"Slap!"
A heavy slap landed on Zhao Li's face, causing her to stumble.
Zhao Li looked about in a daze.
The beautifully dressed lady standing a step away had an expression of utter disgust.
"The princess invited the noble ladies in the city for a flower viewing, there's only one invitation. You, who neither understand poetry nor know the ways of the world, what use would there be for you to go? It should be Yao Guang who attends!"
The words of the enraged, elegantly attired lady echoed by her ears.
Zhao Li, clutching her burning and painful face, a flurry of thoughts flashed through her mind.
Where was this?
Who was this person?
She was slapped!
On her face!
"If anything untoward happens to Yao Guang, even though you're my biological daughter, I will ensure you pay a heavy price for Yao Guang's misfortune!"
The sternly dressed Madam Lin scolded vehemently, but Zhao Li showed no reaction.
Normally, this troublemaker would either throw a fit like a peasant woman or complain about the unfair treatment she received at home. So why was she so quiet now?
She looked up. The young girl stood there stunned, the cheek scratched by the gilded ring studded with jewels, leaving a deep, long bloody scratch.
Mrs. Lin trembled inwardly, subconsciously hiding her hand within her sleeve.
However, thinking of her beloved daughter lying on the sickbed, she clenched her hand once again.
"As your mother, I am punishing you to kneel in the ancestral hall for three days, to pray and atone for Yao Guang."
Pray and atone?
This phrase seemed to flick a switch.
Zhao Li tightened her lips, looking up at the still expectant Mrs. Lin waiting for her to apologize.
Her demeanor caused Mrs. Lin's temporarily subsided anger to flare up again.
Was she not her mother, unable to discipline when mistakes were made?
She was truly incorrigible and hopeless.
"Drag this misfortune down, do not give her food, make sure she kneels before the ancestral tablets for three full days!"
Upon hearing the commands, the surrounding maids and servants moved nearby.
At this moment, Zhao Li, who had been silent the whole time, raised her right hand.
She drew a wide circle and slapped towards Mrs. Lin.
"Slap!"
A crisp sound echoed, surprisingly sharp in the silence.
Mrs. Lin could only feel her head buzz, staggering back a step.
Just as she was about to fall, a hand reached out to grip her collar and pulled her upright with a force.
"My father never laid a hand on me, what makes you think you can?"
"My mother never slapped my face, who do you think you are?"
The clear and loud roar of the young girl echoed through the quaint back garden.
Mrs. Lin’s hairpin dropped to the ground, her hair disheveled.
She stared blankly at the girl's eyes before her.
There was no longer the careful adoration in those familiar, beautiful eyes.
At this moment, she didn't call the girl a disaster. Tears streamed down her face as she muttered in disbelief, "You dare hit me?"
The maids and attendants finally stirred, coming around like they were waking up from a dream.
Mrs. Lin was surrounded by the women, only seeing a fraction of a brocade skirt.
The maids' shrieks were mixed with her sobbing.
In the distance, guards were coming.
Zhao Li paused for a moment before swiftly turning around, fleeing towards the back garden.
"Catch her."
The hysterical yell of Lady Lin echoed from the pavilion.
"Catch that disobedient little beast! Drag him to the ancestral hall and beat him to death!"
...
The security guards of the Zhao Mansion, armed with knives, were searching every inch of the garden.
Their black wooden scabbards slapped against the bushes as they looked.
High in the luxuriantly leafy tree.
Like a monkey, Zhao Li hid among the branches, not daring to make a sound. Her skirt was hitched up to her waist, and she was holding a pair of embroidered shoes.
In the midst of her silent vigil, a sudden wave of pain struck. Were it not for her quick reaction, biting her tongue and grasping the tree trunk, she would have fallen.
With the pain came an unfamiliar snippet of memory, something not her own.
Sixteen years ago, on a rainy night, at the post station at the foot of the mountain temple.
Due to the midwife's negligence, the lives of two infant girls were exchanged.
One, like the radiant glow of heaven, was pampered and extravagantly brought up by a noble family spanning three generations.
The other, like a carp in a small river, struggling and fighting through the bitter cold at the border.
A few months ago, this old news of switched identities was unveiled, becoming the topic of gossip in every street and alley of the capital city.
The prestigious manor of an attendant in the capital city was reluctant to part with their adopted daughter, who they had raised for many years, pouring countless resources, blood, and sweat into her upbringing.
You can't let your own daughter live in disgrace outside, making a spectacle that would ruin the reputation of the girls at home.
Zhao Li was alone when he was brought back from the frontier.
The young girl who had grown up under the ashen walls of the border town, carrying a mix of insecurity and anticipation, arrived at this capital city where the maple leaves were as red as fire.
However, the wonderful new life she had hoped for did not come.
How could hands that were used to grunt work and wielding sticks to drive off ruffians ever delicately handle a sewing needle or play elegant piano notes?
All the efforts to blend into her family, the little attempts to please, were all perceived as being crude and scheming, lacking vision and grace.
Her parents and elder brothers at home were all delicately concerned about the feelings of Zhao Yao Guang, but no one cared about Zhao Li's gains or losses.
Even the local accent that Zhao Li used when she spoke was ridiculed and corrected in front of her by the servants.
Her memory was not long, but it was enough for Zhao Li to realize how bad her current situation was.
She couldn't help it, she slapped this body's biological mother right in the face!
To murder and assault one's grandparents and parents is known as being odiously impious, if she was caught, there would be no way out for her.
This place was too unlucky, she had to find a way to escape.
Zhao Li carefully recollected.
The original host, who had been wronged, would hide in the back garden, under the short wall near the neighbor's house, and cry.
The master of the neighboring house had been assigned elsewhere, and the house had been empty for a long time. There were rumors of a haunting, and few people from the Zhao Mansion would go there.
But for the original host, at least when she cried there, no maid or old woman would accuse her of being improper.
More importantly, there was a place where a low wall had collapsed, usually hidden by vines.
She could secretly climb over that narrow wall, hide in the neighboring mansion for a couple of days, and slip out once the noise had died down.
She still had hairpins and jewelry on her, which she could pawn to temporarily settle in the countryside, and plan for the future.
Zhao Li waited in the tree until the sun set and evening fell.
She found herself in the darkness, listening carefully to make sure no one was searching the garden.
Only then did she cautiously descend from the tree and quietly made her way to the back garden.
As an exorcist who graduated from the professional class in her previous life, her skills were quite good.
With the light from the moon in the sky, Zhao Li could already see the low wall concealed by vines in the distance.
As she unconsciously let a smile of joy show on her face, she suddenly heard a cold snort beside her.
"I knew it, you ungrateful wretch, would come here!"
