Chapter 23: Identity Exposed

Having said that, she ordered her servants to throw her out.

Aunt Li, terrified by the beating, dared not curse anymore and scurried all the way home.

Yang Xiuhua felt even more resentment toward Mother Sun and Yang Wenbin. If they hadn't refused to give her the formula, she never would have had to deal with a shrew like Aunt Li.

In the Yang family courtyard, Yang Wenbin, Mother Sun, the Village Chief, and Huang Yingrong were huddled together in conspiracy.

"The whole village knows now that Jiang Lihua ran off with a man and is hiding right here in the village," Yang Wenbin said. "My mother and I will take the deed of sale and drag her back today."

To be honest, the Village Chief was speechless at the Yang family’s incompetence. Their own child bride had been living right under their noses for so long, and they hadn't even recognized her. Were they blind? However, now that they were all on the same side, he couldn't say much and had to assist them.

"Go, go quickly," Huang Yingrong urged, eager to see Jiang Lihua meet with misfortune. They possessed Jiang Lihua’s deed of sale; to put it politely, she was a child bride, but in reality, she was nothing more than their servant.

"My mother and I will go first, and you follow, Village Chief," Yang Wenbin said. The Village Chief nodded.

Yang Wenbin and Mother Sun marched toward Jiang Lihua’s home with an air of arrogance. Upon arrival, Mother Sun let out a piercing shriek: "Jiang Lihua, you wretched girl, get out here right now!"

Her yell caught the attention of not only Lihua but also the workers at the processing workshop and Ni Wenyu, who all came out to stand by Lihua’s side.

Jiang Lihua looked at the smug duo. It seemed they had come prepared, and those rumors from the past few days must have been their doing as well.

Mother Sun continued her tirade: "Jiang Lihua, you wretched girl, so you’ve been hiding with this jinx, the Ni boy? I thought you’d died out there somewhere!"

Jiang Lihua sneered. "Hiding? I’ve been living here in plain sight."

"I don't care if you're hiding or living; get your backside home with me right now!"

"Go home? Didn't you kill me and throw me into the back mountains?"

Just as Jiang Lihua finished speaking, the Village Chief arrived with a group of villagers.

"What’s going on here? What’s all this commotion?"

Mother Sun immediately begged the Village Chief to intervene: "Village Chief, you must decide this for us!"

Feigning ignorance, the Village Chief asked, "Decide what?"

Mother Sun wailed with fake tears, "Village Chief, this 'Lizi' is actually Jiang Lihua, who ran away months ago. She is the child bride I bought for my son, Bin'er!"

The villagers began to whisper.

"Looking closely, she really does look like that girl, Jiang Lihua."

"True, the more I look, the more it seems like her."

"I must say, the Yang family is truly blind. She was right under their noses, and they didn't even recognize her."

"Exactly. It’s one thing to not see clearly from a distance, but Mother Sun actually argued face-to-face with Lizi once and still didn't recognize her."

Sensing the conversation veering off track, the Village Chief interrupted, "Alright, everyone, quiet down." He turned to Lihua. "Lizi, since you are the Yang family’s child bride, you should go home with them. This improper association you have with young scholar Ni is quite scandalous."

"Ha!" Jiang Lihua let out a cold laugh, staring fixedly at the Village Chief. "Village Chief, they murdered me and dumped me in the back mountains. Young scholar Ni saved me and carried me down the mountain. My life now belongs to him."

Ni Wenyu stepped forward. "Village Chief, months ago, on a night of heavy rain, I saw Mother Sun and Yang Wenbin sneakily carrying a sack toward the back mountains. Out of curiosity, I followed them. After they left, I opened the sack and found Jiang Lihua. She was covered in blood and barely breathing. I couldn't bear to see her die, so I used a thousand-year-old ginseng root left behind by my parents to save her."

Jiang Lihua smiled slightly; she hadn't expected the usually upright Ni Wenyu to lie so convincingly.

As soon as he finished, Mother Sun jumped up. "You're lying! It wasn't raining that night, she wasn't bleeding, and besides, a pauper like you—how could you possibly have a thousand-year-old ginseng?"

Ni Wenyu countered, "So, are you admitting that you murdered Jiang Lihua and dumped her in the back mountains?"

Mother Sun stuttered, "N-no... I just don't believe you have a thousand-year-old ginseng!"

The crowd understood immediately.

"The Yang family is truly vicious, murdering someone and dumping them in the mountains."

"Indeed, there are wild beasts in those mountains. They wanted to ensure she left no bones behind."

An incompetent ally is more dangerous than a godly opponent. The Village Chief, Yang Wenbin, and Huang Yingrong were all mortified by Mother Sun’s stupidity.

Yang Wenbin stepped forward. "Lihua, you are clearly still alive, so how can you say my mother killed you?" He tried to distance himself from the accusation.

"Hmph, that’s only because Scholar Ni used his thousand-year-old ginseng to bring me back to life."

Yang Wenbin actually half-believed this, as he couldn't think of any other way she could have survived. Perhaps she had only been barely clinging to life, and they had mistaken her for dead before Ni Wenyu found her. But he couldn't admit to that now.

"Lihua, don't be fooled. How could an ordinary person possess something like a thousand-year-old ginseng?"

"That just goes to show that Scholar Ni is no ordinary person. He’s a scholar who passed the exams at thirteen."

At this, Yang Wenbin recalled their first meeting. With a livid face, he said, "Lihua, stop this nonsense and come home with us."

Ni Wenyu blocked Lihua’s path. "If you want to take her back, return the thousand-year-old ginseng I used to save her."

Yang Wenbin’s face turned from green to white. "Scholar Ni, I suggest you stop this unreasonable behavior. Where would you get such a thing? If you had it, you wouldn't be living in such poverty."

Ni Wenyu felt a moment of insecurity, but he stood his ground.

Jiang Lihua reached into her "department store" space and pulled out some concentrated ginseng candy. "This is the thousand-year-old ginseng Scholar Ni used to save me. We consumed some at first, and to make it easier to take, he turned the rest into these pills. I’ve finished the others; this is the last one."

As she opened the wrapper, a rich, potent scent of ginseng filled the air, which all the villagers could smell. Jiang Lihua then brought out a small bottle of medicinal wine infused with ginseng roots. "This is wine infused with the roots of the ginseng. The doctor said because I was covered in wounds and left in the cold mountains, I had a chill in my body, so he used the roots to make this wine for me to rub on my back to expel the cold."

The villagers, who had spent their lives in Lihua Village, had never seen a thousand-year-old ginseng. The elders examined the roots in the bottle and confirmed they were indeed ginseng, and the aroma of the pills was so refreshing that they felt energized just by smelling them.

Most of them were convinced, including Mother Sun. She jumped up and pointed at Jiang Lihua, shouting, "So that’s it! You wretched girl, a lowly wretch like you gets to eat thousand-year-old ginseng? Why didn't you give such a treasure to my Bin'er?!"