Chapter 132 The Truth
In the Jiang Mansion, Jiang Li stared at Zhao Ke without moving her eyes.

Zhao Ke said nothing at first, but in the end, he finally gave in and said, "When I came to the Jiang Mansion, Miss Jiang had already passed away. My Lord asked me to stay at the Jiang Mansion, so I asked about everything I could find out about it. But the harem infighting was not within my scope, so I only got a rough idea."

"You say." Jiang Li said.

"Although I didn't see Miss Jiang die young, the Jiang family kept it a secret. Since then, Miss Jiang's biological mother, Aunt Hu, has moved into the side courtyard and her life was in danger several times."

Jiang Li's eyes narrowed: "What do you mean?"

"They were all unexpected things, but Aunt Hu was lucky and managed to escape every time. Later, Old Madam Jiang felt sorry for her and helped her from time to time. Aunt Hu also had seizures from time to time, and gradually there was no trace of this person in the mansion."

Jiang Li thought about it and asked, "Zhao Ke, just tell me whether Miss Jiang's death is related to Ji Shuran."

Zhao Ke was obviously not used to talking about this kind of thing with others. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Nine out of ten."

"Sure enough..." Jiang Li murmured, and she turned to look at Zhao Ke, asking a more pointed question: "Then how much do you know about my affairs?"

Zhao Ke: “What?”

"Back then, my reputation of killing my mother and brother spread all over Yanjing City. It was a big event for the Jiang family. Since you came to the Jiang family as a spy, you couldn't have missed this. How much do you know about me? For example, why did I push Ji Shuran to have a miscarriage? Before that, Ji Shuran and I had a good relationship. I was so young at that time, but I was able to do these things. Maybe there is some hidden story behind it?"

The incident happened too long ago. Tong'er didn't know anything about it, and Baixue came in later. It was said that the maids and servants involved in the incident were kicked out of the mansion for not taking good care of the family. Now it's hard to find anyone who knows the truth. There are no clues left from the incident, except for a bad reputation. But Jiang Li herself is not the real Second Miss Jiang, and has no memory of the incident, so she doesn't know the truth at all.

Zhao Ke said, "Second Miss, although this is a big event for the Jiang family, when you went to Qingcheng Mountain, you were undoubtedly the abandoned child of the Jiang family in the eyes of the people of Yanjing. The master asked his subordinates to lurk in the Jiang family, and he would not bother to investigate the matter of an abandoned child."

Jiang Li: "..."

Ji Heng's subordinates have the same temperament as Ji Heng. This is very impolite, of course, it is not wrong. A daughter of a prime minister was banished to a nunnery thousands of miles away. No matter how you look at it, this lady may never be able to return to Yanjing in her lifetime. It is strange to spend too much time on a lady who has been forgotten by everyone.

"Besides," Zhao Ke added, "Why is Miss Jiang asking me these questions? Isn't Miss Jiang herself the one who knows the truth best?"

He actually managed to turn the tables. Perhaps Ji Heng's subordinates followed his lead, with sharp eyes and a good grasp of the key points. Jiang Li smiled, "But what I saw back then was also one-sided. I only saw part of Ji Shuran's hidden face. It's not that what I saw is the truth. Maybe there is something deeper behind the truth, isn't it?"

Zhao Ke said: "Yes."

"Zhao Ke, do you really know nothing about Ji Shuran's miscarriage?"

Zhao Ke replied: "I don't know."

Jiang Li studied his expression to make sure he was not lying. She understood, thought for a moment, and said, "Okay, don't mention Ji Shuran's matter. These few days, I want you to do three things for me. The first thing is to help me find out as much as possible about the reasons behind Miss Jiang's early death. If you can't find out, please let me know as much as possible about Miss Jiang's trivia. The second thing is to pay more attention to whether there are any masters in Yanjing City recently. I think Taoist Chongxu should be here. The third thing," she paused, "I need a ventriloquist. There are many talented people in your Duke's Mansion. I think you should know a lot of such people."

After saying these three things, Zhao Ke's face became very ugly again. He didn't ask Jiang Li why she wanted to do these three things, but said unwillingly: "Second Miss Jiang, you are not my master."

"I'm not your master, but your master has lent you to me, so I can use you as I please." Jiang Li smiled, "Otherwise, you can go back and protest to your master, or leave the Jiang family and get someone else to come?"

Zhao Ke was very depressed. He was one of the best talents in the Duke's Mansion. He was praised by everyone for his skills, disguise and brains. Therefore, the adults entrusted him with such a dangerous task of lurking in the Jiang family. As a result, the second Miss Jiang used him without any embarrassment and was very comfortable with him. Those who didn't know would think that he was her servant and she was her real master.

It's a waste of talent and using a butcher knife to kill a chicken. How unreasonable!
But he still didn't dare to tell Ji Heng to ask someone else to do it.

Never mind, just this time. Besides, if the Lord knew that he was being ordered around like this, he would definitely remind Miss Jiang Er not to go too far, and he would definitely be considerate of me. Zhao Ke could only helplessly respond, "Okay. If there is nothing else, I will take my leave."

Jiang Li stopped him and asked, "Will you tell your master exactly what I said to you?"

"Miss Jiang Er," Zhao Ke said solemnly, "You are my master."

"Okay." Jiang Li said, "Then you can add this sentence by the way. If your parents can find out some things that you can't find out, I wonder if they can help you?"

Zhao Ke stared at Jiang Li in amazement. This person was so aggressive that he not only dared to order him around, but also dared to make such unreasonable demands on the adults? !
Because he was so shaken in his heart, he was unable to show any expression on his face. He just disappeared in front of the window with a wooden face.

Jiang Li closed the window and sat back on the couch, thinking about what Zhao Ke said. The events of that year were so difficult to uncover, which seemed to prove that Ji Shuran had done a lot of secret things.

Although she was not the real Second Miss Jiang, she survived because of Second Miss Jiang. In a way, she could understand Second Miss Jiang's feelings. She could not do anything, but now, perhaps the only thing she could do to help Second Miss Jiang was to help her find the truth and not bear the burden of the crime that did not belong to her.

On the other side, in the Duke's Mansion, when Lu Ji heard the news from Zhao Ke, he could no longer sit still.

"She, she, she..." The scholar in blue robes, who was supposed to be calm and collected, now ignored his calm demeanor and asked hastily, "How could she be so bold?"

She is not only bold, but also ignorant of the immensity of the world. Look, what is she talking about? Not only does she let the masters of the Duke's Mansion work for her, she even dares to use Ji Heng. Did this girl grow up with such courage? Did she not know how to write the word "fear" since she was born?

Ji Heng didn't seem to take it to heart, and just said to herself: "Are you asking about Ji Shuran's miscarriage?"

"Yes." Wen Ji replied: "Zhao Ke said that Miss Jiang asked this."

"She wants Zhao Ke to do three things. The first two are still worth considering. But the third one is to find someone with outstanding ventriloquism skills... What does this mean?" Lu Ji shook his head. "Is she going to perform a magic trick?"

"There are many guests in the mansion, Lu Ji, go and find one." Ji Heng said.

Lu Ji agreed, but he was puzzled in his heart, why did Ji Heng always agree to whatever Jiang Li asked for. At the beginning, Ji Heng didn't even care about Jiang Li's death. Lu Ji suspected that there were other secrets between the two of them, of course, he would not pry into them. But it was remarkable that Miss Jiang Er could make such a big change in Ji Heng.

"Miss Jiang seems to be investigating the affairs of the Ji family recently." Lu Ji said, "Is she going to deal with the Ji family? Behind the Ji family is the Ji family, and the Ji family also has Lipin. If Miss Jiang deals with the Ji family, she will be dealing with Lipin. Yongning also hates Miss Jiang now. If Yongning and Lipin join forces, Miss Jiang's life will be difficult." Lu Ji shook his head, "She has always been smart, why would she do such a thing at this critical juncture?"

"She's been holding it in for too long." Ji Heng said, "Now, she can't bear it any longer. But it's okay, the enemy can't be defeated by just being tolerant. She's quite straightforward."

"Jiang Yuanbai is smart in politics, but he is not as good as his daughter in family affairs." Lu Ji sighed, "This time, we will see."

Ji Heng stared at the flickering candlelight on the table, with a smile on her lips but a deep look in her eyes.

There was indeed something to watch, because he himself began to become curious.

……

In winter in Yanjing City, the sun is always precious. The sun came out yesterday, but today it seemed to take back yesterday's good weather. Early in the morning, the cold wind mixed with rain and snow, blowing the branches of the flowers in the flower beds so hard that they could not bear the weight of the snow and many of them broke.

Mingyue and Qingfeng were wearing thick cotton jackets and were helping to clean up the broken branches in the yard. Jiang Li looked out the window, and Tong'er said, "Miss, it's so snowy today, why don't you go to the Ye family?"

In such a heavy snowstorm, apart from the common people who had to run around, the wealthy families did not even need to leave their houses. It was too cold. The charcoal fire in the house was burning brightly, and Jiang Li still had a hand warmer in her hand, but she still felt the chill standing at the entrance of the yard.

"I have to go," Jiang Li looked at the sky, "but it's really inconvenient to go out right now. Let's go in the afternoon when the snow is lighter."

Tong'er lowered her head in resignation. Jiang Li's answer was exactly what she expected. As for Xue Huaiyuan, Jiang Li would go to visit him regardless of the weather. Sometimes, she really didn't understand. Even if her daughter was kind-hearted and County Magistrate Xue had someone to take care of her, why couldn't she let go?

Just as she was thinking about it, Bai Xue came in from outside and said, "Miss, Aunt Hu is here."

"Aunt Hu?" Tong'er was stunned.

Jiang Li didn't look surprised at all, she smiled slightly and said, "It's much faster than I thought. Tong'er, go pour some tea. Bai Xue, please ask Aunt Hu to come in."

When Aunt Hu came, she was still accompanied by the maid from that day. It seemed that she only had this one maid. After all, although she was an aunt, almost no one in the mansion remembered her. She was only given the title of aunt on the surface.

Aunt Hu and the maid went into Jiang Li's room together.

The inside and outside of the house seemed to be two different worlds, and Aunt Hu and her maid had probably not felt such warmth for a long time. Jiang Li clearly saw that the maid involuntarily moved closer to the charcoal fire, greedily absorbing a little bit of heat in the house.

Jiang Li sighed in her heart. In the cold winter, the master and servant were only wearing thin cotton clothes. It was hard to imagine that in a big family like the Jiang Mansion, even servants had winter clothes, but these two lived in such poverty. Although Madam Jiang wanted to help Aunt Hu, the power of the housekeeper was in the hands of Ji Shuran, and it was impossible for Madam Jiang to take care of the details. Jiang Li did not believe that Aunt Hu and her servant had fallen into such a situation without Ji Shuran's tacit consent.

"It's cold outside, Aunt Hu, please have some hot tea." Jiang Li pushed the teacup a little closer to Aunt Hu.

Aunt Hu took the teacup and took a sip. It seemed that she felt a little warmer, and her pale face showed some color. She said, "Second Miss, I came here today to answer the question you asked yesterday." Jiang Li smiled. Aunt Hu was a smart person. She didn't answer immediately yesterday just to weigh the pros and cons. But today, she made a decision immediately. It seems that she is also a smart person.

"No hurry," Jiang Li said with a smile, "I've said it before, Aunt Hu can tell you whenever she wants, there's no hurry, I won't force you."

"Second Miss is kindhearted and will not force me. But from what I see, the fierce battle between Second Miss and Ji's family will soon begin. I have an irreconcilable hatred with Ji's family, so I will naturally side with Second Miss. So I came here today to express my feelings to Second Miss." She said, "I am willing to lend a helping hand to Second Miss."

"Give me a helping hand?" Jiang Li smiled. "Madam Hu, you don't have to say it so righteously. Giving me a helping hand is still killing someone with a borrowed knife. It's just a different way of saying it. Besides, helping me is the same as helping yourself, isn't it?"

Aunt Hu looked at Jiang Li for a long while, and suddenly smiled. Her smile showed a somewhat demure and gentle demeanor. She said, "The Second Miss and Madam are really different."

The "Madam" she was referring to was naturally Ye Zhenzhen.

Jiang Li smiled indifferently: "I didn't spend much time with my mother, and I could only know what kind of person she was from other people. I heard that my aunt and my mother were good friends, so maybe my aunt knows."

"Madam is a good person." Aunt Hu said softly.

"Because my mother can tolerate the existence of your elder sister, but Ji Shi can't."

After these words were spoken, everyone in the room fell silent. Tong'er and Bai Xue didn't even dare to make a sound and stood quietly behind Jiang Li.

"Second Miss is too bold," Aunt Hu said, "Aren't you afraid that Master will hear what you say?"

"Auntie, you think my father is too sharp-eyed and sharp-eared," Jiang Li said indifferently, "If he could really see and hear everything, there wouldn't be so many stupid things happening in this mansion."

"The Second Miss is a sensible person." Ji lowered her head and said slowly, "It was not an accident that Yue'er fell from the rockery."

"Yue'er" was Miss Jiang's childhood nickname. In fact, no one in the Jiang family seemed to remember whether it was Miss Jiang's childhood nickname or her full name. She was just a concubine's daughter. If Ye Zhenzhen hadn't been soft-hearted, she shouldn't have existed in the world. Therefore, everyone believed that Yue'er's death was fate. She was not born with the fate, and she couldn't break free from fate even after struggling to the end.

But whether it was fate or conspiracy, no one cared, except her biological mother.

"Please speak slowly."

"After I gave birth to Yue'er, Madam later had the Second Miss. Madam treated Yue'er very well and gave her a share of any good things. Although Yue'er was a concubine's daughter, in fact, the treatment she received was not much different from that of the Second Miss. I was very lucky to have met a good person like Madam. I only hope that Yue'er will grow up safely, marry an honest family, and live a simple life, which is also good enough."

"It's just that I didn't expect Madam to leave so early. Later, Ji came in." She looked at Jiang Li and laughed at herself: "Although Ji seems to be very gentle and generous on the surface, and is also very good to Yue'er. But women always have a kind of intuition. The way she looks at Yue'er always seems to be a hindrance."

"I wanted Yue'er to stay away from her and not get close to her, but I didn't expect something bad would happen anyway."

"They treated Yue'er as a playmate for Jiang Youyao, but how could ordinary people treat their playmates like this? That day..."

That day, the eldest daughter of the Jiang family was playing with Jiang Youyao in the mansion. Jiang Youyao was only two years old and knew nothing. The eldest daughter of the Jiang family did something that somehow touched Jiang Youyao. Ji Shuran was furious and kicked Jiang Yueer. The eldest daughter of the Jiang family was only four years old, but she kicked without mercy, kicking Jiang Yueer backwards, hitting the back of her head on the door sill, and she died on the spot.

Ji Shuran was only panicked for a moment, then she immediately made a decision. She asked her servants to take Jiang Yue'er to the rockery and pretend that Jiang Yue'er accidentally fell from the rockery and lost her life.

"They didn't think about it. Yue'er was only four years old. How could she climb up that rockery?" Although Aunt Hu tried her best to speak calmly about the past, she couldn't help but tremble slightly. She curled up her fingers and grabbed randomly, as if trying to catch her disappeared daughter. She said, "My Yue'er died in Ji Shuran's hands."

"How do you know?" Jiang Li asked.

"My maid, her name is Baoqin." She raised her head and pointed to the maid standing beside her. She said, "Her twin sister is called Siqi. She was with Yue'er that day. She happened to see Ji Shi instructing others to do something outside. She immediately ran back to the yard when no one was paying attention and told me."

"Where is that maid?" Jiang Li asked.

"Dead." Aunt Hu lowered her head. "Everyone in the courtyard became a scapegoat that day. Siqi was beaten to death because she failed to protect the young lady. I couldn't save her."

"You knew about this, why didn't you tell your father?" Jiang Li asked.

"Second Miss, do you think I didn't tell the master?" Aunt Hu said sarcastically, "But no one believed what I said. They all said that I was hysterical and crazy because of losing Yue'er. They slandered and framed Ji and even wanted to send me to the temple. If it weren't for the old lady who cared about the relationship between master and servant and spoke for me, I would have died in an accident on the way to some temple."

Jiang Li was silent for a while, then she said, "Is there no one in the mansion who believes what you said?"

"How can we believe it?" Aunt Hu said, "She is the daughter of the Ji family, and now the main wife. She is gentle, generous, virtuous, and no one would believe that she would do something to a concubine's daughter who does not hinder her. Maybe, maybe someone noticed that it was unnatural, but at that time, the Ji family was thriving. Who would offend the Ji family for a dead person? Second Miss, you are also in the Jiang family. You should see the human relations and interests more clearly than me. They also have family affection, but this family affection also has pros and cons. In the face of interests, it is very fragile."

She spoke with a mixture of laughter and tears, but Jiang Li seemed to be able to see the resentment and sadness in the face of this no longer young woman.

Aunt Hu calmed down for a while before she said softly, "There is one person in this mansion who should believe me, and that is my wife. Unfortunately, she is dead. This may be my retribution."

"What do you mean?" Jiang Li sensitively noticed the other meaning in her words.

"Second Miss, I have kept this matter in my heart for many years." Aunt Hu laughed bitterly, "Everyone in this mansion avoids me like the plague, and I have not been able to tell this secret to others. But now that you are here, I think you should also know about this. In fact, the death of the lady was not accidental."

When Jiang Li heard this, she felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured over her head. The already cold weather made her feel even colder. Her smile disappeared completely, and she only asked, "Aunt Hu, please explain clearly."

Aunt Hu seemed not to notice the change in Jiang Li's expression, and continued to talk to herself: "At the beginning, when Ji Shi just came in, I thought that as long as I behaved gently and obediently, Ji Shi would spare us mother and daughter and not cause us any trouble. At that time, I often went to please Ji Shi and gave her food and embroidery that I made. One day, I heard Ji Shi talking to her nanny, but she was talking about the doctor who treated the lady at the beginning, and now he has returned to Yanjing City, and we have to find someone to silence him."

"What did you say?" Jiang Li frowned, "Didn't my mother die because she was weak after giving birth to me?" After hearing that the original Second Miss Jiang blamed herself for this, she felt very guilty. If Ye Zhenzhen hadn't desperately given birth to herself, she wouldn't have to die so early.

"She is weak, so she needs to recover slowly." Aunt Hu said, "But Madam's health has been getting worse over the past six months. We didn't think much of it at the time, but that day, I suddenly felt something was wrong. After Madam's death, her personal maids left the Jiang Mansion for various reasons, either to go home to take care of their sick mothers or to get married. For six months, there has been no news from them. Even the maids around you, Second Miss, are nothing left for you by Madam."

"Now that I think about it, it's possible that Ji bribed these maids and the doctor to tamper with Madam's medicine and food, causing Madam to get into trouble."

Jiang Li shook her head: "But this is not necessary. My father chose Ji after my mother passed away. At that time, Ji was still unmarried. In the whole Yanjing City, according to the Ji family's status, although there is no such a high family as the Jiang family, it is more than enough for the young master of an ordinary official family. There is no need to be someone's second wife here."

"This is something I don't understand." Aunt Hu also showed some confusion on her face. "It doesn't make sense to say that Ji Shi had favored the master before and used such a cruel method. Ji Shi and the master have never met before."

Jiang Li stopped talking.

"After knowing this, I dared not speak out, for I was afraid that the more secrets I knew, the faster I would die." Aunt Hu said, "I thought, as long as I could protect Yue'er until she grows up, I would pretend that I didn't know about these things and keep them to myself. I didn't expect..." She smiled bitterly, "This is God's punishment for me. Madam treated me so well, and I couldn't complain for her, so I deserved to lose Yue'er. This is all my own fault."

Jiang Li looked at her. She knew that Aunt Hu was sad, but she could no longer sympathize with Aunt Hu. If Aunt Hu had revealed a little bit of these things at the beginning, the real Second Miss Jiang would have been wary of Ji Shi, and the final tragedy would not have occurred. Although everyone now thinks that this Second Miss Jiang has everything except her bad reputation in the past, only Jiang Li knows that the real Second Miss Jiang is no longer in the world.

The daughter that Ye Zhenzhen wanted to protect did not survive in the Jiang family.

"Second Miss, I know you blame me, and I don't expect you to forgive me. However, I have to bear my own sins, but Ji Shi has two lives on her shoulders and is still living a comfortable life. I am unwilling to accept this." This time, she didn't even call herself "concubine". She said, "I have endured for so many years, and thought about how to die with her, but I can't even get close to her. I don't have money, and I can't control the servants. To put it bluntly, even if I want to poison her, I don't have money to buy arsenic. I also think that letting Ji Shi die like this is too easy for her. Even if I kill her, others will only say that I am vicious and cruel, and killed the mistress of the house, so my Yue'er deserves not to live long. But what about Ji Shi? She still has a reputation as a virtuous woman, and she will die gloriously, which is not what I want."

Jiang Li looked at her and said, "What do you want to say when you tell me this?"

"Second Miss, I know that you led the people of Tongxiang to the Chang'an Gate to protest for injustice. You can clear all the grievances for a stranger you have never met before. Let alone Yue'er, Madam is your mother. You must have a way to prove the innocence of Madam's death, right?"

"What about you?" Jiang Li asked, "Aunt Hu, what can you do?"

"I can... give everything." The dead woman's eyes gradually burst into flames of revenge, like a lioness whose cubs were taken away by hunters, shining with madness of dying together. She said: "Including my life."

She suddenly stood up, faced Jiang Li, and knelt down.

"I, please, Second Miss."

Jiang Li looked at her, and for some reason, she thought of herself when she was under house arrest in the Shen Mansion and had nowhere to go.

We can't even die together.

She said, "Madam Hu, get up. I promised you, not for you, but because Ji Shi must die."

She should pay the price.

(End of this chapter)