Wen Wan had a need, and Lin Xiaoyue had been keeping an eye out during this period. It just so happened that an elderly lady from a wealthy family in Beijing was celebrating her birthday and hosting a party, and Lady Kang Ding was invited.
Lin Xiaoyue wrote a letter and sent it to the Song family for Wen Wan through a servant.
The letter stated that finding an opportunity to go to the Kangding Bo Mansion was not easy, and instead of waiting idly, it was better to take the initiative.
On the day of the party, Lady Kang Ding would be traveling with the Fifth Miss. The letter inford Wen Wan of the route they would take, advising her to choose a spot to have a "chance encounter" with Lady Kang Ding. Whether she could successfully recognize the little girl would depend on Wen Wan herself.
After reading the letter, Wen Wan imdiately responded to Lin Xiaoyue with a letter to express her gratitude.
...
On the day Lady Kang Ding was going out, Wen Wan went to Song Erlang’s house early in the morning, intending to take Song Jiao out alone. Fearful that Song Qi would be dissatisfied and cause a scene, Wen Wan told her that Song Jiao used to help little beggars in Shuanghua Lane, and they were going to the beggars’ den today. She asked Song Qi if she would like to join.
Song Qi, upon thinking of the dirty and slly beggars in the abandoned lane, shuddered and shook her head, adamantly refusing to go.
Only then did Wen Wan manage to get rid of Song Qi smoothly.
As they boarded the carriage, Song Jiao gave Wen Wan a thumbs up, "In our entire family, probably only you and grandma can handle her."
"I don’t have that kind of power," Wen Wan laughed, "If it weren’t for needing to keep her from interrupting my important business today, I wouldn’t have made up such a reason to scare her."
Upon hearing there was important business, Song Jiao imdiately sat up straight and looked at Wen Wan, "Is it convenient for you to tell what it is?"
Wen Wan nodded, "In a while, I’ll take you to et soone. You should take a good look at whether she’s soone we know."
This piqued Song Jiao’s curiosity, "Who?"
"You’ll know when we get there."
...
The Song family’s carriage stopped by the side of Fuan Street.
Lin Xiaoyue ntioned in the letter that this was a necessary route for Lady Kang Ding to attend the banquet.
Wen Wan and Song Jiao got out, browsing the street while keeping an eye out in the direction Kangding Bo Mansion’s carriage would appear from.
About thirty minutes later, a large carriage appeared at the street corner. Although it wasn’t as luxurious as those of other aristocratic families, it was conspicuous enough.
Fuan Street is a comrcial street, bustling with people, so the carriage couldn’t move too fast.
Wen Wan seized the mont, suddenly shouting "Thief!" in the crowd, then rushed forward with Song Jiao.
A person pushing a cart passed by.
Wen Wan "accidentally" bumped into it, exclaid "Ouch," and fell to the ground.
The Kangding Bo Mansion’s carriage had already arrived in front of her. With her fall, the coachman had to promptly rein in the horse to stop.
Fortunately, the carriage wasn’t moving fast, so even with a sudden halt, the carriage only swayed a little, leaving the occupants unhard.
Lady Kang Ding was in a hurry to attend the banquet and didn’t expect this, so she asked the coachman through the curtain, "What’s wrong?"
"Madam, soone in front is injured and blocking the way."
Lady Kang Ding frowned lightly. Reluctantly, she asked Li Huairu to stay seated while she intended to get down to check.
Before she could lift the curtain, the "injured" Wen Wan was already supported by her niece, walking towards them, seemingly only noticing this carriage then. As she passed by the window, she exclaid softly, "Is it possible that Lady Kang Ding is inside?"
Wen Wan’s voice wasn’t unfamiliar to Lady Kang Ding, as she had heard it recently at the foot of Mile Mountain. She quickly recognized who it was outside, drew back half her body into the seat, and lifted the curtain promptly.
Seeing Wen Wan, she smiled and greeted her, "It’s Madam Song, what a coincidence, are you also here on Fuan Street?"
Wen Wan nodded, "I brought my niece to buy pearl hairpins. To my surprise, just as we arrived at the market, my purse was pickpocketed, and during the chase, I accidentally bumped into a cart and injured my foot."
Here, Wen Wan instinctively glanced at Lady Kang Ding, "Am I delaying your journey?"
"It’s no trouble." Lady Kang Ding said warmly, then asked, "Is your injury severe? If it’s really bad, you should quickly visit the clinic."
Wen Wan leaned most of her body against her niece, weakly nodding.
anwhile, Song Jiao’s gaze had been fixated on the little girl inside the carriage from the beginning.
Wen Wan also noticed.
Li Huairu looked good today, her face much rosier than when they t at the foot of Mile Mountain.
Facing the two gazes of Wen Wan and Song Jiao, the little girl remained indifferent, showing neither anger nor shyness.
"Sanyang..."
Song Jiao couldn’t help but softly call out.
Upon hearing the voice, the little girl lifted her gaze, her eyes eting Song Jiao’s with the bewildernt of soone facing a stranger.
Lady Kang Ding’s brows jumped slightly. Not wanting to lose composure in front of others, she smiled and patted the head of her adopted daughter, "This is my little daughter, Huairu. Miss, do you know her?"
Song Jiao’s disbelief couldn’t be concealed, "Huairu?"
That was clearly her younger sister, Sanyang. In Sanyang’s eyebrow lay a small red mole, sothing easily overlooked by most, but readily recognized by Song Jiao.
She wanted to declare that it was her lost younger sister, but feared being too reckless, so she changed her words at the last mont: "She... is she the young lady of Kangding Bo Mansion?"
Lady Kang Ding maintained her smiling deanor, "Why?"
Song Jiao hesitated for a mont before responding, "She looks too much like my sister who went missing. If it weren’t for your reminder, I would have almost thought they were the sa person."
As Song Jiao spoke, she discreetly observed Lady Kang Ding’s reaction from the corner of her eye.
The other party’s expression didn’t change much, as she warmly looked at the nearby little girl and asked, "Huairu, do you know them?"
Li Huairu shook her head, her voice soft, "Mother, didn’t you say we were going to the party? Why aren’t we leaving?"
Mother?
Song Jiao’s face turned stiff.
She hadn’t regained her senses even when the Kangding Bo Mansion’s carriage departed.
Wen Wan drew back her gaze from the departing carriage and asked her niece beside her, "Did you see clearly?"
Song Jiao clutched Wen Wan’s arm excitedly, "Auntie, I am certain the person in the carriage earlier was Sanyang. She has a red mole in her left eyebrow; everything else might be mistaken, but not that."
It might indeed be possible for two people to look alike, but it’s impossible for a birthmark to be identical.
With Song Jiao’s certainty, Wen Wan had no reason to doubt that person wasn’t Sanyang. However, "I went to Beijing when she was young; it’s normal she doesn’t rember . But why doesn’t she recognize even you, her sister?"
"I don’t know." Song Jiao’s mind was in turmoil.
"Let’s head back first," Wen Wan said. "Guessing randomly here won’t do any good; we have to find out the truth."
Song Jiao was now like a puppet, doing whatever Wen Wan said.
The two of them got back into the carriage and returned directly to the Song Mansion.
Song Jiao was deep in thought, and Wen Wan, fearing she might accidentally spill the beans in front of the old lady, didn’t let her go to Rong’an Hall but instead took her to Qingteng Residence.
Yun Cai poured tea for the two.
Song Jiao wasn’t in the mood to drink, just looked at Wen Wan, desperately pleading, "Auntie, please find a way to bring Sanyang back. She is a Song family child, not from the Li family."
Wen Wan cald her down, "As you saw earlier, Sanyang didn’t recognize us. She’s only five or six years old. Even if she were resentful of your parents for not turning back to find her back then, she couldn’t possibly feign such calm indifference. Clearly, Sanyang doesn’t rember you or , and perhaps not even anyone from the Song family, including your parents."
This frightened Song Jiao, leaving her pale-faced, "What should we do?"
As for a solution, Wen Wan wasn’t sure either, "Wait for your third uncle to return first."
...
As soon as Song Wei returned ho, Wen Wan imdiately told him what had happened that day.
Song Wei pondered for a mont, then looked at Song Jiao, "Are you sure you didn’t mistake her?"
Song Jiao nodded vigorously, "There’s no mistake; I’m very sure that was Sanyang."
Wen Wan interjected at the right mont, "Wei Qian also said that the little girl at Kangding Bo Mansion only suddenly appeared in the Li family after the New Year, and the Kangding Bo couple went back to their hotown to pay respect to their ancestors last year. Their ancestral ho is not far from Ningzhou. Could it be that Sanyang got separated from the family after the earthquake last year and was later found by the Kang Dingbo family, who took her in?"
Song Jiao raised a question, "If that’s the case, why would the Kangding Bo Mansion take in a rural girl and treat her as a legitimate daughter? And why doesn’t Sanyang rember us?"
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