Chapter 114: The Celestial Maiden's Double

Weishao Qianyu’s remark was merely a jest; she had never truly intended for Lu Liyuan to marry Dong Nuan. However, seeing Lu Liyuan seemingly contemplating the idea rather than flatly refusing it, she found it inconceivable.

Weishao Qianyu was unaware that Lu Liyuan was equally distressed. Having just carried Dong Nuan outside, he feared that if word got out, she would never be able to marry anyone else.

Feng Jinye pondered the fact that Dong Nuan bearing an identical appearance to Weishao Qianyu was not a sustainable solution. "I wonder if Xiuying can restore her original features?"

Weishao Qianyu immediately realized the gravity of the question. "It should be possible..."

In theory, it should be, but she feared the mysterious nature of the Xuanyuan family's secret arts.

As Weishao Qianyu spoke, Feng Jinye glanced toward the door, having heard Ye Shi return. He signaled for Ye Shi and Ye Eleven to enter, handing Ruier over to Ye Eleven to be taken away.

Ye Shi had returned to Yuedu to investigate Ruier's biological father. The War King’s manor had long since thoroughly investigated Lu Yanran’s identity as the legitimate daughter of the Lu family; the only thing they could not uncover was her true standing within the Twilight Pavilion.

Now that it was exposed that Lu Yanran’s former identity was Mianyin, Ye Shi had followed the trail to investigate the "Phantom Twin Spirits." He only discovered that Lu Yanran had disappeared for a period before marrying Lin Yichu, a time during which she was most likely within the Twilight Pavilion.

Hearing what Ye Shi reported, Weishao Qianyu looked toward Lu Liyuan.

When Lu Yanran was found to be pregnant years ago, Lu Liyuan happened to be at the Duke’s manor in Yuedu, and it was Weishao Qianyu who had taken her pulse.

Lu Liyuan looked innocent. "Why look at me? Why are you investigating Lu Yanran?"

Weishao Qianyu sighed. As a man, Lu Liyuan had likely missed the strange details. "We are investigating Ruier's biological father."

"I was the first to discover Lu Yanran was pregnant with Ruier. She married on the second day of the eighth lunar month, and when we discovered the pregnancy during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the child was already one month along."

"Before her marriage, she was in the Twilight Pavilion. Huangfu Chen is the Young Pavilion Master of the Twilight Pavilion, and Feng Jinye is his cousin. Ruier resembles Feng Jinye—what does that tell you?"

Weishao Qianyu’s implication was so clear that if Lu Liyuan still failed to understand, he would be unworthy of being the commander of Guanlin City.

So, Ruier’s father was the Young Pavilion Master of the Twilight Pavilion, the eldest legitimate son of the Marquis of Qinbo—Huangfu Chen!

Lu Liyuan, struck by one revelation after another, was furious and cursed, "Huangfu Chen, that beastly dog!"

Weishao Qianyu frowned. She had never imagined such a coincidence. Now that they were openly hostile toward the Twilight Pavilion and the Marquis of Qinbo, how would Ruier face his own origins if he found out one day?

Lu Yanran had once claimed she wanted to find a legitimate father for Ruier, seemingly unaware that the father was Huangfu Chen, though she must have known he was the Young Pavilion Master of the Twilight Pavilion.

No wonder Lu Yanran was so desperate to escape the Twilight Pavilion; she must have wanted to avoid any connection to them. She seemed to despise her identity as an assassin, so how could she allow Ruier to have a father who headed an assassin organization?

But what exactly had happened between Lu Yanran and Huangfu Chen? Surely Huangfu Chen wouldn’t have let his beastly instincts take over just to leave Lu Yanran pregnant?

At that moment, in the Twilight Pavilion, Lu Yanran was also thinking back to those years.

She remembered the sweltering heat of early July. She had been cooling herself in the garden of Prime Minister Liu’s manor when she was suddenly taken back to the Twilight Pavilion by Lu Huiyan.

Lu Yanran hated the place, but she was accustomed to it, hoping only to complete her mission and leave immediately.

But this time, she was not so lucky. Lu Huiyan was extremely dissatisfied with her, seemingly because she was about to be married, and had brought her back specifically to humiliate her.

"I hear you are getting married. I’ve found a little something to give you as a gift..."

Lu Huiyan did not give her a chance to react, immediately forcing a bottle of medicine down Lu Yanran’s throat.

Then, she pricked her finger. Lu Yanran felt as if something were crawling inside her, her body burning as if it were melting.

Lu Yanran looked at Lu Huiyan in horror. From her words, she understood that what she had been fed was no ordinary medicine; it was a Gu poison.

Seeing Lu Yanran’s panic, Lu Huiyan laughed wildly. "This is the 'Love-Binding Gu.' It’s a wonderful thing that will ensure you die on your wedding bed on your wedding night..."

Lu Yanran did not know what the Love-Binding Gu was.

As her body grew increasingly feverish, she had no capacity to think about it. Soon, Lu Huiyan brought her to a dark place and forced her into intimacy with a man.

Lu Yanran could not recall the details, only remembering in her haze that the man had tormented her like a madman all night.

When she woke up, she was at the bottom of a cliff. Mei Ji told her that the Gu poison had been neutralized and orchestrated her "death" by jumping off the cliff, allowing her to leave the Twilight Pavilion.

Lu Yanran was numb at the time, submissively following everyone’s arrangements because she knew resistance was futile.

Even knowing that Mei Ji’s plan for her fake death was essentially useless—not only was her identity as Mianyin held by the Pavilion, but almost everything about her life was controlled by them—she did not explain herself, simply obeying.

Before parting, Mei Ji told her that the man was the Young Pavilion Master of the Twilight Pavilion.

Lu Yanran had always felt indifferent toward the matter. Even when she was betrothed to Lin Yichu, it had not been her choice; it was all arranged. To her at the time, one man was no different from another.

But she remained puzzled: why had Lu Huiyan said it would make her die on her wedding bed? She never asked Mei Ji what the Love-Binding Gu was.

Later, Lu Yanran returned to the Prime Minister’s manor, only to be forced by Lu Huiyan to assassinate Weishao Qianyu before the wedding. She was wounded by Weishao Qianyu and spent nearly ten days recovering at the Lu residence. When she was sent to the Lin manor, Lin Yichu treated her with utter disdain.

A few days later, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lu Yanran discovered she was pregnant with Ruier.

She was frantic. It was clear the child was not Lin Yichu’s. Madam Lu quickly realized it, and Lu Yanran remembered that Madam Lu had invited Aunt Weishao to the Duke’s manor. Afterward, as if it were only natural, she returned to the Lin manor. By the time Ruier was born, she hardly ever saw Lin Yichu.

Lu Yanran once believed she was like a puppet, devoid of emotion, save for one exception: Weishao Qianyu.

Weishao Qianyu made her feel crazed, irritable, and even tempted to kill her to take her place.

Only much later did Lu Yanran understand that this was due to the Xuanyuan family’s "Eye-Capturing" technique.

The technique made her want to strip Weishao Qianyu of everything, to live a better life than her. That was why she had tried to snatch the position of the War King’s consort and had agreed to Yun Ming’s plan to become a fake legitimate daughter of the Weishao family to be betrothed to him.

Lu Yanran had done all of this without a shred of reason.

Until that day, when Duke Lu came to her holding that throwing dart.

Duke Lu spoke calmly: "Yanran, do you know what 'Qianyu Yanran' implies?"

Lu Yanran understood, of course. "Qianyu Yanran" and "Qianxiao Yanran" both meant "the look of happiness when one smiles."

"Your aunt wished for both you and Qianyu to have such a look. Do you understand?" Duke Lu said earnestly.

Lu Yanran stared at him in astonishment.

That day, Duke Lu told her that the reason Weishao Qianyu had been unable to speak since childhood was because she had watched her mother die before her eyes at the age of six, watched the Weishao estate burn, and had faced countless assassination attempts throughout her life.

After being betrothed to the War King, Weishao Qianyu had endured endless hardships—her beauty marred, her reputation ruined, and she was forcibly separated from the War King. Even after she finally married him, she faced constant danger.

All of this was because of a prophecy: "A Heavenly Maiden shall emerge from the Weishao line once every hundred years."

If Weishao Qianyu had not lived under the shadow of this prophecy, her life would have been simple and happy, free from harm.

Lu Yanran listened in a daze, not understanding the deeper meaning behind his words.

Suddenly, Duke Lu asked: "Yanran, if you were Qianyu, facing all of this, what would you do?"

Lu Yanran paused, carefully considering everything she knew about Weishao Qianyu. If she were in her place, given her own usual temperament, perhaps when Weishao Zhentian tried to pair Lin Yichu and Weishao Qianyu, she would have accepted the betrothal, and the result would likely have been no different.

Even if she hadn't been betrothed to Lin Yichu, if she had been betrothed to Feng Jinye, she would have waited for his return at the Weishao estate. And if Feng Jinye had not had Weishao Qianyu, he would surely have died in a foreign land after conquering the Xiyan Kingdom.

Duke Lu watched her quietly and added softly: "Today, your grandfather wants to tell you that everything Qianyu has is hers by right. She owes you nothing."

Hearing this, rage flared in Lu Yanran, and she felt deeply aggrieved.

"All the suffering Qianyu has endured over the years was meant for you. Qianyu is the true daughter of the Lu family."

"You are the true 'Heavenly Maiden of Weishao'."

The two calm sentences from Duke Lu froze Lu Yanran in place.

"Think of your name. 'Qianyu Yanran.' Qianyu is Qianyu, but you are Yanran."

Lu Yanran had doubted his previous words, but this final remark left her speechless.

*Yanran* was the look of happiness.

In that moment, all her frantic obsessions shattered. She finally understood that she had been controlled by the Eye-Capturing technique, sworn to replace Weishao Qianyu.

Yet now, it appeared that she was the one who was the true legitimate daughter of the Weishao family, occupying the status of the Lu family’s legitimate daughter, while Weishao Qianyu was merely a facade—a substitute for the Heavenly Maiden.