"Recognizing kin with the Marquis Manor—this is an immense stroke of fortune! How could you... no, I will not allow it!"
"How could such immense fortune compare to the sincere love Mother and Father have for me? Father, your daughter only wishes to stay by your and Mother’s side. No matter how grand the Chengyuan Marquis Manor is, I have no interest in it."
The voices in the room lowered. Lin Jingyue pushed the door open and stepped inside. Ignoring the chaos scattered across the floor, she bowed respectfully. "Father, Mother, you summoned me. Is there something you need?"
Lin Jingyan, who had been acting spoiled in Lady Jiang’s embrace, stood up and curled her lips into a smile.
"My dear younger sister, it was I who sent for you. Your elder sister has a magnificent opportunity to bestow upon you. Are you aware that the Chengyuan Marquis Manor has come to identify their kin?"
Lin Jingyue paused, her gaze sweeping over Lin Hengan and Lady Jiang, who were staring at her coldly. She nodded slightly.
"I believe I heard the nursemaid by Mother’s side mention it in passing."
"The opportunity I wish to give you is exactly that," Lin Jingyan said, walking up to Lin Jingyue and scrutinizing her face with a critical eye. "Half a month ago, when Mother and I went to the temple to pray for wealth and blessings, we happened to run into the Old Madame of the Chengyuan Marquis Manor."
She raised her hand to pull out the Blood Jade Bead hanging around her neck. Her eyes reddened, but the look she directed at Lin Jingyue held a trace of resentment and mockery.
"The Old Madame recognized me at once as the legitimate daughter the Chengyuan Marquis Manor lost fifteen years ago. With the token to confirm it, they sent people over this morning to bring me back to the manor. However, you and Father and Mother have raised me for over a decade—how could I bear to cut those ties? Besides, we are sisters; how could I abandon you and go off to enjoy such luxury alone?"
A suspicion began to stir in the depths of Lin Jingyue’s heart. She frowned slightly. "What do you mean, Sister?"
Lin Jingyan removed the Blood Jade Bead, took Lin Jingyue’s hand, placed the bead in her palm, and closed her fingers over it.
"Why don’t you return to the Chengyuan Marquis Manor to enjoy this life of luxury in my stead, while I stay behind with the Lin Family to fulfill my filial duties?"
*Enjoy the luxury in your stead?*
*More like suffer the consequences in my stead!*
With that one sentence, Lin Jingyue realized that Lin Jingyan had been reborn, just as she had.
"Hold your tongue!" Lin Hengan rubbed his throbbing temples. Seeing Lin Jingyan gazing at him with wronged, reddened eyes, he sighed helplessly.
Lady Jiang hurriedly mediated, pulling Lin Jingyan to sit beside her. "Yan'er is filial, and she doesn't understand the complexities of these noble manors. She simply wishes to remain in the Lin Family to show her filial piety."
Lin Hengan’s eyes flashed. He stared coldly at Lin Jingyue and slammed his hand against the table.
"Get on your knees! Tell the truth: was it you who whispered nonsense in Yan’er’s ear, intentionally instigating her to give up such a bright future?"
Otherwise, why would Yan’er suddenly cause such a scene?
No matter how far the Chengyuan Marquis Manor had fallen, it was still a noble house—how could a mere merchant family like the Lins compare? Any person with sense knew exactly which choice to make!
Lin Jingyue, long accustomed to Lin Hengan’s bias, knelt calmly, her spine straight. "I did not, Father."
"You didn't?" A celadon teacup filled with scalding tea shattered at Lin Jingyue’s feet. Lin Hengan was furious. "You had better hope that Yan’er is just failing to think this through for the moment, or else..."
Lin Jingyue remained kneeling, her eyes lowered, quietly waiting for Lin Hengan’s anger to subside.
"Father!" Lin Jingyan cast a look of disgust at the person on the floor before pulling Lady Jiang and Lin Hengan into the inner chamber.
Lin Hengan was still fuming. "This cannot continue! You will go back to the Chengyuan Marquis Manor obediently; don't worry about us here. As for Lin Jingyue, she dared to incite you to throw away a brilliant future—see if I don't punish her by making her kneel in the Ancestral Hall!"
Lady Jiang tenderly wiped the corners of Lin Jingyan’s reddened eyes. "Just listen to your father and return to the Chengyuan Marquis Manor. We won't cut ties with you. I know you have a filial heart, but this is all for your own good. Not to mention anything else, the husband a noble daughter can choose is far superior to any we could find with all our family’s wealth and connections."
Lin Jingyan sneered. She glanced around the room and leaned in close, whispering, "Father, Mother, I had a dream last night..."
In the main hall, Lin Jingyue quickly sorted through her thoughts. She now understood why Lin Jingyan was making such a fuss about not wanting to return to the Marquis Manor.
In her past life, Lin Jingyan had only realized how destitute the Chengyuan Marquis Manor was after she arrived. It was an empty title—no real power, no money, and filled with internal strife. In particular, the Marquis had remarried a woman with ruthless methods who had borne him two sons and a daughter, leaving Lin Jingyan in a very awkward position.
She was a competitive soul who couldn't bear to be slighted; whenever she was bullied, she would run back to the Lin Family to cry and complain. She survived in the manor solely due to the protection of the Old Madame and the money and property deeds sent by the Lin Family, yet she lived with immense bitterness.
Later, during the selection of consorts for the princes, she was ensnared in a scheme and forced to marry the Crown Prince—a man detested by the Emperor—becoming the Crown Prince’s Secondary Consort. However, the Crown Prince lost his power and was a cripple with a volatile temper; how could Lin Jingyan stand that? She began consorting with the Third Prince in secret, using the Lin Family’s massive fortune to pave his way, even going so far as to poison the Crown Prince using her status as a Secondary Consort.
When the Crown Prince discovered the truth, he had her executed that very day, leading to the ruin of both the Chengyuan Marquis Manor and the Lin Family.
As for Lin Jingyue, she had been left at home with a small shop as her dowry. She possessed the family’s innate talent for business, quickly growing the shop, establishing new trade routes, and opening branches everywhere, expanding the Lin Family’s wealth many times over. However, all the money she earned was used by the family to support Lin Jingyan, leaving little for herself.
Not long after Lin Jingyan married into the Eastern Palace, the Lin Family chose a husband for Lin Jingyue—a soldier of humble origin but handsome appearance. On their wedding night, the soldier left for the frontier; three years later, he returned as the General who guards the nation, commanding military power and courted by all the princes. While no one had looked down on a mere soldier, no one dared offend a General with an army at his command.
Lin Jingyue was elevated as well, promoted from a merchant’s daughter to a First-Rank Noble Lady. In the entire Capital, who didn't praise her good fortune? Her husband doted on her, her mother-in-law and sister-in-law were reasonable, and there were no concubines or other such headaches in the household.
At that time, Lin Jingyan was being treated coldly by the Crown Prince, and because the Crown Prince was out of favor, she was shunned by all the noblewomen in the Capital. By chance, she saw Lin Jingyue’s procession while returning to her maiden home; enraged, she demanded that Lin Hengan and his wife forbid Lin Jingyue from returning to the Lin Family. When they refused, she stormed back to the Eastern Palace.
By the time the next news arrived, Lin Jingyan had been executed by the Crown Prince, the Lin Family had been raided, and they had been forced to beg Lin Jingyue for help. Lin Jingyue, out of old ties, had intended to save them, but while resting on the road back to the Lin Family, she closed her eyes—and when she opened them, it was another lifetime.
"Sister, Father and Mother have both agreed. You go in my place to the Chengyuan Marquis Manor and enjoy a life of glory and wealth."
A pair of hands suddenly appeared in her field of vision, supporting her arms.
Lin Jingyue rose with the momentum and looked up.
Lin Jingyan let go and stood before her, her face filled with unconcealable pity and triumph.
Lin Jingyue gripped the Blood Jade Bead tightly and looked at Lin Hengan and his wife, but no response came.
She didn't need to ponder their motives.
They wanted to snatch her bright future? They wanted to walk the path of the noble lady that she had trodden in her past life? Fine. Let them take it.
She would like to see if the Lin Family could become the wealthiest in the Capital and keep their vast fortune without her painstaking management.
And without her careful planning, she wondered if that soldier could stabilize the grain supply to the frontier, hold the thirteen cities, and earn such monumental military merit!