past year. Otherwise, I truly…”
The woman dressed in green suddenly choked up and could no longer continue.
She wore no makeup and was dressed simply. At first glance, she was not breathtakingly beautiful, but the longer one looked, the more graceful and pleasing she became.
Her eyes were large and her brows strongly defined, giving her a somewhat stubborn and resolute appearance. Now, with tears shimmering in those eyes while she struggled to keep them from falling, she looked especially heartbreaking.
Xie Xuanji’s heart ached for her.
Unable to stop himself, he stepped closer and grasped the woman’s arms. He clearly wanted to tighten his hold, yet forced himself to restrain his strength, afraid of behaving improperly toward her.
“Mingwei, none of that matters. As long as you’re back, that’s enough. The Jiang family has kept your place for you all these years. As long as you return, nothing has changed.”
The woman called Mingwei burst into tears.
“But Brother Ji, I’m no longer worthy of you. Back then, I was deceived by the Rong people. I don’t even know how I became so irrational. I actually doubted your intentions and even fled from our marriage during the Lantern Festival.”
“I’ve thought about many things over the past year. But the more I understood, the less courage I had to come back and face you.”
“Even if I was abducted by the Rong people, ultimately it was still because I failed to judge people properly. Everything that happened to me was my own doing. I have no one else to blame.”
“Knowing that you’ve been well is already enough for me. I don’t dare hope for anything more.”
“I heard that you’re already engaged to her. That’s good. She’ll surely take good care of you in my place.”
“No, Mingwei.”
Xie Xuanji seemed anxious. He stepped even closer until he was almost pressed against Jiang Mingwei.
He bent slightly to look into her face, his eyes intent and deep.
“I told you before. As long as you returned, I would always be here.”
“The engagement was transferred to Jiang Mingtang only because the imperial decree had already been announced to the entire realm. Uncle Jiang couldn’t defy His Majesty’s decree, so he had no choice but to acknowledge another daughter from outside and bring her back to take your place.”
“But what is real will always be real, and what is fake will always be fake.”
“Now that you’re back, what use is there for a replacement?”
“The Princess of Jin will always be you, and only you.”
“But I was taken by the Rong people and disappeared for an entire year. The imperial family values a woman’s chastity above all else. I know that I’m still untouched, but why would anyone else believe me?”
“If I marry you, won’t people ridicule you because of me?”
Toward the end, Jiang Mingwei seemed both embarrassed and ashamed. She lowered her head, revealing a slender section of her neck.
Xie Xuanji, however, was overjoyed.
He had always been gentle, elegant, calm, and self-controlled, yet now he could not help laughing aloud. Almost losing all composure, he pulled Jiang Mingwei into his arms.
“That’s wonderful, Mingwei. Do you know how happy I was when I heard what you just said?”
“You haven’t belonged to another man. You’re still a virgin. I’m practically beside myself with joy.”
“You don’t need to worry. Apart from you, me, Uncle Jiang, and Madam Jiang, no one else will ever know that you disappeared for a year.”
“If outsiders ask, simply say that you were recuperating from illness somewhere away from the capital.”
“As for Father Emperor and Mother Empress, I’ll explain everything to them. You only need to prepare peacefully for the wedding.”
Hearing Xie Xuanji’s words, Jiang Mingwei’s entire face turned red, rosy clouds blooming across her cheeks.
After a while, she seemed suddenly to remember something. Her expression dimmed, and she gently pushed Xie Xuanji away.
“Brother Ji, I’m deeply moved by your feelings for me, but I’m no longer worthy of them.”
“The princess you’re engaged to has already become someone else.”
“She’s more obedient than I am, and more filial. She wouldn’t upset my parents the way I did. My parents adopted her, so they must think she’s more considerate than I am and more suitable to be their daughter.”
“Since the engagement has already been transferred to someone else, I should know my place and stay far away.”
“If I appear again, not only will I interfere with your marriage, but I’ll also upset Second Miss.”
“Mingwei, what are you saying?”
Xie Xuanji’s voice turned cold. Without the slightest hesitation, he said,
“I’ve never had any feelings for her.”
“I’ve always regarded her as nothing more than your substitute.”
“Uncle Jiang and the others feel the same way.”
“If she didn’t resemble you by thirty percent, how could someone of such lowly refugee origins ever have entered the Jiang family’s gates?”
“She was originally nothing more than a refugee fleeing disaster. Being allowed to enjoy a year of wealth and comfort in the Jiang family is already an extraordinary stroke of fortune.”
“If she knows how to be grateful, then fine.”
“But if she can’t understand her own position and dares make things difficult for you, I will never let her off.”
Tears gathered on Jiang Mingwei’s lashes.
Her usually strong eyes were filled with moisture, the tears trembling on the verge of falling.
“Brother Ji…”
“Mingwei.”
Xie Xuanji’s heart shattered beneath that gaze. Unable to resist, he pulled her tightly into his arms.
“It’s enough that you’re back.”
“Uncle Jiang and I have both waited for you for a year.”
“Now, it’s finally time for everything to return to its rightful place and its rightful owner.”
…
How touching.
A faint smile appeared on Mu Mingtang’s lips.
The more she smiled, the more she felt that she herself was nothing but a joke.
Childhood sweethearts who had grown up together, only to miss each other because of a misunderstanding. After all their twists and turns, they had finally reunited, confessed their feelings, and cleared up their misunderstandings.
Next, they would probably marry with both families’ blessings and live happily ever after.
What a moving scene.
What an enviable love.
And Mu Mingtang was the intruder between these childhood sweethearts.
An ignorant substitute who had overestimated herself.
And the only outsider in the entire affair.
The “her” Jiang Mingwei had mentioned and the “substitute” Xie Xuanji had spoken of…
was Mu Mingtang.
Just as Xie Xuanji had said, Mu Mingtang’s origins truly were humble.
Especially compared with the two people before her.
Xie Xuanji was an imperial prince who had already been granted the title Prince of Jin.
Jiang Mingwei was the daughter of a high-ranking official. She and Xie Xuanji had been childhood sweethearts and had grown up together.
As for Mu Mingtang?
She was not even from the capital.
She had originally come from Xiangyang.
Her family was neither scholarly nor official. Instead, they were merchants steeped in the vulgar smell of money.
Although her birth was considered lowly, fortunately her parents had a harmonious marriage and the family was prosperous.
Surrounded by her parents’ love, Mu Mingtang lived a smooth and happy life until the age of twelve.
Originally, her life should have followed the same path as countless ordinary girls from small cities.
A comfortable family.
Loving parents.
Growing up steadily according to convention.
Then, when she reached marriageable age, she would marry another ordinary person, bear children, and establish an ordinary little family.
For the first half of Mu Mingtang’s life, everything went exactly according to that path.
But when she was twelve, that peaceful life shattered completely.
In the third year of Hongjia, Xiangyang was besieged.
The prefect resisted for several days, but when he saw the Jie forces approaching with terrifying momentum, he grew afraid for his life.
He abandoned the enormous city of Xiangyang and all the civilians within it, fleeing through the city gates in the middle of the night.
When he left, he also took away the city’s elite troops and weapons.
Without weapons or leadership, Xiangyang fell without a fight.
The Jie entered the city and began slaughtering its people.
Mu Mingtang’s parents were killed by the Jie while trying to cover her escape from the city.
Unfortunately, even after their sacrifice, Mu Mingtang still failed to escape Xiangyang.
There were, after all, far more ordinary people in this world than extraordinary ones.
Mu Mingtang possessed neither martial arts that allowed her to leap across rooftops nor the wisdom to remain perfectly calm in a crisis.
She was discovered by the Jie halfway through her escape.
She nearly followed her parents into death.
Fortunately, the Marquis of Wu’an later entered the city, allowing her to narrowly survive.
Afterward, Mu Mingtang joined countless refugees streaming northward in search of somewhere safe to live.
Once her homeland was destroyed, Mu Mingtang fell overnight from being the young lady of a prosperous merchant household to a penniless refugee whom anyone could bully.
She was a girl.
A pretty girl of only twelve or thirteen.
What she might encounter while travelling alone was obvious without explanation.
Mu Mingtang’s journey was extraordinarily difficult.
Fortunately, later she met Granny Zhou, who had likewise lost her home and family.
Granny Zhou protected her by claiming they were grandmother and granddaughter. Only because of that was Mu Mingtang able to reach Yingtian Prefecture alive and unharmed.
Later, Mu Mingtang and Granny Zhou settled in Chenliu, intending to begin life again.
Although they had originally been strangers, after fleeing north together Mu Mingtang genuinely came to regard Granny Zhou as her own grandmother.
She intended to support her in old age and see her properly buried when the time came.
The two depended on one another for survival.
Sewing.
Washing clothes.
Weaving bamboo strips.
They accepted any kind of work they could find.
Just when life had finally begun improving slightly, Granny Zhou fell ill from years of exhaustion.
Mu Mingtang spent every coin they possessed trying to find her medical treatment.
But Granny Zhou still couldn’t survive.
She died before spring even arrived.
After Granny Zhou’s death, Mu Mingtang cried bitterly.
She wanted to give the old woman a respectable burial.
Troubled times might produce heroes, but they were only ordinary people.
They possessed neither the martial ability to charge into battle nor the commanding talent to raise their arms and rally an army.
They could only struggle to survive like weeds.
Granny Zhou had lived without dignity.
At the very least, Mu Mingtang wanted her to leave this world with dignity.
But unexpectedly, even such a humble wish was something Heaven refused to grant.
After Granny Zhou died, the owner of the pawnshop saw that Mu Mingtang was pretty and developed wicked intentions toward her.
In the middle of the street, he accused her of theft.
Otherwise, he claimed, how could a weak young woman like her repeatedly produce things valuable enough to pawn?
Mu Mingtang was furious.
She immediately began cursing the pawnshop owner in public.
Her year as a refugee had already hardened her.
She could curse fiercely and shamelessly, and after being repeatedly humiliated by her words, the pawnshop owner became so enraged that he began jumping in fury.
Eventually, he could no longer restrain himself and tried to hit her.
Mu Mingtang had survived this long because all the innocence and restraint expected of a sheltered young lady had already been ground away.
Seeing him attack, she immediately fought back, biting and scratching.
During their struggle, however, a group of richly dressed guards suddenly intervened.
When Mu Mingtang and the pawnshop owner were dragged apart by the guards, she still had no idea what was happening.
But the moment she saw their clothing, she knew these were people she couldn’t afford to offend.
Those struggling to survive were always especially skilled at adapting to circumstances.
Mu Mingtang immediately suppressed her temper and lowered her head, not daring to argue.
At that moment, a maid descended from an expensive-looking carriage parked some distance away.
The maid wore a clean dark-blue jacket and skirt. Her hair had been combed tightly and neatly.
Even the soles of her shoes looked cleaner than Mu Mingtang’s face.
Upon seeing Mu Mingtang, the maid seemed slightly disgusted.
Then she pinched her nose and said,
“Your ancestors must be burning incense for you. You’ve stumbled into extraordinary luck.”
“Come with me. Our madam wants to see you.”
A woman addressed as “Madam” could hardly have an ordinary status.
Moreover, she had a carriage and guards at her command. Perhaps she was connected to the government.
Trembling with fear, Mu Mingtang followed them.
Only later did she realise that social status had not merely limited what she had seen.
It had also limited what she was capable of imagining.
The person who had stopped her that day was not merely associated with an official household.
She was the legitimate wife of the Vice Commissioner of the Three Fiscal Commissions in the capital.
The Three Fiscal Commissions jointly managed the Salt and Iron Commission, the Revenue Commission, and the Ministry of Revenue. Known collectively as the “Finance Ministry,” they formed the highest institution overseeing the empire’s finances.
The Vice Commissioner of the Three Fiscal Commissions was effectively its second-highest official.
To describe the position in terms Mu Mingtang could understand, if the person overseeing the empire’s finances was comparable to a chancellor, then the Vice Commissioner was his deputy.
Practically a vice chancellor.
Mu Mingtang never imagined that merely getting into a street fight would somehow bring her before the wife of someone equivalent to a vice chancellor.
Madam Jiang examined Mu Mingtang for some time before ordering someone to take her away.
And so, dazed and terrified, Mu Mingtang was brought to the capital.
That night, she bathed for a very long time.
The following morning, she changed into fresh clothes and was brought before Madam Jiang and Lord Jiang.
Lord Jiang looked at her for a long while.
Then he nodded calmly to Madam Jiang.
“Let’s do as you suggested.”
As she suggested?
What had Madam Jiang suggested?
Mu Mingtang didn’t understand.
But she learned soon enough.
From that point onward, her entire life was overturned.
Madam Jiang adopted her as a daughter.
She became the second daughter of Jiang Honghao, Vice Commissioner of the Three Fiscal Commissions.
Jiang Mingtang.
She had become a genuine young lady of an official household.
A daughter of a prestigious family.
How could Mu Mingtang, who had spent the past year struggling among refugees, possibly have imagined such fortune?
The gulf between officials, commoners, and merchants was enormous.
Back in Xiangyang, even if they encountered merely the daughter of a low-level clerk from the prefectural office, the Mu family would have kept their heads down and avoided offending her.
How much more terrifying, then, was becoming the daughter of someone equivalent to a vice chancellor in the central court?
Mu Mingtang had risen too quickly.
Even she was frightened by it.
It was often said that children of prestigious families were neither arrogant nor servile, while petty people who suddenly gained power became overbearing.
Mu Mingtang understood that mentality perfectly.
She was simply terrified of losing everything she had suddenly gained.
So whatever Madam Jiang told her to do, she did.
Whatever the maids told her to do, she obeyed.
Only later did Mu Mingtang learn that Madam Jiang had appeared in Chenliu that day because she had been searching for her missing eldest daughter.
Jiang Mingwei.
All the maids repeated the same explanation.
During the Lantern Festival, there had been too many people in the streets. Eldest Miss had gone out to see the lanterns and accidentally become separated from everyone.
Even though Mu Mingtang had never been part of an official family before, she could still sense something strange about that explanation.
She herself had only been a merchant’s daughter, yet when she went out to see lanterns her parents always arranged servants to accompany her.
Jiang Mingwei was a noble young lady from an important official family.
Would Madam Jiang really have neglected her protection?
Yet somehow, Eldest Miss had gone missing.
No matter how she had disappeared, if Madam Jiang said she had simply become lost, then that was what had happened.
Madam Jiang searched all the way to Chenliu.
She found no trace of her daughter.
Instead, she happened to notice Mu Mingtang fighting in the street.
Mu Mingtang had been both cursing and hitting people at the time. She was extremely conspicuous.
Madam Jiang watched her for a while and realised that Mu Mingtang was close in age to her missing daughter.
Even the shape of her face bore some resemblance.
That was why Madam Jiang brought Mu Mingtang back.
After Jiang Honghao saw her, he thought that although it wasn’t an ideal solution, it was at least better than having no solution at all.
And so he agreed.
Mu Mingtang was adopted into the Jiang family.
Her surname was changed to Jiang.
She was recorded as the Second Miss.
And she became the substitute for the missing Eldest Miss, Jiang Mingwei.
Mu Mingtang had known her role from the very beginning.
Parents who deeply missed their beloved daughter but had been unable to find her had placed someone who resembled her before their eyes to ease their longing.
Mu Mingtang understood perfectly.
So she willingly became another person’s shadow.
She wore the colours Jiang Mingwei liked.
She lived in the room Jiang Mingwei had once occupied.
She learned to speak like Jiang Mingwei.
She learned to walk like Jiang Mingwei.
Little by little, she erased everything that belonged specifically to Mu Mingtang.
Madam Jiang disliked her vulgarity.
She disliked that Mu Mingtang had fought in the streets and behaved without dignity.
So Mu Mingtang broke off the claws and fangs she had developed during those chaotic years and transformed herself into someone gentle and obedient.
She learned to smile without showing her teeth and to walk without taking large steps.
No matter what she said, her voice remained soft and measured.
She hid her true personality completely.
She forced herself into the shape of another person.
She was afraid of being thrown out of the Jiang Residence.
Afraid of returning to the kind of life where she never knew whether she would survive another day and had to fight stray dogs for food.
During chaotic times, dignity was useless.
Compared with survival, what did imitating another person matter?
Mu Mingtang was confined and trained intensively for an entire year.
At last, she was reshaped into the prestigious young lady Madam Jiang wanted.
Imitating someone’s appearance was easy.
Imitating their very bones was difficult.
Naturally, Mu Mingtang couldn’t compare with Jiang Mingwei, who had been born into wealth and privilege.
Whether in knowledge or conversation, the difference between them remained vast.
But when Mu Mingtang stood silently, she could already resemble Jiang Mingwei somewhat.
Madam Jiang was reluctantly satisfied.
In March of that year, she formally brought Mu Mingtang into society and publicly acknowledged her.
Only after that did Mu Mingtang truly understand why the Jiang family had needed to adopt a daughter.
And why Madam Jiang had been so anxious to train her quickly.
The Jiang family’s glory did not rest only on Jiang Honghao’s important position in the Finance Ministry.
Jiang Mingwei had also been granted an imperial marriage to a prince.
Words spoken by the emperor could not simply be withdrawn.
Especially not an imperial decree granting a marriage.
Jiang Mingwei had disappeared during the previous year’s Lantern Festival.
It was easy enough for her to pursue her own freedom.
But stepping down from such an imperial marriage was not nearly so easy for the Jiang family.
Madam Jiang had personally pursued her all the way to Chenliu partly because she was worried about her daughter.
But another reason was the marriage between the Jiang family and the Prince of Jin.
The Prince of Jin was the legitimate son of the emperor.
He had an excellent reputation and was the most widely supported candidate for Crown Prince at court.
Had the emperor not remembered that before ascending the throne he and the Jiang family had once been neighbours, such enormous favour would never have fallen upon them.
But after Jiang Mingwei fled the marriage—
Of course, “fled the marriage” was merely Mu Mingtang’s interpretation.
Madam Jiang always insisted her daughter had been abducted—
the emperor’s favour became like a death warrant hanging above Jiang Honghao’s head.
When Jiang Honghao learned that Jiang Mingwei had disappeared, he flew into a rage.
In his anger, he declared that he no longer had a daughter named Jiang Mingwei and even refused to send anyone to search for her.
Madam Jiang loved her daughter and was devastated by her husband’s heartlessness.
Since her husband refused to act, she could only handle the matter herself.
Then, by coincidence, she encountered Mu Mingtang.
Having reached the end of her options, Madam Jiang conceived a plan of substitution.
She hoped Jiang Mingwei had simply acted impulsively and would return once her temper cooled.
If she didn’t return…
or if she returned too late…
then Mu Mingtang could take her place.
At least it would offer some way to salvage the situation.
After all, the imperial decree had granted the Prince of Jin marriage to Jiang Honghao’s daughter.
It had never specifically stated that the daughter absolutely had to be Jiang Mingwei.
Once Mu Mingtang was adopted, she technically became Jiang Honghao’s daughter too.
By March, Madam Jiang had completely given up hope that Jiang Mingwei would return.
She formally introduced her “second daughter, Jiang Mingtang,” to the wives of officials in the capital.
In April, under the supervision of their elders, Mu Mingtang and the Prince of Jin, Xie Xuanji, saw each other once through a screen.
That counted as the engaged couple meeting before marriage.
Neither side voiced any objection.
And so the marriage was considered settled.
If Mu Mingtang had to comment on it, she would say that the Prince of Jin’s love for Jiang Mingwei was truly devoted and unwavering.
Jiang Mingwei had fled their marriage and was even suspected of eloping.
Yet Xie Xuanji, both an imperial prince and her intended husband, did not become furious.
Instead, he secretly helped Madam Jiang search for Jiang Mingwei.
Later, as the wedding date approached, Xie Xuanji accepted the imitation the Jiang family arranged for him without a single complaint.
Even Mu Mingtang was moved by such devotion.
As a substitute, Mu Mingtang understood her position very well.
She knew that what Madam Jiang saw and thought about had always been her biological daughter.
Even when the Prince of Jin looked at Mu Mingtang, he was searching for the parts of her that resembled Jiang Mingwei.
Mu Mingtang had already been given fine clothing and luxurious food.
In the end, she was even going to become a princess.
That alone left her deeply grateful and almost frightened by her own good fortune.
She wasn’t greedy.
Nor would she ever dare hope for the Prince of Jin’s love.
She had already prepared herself to exist as Jiang Mingwei’s shadow for the rest of her life.
Before marriage, she would be the obedient daughter who resembled Jiang Mingwei but behaved more submissively than Jiang Mingwei ever had.
After marriage, she would become the projection of the unforgettable woman in the Prince of Jin’s heart.
As for who Mu Mingtang truly was…
What she liked…
What sort of person she had once been…
None of that mattered anymore.
Who could have imagined that today, during the birthday banquet the Jiang family had arranged for Mu Mingtang…
the real Jiang Mingwei would suddenly return?
Jiang Mingwei had not appeared publicly.
But Mu Mingtang noticed that the Prince of Jin had suddenly disappeared.
Some inexplicable instinct told her something was wrong.
So Mu Mingtang quietly followed him.
She never expected to overhear such a moving performance.
Standing in the shadows beneath the trees, she listened for a long time as the deeply devoted prince and his unforgettable first love confessed their true feelings to one another.
Their love was truly magnificent.
The Prince of Jin loved so deeply.
He remained so faithful to the woman he loved.
How touching.
So what about her?
How did they intend to dispose of this clumsy replacement?
This lowly refugee?
Mu Mingtang didn’t want to hear any more.
She turned and walked back.
Halfway there, the maid who had been sent to search for her came rushing over.
The moment the maid saw Mu Mingtang, her brows lifted with obvious disgust.
“Second Miss, Madam already told you not to wander around. Why can you never remember?”
The maid had approached from another direction and had not seen the two figures behind the trees.
But Xie Xuanji and Jiang Mingwei immediately stopped talking when they heard the maid’s voice.
Xie Xuanji’s expression changed.
He quickly moved around the obstruction and saw a pale-blue figure slowly disappearing down the covered walkway.
Silver frost-flower patterns were embroidered over her outer robe, scattered across the pale-blue silk like frosted clouds.
Always dressed in elegant, restrained shades of green, blue, and white.
Always carrying the distant air of a traveller passing through the mortal world, as though she had no true confidant anywhere.
From Xie Xuanji’s perspective, that retreating figure really did resemble Jiang Mingwei.
But Xie Xuanji knew it wasn’t her.
He frowned inwardly.
Why was she here?
Naturally, the maid lectured Mu Mingtang at length about how she wasn’t ladylike enough and lacked elegance.
Mu Mingtang endured everything.
Before today, she had never thought much about it.
Only now did she realise that in the Jiang family, even a mere maid dared openly express disdain toward her.
Of course.
Because she was only a substitute.
An imitation of Jiang Mingwei.
A replacement for the white moonlight in the Prince of Jin’s heart.
Worse still, she was a poor imitation—a clumsy attempt to imitate a tiger that ended up resembling a dog.
Like the ugly woman Dong Shi imitating the legendary beauty Xi Shi’s frown.
The maid continued chattering endlessly.
Mu Mingtang treated the words like wind passing beside her ears.
She neither argued nor replied.
She simply waited quietly.
Waiting to see how the Jiang family would dispose of her.
She originally thought that by evening, Jiang Honghao—or at the very least Madam Jiang—would send someone to speak with her.
But Mu Mingtang discovered that people really shouldn’t think too highly of themselves.
She waited for a long time.
No one came.
Only an older maid appeared.
With an indifferent expression, she said,
“Second Miss, this is Eldest Miss’s room.”
“Eldest Miss doesn’t like other people touching her things.”
“Please move out.”
Mu Mingtang stood stunned for a moment.
Then she rose and nodded.
“That makes sense. This was originally Elder Sister’s room. Now that she’s back, I have no reason to continue occupying it.”
“I’ll pack my belongings immediately.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
The older maid lowered her eyelids and looked at Mu Mingtang coldly.
“Everything in this room belongs to Eldest Miss.”
“Even the clothes.”
“Second Miss only needs to leave.”
Mu Mingtang remembered that the Jiang family had, after all, adopted her.
For the past year they had given her fine food and clothing and a grand residence to shelter her.
So she swallowed the humiliation.
She said nothing.
And like that, almost as though deliberately being humiliated, she left the room where she had lived for a year and moved into a cold guest chamber.
Her year as a refugee had already taught Mu Mingtang everything about how quickly human warmth could turn cold, and how carefully one had to read other people’s expressions.
She had become practical.
Even somewhat calculating.
What did humiliation matter?
As long as she could live well, that was enough.
Mu Mingtang thought that since she had behaved so tactfully, surely someone from the Jiang family would at least come and exchange a few polite words with her.
Reality proved that Mu Mingtang had still overestimated her importance.
She was abandoned in the guest room and ignored for three entire days.
At noon on the fourth day, someone finally came for her.
“Second Miss, Master summons you.”
Mu Mingtang carefully tidied herself.
Then, like an obedient and well-packaged gift, she made her way to the study.
Jiang Honghao was already seated inside.
To her surprise, Xie Xuanji was there as well.
Mu Mingtang glanced at him only once before withdrawing her gaze.
With perfect ladylike manners, she bowed to Jiang Honghao.
“Father.”
As for Xie Xuanji…
They had once been engaged.
Now they weren’t.
Therefore, Mu Mingtang had no reason to speak to an unrelated man.
Jiang Honghao had not instructed her to greet him, so Mu Mingtang naturally couldn’t take the initiative to address Xie Xuanji.
“Mm.”
Jiang Honghao merely nodded.
He looked at the young woman before him.
Thinking of what would happen shortly, he unexpectedly felt a trace of pity.
No matter what, she had lived under the Jiang family’s roof for a year.
When she married in a few days, he would simply prepare a little more dowry for her.
Jiang Honghao felt extremely satisfied with his own generosity.
Stroking his beard, he said,
“You presumably already know that your elder sister has returned.”
“The Prince of Jin’s engagement was originally with Mingwei.”
“Having you take her place was truly an act of necessity.”
“You understand, don’t you?”
Mu Mingtang lowered her head obediently.
“This daughter understands.”
“Good.”
“But don’t worry.”
“Since you have become my adopted daughter, I naturally won’t mistreat you.”
“A few days ago, the Prince of Jin petitioned His Majesty.”
“Today, His Majesty agreed.”
“You are to marry into the Residence of the Prince of Qiyang.”
As Jiang Honghao spoke, a smile appeared on his face.
“Although you’re merely my adopted daughter, the Jiang family is certainly not the sort to favour one daughter over another.”
“After you marry into the Prince of Qiyang’s residence, you’ll still be a princess.”
“In the future, you sisters will become sisters-in-law within the imperial clan. You must support and look after one another so as not to disappoint your father’s teachings.”
“To have reached such a position today…”
“Your fortune truly is extraordinary.”
Mu Mingtang froze for a very long time before finally understanding what Jiang Honghao had said.
She would still become a princess.
Only…
instead of marrying the Prince of Jin, she would marry the Prince of Qiyang?
And from Jiang Honghao’s tone, it was clear that he believed a merchant’s daughter—who had later even become a refugee—could only become a princess because she had benefited from the Jiang family’s favour.
Mu Mingtang slowly raised her head.
“Father…” “Hasn’t the Prince of Qiyang already become a living corpse?”
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