Meng Qi asked softly, "Mother Liu, could you tell me about my second sister?"
Mother Liu was startled. "Fourth Young Miss, what would you like to hear? Are you asking about what the Second Young Miss has been up to lately?"
Meng Qi shook her head. "No, just about her background, and how Mother managed to find her again."
The incense wafer Mother Liu was holding, ready to be placed into the warming brazier, dropped to the floor with a clatter. "F-Fourth Young Miss, are you—are you alright? Let me go call the physician."
Coming to her senses, Meng Qi reached out and took Mother Liu’s hand. "Don't be afraid, I'm fine. It’s just that there is something I haven't told Mother or anyone else. You mustn't tell anyone else, all right?"
Mother Liu nodded blankly.
"The truth is, when I fell into that ice hole, although I was physically fine, something happened here..." Meng Qi pointed to her head. "I can’t remember certain things. For instance, how I fell in, or how Meng Juan became betrothed to Hong Zhe. And I have no memory of anything regarding my second sister."
Mother Liu was shocked, then panicked. She reached out to touch Meng Qi's forehead, but Meng Qi stopped her. "I’m fine, really, I just can't remember some things. Please don't tell my mother; I don't want her to worry for nothing. Just tell me the things I’ve forgotten. I don't even know myself how much I've lost, so I will just ask you as things come to mind."
Looking at the articulate and composed girl, Mother Liu nodded. "You only forgot those things, Fourth Young Miss? You still recognize people, right? Tomorrow, the Madam is bringing the Meng family kin to visit you. You..."
Meng Qi waved her hand dismissively. "I recognize everyone; it's just the events I can't recall. Tell me one by one, starting with my second sister."
Mother Liu watched the earnest girl sitting before her, wringing her hands as she spoke. "The Second Young Miss was actually the maid who used to tell you stories when you were at the West Residence..."
Meng Qi had never expected Meng Wan’s story to be so long. She struggled to recall the details of her previous life; it was true that the Huainan Marquis’s wife, Lady Song, had taken her to the West Residence, just as it had happened before. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember a maid who told her stories. Mother Liu said that Meng Wan’s name at the time was Su Qing.
*Su Qing, Su Qing.* Meng Qi murmured the name, then suddenly clapped her hands. It felt as if there truly had been such a girl, always following behind a maid named Xiang who had saved her.
But in her past life, she hadn't brought that girl back to the East Residence, and later, there had been no news of her at all.
So, she was her own biological sister. What had happened back then? A daughter of a prestigious Marquis household had actually been reduced to a maid. What had her fate been in the previous life? It was certain that Madam Wang hadn't recognized her. Had she just been left to fend for herself?
No, she had to find out about Meng Wan. Should she ask Madam Wang, or ask Meng Wan herself? Meng Qi envisioned Meng Wan’s comforting, considerate face. Meng Wan gave off an unexpectedly mature and steady aura. If, as Mother Liu said, she had been raised by a prostitute from a young age and later served as a maid, how could she possess such grace?
Meng Qi didn't believe for a second that it was "innate." There must be a secret here that she didn't know. At the very least, she had to know what Meng Wan had gone through and how she had "come back from the dead."
She didn't doubt that Meng Wan was an impostor. Hearing Mother Liu describe how happy Madam Wang was since Meng Wan had returned to the family, Meng Qi felt that even if Meng Wan were a fake, her mother would still be happy.
Moreover, she trusted that Meng Wan couldn't be a fake. Setting aside the fact that she looked sixty percent like Madam Wang, even the "evidence" Mother Liu mentioned—though not entirely clear—told her that Madam Wang could not have recognized the wrong person.
Furthermore, a more important reason she wanted to seek out Meng Wan was the betrothal to the second young master of Prince Shen's Estate, Zhou Yu—the marriage arrangement that had originally been hers, but which she had ruined with her own hands.
Hearing Mother Liu mention that Meng Wan was betrothed to Zhou Yu, Meng Qi was overwhelmed with astonishment. It didn't feel as if she had started her life over; how could there be so many differences from her past life?
In her previous life, after that incident, she had been locked away in Qin Garden and forbidden from leaving. Her mother had been kicked by her father so hard she couldn't get out of bed, and she hadn't been able to care for her. It was laughable that, at the time, she hadn't felt much concern for Madam Wang’s health.
The servants around her, except for Mother Liu, had all been replaced. Her sister-in-law, Madam Jiang, would arrive every day, twisting her waist and scowling, breaking things as she went. When Meng Qi asked about her mother, she wouldn't answer, instead complaining that Meng Qi had committed such a scandalous act, dragging the reputation of the family's nephews and nieces down with her.
Later, it was Mother Liu who came with red-rimmed eyes to tell her that the second young master of Prince Shen's Estate had been determined to break the engagement. However, the Prince and the Princess Consort hadn't wanted that, and the Marquis had been even less willing to lose the connection. In the end, they found a compromise: they betrothed the Eldest Young Miss of the main branch to the Prince's second son.At the time, when she had first heard the news, she had actually been overjoyed. Since she no longer had to marry Zhou Yu, surely Hong Zhe would be able to come and propose, right?
However, she did not wait for a proposal from Hong Zhe; instead, she waited for the news of his betrothal.
It was Meng Juan who had told her. She had been twisting her handkerchief, wiping away tears, complaining about why she had even stirred up such a mess in the first place, forcing her to marry Zhou Yu in her stead.
Meng Qi had grasped Meng Juan’s hands, her face full of remorse, offering basketfuls of gratitude. In an instant, she had come to view Meng Juan as a soulmate, telling her everything—even the details of her affair with Hong Zhe.
Meng Juan had held her hands, indignantly claiming that Hong Zhe’s betrothal could not possibly have been his own desire; he must have been forced into it by his family.
She could not believe Hong Zhe was betrothed. She had thought that by breaking off the engagement with Zhou Yu, she could happily wait for Hong Zhe to come and propose. But where had things gone wrong? How could Hong Zhe be betrothed?
During those days, Meng Juan became a frequent visitor to Qin Garden. On one occasion, then again on another, through Meng Juan’s persuasion and deliberate maneuvering, she wrote that letter, begging Meng Juan to take it out and deliver it to Hong Zhe.
At that time, she believed that once Hong Zhe read the letter, he would certainly break off his own betrothal and come to propose to her. She waited for it every day, full of anticipation.
But what had she received in return? She was met with the fury of the Huainan Marquis, Meng Changfeng; she saw her father land a brutal slap on her mother’s face; she watched her eldest brother, Meng Shao, stand motionless as he allowed their father to smash a heavy stool onto their mother’s back as she shielded her.
Meng Qi closed her eyes. She pictured Madam Wang, who had held her as the heir to the Huainan Marquis, Meng Yuan—her own father—smashed that stool against her, blood trickling from the corner of her mother’s mouth as she choked out a plea for Meng Changfeng to spare her daughter.
Tears streamed down once more.
Meng Changfeng had flung the letter hard at her mother’s face, declaring that she had brought shame upon the entire Huainan Marquis Estate. Had Meng Juan not handed the letter over to him, by tomorrow, the Huainan Marquis Estate would have become the laughingstock of the entire capital—no, the entire world.
Meng Qi watched in her mind as that letter fluttered to the ground—the letter she had written to Hong Zhe with such sincerity, the letter on which she had even bitten her finger to leave a blood-stained thumbprint.
Had Meng Juan not promised it would be delivered safely into Hong Zhe’s hands? Why had she not given it to him, but to Grandfather instead?
Meng Qi felt a sharp, splitting headache. She remembered her mother being carried away by the servants after passing out, and she had wanted to reach out, but her whole body ached intensely. The slap from Meng Yuan had left her unable to even call out for her mother.
She had been dragged back to Qin Garden. Madam Jiang stood there with her hands on her hips, scolding the servants to keep a close watch on her while firing off insults and barbs directed at her.
Meng Qi had felt as if she were in a dream, watching Madam Jiang’s mouth move incessantly. She could not seem to hear what was being said, though she knew it could not be anything kind, given the look of disgust and loathing on the woman’s face.
Only when a servant hurried in to say that the Heir’s wife was in a bad way did Madam Jiang viciously remark, "What are you wailing about? It would be better if she died. She couldn't even teach a daughter properly; living only brings shame upon the Marquis Estate." With that, she turned and strode out.
It was only then that Meng Qi heard clearly. She grabbed a servant and asked who was ill, what had happened to her mother? But no one answered. She wanted to leave, but she was held back.
Later, Meng Juan arrived. She first told her that her mother was fine and that a royal physician had been summoned, saying she had been overcome by anger and needed to rest.
She then explained that the letter had not been given to Meng Changfeng by her. She had found it inconvenient to go out herself, so she had asked her foster brother to find an opportunity to take it out. It was almost successful, but Meng Shao had discovered the anomaly, and her foster brother, afraid to hide it any longer, had surrendered the letter to Meng Shao.
"So, the marriage between Meng Wan and Zhou Yu was arranged by the Marquis of Pingxi?"
Hearing Meng Qi address Meng Wan by her name, Mother Liu thought for a moment and said, "Fourth Young Miss, if I may be so bold, the matter of you breaking off your engagement with Second Young Master Zhou caused quite a stir throughout the city. If not for the Second Young Miss, it could never have been resolved so perfectly. I’ve noticed that you and the Second Young Miss have grown much closer recently, especially since the Emperor bestowed the marriage—after that long talk you two had, I can see that the Second Young Miss truly has your best interests at heart."
Meng Qi was somewhat startled. At first, she had not grasped the meaning of Mother Liu’s words. Although she did not understand the process, the fact that Meng Wan had married into Prince Shen's Estate in her place had preserved the reputation of both families and fulfilled her own wishes. Regardless of how she had been brought back into the family, for that alone—and the joy her mother felt at having regained her—she would show Meng Wan every respect.
Seeing Meng Qi’s puzzled expression, Mother Liu stepped forward and continued, "Fourth Young Miss, have you forgotten that when you first climbed into Third Young Master Hong’s carriage, the Heir’s wife was so terrified she fainted, and it was the Second Young Miss who saved her?"
"Oh?" Meng Qi blinked, stunned. "Tell me everything, then."
"F-Fourth Young Miss, you haven't forgotten those things too, have you? Just how much of the past can you not remember?" Mother Liu’s face was etched with worry.
Meng Qi waved a hand. "I don't know. It’s not that I can’t remember everything—it comes back in fragments. Whatever I ask you, just tell me."