Chapter 10: Facing the Truth

In July, the lotus pond was a sheet of jade green, and golden-tailed koi chased one another through the water. At this time of year, every corner of Shen Garden looked peaceful, as if time itself had slowed.

Inside the waterside pavilion, Jiang Huashan sat with a huge red, swollen bump on her forehead. On her young face was a solemnity that did not match her age at all.

Just now, the instant she crashed into the pillar, that Script Book had suddenly appeared in her mind out of nowhere.

Without warning.

“Book spirit?”

“What damn script?”

From that moment until now, she had been trying to establish contact with the book spirit, but there had been no response at all.

Hadn’t she already torn the Script Book apart?

How had it appeared out of thin air again?

Could it be that she had truly returned to the past?

A trace of joy flashed in Jiang Huashan’s eyes, but it was quickly mixed with vigilance. She stared blankly at her smaller palm, feeling the blood in her entire body boil.

If this was real, then did that mean she could change the ending where Grandpa was poisoned to death this time?

In her previous life, not long after she married Shen Lanxi, Grandpa had been framed and poisoned to death in his room at Qin Garden.

At that time, the doors and windows had all been locked from the outside. From the moment the poison took effect until his death, he had called for help for a full three hours. In the middle of it, he had even smashed his favorite set of Song dynasty Guan ware porcelain.

Yet still, no one had come.

With the Shen family’s status in Country A, the only person who could poison someone inside Shen Garden and smoothly send everyone away had to be someone close to the old master.

So there had been a traitor within the family.

To find that traitor, the three branches of the Shen family fell into endless suspicion and infighting. And because Shen Lanxi suspected her as well, she became “one of the suspects” and was driven out of Shen Garden on the day of Grandpa’s funeral.

“Shanshan.”

Just as Jiang Huashan was about to start sorting through everything, a gentle voice suddenly sounded behind her, interrupting her thoughts.

Fang Mei walked into the pavilion with a smile, calmly sizing her up.

“Shanshan, what’s wrong? I called you for ages over there. Why didn’t you react at all?”

Jiang Huashan frowned slightly and met her gaze without the slightest avoidance.

Before, she had not known what was going on, so she had been too lazy to deal with this woman.

But if she was certain this was a restart, then this time, she had to cut things off with this woman as early as possible.

In her previous life, this “good mother” of hers had trained her like a dog.

Not only had Fang Mei treated her like goods to be traded, but she had also destroyed Jiang Huashan’s dream at twenty.

After Grandpa died, Fang Mei took Jiang Wanyi and defected to the second branch of the Shen family.

At that time, Shen Lanxi and the second branch were locked in a deadly struggle. Fang Mei’s betrayal made Shen Lanxi even more certain that their marriage had been a premeditated trap. He believed Jiang Huashan had colluded with the second branch to murder Grandpa.

That was why he had torn off all pretense at Grandpa’s funeral and driven her out of Shen Garden.

But what Jiang Huashan could never forgive most was what happened on the day Grandpa died.

Fang Mei had ignored all mother-daughter affection and forced her to sell Little Shen Garden, the estate Grandpa had given her.

Just because Jiang Huashan refused, Fang Mei tore away all her disguises on the spot and subjected her to three full hours of character assassination and emotional abuse.

In the end, she left behind only eight words.

Their blood ties were finished. Their bond was severed.

No.

A flash of insight struck Jiang Huashan.

She suddenly found a suspicious detail that did not make sense.

This mother of hers put profit above everything.

Even after Grandpa died and Shen Lanxi hated her, Jiang Huashan was still the legitimate Young Madam Shen in name. Fang Mei had gained countless conveniences through that title. How could she simply abandon it?

Besides, Fang Mei was best at avoiding risk.

Whether it was stocks or futures, she only dared to bet after confirming the information and being certain she would profit.

But back then, the Shen family’s internal fight had not yet ended.

So why had Fang Mei placed her bet on the second branch so decisively?

“Shanshan? What exactly is wrong with you? Why are you looking at Mom like that?”

A strange feeling suddenly rose in Fang Mei’s heart.

She kept feeling that something was wrong with the Jiang Huashan in front of her.

Jiang Huashan calmly withdrew her gaze.

She treated the woman before her as nothing more than background scenery, then walked out of the pavilion without looking away.

Fang Mei had never seen Jiang Huashan like this before.

By the time she reacted, Jiang Huashan had already turned into the hanging-flower gate.