Chapter 69

Mrs. Shang’s arrival at the Xie residence was rather untimely.

Without prior notice, Mrs. Xie had already finished her dinner, leaving little time to prepare a proper welcome. Hastily, she came out to meet her guest, repeatedly apologizing for the inconvenience.

Indeed, the matter was poorly handled, but Mrs. Shang dared not show any airs. Her words were filled with understanding and consideration.

Moved by the Shang family’s graciousness and seeing how travel-worn Mrs. Shang looked, Mrs. Xie quickly suggested she rest first, assuring her that everything would be arranged properly the next day.

Thus, the polite exchange ended quickly, lasting no more than half an hour.

Afterward, Xie Hengzhi escorted Mrs. Shang and Yiling, her daughter, to the east wing. He excused himself, saying he had work to do in the study, leaving the two women to talk in private.

Inside the room.

Yiling and Mrs. Shang sat facing each other, neither speaking. The only sounds were from Mama Cao and Mallow as they rearranged the bedding.

After a year apart, Mrs. Shang looked at her daughter. Yiling’s appearance had not changed, but she seemed a little unfamiliar.

After a long pause, Mrs. Shang finally broke the silence. “Ling’er, how have you been?”

“I’m fine; everything is fine,” Yiling replied, unable to meet her mother’s gaze, keeping her eyes lowered.

Her reaction was no surprise to Mrs. Shang.

Though it saddened her, she understood that it would take time for the distance between them to fade.

Thus, she refrained from bringing up the past and instead asked about Yiling’s daily life in the capital—her clothing, food, and living arrangements.

Yiling responded to each question but spoke sparingly, carefully avoiding any missteps.

Over time, Mrs. Shang found herself defeated by this cautious back-and-forth, and the room once again fell into an awkward silence.

At that moment, Mama Cao entered with the maids, bringing in the evening meal.

The two silent women clung to this as if it were a lifeline, casting desperate, pleading looks at Mama Cao.

While setting the dishes, Mama Cao observed their expressions and suddenly remarked, “The young lady has been worried about the master’s health these days.”

Yiling immediately nodded in agreement and asked, “How is Father’s health?”

Hearing Yiling’s concern, Mrs. Shang finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought her daughter no longer cared about the family’s affairs.

“Lately, it hasn’t been very good,” Mrs. Shang replied. “He coughs throughout the night, every night.”

“Have you called for a doctor?” Yiling asked.

Mrs. Shang raised her eyes, frowning slightly.

“Doctor Zhong comes daily to check your father’s pulse. He’s been doing so for over ten years now.”

Yiling’s heart skipped a beat, and her fingers tightened around her sleeves.

Fortunately, Mrs. Shang didn’t dwell on it. She sighed and added, “Oh, and your brother has gotten engaged.”

Yiling decided to stop talking and simply nodded, saying, “It’s fine.”

After speaking, she noticed Mrs. Shang staring at her intently.

After a long pause, Mrs. Shang finally asked, “Aren’t you curious about which young lady it is?”

“…Which young lady?”

“The granddaughter of the grand mother,” Mrs. Shang said. “Though her temperament is a bit mild, she is someone who knows how to take care of others.”

Yiling merely nodded again. “As long as they can live well together, that’s all that matters.”

Live well? What does that even mean?

Mrs. Shang looked at Yiling in astonishment, thinking, Haven’t you always disliked that family?

If it weren’t for your elder brother’s poor health and the lack of better matches, how could it have come to this?

Seeing Mrs. Shang’s expression, Yiling realized she had misunderstood the situation again.

For a moment, she froze, unsure how to smooth things over. Just then, Mama Cao spoke up, “Madam, you’ve been traveling all day. Please have something to eat.”

“Yes,” Yiling quickly interjected, eager to avoid further conversation. She picked up her chopsticks and reached for the fish in front of her. “Mother, you should eat something first.”

“Ah—”

Mama Cao was about to say something when Yiling had already placed the fish into Mrs. Shang’s bowl.

Mrs. Shang looked at the fish in her bowl, then at Yiling, stunned. Her expression shifted drastically.

“Ling’er, have you forgotten that your mother has been a vegetarian for years?”

As the words fell, Yiling froze like a statue.

Lowering her stiff gaze, she suddenly noticed that apart from the steamed bass and black chicken soup in front of her, all the other dishes on the table were vegetarian.

When the hour of Xu (around 7–9 PM) passed, the entire Xie Residence fell silent.

The doors of each room were closed, as if everyone had gone to rest.

However, in the eastern wing, Mrs. Shang, weary from her long journey, had yet to bathe or change clothes. She sat anxiously in her chair, her expression troubled. Mama Cao stood silently before her, head bowed, not daring to speak.

This trip to the Beijing had been filled with questions Mrs. Shang had intended to ask Mama Cao.

For instance, how was her daughter’s daily relationship with Xie Hengzhi? Was it truly as harmonious as described in the letters? And what were the exact circumstances surrounding the marriage alliance with the Hu family? Had anyone suspected her daughter’s past with Hu Yanqi?

Of course, she was also curious why Xie Hengzhi had sent someone to summon her to the Beijing without informing anyone. Such a breach of etiquette couldn’t simply be dismissed as forgetfulness.

But after tonight’s meal, all those questions seemed irrelevant.

“Why has Ling’er become so strange?” Mrs. Shang asked. “She doesn’t even remember that I’m a vegetarian. Does she not want to acknowledge me as her mother anymore?”

Mama Cao immediately replied, “How could that be? The young lady just… just hasn’t been home for so long that some things slipped her mind.”

How could one forget their mother’s habits after just a year away?

Mrs. Shang pressed a hand to her chest, her anxiety growing.

She had carried this child in her womb and raised her carefully for 20 years. Mrs. Shang knew her daughter better than anyone.

When they first sat down for dinner, she had already sensed a strangeness, but she thought it was due to the emotional distance between them.

Now, in retrospect, the problem clearly lay elsewhere.

“Did those events from back then truly affect her so deeply? Why does she feel so unfamiliar now? The way she looks at me is as if she doesn’t recognize me anymore.”

It wasn’t just her gaze. Even her every expression, her tone, and her speech were different from the daughter Mrs. Shang remembered.

If someone placed a screen between them, preventing her from seeing Yiling’s face, Mrs. Shang doubted she could even recognize the voice as her daughter’s.

“What on earth happened?”

Mrs. Shang turned back, her voice sharp as she asked, “Has something happened to the young lady?”
Hearing this, Mama Cao’s face went pale.

Faced with Mrs. Shang’s piercing gaze, she knew the truth could no longer be hidden. With a thud, she kneeled to the ground.

“Madam, this old servant deserves to die! Half a year ago, I failed to watch over the young lady properly, and she accidentally fell into the water. Afterward, she… she lost her memory!”

“Lost her memory?!”

Mrs. Shang shot to her feet, her voice rising in pitch. “What do you mean, lost her memory?!”

Her outburst startled Mama Cao into another shiver, leaving her even more at a loss for words.

But as Mrs. Shang’s anger subsided, she realized they were still in the Xie Residence. The thought of prying ears nearby made her immediately restrain her emotions.

Sitting back down, she took a deep breath, her mind racing. Lowering her voice, she said through gritted teeth, “You wretched servant, how dare you keep such a major incident from me!”

Mama Cao, knowing she was at fault, could only kowtow repeatedly, offering no defense.

She had been sent to the Beijing as a chaperone, entrusted with supervising and managing the young lady’s affairs.

But for such a serious incident to happen under her watch—if the Shang family learned of it, they would surely replace her.

Returning to Jiangzhou with such a stain on her record would leave her with no future.

So she clung to a sliver of hope, thinking that Jiangzhou was far away and the Shang family might never find out. Once the young lady recovered, everything could go back to normal.

But who could have predicted…

“This old servant knows her mistake, Madam! I only thought the Master’s health was poor and didn’t want to trouble him with worry. Besides, I assumed the doctors in the capital could cure her amnesia!”

Mama Cao continued pleading, but the lack of response from Mrs. Shang made her hesitant to confess more. When she finally looked up, she saw that Mrs. Shang’s face still carried traces of anger, but her thoughts were no longer on her.

“Amnesia…”

After the initial shock, Mrs. Shang quickly refocused on her daughter. “How could she lose her memory…”

She murmured to herself for a moment, then suddenly shook her head. “I’ve seen people who have lost their memories, forgetting their past, but their habits remain unchanged. Yet Ling’er… 
she seems like an entirely different person.”

“How… how could that be?”

In truth, what Mrs. Shang noticed as peculiar was also sensed by Mama Cao, who had been tending to Yiling daily.

However, Mama Cao considered herself ignorant and couldn’t find a reason for it.

Hearing Mrs. Shang’s words, she suddenly came to a realization and exclaimed, “Madam, are you saying the young lady is not the young lady? That… she’s someone else?”

“You thick-headed fool!”

Mrs. Shang shot her a glare, so angry she nearly pinched her own philtrum. “If she’s not my daughter, who else could she be? Do you think there could be two people in this world who look exactly alike?!”

“Yes… the young lady is indeed the young lady. She’s right in front of us, alive and well. How could she be anyone else?”

Mama Cao asked hesitantly, “Then, madam, what are you suggesting?”

Mrs. Shang massaged her temples, pondering for a long time before asking, “Has anyone been called to perform a ritual?”

“A ritual…?”

Mama Cao, startled by the suggestion, froze for a moment before understanding Mrs. Shang’s implication. “You think the young lady has been possessed?”

She immediately waved her hands. “No, absolutely not. Master despises anything to do with spirits and gods. Such things cannot happen in this household.”

Hearing this, Mrs. Shang’s expression turned somber as she fell into silent contemplation.

Five rooms away, in the study.

Dao Yu stood beside the writing desk, reciting the conversation between Mrs. Shang and Mama Cao word for word to Xie Hengzhi.

Her voice was cold and detached, making the recounting feel devoid of emotion, almost like reading a report.

Because of this, Xie Hengzhi listened without much reaction, though his eyebrows did lift slightly when Dao Yu mentioned “memory loss.”

“Memory loss?”

“Yes,” Dao Yu confirmed. “That’s what Mama Cao said.”

Xie Hengzhi lowered his gaze, staring at the jade wrist rest in front of him, lost in thought.

Seeing he had no further instructions, Dao Yu continued.

The rest was mostly Mrs. Shang expressing that her daughter seemed like a different person, suspecting possession, and considering a ritual.

To Dao Yu, these scholarly notions were utterly absurd, so much so that she couldn’t help but frown while recounting them.

However, Xie Hengzhi’s expression grew increasingly grave upon hearing this. His lips pressed tightly together.

After a long silence, he finally said, “Keep watching.”

Dao Yu finished her report by the late hour of Hai (around 9-11 PM).

She then resumed monitoring the east wing until Mama Cao left and Mrs. Shang extinguished her lights to sleep. Only then did she hand over her duties to another.

It was at this time that Xie Hengzhi left the study and headed toward his residence.

When he pushed open the door, Yiling, who was sitting by the bed, immediately turned to look at him.

Even though she tried her best to remain calm, the panic in her eyes betrayed her.

Xie Hengzhi, however, seemed the same as he had been that morning—emotionless. He showed no surprise at Yiling’s presence there and, as if he hadn’t even seen her, went straight to the bathroom.

Hearing the sound of running water, Yiling let out a small breath of relief but remained on edge, her nerves tightly wound.

Dealing with Mrs. Shang’s unexpected visit had already been nerve-wracking enough. On top of that, Mama Cao arranged for her to stay in the east wing, forcing Yiling to return to this residence.

At this moment, she no longer had the energy to dwell on Xie Hengzhi’s affections. Her mind was preoccupied with worrying about her own precarious situation.

In just one meal, she had made countless slip-ups in front of Mrs. Shang.

If Mrs. Shang, her biological mother, became suspicious and decided to investigate, wouldn’t it be like catching a turtle in a jar?

On another note, Yiling couldn’t understand why Xie Hengzhi had brought her mother-in-law here without informing anyone.

Earlier in the main hall, when Mrs. Xie scolded him for not giving prior notice, he claimed he was too busy and had forgotten, even apologizing profusely to Mrs. Shang.

But Yiling wasn’t new to Xie Hengzhi. How could she possibly believe he had simply “forgotten”?

Could he truly have thought she was homesick and wanted to give her a surprise?

That would be even more absurd—since when did surprises take precedence over proper etiquette?

Faced with her current situation, Yiling couldn’t make sense of anything and felt like she was caught between a wolf and a tiger, doomed to shatter into pieces.

Before long, the sound of movement came from the bathroom. Xie Hengzhi had finished.

Yiling’s back immediately straightened, her whole body tensing up.

As his shadow fell over her, signaling his approach, Yiling slowly lifted her gaze and glanced at him.

Their eyes met.

Xie Hengzhi, drying his neck with a towel, walked toward the bed without saying a word.

In the end, it was Yiling who couldn’t bear the silence and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me my mother was coming?”

“I already said, I forgot.”

Xie Hengzhi replied with his back to her. “What? Are you unhappy about it?”

“My mother came to see me, so of course I’m happy,” Yiling said. “But failing to host her properly is a breach of etiquette. I’m worried she might feel offended.”

Xie Hengzhi seemed indifferent.

“I’ll apologize to her again tomorrow,” he said, turning to face her. “Since Mother will be staying in the capital for a while, I’ll make all the arrangements to ensure she’s treated well.”

“For a while?”

Yiling’s eyes flickered. “But Father’s old ailments have been acting up recently. He coughs all night and can’t sleep. If Mother stays in the Beijing for too long, I’m worried there’ll be no one to care for him.”

“If Mother has traveled all the way to the Beijing, she must have made arrangements back home. 

Besides, after such a long journey, would you really have her leave after only seeing you once?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t want that,” Yiling said. “But Father is used to being cared for by Mother. 

He’s getting on in years, and if anything goes wrong because of this, I’ll never forgive myself.”

Xie Hengzhi considered her words for a moment, seemingly understanding Yiling’s predicament.

“What you said makes sense,” he sighed. “You still have an aunt in Shangjing. Although you’re not close, it’s only natural for your mother to visit and catch up.”

An aunt?

In her memory, there did seem to be such a person.

But that wasn’t important. Xie Hengzhi had already changed his mind. She didn’t want to complicate things further, so she had no choice but to go along with his words: “I’m not in a hurry for Mother to return to Jiangzhou. Since we’re here, of course, we should also pay a visit to Aunt.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she noticed Xie Hengzhi staring intently at her, his gaze profound and meaningful.

Indeed, Master Shang did have an elder sister in Shangjing.

But that old lady had long severed all ties with the Shang family due to certain circumstances, her pride running deep. They hadn’t been in contact for many years.

As the daughter of the Shang family, the woman before him couldn’t possibly be unaware of this.

Had she truly lost her memory?

Xie Hengzhi didn’t believe it for a second.

In fact—

She wasn’t Shang Yiling at all.