The Double

Even after looking many times, Xue Fangfei still wasn't used to it.

The bronze mirror with its embroidered edge had a crack, and the face reflected in it bore a similar flaw. The face seemed distorted, and the girl in the mirror, who looked to be about fourteen or fifteen, was as startlingly thin as her maid, Tonger.

Xue Fangfei recalled her own appearance at fourteen or fifteen, decidedly not sallow and emaciated like this. For a Chief Minister's Daughter, this girl looked to be in a worse state than the servants. This face, compared to her original one, known as the most beautiful in Yanjing, was beyond comparison.

But that face, in the end, met no better fate; it too was doomed by beauty, buried under a layer of yellow earth.

Xue Fangfei's thoughts wandered far. She never imagined that she hadn't died, or rather, that she had died, yet lived again, becoming Jiang Li of the Jiang Family in Yanjing, the current Chief Minister's Daughter.

As Chief Senior Scholar, Jiang Yuanbai was the Emperor's mentor, a man before whom all civil officials bowed. In the imperial audience hall, Jiang Yuanbai did not act arrogantly but rather with moderation, like a harmony-seeking elder. However, exactly for that reason, there were quite a few who openly aligned with Jiang Yuanbai, not to mention those secretly in league with him.

Jiang Yuanbai had connections throughout the imperial court, and Emperor Hongxiao trusted him deeply, yet Jiang Yuanbai was not ostentatious. Xue Huaiyuan had said that seeming moderation was, in fact, a strategy of governance. One thing, however, was beyond doubt: Jiang Yuanbai was a high official, and Jiang Li, inevitably, a noble's daughter.

But the life of this Chief Minister's Daughter was far from glamorous. Jiang Li's mother originated from the wealthy Ye Family of Xiangyang, famed in the Yan Dynasty. Rich beyond measure, the Ye Family owned the jewelry chain Hongxiang Building, with fifty-six stores throughout the dynasty. Back when Jiang Yuanbai was not yet an Imperial Cabinet Senior Scholar, he caught the eye of Elder Master Ye, who gave him his youngest daughter, Ye Zhenzhen, in marriage.

Who knew that after marrying into the Jiang Family, Ye Zhenzhen took three years to bear Jiang Li. Jiang Li was only a year old when Ye Zhenzhen died. Jiang Yuanbai then remarried the legitimate daughter of the Vice Imperial Envoy, Ji Shuran. Ji Shuran bore Jiang Youyao in the first year of their marriage, and while pregnant with a second child when Jiang Li was seven, was pushed down the stairs by Jiang Li during a banquet, resulting in a miscarriage and the loss of a son. Ji Shuran was gravely injured and henceforth unable to conceive.

Jiang Yuanbai was enraged, but thanks to Ji Shuran's intercession on Jiang Li's behalf, Jiang Li was still sent to the Family Temple to reflect.

Nonetheless, the charge of poisoning her stepmother and plotting against her legitimate brother was an inescapable stain on Jiang Li's reputation, and to the people of Yanjing, the Second Miss Jiang was only remembered for her malice.

After Ye Zhenzhen's death, fearing mistreatment of Jiang Li by her stepmother, the Ye Family indeed sent for her. If Jiang Li had been willing, she could have lived with the Ye Family of Xiangyang, but regardless of how the Jiang Family treated her, Jiang Li herself refused to leave. As a result, the Ye Family's attempts ceased over time.

Xue Fangfei was also aware of these casual tales from the capital but never expected such a notorious and heartless Chief Minister's Daughter to live in such destitution, while the highly regarded Jiang Yuanbai and the Bodhisattva-hearted Ji Shuran paid no heed to the dying Jiang Li.

Perhaps, this was their arrangement.

Jiang Li brought this fate upon herself.

It began when Ye Zhenzhen was still alive and the Jiang Family was on good terms with the Marquis of Ningyuan. The heir of the Marquis of Ningyuan was born a year before Jiang Li. Ye Zhenzhen and the Marquis's wife thought it a good idea to set a marriage arrangement for their children, considering the families were well matched and familiar with each other, which would make future support easier.

It was initially just a verbal agreement, but once the Marquis of Ningyuan became aware, he promptly had his wife formally write a marriage contract with the Jiang Family. Although somewhat hesitant, Ye Zhenzhen also felt joy at the prospect of becoming relatives with the benevolent Marquis's wife. With such a mother-in-law, Jiang Li was bound to live a secure life.

Even though Ye Zhenzhen passed away, the marriage arrangement between Jiang Li and the Princely Heir of the Marquis of Ningyuan remained valid. While it wasn't proclaimed loudly in Yanjing City, both families had the marriage contract as proof.

However, a few days ago, while delivering rice and grain to the nunnery, a servant mentioned that the Princely Heir of the Marquis of Ningyuan had become engaged, to none other than Miss Jiang the Third, Jiang Youyao.

Jiang Li was shocked in that moment.

The one promised to the Princely Heir of the Marquis of Ningyuan was clearly Jiang Li, so how had it become Jiang Youyao? Fierce by nature, Jiang Li wanted to return to Yanjing to demand justice, only to be met with cold scorn and mockery from the visiting matron.

Nowadays, the people of Yanjing only recognize Miss Jiang the Third, but who knows who Miss Jiang the Second is? Even if they did know, she's only seen as a malicious woman who poisoned her stepmother and younger brother. How could such a person be a match for the Princely Heir of Marquis Ningyuan? Presumably, the Marquis Ningyuan's Mansion doesn't take Jiang Li seriously either, otherwise, they wouldn't agree to switch the betrothal.

That old woman also mocked that if Miss Jiang the Second made a fuss about it, it would only be a laughingstock. She said that even if the Marquis Ningyuan's Mansion had to marry Jiang Li in the end, they wouldn't treat her sincerely and would only grow to detest her.

Miss Jiang the Second turned around and threw herself into the lake.

After she was rescued, she fell seriously ill. She became increasingly emaciated, already having been very thin, and now a gust of wind seemed as if it could blow her over. Yet even in such a state of illness, no one from Yanjing came to see her.

Maybe only after her death would someone come to collect her body.

Perhaps they just wanted Jiang Li to die of exhaustion in the nunnery and let her death be deemed a "natural illness," so everything could be decided by them.

Just like how Princess Ningyuan and Shen Yurong then tried to wear down Xue Fangfei until her death.

Tonger, seething with anger, was chopping wood at the side. The mountain was not hot, but it was cold and damp. The servant and master had to fend for themselves in every aspect of life, nobly named "cultivating the mind and nurturing one's character." Yet, they were subtly tortured by those nuns in the nunnery who had taken silver.

"If I had known it would be like this, we should have gone back to the Ye Family of Xiangyang in the first place," said Tonger. "Look at what kind of life our Miss is living now."

Xiangyang…

Xue Fangfei was slightly moved.

Jiang Li's maternal family, the Ye Family, was in Xiangyang, and she wanted to go back to Tongxiang of Xiangyang.

She wanted to return to pay homage to her father, to kowtow before him. It was her unfilial conduct that wed an unfeeling man, bringing about an undeserved disaster, causing her father's death and her younger brother's demise.

To return to Xiangyang, she had to first go back to Yanjing, but now she couldn't even leave the nunnery.

They say the gods are but a mere three feet above one's head, but on a rainy day, when she raised her head, only a terrifying black night loomed, with no sight of any gods.

No matter, she would take it one step at a time, and eventually, she would reach where she wanted to go.

On her deathbed, Princess Yongning advised her to be reborn into a daughter's home in her next life. Now she was indeed in a daughter's home, albeit a destitute daughter, but she would no longer be at the mercy of others. She wondered if this time, they were prepared?

Xue Fangfei was already dead, and from now on, she would no longer be Xue Fangfei.

"I am Jiang Li," she said to herself.

The reborn Miss Jiang the Second, Jiang Li.