The Reborn Girl's Honor and Glory

In the narrow alley, a nicely dressed little girl was deprived of her necklace, bracelet, pearl sachet and all the other valuable ornaments by a maid. Instead, she was made to put on poor clothes.

Song Yixiao, neither crying nor screaming, with her almond eyes wide open, was curious and yet tame, just letting the woman with heavy makeup put her into a carriage.

Her unusual cooperation made the woman frown. After putting her into the carriage, the woman turned around to talk with the maid who was tearing the pearls off the sachet, "Is there anything wrong with your lady? She is eight years old anyway. Why doesn't she make any noise after hearing that we are selling her? In this case, the price..."

"You don't know about her. This lady doesn't like talking, who is not liked by the elder lady and master. Otherwise, how dare I sell her before the new mistress stays in the family for one year?" Upon hearing her talk of the price, the maid hastened to hold the sachet into her chests, explaining hastily, "There is absolutely nothing wrong with her! The previous mistress, aka, her birth mother, is a well-known beauty, or she would not be married to a prince!"

"A prince?!" The woman with heavy makeup shouted in a low voice and interrupted her, "You just said that her birth mother is the wife of a prince?!" She couldn't help stamping her feet, "Are you insane? I thought this girl was neglected with no mother attending to her. Now you are telling me that her mother is not only alive but also a wife of the eldest son of an official clan? How dare you sell her to a brothel? Even if you dare to sell, I don't dare to buy her. Give the money back to me! Take the girl wherever you want. Don't get me into trouble!"

The maid said hastily, "Don't! It's not me but the new mistress who wants to sell her. Hence, how can she not take care of the aftermath? Moreover, the girl is only eight years old. After you buy her, shouldn't you present her in public in a few years? As a saying goes, a girl changes fast in appearance before reaching womanhood. By then, even if her face contour can still be recognized, who dares to relate her to the Song Family, a respectable family here?"

She continued to threaten the woman, "Besides, she has seen your face! She can recognize people at her age. If you don't take her away, you will be in big trouble once the issue is disclosed. And the new mistress will just be fine, for she is pregnant now."

"What bad luck for me!" The woman flew into a rage and wanted to grab the money bag, "Give the money back to me! Your new mistress wants to get rid of the first daughter of the family. My buying the girl is a great favor for your new mistress, so she should pay me instead. How dare you ask me for money?!"

The maid would never agree on that. They grappled with each other for a while. In the end, they were afraid to arouse others' attention, so they decided to meet each other halfway. The maid returned half of the money to the woman, "You've taken great advantage! Listen. If this girl doesn't get famous all over the nation after growing up, it must be because all the men have died!"

"Ask your new mistress to deal with the aftermath well! Otherwise, we will be doomed before she grows up!" The woman fetched the money and got into the carriage while lifting her skirt hem. The moment she went in the carriage, she was shocked!

The tea and pastries in the drawer were taken out and placed on the small table.

The pretty girl sat there, holding her chin and eating the pastries selectively. Upon seeing the woman get into the carriage, she spat the kernels casually and said sneeringly, "You do know how to live a life. Even I can have these pastries only when my mother was still in the Song Family!"

The woman was startled for a while and then pulled a long face. She raised her hand to pat on the girl's hand when the girl was trying to fetch another pastry, saying with a sinister smile, "Hmm! Now you put on a lady-like look! It's too late! Your stepmother has sold you to me. No matter how respectable you were, from now on, you are fated to belong to the brothel... Put the things away for me! Now! Hurry up!"

"Or I will tear you apart!"

Her intimidation that always worked on girls was now useless to Song Yixiao. The girl just leaned backwards and said smilingly, "The maid who just sold me to you is my foster nurse, Ms. Zhao."

"Today the one who brought me out knowingly is my stepmother's trusted subordinate, Ms. Wu."

"Why?"

"Because Ms. Wu was hit in the back by someone not long ago. Now she must be rather happy to have taken the beating. I bet that she will find a place and hide away until she has no other choice but to go back and cry about me being abducted so as to postpone finding me!"

Song Yixiao looked sideways at the woman who was getting more and more shocked. She smiled with her dimple well showing, "It was Ms. Zhao's husband who beat Ms. Wu! And they did this because of my order!"

The woman was astounded in awe, "What... What did you just say?!"

"Don't tell me that you don't know the Wei Family in the south of the city!" Song Yixiao touched the back of her hand, which had been slapped, and stared at the woman smilingly, "That's my grandmother's home... Now you shall escort me there, claiming that Ms. Wu has sold me to you and that you don't want to see such a highborn girl like me fall to the brothel; yet, you are afraid that I won't be safe if you return me to the Song Family. Therefore, you ask me about the address of my mother's own family and then send me there with courage... In this case, you will not only get a sum of money as reward but also the Wei Family and my birth mother, who is the second wife of Prince of Hengshan, will owe you one!"

She hedged with her smile getting cold, "Today, if I am not sent there before dusk, you and my stepmother will be convicted of conspiring together to kidnap me!"

After saying that, she didn't care about the woman's countenance but closed her eyes for a rest, "That's all I can say. Think about it yourself."

She didn't try to fake something. Instead, she felt really exhausted. Anyone would feel the same if undergoing the same thing. In her previous life, with her mother remarried to another man, she was not loved by her father or grandmother. What's worse, her stepmother kept making trouble for her. Finally, when she turned 16 years old and could get married to escape from the miserable family, she was sexually harassed by the nephew of her stepmother and even got wrongfully accused of seducing her cousin. As a consequence, she was put into a pig cage and drowned in the river... When she woke up, she returned to the year when she was only eight years old. Sorting out her memories over the past eight years only was an overwhelming burden for an eight-year-old girl's body!

"Gee!" Song Yixiao just occupied the mastery seat for a rest, thinking with great pleasure, "This life, it is your turn to try the feeling of being unable to argue back!"

Who would believe a highborn lady should sell herself to a bawd!

The young lady, who was only eight years old, really expected to see the faces of the Song Family after the Wei Family came to them for criticism!

As was expected by Song Yixiao, after struggling for a while, the woman still decided to do as told. After all, the woman had only two choices: one was to lose all reputation for abducting the eldest young lady of an official of the Hanlin Academy; the other was to receive moral praise after doing the girl a favor. It was an easy decision!

However, she still felt a bit worried, "The Wei Family is merely your mother's maiden line. Your mother has been remarried to a prince. What if they don't want to stand for you? Then..."

"Think with your brain!" Song Yixiao opened her eyes and gawked at her teasingly, "Prince of Hengshan is much superior to my father! My mother divorced my father and becomes a prince's second wife. Although it is true that she is loathed by my grandmother, others all accuse her of fawning upon the rich and despising the poor. Even the Wei Family are criticized for negligence of educating the daughter. I have three cousins who are still unmarried and they are not even engaged because of this scandal!"

"Now the Wei Family must yearn to see something disgraceful happen to the Song Family so that my mother's remarriage can be justified!" She sneers, "You had better think about how to brace up after being well received by the Wei Family!"

As expected, the carriage stopped at the back door of the Wei Family. The woman nerved herself to knock on the door and to convey her message. Then she also asked the doorman to raise the carriage curtain so as to demonstrate that the girl in poor clothes was Lady Yixiao indeed. After a while, the five mistresses of the Wei Family hurried to receive the girl, "Where are our poor niece?!"

Upon hearing their voices, Song Yixiao, who was eating pastries idlingly, changed her countenance quickly and gripped the carriage tightly, screaming and crying with tears in horror. No matter what good words the five aunties told her, she just wouldn't get off the carriage, frightened and afeared.

The aunties were not angry at all. Immersed in great sorrow, they cried sadly, "My good lord! She is the eldest legitimate granddaughter of the Song Family anyway! Despite their hatred for her mother, what fault has she made? After all, her family name is Song! How can the Song Family be so ruthless!"

Eventually, Song Yixiao's grandmother, Madam Cao arrived and cried in pain. Song Yixiao raised her skirt hem and moved towards the shaft slowly with tears, throwing herself to Madam Cao's arms. The woman with heavy makeup was struck dumb while all the people of the Wei Family were overjoyed to escort her and Song Yixiao into the house, just like winning a war!

When they arrived at the back hall, the Wei Family finally thought of the woman with heavy makeup. They hastened to offer her a superior seat and Madam Cao showed her gratitude, "The Wei Family will never forget about your favor! My ruthless daughter has only one child! If she is really ruined by the Song Family, I don't know how to live on..."

The woman didn't dare to receive her gratitude, even including the gratitude of the five mistresses of the Wei Family. In the end, she just couldn't decline their enthusiasm and was made to sit beside Madam Cao. "As a saying goes, grassroots people always uphold justice while scholars always do things against their conscience. Today, I finally realize that the saying makes perfect sense. My granddaughter's grandfather of her father's line retires as the Grand Secretariat of the Hanlin Academy and her father is working in the Secretariat department now! Such a respectable family should not injure their eldest legitimate daughter of the first official wife. Yet, now they just show us otherwise!"

Madam Cao held her granddaughter, crying over Song Yixiao's miserable life and cursing about the Song Family's heartlessness. After a while, reminded by her daughter-in-law, she took a tumble, "Yixiao, don't be afraid. Since you are at your grandmother's home, the Song Family can never hurt you!"

She asked her eldest daughter-in-law, Madam Mu to bring Song Yixiao to take a shower and dress her back as a respectable lady. Then she ordered to prepare for a meal, "We must show gratitude for Yixiao's helper!"

Before the table was completely set, the maid that accompanied Madam Mu to marry to the Wei Family, rushed into the back hall tearfully, "Your Ladyship! The Song Family are evils! The injuries of Lady Yixiao's body just scare Madam Mu to fainting!"

All the people at present were dumbfounded!

The woman felt so frightened and couldn't help thinking with sweat on her face, "She is only a little girl but she dares to scheme about selling herself in order to frame her stepmother, and she even hurts herself so harshly that her auntie even fainted out of shock!"

It was lucky for her that she had listened to the girl!

Otherwise, considering the cruelness of the girl, she would be killed for sure!

Actually, she kind of misunderstood Song Yixiao...

Song Yixiao did hurt herself and left the injuries, but the injuries were not that scaring. She did that only because she didn't want to see her stepmother get away with this in light of the baby she was carrying. And her auntie's fainting was merely a consequence of her on-the-spot performance!

Otherwise, Madam Cao wouldn't fall sick and lie in bed, angry and sorrowful. "Her ladyship is a senior in this family. Now that she is ill, everyone is occupied and flurried. Of course all shall serve her ladyship by her bed. How can they have time to attend to the other matters?"

They even had no time to inform the Song Family that their "lost" young lady was actually in the Wei's house, sound and safe!

After a few days, the news was spread in the whole city that the eldest young lady of the Song Family died of a sudden illness. Learning about the news, Madam Cao sneered and sat up. She lifted away the napkin on her forehead and threw it to a maid, saying in fury, "Call on some more people. Let's go to the Song's house and settle with Madam Pang!"

She thought to herself- "You old cat used to loathe my daughter for not giving birth to a son and even maltreat her so badly that she had to remarry. The Wei Family's reputation has been ruined even for that. Now you neglect your duty of managing the family and allow the new daughter-in-law to abuse the eldest legitimate granddaughter of the first official wife and to sell her to a brothel! If I let go of you on this, I will change my maiden name of Cao!"

The Song Family were immersed in happy laughter and joyful voices. Madam Liu, who was married to Song Yuan as his second wife last year, was diagnosed of pregnancy two months ago. Today they called on a doctor who was good at identifying the baby gender. According to the doctor, he was 90% confident that the baby was a boy!

Madam Pang, eager for a grandson so badly, was pleased beyond words!

Her smile didn't fade away even after the doctor left. She was talking about fetal stabilization with Madam Liu when a servant came hastily to report that the former relative Madam Cao brought people to smash open their front door and beat all the way towards the back hall. She couldn't even believe her ears, "Is this old cat crazy? Just as she managed to let her daughter to hook up with Prince of Hengshan, she can show no respect for the Song Family now?"

Madam Liu heard that and also frowned, asking, "Are they coming here for the matter of Yixiao?"

Then she drew her napkin and pressed it on her eyes, starting to sob, "It's all my fault! I allowed Ms. Wu to take her out due to Yixiao's badgering... She was only an innocent child. I should have thought of the consequence. How can I allow a girl to hang around? Ms. Wu ought to be blamed too. She should have looked around while walking, or she would not be beaten unknowingly..."

"She deserved it!" Madam Pang always disliked Wei Mengying, her son's first wife, so she was also indifferent to Song Yixiao. When she heard of that her granddaughter was lost a few days ago, she didn't feel worried at all. Instead, she felt better because there wouldn't be a granddaughter around her to remind her of the fact that Wei Mengying had abandoned Song Yuan and remarried.

Under this circumstance, she would never blame Madam Liu who was carrying a baby boy. On the contrary, she would attribute all the fault to the granddaughter, "If she stayed at home obediently, who could climb over the house and abduct her? She just followed her mother's example and liked going out. Now she just deserved the misfortune!"

She got even more furious, "If it were not for the fact that you showed mercy for her and announced that she was dead, everyone would know that the eldest legitimate granddaughter of the Song Family was trafficked for being too mischievous, which would be an intolerable shame for us! Now that the Wei Family come to us for that, I must give two slaps to Cao as alertness!"

When she just finished talking, the door of the back hall had been kicked open. Madam Cao walked into the hall with a cold smile, "To give me two slaps as alertness?! I must ask you instead. You are a human being and you also have children yourself! How can you only treat your own children as human beings?!"

"I only treat my own children as human beings?" Madam Pang, beaming with anger, stood up quickly and pointed at her, roaring wrathfully, "The most regretful thing that I have ever done is not educating your daughter well after she was married to my son for the sake of his grace! Otherwise, even though your family is not decent, I should have taught her about the sense of propriety, justice, honesty and honor since she stayed in the Song Family for ten years!"

"Pfff!" Madam Cao spat on her face directly and cursed, "How dare you merciless old cat talk about the sense of propriety, justice, honesty and honor?! All men, good or bad, rarely maltreat their own children! You even plotted to hurt your granddaughter..."

"Madam Cao!" Madam Liu interrupted in surprise, "Did you misunderstand anything? How is it possible that Yixiao died because of mother? Actually, she..."

"How dare you play innocence now?!" Madam Cao had made proper arrangement before she came. She was afraid not to encounter this woman. Yet, Madam Liu stepped forward to defend for Madam Pang, which fitted in exactly with the wishes of the five daughters-in-law that Madam Cao brought!

Madam Mu and her sisters-in-law rushed forward and went at Madam Liu, scratching her hair and face as well as kicking her belly. When Madam Pang came to her senses and ordered the others to protect her in screams, Madam Liu had been rolling on the ground while holding her belly, "My baby... My baby..."

Madam Panda never thought of that the Wei Family should beat Madam Liu in front of her. One of the reasons why she disliked Wei Mengying was that-this former daughter-in-law was married to her son for ten years, but she only had one daughter and also made her son so deeply fascinated that he wouldn't have any concubine!

However, according to the doctor, Madam Liu was conceiving a baby boy!

Staring at the blood dripping along the skirt hem of Madam Liu, Madam Pang felt that her heart was bleeding too!

Suddenly, she got into a muddle and struck at Madam Cao madly, "You evil! I must make you pay!"

Consequently, Madam Cao, who was well prepared, led two strong women to push her against the ground and beat her up, venting her anger because of the mockery from the Song Family after her daughter was remarried!

Having done beating her up, Madam Cao started to talk about her purpose in coming, "Thus, there's incontrovertible proof. Your step-daughter-in-law is pregnant and loathes my granddaughter so she just asked her subordinate to sell my granddaughter to a brothel! She is such a vicious woman that a miscarriage is only a mild punishment for her! Listen! If you don't explain to me well today, I will leave and go to the Liu Family to ask for an explanation!"

"My daughter remarried only because she couldn't stand your maltreatment and the Wei Family has been disgraced for that! I am wondering what consequence will happen to you if everyone knows that the daughter of the Liu Family dares to sell the daughter of the first wife of the Song Family."

The Liu Family would vent the anger of the Wei Family at any rate, if Madam Cao gave them the chance!

Madam Cao snorted, "Even a bawd knows that a highborn lady shall not fall to the dirty place as a brothel. And you just think otherwise. The eldest legitimate granddaughter of your family has been taken out and got lost, but you didn't even look for her or punish the delinquent servants. Instead, you just announced her death in public... There wouldn't be grandmother or father like you! You are so cruel to your own blood, which shows your heartlessness! You are absolutely not human being at all! You are basically a beast!"

Madam Pang stared at her furiously. She stubbed her fingernails so deeply into her palms that her palms started to bleed and the blood dripped on the ground, saying through her teeth, "Nice scheme! Nice move! You just choose to put on such a show when my daughter-in-law is pregnant. Your daughter cannot give birth to a son, which is never tolerated by any mother-in-law! You've done this only to ruin my unborn grandson..."

Slap!

Madam Cao looked fierce and gave her a harsh slap, shouting loudly, "I dare to swear on the Wei Family, this is definitely not plotted by us! Do you dare to swear too? Beast! It is such a wrong decision for me to agree on marrying my daughter to you!"

"Moreover, my granddaughter has her own maid. Why was it not her foster nurse, Ms. Zhao but the maid of Madam Liu who followed her out of the residence? Obviously, Madam Liu is the one after this! Now that you defend for her like this, has this been approved by you?"

"You are such a vicious woman. How dare you blame my daughter for not having a grandson? Your family just deserve to live without descendants! If your son didn't marry my daughter, you wouldn't even have a granddaughter!"