Chapter 17: Leaving Is All It Takes

Meng Qinghe's gaze was fixed intently on Chi Nan Yi, as if wanting to bore a hole right through her.

"Chi Nan Yi, you wretch! We meet again."

Sensing Meng Qinghe's gaze, Chi Nan Yi sneered inwardly.

She had just thought Qinghe was a bit smarter than in her past life — she had overestimated her.

Looking at her with that kind of expression — she was afraid others wouldn't know how deeply she hated her.

Though Chi Nan Yi had long known what had happened, she still feigned a look of innocence: "Father, Mother, this sister looks a few years older than me — who is she?"

Hearing her ask this, Meng Qinghe's face instantly darkened. Older?

Was she saying she looked older than her?

"You! You're the older one!"

Meng Qinghe's voice was not quiet, and Chi Nan Yi seemed startled, her eyes instantly reddening.

"Sister, please don't be angry — Yi'er said the wrong thing." She covered her mouth with a handkerchief, looking as though she had been frightened.

Seeing this, the Jiang Clan furrowed her brow slightly, but on second thought, she had been raised in the countryside all along, so her manners and etiquette were bound to be somewhat lacking. Her behavior now was coarse, but she could be trained gradually later.

Besides, Yi'er had taken her place as a young lady for over ten years, enjoying everything the Minister's Residence had to offer in her stead — it was only natural that she harbored some resentment.

"Yi'er, there is something Father and Mother must tell you."

Here it comes.

Chi Nan Yi felt a surge of excitement — she could finally leave this den of tigers and wolves!

"In truth, you are not Father and Mother's biological daughter." She took Meng Qinghe's hand: "Qinghe is Mother's biological daughter. Back then, the two of you were swapped by mistake…"

Before the Jiang Clan could finish, Chi Nan Yi's face filled with shock: "Mother means I'm not the Meng Family's biological daughter?"

The Jiang Clan nodded: "Mother only found out today as well."

Only found out today?

Chi Nan Yi concealed the mockery in her eyes.

Only a fool would believe that.

The Jiang Clan must have known from the very beginning that she was not her biological daughter — otherwise, she could not have taken one look at Meng Qinghe and immediately recognized her as her daughter.

What unknown secrets lay behind all this?

Chi Nan Yi felt an icy gaze from the side. She turned to look at Meng Qinghe: "So Father and Mother found Sister, and told Yi'er all this — is it to make Yi'er leave?"

Meng Qinghe rose to her feet with a cold laugh: "You took my place for over ten years of wealth and luxury, while I suffered for over ten years in that wretched backwater — shouldn't you leave?" She gritted her teeth and glanced at her parents standing beside her, their expressions dark. In the previous life, Chi Nan Yi had refused to leave the Minister's Residence, and her parents had not driven her out — they had even let her stay and continue enjoying everything the residence had to offer as the eldest daughter. What was more detestable, she had married the Crown Prince before her, and the Crown Prince was utterly infatuated with her beauty — even after she herself later entered the Crown Prince's Residence, she never once saw that look of infatuation on his face.

Hmph — in this life, she would cut off Meng Qinghe's path to staying in the Minister's Residence from the very start.

She thought herself one step ahead, not knowing this was exactly what Chi Nan Yi wanted.

She wished she could sprout wings and fly away from this den of tigers and wolves.

Chi Nan Yi took a few steps back and said in a low voice, her eyes red: "Father, Mother — do you think the same?"

The Jiang Clan and Meng Hui exchanged a glance, momentarily at a loss for how to answer.

On one side was their biological daughter; on the other was the adopted daughter they had spent so much time and money raising.

Their biological daughter could not be abandoned, but how could the Meng couple bear to give up Chi Nan Yi?

"Yi'er…"

"Mother, you needn't say more — I'll leave." Chi Nan Yi gave the Jiang Clan no chance to speak: "Thank you for the grace of raising me. Your daughter will pack her belongings and leave now."

"Wait!" The Jiang Clan stepped forward and took Chi Nan Yi's hand: "Yi'er, why don't you stay here too! You've lived in luxury since birth — how could you endure the hardships of country folk? Just now He'er said that at your biological parents' home, she had to wash clothes and cook every day, getting up before dawn to chop wood on the mountain — it was terribly hard! Mother can't bear it."

Can't bear it?

Chi Nan Yi sneered inwardly.

Could she not bear to see her suffer, or could she not bear to lose the silver spent on her all these years? Or perhaps she could not bear to lose the benefits and value she could bring to the Minister's Residence in the future.

"Was it truly that hard?" Chi Nan Yi looked at Meng Qinghe's hands and said with a smile: "They say country folk work hard, but I see Sister's hands are still so soft and delicate — I wonder what method of care you use?"

Hearing this, Meng Qinghe instinctively pulled her hands back.

"Sister is so plump and fair — if Sister hadn't told me how hard her life was, I would have thought she lived even more comfortably than I did."

Meng Qinghe's face turned livid. She shot Chi Nan Yi a glare and thought to herself: In the previous life, when Mother suggested letting her stay, didn't she agree without a second thought? Why was she unwilling this time? All this hemming and hawing — she must be putting on airs. That wretch, so pretentious, and she dared to call her plump and fair — wasn't she just calling her fat?

And since when did this wretch become so sharp-tongued?

With just a few words she had coaxed Mother into feeling tender enough to ask her to stay, when in the previous life Mother had only used her to keep the Crown Prince.

Yes — Mother must only want to use her.

But if she stayed, the Crown Prince would surely become infatuated with her beauty just as in the previous life.

No — this wretch absolutely could not be allowed to stay.

"Mother, do you not like He'er?" She walked tearfully to the Jiang Clan's side: "If Mother doesn't like He'er, then He'er will leave — that is He'er's fate. He'er is willing to go to the countryside and endure hardship, willing to suffer in her place."

Hearing this, the Jiang Clan was momentarily at a loss for what to do.

Chi Nan Yi watched Meng Qinghe's performance quietly, only waiting for the Meng couple to agree to let her leave.

It wasn't that she didn't want to flip the table and walk away grandly. Though she now had her spatial realm and silver, in such an era, one rank higher in officialdom crushed the lesser — not to mention that the Chi Family was now just a household of farmers. Commoners did not fight officials — not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't win. Meng Hui was the Grand Chancellor of the court; to deal with a farming family was but a flick of his finger.

Besides, if she wanted to settle accounts with them, she had other methods. There was no need to choose the most foolish approach.

The Meng couple already loathed the Chi Family to the extreme, and Meng Qinghe harbored an even deeper grudge. Given her ruthless nature from the previous life, she would surely make a move against the Chi Family — after all, what she hated most was anyone mentioning her origins.

In the previous life, every time someone brought up that she came from a farming household, she wished she could rush over and tear that person's mouth to shreds.

She had the power to protect herself, but the Chi Family did not.

In the previous life, the people of the Chi Family had died because of her. In this life, she had to protect them completely.

So now was not the best time to fall out with the Meng Family.