Volume One, Chapter Two: Unmasking Jiang Yao’s Lies

Upon hearing Ye Qiaoqiao’s voice, Jiang Yao’s eyes quickly flashed with jealousy. She didn’t understand why she wasn’t Colonel Ye’s daughter, why it wasn’t her living a good life.

“It’s Qiaoqiao, I’ll open the door right away.”

“Ye Qiaoqiao, what are you doing in the servants’ quarters? You’re not here to claim that your family’s servants have stolen those gifts, are you?” Xu Zhengqing’s displeased voice came through the door.

Hearing this, Jiang Yao immediately had an idea. She glanced at the letter box on the bedside table, quickly opened it, pretending she hadn’t had time to tidy up.

Then she stepped forward and opened the door.

When she saw that besides Ye Qiaoqiao, Zhou Cong was also standing outside, Jiang Yao suppressed the surge of excitement in her heart.

Brother Zhou was here too!

“Qiaoqiao, Brother Zhou, Uncle Ye… why are you all here?” Jiang Yao asked softly, her face full of confusion and puzzlement.

“Of course, to meet the real ‘Yaoshuang’ in person,” Ye Qiaoqiao said with a startling tone.

Zhou Cong’s expression visibly changed upon hearing the name ‘Yaoshuang’. “Qiaoqiao, what do you mean by that?”

“What do you mean? Don’t you understand? The ‘Yaoshuang’ who has been exchanging letters with you isn’t me, Ye Qiaoqiao. It’s Jiang Yao standing right in front of you,” Ye Qiaoqiao revealed the truth with venom.

Seeing Zhou Cong frown in disbelief, she searched Jiang Yao’s room and easily found the letter box with its lid half open.

Ye Qiaoqiao wasn’t convinced this was an accident.

After her soul had left her body in her previous life and she learned the truth, she knew Jiang Yao was no simple person.

But the other party’s eagerness to ‘voluntarily’ reveal evidence and their desire to marry Zhou Cong worked to her advantage.

Ye Qiaoqiao grabbed the letter box, opened it, and after flipping through a few letters, she confirmed they were indeed correspondence between the two.

“Look for yourself. Aren’t these letters between you and ‘Yaoshuang’?” Ye Qiaoqiao tossed the letter box to Zhou Cong.

Zhou Cong stiffened as he stared at the familiar handwriting—his own penmanship.

Ye Qiaoqiao then began searching Jiang Yao’s room thoroughly.

She easily found Jiang Yao’s suitcase.

In front of everyone, she flung it open to reveal all the precious gifts that Xu Zhengqing and other second-generation military heirs had mentioned!

“Xu Zhengqing, open your eyes wide and look. Did I receive these gifts?” Ye Qiaoqiao crossed her arms and sneered at them.

Xu Zhengqing and the others looked extremely displeased.

They had never expected the truth to be the exact opposite of what they claimed.

By now, Zhou Cong had realized the truth and looked at Jiang Yao in disbelief.

“You… you’re the real Yaoshuang?”

Jiang Yao blushed deeply but looked innocent. “Wh-what’s wrong?”

Xu Zhengqing and the others were stunned, unable to believe that Yaoshuang was actually someone else.

“Zhou Cong was the ‘Zhouzhou’ you exchanged letters with,” Ye Qiaoqiao said, seeing how well Jiang Yao could pretend. No wonder in her previous life, she had faked a suicide attempt to expose Jiang Yao as the real Yaoshuang, even framing herself with the source of the rat poison.

Even if she had misfortune and accidentally poisoned herself to death, it became evidence that Zhou Cong believed she was the murderer.

Hearing this, Jiang Yao was shocked and glanced at Zhou Cong before her eyes reddened and she lowered her head.

“Zhou Cong? Zhouzhou? Aren’t you Qiaoqiao’s fiancé?” Jiang Yao looked devastated, casting a deeply emotional and painful glance at Zhou Cong before shaking her head quickly. “How could this be… how could Zhouzhou be Brother Zhou?”

Ye Qiaoqiao watched calmly, unaware of the act, thinking Jiang Yao was truly innocent and not realizing Zhou Cong was the man she loved.

“Jiang Yao, you mean you had no idea the person exchanging letters with you was Zhou Cong?” Ye Qiaoqiao’s intention was to tear apart the two in front of everyone.

Jiang Yao grabbed her hand, tears streaking her face as she shook her head. “Qiaoqiao, I really didn’t know Zhouzhou was Brother Zhou. If I had known earlier, I definitely wouldn’t have kept corresponding with him. Brother Zhou is your fiancé; how could I dare to hope for anything more?”

After speaking, she looked at Zhou Cong with admiration and pain.

“Brother Zhou, just consider all those letters a misunderstanding. I didn’t distinguish clearly myself. Forget me and marry Qiaoqiao properly,” Jiang Yao said, utterly heartbroken.

Zhou Cong’s shock softened into pity because of her words. He instinctively reached out to help her up but, seeing Ye Qiaoqiao’s furious expression, forced himself to hold back.

In the past, when he visited Colonel Ye’s home with his parents, he never paid much attention to Jiang Yao. Now, seeing her, he found her quite attractive—not as delicate as Ye Qiaoqiao, but pure and charming nonetheless.

He never expected that Yaoshuang was Jiang Yao, not Ye Qiaoqiao.

Wait—

If Yaoshuang was Jiang Yao, why did the first three letters he received bear Ye Qiaoqiao’s personal seal?

If there hadn’t been a personal seal, he wouldn’t have assumed Yaoshuang was Ye Qiaoqiao.

Zhou Cong immediately realized that the first three letters in his possession might hold the key.

“Really? That’s what you call not knowing?” Ye Qiaoqiao, relying on what she knew from her past life, found the forged seal hidden under Jiang Yao’s bed.

She revealed the neatly inscribed characters: “Ye Qiaoqiao.”

“Jiang Yao, can you explain why you have a forged personal seal of mine?” Ye Qiaoqiao demanded angrily.

Jiang Yao’s expression changed drastically.

She hadn’t expected the seal to be discovered.

Initially, she used the seal to write letters to Zhou Cong in Ye Qiaoqiao’s name. Once Zhou Cong believed she was Ye Qiaoqiao, she stopped using it.

But perhaps having tasted some success, she thought it might be useful again and hadn’t destroyed it.

She never expected Ye Qiaoqiao to find it.

“No… I…” Jiang Yao shook her head, unable to explain.

Looking around, she saw everyone’s angry gazes, especially Colonel Ye’s.

Her heart sank, knowing she couldn’t hide the truth if they investigated. Now, Zhou Cong was her only hope.

“Brother Zhou, I… please believe me, I didn’t do it on purpose. The first letter was accidental…” Jiang Yao rushed toward Zhou Cong.

Zhou Cong instinctively crouched to support her.

Jiang Yao’s eyes lit up and she sighed with relief, seizing the moment to cling to his arm, crying softly. “Brother Zhou, please help explain to Qiaoqiao. I really didn’t do it on purpose. This is all a misunderstanding.”

Ye Qiaoqiao sneered at them.

“Alright, Jiang Yao, after you’re done, Zhou Cong, don’t you even recognize my handwriting? Are you going to so easily believe those letters were from me?”

She knew Zhou Cong had sensed the handwriting wasn’t quite right from the start, but perhaps vanity made him deceive himself and not question it.

Zhou Cong’s face darkened with a mix of shame at being exposed and anger that things hadn’t gone as he expected.

She spoke softly to Zhou Cong, “Just now you told my father you felt deeply for me because of our letters. But now it turns out you were secretly dealing with Jiang Yao behind my back and treating me like a fool!”

Zhou Cong clenched his anger.

“Do you intend to explain to my father and me whether Jiang Yao borrowed my identity to deceive you, or if you recognized the handwriting wasn’t mine all along but were two-timing?” Ye Qiaoqiao tossed the question to him.

“I didn’t deceive anyone, I didn’t… Qiaoqiao, Uncle Ye, it’s all my fault… don’t blame Brother Zhou,” Jiang Yao said, terrified, kowtowing to both.

Zhou Cong’s face was ashen, especially when he noticed the blood on Jiang Yao’s forehead. He quickly helped her up.

He clenched his teeth and said to Ye Qiaoqiao, “Qiaoqiao, I want to speak to Jiang Yao alone first.”

“I’ll give you an explanation later.”

“Fine, you two have been secretly conspiring behind my back, humiliating my Qiaoqiao!” Colonel Ye pointed angrily at Zhou Cong.

“Dad, don’t be angry. They’re the ones at fault. They’re shameless, so why should we be upset?” Ye Qiaoqiao smirked sarcastically.

Her words made Zhou Cong and Jiang Yao’s expressions sour terribly.

“Give them time to fabricate their stories. Either Zhou Cong knew who Yaoshuang was all along and deceived me, or Jiang Yao deliberately used my identity to trick me.”

“Let’s see what they choose,” Ye Qiaoqiao said with disdain, then turned and pulled Colonel Ye back to the living room.

She wanted to see how Zhou Cong would decide.

Once they left, the second-generation playboys stared at Jiang Yao in disbelief.

“Brother Zhou, it’s obvious Jiang Yao is deceiving you. What are you hesitating for? Just hand her over to Colonel Ye for an explanation.”

“If this isn’t settled today, who knows how many will be laughing at you behind your back? Jiang Yao is just a servant’s daughter. Don’t get confused.”

Hearing this, Jiang Yao saw Zhou Cong’s silence and immediately lowered her head, tears falling.

“Brother Zhou, I will help you. It’s my fault for lacking confidence and not revealing my identity sooner. You should marry Qiaoqiao. Don’t anger Colonel Ye and don’t waste your time on me. As long as you’re well, I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

Hearing this, Zhou Cong felt resentment toward Ye Qiaoqiao. This was just a misunderstanding. Why did she have to make such a big deal and make both sides lose face?

Meanwhile, back in the living room, Colonel Ye held Ye Qiaoqiao’s arm and asked, “Qiaoqiao, what’s really going on?”

“Dad, I can’t marry Zhou Cong. He will ruin us,” Ye Qiaoqiao said through tears, clutching her father’s arm and lowering her voice, recounting the nightmare of what Zhou Cong had done to her in her past life.

Colonel Ye clenched his fists in anger. “How dare he!”

“Dad, I didn’t actually know about Zhou Cong and Jiang Yao. I only dreamed it. Who would have thought that when I tested it, it turned out to be true…”

“Qiaoqiao, don’t be afraid.” Colonel Ye pulled her down onto the sofa, believing her without hesitation. His mind was already racing on how to investigate Zhou Cong and teach these bullies a lesson.

Moreover, Colonel Ye felt that the trouble Qiaoqiao dreamed about wasn’t caused by Zhou Cong alone.

So, someone was already targeting his position?

He nearly implicated Qiaoqiao. No, he had to find a way to change their fate.

Just then, the guard Xiao Lin walked in.

“Colonel, Commissar Su and Platoon Leader Fu are here to deliver the military exercise report and to discuss the commendation ceremony for Platoon Leader Fu’s first-class merit award.”