Chapter 62: Turning Truth Upside Down

Indigo nodded. “Earlier, after Prince Duan had his accident, Mistress went to the back garden. Once she left, that Granny Li somehow managed to knock out the maid guarding her, then set a fire and fled.”
“Even now, she still hasn’t been found.”
Tan Qingjiu narrowed her eyes slightly. “She escaped?”
“Yes.”
“Tan Yunge doesn’t know where she went either?”
Tan Qingjiu let out a mocking laugh. “Does Tan Yunge really not know where she is, or is she deliberately withholding the truth? Or perhaps, Tan Yunge herself has hidden Granny Li away, who can say?”
“After all, with Granny Li gone, all those things I spoke of before have lost their only witness.”
From Prince Duan’s manor to the Tan residence, one had to pass by the gates of Prince Ding’s manor. The servants there had stopped their carriage on the only route leading past.
Thus, Tan Qingjiu and Indigo had barely exchanged a few words before arriving outside Prince Ding’s manor.
“Tan, the divine physician, please step out of the carriage?”
Tan Qingjiu responded and led her people down.
The servants ushered her into the rear courtyard, Anci Pavilion. No sooner had Tan Qingjiu entered than she heard Tan Yunge’s mournful and aggrieved sobbing: “I truly don’t know why my sister and Granny Li would say such things. Perhaps it’s because we’ve had a few disagreements since she returned to the capital—many are aware of that, those around me, and in the Tan household.”
“She even poisoned me twice, rendering me mute and covered in red rashes.”
“I thought after those two times, her anger would have subsided. Who’d have thought she’d be so malicious, bribing my maid to frame and slander me?”
Tan Yunge had clearly been crying for quite some time; her voice was hoarse. “Zijiao was born after I carried her for ten months, and it was the house physician who diagnosed my pregnancy.”
“The heir was present when I gave birth.”
“I simply can’t understand how, with just a few words from Tan Qingjiu and Granny Li, the child I struggled so hard to bring into this world could suddenly be claimed as hers?”

Tan Qingjiu paused in her steps. Tan Xingqi and Tan Xingyou both looked up at her, their eyes filled with concern.
Tan Xingyou gritted his teeth. “How can that woman so shamelessly turn truth into lies?”
Tan Qingjiu’s gaze grew somber, but she remained silent.
“Princess, the divine physician Tan has arrived.”
Only then did Princess Ding’s voice come from within. “Please, come in.”
Tan Qingjiu had barely stepped into the room when Tan Yunge’s harsh questioning rang out. “Second sister, why would you slander me so? Why would you harm me? How could you be so cruel?”
“Tell me, did you bribe Granny Li to lie?”
“What was your purpose in spreading such lies?” Tan Yunge’s eyes were bloodshot, her lashes wet with tears, fury blazing in her gaze. “Is it because you fancy the heir? Did you plot all this so you could replace me and become Princess Ding’s heir?”
At this, Tan Yunge’s eyes shone with sudden realization. “That must be it!”
“You deliberately stopped the heir’s mad horse on the street, saved him, struck up a conversation—all of it was premeditated, wasn’t it?”
“You desire him, and since your pregnancy coincided with mine, you concocted this vicious scheme!”
Tan Yunge bit her lip. “Six or seven years ago, you’d just come of age and were already shameless, flirting everywhere, even becoming pregnant with a bastard. Father drowned you in the pond—everyone knows that. Now you try to pin it on me!”
As she spoke, Tan Yunge’s eyes shifted to the two children beside Tan Qingjiu. “And this afternoon, we all heard it—those two called you mother!”
“They must be the bastards you gave birth to six years ago. Their ages match perfectly.” Tan Yunge’s mind raced. “I was puzzled when you returned to the Tan residence without children—why did these two suddenly appear and call you mother?”
“Thinking it over, it makes sense. They are yours, but you devised this cruel plot to frame me, to get close to the heir, so everyone would believe you were Zijiao’s mother and then enter the heir’s household.”
“Because you wanted that, having two bastards around would be inconvenient, would hinder your plan. So you kept them outside, refused to acknowledge them.”
Tan Yunge gave no one a chance to interrupt, relentlessly pressing her accusations.

Tan Qingjiu’s gaze deepened further. Her elder sister truly was formidable.
The events of the afternoon had happened so suddenly, and yet Tan Yunge had already spun a near-perfect narrative.
Everything sounded plausible.
Even why Xingqi and Xingyou hadn’t been brought back to the Tan residence seemed neatly explained.
Tan Qingjiu looked up at Princess Ding, who was frowning deeply, her expression betraying a hint of wavering.
It seemed Tan Yunge’s words were swaying her.
“Enough!” Princess Ding took a deep breath and turned her gaze to Tan Qingjiu. “Qingjiu, speak. You are someone Ajue values, and I’d rather not judge you with suspicion. Why don’t you tell us the truth of the matter?”
Tan Qingjiu lowered her eyes. “Every word Princess Ding heard this afternoon was true. I didn’t know you were outside the door at the time—there was no reason for me to act.”
“And moreover…”
Tan Qingjiu lifted her gaze to meet Tan Yunge’s, who held her head high, glaring arrogantly. “And the heir’s wife claims I bribed Granny Li to act out this scene, so everyone would believe I am Zijiao’s birth mother and replace her as Princess Ding’s heir.”
“Yes!” Tan Yunge sneered. “You covet the position! You are jealous of me!”
Tan Qingjiu chuckled at her words. “But…”
“Earlier, Princess Ding must have heard it clearly: Prince Duan said he wished to marry me, but I refused.”
“If I wanted power, status, and riches, why not simply marry Prince Duan? Why go to so much trouble to become stepmother to a child with whom I share no blood?”
“Is not the position of Princess Duan far more distinguished than that of the heir’s wife?”