Reborn to Become A Queen: The Real Heiress's Comeback-Chapter 287: The Truth

Zhan Beicang was stunned; Zhan Xuerou’s anger surged as she turned to look at Qin Shuang and Zhan Lan, who were tightly embracing each other.

Mu Yan gazed at Qin Shuang; motherly love, usually hidden, erupted like a mountain crumbling and a tsunami when her bottom line was touched.

Zhan Lan’s personality slightly resembled her mother’s; one must not cross her boundaries, for she would remain still until provoked, but once moved, she would stop at nothing. frёeωebɳovel.com

Zhan Xinzhang’s eyes showed complex emotions; the way he looked at Lady Li had changed, realizing the matter was more complicated than he had imagined.

Through tears, Zhan Xuerou clutched Qin Shuang’s sleeve, "Mother, look at me, I am Zhan Xuerou, could you have been mistaken? I am your daughter!"

The more she spoke, the sadder she became. Shaking Qin Shuang’s arm, she pleaded, "Mother, don’t be deceived by Zhan Lan’s words; I am the daughter you’ve raised since childhood, have you forgotten?"

Zhan Xuerou was extremely frightened inside, afraid that Zhan Lan would steal her place and that everyone from the Zhan Family would believe Zhan Lan’s schemes.

She was the noble legitimate daughter of the General Mansion; she had promised Si Jun to help him seize the empire, and he had promised to make her the Empress.

If Zhan Lan were to exploit a loophole, she would be left with nothing.

"Mother!" She knelt and cried, clutching Qin Shuang’s sleeve tightly; yet Qin Shuang remained unmoved.

Zhan Xuerou, heartbroken and trembling, angrily tried to separate Zhan Lan and Qin Shuang.

Feeling someone trying to part them, Qin Shuang’s arms flung the person away and she shouted angrily, "Don’t touch my daughter!"

With a thud, Zhan Xuerou’s head hit the corner of a table, and she fell to the ground with her head bleeding.

Upon seeing her daughter injured, Lady Li let out a scream and crawled forward to embrace Zhan Xuerou.

"Rou’er, don’t scare me!"

She was frantic, pinching Zhan Xuerou’s philtrum; when Zhan Xuerou awoke, she saw Lady Li tearfully holding her.

"No! Get away from me!" Zhan Xuerou pushed Lady Li away, looking at her with disgust, "You are not my mother, you are Zhan Lan’s mother, you are a liar!"

Lady Li looked at Zhan Xuerou, her heart breaking into pieces, regretting that deed she did for her own daughter.

Had she not been selfish, perhaps Zhan Xuerou would still be calling her ’mother’ tenderly now.

Having impulsively embraced Zhan Xuerou earlier, there was no point in hiding the truth any longer.

She was about to confess everything, but Zhan Xuerou, roaring, began pummeling her, "You wicked woman, you deserve to die!"

Zhan Xuerou looked at Zhan Lan, crazed, "Zhan Lan, do you have evidence? You say she’s my mother, but do you have evidence?"

Zhan Lan gently patted Qin Shuang’s arm to comfort her, "Mother, it’s okay, I’m back, and I won’t let you lose me again."

Upon being comforted, Qin Shuang came to her senses; she looked at Zhan Xuerou, her face and forehead stained with blood, and realized she had hurt Zhan Xuerou.

"I’ll call for a doctor to dress your wounds." Qin Shuang had raised Zhan Xuerou for eighteen years; regardless, she had affections for her.

Seeing her injured because of herself also troubled her.

Zhan Xuerou looked at Qin Shuang, "Mother, your daughter does not hurt, Zhan Lan is deceiving you, please come to your senses!"

Qin Shuang did not respond because at the moment of life and death, when Zhan Lan saved her, that call of ’Mother’ had awakened her.

Zhan Lan scoffed, looking at Zhan Xuerou, "Deceive? The identity of the legitimate daughter of the General Mansion? Hah, among all my identities, the legitimate daughter of the Zhan Family is the least noteworthy!"

Zhan Xuerou suddenly realized that indeed, being the legitimate daughter of the General Mansion was the identity Zhan Lan valued the least.

She is the Martial Arts Champion, a First-Class Official and Brave General, she is the future Regent Princess Consort...

Zhan Xuerou softened her voice, "Zhan Lan, I’m afraid you have no evidence!"

Zhan Lan replied coldly, "Evidence? Of course, there is."

Mu Yan looked towards the door, as the Vermilion Bird brought someone in.

An elderly man, bound tightly, knelt on the ground. After raising his eyes to look around at the people, he exclaimed with horror, "I, Yu Jinchan, was wrong. I should not have assisted the tyrant in covering up the fact that the Zhan Family’s legitimate daughter’s identity was swapped."

The Lady Li dared not even glance at Yu Jinchan. She thought that Yu Jinchan was already dead, not expecting him to still be alive and appearing now.

Mu Yan said in a cold voice, "Explain everything, word for word. If there’s a single lie, you will be beaten to death on the spot!"

"Yes!" Vermilion Bird nodded.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Yu Jinchan, hunchbacked and trembling, said, "I’ll tell, I’ll tell everything."

He looked towards Lady Li and said, "Back then, it was she who found me and asked me to prepare a drug that could induce labor in a pregnant woman, saying that her sister was about to give birth and wanted to pick a good day to deliver a day or two early."

"At that time, she gave me fifty silvers, and I just did it."

Yu Jinchan continued, "The next day, she sent someone to invite me to the General Mansion, claiming the Madam’s pregnancy was unstable and asked me to keep watch, as no one suspected me of impersonating a disciple of the Medical Saint, so I waited there for the Madam to give birth."

"Only when I arrived at the mansion did I realize that Lady Li had given the Madam a drug, so she found me again to prescribe nourishing medicine for the postnatal period, to prevent discovery by other doctors."

"I prescribed some treatments for postnatal recovery and while decocting the medicine, I overheard two midwives in the corridor saying that the children had been swapped and to be careful not to let it be discovered. Only then did I realize everything had been orchestrated by this woman," he said, looking at Lady Li again.

"But by that time, I was drowning in gambling debts and blinded by greed, tricked by her. So, I threatened to blackmail her, and she gave me her husband’s consolation silver, telling me never to return to Ding’an City."

"I truly had nowhere else to go, kept pondering over this matter, and, since no one knew, I came back a few years ago. That is all I know."

Having spoken, Yu Jinchan shivered and knelt on the ground, kowtowing to the Zhan Family, "Old General, General Zhan, Madam, I have been tormented all these years, constantly living in fear. Please punish me."

Hearing his words, Lady Li stood there with a pallid face, while Zhan Xuerou became completely stiff.

Qin Shuang’s anger reached its peak, wanting to beat Lady Li to death, to kill her!

Who would have known that suddenly someone walked up to Lady Li and kicked her, knocking her to the ground.

Mu Yan stared down at Lady Li, who was groaning in pain, and said, "I never hit women, but you, you are truly unbearable!"

Back then, if Lady Li’s labor-inducing drug had not been dosed properly and had harmed the fetus, he might never have had the chance to meet Zhan Lan.

"I was wrong, Regent King, I was wrong..." The person she feared most was Mu Yan. Seeing his icy demeanor and murderous eyes, Lady Li felt chills all over her body.

Lady Li looked towards Zhan Xuerou and said, "Rou’er, don’t blame your mother. When you were in your mother’s womb, she learned of your father’s death, was constantly depressed, and the doctor told me that your physical condition was extremely poor and you might not live past three years old. General Zhan felt pity for me and allowed me, six months pregnant, to stay in the Zhan Family. My labor was close to that of the Great Madam, so during my near labor, I poisoned the Great Madam with the labor-inducing drug."

Lady Li did not dare to meet Qin Shuang’s eyes, which were shocked to furious, and Zhan Beicang’s fists were already clenched.

Lady Li continued to look at Zhan Xuerou and said, "Mother never thought of herself, only wishing that you could receive the best care. Your father died for General Zhan, and I became a widow; it didn’t matter to me what happened to myself, I just wanted you not to suffer with me."

Zhan Xuerou was stunned, still unable to believe that she had gone from being the legitimate daughter of General Mansion to being a daughter of an ordinary family.

Hate filled Qin Shuang’s eyes. Was her Lan’er really destined for a life of suffering?

After Lady Li explained everything to her own daughter, she crawled up and knelt there, continuously kowtowing.

"It’s all my fault... Rou’er didn’t know anything about this, I beg you, for the sake of my husband’s honor, to continue treating Rou’er kindly. I am willing to die to atone for my sins..."