Spring Rises in the Phoenix Pool Chapter 16

The lights in Madam Wang’s courtyard were bright, with lamps lit all around.

Zhang Mama lifted the curtain for Qi Yuan. Before they had even gone around the screen, a soft and delicate voice could be heard: “Mother, Su embroidery is so hard to learn—my fingers are all rubbed raw.”

The voice was so sweet it bordered on cloying. Qi Yuan paused briefly in her steps. As she rounded the screen, she saw Madam Wang reclining on a chaise, with a girl in pink gauze beside her, holding up her hands to show her fingers.

This was Qi Jin.

Flowers to adorn brocade—just by her name alone, one could tell how much the marquis household cherished this daughter.

Madam Wang smiled patiently, inspecting each of her ten fingers. She tapped Qi Jin’s cheek lightly and said, “It’s not like you’re going to be an embroiderer. Just learn the basics so you know how to judge quality.”

When she saw Qi Yuan enter, Madam Wang instinctively reined in the affection on her face and adopted a more reserved expression. She gave a slight nod. “Ah Yuan, you’re here.”

Qi Yuan stepped forward slowly, gave a formal curtsey, and greeted her, “Greetings, Mother.”

Her posture and manners were impeccable.

At the same time, Qi Jin turned and looked her over, her smile fading slightly as she studied Qi Yuan.

Qi Yuan’s demeanor and etiquette—who knew if she had just learned them—but there was nothing to nitpick.

She was nothing like what Qi Jin had imagined: raised in the countryside, coarse and ignorant.

But what made her more uncomfortable was Qi Yuan’s face.

That face looked too much like the Qi family’s.

One glance and anyone would know she was truly a Qi.

Qi Jin’s heart sank, the corners of her mouth stiffening.

After Qi Yuan completed her greeting, Madam Wang introduced them: “This is your second sister… You two are twins, so you must get along even better, understand?”

When she spoke to Qi Yuan, Madam Wang’s tone always carried a touch of awkwardness.

Especially now—saying that line, she even instinctively avoided eye contact with her.

Qi Jin, on the other hand, looked at Qi Yuan with a faint, mocking smile—almost gloating.

But to her disappointment, Qi Yuan didn’t even flinch. She looked back at her with an equally teasing smile.

Their gazes met, and Qi Yuan graciously smiled: “Second Sister.”

Qi Jin had no choice but to force a smile back. “Eldest Sister, you’re finally back. I heard you were taken to the yamen—I was really worried about you.”

At the mention of the yamen, Madam Wang’s brows knit slightly, and her voice turned colder: “Let’s not bring up the past anymore.”

Just the thought of her daughter having lived so long in the countryside, mingling with crude people in the streets, left her feeling deeply unsettled.

Qi Jin bit her lip, tears welling up: “Mother, did I say something wrong again? I know… I’m just a cuckoo in the nest after all…”

Sometimes, Qi Yuan really admired people like Qi Jin—cold-hearted as stone, yet always managing to appear delicate and pitiful.

Saying the sharpest things with the most innocent face.

Madam Wang’s heart ached immediately. She pulled Qi Jin into her arms and scolded her softly: “Nonsense! You and your sister are both my daughters by blood!”

After raising her for so many years, she was a daughter in every way that mattered—even if she wasn’t born to her.

Besides, Qi Jin was sweet and obedient—Madam Wang’s most cherished little confidante.

Emotionally, Madam Wang didn’t want the baby switch to be real.

She didn’t even glance at Qi Yuan again.

Qi Jin sobbed for a bit before finally stopping. She spoke sweetly to Madam Wang: “Mother, I want to eat sweet pea cakes.”

Madam Wang chuckled, tapping her on the nose: “So grown up and still like a child. Fine, I’ll have the kitchen make some.”

“No!” Qi Jin pouted, clinging to Madam Wang’s arm. “Mother, I want Xu Mama to make them herself.”

Xu Mama was Madam Wang’s personal maid, and everyone knew she was Madam Wang’s trusted right hand.

Upon being named, Xu Mama smiled broadly: “If Second Miss enjoys this old servant’s cooking, then it’s my honor!”

Qi Jin shot Qi Yuan a proud wink, with just the right amount of disdain in her eyes.

So what if she was the real daughter?

Ten years of separation couldn’t be undone.

Feelings couldn’t be built overnight.

She was the one truly irreplaceable in Madam Wang’s heart.

Strike the heart before the body.

It was good Qi Yuan had returned. Let her watch. Watch how Qi Jin always remained one step above her, always the favored one.

Qi Yuan would forever be just a backward, backwater girl.

If Qi Yuan were still her past self, Xu Yinyin, tonight she probably wouldn’t be able to sleep.

But now, she merely curled her lips in silent mockery.

What she couldn’t have before, she no longer desired.

Qi Yuan didn’t react at all the way Qi Jin had expected—not even anger or sadness—just stood there like a block of wood.

It was completely not what Qi Jin had anticipated.

Somehow, despite her original intention to upset Qi Yuan, she found herself annoyed instead.

Acting on impulse, she asked, “Sister, I heard your adoptive parents passed away before you came back… Aren’t you sad at all?”

Madam Wang froze.

Qi Yuan also looked over at Qi Jin.

From her angle, she could see Qi Jin’s face filled with naive curiosity—a pure and innocent young lady.

But Qi Jin was only trying to disgust her, to remind Madam Wang that Qi Yuan had been raised by that butcher Xu and Li Xiuniang for over a decade—yet was this cold toward them. How much affection could she possibly have for her birth parents?

A saintly face, doing the cruelest things.

Unfortunately for her, Qi Yuan wasn’t in the mood to play word games.

She looked her dead in the eye and said bluntly: “Sister doesn’t know? They didn’t die very honorably. Li Xiuniang was caught in adultery and murdered her husband—she was drowned for it.”

She stared straight at Qi Jin, voice thick with sarcasm: “Besides, if blood is what ties people together, shouldn’t you be the one most heartbroken?”

That night, when Li Xiuniang and Xu Butcher let Chengyong into her room, it had undoubtedly been at Qi Jin’s suggestion.

Those two may have been vile, but they truly loved Qi Jin as their daughter.

Qi Yuan wanted to see—how did Qi Jin feel upon hearing about their deaths?

Qi Jin’s face went pale. Her eyes filled with hatred as she collapsed into Madam Wang’s arms, sobbing softly: “Mother, I’m scared…”

Madam Wang, annoyed, turned and coldly scolded Qi Yuan: “How can you bring up such vulgar countryside nonsense in our home? So improper!”

Qi Yuan sneered inwardly.

Wasn’t it Qi Jin who brought it up first?

Yet Madam Wang completely overlooked that and chastised her instead.

The favoritism was far too blatant.