Chapter 115

Chapter 115

Liu's mother stared straight at the Liu family, a grin spreading across her face, baring blood-stained teeth as she said:

"About the baby swap—my in-laws—they all knew!"

At that, the Liu family was struck as if by lightning, then exploded into an uproar, their eyes red with panic as they stomped and shouted: "You're talking nonsense! Wang, you poisonous woman, don't you dare slander us!"

But Liu's mother ignored them, only lowering her eyes, her voice dry and withered like autumn leaves:

"Back then, I gave birth to four daughters one after another. My in-laws despised me, my husband beat and cursed me—I took it all. I blamed my own useless womb for failing to carry on the Liu name."

"But they... they wanted to use my own flesh and blood as a sacrifice to ward off the 'female curse'!"

Her throat tightened, and a venomous hatred burned in her eyes: "That child came from my own body... How could I bear it? With no way out, I came up with the idea of swapping the babies."

"I know I wronged Siyu, but for my own daughter, I had no choice but to wrong someone else. That's only human nature. I admit my guilt and have no excuse..."

She stopped there.

"What a fine excuse—'human nature'!"

Grandmother Han couldn't take it anymore, her whole body trembling, her words dripping with anguish:

"It's human nature to protect your own child, but why swap my daughter and then abuse her? Did my family dig up your ancestors' graves or owe you our lives, that you'd treat my girl so cruelly?!"

Just thinking of the suffering her daughter endured as a child made Grandmother Han burst into tears.

Liu's mother looked at Grandmother Han, a mix of emotions churning inside her.

She knew what she had done was wrong, but she was jealous—and even now, still bitter.

Both were farm wives, both had kids and ran the household for their husbands, and back then the Han family's fortunes were even worse than the Lius'.

But this woman, Li (Grandmother Han), looked more than ten years younger than her—standing together, they looked more like mother and daughter than peers.

Clearly, Li had an easy, happy life.

How ridiculous! How pathetic!

Liu's mother looked away from Grandmother Han, unwilling to answer her question, unwilling to face the ugliness within herself, her voice flat, as if she were talking about someone else:

"The reason I treated Siyu so badly was that after my in-laws found out about the swap... my mother-in-law said she'd heard of a way to change your fate—by borrowing luck."

"Though the Hans were farmers too, and even poorer than the Lius back then, the Han household was full of harmony and good fortune. The Han ancestors had once been a great clan. A starved camel is still bigger than a horse, as the saying goes—they had more lasting good fortune than ordinary families..."

"Siyu was a Han child. Stealing her luck was borrowing from the Han family's fortune. The more miserable Siyu was, the more luck the Liu family would gain..."

To modern ears, this reasoning sounds absurd, but in that superstitious era, it made perfect sense.

At least many commoners gathered at the courthouse door were mostly convinced.

The Liu family, however, was so furious their eyes bulged, kowtowing repeatedly and crying out in protest:

"Your Honor, please see the truth! This venomous woman is framing us, slinging mud! We're innocent! We truly didn't know Siyu's true identity."

"Everything requires evidence, Your Honor! You can't just take this wicked woman's one-sided word..."

"This crazy woman wants to take the whole family down with her even in death!"

The prefect banged his gavel repeatedly: "Order! Order!"

He swept a cold gaze over the Liu family.

This case wasn't complicated—Liu Wang's confession aligned with the evidence and witness testimonies provided by the Han family.

But whether the Liu family knew about or took part in the swap, as Liu Wang claimed, needed more investigation. He truly couldn't rely on one person's word, no matter how despicable the Liu family was. He needed witnesses or hard evidence.

Otherwise, if he ruled unjustly based on personal bias, he might as well kiss his official position goodbye.

The prefect immediately asked: "Liu Wang, do you have proof of your claims?"

Liu's mother smiled—a smile so eerie it sent chills down everyone's spine: "Proof? Your Honor, who'd leave evidence for something so wicked? How could there be any physical proof?"

"But you can send your men to Liu Village to ask the neighbors—why, out of all the Liu granddaughters, was Siyu the only one treated so badly?"

"And ask my mother-in-law—wasn't she always buying incense and candles to burn in worship at home? Didn't she always curse Siyu as a 'bastard with a hard life, better off beaten to death'?"

"If they didn't know she wasn't their own blood, even if they didn't like girls, who'd call their own kid a bastard?"

After a pause, Liu's mother said slowly, emphasizing each word: "If the Liu family truly knew nothing, how could they so easily enjoy the silver I took from my little girl?!"

Boom!

These words sealed the Liu family's fate.

Liu's grandmother was so angry she coughed up blood on the spot, wishing she could eat Liu's mother alive.

Yes, she often bought incense and candles—but that was to pray to the Bodhisattva for her great-grandson to do well in school, not for any spell!

Yes, she had called Siyu a bastard—but that was just something she said without thinking!

The whole family picked on one little granddaughter—wasn't it because all the other kids had their own mothers to protect them, while Siyu had nobody?!

And they took the silver without guilt, assuming it was just Wang begging from her own family or married daughters—money that was free for the taking!

But if they said all that now, who would believe them?

They had no proof, and they'd already tried to make their own granddaughter a sacrifice to ward off the 'female curse'—they couldn't explain their way out of this.

Instead, the neighbors' testimonies from Liu Village were the strongest evidence for Liu's mother's accusations.

"Your Honor, it's just as Wang said..."

The prefect banged his gavel and demanded: "Liu family, what do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Your Honor, we're innocent! We swear we're innocent..."

The Liu family wept in desperation, but had nothing to say, only kowtowing and shouting that they were innocent.

The prefect ignored them and turned to the trembling young woman beside Liu's mother, who was nervously avoiding his gaze.

She was none other than "Han Zhenzhen," the girl the Han family had spoiled for over thirty years.

The prefect sternly interrogated her: "Mrs. Ge, do you know who you really are? When did you find out?"

"I... I don't know, Your Honor..."

Han Zhenzhen shook like a leaf, yet she clung to her denial.

How could she dare to confess? Her husband was a constable in the yamen, and she knew better than anyone the consequences of admitting guilt.

Grandma Han blew her top again, storming up and spitting out: "You don't know? If you didn't know your true identity, why would you give money to a family you've got no connection to? And why let Wang's youngest son work in your husband's grocery shop?"

"I... I really don't know... I gave the Liu family money and let Wang's youngest son work there to pay back a life-debt—everyone knows about this..."

Han Zhenzhen stuck to her story.

Then she switched to playing the victim, all teary-eyed: "Father, Mother, I know I took Fourth Girl's identity and made her suffer in my place, and that it's unfair to her, but I'm innocent too—I was only a babe in arms back then, and I knew nothing..."

"Even if I'm not your biological daughter, after all these years of your love and care, our bond as parents and child—was it all a lie?"

"Yes, it's all a lie!" Grandma Han sobbed. "We loved 'Zhenzhen,' not you, the actual Liu Fourth Girl!"

Grandpa Han said coldly: "You were swapped, not mistakenly taken. To the Han family, you are not an adopted daughter—you're the daughter of an enemy who stole someone else's place!"

Second Uncle Han and Third Uncle Han glared at her with pure disgust.

Seeing that playing the victim had failed, Han Zhenzhen was boiling with rage.

She didn't see she'd burned that bridge long ago; she only felt the Han family was cold-blooded and heartless, and even blamed her for contacting her birth mother—see how they flipped on her the moment they found out she wasn't their own flesh and blood. How could she not betray them?

No way was she confessing—she had too much life left to live.

Han Zhenzhen refused to crack, lifting her chin with a holier-than-thou look: "Your Honor, please see the truth—I truly knew nothing of this. Giving money to the Liu family was purely to repay a debt of gratitude. Liu Wangshi's life-saving kindness to me back then—all the neighbors saw it."

"If they've got no more proof beyond this, then even if you torture me to death, I'll never own this dirty name!"

With that, she secretly glanced at Liu's mother, wordlessly pleading with her ma to help again.

—While fuming that her ma hadn't killed Fourth Girl back then. If Fourth Girl had died, how could today's disaster have come about?

Liu's mother met her daughter's pleading yet reproachful gaze, her heart wrenched and went cold.

She'd wronged Fourth Girl, wronged the Han family, wronged her sister who'd gone along with her to help—but never this daughter before her.

But now her own daughter blamed her too.

Liu's mother was heartbroken, but she'd already sacrificed so much for this daughter. To fail now would render everything she'd done before meaningless.

Besides, the Liu family was about to fall apart; only if Zhenzhen got off would her other three married daughters have someone to look after them.

So be it.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, only a dead, resolute gray remained.

"Your Honor," she said in a hoarse voice, yet as clear as tearing silk, "my daughter truly knew nothing. The money was extorted from her by me under the pretext of a 'life-saving debt,' and I have an IOU as proof."

"This woman is steeped in sin, but my only true intentions were for my daughters. Zhenzhen is too blunt to keep secrets—how would I dare let her know such hidden matters?"

"I beg Your Honor to investigate clearly—this matter was known only to me and a few in the Liu family. I am willing to swear to heaven—if I speak falsely, may thunder strike me down, and my life be the proof!"

With that, Liu's mother pulled from her bosom the evidence she had prepared long ago to exonerate her daughter, and presented it.

Then she suddenly lunged upward and slammed her head into the stone pillar in the hall.

"Bang—!"

Blood splattered, and she collapsed to the ground.

Her skull was caved in, and her breath was gone.

Han Zhenzhen slumped to her knees, pale as paper, yet a flicker of secret relief at surviving the ordeal passed through her eyes.

She never expected her birth mother to have been prepared all along.

The Liu family wailed and cursed: "Wretch—Wang, you wretch! Even in death, you drag the whole family down with you!"