Chapter 3: I Am So Beautiful

At the thought of sitting on a priceless antique, Li Tingqian shivered and decided that maybe it was best to stand up.

'Imperial Grandfather really doted on Auntie.' The boy thought as they said their goodbyes and left the small shop.

Not long after Old Li left with his grandson, a carriage parked in front of the small shop.

And from the small carriage, a well-dressed woman exit.

The woman sized up the dilapidated courtyard and frowned with obvious distaste.

"Zhou Mama1, do you think our Seventh Lady lives here? In this broken place?" Behind her, a servant girl followed the older woman. Then she whispered, "Could this be another imposter?"

During the twelve years their young lady went missing, the Jiang family never stopped looking for their precious daughter. However, as soon as the news spread, many people came and tricked them, claiming that they knew where the young child was. Some even had the gall to declare that they themselves were the missing girl.

After all, it was no secret that the Jiang family was one of the wealthiest families in the land.

'Who wouldn't want to live the life of a noble lady?' The servant girl thought sadly. She sympathizes with the Madam2.

"Even if it's fake, we still have to go in and take a look first," Zhou Mama said.

The two of them walked into the yard carefully to the point of tip-toeing, trying to avoid the dust and dirt from staining their shoes and clothes.

As soon as they entered, they saw a teenage girl sitting on an old wooden wheelchair, her legs crossed as she basked in the warmth of the afternoon sun. The girl's eyes were half-closed as though she was about to fall asleep, giving her an air of laziness.

The place was in shambles. Everything, from the walls to the furniture, was either too old or too shabby.

The little girl was also wearing an old cotton dress, white from discoloration from the number of times it had been worn and washed. The sleeves were casually rolled up to her arms, revealing half of her thin and pale arms. It was clearly a cotton dress, but it had a natural sense of comfort and simplicity.

However, when Zhou Mama saw the young girl's face, words stuck in her throat as she stood, wide eyes staring at the girl.

This girl's eyes were like the bright stars in the cold of winter, her eyebrows were like a painting, her skin was like ice, smooth and pale, and her figure was like a beautiful jade. Her beauty was beyond the mortal world. However, the girl's eyes looked a little droopy, making her look sleepy, and the lax way she sat on the wooden wheelchair made it seem as if she didn't care about anything around her.

She stood out against the dilapidated environment like a flower blooming in the middle of a desolated garden.

But her beauty was not the main reason Zhou Mama was struck to silence.

This young lady looked almost exactly the same as the Madam when she was only a young maiden!

With that resemblance, was there any more room to doubt?

Zhou Mama trembled excitedly and knelt on the dirty ground, uncaring for all the dust and dirt.

The maidservant was shocked and quickly followed the head maid.

Jiang Ning watches the whole scene with confusion. As soon as the two women entered, they began acting strangely. She wondered why the customers she received today were getting weirder and weirder. 'Is this the effects of hunger?'

Even if they were hungry, they didn't have to kneel!

However, she couldn't do anything for them, even if they came for food.

There was no more rice to put in the pot.

"I'm sorry, the shop is closed today. There's no rice left. Come back another day to eat,"

Zhou Mama's tears fell when she heard this.

How could the young lady of the Jiang family wear such clothes and live in such a broken house without even rice and flour to sustain herself?

Still on her knees, the older woman crawled to Jiang Ning and said with a trembling voice, "Seventh Lady, your servant is here to bring you back home,"

'Huh?'

Jiang Ning finally took a closer look at them.

The older lady was wearing fine clothes; both of them were. Why would people of high standing come to a place like this? Also, 'Seventh Lady'? From the memories she recalled from this body, she remembered, very clearly, that the girl was an orphan whose parents had passed away early in her life. 'Where did Seventh Lady come from?'

Could this older woman be one of those people who lured and kidnapped young girls to send them to a brothel overseas?

When she first woke up in this body, she had checked herself from the reflection of water. Even though the girl had been malnourished, she could tell that she was a beauty. 

And with such beauty, it wasn't surprising that it would attract bad people.

Jiang Ning pointed at her legs. "I'm crippled. It's useless for you to bring me back," She said.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Mama's tears fell.

Seventh Lady must have lived such a hard life. She was abducted when she was young and suffered for so long before she was finally found. She lived in such a cold place, and her leg was also disabled!

'Whoever kidnapped her must have been beating the young miss, scolding her, and bullying her all day!'

Zhou Mama cried and gritted her teeth. She swore that when she returned to the main house, she would tell Master3 and burn this place down along with the people here!

Despite not being willing to go with them, Jiang Ning's heart couldn't help but lurch at the sight of the older woman's sorrowful face. 'The world is so difficult. The brothel business must be in an awful decline.' Jiang Ning thought. The older woman couldn't recruit her and must be so desperate that she cried. 

Even so, she couldn't sell her soul and body for the sake of the brothel business.

"Go back, don't waste your time on me. Even if I starve to death, I won't go with you." Jiang Ning said as she clutched her empty purse.