Sir Song, do you want to pledge yourself to me?

Sure enough, at noon, when the sun was high in the sky, the sun was at its brightest in the day, my aunt-in-law carried a basket full of paper money and slowly went up the mountain alone to the cemetery on the grass slope.

After Ji Nuan received the message from Sprite, she put down the pestle in her hand and hurried out the door.

"Together!"

Xiaoyao Jian was incredibly curious about what secret Ji Nuan was hoping to uncover from her aunt, so she'd spent the entire morning waiting for news. Seeing Ji Nuan about to leave, she quickly closed her book, rubbed Ruyi's head in a nasty way, and, taking advantage of Ruyi's sleepy eyes still half open, quickly followed Ji Nuan.

The two of them were extremely fast and in the blink of an eye they caught up with my aunt who had gone up the mountain earlier.

My aunt-in-law seemed to be scared to death. She would turn her head and look around from time to time along the way, fearing that something unclean would get involved with her.

The mountain was covered with lush vegetation. Ji Nuan and Xiaoyao Jian followed their aunt all the way to the village cemetery. They found a secluded place to hide and quietly observed their aunt's actions.

The aunt in front suddenly shuddered inexplicably, and she looked up at the sun in the sky.

The sun is shining brightly, and evil spirits cannot invade.

She placed the basket she was carrying in front of her mother-in-law's grave, took out a tinderbox, lit three incense sticks, and respectfully stuck them into the ground. Then she knelt down and kowtowed three times. Then she lit the paper money, mumbling something as she burned it.

"Grandma, when you were alive, you would have loved to spend every penny as if it were silver. How come you've become so extravagant in the afterlife? I gave you a lot of money just last month, and it hasn't been long now, and you're already broke."

"I'm here to give you money again! Of our three daughters-in-law, I'm the least favored by you, but why do you always come to me? Do you think I'm easy to bully? I'll burn more paper money for you this time, but you'd better spend it sparingly. Don't come to me again in the future."

"You know what? The second brother's family is now prosperous. If you were still here, you would be living a life of luxury! You could eat chicken, duck, fish and meat as much as you want, you could have maids and servants at your disposal, you could wear endless silks and satins, and you would have piles of hairpins and jewelry. Even that wild girl I used to look down on has now found a very good marriage."

"Poor Xiaohe, she married a jerk. I don't know what bad things he did outside, and now she is suffering in prison. As her mother, I am really heartbroken that I can't share her burden." When she said this, the aunt's voice was choked with sobs. She wiped her face, held back her tears and continued.

"Mother-in-law, you always say you're fair to all three of your sons, but why did you choose to give that precious little gem you found to Jin Xiaomei to raise? Their second wife has made a fortune thanks to that girl, and they'd rather give away good things to outsiders than even think about helping our first wife."

"You brought that child home with your own hands. Although she didn't call me mother, she grew up eating the food of our Ji family. She should remember the kindness of everyone in the Ji family and lead everyone to live a good life. But now she takes the second wife to eat meat and the third wife to drink soup, but our first wife has nothing to do! Mother-in-law, you gave the gold nugget to the second wife a long time ago, and you insisted that you were fair. Your partiality is so obvious, why don't you admit it?" The aunt-in-law became more and more excited as she spoke, and her voice was full of jealousy and complaints.

In the bushes, Ji Nuan was a little confused.

The original body was not Ji's father and mother's biological daughter. This was the reason why my aunt wanted to bring this up yesterday, and it was this secret that Ji's mother had concealed.

But how could they not be biological children?

Ji's father, mother, and three brothers doted on her since she was little. In the village, while other four- and five-year-old girls were still helping their families feed the chickens and ducks, she was already learning to read with Ji Chuan. As she grew older, she was never required to do any farm or household chores, and her life was even more comfortable than those of the village's biological daughters.

Ji Nuan was not her original self, and despite being surprised, she easily accepted it. As long as her family treated her well and treated her like a relative, whether they were related by blood or not was not important.

The aunt continued to ramble on about her dissatisfaction and grievances. Ji Nuan felt there was no need to listen any further, so she turned and leaped down the mountain.

Xiaoyao Jian's eyes showed worry, and he quickly followed. After the two of them were far away, they stopped and walked slowly towards the village.

Xiaoyao Jian looked at Ji Nuan, "What do you think?"

Ji Nuan didn't stop walking, "What do you think?"

Xiaoyao Jian asked, "Do you want to find your biological parents?"

Ji Nuan: "I grew up in the Ji family. My parents treated me better than their three biological sons. This is my home, and my parents are my parents. Whether we are related by blood or not is not important to me."

"Yeah. Then just pretend we weren't here."

The two smiled at each other and continued walking towards the village.

Ji Nuan was living a peaceful life here, while the prefect of the city, Mrs. Qi, was troubled by her niece.

Qi Tongzhi lost his parents at a young age, and was able to continue his studies in the academy and pursue a career in officialdom thanks to his sister who depended on him for everything.

By chance, his sister Qi Qiaoniang won the favor of Mr. Shen and later married into the Shen family and became the eldest young master's wife.

With Qi Qiaoniang's support, Qi Tongzhi was able to study wholeheartedly without any worries. He eventually passed the imperial examination and became a seventh-rank official in the Ministry of Revenue. He also married the daughter of the censor.

Over the years, Qi Tongzhi has made Qi Qiaoniang's position in the Shen family more stable by virtue of his status as an official appointed by the imperial court.

Not long ago, he learned that something had happened to the Tongzhi of Kaiyun Prefecture. So, through his father-in-law's connections and spending money on gifts, he was finally promoted from a seventh-rank official to a fifth-rank Tongzhi and transferred to Kaiyun Prefecture.

On the day he left the capital, he sent a letter to Qingzhou Prefecture to inform Qi Qiaoniang that he would soon be taking up a new post in Kaiyun Prefecture, and asked her to bring her brother-in-law and children to stay there for a while when she had time. However, plans couldn't keep up with changes. Qi Qiaoniang's daughter-in-law unexpectedly gave birth prematurely, so she stayed behind to take care of her daughter-in-law, but had her most noisy youngest daughter escorted here.

Shen Mingzhu was a domineering and headstrong woman. Ever since arriving at the Kaiyun Mansion, she had constantly caused trouble for Madam Qi, making it difficult for her to develop a favorable impression of her. This was especially true during the time when the family had just arrived and Madam Qi had to personally arrange many matters. However, Shen Mingzhu appeared ignorant and foolish, often being manipulated by the maids around her and disobeying her aunt.

When Mrs. Qi was too busy looking for a suitable husband for her son, the maid put drugs in the tea sent to Qi Tongzhi in the name of Shen Mingzhu and took the opportunity to climb into Qi Tongzhi's bed.

This behavior seriously violated the rules of the mansion and should have been beaten to death or sold. However, Shen Mingzhu was like someone had drugged her and was determined to protect the maid. She even went so far as to go against Mrs. Qi's wishes and asked Qi Tongzhi to take her in as his concubine.

- 😊(?????) Thanks to Xuanying Baoer and Tang Di from Xingtai for their love! Flowers!