Volume One, Chapter 20: Is She Truly His White Moonlight?

Upon hearing this, Su Wanwan blushed deeply, her hand brushing over the golden hairpin atop her head. That single accessory was worth far more than a thousand taels of silver.

Su Wen was unwilling to waste more words. “Su Zhizhi, just answer—will you repay the thousand taels of gold or not? Your family has ten thousand taels in the residence.”

“No!” The reply was sharp and resolute.

Su Zhizhi approached the silent Su Heng. “Big brother, do you think I should repay it?”

Su Heng had not intended to come to demand the debt, but when Su Wanwan cried before him, his heart softened. Even if it meant venturing into the underworld, he felt he had to try. Hesitating, he nodded.

“Since sister doesn’t lack the money, then perhaps...” Su Zhizhi looked up. Su Heng’s expression was unmistakable; if they refused today, even the only brother in the Duke’s Mansion who still harbored pity for her would likely turn against her.

“Though I wrote a severance letter on my wedding day, cutting ties with the Duke’s Mansion, I cannot stand idly by while the mansion faces hardship, even as its forsaken daughter.”

Su Zhizhi paused, her face troubled.

“But... but...” Suddenly, she burst into tears, her acting flawless.

“But this gold is also borrowed.” She pulled out an IOU from her sleeve. “I took this loan at the Yong’an Bank, risking my life. If I cannot repay it, I shall repay with all my blood.”

Su Wanwan sneered, “Exchange your blood? Is your blood really that valuable? Sounds more like you plan to repay it with your body.”

A sharp slap echoed.

Su Zhizhi’s clenched fist relaxed, her palm beginning to sweat.

The one who slapped Su Wanwan was not herself, but Madam Wang!

Madam Wang, fearless as a newborn calf before a tiger, had jumped ahead and slapped Su Wanwan first.

Five red handprints marked Su Wanwan’s pale skin, looking utterly ridiculous.

Before Su Wanwan and her three brothers could fully erupt in fury, Su Zhizhi stepped forward to shield Madam Wang.

“If you have grievances, take them out on me, not an old nursemaid.”

Su Wanwan’s rage flared. “Su Zhizhi! I said you bear a grudge, orchestrating this old woman to strike me! Even our parents would never hit me!”

The three brothers stood around Su Wanwan, their eyes full of concern and tenderness.

“Su Zhizhi, don’t think that just because you’re a royal consort you can do as you please.”

“Who says the consort of this prince can’t do as she wishes?”

Madam Wang was the nursemaid of the Prince of Jin, who forbade anyone from harming her.

Su Zhizhi, having wed him, was even more protected from slander.

Just as Su Wanwan was about to raise her hand to slap Madam Wang back, a powerful grip seized her wrist.

Turning in anger, Su Wanwan’s heart tightened at the sight of the prince’s handsome face, as if struck by a sudden blow.

Although the prince had lost his power, his noble status still commanded respect, and she dared not be disrespectful.

Suppressing her anger, Su Wanwan forced a composed smile.

“Prince, you hurt her.”

The Prince of Jin slightly loosened his grip. The delicate voice unsettled him.

He frowned, never expecting the true daughter of the Duke of Su to possess such seductive tricks.

Truly, it was a disgrace to her lady's upbringing.

Yet when his gaze inadvertently passed over Su Wanwan’s wrist, his eyes suddenly shone with shock and delight, as if losing his soul.

His voice hoarse, he asked, “What is the mark on your wrist?”

Startled by the heavy atmosphere, Su Wanwan quickly withdrew her hand.

Last time, an assassin had identified her as a murderer due to this mark; she could not understand the prince’s meaning.

She slid her wrist back into her sleeve.

“This mark has been with me since childhood. My mother said it signifies natural beauty and fortune.”

The prince pressed on urgently, “Miss Su, did you ever visit Pingshan as a child?”

Previously, at the Mo Manor where her foster mother Lady Mo resided, Su Wanwan had traveled to Pingshan, where the Mo family once held estates.

Su Wanwan nodded.

“I accompanied my foster mother there when I was about ten.”

“Did you ever give someone a pear blossom sachet?”

Su Wanwan did not recall any pear blossom sachet.

But seeing the prince’s anxious expression, she guessed it must be important to him.

Tentatively, she nodded.

Ten years old?

Visited Pingshan?

Blossom mark?

Gave a sachet?

All matched perfectly.

Inside, the Prince of Jin’s heart surged, his pulse quickening.

After searching so long, he had finally found her.

His gaze softened, looking at Su Wanwan as if she were a priceless treasure.

Su Zhizhi was no stranger to this look.

Their three elder brothers and even their parents had once looked at Su Wanwan with such eyes.

But now, the prince’s gaze held something more—longing and reluctance.

It was the first time Su Wanwan had seen the prince look at her this way.

Gentle, without any sharpness.

Pingshan? Who hadn’t been there?

Su Zhizhi thought bitterly—she had been there as a child, even saved someone from the water.

She glanced at her own wrist, where the pear blossom mark appeared only when wet.

It was precisely this mark that had caused their parents to mistake her for the true daughter.

The real daughter had a peach blossom mark from birth.

Su Zhizhi’s mark was a pear blossom, visible only when wet.

But Lady Su and the midwife had thought they had simply not seen the mark clearly.

Until five years ago.

The Mo Manor, where Su Wanwan lived, declined. All disciples disbanded.

Lady Mo, unable to continue deceiving Su Wanwan, revealed the truth and personally took her to the Duke of Su to be acknowledged.

Lady Mo brought the family heirloom jade pendant and the five-petal peach blossom mark on Su Wanwan’s wrist to the Duke’s Mansion.

Su Wanwan resembled Lady Mo by seventy or eighty percent; with the pendant and the peach blossom mark, it was irrefutable proof.

It confirmed Su Zhizhi as the fake daughter.

The Duke and his wife, along with the brothers, believed Su Zhizhi was sent by the Mo Manor to exact revenge on the Su family.

No matter how Lady Mo explained, no one believed her.

Su Zhizhi was a thief who had stolen the true daughter’s life.

A Mo Manor spy.

A lowborn slave.

Su Zhizhi had no intention of stealing anyone’s life or harming others.

Yet Su Wanwan had still poisoned her in the previous life.

Su Zhizhi sneered.

“Prince, you must think my sister is beautiful and kind, right? Our Wanwan sister is the most beautiful woman in the capital’s garrison. The insults she just spat at me must have been the work of evil influences; usually, she’s like a fairy descended from the heavens.”

Su Zhizhi showered her sister with flattery, one rainbow of praise after another.

After all, she had no money and only one life.

“Will you not repay the gold owed to Wanwan?”

Su Zhizhi lifted her eyes.

These words unexpectedly came from Wei Guxiao’s mouth.

Su Wanwan had just verbally insulted her, and now, in such a short time, the Prince of Jin had become her protector?

“This is my dowry and bridal gift. Why should I repay it?”

Seeing Su Zhizhi unmoved, the prince turned and ordered, “Madam Wang, bring the thousand taels of gold to Miss Wanwan.”

“Old servant dares not decide...” Madam Wang hesitated.

Su Zhizhi looked on with contempt, thinking, What spell has Wei Guxiao fallen under? Su Wanwan orders, and he obeys?

But Su Zhizhi was no pushover.

She was adaptable and a masterful actress.

The game was far from over.