"Five is, why is that old man looking at you like that?"
"Because I look good, and he must be amazed by my beauty and stunned, right?"
Hearing this, Li Qi Lang and Li Er Ya exchanged a helpless look while watching Li Wu Ya, who was smiling and admiring herself and couldn't help but roll their eyes.
The distance between the three siblings and the carriage was not far, and the old man had heard their conversation, which made his mouth twitch.
Jiang Sheng looked at Li Wu Ya and his heart was anything but calm. She looked too similar, her eyebrows, eyes, and the two dimples at the corners of her mouth, just like his third sister when she was a child.
Thinking about the mission he was assigned this time, Jiang Sheng calmed his mind, put on a friendly smile, and walked towards Li Er Ya and her two younger siblings.
Seeing him approaching, Li Er Ya took a step forward to block Li Wu Ya and Li Qi Lang, looking at Jiang Sheng with vigilance, "What do you want?"
Jiang Sheng noticed their guardedness and quickly said, "Don't be nervous, young friends, I came here to visit a friend at Dieling Pass. I ran out of water on the way and passed by the post station, so I wanted to get some water. I'm not a bad person."
Li Er Ya heard this but didn't let her guard down, "If you want water, you can get it at the post station." She was about to pull Li Wu Ya and Li Qi Lang away.
Jiang Sheng quickly stopped them, "Wait a moment."
Li Er Ya frowned, "Do you have something else?"
Jiang Sheng tried to smile amiably, "I haven't been to this area for a long time, and there are many things I'm not familiar with. I wanted to ask you three young friends for some information."
Li Wu Ya laughed out loud and looked at Jiang Sheng, "Grandpa, you want to ask for information? You should ask the adults inside the post station. We are just kids and don't know anything."
Li Qi Lang nodded in agreement, "Yes, you should ask the adults."
Frowning, Li Wu Ya looked at Jiang Sheng, "Don't smile like that, you don't look like a good person. You look like, like..."
Li Wu Ya continued, "Like a child trafficker."
Li Qi Lang nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes, like a trafficker."
Jiang Sheng's smile froze for a moment, "I am a good person." His voice sounded somewhat pale.
Li Er Ya glared at her younger siblings, "Grandpa, my siblings are just joking. If you want to inquire about something, you should go inside the post station. We have things to do and need to go home."
Saying that, without waiting for Jiang Sheng's reaction, she pulled Li Wu Ya and Li Qi Lang away.
Watching the three siblings leave, Jiang Sheng fell silent. He saw the name "Li Chang Sen" and felt his heart beating faster. He quickly approached the station's attendant, putting on a friendly facade and struck up a conversation. Before long, he learned all about the situation of the Li family at Tianling Tuen.
In Rongcheng.
General Guangwei's Residence, the Jiang Family.
Jiang Antai saw his wife return to the room looking tired and asked with a furrowed brow, "Are Second Brother and his family still causing trouble?"
Madam Jiang, with a cup of tea handed by the maid, took a sip and replied, "After some effort, we managed to placate them. But, husband, you must tell me the truth. Does Second Brother have an illegitimate child outside?"
Frowning, Jiang Antai's face turned angry, "What nonsense! Do you think that of Second Brother? Don't you know his character?"
Madam Jiang said, "I don't want to believe it either, but that person we saw on the street looked so much like Second Brother. Apart from the possibility of an illegitimate child, I can't think of any other explanation."
Jiang Antai fell silent.
Madam Jiang looked at her husband and thought of her second brother and his family, who had looked worn out lately. She felt indignant on their behalf. "My second sister-in-law's temper might be a bit fiery, but she does take good care of my second brother. He lives in the military camp most of the time, and she takes care of the children and household all by herself. It's not easy for her. If my second brother wanted to take a concubine, couldn't he just discuss it with her openly? Why did he end up having an illegitimate child?"
"Look at that man's appearance. He doesn't look much younger than them. Isn't it obvious that he's publicly humiliating my second sister-in-law?"
Jiang Antai felt irritated, "I already said that he's not Second Brother's illegitimate child."
Madam Jiang asked, "If he's not Second Brother's illegitimate child, then who is he?"
Jiang Antai sighed heavily, "Haven't you heard of nephews looking like uncles?"
Madam Jiang was puzzled, "Nephews looking like uncles? Husband, what do you mean? Are you saying that the man is not Second Brother's illegitimate child but related to my sister?"
Seeing his wife's thoughts wandering off into absurdity, Jiang Antai's face turned blue, "Can you stop thinking about illegitimate children all the time?"
Madam Jiang was truly confused, "But if he's not an illegitimate child, could he be a legitimate son? How does he have a connection to my sister?"
Suddenly, her expression changed as she stared at Jiang Antai, "When Father passed away, my sister was six months pregnant and returned for the funeral. Coincidentally, she encountered the ambush in Rongcheng and was frightened, which led her to give birth prematurely in a dilapidated temple."
"Later, I heard my sister say that when she was giving birth to Zheng Kun, a man came with his pregnant wife seeking help. My brother-in-law couldn't bear to see them in distress, so he had the servants help the woman give birth. Could it be..."
Jiang Antai's wife looked at Jiang Antai, seeking confirmation, "It's not what I think, right?"
Jiang Antai leaned back in his chair with a headache, "I can't say for sure right now. I've sent Jiang Sheng to investigate. We'll wait for his return to know for sure."
"How could something so absurd happen?"
Jiang's wife was completely stunned. She had initially thought it was a matter of her second brother's misconduct and an illegitimate child, but she never expected it to involve her younger sister.
"No wonder..."
"No wonder what?"
Jiang's wife looked at Jiang Antai, "No wonder when Zheng Mao got married, I went to the capital to attend the wedding and felt that Zheng Kun was different from the other children. You forgot that when I came back, I specifically mentioned it to you."
Jiang Antai really couldn't recall and hurriedly asked, "What was different about him?"
Jiang's wife immediately said, "In our Jiang family and the Shi family, we are all martial families. Most of the children in our families like to wield weapons, but Zheng Kun couldn't even pull a bow."
"That's not all; Zheng Kun is shorter than his siblings by half a head."
"For this reason, my sister felt especially guilty, thinking that she might have been scared during childbirth, leading to Zheng Kun's weaker constitution. She has always favoured him since he was young."
Thinking of the tall, dark-skinned man they had seen on the street, Jiang's wife's expression became extremely complicated. "But now it seems like they might have swapped the children?!"
Jiang Antai didn't say anything. After a while, he said, "Let's wait for Jiang Sheng to come back."
A few days later, Jiang Sheng, the housekeeper of the Jiang residence, returned.
As soon as they heard of his return, Madam Jiang put down what she was doing and rushed to Jiang Antai's study.
Jiang Sheng first paid his respects to Jiang Antai and Madam Jiang and then proceeded to share all the information he had gathered during this period.
"Master, Madam, I secretly went to observe Old Man Li and Old Lady Li. The fourth young master of the Shi family, Zheng Kun, bears a striking resemblance to both of them."
Zheng Kun looked like both the Li family's elderly couple and the Jiang family's members. What did this indicate? It suggested that the child might have indeed been switched at birth.
"Also, Li Chang Sen's youngest daughter looks particularly like the appearance of Third Miss when she was young. She's quite a little mischievous one."
As soon as these words were spoken, Jiang Antai immediately recalled the little girl he had seen five years ago when he accompanied the Prince Rong to seek the Old Man of Tianchi in Xining City.
Then, Jiang Sheng began to describe how the Li family treated Li Changsen.
"The Li family treated Li Changsen very badly. He joined the guard when he was only thirteen years old."
"A while ago, people from Dieling Pass thought Li Changsen died in the Gobi Desert and sent someone to inform the Li family of his death. On the same day, the Li family reported Li Changsen's eldest son, Li Sanlang, to the guard."
"The Li family treated Li Changsen's four children especially poorly. They believed Li Changsen was gone and directly drove the children out of their home."
As Jiang Sheng listed one after another of the mistreatment Li Changsen endured from his own family, both Jiang Antai and Madam Jiang were infuriated.
Due to the premature birth, everyone in the Shi family showed extra affection for Shi Zhengkun. However, the Li family treated Li Changsen and his family so cruelly.
"The Li family is truly despicable!" Madam Jiang's face was filled with anger. If it were her son who had been switched and then subjected to such mistreatment, she would truly collapse.
Jiang Sheng also nodded in agreement, "Indeed, when I heard about all this, I was both angry and distressed."
Madam Jiang suddenly furrowed her brows, "Wait a minute, why would the Li family treat their own son so harshly? Even if they favored someone else, it shouldn't be to this extent!"
With that, she looked at Jiang Antai intently.
"Could it be that they have known all along that Li Changsen is not their son? Was the child switched by mistake or intentionally?"
Jiang Antai's eyebrows furrowed tightly, and he fell silent without saying a word.
Madam Jiang pondered for a moment and then spoke, "What should we do now? Should we acknowledge that child as our own?"
Jiang Antai sighed, "Don't blame me for being ruthless. Even if we acknowledge him, all we'll have is a group of low-ranking military officers. But do we lack low-ranking military officers in our family?"
Madam Jiang finally understood her husband's intentions completely. Although she felt reluctant, considering the current situation of the Jiang family, she had no more words to say.
Jiang Antai looked at Jiang Sheng, "When you were investigating, did you alert them?"
Jiang Sheng quickly shook his head, "No."
"That's good." Jiang Antai nodded, "Perhaps it's best if they never know the truth. You've worked hard for more than half a month; you can rest now."
As Jiang Sheng was about to leave, Jiang Antai spoke again, "I remember Qin Garrison at Dieling Pass had some friendship with our family. I'll write a letter later, and you can deliver it to him. Ask him to take care of Li Changsen as much as possible."
Jiang Sheng immediately smiled and agreed.
After he left, Jiang Antai looked at Madam Jiang and said, "Do you think I am too heartless?"
Madam Jiang replied, "I understand that you are doing this for the future of the Jiang and Shi families." She sighed deeply, "It's just that it will be tough on that child."
Jiang Antai fell into silence. "This matter should not be disclosed to Second Brother. You know his temperament. If he finds out about this, he will definitely tell Younger Sister. You should console Second Sister-in-law carefully and make sure she doesn't bring up this matter again."
Madam Jiang hesitated, "But should we really not tell Younger Sister about this?"
Jiang Antai didn't answer immediately. After a while, he said, "Let's leave it like this for now!"