The hall was filled with joy and laughter, and nobody noticed a sneaky figure carrying a basket slipping out of the back door and sneaking into a single-horse carriage waiting outside.
"Crack."
Under the cover of darkness, a faint whip crack was heard, and the panting, frothing horse raised its hooves, galloping forward.
The carriage sped down the silent, empty street, the sound of horse hooves tapping on people's hearts. Inside the carriage, the maidservant holding the basket couldn't help but shiver.
"Eldest Miss, don't blame me for being heartless. It was all Aunt Xue's doing, that wicked woman. She couldn't stand Madam having a favored daughter, so she sent people to imprison my parents and siblings, forcing me to do this."
The carriage sped to the southwest gate of Capital City. The carter presented the Duke of Zhen's token and smoothly left the city. The carriage continued speeding nonstop down the southbound official road.
At dawn, the carriage had already traveled tens of miles away from the Capital City and stopped by the Weishui River, which flows through the Qilian Mountains from north to south. Trembling, the maidservant jumped off the carriage with the basket and, pushed by the carter, approached the deep water one step at a time.
"Eldest Miss, this slave is sorry. With guilt in my heart, I will make up for this life's debt in my next life by serving as a cow or horse."
The maidservant hugged the basket tightly, unable to find the strength to drown the baby herself. While the carter wasn't paying attention, she set the basket on the water's surface, letting it float downstream.
"Swoosh, swoosh."
From the forest along the riverbank, two cold arrows were fired. Before the carter and the maidservant could react, they were struck through the heart and died on the spot.
Two men in black masks emerged from the forest and threw the carter's corpse into the river. They severed the carriage's harness, let the horse go, and set the carriage on fire. After swiftly and cleanly disposing of the crime scene and all traces, they exchanged a glance, jumped on horseback, and vanished into the woods.
********
"Wah, wah"
In the basket floating downstream in the Weishui River, a tiny baby's weak cry was heard. The little baby girl wrapped in a quilt listened to the gurgling sound of the flowing water next to her ear, felt sorry for herself, and touched her flat, hungry little stomach with her tear-filled eyes.
"Sigh, poor Master. You've just reincarnated into a new life and immediately met an unreliable couple who didn't even realize their biological daughter had been swapped."
A tiny baby bird, only the size of a palm and full of fluff, appeared out of thin air in the basket with a flash of golden light on the little girl's forehead.
The baby bird, flicking its bright, intelligent black eyes, looked down at its wronged, tear-eyed little master and couldn't help but sympathize.
The little master is hungry, but where can we find a family nearby to give her some milk?
"Coo, coo"
Seeing the baby bird, the little girl's water-stained eyes lit up in an instant. Her pink, tender little hand reached out from the quilt and gently stroked its feathers.
Though she had just been born and was too small to speak, the baby bird could still understand the meaning hidden behind her unique babble.
"Master, don't worry. It seems there's a village, neither large nor small, up ahead on the riverbank. If Yin'er controls the basket and lets us drift downstream, we might find a suitable family to take us in."
"Giggle, giggle"
Understanding the baby bird's meaning, the little girl's snowy jade-pink face beamed bright with laughter, looking incredibly cute.
"Sigh, poor Master."
The baby bird looked down at her delicate, lovely little face and couldn't help but lament.
"Born in Duke of Zhen's residence, delicate and elegant, you should have been pampered all your life. But with unreliable parents, you've ended up in the hands of commoners. Who knows which destitute family will adopt you and what your fate will be like."
"Coo, coo"
Understand its complaints, the little girl gently stroked the baby bird's fluffy feathers, as if soothing it.
Since fate has arranged it this way, let's just go with the flow and see where the river takes us!