Chapter 77 Jumped Down

Tan Yunge bit her lip. “Shall we go over there to talk?”

Tan Qingjiu saw she was pointing to the pavilion at the heart of the lake.

The lakeside pavilion was indeed a good place—away from prying ears.

“Very well.”

Tan Qingjiu followed Tan Yunge to the pavilion on the lake. “What is it you wish to discuss, sister?”

“Zijiao has been coming to me these past days, asking whether all those rumors are true. He’s terrified. All these years, I’ve treated him as my own child. He’s always been attached to me, always protective. If he learns his birth mother is someone else, he won’t be able to accept it. He’s just a child, he’ll break.”

As Tan Yunge spoke, tears streamed down her face, full of anguish and reluctance. “You are his mother, you must consider his feelings more.”

Tan Qingjiu gazed at Tan Yunge with calm indifference, silently lamenting why this world lacked voice recorders, cameras, or surveillance. If those existed, she would record Tan Yunge’s words and show them to everyone.

She had not expected Tan Yunge to admit it so readily—perhaps emboldened by the conviction that no one would overhear or witness.

“He is my child? He cannot accept it? He will break?” Tan Qingjiu laughed softly. “Now, sister remembers he is my child?”

“Six years ago, when you snatched him from me, did that thought never cross your mind? Did it never occur to you that he was my flesh and blood?”

Tan Yunge sobbed, her voice trembling. “I was out of my mind then. After marrying the heir, I could not conceive. There were always women in the heir’s residence. Everyone whispered behind my back, calling me a hen that lays no eggs. I even overheard the heir, upon hearing such remarks, carelessly say, ‘If she cannot bear children, just send her away.’”

“I was terrified. Our Tan family did everything possible to marry me to the heir—I am our family’s hope. Father pinned his aspirations on me, believing that through the heir and Prince Duan, he could rise step by step.”

“I could not be sent home in disgrace.”

Tan Yunge looked up through misted tears at Tan Qingjiu, seeing her unmoved, stoic expression. She clenched her embroidered handkerchief and bit her jaw. “You are a child of the Tan family, too. Should you not contribute for our family?”

Tan Qingjiu nearly laughed in disbelief. “Because I am of the Tan family, I am obliged to sacrifice? Even if I must, does that grant you the right to manipulate me, to let me lose my virtue, to bear a child, and then steal him from me?”

Tan Qingjiu sneered at her. “Why didn’t you simply have the heir marry me as his secondary wife? Wouldn’t that be better for all? If I bore a child, it would be credited to the Tan family, and in the heir’s household, I could assist you. Wouldn’t that be ideal?”

Tan Yunge’s face darkened instantly. So Tan Qingjiu truly had such intentions—the wretch, aspiring to enter the heir’s residence as his secondary wife? Dream on!

But remembering her mother’s instructions and the past events, Tan Yunge forced down her anger, biting her lip harder. “I was young and foolish then, did not think so far ahead. There’s no point in discussing the past, what’s done is done.”

“We should think carefully about what is best for the Tan family and for Zijiao now, shouldn’t we?”

Tan Qingjiu nodded. “How to proceed? It’s simple. Admit what happened, confess that Shen Zijiao was taken from me. As for the Tan family, is it not enough that I am here?”

“Impossible! You’re delusional if you think you can replace me as the heir’s wife! Never!”

Tan Yunge nearly shouted in reflex, then realized what she was saying, clenching her teeth. “Zijiao will never accept you. Have you considered his feelings?”

Tan Qingjiu smiled faintly. “And what does sister believe is the right way? Tell me…”

“We should conceal the truth, keep things as they are. You clarify matters with the heir, Prince Duan, and Princess Duan. Tell them it was all your scheming, that you coveted the position of heir’s wife, which led to all this. Say the blood test was tampered with.”

“Say it had nothing to do with me—it was all your doing. Say that Zijiao is my child…”

So, after all her feigned pity and invoking Zijiao’s name, Tan Yunge’s true purpose was this.

“Sister wishes me to bear all the blame, to cleanse your name?”

“What do you mean, cleanse?” Tan Yunge frowned, not understanding the word, but sensing it was no compliment. “This is the best solution. Otherwise, the Tan family’s reputation will be damaged, and Zijiao will be hurt.”

“You claim to care for Zijiao, to shield him from pain, yet you deny him the chance to be with his birth mother—is that kindness? If his birth mother’s name is ruined, will that spare him harm?”

“Moreover…” Tan Qingjiu scoffed. “After what you did to me six years ago, do you think I only wish to reclaim Zijiao, or seize your position as the heir’s wife?”

“Sister, you are wrong. What I desire is to take everything you possess: reputation, status, prestige, wealth, child, family—even your life.”

Tan Yunge’s eyes widened in shock, never expecting Tan Qingjiu to be so bold.

“You—you—how dare you? How dare you say such things?”

“What is there to fear? You brought me here precisely because, surrounded by water, no one can overhear us.”

Tan Yunge was furious. A wretch will always be a wretch!

She should never have listened to her mother and her attendants, never have tried to use Shen Zijiao to sway Tan Qingjiu.

She ought to have simply killed this wretch.

Tan Yunge’s gaze fell upon the lake, calculating silently. Here, only she and Tan Qingjiu were present. If she were to jump in and claim Tan Qingjiu pushed her…

Tan Qingjiu saw the change in Tan Yunge’s expression, reading the schemes in her eyes.

Seeing her glance at the water, Tan Qingjiu guessed her intention.

Tan Qingjiu’s lips curled into a smile. She suddenly cried out, “Sister! How could you treat me so?”

“Are you planning to kill me?”

With that, as Tan Yunge stood stunned, Tan Qingjiu stepped back and fell backward into the lake.