If she were, though.
These five words crashed over everyone like a bolt from the blue on a sunny day.
If it were someone else saying this, they would all have thought it was just a silly joke, nonsense prattle. But this was Grandmother--the most prestigious elderly Madame of the Jiang family--speaking these words sentence by sentence with her own lips.
Jiang Chengyuan froze where he stood.
Jiang Chengfeng was caught completely off guard, not knowing what to do.
Jiang Chengyu covered her mouth, her heart pounding erratically, feeling somewhat like she had discovered a gold nugget while picking up a piece of poop.
Jiang Chenghua was the most disoriented. It was as if she were suddenly jolted awake from a midnight dream, ungrounded in reality with steps featherlight, yet her mind was exceptionally clear, letting her know that this was true.
Heaven was playing a huge joke on her, making her dislike someone, only to then discover that she had no right to dislike that person.
Jiang Sheng was real; she was fake.
The layers of inner defense that Mother had built up for her time and again finally shattered completely in this moment. The young girl weakly reached out for her elder brother like a drowning person grasping for one last hope.
But Jiang Chengyuan just happened to have his head lowered and didn't see it.
All hope consequently shattered along with her, and the drowning person finally sank to the seafloor, the suffocating waters closing in on her from all sides, snuffing out her every breath.
The third young lady of the Jiang family gracefully toppled over like an ethereally beautiful butterfly.
Jiang Chengyu, who was closest, gritted her teeth and helped cushion the fall.
"Younger sister!" Jiang Chengfeng called out in alarm as he rushed over.
Jiang Chengyuan was jolted out of his daze. Upon seeing the two young ladies sprawled together on the ground, he cast aside all the conflicts, heartache, shock, anguish and joy currently occupying his mind. His instincts made him lift Jiang Chenghua up and chide her gravely, "Chenghua, don't be scared. Big brother is here. Don't be scared."
But how could she not be scared?
Jiang Chenghua's eyes were squeezed shut, her breath barely discernible.
"Hurry, take her to a medical hall," Jiang Chengyu said with difficulty. "Don't delay, find a doctor."
Regardless of how much resentment they held or what their temperaments were like, truly good-natured children would not stand idly by when someone's life was fading away.
Moreover, this was the still mystified Jiang Sheng.
From the time Jiang Chengyuan came over to thank her, she had been starving and just wanted to hurry up and eat braised pork elbows. By the time Jiang Chenghua tearfully poured out her grievances, Jiang Sheng couldn't resist secretly eating the candied chestnuts that the eldest young master had left for her.
When the esteemed four Jiang siblings suddenly tumbled into a pile, she first swallowed the soft chestnuts, then gasped and patted Wen Zhiyun, who was just as confused. "Fourth young master, there is an injured person over there!"
"Oh, I brought a small medical kit with me," Little Doctor Wen promptly went to the carriage to retrieve the medical kit.
Chang Yan watched with deep, brooding eyes, frowning but not preventing them.
The three squeezed through the human wall formed by the Jiang family servants, Jiang Sheng shoving while yelling loudly, "Make way, make way! I have a doctor here!"
After forcefully shouldering her way through, Wen Zhiyun hurriedly checked Jiang Chenghua's pulse, then shooed Jiang Chengyuan aside. He fiercely pressed down on her renzhong acupoint.
Jiang Chenghua's body gave a violent shudder before resuming breathing.
For such fainting spells, as long as breathing returned to normal, rest and recuperation would be adequate. However, if breathing stopped for too long, it could lead to brain damage, potentially even reducing one to an imbecilic state.
Wen Zhiyun had only read about such scenarios in books and had never actually clinically treated a case before. He definitely broke out into a cold sweat.
Getting up from the ground, his hands still trembled slightly, beads of fine sweat dotting his forehead.
"Fourth young master, she's all better now?" Jiang Sheng rushed over and used a small handkerchief to wipe him down. "Fourth young master is so amazing to have saved another life!"
Only then did Wen Zhiyun's emotions gradually settle down. He even felt a kind of indescribable swelling sensation.
Chang Yan chuckled from the side, his gaze settling on the Jiang family members before gradually turning icy cold.
Jiang Chenghua still had not woken from unconsciousness. Jiang Chengyuan carried her onto the carriage to hurry back to the Jiang residence.
The Jiang brother and sisters also did not stay long. After seeking permission from Jiang Grandmother, they too took their leave.
Only that grandmother was left standing distantly, seeming to be gazing at Jiang Sheng, yet also as if waiting for something.
For a long time.
Tan Yue finally spoke up respectfully, though with a probing tone, "Esteemed Madame, will you not be going back to personally receive the young miss?"
Jiang Grandmother did not respond. She softly asked in return, "Tan Yue, having watched this show from start to finish, have you discovered anything?"
Tan Yue was taken aback as she carefully pondered it over.
"What happened at the wonton stand was certainly awkward. Esteemed Madame, you should not have told anyone, yet you still informed the four young masters and misses--that was clearly to implicate Miss Jiang Sheng."
"You arranged for the young masters and misses to be at the tribute academy gates, and you also arranged for someone to point out Miss Jiang Sheng. Even the hot-tempered, blunt-speaking Fourth Young Lady was specially summoned by you."
From the time Jiang Grandmother revealed what happened at the wonton stand until now, everything had been under her control. Taking advantage of the discord between the two young ladies as well as Jiang Chengyu's irritability to aggravate Jiang Chenghua into losing composure, Jiang Grandmother then dramatically unveiled this truth that shook the entire Jiang household.
From beginning to end, it could be said to have been meticulously calculated with no accidental oversights, turning everyone else into pawns.
"There's just one thing Tan Yue doesn't understand," the head maid said softly. "After all, this can't be considered a good thing. Esteemed Madame, why did you decide to openly reveal it at the crowded tribute academy gates instead of quietly resolving it within the Jiang household?"
Bad news travel fast, so the Jiang household as a top aristocratic family of Plenteous Capital was constantly under scrutiny by everyone in the city. Any scandals would be detrimental to the Jiang reputation and by extension, also reflect poorly on Esteemed Madame. If it could be privately settled, why make a spectacle of it?
"Why indeed?" Jiang Grandmother heaved a sigh. "If we had privately resolved it to save face, the Jiang household could have publicly claimed that twins had been born but one was raised in the countryside and only brought back after eleven years."
"After that, the birth order would be adjusted back and my pitiful darling girl would have to live in Jiang Chenghua's shadow no matter acting as the elder or younger sister. No matter what she did, she could not compare, and her psyche would have progressively weakened--self-abasing and struggling to compromise just to barely glow."
"Even outsiders knowing the truth would only mutter: after all, she wasn't raised by your side."
One should not underestimate human nature or overlook over a decade of cultivated familial love and affection. Would Jiang Madame really be able to suddenly show tender loving care upon seeing her birth daughter when she had never bothered actively searching for her all this time?
The more Tan Yue contemplated this, the more alarmed and admiring of Esteemed Madame's dexterity and foresight she became.
"I won't drive Jiang Chenghua away. She can continue living in the Jiang household as an adopted daughter, enjoying wealth and splendor. And the Jiangs will still be her maiden family when she marries in the future," Jiang Grandmother enunciated word for word. "But I will not allow her to replace my darling girl and enjoy all that belongs to her."
This was already the greatest concession she was giving out of consideration that Jiang Chenghua was blameless, after personally reviewing Jiang Sheng's decade-long past experiences.
"When my darling girl was born, she was wrinkly like a little monkey. Later, after raising her for six, seven months, she finally became fair, fat and able to flash me a gummy smile. Yet in but a blink, she was lost and suffered who knows how much hardship outside all these years."
Jiang Grandmother was just softly rambling, yet it was enough to shatter her heart.
Now, openly in front of all these eyes, she could finally walk toward that disappeared then returned child to gently ask, "Darling girl, shall we go home?"
