Mother Yu looked up in surprise, then suddenly realized what was happening, her jaw dropping.
"My Lady, was that not the Goryeo blood ginseng?"
"How could she possibly be worthy of enjoying such a fine thing? Since she loves to drink it, we should reward Qiqi well. It is all thanks to her clever hands that she carved a tree root into the shape of ginseng."
Mother Yu laughed heartily at this. In her mind, she kept replaying the image of the Old Madam sipping it with such enjoyment.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted from Xiao Shuning’s room. Several maids were called in, and Mu Jinyuan arrived at the sound.
"Mother, what has happened?"
"I have lost one of my earrings. I cannot find where it fell," Xiao Shuning said, searching the room meticulously.
"All of you, start searching. Do not miss a single corner," Mu Jinyuan ordered the servants in the courtyard in a cold voice. She knew how important these earrings were to her mother; they were the ones her grandmother had personally placed on her ears when she married, and she had never taken them off in all these years.
Moments later, the servants reported one after another that they had found nothing.
"I am truly useless," Xiao Shuning said, pinching her arm hard. "I couldn't even keep the earrings my mother gave me."
"Mother, do not fret. Perhaps we were in such a hurry when we came over today that we dropped them in the Side Courtyard. Let us go and look there."
"Yes! Perhaps they were dropped in the Side Courtyard." Prompted by Mu Jinyuan, Xiao Shuning immediately stood up and hurried toward the Side Courtyard. Mu Jinyuan and Mammy Liu exchanged a glance and followed closely behind.
Just as they were about to reach the Side Courtyard, Mu Jinyuan pulled her mother toward the back door.
"Yuan'er, why are we sneaking in through the back?" Xiao Shuning asked, her face full of confusion.
Mu Jinyuan made a gesture for her mother to be quiet, then led her with practiced ease to the courtyard where they had lived for seven years. At this moment, however, Wan Niang was the one living there.
Inside the room, Wan Niang was leaning against Mu Bingwen’s embrace. Her face was swollen beyond recognition, smeared with ointment that glistened in the flickering candlelight.
"Master, my face is hideously ugly. You should go rest with Xiao Shuning today," Wan Niang said, making a gesture to pull away from his embrace.
But Mu Bingwen tightened his grip on her waist, refusing to let go. "My Wan Niang is the most beautiful and the most gentle. How could that block of wood, Xiao Shuning, compare to you? Besides, it was my mother who went too far and let you suffer such grievances. I do not even know how to make it up to you."
"Master, you are teasing me again!" Wan Niang clung to Mu Bingwen’s shoulder, acting coy, then sighed. "It is my fault for being so useless, not having a background like Xiao Shuning’s. Otherwise, you would not have to lower yourself every day to appease her. It is truly hard on you, Master."
Xiao Shuning, standing outside, saw the entire scene clearly. Her eyes were wide with shock, nearly popping out of their sockets.
"She... they..."
Mu Jinyuan hurriedly pulled Xiao Shuning away, fearing they would startle the pair of adulterers who were busy playing the lovers inside.
"How could your father be with your aunt..." Xiao Shuning could not calm down; the scene she had just witnessed made her legs tremble. She could not bring herself to say the words—was this not incest? A brother and a sister!
"Mother, let us talk when we get back," Mu Jinyuan whispered, fearing the eyes and ears of the household.
Xiao Shuning did not even know how she made it back to Zhuqing Courtyard. It was only when Mu Jinyuan handed her a cup of hot tea that she regained her senses. She took the tea and wiped away the tears that had fallen before she realized it.
"Yuan'er, why are you not surprised at all?"
Seeing such an absurd affair with her own eyes, her daughter’s calmness was frightening. Even if she was slow to react, she finally realized something was wrong. "You purposely led me there to see them..."
"Yes," Mu Jinyuan no longer hid it. She looked at Mammy Liu, who handed her the earring. "I ask for Mother's forgiveness for deceiving you."
Xiao Shuning’s gaze flickered between Mammy Liu and Mu Jinyuan.
"Please forgive me, Madam. I was only acting on the eldest young lady's instructions. If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave." Mammy Liu, having the tact to see the situation, left, and the maids waiting outside were dismissed as well.
"Mother, I know it was wrong to lie to you, but I had to let you see the truth for yourself. Wan Niang is not Father’s sister at all. I suspect he was already entangled with her long before he married you."
"Claiming that Wan Niang was a sister sent back after being abandoned was merely a ruse to deceive you, so that he could bring his mistress and daughter into the estate openly and legally."
"How can this be?" Xiao Shuning gasped, frozen in place.
But what Mu Jinyuan said next caused her to break down even further.
"Mu Yunyuan is not your biological son. He was swapped by Father in collusion with Grandmother and Wan Niang. Why else do you think Grandmother has always used your 'pre-marital impurity' to stab you in the back, yet doted on the son you raised? How could they ever tolerate a legitimate son who wasn't of the Mu family?"
"Impossible! How could that be?" Xiao Shuning found it hard to accept. But when she thought about it, it made a twisted kind of sense; Mu Bingwen would not commit incest with his own sister, which proved that Mu Jinyuan was right.
"I have raised Yuanyuan for so many years—how can he not be my son?"
Mu Jinyuan knew her mother was in pain, but a long agony is worse than a short one. "Mother, you must have wondered why my attitude toward Grandmother and Father has been different these past few days. It is because I learned the truth from Chunxing. They were not satisfied with stealing your biological son; they even wanted Zhou Zi'an to ruin my virtue, so that Mu Jinxia could take my place and marry into the Yongning Marquis Estate."
"We are nothing but stepping stones for them to climb higher."
"The nerve of them!" Upon hearing that her daughter’s abduction was a calculated scheme, Xiao Shuning could no longer sit still. "If I do not bare my teeth, they really think I, Xiao Shuning, am a soft persimmon."
She had always endured humiliation and swallowed her pride just to ensure her children could live in peace, never imagining that everything was a lie.
"Mother, wait." Mu Jinyuan was glad to see the spirit her mother once possessed as the legitimate daughter of the State Protector Estate. "Father and Grandmother have conspired to deceive us for so many years; if we rush in now to confront them, they will never admit it. Moreover, they have committed such heaven-defying acts—we cannot let them off so easily."
Xiao Shuning felt stifled. The thought that she had raised another woman’s son for so many years and treated a mistress like a beloved sister made her feel foolish beyond words. She had given her heart to Mu Bingwen, only to be led around by the nose.
"But there is a more urgent matter," she said. "You said Father swapped your biological brother? That means Wan Niang’s son is my own blood! He must be suffering at the farmstead!"
"Mother, rest assured. I will make sure my brother returns safely, and I will ensure that those who plotted against us meet a wretched end." Mu Jinyuan held Xiao Shuning’s hand, giving her a reassuring look. "I also hope that from now on, Mother will never listen to Father again and will never be soft-hearted toward them."