Transmigrated Genius: Fragile Heiress Reigns Supreme-Chapter 725 - 726: Bygone Days (4)

"Shut up!" Xiao Yancheng shouted angrily, "This is not the place for you to speak." After speaking, he glanced at Fourth Master Xiao, "Old Fourth, you’d better think carefully!"

"Old Third!" The Grand Dowager’s eyes welled with tears, "I’ve told you before, your mother’s death was solely my doing, it has nothing to do with the Marquis or his brothers. If you have any grievances, direct them at me alone; don’t be so obstinate. Even your father in heaven wouldn’t rest in peace seeing you brothers killing each other."

Xiao Yancheng’s eyebrows furrowed, he yelled, "Shut up, I know who’s at fault, I don’t need your hypocritical advice!"

The Grand Dowager shook her head and took a heavy step forward, "No, you don’t know. What you know is nothing but an illusion." She clutched her chest and declared before all the soldiers, "The truth is with me. I’ve kept it for twenty-six years. I will tell you now, once you know the truth, you won’t act like this."

Both Fourth Master Xiao and Xiao Yancheng looked surprised; they had investigated the events of that year. No matter if it was the soldiers who followed the campaign or the people of Miaojiang, the testimonies were the same. Now, with the Grand Dowager denying all that, they couldn’t help but be puzzled.

Even Xiao Yanyi looked towards the Grand Dowager, puzzled, "Mother?"

The Grand Dowager waved her hand and sighed longly, "All that I’ve done, I will speak of personally."

Xiqiu looked at the First Madam, her gaze falling on the box in the First Madam’s hands, and asked, "Elder Sister-in-law, what is this?"

"This is Mother’s thing!" The First Madam frowned, "Even Nanny Wu hasn’t seen what’s inside. Last month, when Third Brother returned, Mother entrusted it to me, saying that if one day she suddenly passed away, I should give this box to Fourth Brother. Now that Mother’s life and death are uncertain, I wanted to discuss opening it with you. Perhaps it holds the mysteries we’ve longed to unravel."

Xiqiu was taken aback by this, looking at the box and asking, "Mother gave it to you?" Did this mean the Grand Dowager foresaw this day?

"Yes!" The First Madam took a few steps forward, "I hadn’t planned to, but today I discovered a secret passage in Third Brother’s room at home and found Mother’s handkerchief inside... I think Mother may still be in the Capital, and the answer we seek might be in this box."

Xiqiu pondered for a moment, looked at the First Madam, then nodded, "According to Elder Sister-in-law’s words, let it be!"

The First Madam took a few steps, placed the box on the desk, and then took out a key from her sleeve...

In the room, Chunliu and Bihuai, along with Nanny Tang, withdrew and closed the door behind them.

The box was opened, inside were some assorted items: a finely crafted wooden phoenix hairpin, a wooden comb, two clusters of long hair tied with red thread, and a woman’s arm-length dagger with strange engravings. The First Madam took them out one by one and laid them on the table.

The items looked old; although ancient, no information was revealed. Xiqiu couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

Once the First Madam had taken everything out, she saw a booklet bound in brown paper underneath. The cover of the booklet had two characters: Notes.

It was in the Grand Dowager’s handwriting.

The First Madam paused her hand, exchanged a look with Xiqiu, then opened to the first page. She and Xiqiu stood side by side, both looking at the booklet...

The contents were not complete, like it was written intermittently. The First Madam turned another page, and Xiqiu understood that it must have been written from the time the Grand Dowager married the Old Marquis. The first page captured her feelings before marriage, chaotic and scribbled, yet there was a sweet undertone between the lines.

The booklet was not thick. The First Madam and Xiqiu read up to the part when the eldest daughter passed away... After that, the Grand Dowager didn’t write for a long time until she resumed writing when the Marquis was ordered to campaign against Miaojiang.

The Grand Dowager wrote this sentence: Regardless of life or death, inseparable!

Xiqiu raised her eyebrow, noticing the fond affection between the Grand Dowager and the Old Marquis. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Then there was a gap, only a brief mention of the journey. They set off in late summer; by the time they reached Miaojiang, it was already deep autumn. They camped in a place called Wu Luo, beautifully described by the Grand Dowager... From a distance, one could see the Miao Village, there were Miao Soldiers stationed thirty miles away, ready for battle.

The Grand Dowager wrote a lot about this period. Apparently, a few battles ensued until twenty days later, when one day the rear of the camp was ambushed by Miao Soldiers. The Marquis led a pursuit but never returned that day.

Upon learning this, the Grand Dowager retreated forty miles overnight, sending people in all directions to find the Marquis’s whereabouts. Despite the heavy search, there was no trace of him.

Reading this, Xiqiu suddenly thought of something. She looked at the First Madam and asked, "When the Old Marquis and Mother went on the campaign, it was late summer of the seventh year of Chengzong. If I’m not mistaken, Third Brother was born in the second year in March, right?"

"That’s right!" The First Madam nodded, "I heard my husband say that Third Brother’s birthday is the second of March, and his is the second of April. They are only a month apart!"

Xiqiu tightly knitted her brow, taking the record from the First Madam and flipped through it rapidly back to the front, then quickly looked through again. She looked up at the First Madam and said, "If Third Brother was born in the second year of March, then Mother should have been pregnant again in June... yet there isn’t a single mention of it in Mother’s notes."

The First Madam was also taken aback by this, exchanging a look with Xiqiu, as if glimpsing an unimaginable secret, just one step away from the truth... The two quickly flipped a few pages back, indeed, the following pages were filled with the Grand Dowager’s descriptions of searching for the Marquis and her wartime strategies with Elder General Chen against the Miao Army.

Their hearts grew cold, Xiqiu could feel her heart pounding rapidly, the First Madam flipped a few more pages. The timeline stopped around May, clearly stating the Grand Dowager left the camp alone and was ambushed by enemy troops.

The truth seemed to be emerging, that Xiao Yancheng might not have been born of the Grand Dowager.

Xiqiu furrowed her brow, unexpectedly yet unsurprised.

That day, the Grand Dowager seemed very depressed, writing a lot, desperate, and even mentioning death...

Xiqiu and the First Madam exchanged a look, finding the tone strange. The Grand Dowager had searched for the Marquis for nearly a year, never once speaking of giving up, why now did she suddenly seek death? What was more puzzling was that the Grand Dowager actually wrote a suicide note...

Then there was a ten-day blank, and when she resumed writing, it was already the seventh month of the eighth year of Chengzong, a full year in Miaojiang. It chronicled countless battles, and the Grand Dowager’s mood seemed to gradually return to its original state.

Then one day, the Marquis suddenly appeared in the camp. After a year of not seeing each other, the Grand Dowager was very happy, writing a lot, the couple spoke by candlelight for a long time.